December 3, 2024 • 34 mins
How does a small-town enthusiast become a visionary leader in the media industry? Meet Mason Geiger, the creative genius and CEO behind DreamOn Studios, as he joins us to share his remarkable journey. From his early love of cycling and endurance sports to his passion for storytelling, Mason's journey in this tale of resilience, faith, and leadership. As Mason recounts the pivotal moments in his life, he reveals how these experiences shaped his unique leadership style and personal philosophy.
Mason takes us on an adventure from his humble beginnings in high school to the bustling streets of Los Angeles and back home again, each step adding depth to his vision for DreamOn Studios. It all started with a dream sparked by dissatisfaction with local media and grew into a thriving collaboration with Tim Early and Matt Deuel. Through Mason's storytelling, we uncover the challenges and triumphs that forged DreamOn Studios into a state-of-the-art creative haven in Warsaw, where individual and organizational narratives come alive.
Experience the transformative power of endurance and personal growth as Mason discusses the crucible moments that have tested and refined his character. Whether it's through his involvement with Team Triumph or embracing the unpredictable nature of life, Mason exemplifies the spirit of a leader on fire. He inspires us all to pursue our own paths with determination, humility, and a commitment to serving others. Join us for an episode that celebrates the incredible journey of Mason Geiger and the impact of DreamOn Studios, leaving you motivated to tackle your own life's challenges with courage and purpose.
Leaders on Fire
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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.
Today we get to have a specialguest.
(00:25):
It is the CEO of DreamOnStudios, the studio I'm sitting
in here right now.
So we're having Mason Geiger onour show today.
Super excited to have him on.
Man.
He's been a huge part in mylife and helping me accomplish
my dreams with bringing leaderson fire and putting it out there
for people to digest and learnand helping my dreams become a
(00:47):
reality.
So super excited to have Masonon to hear his story and also to
hear about his crucible momentsand how he has emerged as a
leader on fire.
So let's welcome Mason to theshow.
All right, mason, we're excitedto have you on the show here,
right here in your own studio,dream On.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Studios.
This is pretty cool.
It is Interesting to be on thisside of the camera.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah.
So for those of you that don'tknow, mason is the CEO of Dream
On Studios.
Mason and I his relationshipgoes back a few years and we've
gotten closer over the last fewyears, particularly over the
last few months.
We've been working on a projecttogether, but Mason is who I
want to be when I grow up whenit comes to being a cyclist, so
he's my inspiration.
I'm always checking his metricsgoing man, am I gaining
anything on him yet in mycycling?
(01:33):
And so Mason's an awesomecyclist.
He's an awesome creativeindividual.
He's got an amazing thing goinghere at Dream On Studios.
So we're excited to have you onthe show and hear some things
about you, some crucible moments, some difficult things, some
wonderful things and how you'veemerged as a leader on fire.
So welcome to the show.
(01:53):
Thanks, drew, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Appreciate the opportunity.
Awesome man.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So let's light the fire.
Tell us a little bit about whois Mason Geiger.
Who are you, what do you do?
A little bit about your family.
Tell us a little bit about whois Mason Geiger.
Who are you, what do you do?
A?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
little bit about your family, all right.
So yeah, I am 34 years old.
I have married to Leah, abeautiful bride, for 13 years,
in September, so we got marriedyoung and we have a beautiful
daughter, keegan Riley, who willbe three in September.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Awesome yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And I'm very yeah, you said cycling I love
endurance, sports, love pushingmy limits, finding new things,
kind of, yeah, seeking outboundaries and trying to find,
find new ways to test that andjust really just getting out.
I feel like I have my clearestthoughts whenever I'm on my bike
, so I try to seek that out asmuch as I can.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Awesome man.
So you are the CEO of DreamBoneStudios, but you're also the, I
would say, some of the creativehorsepower behind the
organization.
That's really where your heartis right.
I mean the creativity and theinspiration, the visioneering of
beautiful sets like this.
You want to speak a little bitabout that at all.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, no.
So I just I love.
I think there's so much powerin story and that everyone has a
story to share, and so beingable to come in and find unique
ways to one, hear their storyand then be able to help them
yeah, identify and see the, seethe impact that it can have and
be able to find a way that toshowcase it, that whenever they
look back on it, they feel seenand they feel heard and that
(03:27):
they're excited about them beingable to share that story.
So that's why I love what weget to do here.
We get to work in a lot ofdifferent industries, a lot of
different businesses andcontinually learning from them
and getting from C-suite down inthese organizations and seeing
what works and just leadershiptechniques and helping sharing
stories inside of theorganizations.
(03:47):
That it's just really fun andit's just, yeah, every day is
something new and I love that.
It's an adventure.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's awesome, man.
Well, you and your team aredoing awesome work here.
I appreciate that, being a partof it a ton.
So, all right, let's warmthings up a little bit and fan
the flame.
So tell us a little bit abouthow Dream On Studios even came
about.
Like, what was the inspiration,how did it come about and
what's the story behind that man.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
How far back we want to go with this as far as you
want to go, man.
It's been a journey, for sure.
I mean it started I really, Imean my love for video and just
kind of capturing stories reallygoes back, honestly, like high
school and opportunities andphotography and the radio and tv
class and just getting to, yeah, explore, creating.
(04:35):
I mean I have music background,played piano, and so I always
kind of had had that creativemedium that I like worked inside
of.
But it was like really gettingbehind a camera that I started
to like look for what are newways to kind of capture, and um
didn't really even understandlike storytelling through, like
art and video, um, but yeah, Ijust continued to kind of work
(04:59):
and had a lot of freedom in highschool to really discover and
work with that.
And then, um, yeah, I, I meanman trying to figure out how to
like tile the story together.
So, yeah, going out to LA, Imean pulled the whole classic
small town of, as soon as yougraduate, get as far away as
possible.
So it was like two weeks aftergraduation, moved out to LA and
(05:21):
my sister was out there in herfamily and so got kind of
connected into the industry outthere and um was doing some
sound effects and ADR and justquickly realized, though, that
that's not.
Um wasn't where, wasn't where Iwas supposed to be.
It was just kind of looking andseeing um, just family dynamics
and my boss, who I was workingwith at the time, and, um, it
(05:42):
was more of the you live to workinstead of like working to live
, and I just know, as much as Iloved what I was doing, the
fruits of the labor, on the endit was all like very, it felt
very self-serving.
I was like I'm working becauseI can say like, hey, I worked on
this project, or I got to workwith this person.
I didn't like the impact wasn'tthere, and so, yeah, I was
(06:10):
honestly kind of lost, didn'treally know what God had planned
, but just had this like very,like intense, like this is not
where I'm supposed to be, movedback to Worsana's in that
transition that then I ended upmeeting Leah, and so we started.
I mean, I was smitten with herfrom day one.
I mean we did a lot of recordingtogether and she was a
singer-songwriter and so I gotto like work with her on that
and just we created a bond andknew I'm like hey, this is the
(06:33):
person I'm supposed to spend therest of my life with, and kind
of poured everything into thatrelationship.
And as we kind of got marriedand we're figuring things out I
mean, being young, she's goingback to school, I'm working
construction with the familybusiness the thing that I swore
I was never going to do WheneverI moved out to California I'm
like I'm done with constructionand yeah, three years later or
(06:56):
two years later, I'm back doingthat same thing and just felt
this like, felt like I in somesenses took a huge step back, um
, like career-wise.
But looking back now it's theuh, yeah, it's just it's always
cool to look back and see like,yeah, god's like eternal, like
he had a bigger, bigger plan inplace.
