October 22, 2024 • 24 mins
What if life's toughest challenges were actually opportunities in disguise? Join us on the Leaders on Fire Podcast as we sit down with Keith Sampson, a dynamic serial entrepreneur and thought leader, who exemplifies the art of balancing business success with personal growth. Keith shares his incredible journey from Maryland to the heart of Indiana, where the communities of Winona Lake and Warsaw played a crucial role in shaping his personal and professional life. Through thought-provoking storytelling, Keith reveals how the Global Leadership Summit ignited his passion for leadership and how he manages the demanding roles of entrepreneur and father.
Keith's story is a testament to the power of resilience and a growth mindset. He opens up about a pivotal life experience—his father's diagnosis with Lou Gehrig's disease—that became a catalyst for embracing life's crucible moments. Through personal anecdotes, Keith illustrates how physical fitness, mental resilience, and emotional well-being are pathways to high performance. Excitement builds around the upcoming Growth Summit event in Warsaw, Indiana, where renowned speakers will inspire personal and community transformation. This episode is your invitation to reflect on personal growth, embrace challenges, and make a meaningful impact through consistent, intentional actions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Leaders on Fire podcast.
On this show, we'll be invitingguests in to talk about
crucible moments in their livesand unpack how it developed
character and perseverance andhow they emerged as leaders on
fire.
We hope that this podcast is anencouragement and an
inspiration to you.
To you, welcome to the Leaderson Fire podcast.
(00:30):
I'm your host, drew Scholl, andtoday we have the opportunity
to have one of my good friends,keith Sampson, join us on the
podcast.
Keith is a serial entrepreneur.
He's a keynote speaker, he's athought leader.
He's got a lot to share with ustoday.
You're not going to want tomiss this one.
So let's welcome Keith to theshow.
Lot to share with us today.
You're not going to want tomiss this one.
So let's welcome Keith to theshow.
Keith, welcome to the Leaderson Fire podcast man.
Super pumped to have you heretoday.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Nah, thanks for having me.
I'm excited to be here and beable to have this conversation
with you and give to yourlisteners.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Awesome man.
Well, we have a good historytogether.
We've known each other forquite a while, have lots of fun
stories, lots of good memories,lots of work memories.
We could spend all day chattingaround all kinds of fun stuff,
but for our listeners, who mightnot know, you tell us a little
about who you are.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I am somebody who absolutely loves impacting the
lives of others.
In fact, I wear my Y on my armright Change the world
specifically through business,but everything filters through
that.
So I'm somebody that originallyorigin story I'm originally
from Maryland, a side of DC cameout here to Indiana in the fall
of 95 to attend Grace College,and Winona Lake and Warsaw
(01:37):
became my community and my home.
Through just planting roots andworking full time through
college and being here in WinonaLake and Warsaw has really
provided the opportunity for meto step into being the best
version of myself, and it reallyit started back then when I,
when I moved here.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Man, that's awesome.
So kids, family tell us alittle about.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, so I have three amazing kids, 14 year old twins
that started high school.
This year I've got afive-year-old little firecracker
of a boy.
He started kindergarten.
So the first day of school thisyear was a busy one.
Yeah, and I get to live a veryI call it integrated life.
Some people talk about likework-life balance.
That does not exist.
So you know, three businessesand three kids.
You know I'm blessed to not beunder the agenda of anybody else
(02:20):
.
Let's call it that Right so Ican wake up in the morning, work
, get them ready for school,take them to school, go back to
work, stop what I'm doing, pickthem up from school so I can be
very involved in, uh, in theirlives on a day-to-day basis,
because I'm not stuck in anoffice.
Uh, now, that requires adifferent type of understanding
from my kids.
They also understand that dadsits down at eight o'clock at
night and might not, you know,stop working until midnight.
(02:41):
But that's the price that wepay for me to be able to be
involved in their lives on aregular basis.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, that's awesome, man.
Well, now that we've lit thefire, let's fan the flame a
little bit and talk about howyou got three businesses now.
You've got a lot of greatthings going on.
You're making a lot of impactout there.
You know how did you get towhere you are today and you know
, share us a little bit of thatstory and part of that story.
You know you shared it in yourGLS talk and we kind of crossed
(03:08):
paths at a particular point inour lives that was also
formative into where you're attoday.
So share a little bit aboutyour story.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, so I mean, one of the most formative periods of
time in my life was aftercollege.
I worked at Wildman BusinessGroup from 2000 to 2012.
And 10 plus years of that wasunder the tutelage of Steve
Bryant obviously a massiveinfluence to both of our lives.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Did you go?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
to ding-dong school.
Is that where?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
you learned it all.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
We attended a little bit of ding-dong school.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We did Steve Bryant ding-dong school.
Yeah, we got the certificate toprove it.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But one of the really life-changing events that took
place was is 2006,.
Uh, wildman took a group ofpeople to the global leadership
summit up in Chicago and thatwas the year that Bono they did
the interview with Bono.
That's how I can remember, likewhatever year it was, at the
first interview with Bono.
That was the first year I wentand, uh, that really opened up
my eyes to oh, my goodness,there's way more out here to
(04:04):
learn besides what I learned incollege and what I'm learning in
work and life.
It just takes the time andenergy and money investment to
like, seek it out and find itand like here are these amazing
leaders, these people that aregiving back to you know, gls,
like hundreds of thousands ofpeople around the world, and
(04:24):
inspiring them to take stepsforward, to grow, to be a leader
, to deliver impact in thecommunity, whether it's on a
small scale or world changingand country changing scales.
I mean that really was thepivotal moment that ignited a
spark that then burned over thelast almost 20 years now, of
(04:44):
understanding the impact thatcan happen from the stage, the
impact that can happen with, youknow, inspiring and powerful
words and stories that can movepeople to to change and that's
awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And so you're living that out now through your
business, right, your businesses.
And so you've taken.
You've taken that spark andthat fire and that passion to
reach the world and you're doingthat in the marketplace, right?
