January 17, 2025 • 70 mins
What if the darkest moments of your life could become the foundation for your greatest transformation? Meet Jason Julian, our inspiring guest on the Successful Life Podcast, as he recounts his remarkable journey from the depths of addiction to a thriving career in the HVAC industry. Born into a family rich in building trade expertise, Jason once felt out of place, seeking solace in drugs and alcohol. Through his candid storytelling, Jason reveals the pivotal moments that steered him towards recovery, including a life-altering car accident and a profound spiritual awakening, culminating in over 12 years of sobriety.
Jason’s recovery story is one of perseverance and humility. He shares how hitting rock bottom became a blessing in disguise, pushing him towards a path of service and growth. Jason’s experiences in the 12-step program taught him the power of taking humble steps, from making coffee at meetings to embracing roles in his career that foster emotional maturity. Through his journey, he learned to prioritize solutions over sales, demonstrating that success in life and business hinges on genuine service to others. This episode uncovers how these lessons in humility have shaped Jason's approach to business, focusing on customer needs and satisfaction above all else.
Throughout our conversation, we explore the profound impact of community and support in overcoming addiction and finding purpose. Jason highlights the importance of taking life one step at a time, the value of authentic connections, and the empowering process of recovery. By sharing personal anecdotes and insights, Jason offers hope and guidance to those facing similar struggles or seeking a more fulfilling life. Join us for an enlightening episode that underscores the power of resilience, the joy of providing solutions, and the liberation found in choosing personal responsibility over victimhood.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Corey Berrier (00:01):
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.
I'm your host, Corey Berrier,and I'm here with my friend,
Jason Julian.
What's up, brother?
What's happening?
Good to see you.
Jason Julian (00:10):
Yeah, you too, man .
Corey Berrier (00:12):
So Jason has been a very dear friend of mine for
several years now I don't knowhow long and has helped me
through several times, helped methrough issues that I've had in
recovery, or even actually youcoached me on when I was going
(00:39):
to give a talk, to give my story.
You really walked me throughthe way to do that and I'm
really grateful for you.
Jason Julian (00:48):
It's mutual man.
Corey Berrier (00:50):
I appreciate that .
So, jason, for those that mayor may not know, you just give
us a bit better background onyourself and the business and
all that good stuff.
Jason Julian (01:01):
All right.
So since we're talking aboutrecovery, I did not get into
HVAC until after I was alreadyin recovery.
Corey Berrier (01:10):
Okay.
Jason Julian (01:10):
I didn't know that .
A little background on myself.
I grew up in a family business.
My father owned a cabinet shopand we did high-end custom
cabinetry all over the UnitedStates, even outside the United
States, so quality was such abig key of our lives of doing
things the right way.
(01:31):
So I grew up in a family withhigh expectations and my family
has always been involved in thebuilding trades of some sort.
My uncle and cousin are homebuilders.
My father was a home builderuntil he broke out and started
doing cabinetry.
I have another uncle and cousinwho were plumbers.
So being in the trades hasalways been a part of my DNA.
(01:56):
And at a time in my life after aserious bout with drugs and
alcohol in my life, after aserious bout with drugs and
alcohol, I was given theopportunity to work for a guy in
heating and air and I wasactually disabled at the time.
I'd had a really bad caraccident and was disabled for
(02:17):
many years and the year I gotsober I'd been in jail a few
times and the year I got soberI'd been in jail a few times and
(02:41):
the third time that I got outof there I really started making
recovery a part of my life andsix months after my last time of
using, I got a part, hadchanged my people, places and
things.
I did not have the sameassociates around me, so I was
ready for something new and Iwas soaking it all up.
By the time I got out of jail,I didn't have a job, I didn't
have a phone and I didn't have acar.
(03:01):
I didn't have a job, I didn'thave a phone and I didn't have a
car.
And six months into being sober, I got an opportunity to work
with a guy doing heating and airand he started teaching me all
about it.
Up until that point, go ahead.
Corey Berrier (03:17):
You're going to ask a question Well, so I was
just going to ask.
So you've been, you've beensober a little over 12 years at
this point, right.
Jason Julian (03:26):
Now, yeah, just celebrated 12 years, december
7th, pearl Harbor day.
Corey Berrier (03:31):
It's amazing.
So I want you to, I want you totake us back to what led you up
to that getting sober point.
We all have a bottom, so tospeak, and my bottom was I had
(03:52):
three DUIs.
I had 2005,.
I got caught traffickingcocaine.
Well, 2009, I had the blowthing in my car and I blew into
it after I'd been drinking, andit immediately reports to the
DMV and you have to explainyourself.
And, quite frankly, jason, I'mreally shocked that I walked out
(04:15):
of there with a driver'slicense.
The lady said if you ever comeback in here again, you will
never drive again.
And so that was my.
I had a choice to make you willnever drive again, and so that
was my.
I had a choice to make I couldeither go down this shitty road
that I'd been going down or Icould make a change, and and so
that was my bottom, if you will.
So where, when was that for you?
(04:37):
What happened?
Jason Julian (04:40):
Well it's, it's chopped up, there's.
It's a big, long story.
I don't know if we have timefor all of it, but I'll try to
keep the key details there.
So I started drugs at a veryyoung age.
Like I mentioned earlier, myfamily very high achievers, very
(05:01):
quality-minded, a lot ofexpectations, and at a young age
I didn't fit the mold.
I didn't feel comfortable, evenin my own family.
I'm not into sports.
All my older brothers havethree older brothers.
They were all into sports.
They were really good at sports.
I was not.
I never felt really comfortablegrowing up as one of Jehovah's
(05:25):
Witnesses.
We were different than most ofthe kids we went to school with.
So there was this all a feeling, probably as far back as I can
remember, that I'm different,I'm not accepted, I'm not there.
Because I didn't get involvedin some of the things that most
kids that I was growing up withdid no birthday parties, no
(05:46):
Christmas gifts and all thatkind of stuff, and so, even
though my parents did a good jobof explaining to us why we
didn't participate in thosethings, I always felt left out,
different, not good enough, andso when I found drugs and
alcohol at an early age man Iwas.
This was great.
(06:06):
I didn't have all theseexpectations on me from my dad
and from associates and friends.
I was free.
So I felt a sense of belongingbecause there I was, my family's
doing this and my dad expectsthis.
When I got loaded, man I was.
(06:29):
It was all it was.
I felt comfortable in my ownskin and that was a lifesaver
for a long time because I was.
I've always been a happy personand enjoyed where I'm at.
But inside, the real Jasoninside was always feeling left
out, not good enough, that kindof stuff.
Well, man, you give me somekind of substance.
(06:51):
It doesn't really matter what.
It is Something that changeshow I'm feeling.
Man, I was all over it.
So I was instantly attracted tothat euphoria I got when I put
substances in my body, sostarted drugs early, early age.
My dad took my brothers and Iout of school early so we
(07:13):
stopped going to public schooland we started working full time
.
Ever since I was inkindergarten we would walk to my
dad's shop after school toclean up and work.
So we've always been involvedin working.
But the last year I was inpublic school was seventh grade.
I got pulled out of school andstarted working 40 hours a week
(07:34):
and doing a correspondenceschool, and so, anyway, let's
get back to what you're talkingabout.
Drugs were always mostly a partof my life and I had
successfully used, withoutgetting caught or in trouble,
for many years.
Corey Berrier (07:51):
And what kind of drugs are we talking about?
Jason Julian (07:54):
Well, I had tried.
Alcohol was the first.
Alcohol was readily availablein my home, so sneaking a little
bit of alcohol was easy and itwas always available.
But I think I was probably 12years old the first time I
smoked weed and I found a kid atschool who I knew.
(08:17):
He hung out with my olderbrother and his older brother
and that's how I knew I had abrother that used drugs and so I
always looked up to him andwanted to be like him.
So I gravitated towards thattype of environment.
So I started with smoking weedand there was other things
available.
Like I said, my older brotherand his friends did drugs.
(08:40):
So sneak into his room and ohwhat's this little white powder
I got introduced to.
Cocaine and methamphetamine wasaround the little town that I
was at.
I stayed away from all thepills and things like that.
I didn't do any kind of opiatesfor a long time but I tried
everything else.
Lsd was around.
(09:02):
I gravitated towards the groupthat was having fun and doing
this stuff.
So I had tried almost everydrug that I could, except for
heroin and opiate by the time Iwas 15.
Corey Berrier (09:16):
Being in such a tight-knit family with your dad
and he just didn't know.
Jason Julian (09:24):
So my dad grew up in the 60s in Southern
California and he and my unclelived in Hawaii and they told
stories.
I had one uncle who was still apothead and had lots of stories
, so we knew about drugs.
The type of music we listenedto lent itself towards that
(09:46):
lifestyle so I was alwaysinterested in it.
Like I said, when I foundalcohol I was probably eight or
nine the first time I stole somealcohol and got really sick
drunk from that and it wasterrible and horrible but I
wanted more that.
And it was terrible andhorrible but I wanted more.
(10:07):
Early on, Like, I was alwaysinterested in that, I wanted to
do better.
I came from this family of highachievers so when I got into
the drug world I wanted to bethe best at what I was doing.
So I was willing to tryanything that was there.
I'll take as much as I can get.
I'll take as much as I can get.
And that kind of fed into theego.
When I started hanging out withpeers my age I was already
(10:31):
experienced, I knew where to getit that kind of fed, this
improper desire that I hadinside to do more, to do better,
and I always wanted to take itto another level.
Because you were the man.
Well, and I was the youngest offour brothers, so I was always
(10:56):
last in line when it came tothem.
And so since I started my drugexploration before a lot of the
people my age, I was theexperienced one.
I was the one that they made funof for a lot of years because I
was this weird druggie.
And then when they got olderand wanted to start
experimenting, they came to mebecause they knew I knew about
it and so that kind of gave me afalse sense of superiority or
(11:21):
whatever.
I was the man in a couple ofthe circles I ran in and all
that did was feed my ego, youknow, and it fueled my desire to
do more.
And back to what we were sayingis I used drugs from early on
and it didn't really have adetrimental effect as far as
(11:44):
getting in trouble with thepolice.
My family, like my dad, workeda lot, so we were always working
and out.
So when he was gone I would actout and there were ways around
it.
I just didn't get caught.
I was slick enough to find myopportunities and I used them
(12:07):
really well.
Corey Berrier (12:10):
I would so.
When's the first when?
When did it?
When was the first crash?
When did it first cause you?
Jason Julian (12:19):
problems.
It's funny you say crash,because I was involved in a
really bad car accident in 2010.
By this time, I was married andhad two children, and one part
of the story that I didn't tellyou is when I, when my wife, got
(12:42):
pregnant with our first child,which was 2004,.
Because she got pregnant, Idecided I wanted to change and
do something different.
So I knew I had good parentsand a good family, and so when I
was bringing a child into thisworld, I had a little bit of a
(13:02):
desire to stop using into thisworld.
I had a little bit of a desireto stop using, and so, about six
months after we found out shewas pregnant, I stopped using
all illegal drugs and I stoppedsmoking cigarettes, but I didn't
stop drinking.
And see, that's the part of mystory that I didn't realize,
because I wouldn't have thoughtof myself as an alcoholic.
(13:23):
Right, I was a drug user.
I liked it all, sure.
So I had a mentor at the timethat really spent some time with
me and restarted a Bible study,and I wanted to get my life
more in line with what mycreator wanted, based on my
(13:45):
study of the scriptures, and soI was able to in about six
months of a progressive Biblestudy, use what I was learning
to help me to stop using theillegal drugs.
And in my mind because I'm notsticking needles in my arm
anymore and I'm not taking acidon the weekends it was okay for
(14:07):
me to drink because it was legal, and so I didn't realize the
things that were going on in mybody and in my mind when I take
a substance in.
I was feeling good about myselfhey, I'm not doing these drugs,
I'm going to do something goodfor my family.
So I stopped doing that and Istopped hanging out with all the
people that were doing that.
(14:29):
But slowly, over that four yearsI had a four year period where
I didn't do illegal drugs and Ididn't smoke.
Cigarettes progressively gotworse and I didn't even see it
or notice it.
But I'm thinking to myselfGod's okay with me because I'm
not doing the hard stuff.
It's okay for me to drink alittle bit more.
(14:51):
And as I look back on it I cansee how it progressed.
And then, at four years of notusing those, the alcohol got
worse and I put myself insituations around people that
were using and it just took avery little bit to start me back
into the drugs.
(15:14):
Four years clean from those andsomebody hands me a couple of
hydrocodone at work one daybecause I hurt my back.
I wasn't even thinking that Iwas doing drugs because I wasn't
taking this to get high.
But someone said, hey, I've gota couple of hydros in there
because I twerked my back and Iwas in pain and I'm like OK,
(15:35):
cool, no problem.
Like I said, I wasn't thinkingthat I was taking drugs because
it wasn't to get high.
