From the Field to the Skies: Chris Neville on Resilience, Innovation, and Legacy on the Charge Forward Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Jim Cripps (00:00):
You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store,
in your company, in yourdistrict, in your household.
However excited you are, whatyou believe is possible,
whatever that threshold is.
Good afternoon team.

(00:21):
Jim Cripps here with the ChargeForward podcast, coming to you
from HitLab Studios here inNashville Tennessee.
I have a special treat for youtoday and that is Mr Chris
Neville.
He is a sales leader, he's afamily man and now an
entrepreneur here in NashvilleTennessee.
Chris, welcome to the show.

Chris Neville (00:39):
Thank you so much , jim.
I appreciate you.
Thank you for the time and I'mhonored to be here.

Jim Cripps (00:42):
Yeah, man absolutely so give me a little bit of your
background.
You've been in the corporatesales side for a long time.
Yes, sir, about 12 years now.
Yeah sir, about 12 years now,and how does that look.
What do you do so?

currently I work for DirecTV.
I'm a senior account manager.
I manage all of our indirectsales and distribution channels,
so all of our partners that areauthorized to sell direct TV
within their business.

Jim Cripps (01:08):
And, from what I understand, you crush your
numbers.
Yeah, for sure, all the time.

For sure.
Yeah, I mean as an individualcontributor and as a sales
leader and developing andmentoring teams.
You know it's one thing I'vebeen able to do successfully is
obviously continuously win, sothere's lots to go into that,
but yeah, definitely for sure.

Jim Cripps (01:27):
That's awesome.
And what do you like best aboutthat?
I mean, what keeps you going?
Because keeping that fire alivefor some people that's the
hardest part of their job.
But, man, every time I talk toyou, you're so excited, you're
so fired up about whatever it is.
Whether we're talking about thekids' sports We'll introduce
them here in a few minutes andthen a lot of times it's your

(01:53):
business at FlyRoute and at thesame time, you don't ever lose
any steam over in the corporateworld.

No, I mean to answer that directly.
I think that the number onereason for my drive is my
passion.
I have, obviously, family toprovide for a career to develop.
I think that the number onereason for my drive is my
passion.
Right, I have, you know,obviously, family to provide for
, right, a career to develop and, you know, a life and a legacy
to leave for my family, for mykids, and I want to make the
biggest impact I can for anypeople, any person in my network

(02:18):
that I'm able to, you know,have an impact on.

Jim Cripps (02:20):
Yeah, and so how many people do you?
Let's just say that you lead oryou work with on a daily basis.

In my current role I manage about.
It's fluctuates between 95 to105 different entrepreneurial
based businesses that areassociated with DirecTV.
Okay, so these are almost likefranchises, basically they're
authorized partners.
So in the indirect space theycan be authorized with seven,
eight, 10, two differentcorporate enterprises right to
sell a wide variety of videoproducts, internet broadband

(02:51):
products, security products,cameras, audio video stuff like
that.
So it's direct TV is anintricate part of that process,
so it's sometimes it's their,their lead, vertical, or
sometimes it's in a ancillaryyeah basically to where they,
they, they lead with thisbroadband and this market and
all their sales strategiestowards that, and then they
accompany it with video orDirecTV for home video service.

(03:13):
Okay, and how long have youbeen in that business, this role
?
I've been at DirecTV for threeyears in February, okay, and
then previously that I was atAT&T for nine years.

Jim Cripps (03:22):
Okay, so pre-pandemic you were at AT&T
and then post-pandemic uh, herehere um on the direct side.

Correct, a little bit post-pandemic with AT&T.
I started my career at AT&T asa technician, so I was
installing internet and phoneand uh, crawling in attics and
crawl spaces and things likethat and doing some of the
craziest things you've sometimesalmost unspeakable things to
get service working and thingslike that.
But uh, um, yeah, started thereand then throughout life

(03:50):
adversity was able to transitioninto sales.
That's kind of what's reallytrajected.
My life in the sales role is, um, just life adversity and moving
forward in life or as life hasprogressively changed throughout
the years that you know I've.
I found a role with sales whenAT&T rolled out a new product or
new department, new channel andI saw all these guys in the

(04:11):
field, basically door to door orlike client acquisition door to
door, and uh, I was like I cando that.
You know I have the highestcustomer service satisfaction
roles in, you know, installingservices, um, so then I was like
I can do that and then had tokind of earn my way, improve my
way into that sales role andthen it's kind of been the sky's
limit since there.

Jim Cripps (04:29):
You know, I've had some experience with with
leading some teams that were inthat door to door business man.
That's a tough gig it is.
You got to have the rightpersonality.
You got to have that.
Um, well, I will say this.
So I had a um, uh, I would say asales mentor, that that was
along my way not too many yearsago and he was from Utah, which

(04:52):
a lot, of, a lot of doors are,and he said that a lot of people
see it as a sales cycle orsales process, and he said it's
a sales circle.
And his mentality was if youdon't, if you say no, it's
because I haven't explained itwell enough for you to know to
say yes.
Couldn't agree more.
And I, you know, I don't knowwhy that seems so just

(05:16):
groundbreaking, but he goes if I, if I haven't explained it
properly, then you don't haveenough knowledge to know that
that you should say yes Is itenough knowledge and or enough
connection right or commonground to figure out how it
relates to that said customerright or that presentation or,
you know, situation at hand?

Yeah, absolutely.

Jim Cripps (05:35):
Now you got an extensive sports background too,
don't you?

I think that kind of led to the entrepreneurial
side it does.

Jim Cripps (05:43):
So walk me through, like what you did in high school
, college.
All those things, yeah.

So growing up in Lebanon, tennessee suburb
outside the east side ofNashville, played high school
football at a school calledWilson Central High School.
It's a unique story becausethat's kind of what put me
through where I'm at now.
When I was in high school orback in 2001,.
Mount Joy and Lebanon weregrowing cities, right, and then

(06:10):
whoever makes the decisions todo that at the time I don't know
who it is, but they decided,hey, we need to add an expansion
school.
So that was literally incentralized Wilson County, right
.
That's why the name is WilsonCentral, at least that's what I
think it is.
But anyway, so kind of going tothat background, right is that
there's a new school, it's anexpansion school.
So half of it's Mount Juliet,half of it's Lebanon that were

(06:31):
zoned.
Now they're rezoned here.
So I contribute a lot of my lifeto my high school and college
years of sports.
Specifically being WillisCentral was brand new.
We had no tradition.
We had no tradition, we had nostandards.
We had nothing.
There was no leadership to lookup to.
It was all green from scratch.
So first year school was open.

