November 26, 2025 • 47 mins
What if living in the moment, truly being present was the key to unlocking your purpose? My next guest has built his life around saying yes instead of no, embracing both the highs and the lows, and savoring every experience like it’s part of life’s banquet. We're going to show you how you can achieve this as well.
In this episode we explore Living in the moment—truly embracing the present—emerges as a pivotal theme in our conversation with Jim Hauck. He exemplifies a life built on the philosophy of saying yes, navigating both triumphs and tribulations with grace and gratitude.
Inspired by the profound words of Auntie Mame, he advocates for a life that savors every experience as part of a grand banquet, emphasizing that many are starving for the richness of life. Jim’s journey, marked by fearless reinvention and a commitment to presence, serves as a testament to the transformative power of gratitude and the courage to pursue one’s passions.
Join us on One More Thing Before You Go, as we delve into this banquet of wisdom that challenges us to embrace the fullness of our experiences without regret.
Takeaways:
- Embracing presence allows individuals to unlock their true purpose and potential.
- Jim Hauck's journey exemplifies the power of saying yes to life's opportunities.
- The ethos of 'life's a banquet' encourages us to savor every experience without reservation.
- Navigating transitions in life can lead to profound personal reinvention and growth.
- Living in the moment is crucial as life can change unexpectedly, making each moment precious.
- Creating meaningful connections through travel enriches one's understanding of different cultures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, one more thing before yougo. The show where we explore the
stories, the moments, and thephilosophies that shape our lives
and the legacies we leavebehind. Today's guest is someone
who doesn't just talk aboutliving in the moment. He embodies
it. His life has been atapestry of highs and lows, woven
together by fearlesscommitment to presence, purpose,
and possibility. He's adreamer, a doer, and a believer in
(00:21):
the power of saying, yes, Iwill, even when the world whispers,
no, you can't. Guided by theethos of and Auntie Mame's timeless
quote, life's a banquet, andmost poor suckers are starving to
death. He's made it hismission to load up his plate and
savor every bite and go backfor seconds. His story is a masterclass
in embracing consequences,chasing joy, and creating memories
(00:44):
that matter. So whether you'restanding at a crossroads, searching
for inspiration, or simplycraving a deeper connection to your
own journey, this episode isan invitation to the banquet. Hi,
(01:06):
Jim.
Hey, Mike.
How are you?
Great.
Welcome to one more thingbefore you go.
Thank you. I think thatintroduction was pretty amazing.
I. I need you to write all mymaterial going forward.
Happy to do it. Happy to doit. You know, it. It's. It's interesting
when I'm doing a littlebackground on you and kind of get
to learning a little moreabout you and what you've done. That's
(01:28):
what generated thatintroduction. So you've earned it.
You've earned it all the waythrough. You and I have a couple
things in common. One of themis we both had to redefine our purpose
midlife. And I think thatyou've done it brilliantly.
Yeah. You know, it's. My wholelife has been a series of redefining
moments. Right. And I think Inever was afraid. After I got through
(01:52):
the first couple, it became acase of just keep doing it. You know,
I came from a family where wedidn't really have any roots. Right.
My family was all inPennsylvania, but my mom and dad
left and headed west. So Igrew up in sort of a family where
you just didn't put down tip.Right. You moved on, you changed
and adapted as you go. Right.So it's. It's been sort of my ethos
(02:15):
that there's no reason youcan't change things up. No reason
you can't do something. If youdo, you can.
I agree with that a thousandpercent. I do have a question, though.
Growing up in Pennsylvania.What part of Pennsylvania?
I didn't grow up InPennsylvania. My family's in pen.
Your family from Pennsylvania?
Yeah, they're all from thePittsburgh area.
Yeah, we have that in commonalso. My parents are from Pittsburgh.
My father's from Pittsburgh.That whole side of the family, all
(02:37):
the way back, way back in the1700s, straight through, if we go
that far back.
I have done some genealogy,and I find that the circles get close
up in what was called Prussia.And I started to get anxious because
I didn't want any kissingcousin knowledge.
Yeah, yeah. Don't. Don't wantto go there. Don't want to go there.
(02:57):
Well, let's begin at thefoundation. What is it really like
to live in the present, evenwhen the moment's imperfect? Every
philosophy starts with a firststep, and yours begins with presence.
I appreciate that because Ihave the same philosophy. We have
to live in the present becauselife can change in instant, as we
all know. And sometimes it'sfor the bad, sometimes.
(03:19):
It'S for the good, you know,so the. The reason this sort of became
who I am really comes toconversations with my father where
he would say, you know, Idon't understand why you travel.
I understand why you do allthis stuff. And I really came down
to saying to myself, you know,I want to do things in my life before
I come to a point where Ican't do them, because life is short
(03:41):
and life changes. You don'tknow what tomorrow brings. So why
put it off? Why not do it?It's something I talk to all my clients
about in travel is when theysay, well, maybe we'll do this next
year, and go, what if nextyear is the year you can't do it?