But I felt good after that andthen it became easier that when
it was presented to me again Iwas like yeah, sure, I'll take a
few more.
And I had never been into painpills or opiates at all.
Started with a couple of hydros,less than a year later I was
(15:57):
shooting up meth and Oxycontinevery week.
So I was four years away fromthe drugs.
The alcohol was flowing likecrazy and that was getting worse
to using a couple of hydros andthen in less than a 12 month
period I was consistently usingmeth again, shooting it up and
(16:21):
mixing it with opiates.
And that just started a wholething.
Because she got pregnant withour first child, I decided to
stop.
We ended up having anotherchild and soon after that is
when I started the drugs againwith those hydrocodones, and it
took off and I was worse offthen than I was when I had
(16:45):
stopped, because I just couldnot stop putting stuff in.
Yeah, so that was a big deal,but I had made it up into that
point without having any seriouslegal troubles or getting
caught or anything like that.
It took another few yearsbefore the results started
(17:05):
happening.
The year I got sober 2012,.
I had gone to jail a couple oftimes, but let me reverse that.
2012 is when I got sober.
2010 is when I had a caraccident.
So that was the real big firstcrash and big result is I was
messed up.
(17:26):
I woke up in the hospital acouple of months after we had
this car wreck.
I had a trach helping mebreathe.
I had messed up every internalorgan but my heart.
I broke my back in three places.
I woke up in a hospital tieddown because, they said before I
regained consciousness, I wasripping all the cords out of me
(17:49):
and all the stuff helping mestay alive, and I spent 18 out
of 24 months in the universityhospital in Arkansas 18 months,
18 months.
I was unconscious for two monthsand I wake up and I at this
time because, because my druguse had progressed, I had lost
(18:12):
contact with my family.
They didn't want anything to dowith me.
So my dad, brothers, mom, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces,
nephews I hadn't had contactwith them for a couple of years.
And when I wake up in thehospital, I hadn't had contact
with them for a couple of years.
And when I wake up in thehospital, they're all standing
around me thinking I was aboutto die.
They didn't know what was goingon.
(18:32):
Broken back, I lost a third ofmy liver, a third of my colon, a
kidney, my gallbladder, mypancreas was detached.
I was in bad shape.
So that was the first bigconsequence of my using.
That had happened, and how didyou crash the car?
Corey Berrier (18:51):
I know you were intoxicated, but what happened?
Jason Julian (18:53):
So I didn't actually crash the car.
An associate of mine wasdriving my car.
I was passed out in thepassenger seat and apparently he
thought it was a good idea forus to leave the house we were at
and we were headed from LittleRock, arkansas, to Oklahoma for
some reason.
I don't know if we were goingto get drugs or a party or
(19:15):
something, but we jumped in thecar.
He put me in the car andstarted driving and got about 40
miles down the road and flippedthe car.
They said the car flipped endover end for over 300 feet.
The police report's prettycrazy and I had stayed in the
(19:38):
car.
He got ejected from the car andhe spent about two weeks in the
hospital.
I spent 18 out of 24 months inthe hospital.
My seatbelt caused a lot ofinternal damage to my abdomen
and, like I said, I can't reallyremember.
Two weeks before that accidentI was on a heroin binge that
(20:01):
lasted for a couple of weeks andended up with me in the
hospital.
Heroin binge that lasted for acouple of weeks and ended up
with me in the hospital.
Corey Berrier (20:07):
So just curious, what was the bill from 18 months
in the hospital?
Jason Julian (20:14):
Millions of dollars.
They wrote it off.
They didn't think I was goingto make it out of the hospital.
So it was millions and millionsof dollars and they wrote it
off.
At the time I was in thehospital.
Through the physical recoveryand all the stuff going on, my
stepmother and father helped meto apply for disability and I
(20:37):
was put on disability and theyand I'd been working from an
early age on so I'd been payingin for many years.
So I had, after about a year oftrying, I finally was able to
get on disability and they, likeI said, they wrote off a bunch
(21:00):
of bills.
I was in UAMS, which is thestate hospital in Arkansas.
It's a university teachinghospital and best care ever.
They were great.
But at that time they didn'teven think I was going to stay
in recovery.
I remember my dad telling meyears after I got sober that the
(21:20):
nurses and doctors were tellinghim hey, this kid isn't going
to make it, he does not want tostay sober.
I had so much physical painthat they I left the hospital.
On pain medicine.
They gave me a prescription forfentanyl.
So I'm in there for heroin andwhiskey car wreck and I leave
(21:41):
with a legal prescription nowfor fentanyl, which I'd already
been misusing for quite sometime, and so, being a drug
addict, my body doesn't know ifit's prescribed or not.
I'm going to misuse it.
So the only safe thing for meis complete abstinence.
I can't handle prescriptionpain medicine or anything like
(22:03):
that, because my body will takeover my mind or my mind will
take over my body.
One or the other one is goingto win, and because I'm a drug
addict, I'm going to misuse it.
So you know that about myselfnow or you were.
Corey Berrier (22:18):
You were still married, your wife still married
, still there the kids.
So she sat for 18 months withyou in the hospital.
Jason Julian (22:30):
Yeah, back and forth.
I would come home for a weekand go back in for a month.
I would come home for two orthree days and then go back in.
So I was back and forth forthat 18 months or that two years
and it was a total of 18 monthsactually in the hospital, many
surgeries.
So that's not even where thestory gets.
Really weird is that happenedin 2010.
(22:53):
2012 is when I got sober.
So they had sent me from thehospital on fentanyl and all
this stuff me from the hospitalon fentanyl and all this stuff.
That year, 2012, I had gone tojail three times.
So I was in it for drugs andbeing in the wrong place at the
(23:16):
wrong time.
Not every time were there drugs, but drugs were always involved
and I was high every time.
I went to jail.
The first couple of times, shebailed me out after a few days
and I just resumed my life ofusing and lying and cheating and
stealing and all the thingsthat go along with my lifestyle.
(23:37):
And the third time that I wentto jail, which was December 7th,
was the last time I used.
She left me in there.
So I stayed in there forseveral months and it took about
two weeks of being in jail thatI finally was ready to ask for
(23:58):
help, ask a higher power, askGod for help to stop what I was
doing.
I had been involved in recoveryfor those two years.
So I was going to recoverymeetings but I wasn't staying
sober because I had a legalprescription for drugs.
Because I had a legalprescription for drugs and so I
(24:19):
could never get the substancesout of my body long enough to
actually rely on God's strengthto help me stay sober.
And so I went through all thewithdrawals in jail, violent
seizures and like just it wasterrible.
I was in bad shape for thefirst two weeks after going to
(24:40):
jail because I had nothing in mysystem and I had to go through
it.
I was pretty messed up.
But because I'd been going torecovery meetings for quite some
time for about a year or twoand a half years I was finally
ready.
I started using the experience,strength and hope that other
(25:02):
people said in meetings.
And the funny thing is the jailthat I went to was on the
backside of the jail.
About a hundred feet away wasthe recovery house.
So I was in jail wishing I wasat the recovery meetings with
everybody in there because I'mso close.
Yet I'm in a block wall man.
(25:22):
I'm so close to where therecovery was, I just couldn't
get there and I was finally.
My circumstances finally mademe willing to try something new,
and that something new waspraying about it and then
working in harmony with myprayers, like I really wanted to
live at that time.
So that started my journey intoreal recovery, because up until
(25:47):
that point I'd never worked anysteps.
I didn't admit that.
I was powerless over any, anyof it.
And six months later I got a job, part-time, with a guy doing
heating and air.
So at that time I was ready.
I had no friends, like I saidno phone, no car, no job,
nothing.
I was still disabled, sodisability was helping pay my
(26:11):
bills.
So I focused on recovery and Ifocused on HVAC.
So having something to do inrecovery was very instrumental
because I'm used to alwaysrunning and gunning and scheming
and trying these differentthings that now I had something.
I had my recovery meetings andI had heating and air and I was
(26:33):
so ready to start something newso I dove right in.
This guy was a one man show witha helper.
His helper didn't show up.
So that's how I got the job andI could only work so many hours
per week.
So I worked part time for thefirst year and a half of doing
(26:54):
HVAC.
I worked 10, 11 hours a weekand when I wasn't working with
him I was reading books.
I grabbed his refrigerationbooks and started reading and I
didn't understand any of it.
I didn't know anything aboutelectrical, I didn't know
anything about the refrigerationcycle, but I was slowly on the
job, training, learning how tochange parts.
(27:16):
So I was a parts changer for along time, not understanding why
I'm changing these parts.
I would just go, we woulddiagnose that it's broken.
I would get the part, wire forwire, change it out, but I
didn't really understand.
So, as I'm reading these booksand it's not making sense, but
I'm doing it every day, slowlyand surely some of it started to
(27:40):
click and I developed a passionand a love for it.
Because when you're a heatingand air guy and you go to
somebody's house, they have aproblem, you're there to fix it
and get them back up and runningand there's a good feeling when
it comes to doing somethinglike that.
I'm now the hero of this familywho has no air and it's a
(28:03):
hundred degrees outside andeverybody's sweating the dog's
panting and nobody's happy.
And I come and do my thing andnow they're all happy again and
they give me money.
Corey Berrier (28:13):
Right.
Jason Julian (28:14):
So I fell in love with it and I really, like I
said, I'd gotten rid of all myold friends and associates.
The first couple of years ofbeing sober, I still didn't have
contact with my family.
They didn't believe that I hadchanged.
Corey Berrier (28:30):
Sure Well, a lot of proof there, right yeah?
Jason Julian (28:34):
So, no, no real contact with my family, my dad
and brothers and mom and all thefamily that are close knit.
I wasn't a part of that.
The only only people I had inmy life were my wife and my two
daughters, and my recovery,friends and recovery and
fellowship and connection was sohuge because now I had people
(28:57):
that didn't have expectations ofme.
They loved me even though I haddone things that were terrible
and horrible, and they keptteaching me that, hey, that's
something you did.
That's not necessarily who youare.
Who are you, jason?
What are you going to do aboutit?
This happens.
You can do this or you can notdo this or not do this.
(29:23):
What are you going to do?
My sponsor was really big on notgiving me advice and telling me
what to do.
He would lay out options andsay, hey, I can't do this for
you.
Out options and say, hey, Ican't do this for you.
This is what you're dealingwith.
You could do this or this andit might bring about this or
this.
What are you going to do?
(29:45):
And any choice I made, he wasgoing to love me anyway, but he
didn't enable me.
He didn't act like he wassuperior to me by telling me
what to do.
He wasn't there to fix me.
He was there to share hisexperience.
Hey, when I was in thissituation, this is what I did,
whether it was good or bad.
(30:06):
These were the results.
What do you want your resultsto be?
What are you going to work for?
What are you going to do?
You either can or you can't.
You either will or you won't.
And he helped me to see that.
It was my idea to choose thenext right thing or not.
There was always an option andat that point, I didn't feel or
(30:29):
know that I had options.
When I got upset or I felt badabout myself, I used drugs to
feel better.
If you pissed me off, I woulduse drugs at you to deal with
the feelings, because I didn'tknow how to have a relationship
with people.
I didn't know that I could setboundaries, I didn't know that I
could say no to you.
(30:50):
I just reacted.
And he taught me how to respondto situations by thinking about
it and, first off, not takingsubstances in.
That was the biggest key is Ihad to stop starting.
Once I take something in,whether it's alcohol or any
(31:11):
other drug, my body developsthat phenomenon of craving and I
can't stop once I start and Ididn't know that, but I see it
now.
I look at every time that Iused something, even though I
didn't really want to like Iknew I wanted to change, but if
I took it in it was all over.
I could not stop until I waseither stopped, ran out or in
(31:34):
jail.
And that's where I found myself, man.
I was there and I was actuallyready to try what other people
had done to see if it would workfor me.
That's where the experience,strength and hope of recovery
comes in is if I had people inmy circle that are willing to
share what happened to them.
Now I have an opportunity toeither use what they did or not.
(31:58):
As my sponsors say, you caneither do this or not.
You can either come to meetingsor you don't.
You can ask God for help or youdon't.
What do you want to do, jason?
And he's like I can't do it foryou.
I mean, there were many timesthat he would spend hours with
me.
I would be sharing my life andstory and stuff with him and he
(32:21):
wouldn't say, oh, you should dothis or you.
He would just listen and sayyou know what man I felt similar
.
This is what I did.
Or hey, you know what?
I don't have any experiencewith what you're dealing with,
but I know somebody in recoverythat does.
Let me call them and see ifit's okay to give them your
number, or give you their number.
(32:42):
Maybe they can help you withtheir experience, maybe not.
It was always a maybe or not.
And it taught me that if Ireally want something bad enough
, I'm going to put in the workto get it.
And the other thing is there isa power outside of myself that
(33:03):
can give me strength when I needit, if I choose to ask for it
and then work in harmony withthat prayer.