(06:51):
I'm pretty sure 99% sure theydidn't win a game.
Second year, I think us as afreshman class back then we kind
of figured out, hey, for thisto work, we've got to figure out
how to build a team, how tocreate a culture, and I think
you know guys like myself and acouple other guys were able to
kind of ascend to thatleadership role to where, hey,
we got to lead by example and wegot to be hard-nosed, we got to

(07:14):
be determined and we got todevelop that grit Right.
So, um, we were fortunate enoughto be successful as freshmen
and then all the way throughhigh school, uh, you know we did
great and you know I had thebest school record for a long
time there, until about threeyears later or so.
But that kind of dedication isreally what I put into the
foundation of who I am todaysitting in this seat, because

(07:36):
you know, there's oneinspirational leader my high
school coach at the time has setsome things in my mind that
I've lived by my whole life, youknow, and I was fortunate
enough to be able to getathletic and academic
scholarship to continue my youknow football career there and
yeah, so that's kind ofsports-wise.
And I grew up playing youthsports too.
I started sports when I was 10.
I wish I started earlier, butyou know that's really the

(07:58):
sports background.

Jim Cripps (07:59):
And you played in college too, didn't you?
Yes, sir, where?

did you played in college too, didn't you?
Yes, where'd you play?
Played at cumberland university.
It's in lebanon, uh, it's thetime is.
In an ia school, uh, mid-southconference school.
So it's a.
It's a big deal in a small town, really.
Um, and uh, we were actuallyfortunate.
Kind of moving down the theline of athletics was, uh, we
were fortunate, you know thatback in 2007, um, well, you know
, two or three years progressingup to it, right, and in 2007,

(08:24):
we actually were fortunate towin a conference championship
back in the day.
Okay, my season was short.
I only played four games thatyear, which is kind of what led
me to the next stage of my life,because I had a season-ending
injury.
I shattered my clavicle inabout nine pieces.
To this day I've got an 80-inchplate with like six screws in
there.
Ouch, it's definitely tough.

(08:44):
So that kind of transitioned tothe next portion of my life and
so, yeah, sports have been ahuge, huge foundation for me,
okay, and then you were part ofsome programs after that, right,
so, yeah, so that's the nextstep of my life in athletics was
from the rehabilitation state,from learning how to physically
put a bone back together, right,and then go through the

(09:05):
athletic training portion of therehab process and then the
strength and conditioning sideis where actually I found kind
of my passion in life at thattime, where it was just that
constant adversity, constantprogression and that, like I
said, falling back to that gritportion of we built that
structure or those foundationalpillars of my life.
Um was able to figure out a wayto completely involve myself in

(09:29):
that process and came backbigger, better, faster and
stronger than I was before.
Uh.
And then that led totransferring to Tennessee state
university in Murfreesboro, uh,and changing my major to health
and human performance andkinesiology and like and like
minoring basically, or interningand strength and conditioning.
So, yeah, uh, that led to ainternship at Vanderbilt

(09:50):
university with football and gotsome baseball experience in
there, a little bit just kind ofbeing around in a fly on the
wall, wasn't any officialcapacity, but it's there for
about 11 months and time back tohigh school.
That's a lot of uh, and tyingback to high school that's a lot
of leaders that were there anda lot of experience that I saw
through theirs or through thatjourney was able to kind of help
build that.

(10:10):
And then the last portion of myathletic career was in, I was
able to do a coaching change inhow football works.
When coaches change and most ofthe staff changes too, changes
too.
And then I was able to.
Once that change happened, Iwas able to get a role at
Eastern Illinois University as agraduate assistant, to be a
strength and conditioning coachfull-time and then go to school

(10:31):
full-time.
Okay, and then so was itpost-school that you came back
down here, yep, so after Ifinished my master's degree in
Charleston Illinois, at EasternIllinois, I was able to come
back to Nashville.
Life was progressing indifferent ways and I didn't that
that that the strength andconditioning role at a Division
One level is can be I call itnomadic or relocatable.

(10:52):
You've got to be pretty fluidand easy to relocate real quick.
And you know I didn't really atthe time I didn't understand
the value in that.
So I came back home, I was inthe more of the consultative
professional type stringconditioning role for a while
and then life kind of changedand you know I had to figure out
a different way to provide forthe family.

Jim Cripps (11:11):
So yeah, Well, you know, I think throughout your
whole career and I really dothink that this is one of the
keys to whether people aresuccessful long-term or not is
their adaptability, absolutely.
And so what does adaptabilitymean to you?
Is their adaptability,absolutely.

And so what does adaptability mean to you?
That's probably my entiremantra, to be honest.
I mean from being, you know,athletic strength and
conditioning to then, you know,obviously deciding and
determining how and why.
I want to start a family, youknow, get married and have kids,
and things like that.
So it's definitely got to beadaptable, and what that means
is just being confident inyourself and having the courage
to stand up and say you knowwhat, I may not know how to do

(11:46):
that, but I'm going to figureout how to do it and there's
kind of no other option.
There's no failure in that, andyou've just got to be resilient
and have that grit and figureit out.

Jim Cripps (11:54):
Yeah, you're not going to stop me and if you
think you will, good luck.
Exactly.

And it has to be that way, yeah, because I think
that's, you know, an importantportion of being a father and a
husband as well.

Jim Cripps (12:05):
Yeah, and coaching to some degree in youth sports
too right, yeah, still coachingLittle League or youth baseball.

And I actually just started, well, my first
fall season of softball withsix-year-old girls, which is a
little hectic but it's kind of areality check right, hectic but
it's kind of a reality checkright.
As you progress, have beeneither involved or trying to
help and then, you know, leadingsome teams right over over time
through my son's baseballcareer thus far.
You get to this 12 U or this 11U portion and you're like, hey,
we're, you've developed allthese strategies on how to help

(12:36):
these kids and try to make itmake sense and then to rewind
real quick to back to six isdefinitely difficult but you got
to adapt and that's just kindof how it is.
You got to, you got to make ithappen.

Jim Cripps (12:46):
Well, and it goes back to your ability to adapt
and connect.
For sure, and you know, that'sreally the biggest thing that
we're doing with youth sports atthat age is trying to instill
some confidence that they can dothis, that they can come up
here, they can connect with theball, and if they don't, it's
not the end of the world, right,absolutely.
And I still think that there'sa lot of parents out there that

(13:11):
have kind of sabotaged asignificant portion of the
population and that they'venever allowed them to fail.
And so they get into theworkplace and they're working
for me or working for you and wetell them no, or or that they
didn't win just because theyshowed up, or fill in the blank,

(13:32):
and so what would?

what would your advice be to parents out there?
For you know, preparing theirchildren for the workplace.
Give them every opportunitythey can to learn how to
establish the work ethic and thedrive that it takes to earn
something Right and how tocontribute to a team.
So that's one requirement formy kids they have to play a team
sport, no questions asked.
Doesn't matter if it'sbadminton, if that's even a team
sport, or if it's football,baseball, it doesn't matter to
me.

(14:00):
But that's such a such a pillarof who I am as a man, husband
and father, like that you.
But that's such a pillar of whoI am as a man, husband and
father that you have tounderstand what it takes to be a
part of a team and contributeand or lead a team as you ascend
through that leadership process.
Give them every opportunitythey can, encourage them, but
also hold them accountable.
That's one thing that I hold aspriority.
Number one is creating themental structure with children

(14:25):
where you're coaching andprogressing them for the next
level not currently wherethey're at Right and putting
that development piece in towhere we have to be able to
prepare them for the next level,which in 99 percent of time, is
life Right, but we try to learnthrough sports about life.