Is that the platform you'reusing?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, I mean so with the three different businesses.
Each one of them filters, likeI said through my why, to change
the world, and they just havedifferent paths to do that.
So, for example, one of thethings I truly believe in is
that business can exist for agreater purpose than profits.
Like that is fundamental to mycore.
It doesn't happen overnight.
I have five different degreesof where businesses can exist to
(05:27):
accomplish that and sometimesit takes you know, it takes an
evolution to get to the higherlevels, but all three businesses
at least have some form.
So, like in my Trident 21business, I started all for one
and that is where, because I dolike payment processing, point
of sale is a segment of thatbusiness.
So every four clients that Isign up in service, I sponsor a
kid.
So I roughly have like 23 or 25kids that I sponsor every
(05:50):
single month and each one's tiedback to one of our clients.
They don't have to pay or doanything, but they know they
have a profile, the kid just bydoing business with me.
There's a kid that's havingtheir world changed and the idea
is hopefully it's not just athank you, it's not reactive,
it's also hopefully inspiring.
They go okay, is there thingsthat I can do in my business
that can also have impactoutside of even just the local
(06:12):
community, our own little sphereof influence, and have impact
around the world?
Um, you know, uh, cloud nine,multi-sport, the retail store,
uh, we do.
We directly support water forgood, and so every pair of shoes
, sandals, anything that we sellonce a quarter I run a report.
It doesn't matter how much theysold for, if they were
discounted full price, what theprice was, I came up with a
ratio it's $3 for every singlepiece of footwear.
(06:34):
We then donate to Water forGood, specifically for a
wellhead, and so we now have, Ithink, two or three wellheads
that we've completed and theywill be on our website in a way
that customers can go back, lookat the date range of when they
bought shoes, see exactly whichwell head is associated with
that date range, gps located,see the village, see the people
that are being impacted justbecause they chose to buy shoes
(06:55):
from cloud nine and supportcloud nine and then serve same
thing clean water.
But aside from just providingwells and well heads, well
maintenance is a big, big factor.
That was something I learned inScott Harrison's book Thirst
that it's one thing to providethe wells, but how many of them
go down from a simple brokenbolt or a crank or whatever it
(07:16):
is?
So serve wants to be able to.
And again, I think businessesoften have great intention and
they can sometimes overcommit tothe intention and the heart of
wanting to help others but notdo it strategically.
So the same thing I did withTrident and I did with Cloud9,
I'm now doing a serve, becauseserve's a new business.
I'm basically earmarking moneybut we haven't given anything
(07:37):
yet because I believe you haveto kind of let it run a full
year, see where your numbers are, see where your profitability
is, and not overcommit in a waythat actually hampers the growth
of the business and thereforeeventually hampering the growth
of giving.
So we're in that phase ofunderstanding a scalable way to
provide money towards wellmaintenance and also doing it in
a way that isn't just areactive giving but an
(08:00):
inspirational giving to, whereour clients, our partners,
understand the ratio, the factor.
We can then communicate thateffect back into lives where
they like man.
I'm so glad I'm partner withServe, I'm so glad that Serve
takes care of us because it'sregular business being done, but
by choosing to do it with them.
This impact is taking place andagain, hopefully, it trickles
(08:20):
downstream, that they go.
You know what, as a business,we can do something too.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Man, that's awesome.
Thanks for sharing thoseexamples.
Hopefully that challenges andinspires listeners who have the
opportunity to use business todo good, and you've demonstrated
that clearly.
And I think for my family.
I don't know if this is a goodor bad thing, but I'm pretty
sure now we've bought so manyshoes from cloud nine that we
probably have our own well nowover there.
So I'm not going to let Bobbiknow, because then she's going
to want to go buy more shoesthere, but I do have a hookah
(08:48):
running shoe problem, so Iconfess I do need to eat another
pair.
So okay, so all of that to saythis is where you are,
no-transcript, you didn't justarrive there without some
hardship along the way.
And so in this podcast we talkabout these crucible moments
that shaped who we are as aperson, and we know from
(09:11):
scripture that crucible momentsGod uses those to refine, and he
talks about metals silver thatgoes into the furnace and it
melts away the impurities, and asilversmith knows when the
silver is ready to come out,when he can see his image, and
likewise it is with God.
When we're reflecting his image, he pulls us out of the
crucible and puts us on theassignment that he has.
(09:31):
Now.
Some people deal with cruciblesthat last a lifetime, and some
are short seasons, and some wepursue for our own growth.
For example, you like to doSpartans and you like to run and
do marathons, and I'm in asimilar camp wanting to do
Ironmans and these types ofthings, and you know so
sometimes we pursue thatdiscomfort and enter into our
(09:54):
own crucibles because we knowthat it produces character and
perseverance.
Sometimes we're in cruciblesthat we don't control and I
think you have a few of those inyour life that have happened to
you and so just want to enterinto the crucible with you and
heat things up a little bit more.
And let's talk about some ofthese life-changing crucibles
you've had that have got towhere you are today, and even
(10:15):
some that you choose to pursue.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I can go back to and this is one of the things I talk
about in my talks is watershedmoments.
Right, we're all given ahandful of watershed moments in
life, and I won't dive intodetails of what a watershed
moment is.
Google it, you know, you cankind of understand it or check
out one of my my talks.
But I had one of my firstwatershed moments when I was 19.
And my dad was diagnosed withLou Gehrig's disease and you
(10:41):
know, and all of a sudden youhear the hero of your life has a
terminal illness that kind ofshapes you a little bit, right,
it puts you up against the wall.
And I went home a couple monthslater and for the first time
seeing him after his diagnosisbecause I was out here in
Indiana and he was in Marylandwhen the phone call took place
that I found out and my cousinpulled me off to the side and he
goes.
You know, keith, how you doing.
You have two choices andneither one of them is wrong.
(11:11):
But what you choose to decidewill determine everything.
And are you going to choose toeither go through it or grow
through it?