I can't just have the prayer ofoh my God, I'm feeling terrible
.
I never want to do this again.
It's more like, hey, I needhelp, I'm willing to do it If my
sponsor says hey, it might begood to volunteer some of your
time and go clean the toilets atthe recovery house.
(33:25):
That was my opportunity to servethe other people.
I don't want to clean thatnasty toilet from a recovery
house, right.
But I learned that if I didthat, I was staying out of
myself, I was giving myselfsomething to do and it was
benefiting others, and that wasthe key that my sponsor helped
me to see is if I could benefitothers.
(33:47):
Now I'm useful.
Now I'm not a piece of shit.
Right Now I'm not so far gonethat I can't be of service to
somebody else, and that's wherethe recovery helped me the most
was learning how to be involvedin service, serve my fellow man,
be there for somebody else.
Corey Berrier (34:06):
So when did you?
When did?
And I can understand everythingthat you're talking about.
You're 100% correct.
So when did you start to see?
For me, it was really hard tosee the promises when I first
came in, so when did you start?
(34:34):
Recovery of the 12-step programthat we're referring to,
there's promises that come aftercertain periods of time.
Jason Julian (34:43):
Sometimes those promises come quickly, sometimes
they come slowly, but they docome as long as you work for
them as long as you work forthem, right, yeah, so that was a
very instrumental part ofworking with my sponsors going
through those promises that thebook talks about, selfishness
(35:04):
will disappear.
The right thought will comeintuitively after working the
steps.
So part of my steps wererecognizing where what I was
powerless over, which is damnnear everything except for my
own choices, that's right.
And when I start doing thesethings man, it did my fear of
(35:29):
financial insecurity left.
I have a job.
I can work for what, what paysmy bills and what feeds my
family.
I stopped looking for how itbenefits just me.
How is this going to benefitother people?
It was a total.
The recovery book that I referto calls it a psychic change.
It's a psychological adjustmentfrom the way I used to perceive
(35:54):
things to a way of how can I beof service, how can I do
something that's going tobenefit others, not just me,
because I've benefited me formost of my life.
It was all about how is Jasongoing to benefit from this?
I would tell you whatever Ithought you wanted to hear, so I
could get whatever you had inthe pocket.
Corey Berrier (36:14):
Yeah.
Jason Julian (36:15):
In my old life lifestyle I would lie, cheat,
steal to get what I wanted andit was all about me.
I would make up excuses on whyI was late, why I couldn't go
pick up my daughter, and my wifewould have to do it.
Um, I'd make up excuses why wedidn't get as many grocery
because I had spent the majorityof the money on heroin.
(36:36):
I would lie to people to getmoney so I could buy groceries
and pay the bills.
My grandparents lived out inCalifornia and I conned my
grandfather out of sending memoney so I could pay the house
payment because I was loaded allthe time.
Getting into recovery I learnedthat, hey, I can show up and
(36:58):
make coffee.
That's not a whole lot, but youknow what, when somebody's
coming into their meeting ortheir first time and they're
having a tough time, a warm cupof coffee and somebody's there
to listen to what's going on isso valuable.
I could do that.
I can show up early and makecoffee and sweep the floor, make
sure the bathroom had toiletpaper in.
There I learned a new way ofthinking respond, not react.
(37:25):
And I can't say.
Your question was how long didit take for some of those
promises?
Probably a couple of yearsbefore I even realized them.
Corey Berrier (37:38):
Well, maybe the first one was getting that
part-time job right Becausestatistically looking at your
situation drug addict, you'vebeen in the hospital for 18
months, you're disabled Chancesof getting a job's not great.
Jason Julian (37:59):
No, it was definitely a blessing, and I
guess I didn't realize those atfirst because everything was
happening.
It was new to me because upuntil that point, drugs had
always been a part of my dailylife, and so I learned how to
have a relationship with anotherperson.
I learned how to be honest.
Hey, you know what, corey, Iknow you need help on this, but
(38:21):
you know what?
I just don't have time.
I don't have to tell you, yeah,man, I'm going to help you and
then not show up because Ididn't have time.
I was a yes man.
I would tell you whatever youwanted to hear, so that you
would like me, or that I wouldfeel good about myself.
Now I can say you know what,man, I really don't have time.
I wish I could help you, corey,but I've got this and this
(38:42):
going on, so I'm not going to beable to and know that it was
okay.
People in recovery were okaywith you being honest with them.
I wasn't used to that.
I was in the drug world of.
I'm going to tell you what youwant to hear, and I was in the
drug world of.
I'm going to tell you what youwant to hear, and I was around
people that lied abouteverything, and so that became a
way of life.
Recovery taught me it's okay tosay no and it's okay to get out
(39:08):
of my comfort zone and dosomething, even if I didn't
really want to, if I knew itwould benefit other people.
Man, there was satisfaction inthat and joy in that, and so I
just I learned to actually be anemotional grownup being in
recovery.
Corey Berrier (39:28):
Well, the other thing, too, that you mentioned
is going to make coffee orsweeping the floors or cleaning
the toilets.
That's also that's.
I think that's a huge part ofthis, because naturally, we are
very prideful people, very egodriven.
And who the fuck are you totell me I should go clean a
(39:53):
toilet?
That's the first thought, butby doing that, it slowly humbles
you right.
And I'll tell you another thing.
I thought about taking thatpart-time job.
My experience when getting soberboth times has been I have to
(40:15):
take a job that I'm eithereither I think I'm overqualified
for or maybe I'm overqualifiedfor.
But I have to take a job thatis going to put me in my place
and humble me before I can everget to the place that I think I
need to be.
And those are the steppingstones to getting to the life
(40:39):
that you really want.
But you got to take that firststep.
I remember in 2009, I took ajob at Five Guys, completely
beneath me, like, like.
It was the worst thing I couldpossibly think of is I had to
flip burgers at five guys.
(41:00):
I didn't do it long.
I did it long enough to get tothe next step, which was like an
italian restaurant, but, likewhen I got to the italian
restaurant, it was like I feltlike I was at the damn Taj Mahal
, right.
I felt like I had justcompletely elevated my status
(41:21):
but I had to do it and you knowwhat?
Jason Julian (41:24):
It's pretty interesting that you say that,
because one of the first jobs Ihad while still while on
disability, before I got the jobat the HVAC company, was I
worked at Taco Bell.
Yeah, and I definitely feltlike that was beneath me.
I grew up in a family business.
That was a trade.
I knew how to do something thatwas seemingly higher value and
(41:50):
it really did humble me becauseand I will never regret that
experience I met some people.
It's still the boss I had atTaco Bell.
She was so good at her job andshe did it well.
Even the people I worked with, Imean, it humbled me enough.
I was embarrassed that ifanybody walked in and saw me,
(42:13):
because here's this guy that'salways had this job.
He was traveled and I workeddoing high-end custom cabinetry.
And here I am, I'm working atTaco Bell.
But I was so humbled to workthere and I benefited more from
there than any of the higherseeming jobs that I've had,
because, man, there were somereally good people there.
(42:34):
Man, there were some reallygood people there.
They followed a process to getthings done and they did it well
.
Dealing with the public is notnice, man, I'm telling you.
Sometimes you can do everythingthat you think's right and
somebody's going to gripe andmoan and complain about it.
And working in food service ata fast food place definitely
(42:56):
humbled me and I'm grateful forthat experience.
So it's it's cool to hear thatyou had a similar experience
working at five guys.
Man, it was a job, it was work.
It was something that I endedup then.
Now I'm proud that I was to bea part of it, especially with
the team that I was with yeah,yeah, it's interesting because I
see there's a guy that I usedto sponsor.
Corey Berrier (43:20):
He went away and got some help.
He relapsed again and grew upin a very well-to-do family
they're still well-to-do rightand I see he's probably not
going to take that job at FiveGuys.
(43:42):
He's probably not going to takea job at Taco Bell because he
believes he needs to be at thiscertain level.
And I can see because I've beenthere and I can see because
I've been there and the it'she's never going to be able to
get to the job that he thinks heshould get to until he takes a
(44:06):
job below what he believes heshould be doing.
And it's just.
I don't know how to explain it.
It is part of the process andyou either surrender to it and
take the shitty job or you keepon the treadmill of wishing you
could find a job, which reallyis just going to lead you right
back, most likely to anotherrelapse over and over.
Jason Julian (44:30):
It reminds me of one of the vacation movies where
Cousin Eddie was out of work.
He said so you're still out ofwork.
He's like, yeah, I'm holdingout for a management position,
Exactly.
Exactly humility is not funwhile it it is, while we're
being humbled in a situation,but what it builds on the other
(44:51):
end is so much greater than whatwe've got.
What I went through yeah, Ican't speak for anyone else.
I can speak for myself.
Being humbled and going througha situation that I felt was
beneath me helped me learn thatnothing is beneath me.
I own a heating and air companyhere in Heber Springs, arkansas
(45:12):
, and you know what?
I clean bathrooms here, I sweepup, I clean up trash.
If I show up on a job and myguys are working really hard, I
will be the cleanup man.
I will go pick up the trash, Iwill sweep, I will carry it to
the dumpster.
I will get dirty and not to.
(45:33):
Oh, look at me, look what I'mdoing.
It's more of this needs to bedone.
Somebody else is doingsomething else.
Man, I'm not too good to dothis part of it, and that's a
huge part of my life now is.
I'm not too good for anything.
I am very grateful to be alive.
Corey Berrier (45:51):
Yeah, a hundred percent, dude.
And look, that also shows yourteam members that, oh, he's not,
he's not the boss that justsays, hey, you need to go do
this.
It builds a culture of you knowthe employee that sees you do
that.
They can't not do it becauseyou've done it.
Jason Julian (46:14):
Yeah, and that's one of those things that my dad
taught us growing up.
My dad, I had to go.
I was telling you, when I wasin kindergarten, we walked to my
dad's shop after school and wewould clean bathrooms, we would
take out the trash.
That started early on, and thecool thing about my dad is he
(46:35):
was the owner of his company,but I saw him doing some of the
so-called menial tasks ofcleaning something out, the
stuff that nobody really wantedto do.
That's not the fun stuff or theglamorous stuff, and that did
help us respect what he asked usto do, and so I incorporate
that here at our shop.
There's nothing that's too goodfor any one of us to do.
(46:56):
I don't care.
Titles and positions don't meanwhat some people think they
mean.
That just means you're in ahigher level of service.
Corey Berrier (47:08):
Right.
Jason Julian (47:08):
I am here to serve the people here, not the other
way around.
They're not here to serve myneeds, like you said, hey, you
go do this.
It's more like, hey, help me,let's get this done.
Let's do this together.
Corey Berrier (47:20):
Yeah, and you know Well and I think, Jason,
that I think that explains or isa good illustration of why your
business does what it does andwhy it's been successful is, if
not a, it's not a sale.
You show up to the customer'shouse, just like you showed up
(47:40):
today, and the goal was to solvethe problem and get paid, but
not get paid for solving theproblem.
Does that make sense?
Jason Julian (47:50):
Absolutely, and you know what that's.
One of the things that I loveabout this is because I'm not
salesy and I'm not, and I havelearned that in this trade, in
any trade you have, a person hasto be a salesman of some sort
salesperson to get the job done,because that's what keeps it
going.
But when you go in and you showsomebody, I'm here to solve
(48:12):
your problem, and one of thethings that I love about my
approach when I'm dealing with acustomer is you tell me what
you want, corey, what's yourmain focus in on this next
project?
What do you want to get out ofit?
Okay, so I take your feedback.
You tell me you want this, this, you really have to have this.
(48:35):
Okay, so let me present someoptions for you.
You said I want this, thisoption has this, this other
option has this, and thensomething else that you said you
would like.
This other one has even more.
What do you want to do?
What's your priority?
(48:56):
This one costs this much.
This one costs this much.
This one costs this.
I can do all of them for you.
You're going to have to makethe choice and choose which one
you want.
This level gets this.
The cool thing is, all theoptions I presented to you are
going to work and I'm going toback them up because we're going
(49:16):
to do this to make this happenand we're going to guarantee and
warranty this.
What do you want to do?
And most of the time, peoplecan feel comfortable at any
choice, and I want to make youcomfortable.
I don you want to do, and mostof the time, people can feel
comfortable at any choice, and Iwant to make you comfortable.
I don't want to push a brand,like with HVAC.
I don't care what brand thecompany or the customer chooses,
(49:37):
because they're going to getthe same level of installation
and service, no matter whichbrand they pick.
I don't make the stuff.
Even my supplier, my territorymanager, doesn't make it.
He works for that company, soof course he wants me to sell
this particular brand.
I really don't care.
I give the customer the optionand say this is going to do this
(49:59):
, will do this and this will dothis.
Any of the choices will work.