Jim Cripps (14:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I think you know, one ofthe things that I kind of hang
my hat on is performance mattersAbsolutely and we keep score
Absolutely.
You know the idea of of notkeeping score and that everybody
gets a trophy.
You know, that's really of thelast 20 years, I think it is,

(14:59):
and I think it's just watered itdown and people need to
understand that there is awinner down and people need to
understand that there is awinner.
There is a loser in a lot ofthings and usually the one that
wins is the one that has beenthrough the most absolutely
couldn't agree more.

And yeah, and to that point, I mean, I think
winning solves everything, right, winning creates, um, you know,
structure or sorry.
So it creates this process ofwhere they understand, hey, I
contribute my portion or my roleto the team, I'm able to play
this position or do this, orscore these points, or make
these assists, or what'sbasketball season?
So I'm trying to thinkbasketball, right?
Sure, I'm not the leadingscorer, but I have the most

(15:35):
assists.
What does that mean?
That means you're a greatteammate and so it contributes
to that.
As you know, life is theultimate test or ultimate
journey, right?
And I think that that's it'sour obligation to make sure that
we teach these kids how to dothat.

Jim Cripps (15:53):
Yeah, absolutely Now your most recent uh, putting
your putting your toe into theentrepreneurial world.
Uh, so how did how did you getassociated with fly route?
How did you, how did you comeup and decide that that was what
you wanted to do?
You know, obviously a big stepto take and you've already got
some pretty good clients outthere.

Yeah, so that's an interesting process because
it's one of these.
I got to explain a littlejourney too, where, you know,
through my current role withDirecTV and I'm looking, you
know I'm responsible forbusiness development and you
know an ROI and all these salesproductivity goals with all
these partners of DirecTV Irealized real quick that I

(16:26):
wasn't taking my own advice, Iwasn't listening to myself.
I'm this corporate sales leader, this guy that's teaching and
developing all theseentrepreneurs to be smarter when
it comes to marketing, howthey're utilizing all their
sales tactics, things like that,and I wasn't taking my own
advice.
So I actually, as I was lookingand wanting to find this

(16:48):
passion or purpose again, I waslike you know, I need to get
back engaged with my alma mater,my schools and football
specifically.
That's kind of my love andpassion, football.
But so social media is apowerful tool, right, and I was
on social media.
There was a staffing head coachchange at Wilson Central, my
alma mater.
So I owe a lot of my success inlife to Wilson Central, for

(17:09):
sure as a school and a program.
But yeah, I saw that they wereusing drone technology right to
process game film and practicein scrimmages and things like
that, and it was beyond enticingand mesmerizing in my mind,
like first, my mind first wentto the competitive advantage

(17:30):
right, how that provides valueto coaches and athletes, and
secondarily it was more likethat's cool, I don't, it doesn't
matter what you say, that'scool and it's as sports have, as
technology has evolved andsports have evolved, that now
there's a, there's a mergebetween drone aviation right or

(17:50):
drone videography and sports andit's yeah.
So it was fascinating and Ijust wanted to learn, learn,
learn, learn, learn.
Went to their social mediaaccounts and or and followed
them, followed them, and then Isaw one day they post now
accepting or expansion I can'tremember the verbiage, but they
posted that they were lookingfor entrepreneur-minded, strong
business leaders that wanted topartner and become a service

(18:13):
provider in a different market.
They're based out of Denver,colorado.
So I did that Seven monthslater, just approved, went
through this interview, theprocess and the onboarding
process and the validationprocess, and was fortunate
enough to launch FlyRouteNashville and back in April,

(18:34):
okay.
So how's that going so far?
It's going great so far.
I mean, I can't.
I got to give a shout out toColin and Michael.
Colin, the founder of FlyRouteheadquarters in Denver, and then
obviously to Michael and theteam, or Colin and Michael and
the team.
They're, they're second to noneand they've said they've made
this process so seamless andeasy for me to be able to be
co-aligned, vision wise andstrategy wise, on how we want to

(18:56):
execute on the business planand how we want to scale.
And it all boils down to clientcustomer service.
Right.
How do we, how do we providethe best videography, the best
professional drone videographyservice in this small niche
market, right?

Jim Cripps (19:11):
Basically, it's a small demographic of coaches and
athletic directors that we'remarketing to but for the most
part, if I'm understanding thiscorrectly, the market's not
saturated, no, like you'reusually.
If you're coming in and sittingdown with them, you're the
first one that they'reconsidering, absolutely.
And it's kind of like I lookback 30 years ago maybe more

(19:32):
than that, I don't remember whenI started selling cell phones.
I was selling cell phones topeople that didn't have cell
phones yet.
Yeah, that was way easier thanit is today, when everybody's
already got one Right, and soyou know, I think you being
first to market in that regardis pretty huge, yeah.

And especially in this market too.
And again shout out to Colinand Michael for from being able
to acquire clients and orexpress um, or, you know, obtain
right, um, a need in adifferent market, right From
Denver to Nashville how's thatconnection?
That's crazy, right.
And then for someone like me tobe able to see it and then
obviously be accepted into their, to their vision and

(20:06):
partnership, right, yeah, andit's definitely an where
FlyRoute is an industry leader,right.
There's no other professionaldrone videography service out
there that offers and marketswhat we do and executes like we
do.
It's just plain and simple.
There's a lot of drones thatfly to film athletic events, but
there's nothing like FlyRoute.

(20:27):
And so what makes FlyRoute sodifferent?
So FlyRoute is differentbecause, from the base structure
all the way up to the executiveleadership teams, everything is
structured.
It's compliant with FAA and allthe aviation rules and
regulations.
We're extremely 150% compliantwith FAA and the aviation, all
the aviation rules andregulations.
We're extremely 150% compliantwith FAA regulations when it

(20:49):
comes to where we fly, how wefly, how we position the drones,
our setup, all of our equipmentis licensed and insured and
registered with FAA.
So it's legitimately the most.
It's the only way that you'relegally allowed to fly drones.
That you know, in a commercialcapacity there's a lot of
different uh rabbit holes.

(21:10):
We could go down in thatcapacity, but for a commercial
capacity where you're producingvideo for a service, you have to
be uh, the pilots have to beFAA certified, right.
So that's something that wherethat, that that prestige or that
professional differentiation,is key to being able to say, hey
, we want to, we want to partnerwith your team, we want to
provide drone videographyservice, but we're also, too,

(21:31):
going to hire a commercial FAApart one, oh, seven higher or uh
licensed drone pilot.
Yeah, right.
And then then we assign thatpilot to the school and the
school, the administrators andcoaches, decide how you know
quantity of films and events andand games and things like that
that they're able to.
You know that they want to useour service for.

