What happens when you refuse to let your circumstances define you? Join me, Maria Aponte, as we explore the extraordinary journey of Jamie Tilke on "Against All Odds, the Less Than 1% Chance" podcast. Jamie's story is a powerful testament to grit and determination, rising from extreme poverty and a lack of education to becoming a decorated Special Forces soldier and a successful entrepreneur. Listen as he recounts how living in a car and selling gum in school led him to the military, where he served 24 years in elite units like the Ranger Battalion and Special Forces. Discover how these experiences laid the foundation for his transition into a thriving business career, turning self-doubt and imposter syndrome into a multimillion-dollar empire.
Ever felt stuck or complacent, unsure if you could make a significant change? Inspired by Jon Acuff's "Start," I share my personal journey of battling self-doubt to launch this podcast. Learn the crucial role of consistent action in unlocking your potential and the emotional challenges of balancing work and personal life. Hear heartfelt anecdotes about the importance of surrounding yourself with supportive people and taking bold steps, even if it means temporarily stepping back to move forward.
Parenting is no easy feat, especially through life's many stages. This episode dives into the complexities of guiding children through emotional challenges and the transformative power of accountable communication. We emphasize the value of honesty and open dialogue within the family. Hear how conscious parenting and acknowledging our mistakes prepare our children for life's complexities. Finally, we discuss the importance of therapy and community support in both personal and professional spheres, illustrating the profound impact of seeking help and collaboration. Join us for an episode filled with resilience, learning, and the courage to persevere against all odds.
Find Jamie on:
Instagram: @Visionmotion2024
Website: www.visioninmotion.co
Follow Maria on Facebook HERE
Follow Maria on Instagram HERE
Follow Maria on YouTube HERE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Against All Odds the Less Than
1% Chance podcast with your host, Maria Aponte, where we will
hear stories of incrediblepeople thriving against all odds
, and my hope is that we can allsee how life is always
happening for us, even when weare the Less Than 1% Chance.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, hey, welcome back to, Against All Odds, the
Less Than 1% Chance podcast withyour host, Maria Aponte.
I am so excited for you guys tolisten to this guest today.
So Jamie grew up super poor,not educated lack of financial
literacy.
Became a special forces soldierand served for 24 years,
(00:43):
transitioned into theentrepreneurial space and became
a real estate investor.
He also has a podcast, so we'lltalk a little bit about that.
I am so excited for you to meetJamie Tilka.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Welcome.
Yeah, thank you so much forletting me come on.
I saw your podcast and I waslike I really want to be on
there, so thank you for lettingme come on and talk to your
listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm so excited.
We just chatted a little bitoff camera and it was like
instant, oh my gosh.
I love this connection.
This is great.
So I think that you're in forsuch a good episode today.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, twinsies.
I don't know if you're familiarwith what was that 70s cartoon?
Oh, it was the twins with thepurple.
They wore purple, yes yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So yeah, we both love purple.
That was something, and hisbrand colors have purple in it.
I'm like all about it to hear alittle bit of background of
your story.
How did you come to land in theentrepreneurial space and how
(01:51):
did this podcast come about?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Awesome.
Thanks so much.
Yeah, so I grew up in upstateNew York, not too far away from
Cooperstown, which is a baseballhall of fame and, as you've
already mentioned, grew upreally poor.
Sometimes we didn't have ahouse, lived in a car, lived in
a tent.
That was quite the experience,but that definitely helped shape
me into who I became.
(02:14):
I think the biggest motivatingfactor there was my
circumstances caused me to wantto do what it took to not have
that happen for my future.
So graduated high school,didn't go to college because I
thought I was going to be a rockstar.
Clearly that did not work out,but I did try.
And then after that I ended upbecoming an over the road truck
driver, which is completelyopposite of anything to do with
(02:36):
music and after about two yearsof doing that I literally was
just bored.
And then I was watching Ramboand after the end of Rambo I'm
like I'm gonna join the army andin fact my best friend texted
me.
He goes dude, he's text my wifeand tell her why you joined the
army, because she doesn'tbelieve me.
And so I sent her this oneminute and 44 second video clip
(02:57):
from the scene of Rambo, whereColonel Troutman walks into the
tent because they're trying tofigure out.
I forget the other guy's name.
I know his real name is geneand he's whatever word possessed
god in heaven to create a manlike rambo.
And then the guy walks in.
He goes god didn't create rambo, I did.
And anyway, there's this littlemonologue after that where you
don't want to seem to accept thefact that you're dealing with
an expert in guerrilla warfare.
(03:18):
I saw that and the testosteronestarted flowing.
I was like, damn, I gotta do, Igot to do that.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
That's something I got to do.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, so I'll speed up the timeline because I'm
going off on all these variousdigressions.
Yeah, so I did that.
I served for 24 years.
I went in the Ranger Battalion,which is an elite special
operations light infantry unit,and then from there, volunteered
to learn Chinese.
After I did that, I went intoSpecial Forces, green Paret, and
served the remainder of mycareer there, predominantly in
(03:47):
and around Asia.
So that was super exciting.
And then, as far as yourquestion is, how did I get into
entrepreneurship?
It's funny because I recall,even at a very young age,
because of my circumstances, Iwould buy gum or get gum from
the supermarket and then I wouldupcharge it, and I would do it
in school because the kidsdidn't have access to it or
(04:09):
their parents didn't allow them,whatever the reason was.
I'm buying it for 25 cents apack and I'm selling each piece
for 25 cents, right?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I used to do that with glow pumps, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So I'm getting like a 400% return on my investment.
I'm like this is freakingawesome.
Matter of fact, I brought home40 bucks one day and my mom
literally goes where did you getthat money from?
I'm like mom, I sold bubblegum.
She's like, no, you didn't.
I was like, yes, I did so.
Clearly I had had the bug backthen, but I didn't really
understand it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That's hilarious.
I didn't even think I used todo that with Blow Pops.
We would buy the big packetSam's.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And I would sell them until I got caught and was told
that I couldn't do that atschool.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, yeah, but that's because I think again,
your mind's flowing but we'rejust not thinking about it in
that particular way and maybedidn't have mentorship.
But yeah, I had, towards theend of my military career I was
working overseas and I was justdoing some more work where we
work with other governmentagencies, and I had this moment
where I was riding on a wave ofhaving done some successful
(05:11):
stuff for the organization and Ijust had this epiphany one day
where I told my wife I was likewhy am I not building a
multimillion dollar empire?
And I was like I think it'sbecause I underestimated my
circumstances.
I feel like because I'm sureyou're aware of the phrase that
people say imposter syndrome,and so I feel like maybe I
wasn't adequate enough, I wasn'teducated enough, I wasn't in
(05:32):
the right circles, this and that.
But I just had that momentwhere I was sitting there and I
was like no, I am.
And so I told my wife I saidwe're going to get out of the
army, we're going to become,become real estate investors,
and at that time we were sixfigures in debt.
And I'm very transparent aboutthe numbers, even though it's
embarrassing, because I wantother people to understand it's
unlikely that your circumstancesare terribly worse than that.
(05:53):
We were $127,000 in credit carddebt.
That did not include my housenor my car.
We had $5 in the bank and Itold my wife we're going to get
out and she was just like thisdude is batshit crazy man.
But she knows that I have agreat work ethic and I'm
relentless in my pursuit.
And story is super deep in andof itself.
So I'm just going to give youthe cliff note version, which
was asked a ton of people,everybody's love, your energy,
(06:16):
love your enthusiasm.
Vision's great.
It's not going to work.
I'm like it is going to work.
And then, finally, I flew out toCalifornia to my best friend
since we were nine years old andI told him the concept and I
said, listen, I'll spliteverything with you, 50-50.
I just I need your money.
I'll do 100% of the work.
And so he did.
And then we built a smallboutique hotel, rented out to
traveling military people andthen from there, bought another
(06:38):
12 and then flipped some housesand bought another nine and
bought an office building and itjust grew.
So in 36 months I went from sixfigures in debt to a
multimillion dollar portfolio.
And again, I'm sharing that, notbecause I'm bragging, but
because I want people that arelistening to this show to know
your circumstances should notimpede you from proceeding on
your goals and aspirations.
(06:58):
You just need to put yourselfin the right circles, get
yourself in and around the rightpeople, right.
As Jim Rohn says, you are thetotal sum of the five people you
hang out with the most right,and if that circle isn't
cheerleading for you and if theyain't rooting for you, then you
need to find a new circle.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So, anyway, I could go on and on and on.
I won't, but I'll hand it backover to you.
In summary, that's when theentrepreneurship started really
in like full full swing.
So 2020, when I exited themilitary, and we've been doing
it since then.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So four years then.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh my God, that is incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Thank you that is it?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
just it blows my mind and I love it Because, again,
one of the things that I alwayssay and that I truly believe in,
and I think it was Tony Robbinsthat said it first, but I also
have a mindset coach that seesTony as his mentor and is in his
masterminds and everything, andhe even says it all the time
(07:57):
and I think, because I heard itso much from him, it's been
ingrained in me and I feel it tothe core of my being, that life
is always happening for you andnot to you.
And you took life happening andgave it a purpose and you were
so relentless in the pursuit ofno, this is my dream and I'm
(08:20):
going to make it happen.