(07:17):
I had no no idea for so but inthat, still knowing that like
construction is not the longtermfor me.
And we're sitting in the movietheater here at North point
which is ironic that it's justright down the street from us
now and watching the ads playbefore and just being like these
are really, really bad, andjust being like I feel like the
(07:41):
worst, all like that we could dobetter and, you know, having no
idea what I was getting intowithout was just kind of that
trigger point for me of like Ifeel like the worst, like that
we could do better and, you know, having no idea what I was
getting into, but that was justkind of that trigger point for
me of like, hey, I think there'san opportunity locally to kind
of start something up.
And so, yeah, so it was 2013that I started.
Then I was making guyphotography and film and, yeah,
I kind of started to build thebusiness and just figure it out
(08:01):
as I went.
So I was working construction,you know, during the day, and
then nights and weekends I wastrying to build the company and
just investing.
Every project was trying tolead to the next one.
It's investing back andbuilding it.
And then so yeah, long storyshort.
Then, through a lot ofconnections, working with GLS
2018, I meet Tim Early at GLS,at the PAC, and he comes up and
(08:26):
he's like hey, no, you probablyhave no idea who I am.
I just want to let you know I'ma huge fan of the work that
you're doing and I see you andjust want to say keep up the
great work.
And then, in that about thesame time period, I meet Matt
Dules, my co-founder here, andwe started working together on
some projects.
There's actually Keith Sampsonthat put us together and played
a little bit of a matchmaker ofhiring us onto the same project
(08:51):
and, yeah, we both looked ateach other at the end and we
were at a three-day shoot up inDetroit and we got back from it.
We're like man, that was a lotof fun, like we'd both been kind
of he had multiple likebusiness ventures and stuff
before and I had always kind ofbeen the solopreneur and we kind
of looked at each other and sawthere was a yeah, it was a good
match.
It was that he had strengthsand my weaknesses and I had
(09:12):
strengths and his weaknesses andwe're like this is a lot of fun
kind of working together, solet's keep this going.
Um, and then kind of comingthrough COVID, uh, yeah, tim
reached out, we had connectedagain and his business had grown
and he was like, hey, whatwould it look like to, you know,
start a studio?
State of the art studio here inin warsaw, um, because, again,
(09:32):
at that point we were still justkind of working out of cars and
you know, we had a small officespace but everything we were
doing was traveling out toclients.
And he, yeah, gave us the, heput the fuel in our rocket, as
we say now, to kind of come in,give us a bigger vision of what
the studio space could look likeand how we could better serve
(09:53):
our community.
And we, after a lot of prayerand, yeah, a lot of thought and
prayer and deciding, like isthis where we're going to go and
I'd landed at the point likeit's going to allow us to better
serve our community Definitelywas stepping outside of my
comfort zone.
Because, again, I'd always beenkind of a solopreneur, even
(10:14):
whenever the work I was doing inLA, it's like I had an A-boss
that I was working with and soit was just a lot of like I was
doing the work, and so the ideaof like leading a team and
having to delegate and like allthese things were just not on my
radar.
I'm just like a get in hands on, like let's do it, um, so yeah,
so it was a big stretch for meand but yeah, so we, uh, yeah,
(10:39):
made the decision we're going togo forward with this and we
started building out the studiospace and so now we're three
years in and, um, yeah, it's,it's grown and it's been awesome
and a wild ride, um, but also Ifeel like we're just like
scratching the surface of whatwe're going to be doing, which
(11:00):
is the exciting of it feels likeevery.
I feel like every quarter.
We say, like man, like we're,we're like right on that, the
precipice of the next thing, butit's like we just keep growing
and learning and finding newways to tell stories and it's
just, it's been a blast.
That's awesome, man.
Thanks for sharing all that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
That was a long DreamOn has created such an
awesome brand and reputation inthat short amount of time and I
mean I've personally enjoyed ourworking relationship and the
projects we're working on, andit truly is.
You're helping dreams come true.
Actually, tim was just in herea few minutes ago, before we
started this, and was sharingwith you guys that these ideas
that I have and this vision Ihave for Leaders on Fire and the
(11:35):
Lo-Fi platform it took DreamOnto help extract that, otherwise
it wouldn't be happening.
And so I met with you, mason,and kind of of shared the ideas
and you're like this is possible.
Yeah, we can do this.
And so, um, yeah, superthankful for you guys taking the
step, for Tim and everybodywho's behind making this
operation work.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
So no, we appreciate that return.
Helping you like tell yourstory and your messaging Cause
it is to me that's the mostexciting and most fulfilling
part of what we do is whenever,yeah, there's someone like you,
like you've got an idea and likea passion, like man, like I
feel, like there's somethinghere, and then we can come
alongside and help guide andbring that vision to life.
And then, whenever you see itand you're like, yes, like this
(12:18):
is the feeling that I wanted,because, yeah, I'm very much,
yeah, I'm a logical person.
I'm not like when you look atlike Enneagram and stuff, like
feeling isn't top for me, but itis whenever it comes to
creating.
It's like that's everything forme, it's like I want, when
someone sees it it doesn'tmatter if it's an HR video or a
product video it's like I wantthem to have a feeling and a
connection to it.
(12:38):
That's what really gets meexcited and so, yeah, so the
opportunity of being able tohelp you tell your story For
sure man.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So are you ready to turn up the heat a little more?
Let's do it.
So we're going to enter thecrucible, take a drink first,
and, yeah, mason's going toshare something about a season
or a time or a moment in hislife where he's entered the
crucible.
The heat was hot.
God was using that to melt offany impurities or any anything
(13:08):
in his character that justneeded, uh, to further developed
.
Um, and we know that when we'rein these crucible moments, um,
we often pray to God to get usout of them, to get us out of
the circumstance, whatever thestruggle might be, or we ask why
, why am I going through this?
Or how could this happen?
Um, and I'm sure you've hadmany of those in your life, and
so I'm excited to hear what Godhas done in your life through a
(13:32):
particular crucible or multiple,if you want to share and how
you emerged with, like, justbetter character, more in the
image of Christ and as a leaderon fire.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So take it away.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Enter the crucible brother.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh, brother, oh yeah.
So there are definitely, yeah,looking back on my life, there's
multiple like big, big cruciblemoments, some more recent than
others, but I think when I goback pivotal, pivotal one for me
when at first and it's kind ofthe tying in like dream on and
(14:08):
my who I've become today I canpoint back to 10 years ago.
Um, first big project it is, wewere like starting the company,
we and I newly married, crazyseason of our life and had an
opportunity to go and tell docor like, yeah, our first really
like storytelling experience incapturing the story of the
(14:33):
divides.
There's a couple of guys youmay know, a couple of them doing
the had an opportunity to dothe divide from Mexico to Canada
riding their bikes.
And I mean now, whenever Ifirst heard about the trip, I
was like, yes, sign me up.
All in, like this is amazing.
I just felt fully like there'svery few moments in my life that
(14:57):
I can point back to where Ididn't have a hesitation,
because now I'm like I'm verystrategic and like thought out
and it's like I'm a processorand this was like I heard it and
I'm like that's where I'msupposed to be and yes, I mean
we put everything into it.
I mean, we were getting up andworking construction, which
(15:18):
again, you're getting paidhourly, so it's you're taking a
month and a half off of work.
In the middle of his work I'mstarting the business business.