I chose to go through, growthrough it, right, so that
choice and to tie into yourcrucible examples, I believe
wasn't a single event refining.
I'm definitely a journey, ajourneyman.
When it comes to, like, thatrefining process, god has broken
me down in little ways and inbig ways over ever since.
(11:31):
Really, that choice, um, thatchoice became the foundation and
and and and allowed me to entera place of what I call a growth
through it mindset journey thatI will be on until the day that
I exit this earth.
Um, that's a journey that I tryto hopefully help other day
that I exit this earth, that's ajourney that I try to hopefully
help other people see along theway too.
And it really is the corefoundation of why I do.
(11:54):
You know, even the physicalactivities, like even the
physical side of things, Ididn't start running till 2012.
So, like 12 years ago you knowwhat I mean I said, oh, I'll do,
I'll do a 5k.
And, as you know, I mean fromour history together I was not
an active person.
There was no way I was evergoing to run a five, a marathon,
much less a 5k, and I was notthe best version of myself
(12:20):
physically, mentally,emotionally or anything like
that.
And so, as this journey takesplace, you start realizing that
all of those things areintertwined right.
If I really want to perform ata high level in life, whether
that be for my family or forwork, I can't disregard my
nutrition.
If I really want to perform ata high level in life and work, I
can't let my physical fitnesssit over there in the closet
(12:45):
right.
All of those things really,really mesh and you know, if you
want to be in tune mentally,you want to show up as the best
version of yourself for those inyour life, you want to bring
impact to people, you've got toreally, you know, look at all
aspects of your life and reallypush all aspects.
I finished my 25th book in 2024was Hunting Discomfort by
(13:05):
Sterling Hawkins.
He's going to be one of thespeakers at the Growth Summit
and he has a line in there thatI absolutely fell in love with
and he was like on the otherside of growth is, or the other
side of discomfort is not onlygrowth, it's also life's
greatest accomplishments andmemories.
Right and so that if you lookback at the Ironman, if you look
(13:26):
back at all of your differentindividual accomplishments, they
, for anybody that I don't know,like if you haven't ran at all.
Guess what.
It is not a freakingcomfortable thing to do, to step
into it, right.
But as you accomplish it and doit, yes, you're physically going
to transform, but mentally,like when you overcome those
obstacles, those mental barriersof I can't do this because it's
(13:47):
just a false narrative, right,um, and, and you start doing
those things, you start growing.
Well, what else can Iaccomplish?
What else can I accomplish?
And, uh, as we're, you know,having this conversation last
week, sterling and another guythat I know, uh, paul Epstein
from my impact 11 group, theyjust did, uh, they just did.
Have you ever heard ofEveresting?
Okay, that's our next thing.
Okay, you want me to get me intoan Ironman.
(14:08):
I think this is something weboth need to do for the first
time.
So Eversting is 29,029.
So you go to a mountain likedid this I think it was Mount
LeBlanc, they did this and 29feet, and so I think their trip
up mountain blog was 15different times.
They're climbing up themountain gondola back down,
(14:29):
climbing back up gondola backdown, and you have to do it in
36 hours.
Whoa.
Right so yeah, there's this,these intense things out there
that people do and can do, andit is it's meant to push you
physically, but I think moreimportantly it pushes you
mentally, because our bodies cando incredible things.
It's usually our minds thatlimit us.
Because our bodies can doincredible things, it's usually
our minds that limit us, andwhen you kind of translate that
(14:49):
over into life, into growth, itcan really unlock some amazing
potential inside of us.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Man, that's cool.
So this idea of the crucibleand I love that quote that you
gave from Sterling Hawkins andthat's a powerful one crucible
moments, you know if, if you'renot, if you're not in one
because of life circumstances,we might say that which, which
one are you pursuing?
Because if we're really goingto grow through these difficult
(15:15):
things, then we need to beputting ourselves in difficult
situations.
Um, and that's that's why welike doing some of the events we
do, that's why Mason Geigerlikes doing some of the events
he does, cause there's MasonGeiger likes doing some of the
events he does because there'salso a spiritual representation
and Paul talks about.
He uses as a metaphor, liketraining for the athletic games,
that we train our bodies andhow much more should we train
(15:37):
our spiritual selves so we canearn the eternal crown?
So we do this to achieve atemporary crown and there's
benefits to that, and an athletetrains for that and he goes
through the perseverance and thesuffering to get to the finish
line.
But it's also a spiritualmetaphor for we should be living
with the same kind of mindset,spiritually to cross that finish
line and win an eternal crownthat lasts.
(15:58):
So when you think about thecrucible.
You know, the idea is that weemerge as a leader on fire, and
so we want to talk about thisidea of the crucible and how
it's kind of inspired you tocreate this event in the
community.
You talked about SterlingHawkins.
I'd like for you to share alittle bit about this idea of
(16:21):
the Growth Summit, because it'saround the same idea, right this
idea of the growth summit,because it's around the same
idea, right.
So share a little bit about thegrowth summit and why you feel
that's important and how thatkind of connects into this grow
through it and or go through itand the crucible moments, and
why the growth summit and whySterling Hawkins.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So part of my journey and part of I mentioned the
three businesses the Trident 21is a client services and part of
that over the last severalyears I've developed corporate
training, speaking specificallyprofessional speaking, really
moving into that keynote arena,because I truly believe that is
a platform that People that havepowerful words and stories can
(17:03):
inspire and move people in themasses right.
So that's one of my greatestverticals to accomplish my why
to change the world specificallythrough business and to tell
the story of choosing to growthrough it and creating a
framework and a body of workaround a growth through it
mindset and what that looks like, and so the desire to deliver
that led to this growth summit.
(17:25):
And when you talk about thecrucible, it's one thing to
pursue difficulty, it's onething to pursue discomfort in a
way that stretches you andpushes you into a better version
of yourself.
It's completely another thingwhen those crucibles are like
inflicted into your life.
Like you have no choice, right,and we can do all the right
(17:49):
things.