And I thought just, I get likegoosebumps and it just fuels all
my energy.
I just I love it.
I think that it's really easyto stay in the victimhood of
your circumstances.
Oh my God, I and I've been there, done that.
I've been there, done that andthat's why I know it's so easy,
(08:42):
easy.
That's where we stay in theland of average.
And I'm rereading this is likean older book by john acoff
start and he talks about yourpursuit of the land of awesome
and how you basically took whatusually takes somebody know in
(09:03):
their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60sand shrunk that.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
No, look, this is the analogy that I use with my wife
all the time.
I said we're taking off on therunway, you need 160 miles an
hour in order to get thisaircraft off the ground.
We're at 140 miles an hour.
There's 300 feet of runway left.
All the buzzards are going offsaying pull up.
That's in a reference to my ageI'm 52 this year and I told my
wife I go, we have to, we have aminimum amount of time and we
(09:31):
got to get this thing going.
So, all chips on black seven.
Right, it's all in plan.
Yeah, let's do this shit.
So it's funny because,specifically with relation, I
mean you shared a bunch of stuffwith me too about a lot of your
trials that you've been through, and it's a reoccurring theme
for people that they're going to.
(09:51):
You know you have to stand backup and you have to keep going.
At the end of the day, that'swhat it's easy to say, but it's
not easy to do, and I think thatpeople get complacent.
I think that they'recomfortable.
Right, I'm making $20 an hour.
I'm making 40 grand a year, 50grand a year, 100 grand a year.
Okay, they have to askthemselves what do they really
(10:12):
want?
Is it fulfilling If you hateyour effing job every single day
and you wake up?
Is that good?
I would rather make 80 grandand love what I'm doing than
make 120 grand and hate my lifeevery day.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yes, yes, grand and love what I'm doing than make
120 grand and hate my life everyday.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yes, yes and so yes, I agree, yeah, yeah, and I said
this to you before we started.
The thing that I say to peopleis are you willing to take two
steps backwards, to go threesteps?
forward Think about that Becausemany people, their immediate
response is yes, and I'm like Ihear you, but I don't think that
that's true, and I'm going totell you why.
Because if it's not tangible,if you can't touch it, breathe
(10:48):
it, feel it, smell it, theninstantly you're doubting
yourself.
All of the shit that's cominginto your head like can I really
find those type of deals?
Can I get these peopleconnected?
Can I get these resources?
Whatever your situation is andthat's where it goes back to
being in and around the rightpeople Whatever your situation
is, and that's where it goesback to being in and around the
right people right, you needpeople that are going to cheer
you.
The bottom line is I know itsounds super cliche, because we
all heard it when we were kidsyou can be anything you want.
(11:09):
You can be the president of theUnited States, it's true.
The question is are you willingto put in the effort and
potentially, as I tell my kidsall the time, are you willing to
take on delayed gratificationbecause everything that we're
doing right now is not?
We almost got divorced twice.
(11:32):
Yeah, because during mymilitary time and this was a
revelation that I had a quiteunemotional one.
To be honest with you is I toldher I said I was gone 90% of
the time, but when I was home Iwas a hundred percent present.
Now I'm home 100% of the timebut I'm only 10% present.
Emotionally, mentally, I'm soengaged in the success and
pursuit of what I'm doing thatI'm sacrificing a ton of time,
(11:55):
and so I've had to pull back andrebalance that right, because
that's not healthy either.
It physically put me in thehospital because I was
overworking myself and obviouslystressing the relationship and
the children and all that stuff.
So I'm not saying to do thateither.
I'm saying there needs to be amedium.
But most importantly, what I'msaying is you have to take
action, that's what I tell youif you take no action, then
(12:17):
expect no, then no differentchange in your outcome, your
circumstances.
It's just not to happen.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I had been thinking and talking about making a
podcast for four years and itwas like this, like you said,
this imposter syndrome, who am I?
Who will even listen?
All the things that go throughyour head and my dad passed away
October 2022.
But in June excuse me, yeah,june of 2022, before that he was
(12:45):
declining and I took a weekendretreat up in the Pacific
Northwest and I have a friendshe's a healer and a certified
therapist, like all the thingsright.
She was staying off of theColumbia River, so we literally
it was just like meditations andit was nature and it was
(13:06):
amazing.
And in that, in one of thesessions that I did with her, it
came up that I was going tohave a podcast and that it was
going to be called against allodds.
And thankfully she recordedthem because I remember it
vaguely, because I was like inthis meditative state and I
(13:27):
remember it vaguely, and I hadto go back and listen to the
recording and I was like that'sit.
So last year, at a mindsetconference with my mindset coach
it was his first live event andhe, like, at the beginning of
the weekend, he was like yourgoal this weekend is to take
(13:48):
action on a goal that you've hadthat you've been afraid to take
action on.
And I was like there's thispodcast thing that's lingering
in my mind, it's been on myheart because I again I feel
like I have a story to tell andI feel like others have stories
that they've beaten these odds.
And that weekend I signed upfor a platform called Buzzsprout
(14:11):
and is what I use to upload mypodcast on, and that was like my
big action on it.
And then we had to put adeadline of like when this was
going to actually happen, and Isaid, okay, by June 1st I'll put
my podcast out there.
And it was, I want to say, may29th, may 30th, that I actually
(14:32):
launched it last year.
So I did it in two weeks.
I created the artwork for it, Icreated the intro, the outro,
like everything, and I was like,okay, let me just record my
first one.
And I did.
And I was like, oh my God, whydid I wait so long?
Because, this feels so right andthat first season it was solo
(14:55):
episodes.
It was interviewing friendsthat I know have gone through
really difficult things becauseI didn't know any better, but I
was still taking action on thisdream.
And then I'm about to launch aseason two and this is what
we're recording now and it'sjust it's so exhilarating
(15:19):
because even my boyfriends thatit's like less than I don't know
.
It was like 4%, 3% of peoplethat start a podcast get past
episode eight or some crazynumber like 10.
Okay, so it's so the odds.
And so he he was like whatepisode are you on now?
And I was like season one had36 episodes.
(15:41):
And he was like Look at that.
You've already surpassed andI'm like yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
No, that's amazing.
Congratulations.
You should be super proud,honestly, and listening to you I
don't know if this specificallyaligns with you know the
podcast, but I feel like it'srelevant to this conversation.
I'm sure that you've heard thisbefore, but it's something that
I'm shouting from themountaintops consistently over
the past month and that ispeople are like how did you do
(16:10):
it?
What's the cheat code?
The cheat code is consistencyperiod, taking action.
That's the cheat code tosuccess.
First step obviously you got todo something.
You cannot sit there, I said onanother podcast of my own.
I told somebody.
I said my wife used to walk inthe room and I would be watching
Biggest Loser.
(16:30):
No bullshit.
I'd literally have a half agallon of Reese's peanut butter
ice cream with some gummy bearson the side, maybe some Ruffles,
sour cream and chips andMountain Dew and probably a
bucket of cotton candy.
And she's like are you serious?
What are you doing?
And then you're sitting herecrying.
I'm like I feel love for thesepeople.
Yeah, anyway, I love the factthat you did it and then you
(17:16):
were exhilarated, right, is itscary?
Yes, it is, but there's massiverewards on the other side and
let me just say one more beinginjected into cultures like that
gave me such an appreciationfor both extremes of really nice
crap and really really bad crapand saying I come back here and
just have a great appreciationfor every opportunity for a warm
bed, for a hot meal, for all ofthese things.
And so what I'm saying to youand your listeners right now is
(17:36):
one thing that I'm loving aboutthe podcast is I would not be
sitting here talking to youtoday if I wasn't doing it.
So now I just met you and wealready shared some stories.
I loved hearing your story.
It was super cool.
I feel like I could sit thereand meet up with you and have
teas and crumpet and we couldkick it for another two hours
and oh my.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
God easily.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Yeah, so that would not have happened.
So, if you didn't take thatleap of faith, if I didn't take
that leap of faith back to thepoint of your podcast, against
All Odds, right, whatever yourcircumstances is to anybody
listening to your show.
If you have no money, if youdon't have a place to stay, if
you lost a relationship, if youlost your job, it's not the end.
(18:18):
You just have to.
Yes, take a moment and pause,right.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Feel the things.
Feel the things, because youneed to be able to process.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But don't perpetuate it, right?
Go back into the victimhoodmentality, right?
Because, like even I used tojump out of airplanes and
there's a couple of times that Ihit the ground super hard where
, like I questioned, did I breaksomething?
And I would sit there for a fewseconds.
First, give thanks that I'mstill alive.
But the second thing is OK, letme catch my breath.
(18:50):
All right, let's get up, let'sstart moving, or I could just
sit there and lay there untilsomebody came to get me, and I
think that a lot of people dothat in various circumstances in
your life, especially when itgets super emotional and I think
that's where it's just super,super important.
You've got to have somebody thatyou can turn to, or a group of
people that are going to holdyou accountable, that are going
(19:12):
to help lift you up and notbring you down.
That doesn't mean that youcan't be brutally honest with
somebody.
I tell my kids all the time I'mlike it's not what you say,
it's how you say it.
You say to me, dad, you'refucked up.
I'm like, okay, I have aproblem with that delivery, with
(19:33):
how you said that.