Jim Cripps (21:52):
And is it usually the athletic department that is,
that is funding, that Is itthrough alumni, is it through
sponsors?
How, how does that usually work?
What do you?
What do you see as kind of themagic that happens?

A lot of.
So 99% of the conversations anddecisions are either determined
by the coaching staff right andwithin their allocated budget
of their you know they managetheir yearly budget and their
operational spend.
Some structures are differentbut majority of it is if head
coach sees value and needs valueand they want that's an
important aspect of to theirsuccess, or you know kind of

(22:26):
their multiverse of what theyinclude into their strategy on
you know how do we win, you knowhow do we, how do we create a
program and you know it's a,it's a cool tool to add right
and so yeah.
So head coach is is normallyour targeted audience, sometimes
athletic directors too.
When it comes to education, whenit comes to to elaborating on

(22:48):
how and why fly route'sdifferent and then being able to
create the best partnership aspossible through transparency
and obviously too, the educationpiece is a big part of what we
do, because there's so muchother operations, other drones
and things like that in thismarket or in sports in general
that do fly and there's lots ofpeople in the world that you

(23:10):
know film their sports games,which is fine.
It's just we.
You know we're just a littlebit different market to where
you know there's lots ofdifferent intricacies that could
happen, yeah it's next level.

Jim Cripps (23:21):
Yeah, it's next level.
It's making sure that all theI's are dotted and all the T's
are crossed to ensure safety and, at the same time, provide
award winning service.
Absolutely, I love it andthat's awesome.
So you know, along the way,whether we're talking about you
know your time in sports thereat Wilson Central, whether we're
talking about your time incollege or then Vanderbilt, or

(23:45):
then back in Illinois.
I mean, obviously you poppedaround a bit and that's just
kind of the nature of the beast.

But who would you say has been some of your top
mentors along the way?
Top mentors would have to be acouple, really.
My high school coach, coachDwayne Alexander, was the first
that was able to kind ofestablish a connection with me
and be able to instill thesevalues and principles of like.
To this day I still I live bythis.
You know, in high school weused the terminology reap what

(24:17):
you sow.
It's just the way it worksright, and especially in sports
and in that environment, that'swhat we, that's how I've lived
my life, my entire life.
I've also had, you know, I wasfortunate enough that coach
Alexander was able to come toCumberland as well, so I played
for him as well.

Jim Cripps (24:30):
Oh, that's cool.

Yeah, and so that's.
He's been the biggest mentorand you know inspiration
throughout my athletics life,throughout strength and
conditioning and the collegiateexperience Like there's.
I could I could name three orfour, but the majority of at
that level, at the division onelevel.
Almost every coach is aninspiration, right, Especially

(24:51):
when you're green and you're newinto the industry and you have
a reason why they're there.
Absolutely, they're not justvolunteers like me at baseball,
right, you know they're.
They don't just run the stickson Friday night, right, they're
there for a reason and they'reobviously that Division I level,
ncaa professional.
So taking little pieces of allof those guys and learning and

(25:12):
truly being a sponge and amaster of the game right in
coaching and leadership, that'show I've determined a lot of
things and there's probably fouror five different guys I can
name, but that's on the athleticside, on tying everything
together, the biggestinspiration for me and what I
listen to the most and the mostcontent that I consume would be
gentleman named andy forsello.

(25:33):
You familiar with him, I'm notnow.
He um, he runs, he runs apodcast himself.
He's actually the uh ceo of uh.
It's called first form, it's asupplement company, so I am
familiar with first with firstform so first forms.
His company also runs a bunchI'm sure five, six, seven, eight
, 25 other businesses, right,but uh, his content relates to
me cause we have very similarenergy.
Uh, we, I think that you know,and also, too, he's a he's a

(25:57):
pretty cut throat, straight tothe point guy like hey, it is
what it is, it's cut and dry,you like it, you like it If you
don't change the channel, that'sright, you know, and so I
admire that and um, yeah, sothose are the guys that make
impact for me every day.

Jim Cripps (26:09):
Yeah Well, I think one of the things about you know
that mentality is it's kind ofunapologetically true,
Absolutely Like none of us havetime for the BS, and I think the
older we get, the lesstolerance we have for somebody
wasting our time.
So the fluff and all that, no,no, cut to the chase.
What do you want Is this?
Is this a win-win?
Like my biggest thing is it'swin-win or no deal.

(26:31):
Right, Like I don't want towork with somebody where it's a
good deal for me and it's not agood deal for them, or vice
versa.
Like this needs to be one ofthose things where our, our
interaction is creating energyand is creating more opportunity
because of our synergy.
And you know, I think when youoperate in those spaces more
than you don't, you know, and Ithink again, I think later in

(26:53):
life you kind of cut out the BSbecause we're not guaranteed any
more days, we're not guaranteedthe rest of today, so I'm not
going to waste any time withsomebody that's wasting my time
Absolutely.

And, to that point, I think that that's where
, from a leadership perspective,we enhance our network or our
circle or our multiverse, whereit's our obligation is to
enhance the quality of lives ofpeople that are either on our
team as direct reports or ourbusiness partners or anyone you
know that's that we come incontact with and, like you said,
no BS policy is the best way tobe.

Jim Cripps (27:24):
Yeah Well, even you know that's that we come in
contact with and, like you said,no BS policy is the best way to
be.
Yeah, well, even you know howwe started this conversation.
We were talking about how I wasgoing to intro you and we were
just trying to decide betweenthe word leader or the word
executive.
And you know, I really do seeyou as leader, because I think
anybody can end up with a titleas executive.
You know you could be executiveat a company of one, right?
Yeah, but if you're reallygoing to hold on to that moniker

(27:47):
of leader, that's earned, ofcourse, and it's not a position
of power, it is throughinfluence, right.
And you know, to me that's themost powerful thing.
How powerful thing we can beinside or outside of our homes
is a leader, absolutely.

And you're right.
I mean now on the head, isleaders lead by influencing
others and providing that buy-inand that culture piece of
people want to be included inthat circle, right, and that's
kind of I try to live my lifethat way.

Jim Cripps (28:16):
Cool.
Now, this is a question that wehave not talked about, but it
comes up in almost every episode, especially when it's couples
or entrepreneurs is how you knowhow much would you say.
Your success has been tied tothe fact that you found the
right spouse.

I mean, I think that it's absolutely imperative
that you're finding the rightspouse to support you right, and
creating life and creating afamily is important to be able
to, to have a solid foundationto build upon.
Right, and I think, and I can,I can't commend my spouse kayla
enough to be able to support meand my crazy ideas and my crazy.
You know my high energy andhigh, high, you know mental

(28:58):
capacity.
We'll call it and and you knowI never, never, never thought
we'd be where we're at and andI'm fortunate that we are, and
and you know I can't yeah, it's100%.
We wouldn't be able to buildanything without that foundation
.

Jim Cripps (29:09):
Well, I think we're both lucky in that regard,
because my wife will tell youI'm too much, so am I, and mine
is.
You know, emily is just steady.