Leah's in school and she'swaitressing on the side, and so
it's like both was like hey,we're gonna go no income for the
next 42 days and go tell thisstory, um, and then day two, uh,
(15:39):
whole trip falls apart, thewhole trip that we envisioned
had fallen apart.
Um, and just I remember in thatmoment, just, yeah, like I'm not
an angry person, but I was likeangry in that moment, of like,
because I felt I was just sosure that this is, this is where
(15:59):
I'm supposed to be, this is astory that is going to impact so
many people's lives, andbecause, again, they were
raising funds for second milemissions to build a safe house,
um, down in the dominican, andit was like so everything and
like what they were doing andthe story behind it, I'm like
this is like this is going to bea game changer, like, and yeah,
(16:19):
then it just felt like god justcompletely like took it all
away and just being sofrustrated in that moment, um,
but looking back now, therelationships that I built
through that trip I mean thatwas my first, then, connection
with your father-in-law andgetting to spend the next like
(16:42):
month with him, um, and just somany cool moments and memories.
And looking back now, I meanthat is, that's a moment in my
life that like if I could goback and relive over and over
again, that would be the onewhich fit in the moment, like
which just sounds socounterintuitive, because in the
(17:03):
moment I was so upset and soangry and like just felt like I
was like hurt by it.
But now it's like those were,like it was such an adventure
and like the ride and therelationships that were
developed through that, and thenalso just seeing the physical
and like mental strength that ittakes to do something like that
(17:25):
, that then ignited the fire inme of wanting to start
challenging myself and doingthese endurance events.
So, yeah, I mean that that triplike completely shaped and
changed my life.
And so now it's I look, I thinkit's, is it 2 Timothy 4, 7,.
That's like finish the fight,or I fought the good fight,
(17:46):
finish the race, kept the faith,and it's like that has become
like my and everything that I do, it's like no wasted days.
It's like I want to have impactand, uh, yeah, push myself to
be prepared for moments likethat.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And there's a lot to unpack with that you know.
First of all, I think one ofthe takeaways is, and you know,
first of all, I think one of thetakeaways is well, first, if
God said, hey, here's a whitecanvas and a marker, draw out
your crucible moment.
We would never draw out thecrucible moments, right, Because
(18:22):
we just one.
We probably don't have thecourage and we couldn't even
think of some of the things heputs before us that, like you
said, you would have never, in amillion years, ever even wanted
to have this scenario.
On day two, you were completelycrushed and you were probably
in some sort of despair goingwhat is going on?
You said you were angry rightLost.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, you wouldn't have created that on your own.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I mean that's not something you would have done,
but being able to look at thatcrucible moment and how it
refined you, and that's apivotal moment in your life, you
know, and it's just like it'samazing when you think about how
God orchestrates some of thosethings.
And then you know you mentionedit challenged you to kind of
get into endurance events for acouple different reasons.
(18:59):
So I kind of want to unpackthat a little bit too, because
when I think about enduranceevents, I mean we've both done
Ironman events, you've done someother cycling events that are
very rigorous and requireendurance, and I think of the
scripture where Paul's talkingabout run the race that's marked
out for you.
And when I think about, likedoing, let's say, an Ironman, I
(19:20):
might have a plan in my head ofhow I think it's supposed to go.
There's a race that's markedout for me and it might not be
what I want, whether I get aflat tire or I get sick or the
weather or all these differentvariables, but that's the race
that's been marked out for meand I'm challenged to finish it.
Now, if I could mark out my ownrace, oh, the weather would be
(19:44):
perfect, probably like a nice 68degrees, no wind, some sun,
swim with the current, all thesebeautiful things, hydration,
nutrition would be spot on and Iwould just crush everything.
That's how I'd want every raceto go.
I've maybe had one ever that'sgone like that.
So let's talk about this ideafrom kind of tapping into that
(20:04):
crucible moment where you kindof had these, this amazing
experience that shaped who youwere.
Talk about how that shaped yourcharacter as a refined leader
on fire, but then also how itkind of triggered a new
trajectory too of theseendurance events and how that
kind of all ties together.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I think that was the first like hard moment in my
life where, coming out of it, Iwas like I saw the value of
going through hard thingsbecause it's so easy.
I think.
Yeah, I mean I think likechildhood and things growing up,
like you have these hardmoments and it's easy to have
(20:43):
that like victim mindset, andthis was like I saw it.
Just yeah, I don't, there wasjust like a switch that was
flipped of, like I saw the powerof going through hard things.
That then made me want to seekout those hard moments.
And so when you talk about likethe perfect race plan and you
know tailwind and like all thesethings, I actually I want the
(21:05):
worst racing conditions becausefor me that's the equalizer,
because it's like, yeah, I'm a,I'm a semi-strong, like cyclist
and like athlete, but it's I'mmentally.
I feel like I'm mentallystronger than a lot of people
out there, and so whenever it itis raining or there's mud or
you get mechanicals and that'swhere a lot of people crumble
(21:27):
because it's the plan that theyhad goes out the window and then
they don't know how to operate.
Where I'm like, yeah, obviouslyI have a plan going into those
races, but where I have the mostfun is when that plan gets
thrown out the window and it'slike, okay, this is the
challenge, I'm gonna embrace itbecause I know that I'm going to
be stronger for it coming outthe other, the other side, and
(21:49):
so, like the achiever in me,it's like I love those the
unexpected.
And so, even in what we do,like here at the studio, it's
like whenever something goeswrong, like tech or shoot gets
delayed or edits come in, andit's just like I don't know, I
get excited.
There's like a thrill of likeokay, like let's go, like this
is our chance, this is ourmountain we get to climb.
Now it's like I don't know,it's just fun, and so I enjoy
(22:11):
that like the adventure of theunknown.
And, yeah, embrace the hardmoments.
And there's definitely timeswhen you're it's easy, yeah to
you get in the, or you'reburnout mentally and you're just
like this is terrible, becauseI've had races where I've been
in the, the hurt locker, and itis not fun and it's like it to
(22:32):
the end of it.
I'm like what am I doing?
But then it's that next morningthat you like wake up and you,
you're like thinking about,you're like there really wasn't
that bad, it's like I could havegone deeper, it's like, and
then you're almost like upsetwith yourself that you allowed
yourself to go negative in thatmental space, um, which is like
yeah I just love that whenyou're in those, yeah, painful,
(22:56):
like dark moments that youreally discover like who you are
and so like sometimes like I'vebeen in those and I don't like
who I am in those moments, andso it's like, okay, how do I?
what is in my mindset?
That I need to shift to be ableto be stronger in those moments
?
Because these are like they'remanufactured, like I'm seeking
(23:18):
out pain.
It's like I mean I'm paying todo a race that I know is going
to hurt, and so I'm like I'mmanufacturing these moments
because I know there's going tocome a day whenever it's like
life is going to throw a curveball and I'm going to be in that
moment and it's going to bedark, and I didn't get to
manufacture that, but it's whatam I going to do when I'm in
that moment?
So I want to prepare myself andbe as mentally strong and have
(23:41):
as many tools in my toolkit thatI can to be equipped to be like
this is a mountain.
I want to go Like we're goingto climb back out of this, and
so, yeah, so do you have anygo-to things?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I mean, there are certain people that have like a
certain scripture or like apicture or a metaphor.
I mean, for me, you know, oneof the driving forces of why I
like to do endurance events andIronman races is, you know, the
metaphor to like my spirituallife.
So being disciplined physicallyand looking at how Paul uses
that metaphor of an athlete isdisciplined in their training
(24:14):
and how much more should we bein our spiritual training and so
, like, when it gets reallydifficult, thinking of those
passages that are anencouragement of enduring.