Yeah, but if you came to me andyou said, listen, dad, I heard
what you said, if you wouldallow me to, I'd like to express
to you why I don't think that'sokay.
I'm probably going to listen towhat you have to say and I may
even concede at the end of that.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, oh my gosh, we have a lot of similarities that
it just blows my mind.
I am super honest with my kids.
I have 15 and 15, 18 and 20.
And moment that, before theyleave my car, I'm like, okay,
don't do stupid shit.
Yeah don't do stupid shit.
It's in language that they willunderstand, that they will
(20:05):
relate to just don't do stupidshit.
If you have to think about thefact that, am I going to get in
trouble with that, right there,right there.
To think about the fact that,am I going to get in trouble
with that right there, rightthere, that's the start of doing
the stupid shit.
However, I'm very, very openwith them and I want them to be
very open with me.
How they tell me things is hugeand, as you said that I'm like,
(20:26):
yes, me too.
I've gone through a lot with mykids.
My oldest daughter wasdiagnosed bipolar at age 12,
which was, I think, way tooearly to be diagnosed in my
opinion, but it was a reallyrough start to her teenage years
, really really rough, and I wasdoing it on my own and it was a
(20:47):
lot and it took a lot out of meto be able to then not be able
to give that to the other twolittle younger ones and they
went through it a lot.
So I have always been veryhonest and I always want them to
be like mom, this is notworking.
Or my son had a problem withthe teacher, the way that the
(21:09):
teacher said something to himand I think he called.
He said something that was justa little out of line, like it
was definitely crossing the lineof it should be also mutual
respect.
And so my son came home and hewas so mad he's 18 now, but he
was so mad and I was like allright, this is what we're going
(21:31):
to do.
You are going to write an emailand you're going to copy this
amazing person called your momon it and you're going to say
dear Mr Soans, I just needed toreach out to you and let you
know that the way that you spoketo me in class today and
embarrassed me in front of theclass, I did not appreciate.
(21:53):
And just to highlight thesituation and to just
respectfully say I didn't likethe way that you treated me and
I need you to know.
And I said that's two thingsthat you're doing there.
Number one, you're copying me,so there's an adult attached to
(22:15):
it that can vouch for you.
And number two, it's now inwriting and it's done
respectfully, so if anythinghappens in the future, you have
that proof.
So when you talk to merespectfully and let me know the
situation of any problem likewe can have a full-on
(22:40):
conversation, but if you comeinto the car and were like mom,
I can't believe that thisasshole yeah whoa.
You don't talk about a teacherthat way, because you don't know
what they're going through.
They're adults you need torespect.
Like I would have taken itcompletely different.
Instead, he came to me as mom,like I can't believe Mr
So-and-so did this and I waslike what happened?
(23:02):
And it's that same approach andI can give you the tools.
And now, every time they haveany issues, did you send an
email?
Did you?
Did you send an email?
Were you nice in the email?
Did you copy me on it?
Because I didn't see an emailcome through.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It's whatever we prepare them for life.
But yeah, it's the way theyapproach things and I completely
agree.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yeah, my daughter had a similar situation.
I like the email thing.
I didn't think of that.
I had her go back in there andaddress it.
But anyway, I'm 100% with youon the fact of, specifically,
I'm referring to my 11-year-olddaughter and she's so
emotionally intelligent and, yes, she's my child, so I'm biased,
but I've studied it a lot.
(23:48):
And I told my wife, I go, I'mtelling you she's at another
level, man.
Even when she was seven, Ibelieve, and my sister passed
the way that she came into theroom and just she understood the
atmosphere.
She was, as we like to say, inthe military, she was
situationally aware.
And it was blowing my mind yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Is she your youngest?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
She is, my oldest is 30.
Whoa, yeah, and how many do youhave?
Total five, so we have ablended marriage.
Um, I had three, she had one,we got married and then we have
the youngest together got it um,we had a six.
Unfortunately we lost him orwhatever, so that was tough
(24:29):
sorry, yeah, so sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
And so I don't know if it's like this younger child
thing, cause my youngest is thatway and I'll go into a therapy
session with her, cause Ibelieve that everybody needs
therapy.
That's just my very personalopinion, cause it's done wonders
for me and it's made meunderstand not to be upset with
the different parts of me thatcome out like anger is super
(24:54):
important and it protects you,it knows your value and that's
why you're angry and so thingslike that.
So I really truly believe intherapy and so we go to a
therapy session.
I remember going to a therapysession with my oldest, which is
20 now but still notemotionally the same level as my
youngest, my 15 year old, andI'm just and I look at her and
(25:17):
it's the same therapist, and Ilook at the therapist and I'm
like this is such a differenttype of session, much different
type of session.
Is it the youngest child thatjust has already gone through so
much with the other two thatmeet, or the other kids that
maybe they just know different?
I don't know, but it blows mymind the difference in, like how
(25:43):
she can read the room what'sthe age separation, though?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
what's the age separation?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
so my oldest is 20 she just turned 20 and this one
is 15 and a half.
She'll be 16.
So five years-ish.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
I'm listening to your story and then also thinking
about my own.
I had my first one when I was20.
I had our 12-year-old when Iwas 40.
Yeah, I said I tell my kids.
I was like, look, yeah, I'mmore stable.
She gets a different lifestyle.
I have way more learned skills.
I've traveled the world, butyou guys got me at my full peak
(26:23):
energy like shucking and jiving,running, playing, throwing you
around in the bouncy house.
I still can to some extentright, but not the same as I was
when I was 20.
When I was 20, I was still akid myself right.
Yeah.
So anyway, I guess what I'msaying is I definitely think
you're a product of yourenvironment as well, and so I
would say that may be part ofthe reason why your daughter's
like that Aside from, obviously,we're also talking about male
(26:46):
versus female and stuff.
But anyway, a lot of these lifelessons that you've gone
through and all these thingsthat you shared with me, before
that you've had to traverseyourself as parents.
That's before that you've hadto traverse yourself as parents.
That's what we want, right.
We want to say, hey, don't dothat.
(27:06):
Unfortunately, as a and I don'tremember who said it, but I
read it in a psychology bookthis old German dude said too
soon, old, too late, smart,right, because most of us are
not going to learn from somebodyelse.
Saying, hey, don't touch that,because it's super hot, it's
once they get burned, andthey're like oh shit, I touched
that.
And you're like yeah, I know, Itold you that.
16 times.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
No shit, sherlock yeah exactly.
Yeah, I agree with that and Itell them all the time you guys
didn't come with a manual andthe way that I needed to parent
you and you you are alldifferent.
My ex-boyfriend that was intheir life for about six years,
or directly in their life, forabout six years.
He was there a little bit afteras well, but he passed away in
(27:44):
2018 at 35 years old with amassive heart attack.
It was just one of those freakthings he worked out.
It was this condition that hedidn't know he had, and so forth
, and stress didn't help.
It was this condition that hedidn't know he had, and so forth
, and stress didn't help.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
But having to tell each one of them.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
It was a vastly different reaction and still to
this day, my oldest, which wasreally super close to him.
She had no emotion.
How am I supposed to understandthat no emotion?
She was like she kind of likeclosed in, bottled it all up,
(28:26):
and no emotion.
My son cried.
However, his way of coping isremembering.
Do you remember the time whendaddy asked the one?
Speaker 3 (28:37):
do you?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
remember the time when and my little one like it
like I had she was standing upwhen I told her and she like
crippled down to her feet, likeit was just it was her and I had
very similar reactions but itwas like devastating and so and
(29:00):
we all have different ways ofremembering him and all it's
just so crazy.
There's no manual that tellsyou this is how you should
parent this person and thisone's the way, this is how this
one goes.
And but I have become a moreconscious parent, I've become
more aware of maybe thatreaction is not a good one and
(29:21):
I'm very good if, for example,no sleep that night or whatever,
and you're just not in the sameheadspace as normal and I'm too
snippy, and more so that I canalso teach them that
it's OK that you're you don'thave to be perfect and that you
can apologize for the thingsthat you do sometimes, because
(29:42):
we don't always go with thatintention right.
So my intention wasn't to snapat you.
My intention was to tell youthis and I'm sorry that I did
snap.
That wasn't my intention.
I apologize.
However, this is what I wantedto say and it just it's.
I've had situations that I hadwith my oldest daughter and my
(30:03):
youngest daughter and it wassuch a difference of how I
responded and it was such adifferent response from them.
So I I love that we get toevolve and that's what we get to
show our kids that there's nomanual and I say that all the
time.
There's no manual.
You didn't come with a bookthat came to tell me how to
parent you.
(30:23):
So I'm doing the best that Ican.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's right.
Yeah, 100%.
I know you said that you had aperiod of time where you were a
single mom too, and I did too.
There was about three, threeplus years that I was a single
dad and I was still active duty,which is insane.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah.
Because every time that I woulddeploy, then I would have to
try to rally yeah, yeah.
So anyway, that's crazy, do you?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
where do you live now ?
North Carolina.
We live in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Okay, so you're East coast like me, yeah, and so you
still have a hotel.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yep, yep, we're still running it.
In fact, we just had our.
We have a weekly meeting withour staff.
That helps run it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I used to be in the hotel industry and I love hotels
.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Oh yeah.