And you know what I even tellcustomers even if you choose to
go with another company, pleasemake sure that they're giving
you this.
This is what you asked for Now,the price that another company
may give you may be better thanwhat you're seeing from me or
(50:23):
not, but if it is, make surethat you're getting this.
This is something you have todo and this project, this is a
non-negotiable.
This has to be done, no matterwhich brand you pick, no matter
which company you pick.
If they're going to come in ata lower price or you feel
comfortable with them, andthey're not going to do this, I
want you to know on the frontend you're not getting what you
(50:44):
need.
Corey Berrier (50:50):
Well, also, though, jason, the product is
the product.
Really, what they're paying foris to make sure that product
gets installed correctly.
Yeah, and if you're payingsomebody that's got a cheaper
price, you can't guarantee hisinstallation.
You can guarantee yourinstallation Absolutely, and so
that's the key.
Jason Julian (51:11):
It doesn't matter which one they choose If it's
installed wrong, you're going tohave problems, and that's the
key.
And it's about educating ourcustomers, no matter what trade
we're in, it's educating them.
If you choose to do this, thisis what you can expect.
If you choose to not do do thisis what you can expect.
If you choose to not do this,this is what you can expect.
Right Brands don't solve theproblems.
(51:34):
Sometimes price doesn't solvethe problems.
It's actually doing what needsto be done to solve those
problems and I don't want tofeel on the hook for those.
So in my business, one of thebiggest keys that I let
customers know is this is whatcalculation on the house, or if
one was ever done.
I don't know if they built theduct system to handle that size.
(52:13):
So when I go in and offer acustomer, we're going to do a
heat load.
If you agree to have us workfor you, I'm going to come back
in and double check after weshake hands and make the
agreement that what I'mpresenting to you is going to
actually work.
If it doesn't, we can adjustfrom there, because there's been
(52:34):
several customers lately thatwe have gone into and we have
put considerably smaller airconditioners in their home than
what they currently had.
Because the load calc came outto this the duct system could
only handle X amount of airflow.
I have one lady that justrecently we dropped her total
(52:57):
heating and cooling load by twotons from what she currently had
.
Okay, she had six tons ofheating and cooling for this
house and after we did the loadcalculation we came in and it
was it was.
It came down to four tons.
I met her two weeks after theinstall at a local store here.
(53:17):
Uh, just last week she said myhouse has never been this
comfortable.
There are no hot and cold spots.
And she said I don't get a bigblast of heat and then it get
cold and then kick on.
She's like the thing constantlyruns, but I'm comfortable.
And so we took an uncomfortablesituation that she had.
(53:38):
She needed two systems replaced.
We did it for her coming insmall and it was hard for her to
grasp when I told her that thecapacity that we're putting in
is less than what she had.
I showed her that she liked thedata from showing her why I
(53:58):
choose to put this in.
I just told her if she wasn'tcomfortable with this, maybe she
could find another contractorthat would be willing to go like
for like and she goes, but Iwasn't comfortable before I'm
like well then, that's, you'vegot to make that decision,
because that's what most of thecontractors around our area are
like well.
Well, that must be right.
(54:18):
It's been working for years.
Well, she told me herself itwasn't working for years.
Corey Berrier (54:23):
It was working, but she wasn't comfortable it
was also overworking if it wastwo times over.
Jason Julian (54:31):
Yeah, well, and it was.
It was a waste of electricityand energy sources.
She was uncomfortable.
So presenting options that meetall of those are what make me
the happiest.
When I can come in and showsomebody hey, this has been
wrong for as long as it's beenin, but we can make it right and
(54:51):
this is what we're going to do.
Yeah, it's going to cost thismuch to get there, but we can do
this for you.
And then, when the results come, oh man, it's a good feeling
that a year or two after doingthis, somebody calls you up and
says hey, I just want to let youknow everything's working like
you told me.
I'm saving money now.
I spent a lot more moneychoosing you on the front end,
(55:13):
but it's made itself back inthese last couple of years
because my electricity bill isdown here and my comforts up
here.
I didn't know I could be this.
I was scared to spend $20,000,$30,000 on this when another guy
gave me a bid for 15 or 10.
And you told me it was going tobe this.
And she's like it is.
This is amazing and that givesme some great satisfaction is I
(55:39):
don't want to just?
I don't want to just be asalesman and sell somebody a
product.
I want to fix their problem.
I want to solve it and givethem a solution, and I get more
joy out of that than theexcitement of the sale.
There isn't excitement whensomebody buys something from you
.
There's endorphins that kick inand there's things that go on,
(56:00):
but it's the year or two orthree or five years later that
somebody comes back and says man, thank you so much.
We would have been so unhappyif we had chosen something else,
because this is doing what yousaid it would do.
Yeah.
Corey Berrier (56:15):
And in the end that other unit if you would
have switched it like flight isgoing to 100% cost them more
because the energy savings.
If you break all that down tothe customer and explain how
much, with the tax credits, theenergy savings, at the end of it
they're spending $5,000 or$6,000 on that unit, opposed to
(56:37):
that $15,000 plus another$15,000 in energy.
Right, it is hard for people tounderstand, but when you break
it down and you take the time toexplain how it works, it's a no
brainer.
Jason Julian (56:54):
Yeah Well, and that's why I like being a part
of a lot of the industry groupsthat are learning and educating
technicians and business ownerson how to provide this to the
customer, because it's a win foreveryone.
It's a win for the customer,it's a win for the company
because they're selling betterprojects that increase their
(57:17):
revenue but also give thecustomer longevity, and it's
good for the industry.
There's a lot of improvementsthat can be made in this
industry, and being a part ofthose on the front end helps me
feel good at night.
Hey, I'm giving the options andwhether someone chooses us or
not, I'll still shake their hand, see them at Walmart later and
(57:41):
be happy and go to bed tonightfeeling okay because I gave them
honesty and I gave them options.
It's their choice.
Recovery has taught me I'm notresponsible for their feelings
or their decision and it's outof my control.
So if I offer and allow them toeither accept or decline, the
(58:03):
responsibility lies on them.
My responsibility is givingthem the right factual
information and then being ableto deliver on the promises I
told them.
That is my responsibility andthat's up to me.
But the choice of what somebodywants to do, man, I can't carry
that around.
I have so many other things inmy life that weigh me down.
(58:24):
I don't need the responsibilityof their decisions.
Corey Berrier (58:29):
Well, and how much easier is it, jason, to
walk into a house with thatmindset opposed to I got to make
a sale.
It's a totally differentexperience.
Jason Julian (58:40):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
That's one of my favoritethings is when I get an
opportunity to sit down withcustomers, especially with both
customers, both decision makersin the house or more.
Sometimes there's more.
Sometimes there's families thatthey all combine and own a
property and they've got to makethis decision.
(59:00):
If I can sit down and talk witheverybody involved in that
decision-making process andlisten to their concerns, listen
to their desires and wants andthen show them solutions,
everybody feels good about itbecause they either make the
decision to do this or not, butthey've gotten all those answers
taken out and that alleviatesme of the responsibility.
(59:21):
I don't want the responsibilityto make their decision, but I
do want to be able to offerseveral solutions and know that
no matter which one they pick, Ican deliver on my end.
That's key for me in mybusiness and that's when I try
to help train others.
I'm not great at it.
I don't have the processeslined out the best way yet, but
(59:46):
I'm working on it.
Yeah, Progress, not perfection.
Corey Berrier (59:50):
Progress, not perfection.
That's right, and one of thekey things that you have said is
not having expectations foranybody, and sometimes it's hard
to do, because we do especiallyput expectations on human
beings, and if you do that,you're going to be let down at
some point.
Jason Julian (01:00:10):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And it's almostcounterintuitive to keep those
expectations down, especiallywhen you're involved with a lot
of people that have a lot ofexpectations and you see the
misery in their lives and theirunhappiness because they have
these and they don't see howsimple it is to discard those
(01:00:33):
expectations, to make theserenity level rise, yep, and do
all we can for the day that's.
The other thing is I'm onlygiven so much time in any one
day to do what I can.
What am I going to do with it?
My sponsor was like hey, you'vegot this, what are you going to
do with it?
You going to save it and keepit all for yourself?
Are you going to give a littleto others or are you going to do
(01:00:57):
nothing?
Just look at it.
You have that choice today.
Jason is what he would say.
Choose wisely.
The benefits or thecomplications are going to come
based on your own choices, butyou have the ability to make
those choices.
What are you going to do?
Corey Berrier (01:01:14):
That's right, yeah, and it's up to you.
Jason Julian (01:01:18):
Yeah, well, and it's being a recovery is a two
edged sword.
I feel good, but it it it is.
It can be very frustratingdealing with a group of people
who don't see the need to taketheir own responsibility and
their own accountability forthose actions and realize that
their happiness is directlyproportional to what they're
(01:01:43):
willing to give.
Not the other person, it's notsomebody else's fault.
I will share something mysponsor was very gracious enough
to teach me and he would say,because I would sit there and
spend time with him and gripeand loan and bitch about all
these terrible things thatpeople did.
And he goes Jason, people don'tdo things to you, people just
(01:02:07):
do things.
How you respond to it is goingto affect the way you feel about
the situation.
Don't be a victim.
Don't think that this person isdoing this to me.
This person is just doing it.
They're imperfect, just likeyou.
They're going to make decisionsbased off emotions and feelings
instead of facts sometimes.
Let them do it.
(01:02:28):
Don't take it personally.
It's not personal.
They're just people doingthings.
Yeah, and that has helped saveme from a lot of grief and worry
about what they choose to do ornot do.
Right, but that's not the norm,and so it can be frustrating.
It can can be frustrating todeal with that, but recovery
(01:02:51):
points me back to myself.
Okay, if people are doing this,what am I going to do with it?
If I have control over it, thenI need to take action.
If I have no control, I need tolet it go, because all it's
going to do is waste my time andenergy.
If I'm focused on something Ican't control.
Corey Berrier (01:03:08):
That's right.
Jason Julian (01:03:11):
Recovery has been such a beautiful thing in my
life.
It helped me to remain joyous,not necessarily happy.
I think joy and happy can getused interchangeably, but they
don't mean the same thing.
I can be joyful even though I'mgoing through a tough time.
It doesn't mean I'm happy aboutit.
But I can be joyful knowingthat what I'm experiencing and
(01:03:32):
what I'm enduring is going tolead to something in the future,
and so I can keep my joy eventhough I'm unhappy.
It's beautiful mindset, yeah.
Corey Berrier (01:03:44):
No, I agree, I totally agree with you there.
It's really fascinating, evenwhen you know that you're going
through whatever it is, whetherit's you know any situation
that's hard.
The recovery gives us theability to know there is a light
(01:04:06):
at the end of that tunnel andthe next step is going to be
something good.
If you just sometimes it's oneminute at a time, sometimes it's
one hour at a time, sometimesit's every day is one day at a
time, but going through thingsand walking through them,
there's always something betteron the other side, and I think
(01:04:29):
that people I believe thatpeople in recovery have that,
and I don't know that otherpeople have the ability to see
it like that.
Jason Julian (01:04:41):
I experienced that too and all I can do is follow
what others who have beenthrough it before me, share my
experience with it, my strengthand hope that it can be.
But ultimately it's up to thatother person or persons to
choose and, just like my familywent through a lot of stuff when
(01:05:05):
I was in recovery and they werejust so worried about what was
going on.
It was out of their control.
I had to make it my own.
So I have to do that with otherpeople and realize that they
have choices to make, good orbad, it's going to benefit them
or not, and be okay with itbecause it's out of my control,
yeah.
So still hard to grasp sometimesoh yeah, and it's hard when you
(01:05:29):
have a big group of people.
Owning a business is as its ownchallenges and problems and it
really can affect the day, if Iallow it to to sink in there.
Yeah, but it's your choice,absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, it's your choice,absolutely, absolutely.
Corey Berrier (01:05:48):
Yeah, it's your choice.
Well, Jason, I've learned a lottoday, A lot of stuff I wasn't
totally even aware of, but Iknow that we're getting towards
the end here and I just got totell you how grateful I am that
we got to spend this timetogether today and got to hear
(01:06:09):
this journey that you've been on, Some things I didn't know and
then some things I did.
But if somebody wanted to reachout to you maybe somebody hears
this and maybe they arestruggling, whether it be in
business or whether it be inrecovery where would be a good
place for them to reach out toyou?
Jason Julian (01:06:26):
Probably Okay.
Okay, messenger, I have a lotof people that see some of the
stuff.
That's where I've gotten a lotof contacts over the years,
whether it's in recovery.
That's where you and I met.
Yeah Was seeing each other indifferent areas and finding out
(01:06:46):
that we had similar things incommon and then we acted upon
those.
People can email me.
If somebody wants to, you canemail Jason at
JulianHeatAndAircom all spelledout, but, man, I appreciate our
(01:07:13):
friendship.