And life can change like thatbecause somebody else crossed
over a double yellow line, thatyou had zero control over right.
That stuff happens regardless ofwho you are in this world,
regardless of what you're doing,regardless of status, gender,
world, regardless of what you'redoing, regardless of status,
gender, political view, whateverright Life happens.
(18:14):
And I truly believe that whenthat, when those worst moments
in life inject themselves in thework we've done to prepare
ourselves for those, completelychanged the way that we handle
it.
And that's really one of mypassions is if I can help people
, because life is like a rollercoaster, okay, if I can help
people, instead of it being thehighs and the lows and all the
severity that those two thingsbecause high can be severe as
(18:36):
well People crash off of highsbecause they exceed their upper
limits and they don't know howto handle an amazing thing that
happens in life.
And instead of being highs andlows, what if it balances it out
?
What if the lows aren't so low?
Right, they still pay, there'sstill pain, there's still hurt,
but they are handled with adifferent filter of like.
Okay, how am I going to growthrough this?
How can I possibly use this topositively impact the lives of
(18:59):
others?
Despite the pain I'm feeling,today I go through an immense
high, this immense celebration.
Yeah, the pain I'm feelingtoday I go through an immense
high, this immense celebration.
Yeah, celebrate it, revel it,but keep it in perspective, keep
that humility like tone in.
So that's that's a really a bigpiece of my talk around a
growth through it mindset, andso the the opportunity to build
that, that career of, like youknow, hey, I need to speak, a
(19:21):
real, I need to do this so I canemerge into that lane over the
next several years.
You can go out and you can hirestudio, you can pay you know
seconds to sit in at tables andit's all controlled.
Or it's like, why not just do alive event and film it and
bring value to the community?
And so that kind of birthed theidea of this, this growth
summit, and being in the impact11 community.
(19:43):
I'm sitting there literally inSan Diego at a masterclass this
past I think it was January,february and Sterling Hawkins
overhears me and he goes whatare you doing?
I explained to him.
He goes I'd love to be a partof that and this thing, we just
started brainstorming it Right,and so it led to this
opportunity, this.
Well, it's not along anopportunity, it's happening.
Uh, the single half day eventon November 7th in Warsaw,
(20:03):
indiana.
That's an opportunity foranybody from a stay-at-home
parent to a C-suite executive atthe highest levels to come in,
challenge themselves, walk awaywith two or three action items
on ways that they can go out andbe a better version of
themselves, not just forthemselves but the people that
they interact with in life.
So we're having it at theWarsaw Performing Arts Center.
You know it's expanded a littlebit.
(20:24):
So we're having it at theWarsaw Performing Arts Center.
It's expanded a little bit.
So I'm doing the openingkeynote.
Rachel Drunkemiller is alsoImpact 11 community.
She's doing an insight talk.
Then Rob Parker from the Chamberis leading a panel made up of
local amazing leaders JoshWildman, ben Higgins, marsha
Barnes, who's from Indy andsupports the Wildman board and
author and speaker, and ofherself.
And then Frankie Russo.
(20:46):
He's doing an Insight Talk andthen Sterling Hawkins is doing
the closing keynote.
So Warsaw's never had I mean wedo the GLS events, which is
like simulcast Warsaw's neverhad an event where multiple
world-class speakers like thisis what we do for a living are
taking the stage in a way toinspire and drive a message of
(21:06):
growth and letting people walkaway and take that back into
their works and theircommunities Like I'm sorry, I
got goosebumps just as I'mtalking about it because of the
ripple effect that it can create.
I'm ridiculously excited aboutit.
Awesome, man.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Well, I can't wait to be a part of it too and watch
it go down, and, of course, cfor one is behind it.
We think it's a greatopportunity and we want to
encourage those in the communitythat have gone to GLS or that
are pursuing growthopportunities.
They need to be here at thisevent.
And so, yeah, man, thanks forsharing that and thanks for
sharing a bit of your story, andhopefully you know, the idea
(21:39):
behind this podcast is that itinspires people to be leaders on
fire.
I mean, clearly you have energyand passion for what you're
doing and you know our goal isto help people in life with that
same type of thing.
Help them to get on fire forthe Lord, on fire for their why,
so that they can passionatelypursue the things they're called
to to make an impact.
So, thanks for sharing a bit ofyour story with us, keith.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Absolutely my pleasure.
And, and I'll kick back, as youknow, as a leader on fire um,
people that are listening tothis, just walk the journey
right.
Everybody's journey isdifferent.
Everybody's journey is adifferent period of time.
As long as you're walking thejourney, you are having impact
on the lives of others.
Like don't think, oh, to be aleader on fire, it has to look
like this no, no, no, no.
(22:22):
Just step forward and like the,it'll just start the flywheel
and the rest will take care ofitself.
But you got like people have totake that forward.
That step forward action.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, that's a great call out, man, because I do
think some personalities get,you know, paralysis by analysis.
They think it's got to be thisbig thing and they can't even
take that very first step.
And it's like we shouldn't.
It's in some ways we almost gotto detach from outcomes and
just take that first step thatwe know to be faithful and watch
it unfold, because I've seen,and you've seen too, when you do
(22:53):
that actually what God does ismore than we can think or
imagine and doors start openingin ways we didn't even think
about, just because we took astep and we took another step
and we keep moving forward andsome of the stuff I'm involved
in and same with you, like if 10years ago I couldn't have
painted this on a whiteboard, no, you know what I mean.
Right, I 100% know what you mean.
Yeah, so it's like, but you hadto take a step and you might've
(23:16):
had a vision for what thefuture could be.
But as we navigate that journey, as you're talking about, it is
taking those steps.
So that journey, as you'retalking about, it is taking
those steps.
So I'm super thankful youcalled that out, because I think
that is a key part of being aleader on fire is is moving
forward and taking those stepsand, like you talked about your
25th book, I mean that you'retaking steps to continue to grow
and it just positions youravailability and what you can be
(23:38):
a part of because you're movingforward, yep, so thanks for
calling that out, man, and again, thanks for being on our show,
super excited to get thisreleased for people.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Awesome man.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode.