I didn't meet you before youstarted this, or I would have
tried to convince you to comework for us.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I was on the wholesale side of it, so I
contracted hotels to sell theallotment to the wholesale
travel market.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
And.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I was.
That was a different previouslife but I was damn good at what
I did and made a lot of hotels,damn good money to.
My location was South Floridaand I have I still have amazing
relationships from that and itwasn't a pretty awesome career.
And it was a pretty awesomecareer and it was like 20, I
(31:42):
think it was like 23 to 30, 33,34.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Yeah, the vision for it came about because during the
latter part of my militarycareer I not only traveled an
immense amount, but a lot oftimes I would end up staying in
hotels, and overseas.
Typically, you can stay in thereally nice hotels because the
rates are not the same.
Anyway, I was living in the RitzCarlton for six months.
(32:09):
I had three butlers.
It was ridiculous but I said tomyself I'm like dang, why can't
we provide upscaleaccommodations like this for
military people?
Because a lot of times themilitary they may have to use
the lodging, the hotels on baseand their subpar.
I'm not going to name theinstallation, but there's one
that it's so raggedy and so Ican't even believe that they're
(32:31):
still operating this thing.
And yeah, they can stay outsidetoo.
But you got stuff like the LaQuinta or you got the Super 8 or
what.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Which is not fun.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
No, and also the confinement of the space, right.
So it's 200 square feet, 225square feet with a chair in a
corner, like I had to have myson come stay with me one time
and I literally had to blow upthe air mattress on the floor
and then put it down everymorning just to walk around the
room.
It was insane.
So my concept was I'm going tobuy small apartments, I'm going
to make them upscale Italianporcelain tiles, soft closed
(33:02):
drawers, italian leather, bose,soundbars, like we pimp these
things out to the nine and Isaid but I'm going to charge
them less than what thegovernment requires them to
spend so that they can have asweet place to stay in.
And so that was the wholeconcept.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And I love that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, because, as a traveling military guy, when
you're away from home it sucksalready as it is, but then when
you have less than ideal livingcircumstances, so it really
sucks.
Yeah, it just helps out man.
It just helps processing it andalso makes it a little bit more
enjoyable.
And in some circumstances wheresomebody might be in a school
(33:38):
for a month or six weeks, iftheir family's not terribly far,
they could be like, hey, whydon't you come visit me for a
week?
And there's enough room thatthey can spread out.
Again, it's not a 225 squarefoot hotel.
So, yes, we still have it.
That's what we're running.
And then, like I mentioned toyou before, similar to you, I've
recently just started somecoaching and speaking.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I love it.
So give us a little bit aboutthat.
I want to hear about thepodcast because obviously that's
, like now, my newest passionproject, so I love it.
So give us some context aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, I had.
My epiphany was January of thispast year, because I had built
so many businesses and wasrunning them in parallel, as I
already alluded to earlier.
I was running myself ragged.
My learning lesson from thatfor anybody listening is that I
don't care how smart you are orwhat your work ethic is.
The bottom line is you have tohave other people to help you
(34:32):
row those boats, because it'snot sustainable.
We literally I had launched sixcompanies virtually within a
six to 12 month period of time.
It was silly, anyway.
So my wife was like what do youwant to do?
What makes you happy?
And I told her I genuinely getexcited about helping somebody
(34:53):
else put their vision intofruition, because that's what
I'm good at.
Somebody else put their visioninto fruition because that's
what I'm good at.
I'm a visionary.
I can see the steps that otherpeople can't, and the analogy I
like to use a lot of times is ahoarder's house.
Somebody goes in there and theydon't know where to start.
I'm like I'll help you clearthe pathway and show you where
things can go, and then you cankeep going from there.
So that's it.
(35:14):
And I had a bunch of peoplethat reached out to me that were
like hey man, I going fromthere, so that's it.
And I had a bunch of peoplethat reached out to me that were
like hey man, I see you've hadsome success and stuff Like I
want to open this coffee shop orI want to start this pressure
washing business or I want tobecome a real estate agent,
whatever the thing is that theywant to become.
So, yeah, I just had peoplereach out to me that were like,
can you help me get started?
And that's.
I woke up at 3am in the morning.
It became very clear to me.
(35:35):
I was like I want to help otherpeople figure out what their
pathway looks like.
Because, back to one of ourearlier comments that we
discussed, it's like why aremore people not doing this?
And I think the harsh realityit may sound insensitive, but
the vast majority of people arenever going to pursue it.
And if they do pursue it,they're going to hit one or two
obstacles and they're going toturn around because it's too
(35:56):
stressful.
But there are people out therethat I think do, but maybe they
don't have the right circleright or they just need that
little edge up right.
One rung, two rungs on theladder.
So that's what Vision in Motionis the company that I started.
It's about helping people turntheir dreams into reality, and
so because of that then Istarted the podcast Motion
(36:19):
Matters, and I did it verysimilar to you.
I wanted to talk to otherpeople and hear their stories
and I wanted to share thosestories with other people in
hopes that might help somebodysay dang, if that dude was six
figures in debt and built amultimillion dollar portfolio,
why can't I?
Or, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera.
(36:40):
Yeah so that's what MotionMatters is about and, honestly,
one of the things that I didn'trealize but I just said it to
you already is I've onlyrecorded 10 episodes, but of my
10 episodes I've gotten to talkto 10 people that I would not
have talked to.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Yeah, it's the coolest thing.
I seriously feel like I've beensaying this all week long.
I'm like, oh my God, I feellike we were meant.
I wholeheartedly believe inpeople come into your life for a
reason, a season or a lifetime,and I've had so many like just
in this last week that I'm like,oh my God, you are supposed to
(37:17):
be in my life.
This is so cool and it justit's this energy that I really
truly believe that, like yousaid, the people that you're
most around, the people that yousurround yourself with, is so
important, because if you arethe smartest person in the room,
then you're in the wrong roomand I like I have these
(37:42):
incredible mentors that I'm justlike, oh goodness, this is
amazing and, yes, do I have myteam that I mentor, that I help
Absolutely, but I then surroundmyself up with people that are
even higher up and it's just, itis the coolest thing.
Like when you're like, oh my God, I could totally just listen to
(38:04):
you all day long.
This is amazing.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Oh yeah, 100% amazing .
Speaker 2 (38:08):
So what limiting beliefs or like roadblocks that
you have to overcome in order toget to where you are today?
Speaker 3 (38:15):
I think I touched on it earlier I've definitely never
been I'm not risk adverse in mymilitary terminology sticking
with that.
I tell people I'll, I jump outof the airplane without the
shoot and then I figure out howI'm going to land.
I'm not saying that'snecessarily the most intelligent
way to go about it.
What I'm saying is, when I'mpassionate about something, I'm
going to go.
I think the limiting belief Itouched on earlier was again and
(38:39):
honestly I don't think Irealized this till recently I
think subconsciously I alwaysmaybe didn't go after the
massive things because I grew uppoor or because I didn't go to
college and I wasn't intelligentand it took the season of my
life to do things.
(39:00):
That really caused me thismoment of reflection where I
said, wait, I learned how tospeak Chinese fluently.
There was 20 people in thatclass and when we ended there
was nine of us.
Maybe I'm not stupid.
Wait, I went from negative sixfigures in debt and built a
multimillion dollar.
Maybe I'm not.
Maybe I do have business senseand strategy.
So I'm saying collectively, Ithink the limiting belief was
(39:25):
potentially that maybe myupbringing or my circumstances
didn't shape me to potentiallydo great things, but knowing
that I was capable of greatthings.
It's really weird to explain.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I get it completely.
I definitely understand that,because if I would have let the
everything that I went throughin my life like keep hold of me,
I wouldn't have this.
I wouldn't like, I wouldn'thave lost 40 pounds.
I wouldn't have I may not havebeen alive right now.
(39:58):
So it's this tenacity andpersistence saved my life, the
consistency that saved my life.
My dad used to say when I waslittle that I was like the
little tick on top of the tickthat continuously bothers the
tick that's already botheringthe dog.
(40:20):
You are persistent in yourpursuit and I'm like okay, I
didn't know what that meant inthat moment, and that has
literally been like what I dogive me a dream.
It doesn't matter how long it'staking me to be successful.
I'm still here, I'm stillconsistent, I still love the
(40:42):
fact that I wake up and I get tohelp people get healthy.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Yeah, yeah.
The one word that I love inEnglish is perseverance.
And that's why I tell peopleand I'll keep this brief because
I know you got to close up, butit's.
You can't see me, I'm six two.
When I joined the service I was145 pounds.
That's ridiculous.
You can see my rib cage andeverybody's.
There's no way in hell, dude,that you're ever going to work
in special forces.
It's just not going to happen.
But I tell people, I'm likelook, the reason why I made it
(41:08):
is because I don't quit.
That's it.
There was dudes that could runtwo miles in 10 minutes and 30
seconds.
They didn't make it.
Why?
It's a mental thing, and whatI'm telling you is perseverance,
to have your eyes set on theprize and be relentless in your
pursuit and, I would say, on theway.
(41:29):
You have to be adaptable.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah, because it's never going to go the way that
you think it's going to have tobe focused on the goal, but
fluid in the approach that youhave to end up taking, because
it might have to change often.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
Yes, yes, yes, yes yes.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
Oh my gosh, this was so amazing.