Corey, it's been amazing thelast couple of years working
through situations with eachother.
I won't ever forget pullinginto my house and talking with
you before you had somethingimportant going on and you were
asking what I had experiencedwith that and being able to sit
there and share with anotherperson.
Not tell them what to do, butlike, hey, this is what somebody
(01:07:36):
suggested I did and this iswhat I did about it and this is
how it worked out.
Being able to share those kindsof experiences is such a
blessing, because I'm not hereto tell you what to do, but I
can also rejoice in the benefitsof what you did do by you
sharing it back with me.
So it's a, it's an interchangeof encouragement and it's
(01:07:57):
awesome.
Corey Berrier (01:07:58):
Yeah, it really is Very grateful for you, my
friend.
Thank you.
Jason Julian (01:08:03):
Right on dude.
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.
I'm your host, Corey Berrier,and I'm here with my friend,
Jason Julian.
What's up, brother?
What's happening?
Good to see you.
Jason Julian (00:10):
Yeah, you too, man .
Corey Berrier (00:12):
So Jason has been a very dear friend of mine for
several years now I don't knowhow long and has helped me
through several times, helped methrough issues that I've had in
recovery, or even actually youcoached me on when I was going
(00:39):
to give a talk, to give my story.
You really walked me throughthe way to do that and I'm
really grateful for you.
Jason Julian (00:48):
It's mutual man.
Corey Berrier (00:50):
I appreciate that .
So, jason, for those that mayor may not know, you just give
us a bit better background onyourself and the business and
all that good stuff.
Jason Julian (01:01):
All right.
So since we're talking aboutrecovery, I did not get into
HVAC until after I was alreadyin recovery.
Corey Berrier (01:10):
Okay.
Jason Julian (01:10):
I didn't know that .
A little background on myself.
I grew up in a family business.
My father owned a cabinet shopand we did high-end custom
cabinetry all over the UnitedStates, even outside the United
States, so quality was such abig key of our lives of doing
things the right way.
(01:31):
So I grew up in a family withhigh expectations and my family
has always been involved in thebuilding trades of some sort.
My uncle and cousin are homebuilders.
My father was a home builderuntil he broke out and started
doing cabinetry.
I have another uncle and cousinwho were plumbers.
So being in the trades hasalways been a part of my DNA.
(01:56):
And at a time in my life after aserious bout with drugs and
alcohol in my life, after aserious bout with drugs and
alcohol, I was given theopportunity to work for a guy in
heating and air and I wasactually disabled at the time.
I'd had a really bad caraccident and was disabled for
(02:17):
many years and the year I gotsober I'd been in jail a few
times and the year I got soberI'd been in jail a few times and
(02:41):
the third time that I got outof there I really started making
recovery a part of my life andsix months after my last time of
using, I got a part, hadchanged my people, places and
things.
I did not have the sameassociates around me, so I was
ready for something new and Iwas soaking it all up.
By the time I got out of jail,I didn't have a job, I didn't
have a phone and I didn't have acar.
(03:01):
I didn't have a job, I didn'thave a phone and I didn't have a
car.
And six months into being sober, I got an opportunity to work
with a guy doing heating and airand he started teaching me all
about it.
Up until that point, go ahead.
Corey Berrier (03:17):
You're going to ask a question Well, so I was
just going to ask.
So you've been, you've beensober a little over 12 years at
this point, right.
Jason Julian (03:26):
Now, yeah, just celebrated 12 years, december
7th, pearl Harbor day.
Corey Berrier (03:31):
It's amazing.
So I want you to, I want you totake us back to what led you up
to that getting sober point.
We all have a bottom, so tospeak, and my bottom was I had
(03:52):
three DUIs.
I had 2005,.
I got caught traffickingcocaine.
Well, 2009, I had the blowthing in my car and I blew into
it after I'd been drinking, andit immediately reports to the
DMV and you have to explainyourself.
And, quite frankly, jason, I'mreally shocked that I walked out
(04:15):
of there with a driver'slicense.
The lady said if you ever comeback in here again, you will
never drive again.
And so that was my.
I had a choice to make you willnever drive again, and so that
was my.
I had a choice to make I couldeither go down this shitty road
that I'd been going down or Icould make a change, and and so
that was my bottom, if you will.
So where, when was that for you?
(04:37):
What happened?
Jason Julian (04:40):
Well it's, it's chopped up, there's.
It's a big, long story.
I don't know if we have timefor all of it, but I'll try to
keep the key details there.
So I started drugs at a veryyoung age.
Like I mentioned earlier, myfamily very high achievers, very
(05:01):
quality-minded, a lot ofexpectations, and at a young age
I didn't fit the mold.
I didn't feel comfortable, evenin my own family.
I'm not into sports.
All my older brothers havethree older brothers.
They were all into sports.
They were really good at sports.
I was not.
I never felt really comfortablegrowing up as one of Jehovah's
(05:25):
Witnesses.
We were different than most ofthe kids we went to school with.
So there was this all a feeling, probably as far back as I can
remember, that I'm different,I'm not accepted, I'm not there.
Because I didn't get involvedin some of the things that most
kids that I was growing up withdid no birthday parties, no
(05:46):
Christmas gifts and all thatkind of stuff, and so, even
though my parents did a good jobof explaining to us why we
didn't participate in thosethings, I always felt left out,
different, not good enough, andso when I found drugs and
alcohol at an early age man Iwas.
This was great.
(06:06):
I didn't have all theseexpectations on me from my dad
and from associates and friends.
I was free.
So I felt a sense of belongingbecause there I was, my family's
doing this and my dad expectsthis.
When I got loaded, man I was.
(06:29):
It was all it was.
I felt comfortable in my ownskin and that was a lifesaver
for a long time because I was.
I've always been a happy personand enjoyed where I'm at.
But inside, the real Jasoninside was always feeling left
out, not good enough, that kindof stuff.
Well, man, you give me somekind of substance.
(06:51):
It doesn't really matter what.
It is Something that changeshow I'm feeling.
Man, I was all over it.
So I was instantly attracted tothat euphoria I got when I put
substances in my body, sostarted drugs early, early age.
My dad took my brothers and Iout of school early so we
(07:13):
stopped going to public schooland we started working full time
.
Ever since I was inkindergarten we would walk to my
dad's shop after school toclean up and work.
So we've always been involvedin working.
But the last year I was inpublic school was seventh grade.
I got pulled out of school andstarted working 40 hours a week
(07:34):
and doing a correspondenceschool, and so, anyway, let's
get back to what you're talkingabout.
Drugs were always mostly a partof my life and I had
successfully used, withoutgetting caught or in trouble,
for many years.
Corey Berrier (07:51):
And what kind of drugs are we talking about?
Jason Julian (07:54):
Well, I had tried.
Alcohol was the first.
Alcohol was readily availablein my home, so sneaking a little
bit of alcohol was easy and itwas always available.
But I think I was probably 12years old the first time I
smoked weed and I found a kid atschool who I knew.
(08:17):
He hung out with my olderbrother and his older brother
and that's how I knew I had abrother that used drugs and so I
always looked up to him andwanted to be like him.
So I gravitated towards thattype of environment.
So I started with smoking weedand there was other things
available.
Like I said, my older brotherand his friends did drugs.
(08:40):
So sneak into his room and ohwhat's this little white powder
I got introduced to.
Cocaine and methamphetamine wasaround the little town that I
was at.
I stayed away from all thepills and things like that.
I didn't do any kind of opiatesfor a long time but I tried
everything else.
Lsd was around.
(09:02):
I gravitated towards the groupthat was having fun and doing
this stuff.
So I had tried almost everydrug that I could, except for
heroin and opiate by the time Iwas 15.
Corey Berrier (09:16):
Being in such a tight-knit family with your dad
and he just didn't know.
Jason Julian (09:24):
So my dad grew up in the 60s in Southern
California and he and my unclelived in Hawaii and they told
stories.
I had one uncle who was still apothead and had lots of stories
, so we knew about drugs.
The type of music we listenedto lent itself towards that
(09:46):
lifestyle so I was alwaysinterested in it.
Like I said, when I foundalcohol I was probably eight or
nine the first time I stole somealcohol and got really sick
drunk from that and it wasterrible and horrible but I
wanted more that.
And it was terrible andhorrible but I wanted more.
(10:07):
Early on, Like, I was alwaysinterested in that, I wanted to
do better.
I came from this family of highachievers so when I got into
the drug world I wanted to bethe best at what I was doing.
So I was willing to tryanything that was there.
I'll take as much as I can get.
I'll take as much as I can get.
And that kind of fed into theego.
When I started hanging out withpeers my age I was already
(10:31):
experienced, I knew where to getit that kind of fed, this
improper desire that I hadinside to do more, to do better,
and I always wanted to take itto another level.
Because you were the man.
Well, and I was the youngest offour brothers, so I was always
(10:56):
last in line when it came tothem.
And so since I started my drugexploration before a lot of the
people my age, I was theexperienced one.
I was the one that they made funof for a lot of years because I
was this weird druggie.
And then when they got olderand wanted to start
experimenting, they came to mebecause they knew I knew about
it and so that kind of gave me afalse sense of superiority or
(11:21):
whatever.
I was the man in a couple ofthe circles I ran in and all
that did was feed my ego, youknow, and it fueled my desire to
do more.
And back to what we were sayingis I used drugs from early on
and it didn't really have adetrimental effect as far as
(11:44):
getting in trouble with thepolice.
My family, like my dad, workeda lot, so we were always working
and out.
So when he was gone I would actout and there were ways around
it.
I just didn't get caught.
I was slick enough to find myopportunities and I used them
(12:07):
really well.
Corey Berrier (12:10):
I would so.
When's the first when?
When did it?
When was the first crash?
When did it first cause you?
Jason Julian (12:19):
problems.
It's funny you say crash,because I was involved in a
really bad car accident in 2010.
By this time, I was married andhad two children, and one part
of the story that I didn't tellyou is when I, when my wife, got
(12:42):
pregnant with our first child,which was 2004,.
Because she got pregnant, Idecided I wanted to change and
do something different.
So I knew I had good parentsand a good family, and so when I
was bringing a child into thisworld, I had a little bit of a
(13:02):
desire to stop using into thisworld.
I had a little bit of a desireto stop using, and so, about six
months after we found out shewas pregnant, I stopped using
all illegal drugs and I stoppedsmoking cigarettes, but I didn't
stop drinking.
And see, that's the part of mystory that I didn't realize,
because I wouldn't have thoughtof myself as an alcoholic.
(13:23):
Right, I was a drug user.
I liked it all, sure.
So I had a mentor at the timethat really spent some time with
me and restarted a Bible study,and I wanted to get my life
more in line with what mycreator wanted, based on my
(13:45):
study of the scriptures, and soI was able to in about six
months of a progressive Biblestudy, use what I was learning
to help me to stop using theillegal drugs.
And in my mind because I'm notsticking needles in my arm
anymore and I'm not taking acidon the weekends it was okay for
(14:07):
me to drink because it was legal, and so I didn't realize the
things that were going on in mybody and in my mind when I take
a substance in.
I was feeling good about myselfhey, I'm not doing these drugs,
I'm going to do something goodfor my family.
So I stopped doing that and Istopped hanging out with all the
people that were doing that.
(14:29):
But slowly, over that four yearsI had a four year period where
I didn't do illegal drugs and Ididn't smoke.
Cigarettes progressively gotworse and I didn't even see it
or notice it.
But I'm thinking to myselfGod's okay with me because I'm
not doing the hard stuff.
It's okay for me to drink alittle bit more.
(14:51):
And as I look back on it I cansee how it progressed.
And then, at four years of notusing those, the alcohol got
worse and I put myself insituations around people that
were using and it just took avery little bit to start me back
into the drugs.
(15:14):
Four years clean from those andsomebody hands me a couple of
hydrocodone at work one daybecause I hurt my back.
I wasn't even thinking that Iwas doing drugs because I wasn't
taking this to get high.
But someone said, hey, I've gota couple of hydros in there
because I twerked my back and Iwas in pain and I'm like OK,
(15:35):
cool, no problem.
Like I said, I wasn't thinkingthat I was taking drugs because
it wasn't to get high.
But I felt good after that andthen it became easier that when
it was presented to me again Iwas like yeah, sure, I'll take a
few more.
And I had never been into painpills or opiates at all.
Started with a couple of hydros,less than a year later I was
(15:57):
shooting up meth and Oxycontinevery week.
So I was four years away fromthe drugs.
The alcohol was flowing likecrazy and that was getting worse
to using a couple of hydros andthen in less than a 12 month
period I was consistently usingmeth again, shooting it up and
(16:21):
mixing it with opiates.
And that just started a wholething.
Because she got pregnant withour first child, I decided to
stop.
We ended up having anotherchild and soon after that is
when I started the drugs againwith those hydrocodones, and it
took off and I was worse offthen than I was when I had
(16:45):
stopped, because I just couldnot stop putting stuff in.