Perhaps it has prompted apainful memory or challenged you
to reflect on times you were inthe crucible.
Some of you may be in acrucible now, but be encouraged.
Maybe, just maybe, god is usingthis to refine your character
(24:11):
so that you emerge as a leaderon fire.
If today's episode was anencouragement to you, share it
with others who may also findencouragement in the Leaders on
Fire podcast.
So let's go into the world.
Sent out as leaders on fireuntil next time.
This is the Leaders on Fire podcast.
On this show, we'll be invitingguests in to talk about
crucible moments in their livesand unpack how it developed
character and perseverance andhow they emerged as leaders on
fire.
We hope that this podcast is anencouragement and an
inspiration to you.
To you, welcome to the Leaderson Fire podcast.
(00:30):
I'm your host, drew Scholl, andtoday we have the opportunity
to have one of my good friends,keith Sampson, join us on the
podcast.
Keith is a serial entrepreneur.
He's a keynote speaker, he's athought leader.
He's got a lot to share with ustoday.
You're not going to want tomiss this one.
So let's welcome Keith to theshow.
Lot to share with us today.
You're not going to want tomiss this one.
So let's welcome Keith to theshow.
Keith, welcome to the Leaderson Fire podcast man.
Super pumped to have you heretoday.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Nah, thanks for having me.
I'm excited to be here and beable to have this conversation
with you and give to yourlisteners.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Awesome man.
Well, we have a good historytogether.
We've known each other forquite a while, have lots of fun
stories, lots of good memories,lots of work memories.
We could spend all day chattingaround all kinds of fun stuff,
but for our listeners, who mightnot know, you tell us a little
about who you are.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I am somebody who absolutely loves impacting the
lives of others.
In fact, I wear my Y on my armright Change the world
specifically through business,but everything filters through
that.
So I'm somebody that originallyorigin story I'm originally
from Maryland, a side of DC cameout here to Indiana in the fall
of 95 to attend Grace College,and Winona Lake and Warsaw
(01:37):
became my community and my home.
Through just planting roots andworking full time through
college and being here in WinonaLake and Warsaw has really
provided the opportunity for meto step into being the best
version of myself, and it reallyit started back then when I,
when I moved here.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Man, that's awesome.
So kids, family tell us alittle about.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, so I have three amazing kids, 14 year old twins
that started high school.
This year I've got afive-year-old little firecracker
of a boy.
He started kindergarten.
So the first day of school thisyear was a busy one.
Yeah, and I get to live a veryI call it integrated life.
Some people talk about likework-life balance.
That does not exist.
So you know, three businessesand three kids.
You know I'm blessed to not beunder the agenda of anybody else
(02:20):
.
Let's call it that Right so Ican wake up in the morning, work
, get them ready for school,take them to school, go back to
work, stop what I'm doing, pickthem up from school so I can be
very involved in, uh, in theirlives on a day-to-day basis,
because I'm not stuck in anoffice.
Uh, now, that requires adifferent type of understanding
from my kids.
They also understand that dadsits down at eight o'clock at
night and might not, you know,stop working until midnight.
(02:41):
But that's the price that wepay for me to be able to be
involved in their lives on aregular basis.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, that's awesome, man.
Well, now that we've lit thefire, let's fan the flame a
little bit and talk about howyou got three businesses now.
You've got a lot of greatthings going on.
You're making a lot of impactout there.
You know how did you get towhere you are today and you know
, share us a little bit of thatstory and part of that story.
You know you shared it in yourGLS talk and we kind of crossed
(03:08):
paths at a particular point inour lives that was also
formative into where you're attoday.
So share a little bit aboutyour story.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, so I mean, one of the most formative periods of
time in my life was aftercollege.
I worked at Wildman BusinessGroup from 2000 to 2012.
And 10 plus years of that wasunder the tutelage of Steve
Bryant obviously a massiveinfluence to both of our lives.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Did you go?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
to ding-dong school.
Is that where?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
you learned it all.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
We attended a little bit of ding-dong school.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We did Steve Bryant ding-dong school.
Yeah, we got the certificate toprove it.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But one of the really life-changing events that took
place was is 2006,.
Uh, wildman took a group ofpeople to the global leadership
summit up in Chicago and thatwas the year that Bono they did
the interview with Bono.
That's how I can remember, likewhatever year it was, at the
first interview with Bono.
That was the first year I wentand, uh, that really opened up
my eyes to oh, my goodness,there's way more out here to
(04:04):
learn besides what I learned incollege and what I'm learning in
work and life.
It just takes the time andenergy and money investment to
like, seek it out and find itand like here are these amazing
leaders, these people that aregiving back to you know, gls,
like hundreds of thousands ofpeople around the world, and
(04:24):
inspiring them to take stepsforward, to grow, to be a leader
, to deliver impact in thecommunity, whether it's on a
small scale or world changingand country changing scales.
I mean that really was thepivotal moment that ignited a
spark that then burned over thelast almost 20 years now, of
(04:44):
understanding the impact thatcan happen from the stage, the
impact that can happen with, youknow, inspiring and powerful
words and stories that can movepeople to to change and that's
awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
And so you're living that out now through your
business, right, your businesses.
And so you've taken.
You've taken that spark andthat fire and that passion to
reach the world and you're doingthat in the marketplace, right?
Is that the platform you'reusing?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, I mean so with the three different businesses.
Each one of them filters, likeI said through my why, to change
the world, and they just havedifferent paths to do that.
So, for example, one of thethings I truly believe in is
that business can exist for agreater purpose than profits.
Like that is fundamental to mycore.
It doesn't happen overnight.
I have five different degreesof where businesses can exist to
(05:27):
accomplish that and sometimesit takes you know, it takes an
evolution to get to the higherlevels, but all three businesses
at least have some form.
So, like in my Trident 21business, I started all for one
and that is where, because I dolike payment processing, point
of sale is a segment of thatbusiness.