I like I think we could.
We'll do a part two on yourpodcast, but this definitely has
to happen because I seriouslyfeel like we can riff back and
forth all day and it would bejust such a great conversation.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
Yeah, no, thank you again.
I really really greatlyappreciate it.
Can't wait to have you on myshow.
I want people to hear again,you know, if Maria went from
that to where she is like howbad is my stuff Really?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's the definitely I we.
It's so funny how we are verysimilar in our purpose of the
podcast.
So, I love that, so I will putall of your information in the
show notes listeners.
I hope you got so much out oftoday because I know that I did
just having this conversation,but I'll put any way that you
(42:38):
can connect with him on the shownotes, thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much, jamie, andthank you for listening today.
Peace out, guys.
Love your life.
Bye.
Welcome back to the Against All Odds the Less Than
1% Chance podcast with your host, Maria Aponte, where we will
hear stories of incrediblepeople thriving against all odds
, and my hope is that we can allsee how life is always
happening for us, even when weare the Less Than 1% Chance.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey, hey, welcome back to, Against All Odds, the
Less Than 1% Chance podcast withyour host, Maria Aponte.
I am so excited for you guys tolisten to this guest today.
So Jamie grew up super poor,not educated lack of financial
literacy.
Became a special forces soldierand served for 24 years,
(00:43):
transitioned into theentrepreneurial space and became
a real estate investor.
He also has a podcast, so we'lltalk a little bit about that.
I am so excited for you to meetJamie Tilka.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Welcome.
Yeah, thank you so much forletting me come on.
I saw your podcast and I waslike I really want to be on
there, so thank you for lettingme come on and talk to your
listeners.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm so excited.
We just chatted a little bitoff camera and it was like
instant, oh my gosh.
I love this connection.
This is great.
So I think that you're in forsuch a good episode today.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, twinsies.
I don't know if you're familiarwith what was that 70s cartoon?
Oh, it was the twins with thepurple.
They wore purple, yes yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So yeah, we both love purple.
That was something, and hisbrand colors have purple in it.
I'm like all about it to hear alittle bit of background of
your story.
How did you come to land in theentrepreneurial space and how
(01:51):
did this podcast come about?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Awesome.
Thanks so much.
Yeah, so I grew up in upstateNew York, not too far away from
Cooperstown, which is a baseballhall of fame and, as you've
already mentioned, grew upreally poor.
Sometimes we didn't have ahouse, lived in a car, lived in
a tent.
That was quite the experience,but that definitely helped shape
me into who I became.
(02:14):
I think the biggest motivatingfactor there was my
circumstances caused me to wantto do what it took to not have
that happen for my future.
So graduated high school,didn't go to college because I
thought I was going to be a rockstar.
Clearly that did not work out,but I did try.
And then after that I ended upbecoming an over the road truck
driver, which is completelyopposite of anything to do with
(02:36):
music and after about two yearsof doing that I literally was
just bored.
And then I was watching Ramboand after the end of Rambo I'm
like I'm gonna join the army andin fact my best friend texted
me.
He goes dude, he's text my wifeand tell her why you joined the
army, because she doesn'tbelieve me.
And so I sent her this oneminute and 44 second video clip
(02:57):
from the scene of Rambo, whereColonel Troutman walks into the
tent because they're trying tofigure out.
I forget the other guy's name.
I know his real name is geneand he's whatever word possessed
god in heaven to create a manlike rambo.
And then the guy walks in.
He goes god didn't create rambo, I did.
And anyway, there's this littlemonologue after that where you
don't want to seem to accept thefact that you're dealing with
an expert in guerrilla warfare.
(03:18):
I saw that and the testosteronestarted flowing.
I was like, damn, I gotta do, Igot to do that.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
That's something I got to do.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, so I'll speed up the timeline because I'm
going off on all these variousdigressions.
Yeah, so I did that.
I served for 24 years.
I went in the Ranger Battalion,which is an elite special
operations light infantry unit,and then from there, volunteered
to learn Chinese.
After I did that, I went intoSpecial Forces, green Paret, and
served the remainder of mycareer there, predominantly in
(03:47):
and around Asia.
So that was super exciting.
And then, as far as yourquestion is, how did I get into
entrepreneurship?
It's funny because I recall,even at a very young age,
because of my circumstances, Iwould buy gum or get gum from
the supermarket and then I wouldupcharge it, and I would do it
in school because the kidsdidn't have access to it or
(04:09):
their parents didn't allow them,whatever the reason was.
I'm buying it for 25 cents apack and I'm selling each piece
for 25 cents, right?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I used to do that with glow pumps, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So I'm getting like a 400% return on my investment.
I'm like this is freakingawesome.
Matter of fact, I brought home40 bucks one day and my mom
literally goes where did you getthat money from?
I'm like mom, I sold bubblegum.
She's like, no, you didn't.
I was like, yes, I did so.
Clearly I had had the bug backthen, but I didn't really
understand it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That's hilarious.
I didn't even think I used todo that with Blow Pops.
We would buy the big packetSam's.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And I would sell them until I got caught and was told
that I couldn't do that atschool.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, yeah, but that's because I think again,
your mind's flowing but we'rejust not thinking about it in
that particular way and maybedidn't have mentorship.
But yeah, I had, towards theend of my military career I was
working overseas and I was justdoing some more work where we
work with other governmentagencies, and I had this moment
where I was riding on a wave ofhaving done some successful
(05:11):
stuff for the organization and Ijust had this epiphany one day
where I told my wife I was likewhy am I not building a
multimillion dollar empire?
And I was like I think it'sbecause I underestimated my
circumstances.
I feel like because I'm sureyou're aware of the phrase that
people say imposter syndrome,and so I feel like maybe I
wasn't adequate enough, I wasn'teducated enough, I wasn't in
(05:32):
the right circles, this and that.
But I just had that momentwhere I was sitting there and I
was like no, I am.
And so I told my wife I saidwe're going to get out of the
army, we're going to become,become real estate investors,
and at that time we were sixfigures in debt.
And I'm very transparent aboutthe numbers, even though it's
embarrassing, because I wantother people to understand it's
unlikely that your circumstancesare terribly worse than that.
(05:53):
We were $127,000 in credit carddebt.
That did not include my housenor my car.
We had $5 in the bank and Itold my wife we're going to get
out and she was just like thisdude is batshit crazy man.
But she knows that I have agreat work ethic and I'm
relentless in my pursuit.
And story is super deep in andof itself.
So I'm just going to give youthe cliff note version, which
was asked a ton of people,everybody's love, your energy,
(06:16):
love your enthusiasm.
Vision's great.
It's not going to work.
I'm like it is going to work.
And then, finally, I flew out toCalifornia to my best friend
since we were nine years old andI told him the concept and I
said, listen, I'll spliteverything with you, 50-50.
I just I need your money.
I'll do 100% of the work.
And so he did.
And then we built a smallboutique hotel, rented out to
traveling military people andthen from there, bought another
(06:38):
12 and then flipped some housesand bought another nine and
bought an office building and itjust grew.
So in 36 months I went from sixfigures in debt to a
multimillion dollar portfolio.
And again, I'm sharing that, notbecause I'm bragging, but
because I want people that arelistening to this show to know
your circumstances should notimpede you from proceeding on
your goals and aspirations.
(06:58):
You just need to put yourselfin the right circles, get
yourself in and around the rightpeople, right.
As Jim Rohn says, you are thetotal sum of the five people you
hang out with the most right,and if that circle isn't
cheerleading for you and if theyain't rooting for you, then you
need to find a new circle.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So, anyway, I could go on and on and on.
I won't, but I'll hand it backover to you.
In summary, that's when theentrepreneurship started really
in like full full swing.
So 2020, when I exited themilitary, and we've been doing
it since then.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So four years then.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh my God, that is incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Thank you that is it?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
just it blows my mind and I love it Because, again,
one of the things that I alwayssay and that I truly believe in,
and I think it was Tony Robbinsthat said it first, but I also
have a mindset coach that seesTony as his mentor and is in his
masterminds and everything, andhe even says it all the time
(07:57):
and I think, because I heard itso much from him, it's been
ingrained in me and I feel it tothe core of my being, that life
is always happening for you andnot to you.
And you took life happening andgave it a purpose and you were
so relentless in the pursuit ofno, this is my dream and I'm
(08:20):
going to make it happen.
And I thought just, I get likegoosebumps and it just fuels all
my energy.
I just I love it.
I think that it's really easyto stay in the victimhood of
your circumstances.
Oh my God, I and I've been there, done that.
I've been there, done that andthat's why I know it's so easy,
(08:42):
easy.
That's where we stay in theland of average.
And I'm rereading this is likean older book by john acoff
start and he talks about yourpursuit of the land of awesome
and how you basically took whatusually takes somebody know in
(09:03):
their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60sand shrunk that.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
No, look, this is the analogy that I use with my wife
all the time.
I said we're taking off on therunway, you need 160 miles an
hour in order to get thisaircraft off the ground.
We're at 140 miles an hour.
There's 300 feet of runway left.
All the buzzards are going offsaying pull up.
That's in a reference to my ageI'm 52 this year and I told my
wife I go, we have to, we have aminimum amount of time and we
(09:31):
got to get this thing going.