Yeah, so that was a big deal,but I had made it up into that
point without having any seriouslegal troubles or getting
caught or anything like that.
It took another few yearsbefore the results started
(17:05):
happening.
The year I got sober 2012,.
I had gone to jail a couple oftimes, but let me reverse that.
2012 is when I got sober.
2010 is when I had a caraccident.
So that was the real big firstcrash and big result is I was
messed up.
(17:26):
I woke up in the hospital acouple of months after we had
this car wreck.
I had a trach helping mebreathe.
I had messed up every internalorgan but my heart.
I broke my back in three places.
I woke up in a hospital tieddown because, they said before I
regained consciousness, I wasripping all the cords out of me
(17:49):
and all the stuff helping mestay alive, and I spent 18 out
of 24 months in the universityhospital in Arkansas 18 months,
18 months.
I was unconscious for two monthsand I wake up and I at this
time because, because my druguse had progressed, I had lost
(18:12):
contact with my family.
They didn't want anything to dowith me.
So my dad, brothers, mom, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces,
nephews I hadn't had contactwith them for a couple of years.
And when I wake up in thehospital, I hadn't had contact
with them for a couple of years.
And when I wake up in thehospital, they're all standing
around me thinking I was aboutto die.
They didn't know what was goingon.
(18:32):
Broken back, I lost a third ofmy liver, a third of my colon, a
kidney, my gallbladder, mypancreas was detached.
I was in bad shape.
So that was the first bigconsequence of my using.
That had happened, and how didyou crash the car?
Corey Berrier (18:51):
I know you were intoxicated, but what happened?
Jason Julian (18:53):
So I didn't actually crash the car.
An associate of mine wasdriving my car.
I was passed out in thepassenger seat and apparently he
thought it was a good idea forus to leave the house we were at
and we were headed from LittleRock, arkansas, to Oklahoma for
some reason.
I don't know if we were goingto get drugs or a party or
(19:15):
something, but we jumped in thecar.
He put me in the car andstarted driving and got about 40
miles down the road and flippedthe car.
They said the car flipped endover end for over 300 feet.
The police report's prettycrazy and I had stayed in the
(19:38):
car.
He got ejected from the car andhe spent about two weeks in the
hospital.
I spent 18 out of 24 months inthe hospital.
My seatbelt caused a lot ofinternal damage to my abdomen
and, like I said, I can't reallyremember.
Two weeks before that accidentI was on a heroin binge that
(20:01):
lasted for a couple of weeks andended up with me in the
hospital.
Heroin binge that lasted for acouple of weeks and ended up
with me in the hospital.
Corey Berrier (20:07):
So just curious, what was the bill from 18 months
in the hospital?
Jason Julian (20:14):
Millions of dollars.
They wrote it off.
They didn't think I was goingto make it out of the hospital.
So it was millions and millionsof dollars and they wrote it
off.
At the time I was in thehospital.
Through the physical recoveryand all the stuff going on, my
stepmother and father helped meto apply for disability and I
(20:37):
was put on disability and theyand I'd been working from an
early age on so I'd been payingin for many years.
So I had, after about a year oftrying, I finally was able to
get on disability and they, likeI said, they wrote off a bunch
(21:00):
of bills.
I was in UAMS, which is thestate hospital in Arkansas.
It's a university teachinghospital and best care ever.
They were great.
But at that time they didn'teven think I was going to stay
in recovery.
I remember my dad telling meyears after I got sober that the
(21:20):
nurses and doctors were tellinghim hey, this kid isn't going
to make it, he does not want tostay sober.
I had so much physical painthat they I left the hospital.
On pain medicine.
They gave me a prescription forfentanyl.
So I'm in there for heroin andwhiskey car wreck and I leave
(21:41):
with a legal prescription nowfor fentanyl, which I'd already
been misusing for quite sometime, and so, being a drug
addict, my body doesn't know ifit's prescribed or not.
I'm going to misuse it.
So the only safe thing for meis complete abstinence.
I can't handle prescriptionpain medicine or anything like
(22:03):
that, because my body will takeover my mind or my mind will
take over my body.
One or the other one is goingto win, and because I'm a drug
addict, I'm going to misuse it.
So you know that about myselfnow or you were.
Corey Berrier (22:18):
You were still married, your wife still married
, still there the kids.
So she sat for 18 months withyou in the hospital.
Jason Julian (22:30):
Yeah, back and forth.
I would come home for a weekand go back in for a month.
I would come home for two orthree days and then go back in.
So I was back and forth forthat 18 months or that two years
and it was a total of 18 monthsactually in the hospital, many
surgeries.
So that's not even where thestory gets.
Really weird is that happenedin 2010.
(22:53):
2012 is when I got sober.
So they had sent me from thehospital on fentanyl and all
this stuff me from the hospitalon fentanyl and all this stuff.
That year, 2012, I had gone tojail three times.
So I was in it for drugs andbeing in the wrong place at the
(23:16):
wrong time.
Not every time were there drugs, but drugs were always involved
and I was high every time.
I went to jail.
The first couple of times, shebailed me out after a few days
and I just resumed my life ofusing and lying and cheating and
stealing and all the thingsthat go along with my lifestyle.
(23:37):
And the third time that I wentto jail, which was December 7th,
was the last time I used.
She left me in there.
So I stayed in there forseveral months and it took about
two weeks of being in jail thatI finally was ready to ask for
(23:58):
help, ask a higher power, askGod for help to stop what I was
doing.
I had been involved in recoveryfor those two years.
So I was going to recoverymeetings but I wasn't staying
sober because I had a legalprescription for drugs.
Because I had a legalprescription for drugs and so I
(24:19):
could never get the substancesout of my body long enough to
actually rely on God's strengthto help me stay sober.
And so I went through all thewithdrawals in jail, violent
seizures and like just it wasterrible.
I was in bad shape for thefirst two weeks after going to
(24:40):
jail because I had nothing in mysystem and I had to go through
it.
I was pretty messed up.
But because I'd been going torecovery meetings for quite some
time for about a year or twoand a half years I was finally
ready.
I started using the experience,strength and hope that other
(25:02):
people said in meetings.
And the funny thing is the jailthat I went to was on the
backside of the jail.
About a hundred feet away wasthe recovery house.
So I was in jail wishing I wasat the recovery meetings with
everybody in there because I'mso close.
Yet I'm in a block wall man.
(25:22):
I'm so close to where therecovery was, I just couldn't
get there and I was finally.
My circumstances finally mademe willing to try something new,
and that something new waspraying about it and then
working in harmony with myprayers, like I really wanted to
live at that time.
So that started my journey intoreal recovery, because up until
(25:47):
that point I'd never worked anysteps.
I didn't admit that.
I was powerless over any, anyof it.
And six months later I got a job, part-time, with a guy doing
heating and air.
So at that time I was ready.
I had no friends, like I saidno phone, no car, no job,
nothing.
I was still disabled, sodisability was helping pay my
(26:11):
bills.
So I focused on recovery and Ifocused on HVAC.
So having something to do inrecovery was very instrumental
because I'm used to alwaysrunning and gunning and scheming
and trying these differentthings that now I had something.
I had my recovery meetings andI had heating and air and I was
(26:33):
so ready to start something newso I dove right in.
This guy was a one man show witha helper.
His helper didn't show up.
So that's how I got the job andI could only work so many hours
per week.
So I worked part time for thefirst year and a half of doing
(26:54):
HVAC.
I worked 10, 11 hours a weekand when I wasn't working with
him I was reading books.
I grabbed his refrigerationbooks and started reading and I
didn't understand any of it.
I didn't know anything aboutelectrical, I didn't know
anything about the refrigerationcycle, but I was slowly on the
job, training, learning how tochange parts.
(27:16):
So I was a parts changer for along time, not understanding why
I'm changing these parts.
I would just go, we woulddiagnose that it's broken.
I would get the part, wire forwire, change it out, but I
didn't really understand.
So, as I'm reading these booksand it's not making sense, but
I'm doing it every day, slowlyand surely some of it started to
(27:40):
click and I developed a passionand a love for it.
Because when you're a heatingand air guy and you go to
somebody's house, they have aproblem, you're there to fix it
and get them back up and runningand there's a good feeling when
it comes to doing somethinglike that.
I'm now the hero of this familywho has no air and it's a
(28:03):
hundred degrees outside andeverybody's sweating the dog's
panting and nobody's happy.
And I come and do my thing andnow they're all happy again and
they give me money.
Corey Berrier (28:13):
Right.
Jason Julian (28:14):
So I fell in love with it and I really, like I
said, I'd gotten rid of all myold friends and associates.
The first couple of years ofbeing sober, I still didn't have
contact with my family.
They didn't believe that I hadchanged.
Corey Berrier (28:30):
Sure Well, a lot of proof there, right yeah?
Jason Julian (28:34):
So, no, no real contact with my family, my dad
and brothers and mom and all thefamily that are close knit.
I wasn't a part of that.
The only only people I had inmy life were my wife and my two
daughters, and my recovery,friends and recovery and
fellowship and connection was sohuge because now I had people
(28:57):
that didn't have expectations ofme.
They loved me even though I haddone things that were terrible
and horrible, and they keptteaching me that, hey, that's
something you did.
That's not necessarily who youare.
Who are you, jason?
What are you going to do aboutit?
This happens.
You can do this or you can notdo this or not do this.
(29:23):
What are you going to do?
My sponsor was really big on notgiving me advice and telling me
what to do.
He would lay out options andsay, hey, I can't do this for
you.
Out options and say, hey, Ican't do this for you.
This is what you're dealingwith.
You could do this or this andit might bring about this or
this.
What are you going to do?
(29:45):
And any choice I made, he wasgoing to love me anyway, but he
didn't enable me.
He didn't act like he wassuperior to me by telling me
what to do.
He wasn't there to fix me.
He was there to share hisexperience.
Hey, when I was in thissituation, this is what I did,
whether it was good or bad.
(30:06):
These were the results.
What do you want your resultsto be?
What are you going to work for?
What are you going to do?
You either can or you can't.
You either will or you won't.
And he helped me to see that.
It was my idea to choose thenext right thing or not.
There was always an option andat that point, I didn't feel or
(30:29):
know that I had options.
When I got upset or I felt badabout myself, I used drugs to
feel better.
If you pissed me off, I woulduse drugs at you to deal with
the feelings, because I didn'tknow how to have a relationship
with people.
I didn't know that I could setboundaries, I didn't know that I
could say no to you.
(30:50):
I just reacted.
And he taught me how to respondto situations by thinking about
it and, first off, not takingsubstances in.
That was the biggest key is Ihad to stop starting.
Once I take something in,whether it's alcohol or any
(31:11):
other drug, my body developsthat phenomenon of craving and I
can't stop once I start and Ididn't know that, but I see it
now.
I look at every time that Iused something, even though I
didn't really want to like Iknew I wanted to change, but if
I took it in it was all over.
I could not stop until I waseither stopped, ran out or in
(31:34):
jail.
And that's where I found myself, man.
I was there and I was actuallyready to try what other people
had done to see if it would workfor me.
That's where the experience,strength and hope of recovery
comes in is if I had people inmy circle that are willing to
share what happened to them.
Now I have an opportunity toeither use what they did or not.
(31:58):
As my sponsors say, you caneither do this or not.
You can either come to meetingsor you don't.
You can ask God for help or youdon't.
What do you want to do, jason?
And he's like I can't do it foryou.
I mean, there were many timesthat he would spend hours with
me.
I would be sharing my life andstory and stuff with him and he
(32:21):
wouldn't say, oh, you should dothis or you.
He would just listen and sayyou know what man I felt similar
.
This is what I did.
Or hey, you know what?
I don't have any experiencewith what you're dealing with,
but I know somebody in recoverythat does.
Let me call them and see ifit's okay to give them your
number, or give you their number.
(32:42):
Maybe they can help you withtheir experience, maybe not.
It was always a maybe or not.
And it taught me that if Ireally want something bad enough
, I'm going to put in the workto get it.
And the other thing is there isa power outside of myself that
(33:03):
can give me strength when I needit, if I choose to ask for it
and then work in harmony withthat prayer.
I can't just have the prayer ofoh my God, I'm feeling terrible
.
I never want to do this again.
It's more like, hey, I needhelp, I'm willing to do it If my
sponsor says hey, it might begood to volunteer some of your
time and go clean the toilets atthe recovery house.
(33:25):
That was my opportunity to servethe other people.
I don't want to clean thatnasty toilet from a recovery
house, right.
But I learned that if I didthat, I was staying out of
myself, I was giving myselfsomething to do and it was
benefiting others, and that wasthe key that my sponsor helped
me to see is if I could benefitothers.
(33:47):
Now I'm useful.
Now I'm not a piece of shit.