And.

Jim Cripps (29:18):
I think Kayla is very much the same for you,
absolutely, and it's thatbalance right.

Yep, she's the cool, calm and collected.
I'm the highly motivated move,move, move, go, go, go ask
questions later.
Yeah, make it happen.

Jim Cripps (29:31):
Yeah, that's awesome man, that's awesome.
Well, and you know I don't knowif you know Miles and Jill
Reidelberger.
They're from Pleasant View, sothey were on a few weeks ago and
Miles had an interesting take.
He said I don't think it's thebusiness he goes, I think it has
led to my happiness in life andthe business success is really

(29:52):
a byproduct of the fact thatwe're happy.

Yeah, I agree with that.
I mean, I think that you knowfinding your own inner peace and
finding things that you doright for work or in life to
provide that fulfillment pieceright.
That's another reason why thisfly route scenario was, hey, I
want to do something that makesan impact, right, and I think
that, to Miles' point, that'sspot on, because you want to be

(30:17):
able to find that fulfillmentand find that peace in life.
And what gives you fulfillment,you know like for me, you know
like most of us, it's, it'sbuilding, building a legacy for
your family, for the kids, formy wife, for my.
You know change, you know theirtrajectory in life.

Jim Cripps (30:32):
Sure, that's my goal Inspire them to think something
more is possible.

And give them exposure to worlds that they've
never seen.
That I never saw until I'vebeen able to do it myself.
Yeah, absolutely.

Jim Cripps (30:47):
Now, much like Emily and I, but you guys have been
on a health journey over thelast few years.
I've seen y'all have trimmeddown and and and looking way
more fit and healthy.
What, what, what has healthlooked like for you guys?

Recently.
Uh, health has been reallyimportant for me, as you know,
trying to continuously, alwaysdevelop my my own mentality
right and throughout mentalityand throughout corporate world
and entrepreneurial world, andthe struggle and mentality that
it takes to get through thoseand having resilience to get
through those.
I kind of neglected my healthfor a long time.
Same here I think some of us doMost of us do so really just

(31:20):
being able to get backconsistent, starting slow,
utilizing my friends and networkto have accountability partners
and go and create group threadswhere it's like, hey, I did
this today, we did this today.
Oh well, you're late, you knowthis, you know stuff like that.
So where, um, that's, that'sthe journey that we've been on
recently, and we're trying toclean up the remainder of our
lives right With diet andexercise, you know stuff like

(31:41):
that.
So, um, I would say, though,what's kept Kayla and I both in
shape at the way we are is yousports and movement.
We don't sit still for morethan probably two hours a day,
really, you know, and that'sprobably at nine to 11 PM for
the most part.
So it's go go go all the time.

Jim Cripps (31:55):
That's cool.
Well, you can tell it's payingoff and I look at it like we're
investing in living longer.

Yeah, and I too, though, and to that point is I
have to re, as I'm investing inmyself, as you know, on an
entrepreneurial base and, youknow, professionally I have to
invest in my health again, to bethe best example, because I let
myself go there a while back,right, and now that Levi's
getting old enough to where he'slike, oh well, I got to see dad
do it before he wants to do it,and the same with Paisley,

(32:23):
right, and I got to be a betterexample.
So that's where I've been, andwe've made some tremendous
strides recently, so I'm prettyexcited.

Jim Cripps (32:29):
Yeah, no, and I do think it's one of those things
we have to lead.
We can't just choose to tellthem what to do, we have to lead
them.
And you know, I had gotten upto 305 and was miserable and,
you know, right before my 40thbirthday, just had this rude
awakening and it really kind ofculminated.

(32:50):
There was a couple of thingsthat went back to back, but the
last thing that hit.
Within a couple hours, threethings hit and the last thing
that hit was literally theFacebook notification popped up
for the most liked picture ofthat year and it was castle
eating a donut.
And I was like, oh, my god, Iam, I'm leading my team in the

(33:10):
wrong direction, I'm leaving myfamily in the wrong direction.
I've got to fix this.
Yeah and uh, you know, knock onwood, that was 90 pounds ago.
Yeah, um, and it's.

it's going to be a process for the rest of my
life, but you know, it's ajourney, though, and that's why
you're a leader to your family,to your son, to your wife, to
your whole family, right, andespecially in in business as
well.
And that's just something thatleaders surround themselves with
, leaders, right and you figureout a way to create a network
that enhances your life, right,and and contributes positively

(33:39):
to your growth and development.
And you know until your pointof my, my growth and development
, and you know until your pointof my, my wake-up moment was
during baseball practice.
I can't run a base, or run thewhole bases, without dying
physically, so you can'tdemonstrate drills and you can't
help teach if kids can't watchyou.
Right, like we used to say thisthing in back in college, right
, you can't trust the fatstrength coach ain't that the

(34:00):
truth?

Jim Cripps (34:01):
I mean, it's just can't take advice from him
either.
You can't Cause, you can'ttrust it.

You can't Um, and that's why you gotta lead by
example and that's kind ofmentality wise, why you have to
adopt that and be.
Let that be your standard.

Jim Cripps (34:14):
I love it, man.
Uh, you know I'm cheering youguys on it's.
It's fantastic to see Um, nowyou know.
So you jumped in the corporateworld.
You kind of started as aninstaller at AT&T, worked your
way up.

So when you left there, what were you doing at
AT&T?
Well, it's an interesting storybecause AT&T, back in 2014,
actually acquired DirecTV.
Okay, I do remember that.
And then as a technician, as aninstallation tech, I did copper
fiber and then satellite, right, because then they were
traditionally a satellitecompany then, right.
So yeah, from tech to kind ofdoor-to-door account manager

(34:52):
type field account manager, sothat's a whole.
We could talk about that for anhour.
But then into leadership, right, because, like you said,
crushing sales goals, gettingall these cool fancy awards and
things like that, it's all great, right, but what matters is
them.
What matters is the family.
That's cool.
And from there I actually wasfortunate enough to launch.
I'm getting to the point, Sorry.

Jim Cripps (35:11):
Yeah, no, you're good.

The AT&T business units at the time not
necessarily saw the success ofthat channel, but I was a
marketable individual to golaunch this other channel with
not me specifically.
But the business unit made adecision to launch this type of
sales acquisition team Right.

(35:33):
And so then I transitioned fromresidential uh, leadership
right, Running a team of 12, tothen basically being an
individual contributor again andselling and managing what I
sell as from.
So like a B2B role right.
Sure, Put more of accountexecutive to where you manage
this book of business, but thenyou also sell and acquire other
B2B opportunities.
Okay.
So it was kind of cool.
Cool, which takes a little bitdifferent skill set too.
Right, Because it's not justdoor knocking, creating
connection, finding value, it'smore of business, right.

(35:55):
So you have to be able torelate to the business, find how
and why your solution providesmore value.