So, all chips on black seven.
Right, it's all in plan.
Yeah, let's do this shit.
So it's funny because,specifically with relation, I
mean you shared a bunch of stuffwith me too about a lot of your
trials that you've been through, and it's a reoccurring theme
for people that they're going to.
(09:51):
You know you have to stand backup and you have to keep going.
At the end of the day, that'swhat it's easy to say, but it's
not easy to do, and I think thatpeople get complacent.
I think that they'recomfortable.
Right, I'm making $20 an hour.
I'm making 40 grand a year, 50grand a year, 100 grand a year.
Okay, they have to askthemselves what do they really
(10:12):
want?
Is it fulfilling If you hateyour effing job every single day
and you wake up?
Is that good?
I would rather make 80 grandand love what I'm doing than
make 120 grand and hate my lifeevery day.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yes, yes, grand and love what I'm doing than make
120 grand and hate my life everyday.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yes, yes and so yes, I agree, yeah, yeah, and I said
this to you before we started.
The thing that I say to peopleis are you willing to take two
steps backwards, to go threesteps?
forward Think about that Becausemany people, their immediate
response is yes, and I'm like Ihear you, but I don't think that
that's true, and I'm going totell you why.
Because if it's not tangible,if you can't touch it, breathe
(10:48):
it, feel it, smell it, theninstantly you're doubting
yourself.
All of the shit that's cominginto your head like can I really
find those type of deals?
Can I get these peopleconnected?
Can I get these resources?
Whatever your situation is andthat's where it goes back to
being in and around the rightpeople Whatever your situation
is, and that's where it goesback to being in and around the
right people right, you needpeople that are going to cheer
you.
The bottom line is I know itsounds super cliche, because we
all heard it when we were kidsyou can be anything you want.
(11:09):
You can be the president of theUnited States, it's true.
The question is are you willingto put in the effort and
potentially, as I tell my kidsall the time, are you willing to
take on delayed gratificationbecause everything that we're
doing right now is not?
We almost got divorced twice.
(11:32):
Yeah, because during mymilitary time and this was a
revelation that I had a quiteunemotional one.
To be honest with you is I toldher I said I was gone 90% of
the time, but when I was home Iwas a hundred percent present.
Now I'm home 100% of the timebut I'm only 10% present.
Emotionally, mentally, I'm soengaged in the success and
pursuit of what I'm doing thatI'm sacrificing a ton of time,
(11:55):
and so I've had to pull back andrebalance that right, because
that's not healthy either.
It physically put me in thehospital because I was
overworking myself and obviouslystressing the relationship and
the children and all that stuff.
So I'm not saying to do thateither.
I'm saying there needs to be amedium.
But most importantly, what I'msaying is you have to take
action, that's what I tell youif you take no action, then
(12:17):
expect no, then no differentchange in your outcome, your
circumstances.
It's just not to happen.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I had been thinking and talking about making a
podcast for four years and itwas like this, like you said,
this imposter syndrome, who am I?
Who will even listen?
All the things that go throughyour head and my dad passed away
October 2022.
But in June excuse me, yeah,june of 2022, before that he was
(12:45):
declining and I took a weekendretreat up in the Pacific
Northwest and I have a friendshe's a healer and a certified
therapist, like all the thingsright.
She was staying off of theColumbia River, so we literally
it was just like meditations andit was nature and it was
(13:06):
amazing.
And in that, in one of thesessions that I did with her, it
came up that I was going tohave a podcast and that it was
going to be called against allodds.
And thankfully she recordedthem because I remember it
vaguely, because I was like inthis meditative state and I
(13:27):
remember it vaguely, and I hadto go back and listen to the
recording and I was like that'sit.
So last year, at a mindsetconference with my mindset coach
it was his first live event andhe, like, at the beginning of
the weekend, he was like yourgoal this weekend is to take
(13:48):
action on a goal that you've hadthat you've been afraid to take
action on.
And I was like there's thispodcast thing that's lingering
in my mind, it's been on myheart because I again I feel
like I have a story to tell andI feel like others have stories
that they've beaten these odds.
And that weekend I signed upfor a platform called Buzzsprout
(14:11):
and is what I use to upload mypodcast on, and that was like my
big action on it.
And then we had to put adeadline of like when this was
going to actually happen, and Isaid, okay, by June 1st I'll put
my podcast out there.
And it was, I want to say, may29th, may 30th, that I actually
(14:32):
launched it last year.
So I did it in two weeks.
I created the artwork for it, Icreated the intro, the outro,
like everything, and I was like,okay, let me just record my
first one.
And I did.
And I was like, oh my God, whydid I wait so long?
Because, this feels so right andthat first season it was solo
(14:55):
episodes.
It was interviewing friendsthat I know have gone through
really difficult things becauseI didn't know any better, but I
was still taking action on thisdream.
And then I'm about to launch aseason two and this is what
we're recording now and it'sjust it's so exhilarating
(15:19):
because even my boyfriends thatit's like less than I don't know
.
It was like 4%, 3% of peoplethat start a podcast get past
episode eight or some crazynumber like 10.
Okay, so it's so the odds.
And so he he was like whatepisode are you on now?
And I was like season one had36 episodes.
(15:41):
And he was like Look at that.
You've already surpassed andI'm like yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
No, that's amazing.
Congratulations.
You should be super proud,honestly, and listening to you I
don't know if this specificallyaligns with you know the
podcast, but I feel like it'srelevant to this conversation.
I'm sure that you've heard thisbefore, but it's something that
I'm shouting from themountaintops consistently over
the past month and that ispeople are like how did you do
(16:10):
it?
What's the cheat code?
The cheat code is consistencyperiod, taking action.
That's the cheat code tosuccess.
First step obviously you got todo something.
You cannot sit there, I said onanother podcast of my own.
I told somebody.
I said my wife used to walk inthe room and I would be watching
Biggest Loser.
(16:30):
No bullshit.
I'd literally have a half agallon of Reese's peanut butter
ice cream with some gummy bearson the side, maybe some Ruffles,
sour cream and chips andMountain Dew and probably a
bucket of cotton candy.
And she's like are you serious?
What are you doing?
And then you're sitting herecrying.
I'm like I feel love for thesepeople.
Yeah, anyway, I love the factthat you did it and then you
(17:16):
were exhilarated, right, is itscary?
Yes, it is, but there's massiverewards on the other side and
let me just say one more beinginjected into cultures like that
gave me such an appreciationfor both extremes of really nice
crap and really really bad crapand saying I come back here and
just have a great appreciationfor every opportunity for a warm
bed, for a hot meal, for all ofthese things.
And so what I'm saying to youand your listeners right now is
(17:36):
one thing that I'm loving aboutthe podcast is I would not be
sitting here talking to youtoday if I wasn't doing it.
So now I just met you and wealready shared some stories.
I loved hearing your story.
It was super cool.
I feel like I could sit thereand meet up with you and have
teas and crumpet and we couldkick it for another two hours
and oh my.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
God easily.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Yeah, so that would not have happened.
So, if you didn't take thatleap of faith, if I didn't take
that leap of faith back to thepoint of your podcast, against
All Odds, right, whatever yourcircumstances is to anybody
listening to your show.
If you have no money, if youdon't have a place to stay, if
you lost a relationship, if youlost your job, it's not the end.
(18:18):
You just have to.
Yes, take a moment and pause,right.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Feel the things.
Feel the things, because youneed to be able to process.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But don't perpetuate it, right?
Go back into the victimhoodmentality, right?
Because, like even I used tojump out of airplanes and
there's a couple of times that Ihit the ground super hard where
, like I questioned, did I breaksomething?
And I would sit there for a fewseconds.
First, give thanks that I'mstill alive.
But the second thing is OK, letme catch my breath.
(18:50):
All right, let's get up, let'sstart moving, or I could just
sit there and lay there untilsomebody came to get me, and I
think that a lot of people dothat in various circumstances in
your life, especially when itgets super emotional and I think
that's where it's just super,super important.
You've got to have somebody thatyou can turn to, or a group of
people that are going to holdyou accountable, that are going
(19:12):
to help lift you up and notbring you down.
That doesn't mean that youcan't be brutally honest with
somebody.
I tell my kids all the time I'mlike it's not what you say,
it's how you say it.
You say to me, dad, you'refucked up.
I'm like, okay, I have aproblem with that delivery, with
(19:33):
how you said that.
Yeah, but if you came to me andyou said, listen, dad, I heard
what you said, if you wouldallow me to, I'd like to express
to you why I don't think that'sokay.
I'm probably going to listen towhat you have to say and I may
even concede at the end of that.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, oh my gosh, we have a lot of similarities that
it just blows my mind.
I am super honest with my kids.
I have 15 and 15, 18 and 20.
And moment that, before theyleave my car, I'm like, okay,
don't do stupid shit.
Yeah don't do stupid shit.
It's in language that they willunderstand, that they will
(20:05):
relate to just don't do stupidshit.
If you have to think about thefact that, am I going to get in
trouble with that, right there,right there.
To think about the fact that,am I going to get in trouble
with that right there, rightthere, that's the start of doing
the stupid shit.
However, I'm very, very openwith them and I want them to be
very open with me.