You know, hardship isdiscipline and kind of push
through and enduring sufferingand it produces perseverance and
character.
You know, is there anything foryou that kind of sticks out
(24:34):
that's a go-to, or is itdifferent every time?
Like, where do you tap into?
How does it connect into youand into who you are, as a
spiritual person, as a follower?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
of Jesus.
Yeah, it's that 2 Timothy 4, 7of like I want to whenever I
yeah, I'm sitting across fromJesus, that he looks at me and
he's just like you fought thegood fight and like you finished
the race.
You kept the faith and it'syeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So it is a metaphor for you, like the physical
aspect of it is a metaphor forthat conversation with Jesus
about finding the good fight,finishing the race well.
I mean, it's all a metaphor.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yes, it's like I feel like we are called to be
excellent in everything that wedo and a big driver as well for
it.
Like I know, like I'm not goingto, like I may not have this
body and the physical ability tobe able to do the things that
I'm doing now, but I know that Ihave it now and so I was like I
(25:35):
don't want to waste that,because I know that there's
people out there who aren't ableand they can't do the things
where they've had that takenaway from them, and so that's
like I want to honor them in theyeah, I don't want to waste
what I've been gifted and givenand that's a body that can
endure things and I want to beable to push that and hopefully
(25:59):
inspire other people in theprocess.
That it's like I just think it'sso easy in our culture to get
distracted and just kind ofdrift through life and chase
comfort and that I don't thinkwe're called to live a
comfortable life.
And so, yeah, I use physical tokeep me sharp for those moments
, Cause I know that there'sgonna be like what we have right
(26:21):
now.
It's like this isn't forever.
Yeah, and I just always havethis like that there's going to
be a moment, yeah, otheropportunities that will come
along that God presents, andthis is all just preparing for
the next path that he has for us, and so it's wanting to always
be prepared for that, and soit's yeah, I wanna be mentally
(26:43):
strong, physically strong, sothat any opportunity that comes,
it's not like I can't do that,it's like, no, I can do it.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah man, I can connect with that pretty well
because I know, for mepersonally, just so thankful
that I mean I have friends thathave gotten sick or gotten
injured or gotten diseases andthey can't physically do these
things, and I know that thatcould happen to me at any moment
.
I could wake up tomorrow withsomething I didn't plan, and so
(27:11):
I'm so grateful and thankful andfor me it's like stewarding
what I've been given.
So I've been given this now,and how do I use it to help me
grow closer to Jesus?
How does it help me to grow asa better person, as a better
leader, um, and to takeadvantage of of the physical
body that I can while I have it,um, because that that may be
taken away, um, something couldhappen and um, and so hopefully
(27:31):
it's an encouragement for thosethat are able and do have the
physical ability that wechallenge each other to go to
these places and to use thismetaphor of just physical
conditioning or competing, evenin something as like a 5K.
(27:51):
I mean, I know people thatactually we just did the Winona
Optimist Triathlon yesterday orSaturday and you know everybody
finished and a lot of time hadpassed and I think we were even
lining up to do the awards.
I mean, a lot of time had passedand here comes this guy.
Like most of the stuff hasalready even teared down, and
this guy, he comes chuggingalong and everybody just turned
(28:14):
around and interrupted Everybodywas there just erupted with
cheer and clapping.
I mean I don't know how long ittook him it might've taken him
two, two and a half hours orsomething to do this event,
definitely a lot longer thananyone else but it was so
awesome because he was so happy,he was so proud and he pushed
through.
It's probably very painful forhim.
So it's not like you don't haveto be an amazing athlete, it's
(28:36):
just like taking that stepforward to say how can I enter
into this comfort, to challengemyself, to grow physically,
enter a physical crucible whichis a metaphor for my spiritual
life, even if that means goingand signing up to walk a 5k,
like that might be a stretch forsome people and that's okay,
right?
I mean that's not the point ofhow big or how grand or how far
(28:57):
or whatever.
Like every everybody's journeyis different, but hopefully it's
an encouragement to help peoplemove forward in that, in that
life.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So, no, it's not about yeah, it's not about the
distance or like the size of theevent.
It is really it's about thatjourney and it's like I look
back, like the pain that I feelin, like some of these long
distance races.
I swear if I went back, it wasprobably the same pain that I
was feeling when I was doing myfirst 20 mile bike ride where,
(29:24):
like that felt hard and thatfelt like I'm like man.
I can't imagine going to ridemy bike for 20 miles and it's
like, but you grow and it's thesame thing like in life.
It's like you go throughexperiences, you develop new
skills and you continue to likepush that boundary.
And so anyone who is doingthese big events it all started
with them doing their first 5Kit's like you gotta start
(29:45):
somewhere.
Everyone starts somewhere.
You don't just yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
You know.
I'd like to give a shout outtoo to my Team, triumph.
It's so cool to see them atthese events because, for those
of you that don't know, there'sa group of people that are
taking physically disabled andchallenged people and getting
them into the event.
So I was on a team one year andhad a boat attached to my back.
I remember trying to swimthrough and pull somebody, but
the joy that you're bringingthem is amazing.
But love seeing those peoplethat are volunteering on my team
triumph, because it's harderfor them too, like it's
(30:15):
difficult.
I know Matt Hawk.
I see him out there every year.
He's doing that and and um, acouple others that I know that
do that and and you see them andthey're fighting hard and
that's a grind.
You know to pull another humanbeing in a stroller behind you
on a bike or to push them whenyou're running, um, so, but that
just shows you like there'seven people who are physically
(30:36):
disabled that are still engagingin that and accomplishing that
achievement.
And it's just so cool to seethat.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh yeah, so cool to see that the joy and the pride
that they have whenever they getacross that finish line Like
it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, it's awesome man.
So hopefully, what we gatherfrom this is that through these
crucible moments, andspecifically the one that you
talked about, a pivotal momentin your life and some of these
endurance events that you'vebeen after that, you're
continually being refined as aleader on fire, and I think,
(31:10):
metaphorically speaking, that'swhat you said.
That's why you are doing thesethings, because it's continuing
to sharpen your character, it'scontinuing to increase your
dependency on Christ and yourmental toughness and all of
those things, so that you can bejust a better leader, a leader
on fire who's on fire for Christand who's representing him as
(31:30):
an image bearer in this life.
And so, because we can, I willsay and I know I have to guard
myself against this is that someof these things we can do in
vain, just like anything else.
I can become a workaholic and doit in vain, which really I'm
supposed to be serving the Lordand using my gifts to serve him
and to be an ambassador forChrist.
Same thing as a triathlete oran athlete you can end up doing
(31:52):
it in vain and become consumedwith self, and so I think we've
got to guard against that.
But if we can keep the mindsetthat we're stewarding what God's
been giving us, that's ourphysical body, that's our
resources all to become more andmore and more like him and to
be able to serve others.
So it sounds like you have donethat and you've been doing that
(32:13):
.
Hopefully you'll continue to dothat and someday I hope I have
higher wattage output than you,but you're keeping me motivated,
so I'm gonna keep after you man, I'm not gonna be knocking on
your door.
You are, you're crushing it.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I will say whatever you're doing, keep doing it,
because you're on the right pathfor sure, and I'm 10 years
older.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Wait, how old did you say?
You were 34.
Okay, I'm 43.
So yeah, and I can say well, Ihave a handicap because I'm nine
years older, so I can reduce.