Jim Cripps (36:00):
Yeah, it goes back to being adaptable Absolutely,
uh, which I think again, by andlarge, most of success is your
ability to adapt and your speedto adapt.
Couldn't agree more, um, youknow so, with fly route, where
do you, where do you see itgoing?

Man, I it's going , it's sky's the limit, really.
You know, it's one of thosethings where it's all it's all
ROI, right, how much energy.
And one of those things whereit's all it's all roi, right,
how much energy and effort can Iput into it?
right me as a one singular guy,right?
Uh, fortunately, uh, I do havethe support of our, you know,
headquarter partners, right,colin and michael.
They're, again, amazing guys,uh.

(36:38):
But you know, I want to scale,I want to be as, I want to scale
as much as as, as the denverlocation is I is, my goal in my
mind is 40.
I need to find 40 clients inthe next two years, the next 18
months, 24 months, we'll call it.

Jim Cripps (36:52):
Okay.
So let's just say we put thismessage out there.
What's your message to a coachor to an athletic director?
Why do they need FlyRoute?
Why are you the guy for the job?

FlyRoute is the business partner for the job,
because we provide turnkeysolution, right, we, literally
we take all of theresponsibility right off of an
assigned videographer, right, soa coach or a kid or a student
athlete or your son filming fromthe end zone, right, and we all
integrate all of that into allof their, all of their um

(37:28):
databases, right To where theythey upload film and they watch
film and they use it to createcompetitive advantages, teach
better, coach better and winRight.
Fly rides mantras.
Uh, take flight, win more,right the aerial advantage.
So it's pretty cool.
Oh, say that again.
I love that.
Take flight, win more theaerial advantage.

Jim Cripps (37:44):
Man.
I love that.
It's pretty cool.
So I understand what you do andhow you do it.
In my head, like the face ofthe company would be like Peyton
Manning, like when I think ofwhat you guys do and I'm not
saying he's associated with itor anything like that but I
think of how much time he spentwith game film and how critical

(38:06):
he knew it was to his successand knowing what the competition
was going to do before theyeven called the play.
To me it just lines up like Imean, peyton, if you're out
there, I think you need to hitthese guys up Absolutely.
It just lines up like I meanPeyton, if you're out there.

I think you need to hit these guys up.
Absolutely, peyton.
We'll take it all you know, tothat point.
Though think about how greatthese great athletes could be if
they had this technology duringtheir college careers,
professional careers, right.
Like you know, nfl and collegeuses cables, uses cameras on
cables to get that from abroadcasting perspective.
To my knowledge, they don'trecord and upload to teams.

(38:39):
Maybe they do, it's out of mypurview right now.
Sure, right, but from a highschool perspective and a youth
sports perspective, man, it'sjust, it's taken.
It literally helps enhance, youknow, I just I don't even know
how to.
It literally gives the coachthe best advantage physically
possible to be able to know andunderstand offense defense

(39:01):
cadences and tendencies andspacing and techniques and
things like that, and then theplayers as well to respond and
change and adapt and develop towin more right, to be more
productive team and be able tothen obviously drive community
engagement right, school booster, quarterback, club engagement
right, and then provide for theprogram.

(39:22):
The second coolest part aboutFlyRide is think about athletes
and recruiting tape.
Think about that right.
So your highlight reel, exactly.
And your highlight reel isfilmed by a drone, not on the
top of a press box.
Yeah Right, so you can evenhighlight and you can have a
better view of your talents andof those highlights from a drone

(39:44):
view.

Jim Cripps (39:45):
I love it.
So what's your next step?
I mean, obviously you got yourgoals to get to 40 accounts
before the end of next year.
Like, what's the next step?
What are you doing?

Next step right now is we're moving into the off
season.
We'll get two weeks left toTennessee playoffs, right, so we
don't have any clients in theplayoffs anymore, right, we had
two of our full clients made theplayoffs this year, so, yeah,
so we're wrapping up end of year, end of year kind of
administrative tasks, right.
But then then the marketing andrecruitment process starts.
Uh, annual clinics, networkingevents, things like that.

(40:20):
That.
Where I can, you know we canget out in front of all these
coaches and administrators andfind ways to network, to
increase brand awareness, butalso, to, you know, change the
kind of the narrative of who flyroute is and how fly route is
valuable to their program.

Jim Cripps (40:34):
Yeah, oh, that's awesome, man.
Um, you know, I know, givingback is a big deal for you.
What, what does that look likefor you?

From a personal perspective, I try to give back
is is I try to to, like I said,reap what you sow, right?
You, you, you pay it forward,right?
Um, I have this mentality thatI live by and try to teach our
kids by, but this kind offorever forward, just keep the
press right, Keep pressing, keeppressing, keep pressing, keep
pushing and being able to helpinspire and engage with other

(41:05):
either kids, parents, dads, me,you, all of us, right, Inspire
others to be the best versionsof themselves, right?
So I try to give back everychance I can when it comes to,
obviously, volunteering time touse sports and trying to invest
in other, the communityawareness and community growth.
That's big for me.
But from a fly routeperspective, we are launching or

(41:25):
we have internships availablefor either any student or STEM
students or any programs thatare affiliated with any division
, school or anything like that,that they need resources and
exposure into the dronevideography world.

Jim Cripps (41:38):
Yeah, I mean inspiring somebody that maybe
that's what they want to do withtheir life.

And we've had a lot of interest in it, and
there's specific programs allacross the country that
specifically, mtsu has anamazing uh uh aviation program,
uas programs to where these youknow professional or you know
college students now can, andmost universities, most schools
even down to high school Nowthere, college students now can,

(42:02):
and most universities, mostschools even down to high school
now drones are included in theSTEM programs.
So it's something that we wantto give back tremendously to
help give more exposure todrones for athletics.
That's cool.

Jim Cripps (42:10):
I think of maybe like 10, 15 years ago, as drones
were first kind of coming onthe scene.
The idea of somebody earning aliving with drones was so
far-fetched.
And then here we are, and it'snot just one space Like, there's
all kinds of spaces for peopleto earn a living with drones.

It's insane.
You know, athletics is just onesmall niche market or it's a
large population market, right,but it's just one vertical right
of drone service, right.
Or how you use drones, how youuse technology to be able to
enhance your business, I love it.

Jim Cripps (42:43):
So we talked a little bit about the family.
We talked a little bit about,you know, the fact that we've
both been very fortunate in ourspouse selection and all those
things worked out.
But how do you manage your realcorporate job and then this
very real entrepreneurialventure and family?

(43:04):
How do you make it work?

It's difficult, I'll tell you that, and it's an
ever-evolving process withweekly schedules changing
specifically for corporate world.
I don't have a set schedule.
I manage the businessaccordingly.
I make my own schedule.
Travel schedule I normallytravel two to three.
I make my own schedule.
Travel schedule I normallytravel two to three weeks a
month.
Right, so Tuesday throughThursday I'm gone.
So, to answer the question, Itry to use my time as much as as

(43:28):
efficiently as possible, right,so I prioritize mission number
one provide here, finish thismission, complete it.
Utilize my time here.
Provide here, finish thismission, complete it.
Utilize my time here.
Mission number two right,growing entrepreneurial business
in the off time.
Right, or time that's notnon-allocated time towards here,
and then I try to be as engagedas possible and shout out to
Kayla for teaching me throughoutour life of I need to enjoy the

(43:51):
moment more.
I need to be more engaged withhey, this is happening now.
Don't worry about mission oneand mission two here.
Be here now.