So every four clients that Isign up in service, I sponsor a
kid.
So I roughly have like 23 or 25kids that I sponsor every
(05:50):
single month and each one's tiedback to one of our clients.
They don't have to pay or doanything, but they know they
have a profile, the kid just bydoing business with me.
There's a kid that's havingtheir world changed and the idea
is hopefully it's not just athank you, it's not reactive,
it's also hopefully inspiring.
They go okay, is there thingsthat I can do in my business
that can also have impactoutside of even just the local
(06:12):
community, our own little sphereof influence, and have impact
around the world?
Um, you know, uh, cloud nine,multi-sport, the retail store,
uh, we do.
We directly support water forgood, and so every pair of shoes
, sandals, anything that we sellonce a quarter I run a report.
It doesn't matter how much theysold for, if they were
discounted full price, what theprice was, I came up with a
ratio it's $3 for every singlepiece of footwear.
(06:34):
We then donate to Water forGood, specifically for a
wellhead, and so we now have, Ithink, two or three wellheads
that we've completed and theywill be on our website in a way
that customers can go back, lookat the date range of when they
bought shoes, see exactly whichwell head is associated with
that date range, gps located,see the village, see the people
that are being impacted justbecause they chose to buy shoes
(06:55):
from cloud nine and supportcloud nine and then serve same
thing clean water.
But aside from just providingwells and well heads, well
maintenance is a big, big factor.
That was something I learned inScott Harrison's book Thirst
that it's one thing to providethe wells, but how many of them
go down from a simple brokenbolt or a crank or whatever it
(07:16):
is?
So serve wants to be able to.
And again, I think businessesoften have great intention and
they can sometimes overcommit tothe intention and the heart of
wanting to help others but notdo it strategically.
So the same thing I did withTrident and I did with Cloud9,
I'm now doing a serve, becauseserve's a new business.
I'm basically earmarking moneybut we haven't given anything
(07:37):
yet because I believe you haveto kind of let it run a full
year, see where your numbers are, see where your profitability
is, and not overcommit in a waythat actually hampers the growth
of the business and thereforeeventually hampering the growth
of giving.
So we're in that phase ofunderstanding a scalable way to
provide money towards wellmaintenance and also doing it in
a way that isn't just areactive giving but an
(08:00):
inspirational giving to, whereour clients, our partners,
understand the ratio, the factor.
We can then communicate thateffect back into lives where
they like man.
I'm so glad I'm partner withServe, I'm so glad that Serve
takes care of us because it'sregular business being done, but
by choosing to do it with them.
This impact is taking place andagain, hopefully, it trickles
(08:20):
downstream, that they go.
You know what, as a business,we can do something too.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Man, that's awesome.
Thanks for sharing thoseexamples.
Hopefully that challenges andinspires listeners who have the
opportunity to use business todo good, and you've demonstrated
that clearly.
And I think for my family.
I don't know if this is a goodor bad thing, but I'm pretty
sure now we've bought so manyshoes from cloud nine that we
probably have our own well nowover there.
So I'm not going to let Bobbiknow, because then she's going
to want to go buy more shoesthere, but I do have a hookah
(08:48):
running shoe problem, so Iconfess I do need to eat another
pair.
So okay, so all of that to saythis is where you are,
no-transcript, you didn't justarrive there without some
hardship along the way.
And so in this podcast we talkabout these crucible moments
that shaped who we are as aperson, and we know from
(09:11):
scripture that crucible momentsGod uses those to refine, and he
talks about metals silver thatgoes into the furnace and it
melts away the impurities, and asilversmith knows when the
silver is ready to come out,when he can see his image, and
likewise it is with God.
When we're reflecting his image, he pulls us out of the
crucible and puts us on theassignment that he has.
(09:31):
Now.
Some people deal with cruciblesthat last a lifetime, and some
are short seasons, and some wepursue for our own growth.
For example, you like to doSpartans and you like to run and
do marathons, and I'm in asimilar camp wanting to do
Ironmans and these types ofthings, and you know so
sometimes we pursue thatdiscomfort and enter into our
(09:54):
own crucibles because we knowthat it produces character and
perseverance.
Sometimes we're in cruciblesthat we don't control and I
think you have a few of those inyour life that have happened to
you and so just want to enterinto the crucible with you and
heat things up a little bit more.
And let's talk about some ofthese life-changing crucibles
you've had that have got towhere you are today, and even
(10:15):
some that you choose to pursue.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I can go back to and this is one of the things I talk
about in my talks is watershedmoments.
Right, we're all given ahandful of watershed moments in
life, and I won't dive intodetails of what a watershed
moment is.
Google it, you know, you cankind of understand it or check
out one of my my talks.
But I had one of my firstwatershed moments when I was 19.
And my dad was diagnosed withLou Gehrig's disease and you
(10:41):
know, and all of a sudden youhear the hero of your life has a
terminal illness that kind ofshapes you a little bit, right,
it puts you up against the wall.
And I went home a couple monthslater and for the first time
seeing him after his diagnosisbecause I was out here in
Indiana and he was in Marylandwhen the phone call took place
that I found out and my cousinpulled me off to the side and he
goes.
You know, keith, how you doing.
You have two choices andneither one of them is wrong.
(11:11):
But what you choose to decidewill determine everything.
And are you going to choose toeither go through it or grow
through it?
I chose to go through, growthrough it, right, so that
choice and to tie into yourcrucible examples, I believe
wasn't a single event refining.
I'm definitely a journey, ajourneyman.
When it comes to, like, thatrefining process, god has broken
me down in little ways and inbig ways over ever since.
(11:31):
Really, that choice, um, thatchoice became the foundation and
and and and allowed me to entera place of what I call a growth
through it mindset journey thatI will be on until the day that
I exit this earth.
Um, that's a journey that I tryto hopefully help other day
that I exit this earth, that's ajourney that I try to hopefully
help other people see along theway too.
And it really is the corefoundation of why I do.