And I think Covid brought thathome for a lot of folks. Finally,
they sort of realized, gottado things while you can. And I think
(04:04):
even more so in this currentworld, things can change overnight,
and you may not be able to gosomewhere. So for me, even my career
was that way. I took on thingsI never thought I would do. I didn't
finish college. I did most allthe way through an associate's degree
and a couple years into mybachelor's before I got a job in
it. And next thing you know, Iwas managing and running things that
(04:25):
I knew enough about to bedangerous. But I have a good ability
to learn on the fly and tosort of adapt and go, and I retain
things. So that always paidoff in my transitions. And so I learned
a lot as I went along, andthat serves me now. I'm in the biggest
transition of my life rightnow. I've left the corporate world
(04:48):
and have made this huge pivotout to be an entrepreneur, a podcaster,
a travel advisor, and maybenot the best year to start being
a travel advisor, given thecurrent economics of the world, but
I did it. I took that chance.And I always say to folks like, just
try. Just really gotta try.
(05:09):
Well, what did in. From thatperspective, what does presence like
truly mean to you? What isthat? Because you said we talked
about being present in themoment and. And so forth. What does
it mean to you?
So for me, it's. It's taking asecond and listening to your heart,
not always to your head. Ashumans, we, you know, tend to go
to our heads a lot and getinto the. All the numbers and facts
(05:31):
and figures, but I think ifyou can listen to your heart, that
brings you present. Getting tolisten to your heart makes you a
present individual. When I wasin one of my career jobs, we actually
learned all about beingpresent in the moment. And I would
walk into a room and I wouldstop at the door and take a big breath,
look at everybody around, andthen try to shut the noise off from
(05:55):
whatever I just walked out ofto start fresh. And those were always
the best times and bestmeetings and best conversations because
there's always a dialogue inour heads. There's always something
going on. And being presentmeans turning that off for a minute
and listening to the fact thatyou steal your mind, you still your
body, and you sort of get intojust listening to yourself, listening
(06:18):
to your heartbeat, listeningto your breath. And in that moment,
those moments, that's where Ifind the true self for me.
I think that you had a keyfactor there that I can share all
the time. And I knew this frompersonal perspective as well as a
professional perspective thathow life can change in an instant.
And I think that we all needto live in the moment and we all
(06:42):
need to really understand thatevery moment is precious and that
we really should take the timeto enjoy it, to embrace them and
to kind of move forward andtry as best we can in a private,
in a very positive way. Canyou, can you share, like, a time
when living in the moment ledto unexpected joy for you, or maybe
(07:02):
an unexpected consequence oneway or the other, whether it was
positive or negative.
You know, so there's two I'llshare. I'm going to share the joy
first, because I always feellike it's good to start at the positive.
This past summer, I made adecision in the middle of the summer
to go to my family's reunion.They have been for 72 years. They've
been meeting every summer inPennsylvania, in Wyoke, near Pittsburgh.
(07:24):
And it's a park and they meetand they have all the different families
come together and they bringfood and it's a lovely celebration.
It's a great way to seeeverybody at one time. And I lost
my mom six years ago. I lostmy dad this summer. So I thought,
I'm going to make this journeybecause I want to see these folks,
they're getting older. And soI got to see my uncle, my mom's brother,
(07:45):
and my aunt and all my cousinsand. And extended family was just
wonderful and reminded me howimportant family really is. And again,
not having roots, that wasn'tcommon in my life. And literally
within a couple of weekscoming home, my uncle died. And it
was one of those moments, likeI got to sit with him and talk to
him and have dinner with himand laugh and just go back to the
(08:06):
times that were reallybeautiful about knowing him. Right.
The man always had a song inhis heart, always whistled when he
was happy. And that stuck withme. I walk around whistling and often
think of him, you know, and itwas just a great opportunity. It
was a chance that, you know,if I hadn't made that, I would have
regretted not having seen it.So. And then the one that brings
(08:26):
me regret. It's sort of silly,but I had an opportunity when I was
younger, living in California,to go see Frank Sinatra up in Reno.
And I said, ah, he'll be thereagain. I'm not going to do it. And
within a few months, FrankSinatra died. I've always racked
my head over that because Iwould have loved to seen that man
perform. And it's just aregret that I didn't get to. And
(08:47):
that sounds very trivial, butI'm a musician, I like to sing. I'm
into that style music. Itwould have meant a lot to have seen
him. And that has actuallychanged even now, more so when I
say I want to see do or besomewhere, it puts more urgency on,
you know, I don't like towait. So it's. It's really. Those
things impact you more thanyou realize sometimes.
(09:09):
Well, I think it's importantand it's not trivial for something
like that. We all have ouridols, we all have the people we
look up to. And I think, youknow, having that personal connection
with them, even in theirpresence in the audience and being
that close to it and listeningto it, not on a record, not on a
cd, not on the radio, not onthe tv. But in person, it makes it
(09:30):
huge. Especially from acreative perspective. You know, you
can embrace the music as it'screated because we all know things.
Things you put in a studio andit gets tweaked. We get done with
this and I put it through athing and I clean up all this stuff.
I know, right?
You know, so. So you got tohear it. You would have gotten to
hear it straight, straight out.