Jim Cripps (43:58):
Yeah, I think just by and large.
With our personality types,we're always trying to stack
things up to get to the nextthing, and so sometimes we
forget about what's happening inthe moment and thank goodness
we have spouses that aregrounded and could go hey, it's
right here.

Yeah, that's why it's a partnership, it's a
marriage, right it is?
You gotta, we can't do it all,so and then you know, and we
provide that to them too,sometimes, I think, when they
need it.
So, um, no, but I couldn't dowithout her, so no same same
here.

Jim Cripps (44:28):
It's, it's um we're.
We're both incredibly lucky inthat regard.
We also have great kids.
Yes, that's true.
And so, levi, I asked y'all tocome up with a question for Dad

(44:48):
today.
Uh-oh, we're in trouble now,guys.
So what kind of question didyou come up with?

My question was what was your lifestyle like
when you were a?

Jim Cripps (44:59):
youth athlete.

What was my lifestyle like when I was a
youth athlete?
Well, let's rewind.
What 20 years Wait?
No, no man, 30 years.
Right, you're talking aboutwhen I was a kid.
Give me an age 13.
13.

(45:21):
Middle school football.
What was my lifestyle?

Jim Cripps (45:28):
like what did you do ?

What did I do?
I eat, sleep and live football.
I went to school.
I did my job in school Shoutout student athletes.
Student first, athlete next.
Right, you ain't got A's in theclassroom, you ain't playing on
the field, right?
Yeah, exactly so?
No, I mean back in the day,levi.
I mean school was different.
Middle school was different.
Middle school was huge.
It was a big crazy world andyou kind of get in where you fit

(45:52):
in, right, and a lot of us fitin with sports and we tried to
play sports and it's a wholedifferent world.
I wish I could explain it moretime, but I literally rode the
bus to school, went to school,went to football practice and
parents picked me up afterpractice.

Jim Cripps (46:12):
That was it All right, Little Miss.
What do you have?
What are you asking Dad?
Is it All right, Little Miss?

what do you have?
What are you asking, dad?

Jim Cripps (46:34):
How do you, when me and my friend named Ryan, will
you still be with the 5 and 4year olds?
Five and four-year-olds.
So is Dad going to be coachingyou, or is he going to go up
with you, or is he going to stayback and coach the younger ones
?
I don't know.

That's what I'm asking.
Okay, all right.
So are you ready, pace?
Yes, I will stay engaged andcoach as long as you want me to.
Until you don't want me tocoach anymore, I won't, okay.
Is that okay with you?
Yes, now I have nothing Good,all right.
Told you we were in trouble.
Why do you always be mean?

(47:07):
Why do I always be mean?
I'm never mean.
I don't know what you'retalking about.
That's a good question.
No, like I told Mr Jim, I tryto teach you guys and teach you
how to be strong-minded,strong-willed and be accountable
for your actions.
Right?
So, as a dad, it's hard,sometimes it's perceived as mean
, but in the long run, paisley,you'll appreciate it, I promise.

Jim Cripps (47:28):
We just call that love.
Yeah, Okay.
My third question is why do welike Vanderbilt?

Ooh that's a good one.
That's a good question.
Hey, paisley, shout out toVanderbilt Socks right here,
right.
So this might be educationalfor you, paisley, but my
grandfather, my grandmother andmy mother all went to school at
Vanderbilt oh wow and worked atVanderbilt, okay.
So growing up we went toVanderbilt football games.
My mom's been there.
My mom and dad both worked fortheir employer here in Nashville

(48:02):
market for almost 40 years,since 1983.
So I just grew up.
My mom's been employed by thehospital her whole life,
basically her whole professionaladult life, and it was just an
opportunity to go in aninexpensive manner back in the
day and it's just kind of been.
You always got to root for thehome team and I love it.
I've always been an underdog.
You know Tennessee fans beingin kind of everywhere in

(48:23):
Nashville and a lot of myfriends as well.
But you know you got personalties to the university man.
You got.
You got to root for them.
So go doors.

Jim Cripps (48:30):
That's good stuff, that is.
That is absolutely fantastic.
Fantastic Now.
So this is where we have alittle bit of fun with the
podcast, and so this one is alittle controversial.
Nothing too crazy.
We're not trying to get anybodycanceled, but what is something
?
Because this segment is thingswe think, but do not say Things
we wow.
Yeah so it's something andmaybe it's a truth out there

(48:52):
that people just need to hear,that a lot of people just don't
have the spine to say I got 17filters going on right now.
Oh, I know, so I'll give you oneof mine.
Yeah, let's do that Kind oflike we talked about before is
performance matters.
You know we've watered thisdown, we've done a disservice to

(49:16):
so many youth that are nowadults that it was more about
just being on the field than itwas about what actually happened
or the ethics or the, just theeffort that you put forward and
and then keeping score becausethere was a winner and there was
a loser.
Another one for me is you knowI get disdained for this phrase
of toxic masculinity.

(49:36):
You know, the reality is,without masculinity, a lot of
things just would not happen,and so it's a.
It's something we have to haveout there Now.
A lot of men had been, havebeen watered down and, and shame
on us for letting that happen.
Right, but we can choose everysingle day to stand up and do
the right thing.

I mean I'm struggling cause I got so many
things I want to say, but I justgot to filter it the right way.
I think that when it comes tolet's tie it into life Right and
the grit it takes, theresilience it takes to to to
prevail in life Right I thinkthat what most don't want to

(50:16):
hear is that accountability is.
Accountability matters, right.
Taking responsibility for yourfuture and what you do now
matters, and I think that peopledon't want it's always somebody
else's fault, right.
The blame game, right, youalways pass the buck, or oh, it
can never be my fault, right?
So I think that most peopledon't want to hear like you
control you, right, and you takeaccountability for your actions
and what you do and how youbehave and how you act.

Jim Cripps (50:36):
Yeah.

In all aspects of our life, when it comes to meet
us as adults and kids, andanywhere.
People don't want to takeaccountability anymore for what
they say or what they do or howthey act.

Jim Cripps (50:47):
Yeah, well, and I think I think one of the things
that some parents out there needto hear too is you know, you've
got these parents that arewhether they call them the
lawnmower parents where they'relike clearing the path for the
kids so that they never seeadversity, right, and one,
you're stealing from your childbecause they don't know what
they can do, right, and then,two, we're also teaching them
that that's the parent's role.

(51:10):
And the reality is like, yes,we set the tone, we're supposed
to be here for building thefoundation for our children, but
then it's up to them to go outinto the world and make it their
own.