(11:54):
You know, even the physicalactivities, like even the
physical side of things, Ididn't start running till 2012.
So, like 12 years ago you knowwhat I mean I said, oh, I'll do,
I'll do a 5k.
And, as you know, I mean fromour history together I was not
an active person.
There was no way I was evergoing to run a five, a marathon,
much less a 5k, and I was notthe best version of myself
(12:20):
physically, mentally,emotionally or anything like
that.
And so, as this journey takesplace, you start realizing that
all of those things areintertwined right.
If I really want to perform ata high level in life, whether
that be for my family or forwork, I can't disregard my
nutrition.
If I really want to perform ata high level in life and work, I
can't let my physical fitnesssit over there in the closet
(12:45):
right.
All of those things really,really mesh and you know, if you
want to be in tune mentally,you want to show up as the best
version of yourself for those inyour life, you want to bring
impact to people, you've got toreally, you know, look at all
aspects of your life and reallypush all aspects.
I finished my 25th book in 2024was Hunting Discomfort by
(13:05):
Sterling Hawkins.
He's going to be one of thespeakers at the Growth Summit
and he has a line in there thatI absolutely fell in love with
and he was like on the otherside of growth is, or the other
side of discomfort is not onlygrowth, it's also life's
greatest accomplishments andmemories.
Right and so that if you lookback at the Ironman, if you look
(13:26):
back at all of your differentindividual accomplishments, they
, for anybody that I don't know,like if you haven't ran at all.
Guess what.
It is not a freakingcomfortable thing to do, to step
into it, right.
But as you accomplish it and doit, yes, you're physically going
to transform, but mentally,like when you overcome those
obstacles, those mental barriersof I can't do this because it's
(13:47):
just a false narrative, right,um, and, and you start doing
those things, you start growing.
Well, what else can Iaccomplish?
What else can I accomplish?
And, uh, as we're, you know,having this conversation last
week, sterling and another guythat I know, uh, paul Epstein
from my impact 11 group, theyjust did, uh, they just did.
Have you ever heard ofEveresting?
Okay, that's our next thing.
Okay, you want me to get me intoan Ironman.
(14:08):
I think this is something weboth need to do for the first
time.
So Eversting is 29,029.
So you go to a mountain likedid this I think it was Mount
LeBlanc, they did this and 29feet, and so I think their trip
up mountain blog was 15different times.
They're climbing up themountain gondola back down,
(14:29):
climbing back up gondola backdown, and you have to do it in
36 hours.
Whoa.
Right so yeah, there's this,these intense things out there
that people do and can do, andit is it's meant to push you
physically, but I think moreimportantly it pushes you
mentally, because our bodies cando incredible things.
It's usually our minds thatlimit us.
Because our bodies can doincredible things, it's usually
our minds that limit us, andwhen you kind of translate that
(14:49):
over into life, into growth, itcan really unlock some amazing
potential inside of us.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Man, that's cool.
So this idea of the crucibleand I love that quote that you
gave from Sterling Hawkins andthat's a powerful one crucible
moments, you know if, if you'renot, if you're not in one
because of life circumstances,we might say that which, which
one are you pursuing?
Because if we're really goingto grow through these difficult
(15:15):
things, then we need to beputting ourselves in difficult
situations.
Um, and that's that's why welike doing some of the events we
do, that's why Mason Geigerlikes doing some of the events
he does, cause there's MasonGeiger likes doing some of the
events he does because there'salso a spiritual representation
and Paul talks about.
He uses as a metaphor, liketraining for the athletic games,
that we train our bodies andhow much more should we train
(15:37):
our spiritual selves so we canearn the eternal crown?
So we do this to achieve atemporary crown and there's
benefits to that, and an athletetrains for that and he goes
through the perseverance and thesuffering to get to the finish
line.
But it's also a spiritualmetaphor for we should be living
with the same kind of mindset,spiritually to cross that finish
line and win an eternal crownthat lasts.
(15:58):
So when you think about thecrucible.
You know, the idea is that weemerge as a leader on fire, and
so we want to talk about thisidea of the crucible and how
it's kind of inspired you tocreate this event in the
community.
You talked about SterlingHawkins.
I'd like for you to share alittle bit about this idea of
(16:21):
the Growth Summit, because it'saround the same idea, right this
idea of the growth summit,because it's around the same
idea, right.
So share a little bit about thegrowth summit and why you feel
that's important and how thatkind of connects into this grow
through it and or go through itand the crucible moments, and
why the growth summit and whySterling Hawkins.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So part of my journey and part of I mentioned the
three businesses the Trident 21is a client services and part of
that over the last severalyears I've developed corporate
training, speaking specificallyprofessional speaking, really
moving into that keynote arena,because I truly believe that is
a platform that People that havepowerful words and stories can
(17:03):
inspire and move people in themasses right.
So that's one of my greatestverticals to accomplish my why
to change the world specificallythrough business and to tell
the story of choosing to growthrough it and creating a
framework and a body of workaround a growth through it
mindset and what that looks like, and so the desire to deliver
that led to this growth summit.
(17:25):
And when you talk about thecrucible, it's one thing to
pursue difficulty, it's onething to pursue discomfort in a
way that stretches you andpushes you into a better version
of yourself.
It's completely another thingwhen those crucibles are like
inflicted into your life.
Like you have no choice, right,and we can do all the right
(17:49):
things.
And life can change like thatbecause somebody else crossed
over a double yellow line, thatyou had zero control over right.
That stuff happens regardless ofwho you are in this world,
regardless of what you're doing,regardless of status, gender,
world, regardless of what you'redoing, regardless of status,
gender, political view, whateverright Life happens.
(18:14):
And I truly believe that whenthat, when those worst moments
in life inject themselves in thework we've done to prepare
ourselves for those, completelychanged the way that we handle
it.