How they tell me things is hugeand, as you said that I'm like,
(20:26):
yes, me too.
I've gone through a lot with mykids.
My oldest daughter wasdiagnosed bipolar at age 12,
which was, I think, way tooearly to be diagnosed in my
opinion, but it was a reallyrough start to her teenage years
, really really rough, and I wasdoing it on my own and it was a
(20:47):
lot and it took a lot out of meto be able to then not be able
to give that to the other twolittle younger ones and they
went through it a lot.
So I have always been veryhonest and I always want them to
be like mom, this is notworking.
Or my son had a problem withthe teacher, the way that the
(21:09):
teacher said something to himand I think he called.
He said something that was justa little out of line, like it
was definitely crossing the lineof it should be also mutual
respect.
And so my son came home and hewas so mad he's 18 now, but he
was so mad and I was like allright, this is what we're going
(21:31):
to do.
You are going to write an emailand you're going to copy this
amazing person called your momon it and you're going to say
dear Mr Soans, I just needed toreach out to you and let you
know that the way that you spoketo me in class today and
embarrassed me in front of theclass, I did not appreciate.
(21:53):
And just to highlight thesituation and to just
respectfully say I didn't likethe way that you treated me and
I need you to know.
And I said that's two thingsthat you're doing there.
Number one, you're copying me,so there's an adult attached to
(22:15):
it that can vouch for you.
And number two, it's now inwriting and it's done
respectfully, so if anythinghappens in the future, you have
that proof.
So when you talk to merespectfully and let me know the
situation of any problem likewe can have a full-on
(22:40):
conversation, but if you comeinto the car and were like mom,
I can't believe that thisasshole yeah whoa.
You don't talk about a teacherthat way, because you don't know
what they're going through.
They're adults you need torespect.
Like I would have taken itcompletely different.
Instead, he came to me as mom,like I can't believe Mr
So-and-so did this and I waslike what happened?
(23:02):
And it's that same approach andI can give you the tools.
And now, every time they haveany issues, did you send an
email?
Did you?
Did you send an email?
Were you nice in the email?
Did you copy me on it?
Because I didn't see an emailcome through.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It's whatever we prepare them for life.
But yeah, it's the way theyapproach things and I completely
agree.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yeah, my daughter had a similar situation.
I like the email thing.
I didn't think of that.
I had her go back in there andaddress it.
But anyway, I'm 100% with youon the fact of, specifically,
I'm referring to my 11-year-olddaughter and she's so
emotionally intelligent and, yes, she's my child, so I'm biased,
but I've studied it a lot.
(23:48):
And I told my wife, I go, I'mtelling you she's at another
level, man.
Even when she was seven, Ibelieve, and my sister passed
the way that she came into theroom and just she understood the
atmosphere.
She was, as we like to say, inthe military, she was
situationally aware.
And it was blowing my mind yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Is she your youngest?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
She is, my oldest is 30.
Whoa, yeah, and how many do youhave?
Total five, so we have ablended marriage.
Um, I had three, she had one,we got married and then we have
the youngest together got it um,we had a six.
Unfortunately we lost him orwhatever, so that was tough
(24:29):
sorry, yeah, so sorry.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
And so I don't know if it's like this younger child
thing, cause my youngest is thatway and I'll go into a therapy
session with her, cause Ibelieve that everybody needs
therapy.
That's just my very personalopinion, cause it's done wonders
for me and it's made meunderstand not to be upset with
the different parts of me thatcome out like anger is super
(24:54):
important and it protects you,it knows your value and that's
why you're angry and so thingslike that.
So I really truly believe intherapy and so we go to a
therapy session.
I remember going to a therapysession with my oldest, which is
20 now but still notemotionally the same level as my
youngest, my 15 year old, andI'm just and I look at her and
(25:17):
it's the same therapist, and Ilook at the therapist and I'm
like this is such a differenttype of session, much different
type of session.
Is it the youngest child thatjust has already gone through so
much with the other two thatmeet, or the other kids that
maybe they just know different?
I don't know, but it blows mymind the difference in, like how
(25:43):
she can read the room what'sthe age separation, though?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
what's the age separation?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
so my oldest is 20 she just turned 20 and this one
is 15 and a half.
She'll be 16.
So five years-ish.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
I'm listening to your story and then also thinking
about my own.
I had my first one when I was20.
I had our 12-year-old when Iwas 40.
Yeah, I said I tell my kids.
I was like, look, yeah, I'mmore stable.
She gets a different lifestyle.
I have way more learned skills.
I've traveled the world, butyou guys got me at my full peak
(26:23):
energy like shucking and jiving,running, playing, throwing you
around in the bouncy house.
I still can to some extentright, but not the same as I was
when I was 20.
When I was 20, I was still akid myself right.
Yeah.
So anyway, I guess what I'msaying is I definitely think
you're a product of yourenvironment as well, and so I
would say that may be part ofthe reason why your daughter's
like that Aside from, obviously,we're also talking about male
(26:46):
versus female and stuff.
But anyway, a lot of these lifelessons that you've gone
through and all these thingsthat you shared with me, before
that you've had to traverseyourself as parents.
That's before that you've hadto traverse yourself as parents.
That's what we want, right.
We want to say, hey, don't dothat.
(27:06):
Unfortunately, as a and I don'tremember who said it, but I
read it in a psychology bookthis old German dude said too
soon, old, too late, smart,right, because most of us are
not going to learn from somebodyelse.
Saying, hey, don't touch that,because it's super hot, it's
once they get burned, andthey're like oh shit, I touched
that.
And you're like yeah, I know, Itold you that.
16 times.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
No shit, sherlock yeah exactly.
Yeah, I agree with that and Itell them all the time you guys
didn't come with a manual andthe way that I needed to parent
you and you you are alldifferent.
My ex-boyfriend that was intheir life for about six years,
or directly in their life, forabout six years.
He was there a little bit afteras well, but he passed away in
(27:44):
2018 at 35 years old with amassive heart attack.
It was just one of those freakthings he worked out.
It was this condition that hedidn't know he had, and so forth
, and stress didn't help.
It was this condition that hedidn't know he had, and so forth
, and stress didn't help.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
But having to tell each one of them.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
It was a vastly different reaction and still to
this day, my oldest, which wasreally super close to him.
She had no emotion.
How am I supposed to understandthat no emotion?
She was like she kind of likeclosed in, bottled it all up,
(28:26):
and no emotion.
My son cried.
However, his way of coping isremembering.
Do you remember the time whendaddy asked the one?
Speaker 3 (28:37):
do you?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
remember the time when and my little one like it
like I had she was standing upwhen I told her and she like
crippled down to her feet, likeit was just it was her and I had
very similar reactions but itwas like devastating and so and
(29:00):
we all have different ways ofremembering him and all it's
just so crazy.
There's no manual that tellsyou this is how you should
parent this person and thisone's the way, this is how this
one goes.
And but I have become a moreconscious parent, I've become
more aware of maybe thatreaction is not a good one and
(29:21):
I'm very good if, for example,no sleep that night or whatever,
and you're just not in the sameheadspace as normal and I'm too
snippy, and more so that I canalso teach them that
it's OK that you're you don'thave to be perfect and that you
can apologize for the thingsthat you do sometimes, because
(29:42):
we don't always go with thatintention right.
So my intention wasn't to snapat you.
My intention was to tell youthis and I'm sorry that I did
snap.
That wasn't my intention.
I apologize.
However, this is what I wantedto say and it just it's.
I've had situations that I hadwith my oldest daughter and my
(30:03):
youngest daughter and it wassuch a difference of how I
responded and it was such adifferent response from them.
So I I love that we get toevolve and that's what we get to
show our kids that there's nomanual and I say that all the
time.
There's no manual.
You didn't come with a bookthat came to tell me how to
parent you.
(30:23):
So I'm doing the best that Ican.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
That's right.
Yeah, 100%.
I know you said that you had aperiod of time where you were a
single mom too, and I did too.
There was about three, threeplus years that I was a single
dad and I was still active duty,which is insane.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah.
Because every time that I woulddeploy, then I would have to
try to rally yeah, yeah.
So anyway, that's crazy, do you?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
where do you live now ?
North Carolina.
We live in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Okay, so you're East coast like me, yeah, and so you
still have a hotel.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yep, yep, we're still running it.
In fact, we just had our.
We have a weekly meeting withour staff.
That helps run it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I used to be in the hotel industry and I love hotels
.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Oh yeah.
I didn't meet you before youstarted this, or I would have
tried to convince you to comework for us.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I was on the wholesale side of it, so I
contracted hotels to sell theallotment to the wholesale
travel market.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
And.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I was.
That was a different previouslife but I was damn good at what
I did and made a lot of hotels,damn good money to.
My location was South Floridaand I have I still have amazing
relationships from that and itwasn't a pretty awesome career.
And it was a pretty awesomecareer and it was like 20, I
(31:42):
think it was like 23 to 30, 33,34.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Yeah, the vision for it came about because during the
latter part of my militarycareer I not only traveled an
immense amount, but a lot oftimes I would end up staying in
hotels, and overseas.
Typically, you can stay in thereally nice hotels because the
rates are not the same.
Anyway, I was living in the RitzCarlton for six months.
(32:09):
I had three butlers.