Right Now I'm not so far gonethat I can't be of service to
somebody else, and that's wherethe recovery helped me the most
was learning how to be involvedin service, serve my fellow man,
be there for somebody else.
Corey Berrier (34:06):
So when did you?
When did?
And I can understand everythingthat you're talking about.
You're 100% correct.
So when did you start to see?
For me, it was really hard tosee the promises when I first
came in, so when did you start?
(34:34):
Recovery of the 12-step programthat we're referring to,
there's promises that come aftercertain periods of time.
Jason Julian (34:43):
Sometimes those promises come quickly, sometimes
they come slowly, but they docome as long as you work for
them as long as you work forthem, right, yeah, so that was a
very instrumental part ofworking with my sponsors going
through those promises that thebook talks about, selfishness
(35:04):
will disappear.
The right thought will comeintuitively after working the
steps.
So part of my steps wererecognizing where what I was
powerless over, which is damnnear everything except for my
own choices, that's right.
And when I start doing thesethings man, it did my fear of
(35:29):
financial insecurity left.
I have a job.
I can work for what, what paysmy bills and what feeds my
family.
I stopped looking for how itbenefits just me.
How is this going to benefitother people?
It was a total.
The recovery book that I referto calls it a psychic change.
It's a psychological adjustmentfrom the way I used to perceive
(35:54):
things to a way of how can I beof service, how can I do
something that's going tobenefit others, not just me,
because I've benefited me formost of my life.
It was all about how is Jasongoing to benefit from this?
I would tell you whatever Ithought you wanted to hear, so I
could get whatever you had inthe pocket.
Corey Berrier (36:14):
Yeah.
Jason Julian (36:15):
In my old life lifestyle I would lie, cheat,
steal to get what I wanted andit was all about me.
I would make up excuses on whyI was late, why I couldn't go
pick up my daughter, and my wifewould have to do it.
Um, I'd make up excuses why wedidn't get as many grocery
because I had spent the majorityof the money on heroin.
(36:36):
I would lie to people to getmoney so I could buy groceries
and pay the bills.
My grandparents lived out inCalifornia and I conned my
grandfather out of sending memoney so I could pay the house
payment because I was loaded allthe time.
Getting into recovery I learnedthat, hey, I can show up and
(36:58):
make coffee.
That's not a whole lot, but youknow what, when somebody's
coming into their meeting ortheir first time and they're
having a tough time, a warm cupof coffee and somebody's there
to listen to what's going on isso valuable.
I could do that.
I can show up early and makecoffee and sweep the floor, make
sure the bathroom had toiletpaper in.
There I learned a new way ofthinking respond, not react.
(37:25):
And I can't say.
Your question was how long didit take for some of those
promises?
Probably a couple of yearsbefore I even realized them.
Corey Berrier (37:38):
Well, maybe the first one was getting that
part-time job right Becausestatistically looking at your
situation drug addict, you'vebeen in the hospital for 18
months, you're disabled Chancesof getting a job's not great.
Jason Julian (37:59):
No, it was definitely a blessing, and I
guess I didn't realize those atfirst because everything was
happening.
It was new to me because upuntil that point, drugs had
always been a part of my dailylife, and so I learned how to
have a relationship with anotherperson.
I learned how to be honest.
Hey, you know what, corey, Iknow you need help on this, but
(38:21):
you know what?
I just don't have time.
I don't have to tell you, yeah,man, I'm going to help you and
then not show up because Ididn't have time.
I was a yes man.
I would tell you whatever youwanted to hear, so that you
would like me, or that I wouldfeel good about myself.
Now I can say you know what,man, I really don't have time.
I wish I could help you, corey,but I've got this and this
(38:42):
going on, so I'm not going to beable to and know that it was
okay.
People in recovery were okaywith you being honest with them.
I wasn't used to that.
I was in the drug world of.
I'm going to tell you what youwant to hear, and I was in the
drug world of.
I'm going to tell you what youwant to hear, and I was around
people that lied abouteverything, and so that became a
way of life.
Recovery taught me it's okay tosay no and it's okay to get out
(39:08):
of my comfort zone and dosomething, even if I didn't
really want to, if I knew itwould benefit other people.
Man, there was satisfaction inthat and joy in that, and so I
just I learned to actually be anemotional grownup being in
recovery.
Corey Berrier (39:28):
Well, the other thing, too, that you mentioned
is going to make coffee orsweeping the floors or cleaning
the toilets.
That's also that's.
I think that's a huge part ofthis, because naturally, we are
very prideful people, very egodriven.
And who the fuck are you totell me I should go clean a
(39:53):
toilet?
That's the first thought, butby doing that, it slowly humbles
you right.
And I'll tell you another thing.
I thought about taking thatpart-time job.
My experience when getting soberboth times has been I have to
(40:15):
take a job that I'm eithereither I think I'm overqualified
for or maybe I'm overqualifiedfor.
But I have to take a job thatis going to put me in my place
and humble me before I can everget to the place that I think I
need to be.
And those are the steppingstones to getting to the life
(40:39):
that you really want.
But you got to take that firststep.
I remember in 2009, I took ajob at Five Guys, completely
beneath me, like, like.
It was the worst thing I couldpossibly think of is I had to
flip burgers at five guys.
(41:00):
I didn't do it long.
I did it long enough to get tothe next step, which was like an
italian restaurant, but, likewhen I got to the italian
restaurant, it was like I feltlike I was at the damn Taj Mahal
, right.
I felt like I had justcompletely elevated my status
(41:21):
but I had to do it and you knowwhat?
Jason Julian (41:24):
It's pretty interesting that you say that,
because one of the first jobs Ihad while still while on
disability, before I got the jobat the HVAC company, was I
worked at Taco Bell.
Yeah, and I definitely feltlike that was beneath me.
I grew up in a family business.
That was a trade.
I knew how to do something thatwas seemingly higher value and
(41:50):
it really did humble me becauseand I will never regret that
experience I met some people.
It's still the boss I had atTaco Bell.
She was so good at her job andshe did it well.
Even the people I worked with, Imean, it humbled me enough.
I was embarrassed that ifanybody walked in and saw me,
(42:13):
because here's this guy that'salways had this job.
He was traveled and I workeddoing high-end custom cabinetry.
And here I am, I'm working atTaco Bell.
But I was so humbled to workthere and I benefited more from
there than any of the higherseeming jobs that I've had,
because, man, there were somereally good people there.
(42:34):
Man, there were some reallygood people there.
They followed a process to getthings done and they did it well
.
Dealing with the public is notnice, man, I'm telling you.
Sometimes you can do everythingthat you think's right and
somebody's going to gripe andmoan and complain about it.
And working in food service ata fast food place definitely
(42:56):
humbled me and I'm grateful forthat experience.
So it's it's cool to hear thatyou had a similar experience
working at five guys.
Man, it was a job, it was work.
It was something that I endedup then.
Now I'm proud that I was to bea part of it, especially with
the team that I was with yeah,yeah, it's interesting because I
see there's a guy that I usedto sponsor.
Corey Berrier (43:20):
He went away and got some help.
He relapsed again and grew upin a very well-to-do family
they're still well-to-do rightand I see he's probably not
going to take that job at FiveGuys.
(43:42):
He's probably not going to takea job at Taco Bell because he
believes he needs to be at thiscertain level.
And I can see because I've beenthere and I can see because
I've been there and the it'she's never going to be able to
get to the job that he thinks heshould get to until he takes a
(44:06):
job below what he believes heshould be doing.
And it's just.
I don't know how to explain it.
It is part of the process andyou either surrender to it and
take the shitty job or you keepon the treadmill of wishing you
could find a job, which reallyis just going to lead you right
back, most likely to anotherrelapse over and over.
Jason Julian (44:30):
It reminds me of one of the vacation movies where
Cousin Eddie was out of work.
He said so you're still out ofwork.
He's like, yeah, I'm holdingout for a management position,
Exactly.
Exactly humility is not funwhile it it is, while we're
being humbled in a situation,but what it builds on the other
(44:51):
end is so much greater than whatwe've got.
What I went through yeah, Ican't speak for anyone else.
I can speak for myself.
Being humbled and going througha situation that I felt was
beneath me helped me learn thatnothing is beneath me.
I own a heating and air companyhere in Heber Springs, arkansas
(45:12):
, and you know what?
I clean bathrooms here, I sweepup, I clean up trash.
If I show up on a job and myguys are working really hard, I
will be the cleanup man.
I will go pick up the trash, Iwill sweep, I will carry it to
the dumpster.
I will get dirty and not to.
(45:33):
Oh, look at me, look what I'mdoing.
It's more of this needs to bedone.
Somebody else is doingsomething else.
Man, I'm not too good to dothis part of it, and that's a
huge part of my life now is.
I'm not too good for anything.
I am very grateful to be alive.
Corey Berrier (45:51):
Yeah, a hundred percent, dude.
And look, that also shows yourteam members that, oh, he's not,
he's not the boss that justsays, hey, you need to go do
this.
It builds a culture of you knowthe employee that sees you do
that.
They can't not do it becauseyou've done it.
Jason Julian (46:14):
Yeah, and that's one of those things that my dad
taught us growing up.
My dad, I had to go.
I was telling you, when I wasin kindergarten, we walked to my
dad's shop after school and wewould clean bathrooms, we would
take out the trash.
That started early on, and thecool thing about my dad is he
(46:35):
was the owner of his company,but I saw him doing some of the
so-called menial tasks ofcleaning something out, the
stuff that nobody really wantedto do.
That's not the fun stuff or theglamorous stuff, and that did
help us respect what he asked usto do, and so I incorporate
that here at our shop.
There's nothing that's too goodfor any one of us to do.
(46:56):
I don't care.
Titles and positions don't meanwhat some people think they
mean.
That just means you're in ahigher level of service.
Corey Berrier (47:08):
Right.
Jason Julian (47:08):
I am here to serve the people here, not the other
way around.
They're not here to serve myneeds, like you said, hey, you
go do this.
It's more like, hey, help me,let's get this done.
Let's do this together.
Corey Berrier (47:20):
Yeah, and you know Well and I think, Jason,
that I think that explains or isa good illustration of why your
business does what it does andwhy it's been successful is, if
not a, it's not a sale.
You show up to the customer'shouse, just like you showed up
(47:40):
today, and the goal was to solvethe problem and get paid, but
not get paid for solving theproblem.
Does that make sense?
Jason Julian (47:50):
Absolutely, and you know what that's.
One of the things that I loveabout this is because I'm not
salesy and I'm not, and I havelearned that in this trade, in
any trade you have, a person hasto be a salesman of some sort
salesperson to get the job done,because that's what keeps it
going.
But when you go in and you showsomebody, I'm here to solve
(48:12):
your problem, and one of thethings that I love about my
approach when I'm dealing with acustomer is you tell me what
you want, corey, what's yourmain focus in on this next
project?
What do you want to get out ofit?
Okay, so I take your feedback.
You tell me you want this, this, you really have to have this.
(48:35):
Okay, so let me present someoptions for you.
You said I want this, thisoption has this, this other
option has this, and thensomething else that you said you
would like.
This other one has even more.
What do you want to do?
What's your priority?
(48:56):
This one costs this much.
This one costs this much.
This one costs this.
I can do all of them for you.
You're going to have to makethe choice and choose which one
you want.
This level gets this.
The cool thing is, all theoptions I presented to you are
going to work and I'm going toback them up because we're going
(49:16):
to do this to make this happenand we're going to guarantee and
warranty this.
What do you want to do?
And most of the time, peoplecan feel comfortable at any
choice, and I want to make youcomfortable.
I don you want to do, and mostof the time, people can feel
comfortable at any choice, and Iwant to make you comfortable.
I don't want to push a brand,like with HVAC.
I don't care what brand thecompany or the customer chooses,
(49:37):
because they're going to getthe same level of installation
and service, no matter whichbrand they pick.
I don't make the stuff.
Even my supplier, my territorymanager, doesn't make it.
He works for that company, soof course he wants me to sell
this particular brand.
I really don't care.
I give the customer the optionand say this is going to do this
(49:59):
, will do this and this will dothis.
Any of the choices will work.
And you know what I even tellcustomers even if you choose to
go with another company, pleasemake sure that they're giving
you this.
This is what you asked for Now,the price that another company
may give you may be better thanwhat you're seeing from me or
(50:23):
not, but if it is, make surethat you're getting this.
This is something you have todo and this project, this is a
non-negotiable.
This has to be done, no matterwhich brand you pick, no matter
which company you pick.
If they're going to come in ata lower price or you feel
comfortable with them, andthey're not going to do this, I
want you to know on the frontend you're not getting what you
(50:44):
need.
Corey Berrier (50:50):
Well, also, though, jason, the product is
the product.
Really, what they're paying foris to make sure that product
gets installed correctly.
Yeah, and if you're payingsomebody that's got a cheaper
price, you can't guarantee hisinstallation.