And that's really one of mypassions is if I can help people
, because life is like a rollercoaster, okay, if I can help
people, instead of it being thehighs and the lows and all the
severity that those two thingsbecause high can be severe as
(18:36):
well People crash off of highsbecause they exceed their upper
limits and they don't know howto handle an amazing thing that
happens in life.
And instead of being highs andlows, what if it balances it out
?
What if the lows aren't so low?
Right, they still pay, there'sstill pain, there's still hurt,
but they are handled with adifferent filter of like.
Okay, how am I going to growthrough this?
How can I possibly use this topositively impact the lives of
(18:59):
others?
Despite the pain I'm feeling,today I go through an immense
high, this immense celebration.
Yeah, the pain I'm feelingtoday I go through an immense
high, this immense celebration.
Yeah, celebrate it, revel it,but keep it in perspective, keep
that humility like tone in.
So that's that's a really a bigpiece of my talk around a
growth through it mindset, andso the the opportunity to build
that, that career of, like youknow, hey, I need to speak, a
(19:21):
real, I need to do this so I canemerge into that lane over the
next several years.
You can go out and you can hirestudio, you can pay you know
seconds to sit in at tables andit's all controlled.
Or it's like, why not just do alive event and film it and
bring value to the community?
And so that kind of birthed theidea of this, this growth
summit, and being in the impact11 community.
(19:43):
I'm sitting there literally inSan Diego at a masterclass this
past I think it was January,february and Sterling Hawkins
overhears me and he goes whatare you doing?
I explained to him.
He goes I'd love to be a partof that and this thing, we just
started brainstorming it Right,and so it led to this
opportunity, this.
Well, it's not along anopportunity, it's happening.
Uh, the single half day eventon November 7th in Warsaw,
(20:03):
indiana.
That's an opportunity foranybody from a stay-at-home
parent to a C-suite executive atthe highest levels to come in,
challenge themselves, walk awaywith two or three action items
on ways that they can go out andbe a better version of
themselves, not just forthemselves but the people that
they interact with in life.
So we're having it at theWarsaw Performing Arts Center.
You know it's expanded a littlebit.
(20:24):
So we're having it at theWarsaw Performing Arts Center.
It's expanded a little bit.
So I'm doing the openingkeynote.
Rachel Drunkemiller is alsoImpact 11 community.
She's doing an insight talk.
Then Rob Parker from the Chamberis leading a panel made up of
local amazing leaders JoshWildman, ben Higgins, marsha
Barnes, who's from Indy andsupports the Wildman board and
author and speaker, and ofherself.
And then Frankie Russo.
(20:46):
He's doing an Insight Talk andthen Sterling Hawkins is doing
the closing keynote.
So Warsaw's never had I mean wedo the GLS events, which is
like simulcast Warsaw's neverhad an event where multiple
world-class speakers like thisis what we do for a living are
taking the stage in a way toinspire and drive a message of
(21:06):
growth and letting people walkaway and take that back into
their works and theircommunities Like I'm sorry, I
got goosebumps just as I'mtalking about it because of the
ripple effect that it can create.
I'm ridiculously excited aboutit.
Awesome, man.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Well, I can't wait to be a part of it too and watch
it go down, and, of course, cfor one is behind it.
We think it's a greatopportunity and we want to
encourage those in the communitythat have gone to GLS or that
are pursuing growthopportunities.
They need to be here at thisevent.
And so, yeah, man, thanks forsharing that and thanks for
sharing a bit of your story, andhopefully you know, the idea
(21:39):
behind this podcast is that itinspires people to be leaders on
fire.
I mean, clearly you have energyand passion for what you're
doing and you know our goal isto help people in life with that
same type of thing.
Help them to get on fire forthe Lord, on fire for their why,
so that they can passionatelypursue the things they're called
to to make an impact.
So, thanks for sharing a bit ofyour story with us, keith.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Absolutely my pleasure.
And, and I'll kick back, as youknow, as a leader on fire um,
people that are listening tothis, just walk the journey
right.
Everybody's journey isdifferent.
Everybody's journey is adifferent period of time.
As long as you're walking thejourney, you are having impact
on the lives of others.
Like don't think, oh, to be aleader on fire, it has to look
like this no, no, no, no.
(22:22):
Just step forward and like the,it'll just start the flywheel
and the rest will take care ofitself.
But you got like people have totake that forward.
That step forward action.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, that's a great call out, man, because I do
think some personalities get,you know, paralysis by analysis.
They think it's got to be thisbig thing and they can't even
take that very first step.
And it's like we shouldn't.
It's in some ways we almost gotto detach from outcomes and
just take that first step thatwe know to be faithful and watch
it unfold, because I've seen,and you've seen too, when you do
(22:53):
that actually what God does ismore than we can think or
imagine and doors start openingin ways we didn't even think
about, just because we took astep and we took another step
and we keep moving forward andsome of the stuff I'm involved
in and same with you, like if 10years ago I couldn't have
painted this on a whiteboard, no, you know what I mean.
Right, I 100% know what you mean.
Yeah, so it's like, but you hadto take a step and you might've
(23:16):
had a vision for what thefuture could be.
But as we navigate that journey, as you're talking about, it is
taking those steps.
So that journey, as you'retalking about, it is taking
those steps.
So I'm super thankful youcalled that out, because I think
that is a key part of being aleader on fire is is moving
forward and taking those stepsand, like you talked about your
25th book, I mean that you'retaking steps to continue to grow
and it just positions youravailability and what you can be
(23:38):
a part of because you're movingforward, yep, so thanks for
calling that out, man, and again, thanks for being on our show,
super excited to get thisreleased for people.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Awesome man.
Thank you for listening totoday's episode.
Perhaps it has prompted apainful memory or challenged you
to reflect on times you were inthe crucible.
Some of you may be in acrucible now, but be encouraged.
Maybe, just maybe, god is usingthis to refine your character
(24:11):
so that you emerge as a leaderon fire.
If today's episode was anencouragement to you, share it
with others who may also findencouragement in the Leaders on
Fire podcast.
So let's go into the world.
Sent out as leaders on fireuntil next time.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!