It was ridiculous but I said tomyself I'm like dang, why can't
we provide upscaleaccommodations like this for
military people?
Because a lot of times themilitary they may have to use
the lodging, the hotels on baseand their subpar.
I'm not going to name theinstallation, but there's one
that it's so raggedy and so Ican't even believe that they're
(32:31):
still operating this thing.
And yeah, they can stay outsidetoo.
But you got stuff like the LaQuinta or you got the Super 8 or
what.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Which is not fun.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
No, and also the confinement of the space, right.
So it's 200 square feet, 225square feet with a chair in a
corner, like I had to have myson come stay with me one time
and I literally had to blow upthe air mattress on the floor
and then put it down everymorning just to walk around the
room.
It was insane.
So my concept was I'm going tobuy small apartments, I'm going
to make them upscale Italianporcelain tiles, soft closed
(33:02):
drawers, italian leather, bose,soundbars, like we pimp these
things out to the nine and Isaid but I'm going to charge
them less than what thegovernment requires them to
spend so that they can have asweet place to stay in.
And so that was the wholeconcept.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And I love that.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, because, as a traveling military guy, when
you're away from home it sucksalready as it is, but then when
you have less than ideal livingcircumstances, so it really
sucks.
Yeah, it just helps out man.
It just helps processing it andalso makes it a little bit more
enjoyable.
And in some circumstances wheresomebody might be in a school
(33:38):
for a month or six weeks, iftheir family's not terribly far,
they could be like, hey, whydon't you come visit me for a
week?
And there's enough room thatthey can spread out.
Again, it's not a 225 squarefoot hotel.
So, yes, we still have it.
That's what we're running.
And then, like I mentioned toyou before, similar to you, I've
recently just started somecoaching and speaking.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I love it.
So give us a little bit aboutthat.
I want to hear about thepodcast because obviously that's
, like now, my newest passionproject, so I love it.
So give us some context aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, I had.
My epiphany was January of thispast year, because I had built
so many businesses and wasrunning them in parallel, as I
already alluded to earlier.
I was running myself ragged.
My learning lesson from thatfor anybody listening is that I
don't care how smart you are orwhat your work ethic is.
The bottom line is you have tohave other people to help you
(34:32):
row those boats, because it'snot sustainable.
We literally I had launched sixcompanies virtually within a
six to 12 month period of time.
It was silly, anyway.
So my wife was like what do youwant to do?
What makes you happy?
And I told her I genuinely getexcited about helping somebody
(34:53):
else put their vision intofruition, because that's what
I'm good at.
Somebody else put their visioninto fruition because that's
what I'm good at.
I'm a visionary.
I can see the steps that otherpeople can't, and the analogy I
like to use a lot of times is ahoarder's house.
Somebody goes in there and theydon't know where to start.
I'm like I'll help you clearthe pathway and show you where
things can go, and then you cankeep going from there.
So that's it.
(35:14):
And I had a bunch of peoplethat reached out to me that were
like hey man, I going fromthere, so that's it.
And I had a bunch of peoplethat reached out to me that were
like hey man, I see you've hadsome success and stuff Like I
want to open this coffee shop orI want to start this pressure
washing business or I want tobecome a real estate agent,
whatever the thing is that theywant to become.
So, yeah, I just had peoplereach out to me that were like,
can you help me get started?
And that's.
I woke up at 3am in the morning.
It became very clear to me.
(35:35):
I was like I want to help otherpeople figure out what their
pathway looks like.
Because, back to one of ourearlier comments that we
discussed, it's like why aremore people not doing this?
And I think the harsh realityit may sound insensitive, but
the vast majority of people arenever going to pursue it.
And if they do pursue it,they're going to hit one or two
obstacles and they're going toturn around because it's too
(35:56):
stressful.
But there are people out therethat I think do, but maybe they
don't have the right circleright or they just need that
little edge up right.
One rung, two rungs on theladder.
So that's what Vision in Motionis the company that I started.
It's about helping people turntheir dreams into reality, and
so because of that then Istarted the podcast Motion
(36:19):
Matters, and I did it verysimilar to you.
I wanted to talk to otherpeople and hear their stories
and I wanted to share thosestories with other people in
hopes that might help somebodysay dang, if that dude was six
figures in debt and built amultimillion dollar portfolio,
why can't I?
Or, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera.
(36:40):
Yeah so that's what MotionMatters is about and, honestly,
one of the things that I didn'trealize but I just said it to
you already is I've onlyrecorded 10 episodes, but of my
10 episodes I've gotten to talkto 10 people that I would not
have talked to.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Yeah, it's the coolest thing.
I seriously feel like I've beensaying this all week long.
I'm like, oh my God, I feellike we were meant.
I wholeheartedly believe inpeople come into your life for a
reason, a season or a lifetime,and I've had so many like just
in this last week that I'm like,oh my God, you are supposed to
(37:17):
be in my life.
This is so cool and it justit's this energy that I really
truly believe that, like yousaid, the people that you're
most around, the people that yousurround yourself with, is so
important, because if you arethe smartest person in the room,
then you're in the wrong roomand I like I have these
(37:42):
incredible mentors that I'm justlike, oh goodness, this is
amazing and, yes, do I have myteam that I mentor, that I help
Absolutely, but I then surroundmyself up with people that are
even higher up and it's just, itis the coolest thing.
Like when you're like, oh my God, I could totally just listen to
(38:04):
you all day long.
This is amazing.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Oh yeah, 100% amazing .
Speaker 2 (38:08):
So what limiting beliefs or like roadblocks that
you have to overcome in order toget to where you are today?
Speaker 3 (38:15):
I think I touched on it earlier I've definitely never
been I'm not risk adverse in mymilitary terminology sticking
with that.
I tell people I'll, I jump outof the airplane without the
shoot and then I figure out howI'm going to land.
I'm not saying that'snecessarily the most intelligent
way to go about it.
What I'm saying is, when I'mpassionate about something, I'm
going to go.
I think the limiting belief Itouched on earlier was again and
(38:39):
honestly I don't think Irealized this till recently I
think subconsciously I alwaysmaybe didn't go after the
massive things because I grew uppoor or because I didn't go to
college and I wasn't intelligentand it took the season of my
life to do things.
(39:00):
That really caused me thismoment of reflection where I
said, wait, I learned how tospeak Chinese fluently.
There was 20 people in thatclass and when we ended there
was nine of us.
Maybe I'm not stupid.
Wait, I went from negative sixfigures in debt and built a
multimillion dollar.
Maybe I'm not.
Maybe I do have business senseand strategy.
So I'm saying collectively, Ithink the limiting belief was
(39:25):
potentially that maybe myupbringing or my circumstances
didn't shape me to potentiallydo great things, but knowing
that I was capable of greatthings.
It's really weird to explain.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I get it completely.
I definitely understand that,because if I would have let the
everything that I went throughin my life like keep hold of me,
I wouldn't have this.
I wouldn't like, I wouldn'thave lost 40 pounds.
I wouldn't have I may not havebeen alive right now.
(39:58):
So it's this tenacity andpersistence saved my life, the
consistency that saved my life.
My dad used to say when I waslittle that I was like the
little tick on top of the tickthat continuously bothers the
tick that's already botheringthe dog.
(40:20):
You are persistent in yourpursuit and I'm like okay, I
didn't know what that meant inthat moment, and that has
literally been like what I dogive me a dream.
It doesn't matter how long it'staking me to be successful.
I'm still here, I'm stillconsistent, I still love the
(40:42):
fact that I wake up and I get tohelp people get healthy.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Yeah, yeah.
The one word that I love inEnglish is perseverance.
And that's why I tell peopleand I'll keep this brief because
I know you got to close up, butit's.
You can't see me, I'm six two.
When I joined the service I was145 pounds.
That's ridiculous.
You can see my rib cage andeverybody's.
There's no way in hell, dude,that you're ever going to work
in special forces.
It's just not going to happen.
But I tell people, I'm likelook, the reason why I made it
(41:08):
is because I don't quit.
That's it.
There was dudes that could runtwo miles in 10 minutes and 30
seconds.
They didn't make it.
Why?
It's a mental thing, and whatI'm telling you is perseverance,
to have your eyes set on theprize and be relentless in your
pursuit and, I would say, on theway.
(41:29):
You have to be adaptable.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah, because it's never going to go the way that
you think it's going to have tobe focused on the goal, but
fluid in the approach that youhave to end up taking, because
it might have to change often.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
Yes, yes, yes, yes yes.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
Oh my gosh, this was so amazing.
I like I think we could.
We'll do a part two on yourpodcast, but this definitely has
to happen because I seriouslyfeel like we can riff back and
forth all day and it would bejust such a great conversation.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
Yeah, no, thank you again.
I really really greatlyappreciate it.
Can't wait to have you on myshow.
I want people to hear again,you know, if Maria went from
that to where she is like howbad is my stuff Really?
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's the definitely I we.
It's so funny how we are verysimilar in our purpose of the
podcast.
So, I love that, so I will putall of your information in the
show notes listeners.
I hope you got so much out oftoday because I know that I did
just having this conversation,but I'll put any way that you
(42:38):
can connect with him on the shownotes, thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much, jamie, andthank you for listening today.
Peace out, guys.
Love your life.
Bye.
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