I don't know, five watts peryear or something.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Is that fair?
Something like that?
I think it'll be.
We'll work out.
I don't know if we'll everactually have an age bracket
where we'llusp, where we'realways going to be or actually
going to race against each other, but it's good.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Oh man.
Well, dude, it's been awesomehaving you on the show.
Really appreciate you sharingyour story, Love what you're
doing and you're an inspirationto many people.
So thank you for your work inthe cycling and the triathlon
world and that area, as well aswhat you're doing with Dream On
and who you are as a father anda man and husband.
So appreciate all that you'redoing, man.
(33:14):
Thanks for being on our show.
Thanks, man, really appreciateit.
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
(33:39):
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 sentout as leaders on fire Until
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.
Today we get to have a specialguest.
(00:25):
It is the CEO of DreamOnStudios, the studio I'm sitting
in here right now.
So we're having Mason Geiger onour show today.
Super excited to have him on.
Man.
He's been a huge part in mylife and helping me accomplish
my dreams with bringing leaderson fire and putting it out there
for people to digest and learnand helping my dreams become a
(00:47):
reality.
So super excited to have Masonon to hear his story and also to
hear about his crucible momentsand how he has emerged as a
leader on fire.
So let's welcome Mason to theshow.
All right, mason, we're excitedto have you on the show here,
right here in your own studio,dream On.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Studios.
This is pretty cool.
It is Interesting to be on thisside of the camera.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah.
So for those of you that don'tknow, mason is the CEO of Dream
On Studios.
Mason and I his relationshipgoes back a few years and we've
gotten closer over the last fewyears, particularly over the
last few months.
We've been working on a projecttogether, but Mason is who I
want to be when I grow up whenit comes to being a cyclist, so
he's my inspiration.
I'm always checking his metricsgoing man, am I gaining
anything on him yet in mycycling?
(01:33):
And so Mason's an awesomecyclist.
He's an awesome creativeindividual.
He's got an amazing thing goinghere at Dream On Studios.
So we're excited to have you onthe show and hear some things
about you, some crucible moments, some difficult things, some
wonderful things and how you'veemerged as a leader on fire.
So welcome to the show.
(01:53):
Thanks, drew, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Appreciate the opportunity.
Awesome man.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So let's light the fire.
Tell us a little bit about whois Mason Geiger.
Who are you, what do you do?
A little bit about your family.
Tell us a little bit about whois Mason Geiger.
Who are you, what do you do?
A?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
little bit about your family, all right.
So yeah, I am 34 years old.
I have married to Leah, abeautiful bride, for 13 years,
in September, so we got marriedyoung and we have a beautiful
daughter, keegan Riley, who willbe three in September.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Awesome yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And I'm very yeah, you said cycling I love
endurance, sports, love pushingmy limits, finding new things,
kind of, yeah, seeking outboundaries and trying to find,
find new ways to test that andjust really just getting out.
I feel like I have my clearestthoughts whenever I'm on my bike
, so I try to seek that out asmuch as I can.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Awesome man.
So you are the CEO of DreamBoneStudios, but you're also the, I
would say, some of the creativehorsepower behind the
organization.
That's really where your heartis right.
I mean the creativity and theinspiration, the visioneering of
beautiful sets like this.
You want to speak a little bitabout that at all.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, no.
So I just I love.
I think there's so much powerin story and that everyone has a
story to share, and so beingable to come in and find unique
ways to one, hear their storyand then be able to help them
yeah, identify and see the, seethe impact that it can have and
be able to find a way that toshowcase it, that whenever they
look back on it, they feel seenand they feel heard and that
(03:27):
they're excited about them beingable to share that story.
So that's why I love what weget to do here.
We get to work in a lot ofdifferent industries, a lot of
different businesses andcontinually learning from them
and getting from C-suite down inthese organizations and seeing
what works and just leadershiptechniques and helping sharing
stories inside of theorganizations.
(03:47):
That it's just really fun andit's just, yeah, every day is
something new and I love that.
It's an adventure.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's awesome, man.
Well, you and your team aredoing awesome work here.
I appreciate that, being a partof it a ton.
So, all right, let's warmthings up a little bit and fan
the flame.
So tell us a little bit abouthow Dream On Studios even came
about.
Like, what was the inspiration,how did it come about and
what's the story behind that man.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
How far back we want to go with this as far as you
want to go, man.
It's been a journey, for sure.
I mean it started I really, Imean my love for video and just
kind of capturing stories reallygoes back, honestly, like high
school and opportunities andphotography and the radio and tv
class and just getting to, yeah, explore, creating.
(04:35):
I mean I have music background,played piano, and so I always
kind of had had that creativemedium that I like worked inside
of.
But it was like really gettingbehind a camera that I started
to like look for what are newways to kind of capture, and um
didn't really even understandlike storytelling through, like
art and video, um, but yeah, Ijust continued to kind of work
(04:59):
and had a lot of freedom in highschool to really discover and
work with that.
And then, um, yeah, I, I meanman trying to figure out how to
like tile the story together.
So, yeah, going out to LA, Imean pulled the whole classic
small town of, as soon as yougraduate, get as far away as
possible.
So it was like two weeks aftergraduation, moved out to LA and
(05:21):
my sister was out there in herfamily and so got kind of
connected into the industry outthere and um was doing some
sound effects and ADR and justquickly realized, though, that
that's not.
Um wasn't where, wasn't where Iwas supposed to be.
It was just kind of looking andseeing um, just family dynamics
and my boss, who I was workingwith at the time, and, um, it
(05:42):
was more of the you live to workinstead of like working to live
, and I just know, as much as Iloved what I was doing, the
fruits of the labor, on the endit was all like very, it felt
very self-serving.
I was like I'm working becauseI can say like, hey, I worked on
this project, or I got to workwith this person.
I didn't like the impact wasn'tthere, and so, yeah, I was
(06:10):
honestly kind of lost, didn'treally know what God had planned
, but just had this like very,like intense, like this is not
where I'm supposed to be, movedback to Worsana's in that
transition that then I ended upmeeting Leah, and so we started.
I mean, I was smitten with herfrom day one.
I mean we did a lot of recordingtogether and she was a
singer-songwriter and so I gotto like work with her on that
and just we created a bond andknew I'm like hey, this is the
(06:33):
person I'm supposed to spend therest of my life with, and kind
of poured everything into thatrelationship.
And as we kind of got marriedand we're figuring things out I
mean, being young, she's goingback to school, I'm working
construction with the familybusiness the thing that I swore
I was never going to do WheneverI moved out to California I'm
like I'm done with constructionand yeah, three years later or
(06:56):
two years later, I'm back doingthat same thing and just felt
this like, felt like I in somesenses took a huge step back, um
, like career-wise.
But looking back now it's theuh, yeah, it's just it's always
cool to look back and see like,yeah, god's like eternal, like
he had a bigger, bigger plan inplace.
(07:17):
I had no no idea for so but inthat, still knowing that like
construction is not the longtermfor me.
And we're sitting in the movietheater here at North point
which is ironic that it's justright down the street from us
now and watching the ads playbefore and just being like these
are really, really bad, andjust being like I feel like the
(07:41):
worst, all like that we could dobetter and, you know, having no
idea what I was getting intowithout was just kind of that
trigger point for me of like Ifeel like the worst, like that
we could do better and, you know, having no idea what I was
getting into, but that was justkind of that trigger point for
me of like, hey, I think there'san opportunity locally to kind
of start something up.
And so, yeah, so it was 2013that I started.
