What Will You Bring to the Table Today?

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In this Epsiode of Brick by Brick, I explore the four levels of motivation that drive entrepreneurs: survival, status, freedom, and purpose. My journey began with resentment that fueled early growth but nearly destroyed everything until I realized my true mission is positively impacting others' lives.

• Business began from resentment which became a survival mechanism to support family and financial obligations
• Transitioned to status-seeking, pretending to be bigger than we were to impress others
• Many entrepreneurs get stuck in the freedom stage, battling guilt even when successful
• Purpose is the highest level—focusing on what I can bring to the table instead of what I can take
• True success comes when your positive mission influences others and elevates their thinking
• Money becomes a tool for impact rather than the ultimate goal
• Making amends quickly when wrong is crucial for personal and professional growth

If you're an entrepreneur struggling to find meaning beyond the daily grind, get clear on your purpose. The challenges we face can't just be about money—they must connect to something deeper.

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Episode Transcript

Ty Cobb Backer (00:00):
I pulled up some old notes and there's a topic
that we've talked about in thepast, break by break, and never
really dug deep into that, andit's like the four levels of why
we do what we do right, whymost people do what they do.
You know Some people talk about.
You know vision Some peopletalk about.

(00:20):
You know legacy, impact,freedom, status, purpose.
You know all of those things,all those buzzwords, right, and
survival, right.
Let's talk about survival.
Why?
Why?
Actually?
Let me rewind a little bit.
You know how TC Backer gotstarted.
Was, was was purely out of aresentment, and resentment can

(00:41):
be a powerful tool if harnessedcorrectly.
And resentment can be apowerful tool if harnessed
correctly.
It was a resentment that hasdefinitely had helped early on.
But I held on to thatresentment entirely too long,
right when it almost buried meand I had just about lost
everything.
I we exploded, which thenturned into me imploding right.

(01:05):
Eventually I got my head out ofmy ass, I got my shit straight
and, uh, I started to reallythink about what it was that I
did wrong and what do I need toimprove upon.
And a lot of that.
Most of that had to do with inhere, right, vic and I talk
about this all the time,especially here lately.
It's been a hot, a hot buttonfor us that you know, we got to
be right here.
We got to be right here and wegot to be right up there, right,

(01:27):
and I don't know which orderthat is, that that should come
in, but I think it should bethat, should be this, and then
it can be that Right, butsurvival Right.
I got into business out of aresentment and then it became
like a survival thing for me,right, you know, I had mouths to

(01:50):
feed, I had child support, Ihad bought my first house in
2005 and I knew that failurewasn't going to be an option and
I knew that I had thisresentment that was just on fire
in me and from slowly fromsurvival went into status right,
like I had to prove my haterswrong, went into status right,

(02:10):
like I had to prove my haterswrong, had to prove my haters
wrong, had to had to have thenice house.
Which I stayed humble enoughand and continued to live in the
house that I bought back in2005.
It was actually a, a two unit.
I rented out the first floorand lived on the second and
third floor and then, until thetenants moved out, my living

(02:31):
room was, was my office.
You know I had to keep up withthe Joneses.
You know whether it wasvehicles and things like that,
and I portrayed the business tobe a lot bigger than it was.
That was just where my mindsetwas right, like I knew I wanted
to be a hundred million dollarcompany someday.
So I acted.
I portrayed like we were amillion dollar company.
People used to say that we'd seeyour truck all over the place

(02:54):
or your trucks plural.
And little did they know it wasjust me.
It was just me running aroundlike a chicken with his head cut
off, running all theappointments, still installing.
At that time had a few guysworking for me and I remember
killing myself and it reallywasn't that long ago where I'd
kill myself.
I'd leave them on a job, I'd gobust out two or three small

(03:14):
jobs just to make sure that wehad enough money to cover
payroll.
And we still carry thatmentality today, you know, and
then and then a lot ofentrepreneurs.
I kind of skipped over that.
That freedom.
You know where I want to?
I want to have enough moneywhere I don't have to go to work
every day, or I can spend moretime with my family, and a lot
of entrepreneurs kind of getstuck there in that freedom

(03:37):
right, like like I don't know iffor me, I don't know if I'll
ever feel that sense of freedom.
Yes, I do have freedom as anentrepreneur.
I can come and go as I please,but there's that guilt.
There's that guilt, thatgnawing guilt, that if I'm not
the first one here, the last oneto leave, that my team won't
respect me.
Um, which is something that Ishould probably work on.
Um, and I still struggle withthat, but that's just how I roll

(03:59):
.
Um, and then there's purpose,and purpose is where I'm at
today, like I'm a purpose drivenperson, man, where it's like
you know how do I want to beremembered?
You know legacy, you knowanother hot topic, another
buzzword that everybody uses allthe time, like how do I want to
have um or make impact on otherpeople's lives?
My legacy it's about realizingmy why, why I was put on this

(04:25):
earth.
Right, and it took me a minuteto realize that.
You know that I had been givena second chance, a second
opportunity to to make apositive impact on people's
lives today and um cause, for solong I had actually, you know,
had a negative impact onpeople's lives.
Today, and because for so longI had actually, you know, had a
negative impact, I never knew,never realized the impact that I
had had on people's lives.
The unmanageability that Icreated in those people's lives

(04:47):
not just my own unmanageability,by the way that I acted, by the
way, by the things that I saidright, by the way that I acted,
by the way, by the things that Isaid right Impacted so many
people's lives around me in anegative way, where they would
walk on eggshells around me,they didn't know which tie
backer would show up.
And finally, when I got my headout on my ass and had realized
that I had been given a secondchance, a second opportunity to,

(05:10):
to focus on the true, the realpurpose is it wasn't about what
could I take off the table today.
For me, it's what can I put onthe table right?
What can I bring to the tabletoday?
How can I improve people'slives?
How many people's lives can?
Can I impact today in apositive way, you know,

(05:33):
realizing why I was put on thisearth, pushing the limits of
being the best version of myself, operating the highest level of
the pyramid, doing the thingsthat no one else has ever done
helping others having impact,like when you can encourage
other people to have impact onother people's lives.
Now, now you're balling.
Now you have arrived when yourmission has rubbed off on other

(05:57):
people and you've actually havebeen able to elevate them in the
way that they think and andyour behavior start to rub off
on people in a positive way.
That's when you know you'redoing something right now.
Having said all that, am Iperfect?
By no means Am I perfect.
Do I stumble?
Do I say stupid things?
Do I still act out?
Of course I do, but today.
The difference between today andyester years, ty Backer, is

(06:22):
that I see the impact that Ihave on people's lives,
negatively or positively, today,and I correct my wrongs.
I instantaneously when I'mwrong, I promptly admit that I'm
wrong.
It might take me about threeminutes, you know, to three
hours to circle back, but I willcircle back and make amends

(06:42):
when, when it's needed, you know.
So, basically, I was, you knowI was kept here.
I was kept here to to helpothers, to have impact, coming
to realize that money isn'tmoney isn't everything, but it
sure does help and it has becomethe tool.
That has become the tool toenable us to do the things that
we do and to have the impact onpeople's lives.

(07:02):
You know, being an entrepreneurcan't be about the money.
I mean this shit, the shit thatwe go through on a daily basis.
It can't.
It can't be about the money.
We got to get clear on ourpurpose.