Couldn't agree more.
Never heard that analogy, right, but I always, too, want to
make sure that I enable mychildren, our kids, right, and
other kids as well.
I want to enable them withenough resources to be
successful, but I'll never giveit to them.
Yeah, I want to provide as muchas possible right,
equipment-wise, opportunity-wise, camp-wise, whatever, as long

(51:41):
as they're appreciative and theyunderstand it, and then it's up
to them they have to figure outhow to relate to.
Hey, I want to get better.
I need to get better.
I want to continuously tocharge forward.

Jim Cripps (51:51):
Yeah, there you go.
I like what you did there.
See that.
You know, jason Walford, don'tyou?
I?

don't think so no .

Jim Cripps (51:56):
So Jason's in Cheatham County and I will say
he gave me one of the.
He didn't know he was giving mefatherly advice, but we were
talking.
His son is, let's see, mitch is18 now and you know he's out in
the world and all those goodthings, but he was about 14,
maybe 13 years old and he wasracing racers, okay, and he was
beating adults, okay, legit, andI made a joke about letting

(52:22):
Mitch win one, because Jasonalways came in first, mitch came
in second and he got realserious and he said I will never
let him win.
I'm like, okay, and he goes no,no, no, I need you to
understand.
For me to let him win thatwould mean that I would slow
down.
So that's teaching him thewrong thing to do.
And two, he's not going torespect his win.
Three, somebody's going to passus both and we both lose.

(52:45):
And he goes what did I teach myson?
But how to lose, exactly.
And I was like, wow, that's apowerful, powerful statement.
I was not expecting that.
Now, another fun one that wehave is so imagine we're putting
on a celebrity bowling match.
Okay, you know, I'm a bowler,yeah, I do.
And so you can pick four peopleto bowl with you.
It doesn't matter if they'reliving, if they're not, if

(53:08):
they're a celebrity, if they'resomebody you know, but the whole
point of this is to get thecoolest group of people together
to raise the most money forcharity.
Who's on your team?
Four, including me.

Yes, well, four plus you Four, so a team of five
.
Yep, I got to include you right.

Jim Cripps (53:25):
Okay, hey, I'll be there, yeah.

Because we need some points right.
We got to win, man, I mean kindof got to go with the greatest
right.
I guess I'm a big.
I played linebacker in collegeafter a while, so I've got to
have Ray Lewis, okay, yeah.
Yeah, that's my guy I've got tohave.
Oh man, I just think ofsomething.

(53:51):
I've got to have LawrenceTaylor.
Okay, he was the life of theparty back in the day Yep
Linebacker thing, right.
And the life of the party backin the day Yep Linebacker theme,
right.
And then I guess we've got tohave, for some new age, riz.
We'll call it right from Levi'sterm.
We'll put Tyreek Hill on there.
Okay, he's got speed.
We've got consistency withpoints speed and we've got

(54:14):
tenacity and grit.
So I think that's three.
Right, that's four.
Oh, it's four.

Jim Cripps (54:22):
I'm not bad, okay, man, I think I just picked all
athletes, right, yeah, yeah, butthat's hey, can't go wrong
there.
Well, you know, some of thesome athletes are, uh, bowlers
that you don't really realize,you know, like mookie bets.
Yeah, you know he'd be a greatone he's a big time bowler, uh,
in fact, owns bowling centers.
I mean he's, he's neck deep init.
I like it, uh.
Plus, he's got some, some newhardware on his hand these days.
He does.

That's right.

Jim Cripps (54:42):
And then who would commentate?
Who would be the announcer thatreally get this thing some riz.

I'm a big dodgeball guy.
Okay.

Jim Cripps (54:52):
The movie Dodgeball, yeah, yeah.

So it's got to be Jason Bateman, jason Bateman.

Jim Cripps (54:58):
In Dodgeball ball.
Yeah, yeah, so it's.
It's got to be jason bateman.
Jason bateman in dodgeball,that's right, not now.
Um best book you ever read bestbook man?

twofold answer.
One would be emotionalintelligence.
That's my, that's my key,that's kind of another founding
pillar of how, of how and whyI'm sitting in this chair.
And then two would be atomichabits I recently read that
about a year ago and themethodology of 1% growth every
day, that compounded interesttype methodology that really

(55:32):
helps me.
And also to try to instill thatfact or that process into the
kids.

Jim Cripps (55:37):
Yeah, that's huge.
How do you want to beremembered I?

want to be a great father.
Great dad um successfulsuccessful, um family trajectory
changer we'll call it.
That's not the right term butyou know, uh, we got a new, we
got a new terminology yeah, Iknow it's just off off the top
of my head, but no, I want to beable.
You know, that's kind of itreally.
I mean successful businessowner.

(56:03):
I want to launch and expandinto multiple different
verticals and differentbusinesses and create a legacy
for my family.
Legacy Legacy builder, we'llcall it.

Jim Cripps (56:11):
That's a strong word .
I like it For sure.
Well, Chris, thank you so muchfor coming and hanging out with
me today.
Thanks for bringing Levi and MsPaisley Thanks for playing
along.

All right, and do you have an ask or do you have
a closing thought for ourwatchers out there?
Absolutely Anybody.
Yeah, my ask or challenge wouldbe to any listeners to bet on
yourself and always make surethat you, you know, you bet on
yourself, you trust yourself andyou have the courage to be
yourself in any role that you'rein.
I love it.

Jim Cripps (56:41):
Thanks, man, thanks for coming in, thanks for the
time.
All right, team, you heard ithere on the charge for a podcast
.
Be looking for many greatthings out there and if you are
an athletic director or you knowsomebody who is put a bug in
their ear about flower, ourroute Nashville.
They're bringing some cuttingedge data and videography to
sports here in Middle Tennesseeand beyond.

(57:02):
Thanks so much.
Until next time.
I'm Jim Cripps with the ChargeForward Podcast.
We'll see you later.
Hey, team, jim Cripps here withthe Charge Forward Podcast.
I just wanted to tell you thankyou.
It is the holiday season and Ican't tell you how much I
appreciate everyone in my life,even those that I've never met,
that are out there listening tothis podcast.
I've been so fortunate to haveamazing people come in here in

(57:27):
the studio with me and sharetheir life story, and then all
the people that are in my lifethat got me to this point.
You know who you are and I justwanted to tell you thank you.
My life has been incredible.
It's not that there haven't beenlows and it's not like there
haven't been highs, but thereality is my life has been

(57:48):
improved and shaped and moldedby so many people.
That's why I tell people allthe time I do not agree with
anybody saying that they are anisland or they're self-made,
because so many people, bothgood and bad, help us shape the
life that we lead.
So please take a few extramoments and just appreciate and

(58:10):
be grateful for all thewonderful people that make up
your world, and just know that Iam thankful for each and every
one of you that make up yourworld, and just know that I am
thankful for each and every oneof you.
From everybody here at theCharge Forward podcast and
HitLab Studios, I just want tosay thank you, happy holidays
and enjoy your family.
We'll see you later.

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