Then I was making guyphotography and film and, yeah,
I kind of started to build thebusiness and just figure it out
(08:01):
as I went.
So I was working construction,you know, during the day, and
then nights and weekends I wastrying to build the company and
just investing.
Every project was trying tolead to the next one.
It's investing back andbuilding it.
And then so yeah, long storyshort.
Then, through a lot ofconnections, working with GLS
2018, I meet Tim Early at GLS,at the PAC, and he comes up and
(08:26):
he's like hey, no, you probablyhave no idea who I am.
I just want to let you know I'ma huge fan of the work that
you're doing and I see you andjust want to say keep up the
great work.
And then, in that about thesame time period, I meet Matt
Dules, my co-founder here, andwe started working together on
some projects.
There's actually Keith Sampsonthat put us together and played
a little bit of a matchmaker ofhiring us onto the same project
(08:51):
and, yeah, we both looked ateach other at the end and we
were at a three-day shoot up inDetroit and we got back from it.
We're like man, that was a lotof fun, like we'd both been kind
of he had multiple likebusiness ventures and stuff
before and I had always kind ofbeen the solopreneur and we kind
of looked at each other and sawthere was a yeah, it was a good
match.
It was that he had strengthsand my weaknesses and I had
(09:12):
strengths and his weaknesses andwe're like this is a lot of fun
kind of working together, solet's keep this going.
Um, and then kind of comingthrough COVID, uh, yeah, tim
reached out, we had connectedagain and his business had grown
and he was like, hey, whatwould it look like to, you know,
start a studio?
State of the art studio here inin warsaw, um, because, again,
(09:32):
at that point we were still justkind of working out of cars and
you know, we had a small officespace but everything we were
doing was traveling out toclients.
And he, yeah, gave us the, heput the fuel in our rocket, as
we say now, to kind of come in,give us a bigger vision of what
the studio space could look likeand how we could better serve
(09:53):
our community.
And we, after a lot of prayerand, yeah, a lot of thought and
prayer and deciding, like isthis where we're going to go and
I'd landed at the point likeit's going to allow us to better
serve our community Definitelywas stepping outside of my
comfort zone.
Because, again, I'd always beenkind of a solopreneur, even
(10:14):
whenever the work I was doing inLA, it's like I had an A-boss
that I was working with and soit was just a lot of like I was
doing the work, and so the ideaof like leading a team and
having to delegate and like allthese things were just not on my
radar.
I'm just like a get in hands on, like let's do it, um, so yeah,
so it was a big stretch for meand but yeah, so we, uh, yeah,
(10:39):
made the decision we're going togo forward with this and we
started building out the studiospace and so now we're three
years in and, um, yeah, it's,it's grown and it's been awesome
and a wild ride, um, but also Ifeel like we're just like
scratching the surface of whatwe're going to be doing, which
(11:00):
is the exciting of it feels likeevery.
I feel like every quarter.
We say, like man, like we're,we're like right on that, the
precipice of the next thing, butit's like we just keep growing
and learning and finding newways to tell stories and it's
just, it's been a blast.
That's awesome, man.
Thanks for sharing all that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
That was a long DreamOn has created such an
awesome brand and reputation inthat short amount of time and I
mean I've personally enjoyed ourworking relationship and the
projects we're working on, andit truly is.
You're helping dreams come true.
Actually, tim was just in herea few minutes ago, before we
started this, and was sharingwith you guys that these ideas
that I have and this vision Ihave for Leaders on Fire and the
(11:35):
Lo-Fi platform it took DreamOnto help extract that, otherwise
it wouldn't be happening.
And so I met with you, mason,and kind of of shared the ideas
and you're like this is possible.
Yeah, we can do this.
And so, um, yeah, superthankful for you guys taking the
step, for Tim and everybodywho's behind making this
operation work.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
So no, we appreciate that return.
Helping you like tell yourstory and your messaging Cause
it is to me that's the mostexciting and most fulfilling
part of what we do is whenever,yeah, there's someone like you,
like you've got an idea and likea passion, like man, like I
feel, like there's somethinghere, and then we can come
alongside and help guide andbring that vision to life.
And then, whenever you see itand you're like, yes, like this
(12:18):
is the feeling that I wanted,because, yeah, I'm very much,
yeah, I'm a logical person.
I'm not like when you look atlike Enneagram and stuff, like
feeling isn't top for me, but itis whenever it comes to
creating.
It's like that's everything forme, it's like I want, when
someone sees it it doesn'tmatter if it's an HR video or a
product video it's like I wantthem to have a feeling and a
connection to it.
(12:38):
That's what really gets meexcited and so, yeah, so the
opportunity of being able tohelp you tell your story For
sure man.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So are you ready to turn up the heat a little more?
Let's do it.
So we're going to enter thecrucible, take a drink first,
and, yeah, mason's going toshare something about a season
or a time or a moment in hislife where he's entered the
crucible.
The heat was hot.
God was using that to melt offany impurities or any anything
(13:08):
in his character that justneeded, uh, to further developed
.
Um, and we know that when we'rein these crucible moments, um,
we often pray to God to get usout of them, to get us out of
the circumstance, whatever thestruggle might be, or we ask why
, why am I going through this?
Or how could this happen?
Um, and I'm sure you've hadmany of those in your life, and
so I'm excited to hear what Godhas done in your life through a
(13:32):
particular crucible or multiple,if you want to share and how
you emerged with, like, justbetter character, more in the
image of Christ and as a leaderon fire.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
So take it away.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Enter the crucible brother.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh, brother, oh yeah.
So there are definitely, yeah,looking back on my life, there's
multiple like big, big cruciblemoments, some more recent than
others, but I think when I goback pivotal, pivotal one for me
when at first and it's kind ofthe tying in like dream on and
(14:08):
my who I've become today I canpoint back to 10 years ago.
Um, first big project it is, wewere like starting the company,
we and I newly married, crazyseason of our life and had an
opportunity to go and tell docor like, yeah, our first really
like storytelling experience incapturing the story of the
(14:33):
divides.
There's a couple of guys youmay know, a couple of them doing
the had an opportunity to dothe divide from Mexico to Canada
riding their bikes.
And I mean now, whenever Ifirst heard about the trip, I
was like, yes, sign me up.
All in, like this is amazing.
I just felt fully like there'svery few moments in my life that
(14:57):
I can point back to where Ididn't have a hesitation,
because now I'm like I'm verystrategic and like thought out
and it's like I'm a processorand this was like I heard it and
I'm like that's where I'msupposed to be and yes, I mean
we put everything into it.
I mean, we were getting up andworking construction, which
(15:18):
again, you're getting paidhourly, so it's you're taking a
month and a half off of work.
In the middle of his work I'mstarting the business business.
Leah's in school and she'swaitressing on the side, and so
it's like both was like hey,we're gonna go no income for the
next 42 days and go tell thisstory, um, and then day two, uh,
(15:39):
whole trip falls apart, thewhole trip that we envisioned
had fallen apart.
Um, and just I remember in thatmoment, just, yeah, like I'm not
an angry person, but I was likeangry in that moment, of like,
because I felt I was just sosure that this is, this is where
(15:59):
I'm supposed to be, this is astory that is going to impact so
many people's lives, andbecause, again, they were
raising funds for second milemissions to build a safe house,
um, down in the dominican, andit was like so everything and
like what they were doing andthe story behind it, I'm like
this is like this is going to bea game changer, like, and yeah,
(16:19):
then it just felt like god justcompletely like took it all
away and just being sofrustrated in that moment, um,
but looking back now, therelationships that I built
through that trip I mean thatwas my first, then, connection
with your father-in-law andgetting to spend the next like
(16:42):
month with him, um, and just somany cool moments and memories.