You can guarantee yourinstallation Absolutely, and so
that's the key.
Jason Julian (51:11):
It doesn't matter which one they choose If it's
installed wrong, you're going tohave problems, and that's the
key.
And it's about educating ourcustomers, no matter what trade
we're in, it's educating them.
If you choose to do this, thisis what you can expect.
If you choose to not do do thisis what you can expect.
If you choose to not do this,this is what you can expect.
Right Brands don't solve theproblems.
(51:34):
Sometimes price doesn't solvethe problems.
It's actually doing what needsto be done to solve those
problems and I don't want tofeel on the hook for those.
So in my business, one of thebiggest keys that I let
customers know is this is whatcalculation on the house, or if
one was ever done.
I don't know if they built theduct system to handle that size.
(52:13):
So when I go in and offer acustomer, we're going to do a
heat load.
If you agree to have us workfor you, I'm going to come back
in and double check after weshake hands and make the
agreement that what I'mpresenting to you is going to
actually work.
If it doesn't, we can adjustfrom there, because there's been
(52:34):
several customers lately thatwe have gone into and we have
put considerably smaller airconditioners in their home than
what they currently had.
Because the load calc came outto this the duct system could
only handle X amount of airflow.
I have one lady that justrecently we dropped her total
(52:57):
heating and cooling load by twotons from what she currently had
.
Okay, she had six tons ofheating and cooling for this
house and after we did the loadcalculation we came in and it
was it was.
It came down to four tons.
I met her two weeks after theinstall at a local store here.
(53:17):
Uh, just last week she said myhouse has never been this
comfortable.
There are no hot and cold spots.
And she said I don't get a bigblast of heat and then it get
cold and then kick on.
She's like the thing constantlyruns, but I'm comfortable.
And so we took an uncomfortablesituation that she had.
(53:38):
She needed two systems replaced.
We did it for her coming insmall and it was hard for her to
grasp when I told her that thecapacity that we're putting in
is less than what she had.
I showed her that she liked thedata from showing her why I
(53:58):
choose to put this in.
I just told her if she wasn'tcomfortable with this, maybe she
could find another contractorthat would be willing to go like
for like and she goes, but Iwasn't comfortable before I'm
like well then, that's, you'vegot to make that decision,
because that's what most of thecontractors around our area are
like well.
Well, that must be right.
(54:18):
It's been working for years.
Well, she told me herself itwasn't working for years.
Corey Berrier (54:23):
It was working, but she wasn't comfortable it
was also overworking if it wastwo times over.
Jason Julian (54:31):
Yeah, well, and it was.
It was a waste of electricityand energy sources.
She was uncomfortable.
So presenting options that meetall of those are what make me
the happiest.
When I can come in and showsomebody hey, this has been
wrong for as long as it's beenin, but we can make it right and
(54:51):
this is what we're going to do.
Yeah, it's going to cost thismuch to get there, but we can do
this for you.
And then, when the results come, oh man, it's a good feeling
that a year or two after doingthis, somebody calls you up and
says hey, I just want to let youknow everything's working like
you told me.
I'm saving money now.
I spent a lot more moneychoosing you on the front end,
(55:13):
but it's made itself back inthese last couple of years
because my electricity bill isdown here and my comforts up
here.
I didn't know I could be this.
I was scared to spend $20,000,$30,000 on this when another guy
gave me a bid for 15 or 10.
And you told me it was going tobe this.
And she's like it is.
This is amazing and that givesme some great satisfaction is I
(55:39):
don't want to just?
I don't want to just be asalesman and sell somebody a
product.
I want to fix their problem.
I want to solve it and givethem a solution, and I get more
joy out of that than theexcitement of the sale.
There isn't excitement whensomebody buys something from you
.
There's endorphins that kick inand there's things that go on,
(56:00):
but it's the year or two orthree or five years later that
somebody comes back and says man, thank you so much.
We would have been so unhappyif we had chosen something else,
because this is doing what yousaid it would do.
Yeah.
Corey Berrier (56:15):
And in the end that other unit if you would
have switched it like flight isgoing to 100% cost them more
because the energy savings.
If you break all that down tothe customer and explain how
much, with the tax credits, theenergy savings, at the end of it
they're spending $5,000 or$6,000 on that unit, opposed to
(56:37):
that $15,000 plus another$15,000 in energy.
Right, it is hard for people tounderstand, but when you break
it down and you take the time toexplain how it works, it's a no
brainer.
Jason Julian (56:54):
Yeah Well, and that's why I like being a part
of a lot of the industry groupsthat are learning and educating
technicians and business ownerson how to provide this to the
customer, because it's a win foreveryone.
It's a win for the customer,it's a win for the company
because they're selling betterprojects that increase their
(57:17):
revenue but also give thecustomer longevity, and it's
good for the industry.
There's a lot of improvementsthat can be made in this
industry, and being a part ofthose on the front end helps me
feel good at night.
Hey, I'm giving the options andwhether someone chooses us or
not, I'll still shake their hand, see them at Walmart later and
(57:41):
be happy and go to bed tonightfeeling okay because I gave them
honesty and I gave them options.
It's their choice.
Recovery has taught me I'm notresponsible for their feelings
or their decision and it's outof my control.
So if I offer and allow them toeither accept or decline, the
(58:03):
responsibility lies on them.
My responsibility is givingthem the right factual
information and then being ableto deliver on the promises I
told them.
That is my responsibility andthat's up to me.
But the choice of what somebodywants to do, man, I can't carry
that around.
I have so many other things inmy life that weigh me down.
(58:24):
I don't need the responsibilityof their decisions.
Corey Berrier (58:29):
Well, and how much easier is it, jason, to
walk into a house with thatmindset opposed to I got to make
a sale.
It's a totally differentexperience.
Jason Julian (58:40):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
That's one of my favoritethings is when I get an
opportunity to sit down withcustomers, especially with both
customers, both decision makersin the house or more.
Sometimes there's more.
Sometimes there's families thatthey all combine and own a
property and they've got to makethis decision.
(59:00):
If I can sit down and talk witheverybody involved in that
decision-making process andlisten to their concerns, listen
to their desires and wants andthen show them solutions,
everybody feels good about itbecause they either make the
decision to do this or not, butthey've gotten all those answers
taken out and that alleviatesme of the responsibility.
(59:21):
I don't want the responsibilityto make their decision, but I
do want to be able to offerseveral solutions and know that
no matter which one they pick, Ican deliver on my end.
That's key for me in mybusiness and that's when I try
to help train others.
I'm not great at it.
I don't have the processeslined out the best way yet, but
(59:46):
I'm working on it.
Yeah, Progress, not perfection.
Corey Berrier (59:50):
Progress, not perfection.
That's right, and one of thekey things that you have said is
not having expectations foranybody, and sometimes it's hard
to do, because we do especiallyput expectations on human
beings, and if you do that,you're going to be let down at
some point.
Jason Julian (01:00:10):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And it's almostcounterintuitive to keep those
expectations down, especiallywhen you're involved with a lot
of people that have a lot ofexpectations and you see the
misery in their lives and theirunhappiness because they have
these and they don't see howsimple it is to discard those
(01:00:33):
expectations, to make theserenity level rise, yep, and do
all we can for the day that's.
The other thing is I'm onlygiven so much time in any one
day to do what I can.
What am I going to do with it?
My sponsor was like hey, you'vegot this, what are you going to
do with it?
You going to save it and keepit all for yourself?
Are you going to give a littleto others or are you going to do
(01:00:57):
nothing?
Just look at it.
You have that choice today.
Jason is what he would say.
Choose wisely.
The benefits or thecomplications are going to come
based on your own choices, butyou have the ability to make
those choices.
What are you going to do?
Corey Berrier (01:01:14):
That's right, yeah, and it's up to you.
Jason Julian (01:01:18):
Yeah, well, and it's being a recovery is a two
edged sword.
I feel good, but it it it is.
It can be very frustratingdealing with a group of people
who don't see the need to taketheir own responsibility and
their own accountability forthose actions and realize that
their happiness is directlyproportional to what they're
(01:01:43):
willing to give.
Not the other person, it's notsomebody else's fault.
I will share something mysponsor was very gracious enough
to teach me and he would say,because I would sit there and
spend time with him and gripeand loan and bitch about all
these terrible things thatpeople did.
And he goes Jason, people don'tdo things to you, people just
(01:02:07):
do things.
How you respond to it is goingto affect the way you feel about
the situation.
Don't be a victim.
Don't think that this person isdoing this to me.
This person is just doing it.
They're imperfect, just likeyou.
They're going to make decisionsbased off emotions and feelings
instead of facts sometimes.
Let them do it.
(01:02:28):
Don't take it personally.
It's not personal.
They're just people doingthings.
Yeah, and that has helped saveme from a lot of grief and worry
about what they choose to do ornot do.
Right, but that's not the norm,and so it can be frustrating.
It can can be frustrating todeal with that, but recovery
(01:02:51):
points me back to myself.
Okay, if people are doing this,what am I going to do with it?
If I have control over it, thenI need to take action.
If I have no control, I need tolet it go, because all it's
going to do is waste my time andenergy.
If I'm focused on something Ican't control.
Corey Berrier (01:03:08):
That's right.
Jason Julian (01:03:11):
Recovery has been such a beautiful thing in my
life.
It helped me to remain joyous,not necessarily happy.
I think joy and happy can getused interchangeably, but they
don't mean the same thing.
I can be joyful even though I'mgoing through a tough time.
It doesn't mean I'm happy aboutit.
But I can be joyful knowingthat what I'm experiencing and
(01:03:32):
what I'm enduring is going tolead to something in the future,
and so I can keep my joy eventhough I'm unhappy.
It's beautiful mindset, yeah.
Corey Berrier (01:03:44):
No, I agree, I totally agree with you there.
It's really fascinating, evenwhen you know that you're going
through whatever it is, whetherit's you know any situation
that's hard.
The recovery gives us theability to know there is a light
(01:04:06):
at the end of that tunnel andthe next step is going to be
something good.
If you just sometimes it's oneminute at a time, sometimes it's
one hour at a time, sometimesit's every day is one day at a
time, but going through thingsand walking through them,
there's always something betteron the other side, and I think
(01:04:29):
that people I believe thatpeople in recovery have that,
and I don't know that otherpeople have the ability to see
it like that.
Jason Julian (01:04:41):
I experienced that too and all I can do is follow
what others who have beenthrough it before me, share my
experience with it, my strengthand hope that it can be.
But ultimately it's up to thatother person or persons to
choose and, just like my familywent through a lot of stuff when
(01:05:05):
I was in recovery and they werejust so worried about what was
going on.
It was out of their control.
I had to make it my own.
So I have to do that with otherpeople and realize that they
have choices to make, good orbad, it's going to benefit them
or not, and be okay with itbecause it's out of my control,
yeah.
So still hard to grasp sometimesoh yeah, and it's hard when you
(01:05:29):
have a big group of people.
Owning a business is as its ownchallenges and problems and it
really can affect the day, if Iallow it to to sink in there.
Yeah, but it's your choice,absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, it's your choice,absolutely, absolutely.
Corey Berrier (01:05:48):
Yeah, it's your choice.
Well, Jason, I've learned a lottoday, A lot of stuff I wasn't
totally even aware of, but Iknow that we're getting towards
the end here and I just got totell you how grateful I am that
we got to spend this timetogether today and got to hear
(01:06:09):
this journey that you've been on, Some things I didn't know and
then some things I did.
But if somebody wanted to reachout to you maybe somebody hears
this and maybe they arestruggling, whether it be in
business or whether it be inrecovery where would be a good
place for them to reach out toyou?
Jason Julian (01:06:26):
Probably Okay.
Okay, messenger, I have a lotof people that see some of the
stuff.
That's where I've gotten a lotof contacts over the years,
whether it's in recovery.
That's where you and I met.
Yeah Was seeing each other indifferent areas and finding out
(01:06:46):
that we had similar things incommon and then we acted upon
those.
People can email me.
If somebody wants to, you canemail Jason at
JulianHeatAndAircom all spelledout, but, man, I appreciate our
(01:07:13):
friendship.
Corey, it's been amazing thelast couple of years working
through situations with eachother.
I won't ever forget pullinginto my house and talking with
you before you had somethingimportant going on and you were
asking what I had experiencedwith that and being able to sit
there and share with anotherperson.
Not tell them what to do, butlike, hey, this is what somebody
(01:07:36):
suggested I did and this iswhat I did about it and this is
how it worked out.
Being able to share those kindsof experiences is such a
blessing, because I'm not hereto tell you what to do, but I
can also rejoice in the benefitsof what you did do by you
sharing it back with me.
So it's a, it's an interchangeof encouragement and it's
(01:07:57):
awesome.
Corey Berrier (01:07:58):
Yeah, it really is Very grateful for you, my
friend.
Thank you.
Jason Julian (01:08:03):
Right on dude.
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