And looking back now, I meanthat is, that's a moment in my
life that like if I could goback and relive over and over
again, that would be the onewhich fit in the moment, like
which just sounds socounterintuitive, because in the
(17:03):
moment I was so upset and soangry and like just felt like I
was like hurt by it.
But now it's like those were,like it was such an adventure
and like the ride and therelationships that were
developed through that, and thenalso just seeing the physical
and like mental strength that ittakes to do something like that
(17:25):
, that then ignited the fire inme of wanting to start
challenging myself and doingthese endurance events.
So, yeah, I mean that that triplike completely shaped and
changed my life.
And so now it's I look, I thinkit's, is it 2 Timothy 4, 7,.
That's like finish the fight,or I fought the good fight,
(17:46):
finish the race, kept the faith,and it's like that has become
like my and everything that I do, it's like no wasted days.
It's like I want to have impactand, uh, yeah, push myself to
be prepared for moments likethat.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
And there's a lot to unpack with that you know.
First of all, I think one ofthe takeaways is, and you know,
first of all, I think one of thetakeaways is well, first, if
God said, hey, here's a whitecanvas and a marker, draw out
your crucible moment.
We would never draw out thecrucible moments, right, Because
(18:22):
we just one.
We probably don't have thecourage and we couldn't even
think of some of the things heputs before us that, like you
said, you would have never, in amillion years, ever even wanted
to have this scenario.
On day two, you were completelycrushed and you were probably
in some sort of despair goingwhat is going on?
You said you were angry rightLost.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, you wouldn't have created that on your own.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I mean that's not something you would have done,
but being able to look at thatcrucible moment and how it
refined you, and that's apivotal moment in your life, you
know, and it's just like it'samazing when you think about how
God orchestrates some of thosethings.
And then you know you mentionedit challenged you to kind of
get into endurance events for acouple different reasons.
(18:59):
So I kind of want to unpackthat a little bit too, because
when I think about enduranceevents, I mean we've both done
Ironman events, you've done someother cycling events that are
very rigorous and requireendurance, and I think of the
scripture where Paul's talkingabout run the race that's marked
out for you.
And when I think about, likedoing, let's say, an Ironman, I
(19:20):
might have a plan in my head ofhow I think it's supposed to go.
There's a race that's markedout for me and it might not be
what I want, whether I get aflat tire or I get sick or the
weather or all these differentvariables, but that's the race
that's been marked out for meand I'm challenged to finish it.
Now, if I could mark out my ownrace, oh, the weather would be
(19:44):
perfect, probably like a nice 68degrees, no wind, some sun,
swim with the current, all thesebeautiful things, hydration,
nutrition would be spot on and Iwould just crush everything.
That's how I'd want every raceto go.
I've maybe had one ever that'sgone like that.
So let's talk about this ideafrom kind of tapping into that
(20:04):
crucible moment where you kindof had these, this amazing
experience that shaped who youwere.
Talk about how that shaped yourcharacter as a refined leader
on fire, but then also how itkind of triggered a new
trajectory too of theseendurance events and how that
kind of all ties together.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I think that was the first like hard moment in my
life where, coming out of it, Iwas like I saw the value of
going through hard thingsbecause it's so easy.
I think.
Yeah, I mean I think likechildhood and things growing up,
like you have these hardmoments and it's easy to have
(20:43):
that like victim mindset, andthis was like I saw it.
Just yeah, I don't, there wasjust like a switch that was
flipped of, like I saw the powerof going through hard things.
That then made me want to seekout those hard moments.
And so when you talk about likethe perfect race plan and you
know tailwind and like all thesethings, I actually I want the
(21:05):
worst racing conditions becausefor me that's the equalizer,
because it's like, yeah, I'm a,I'm a semi-strong, like cyclist
and like athlete, but it's I'mmentally.
I feel like I'm mentallystronger than a lot of people
out there, and so whenever it itis raining or there's mud or
you get mechanicals and that'swhere a lot of people crumble
(21:27):
because it's the plan that theyhad goes out the window and then
they don't know how to operate.
Where I'm like, yeah, obviouslyI have a plan going into those
races, but where I have the mostfun is when that plan gets
thrown out the window and it'slike, okay, this is the
challenge, I'm gonna embrace itbecause I know that I'm going to
be stronger for it coming outthe other, the other side, and
(21:49):
so, like the achiever in me,it's like I love those the
unexpected.
And so, even in what we do,like here at the studio, it's
like whenever something goeswrong, like tech or shoot gets
delayed or edits come in, andit's just like I don't know, I
get excited.
There's like a thrill of likeokay, like let's go, like this
is our chance, this is ourmountain we get to climb.
Now it's like I don't know,it's just fun, and so I enjoy
(22:11):
that like the adventure of theunknown.
And, yeah, embrace the hardmoments.
And there's definitely timeswhen you're it's easy, yeah to
you get in the, or you'reburnout mentally and you're just
like this is terrible, becauseI've had races where I've been
in the, the hurt locker, and itis not fun and it's like it to
(22:32):
the end of it.
I'm like what am I doing?
But then it's that next morningthat you like wake up and you,
you're like thinking about,you're like there really wasn't
that bad, it's like I could havegone deeper, it's like, and
then you're almost like upsetwith yourself that you allowed
yourself to go negative in thatmental space, um, which is like
yeah I just love that whenyou're in those, yeah, painful,
(22:56):
like dark moments that youreally discover like who you are
and so like sometimes like I'vebeen in those and I don't like
who I am in those moments, andso it's like, okay, how do I?
what is in my mindset?
That I need to shift to be ableto be stronger in those moments
?
Because these are like they'remanufactured, like I'm seeking
(23:18):
out pain.
It's like I mean I'm paying todo a race that I know is going
to hurt, and so I'm like I'mmanufacturing these moments
because I know there's going tocome a day whenever it's like
life is going to throw a curveball and I'm going to be in that
moment and it's going to bedark, and I didn't get to
manufacture that, but it's whatam I going to do when I'm in
that moment?
So I want to prepare myself andbe as mentally strong and have
(23:41):
as many tools in my toolkit thatI can to be equipped to be like
this is a mountain.
I want to go Like we're goingto climb back out of this, and
so, yeah, so do you have anygo-to things?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I mean, there are certain people that have like a
certain scripture or like apicture or a metaphor.
I mean, for me, you know, oneof the driving forces of why I
like to do endurance events andIronman races is, you know, the
metaphor to like my spirituallife.
So being disciplined physicallyand looking at how Paul uses
that metaphor of an athlete isdisciplined in their training
(24:14):
and how much more should we bein our spiritual training and so
, like, when it gets reallydifficult, thinking of those
passages that are anencouragement of enduring.
You know, hardship isdiscipline and kind of push
through and enduring sufferingand it produces perseverance and
character.
You know, is there anything foryou that kind of sticks out
(24:34):
that's a go-to, or is itdifferent every time?
Like, where do you tap into?
How does it connect into youand into who you are, as a
spiritual person, as a follower?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
of Jesus.
Yeah, it's that 2 Timothy 4, 7of like I want to whenever I
yeah, I'm sitting across fromJesus, that he looks at me and
he's just like you fought thegood fight and like you finished
the race.
You kept the faith and it'syeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
So it is a metaphor for you, like the physical
aspect of it is a metaphor forthat conversation with Jesus
about finding the good fight,finishing the race well.
I mean, it's all a metaphor.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yes, it's like I feel like we are called to be
excellent in everything that wedo and a big driver as well for
it.
Like I know, like I'm not goingto, like I may not have this
body and the physical ability tobe able to do the things that
I'm doing now, but I know that Ihave it now and so I was like I
(25:35):
don't want to waste that,because I know that there's
people out there who aren't ableand they can't do the things
where they've had that takenaway from them, and so that's
like I want to honor them in theyeah, I don't want to waste
what I've been gifted and givenand that's a body that can
endure things and I want to beable to push that and hopefully
(25:59):
inspire other people in theprocess.
That it's like I just think it'sso easy in our culture to get
distracted and just kind ofdrift through life and chase
comfort and that I don't thinkwe're called to live a
comfortable life.
And so, yeah, I use physical tokeep me sharp for those moments
, Cause I know that there'sgonna be like what we have right
(26:21):
now.
It's like this isn't forever.
Yeah, and I just always havethis like that there's going to
be a moment, yeah, otheropportunities that will come
along that God presents, andthis is all just preparing for
the next path that he has for us, and so it's wanting to always
be prepared for that, and soit's yeah, I wanna be mentally
(26:43):
strong, physically strong, sothat any opportunity that comes,
it's not like I can't do that,it's like, no, I can do it.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah man, I can connect with that pretty well
because I know, for mepersonally, just so thankful
that I mean I have friends thathave gotten sick or gotten
injured or gotten diseases andthey can't physically do these
things, and I know that thatcould happen to me at any moment
.
I could wake up tomorrow withsomething I didn't plan, and so
(27:11):
I'm so grateful and thankful andfor me it's like stewarding
what I've been given.
So I've been given this now,and how do I use it to help me
grow closer to Jesus?
How does it help me to grow asa better person, as a better
leader, um, and to takeadvantage of of the physical
body that I can while I have it,um, because that that may be
taken away, um, something couldhappen and um, and so hopefully
(27:31):
it's an encouragement for thosethat are able and do have the
physical ability that wechallenge each other to go to
these places and to use thismetaphor of just physical
conditioning or competing, evenin something as like a 5K.
(27:51):
I mean, I know people thatactually we just did the Winona
Optimist Triathlon yesterday orSaturday and you know everybody
finished and a lot of time hadpassed and I think we were even
lining up to do the awards.
I mean, a lot of time had passedand here comes this guy.
Like most of the stuff hasalready even teared down, and
this guy, he comes chuggingalong and everybody just turned
(28:14):
around and interrupted Everybodywas there just erupted with
cheer and clapping.
I mean I don't know how long ittook him it might've taken him
two, two and a half hours orsomething to do this event,
definitely a lot longer thananyone else but it was so
awesome because he was so happy,he was so proud and he pushed
through.
It's probably very painful forhim.
So it's not like you don't haveto be an amazing athlete, it's
(28:36):
just like taking that stepforward to say how can I enter
into this comfort, to challengemyself, to grow physically,
enter a physical crucible whichis a metaphor for my spiritual
life, even if that means goingand signing up to walk a 5k,
like that might be a stretch forsome people and that's okay,
right?
I mean that's not the point ofhow big or how grand or how far
(28:57):
or whatever.
Like every everybody's journeyis different, but hopefully it's
an encouragement to help peoplemove forward in that, in that
life.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So, no, it's not about yeah, it's not about the
distance or like the size of theevent.
It is really it's about thatjourney and it's like I look
back, like the pain that I feelin, like some of these long
distance races.
I swear if I went back, it wasprobably the same pain that I
was feeling when I was doing myfirst 20 mile bike ride where,
(29:24):
like that felt hard and thatfelt like I'm like man.
I can't imagine going to ridemy bike for 20 miles and it's
like, but you grow and it's thesame thing like in life.
It's like you go throughexperiences, you develop new
skills and you continue to likepush that boundary.
And so anyone who is doingthese big events it all started
with them doing their first 5Kit's like you gotta start
(29:45):
somewhere.
Everyone starts somewhere.
You don't just yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
You know.
I'd like to give a shout outtoo to my Team, triumph.
It's so cool to see them atthese events because, for those
of you that don't know, there'sa group of people that are
taking physically disabled andchallenged people and getting
them into the event.
So I was on a team one year andhad a boat attached to my back.
I remember trying to swimthrough and pull somebody, but
the joy that you're bringingthem is amazing.
But love seeing those peoplethat are volunteering on my team
triumph, because it's harderfor them too, like it's
(30:15):
difficult.
I know Matt Hawk.
I see him out there every year.
He's doing that and and um, acouple others that I know that
do that and and you see them andthey're fighting hard and
that's a grind.
You know to pull another humanbeing in a stroller behind you
on a bike or to push them whenyou're running, um, so, but that
just shows you like there'seven people who are physically
(30:36):
disabled that are still engagingin that and accomplishing that
achievement.
And it's just so cool to seethat.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh yeah, so cool to see that the joy and the pride
that they have whenever they getacross that finish line Like
it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah, it's awesome man.
So hopefully, what we gatherfrom this is that through these
crucible moments, andspecifically the one that you
talked about, a pivotal momentin your life and some of these
endurance events that you'vebeen after that, you're
continually being refined as aleader on fire, and I think,
(31:10):
metaphorically speaking, that'swhat you said.
That's why you are doing thesethings, because it's continuing
to sharpen your character, it'scontinuing to increase your
dependency on Christ and yourmental toughness and all of
those things, so that you can bejust a better leader, a leader
on fire who's on fire for Christand who's representing him as
(31:30):
an image bearer in this life.
And so, because we can, I willsay and I know I have to guard
myself against this is that someof these things we can do in
vain, just like anything else.
I can become a workaholic and doit in vain, which really I'm
supposed to be serving the Lordand using my gifts to serve him
and to be an ambassador forChrist.
Same thing as a triathlete oran athlete you can end up doing
(31:52):
it in vain and become consumedwith self, and so I think we've
got to guard against that.
But if we can keep the mindsetthat we're stewarding what God's
been giving us, that's ourphysical body, that's our
resources all to become more andmore and more like him and to
be able to serve others.
So it sounds like you have donethat and you've been doing that
(32:13):
.
Hopefully you'll continue to dothat and someday I hope I have
higher wattage output than you,but you're keeping me motivated,
so I'm gonna keep after you man, I'm not gonna be knocking on
your door.
You are, you're crushing it.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
I will say whatever you're doing, keep doing it,
because you're on the right pathfor sure, and I'm 10 years
older.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Wait, how old did you say?
You were 34.
Okay, I'm 43.
So yeah, and I can say well, Ihave a handicap because I'm nine
years older, so I can reduce.
I don't know, five watts peryear or something.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Is that fair?
Something like that?
I think it'll be.
We'll work out.
I don't know if we'll everactually have an age bracket
where we'llusp, where we'realways going to be or actually
going to race against each other, but it's good.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Oh man.
Well, dude, it's been awesomehaving you on the show.
Really appreciate you sharingyour story, Love what you're
doing and you're an inspirationto many people.
So thank you for your work inthe cycling and the triathlon
world and that area, as well aswhat you're doing with Dream On
and who you are as a father anda man and husband.
So appreciate all that you'redoing, man.
(33:14):
Thanks for being on our show.
Thanks, man, really appreciateit.
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
(33:39):
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 sentout as leaders on fire Until
next time.
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