(09:51):
So I. I respect thatcreativity out into you. Right. You're
in that room to take thatenergy and feel it, which I love.
And that's. I felt that wayabout. When we get down to you about
my story with Tony Curtis.That happened to me with Tony Curtis,
it was like. It was. And Igot, you know, he didn't die, but
I got to meet him. And he wasa hero of mine. I grew up watching
his, you know, his stuff. So.Which, you know, what you mentioned
(10:13):
about, you know, doing stuff.Now my wife and I have this conflict,
and every time we gosomewhere, she just wants to lay
on a beach. And like in Maui,for example, lay on a beach, just
relax, taking the sun. Okay. Ikind of go. I either want to plan
something or a spontaneity go,hey, why don't we do this today?
(10:35):
And she's going, well, I wasplanning on laying on the beach.
That's all I want to do is layon the beach. How do. How does somebody
balance, like, spontaneity?Like you. You mentioned that. Now
you do it. How do you. How doyou balance spontaneity with responsibility
or. Or especially with a trip?
(10:56):
Yeah. So obviously, financesare my counterpoint to everything.
Do I have money to enjoy it?Right. That's always gonna be the
one.
That's all of us relationship.
You gotta negotiate. Right.You gotta talk about both sides of
that equation. And there aretimes where I think you just have
to go lay on the beach. Ithink it's okay. I think it's a good
(11:17):
reminder for those of us whoare go go goers is sometimes stopping
puts you into presence. Right.It's a sudden moment to go say, oh,
yeah, I forgot what it smellslike to be here. I forgot what it
feels like to be here.
Yeah.
And bring it back. And I thinkthose are actually really beautiful
times.
She. She's actually changed mefrom that perspective, I'm happy
(11:38):
to say from. You know, I do,obviously, probably you probably
figured this out. In my careerin law enforcement, it was a. AAA
personality. It was. It waslike you just said earlier, go, go,
go. It was do. Do Do. It washard for me to shut down. It was
hard for me to stop doingstuff because my mind was constantly.
You're constantly on the move.You're constantly thinking. Even
(12:00):
when you're off duty, you'relooking at this, you're looking at
that, you're watching people.You know, I called stuff in because
I saw something going on. Hey,gotta this Intersect, go do this.
So she's kind of melded memore into a balance like that now.
So she has also evolved. So ifwe go someplace, we plan some things,
(12:22):
but we leave some things openfor spontaneity.
And I think that's a greatbalance. And I do. I do similar.
I, I'm. I. I probably couldhave been a cop. I often think to
myself, because I walk in aroom, I don't want my back to anything.
I want to see everything. Iwatch. I've been in scenarios where
I've had to be quick,actionable, right? Because you see
something going on. You know,I get out of here. This is not right.
(12:44):
You know, and my friendsalways laugh because, like, how'd
you never settle down? You'realways just like, constantly surveying.
I go, you know, I'd rather besafe than sorry. That's how I look
at it. But I have learned toturn, to shut it off and find a switch
to go off. I sometimes go toofar the other way now, which is sort
of the pendulum swings, and Ishut it off, and it's like, I'll
get on a cruise and. And it'sthree days and I haven't left the
(13:07):
cabin. But that's okay becauseI'm really enjoying myself.
That's what life is about.Yeah, that's what life has to be
about a lot. Enjoy. And nomatter what we're doing, whether
it's cruise, whether it's avacation, or whether we're just with
family, we need to relax, weneed to enjoy ourselves, we need
to have fun. So we talk aboutpresence and journeys, if you don't
(13:30):
mind. Like, for example, youchased a dream. If I looked at my
notes, right. And have youalways wanted to get more involved
in the travel industry from acruise perspective or from any kind
of travel, actually.
So I often tell people, travelis really not about travel. It's.
The travel business is aboutresearch. It's about learning and
(13:52):
learning cultures, learningwhere things are, learning about
stuff, where you go. I even inmy last few years and corporate,
it was working on events andthings like that. So I was trying
to, you know, explain myknowledge of being in those Spaces.
Travel's a passion. I've justloved traveling. I love traveling.
(14:13):
And I always say it's beyondthe doors, beyond the gates. It's
getting off of the vehicle andout and exploring the people, exploring
the culture, exploring thefood, and getting a chance to really
partake in that and get toknow where you're at. That's real
important to me. So it wassort of a logical thing when this
(14:33):
last job sort of came to anend to say, do I want to do corporate
life again at nearing 60 yearsold, or do I want to do something
where I get to be in charge?And, you know, I. I've always prided
myself on sort of making gooddecisions, making good calls. I said,
(14:55):
well, I think it's time tojust go be my own boss. It's. This
is done. I'm not gonna do thisanymore with other people telling
me what they want and, youknow, decisions, not always being
smart and just feeling like,you know, you're. Like. I said, you
shouldn't do this. Youprobably shouldn't have. And when
you find out you were right,you can't really say anything. So
it's just. It was anopportunity to jump. Now, as I said,
(15:17):
it's not necessarily been thebest year to go into the world of
travel. So I launched mybusiness last summer, got the travel
franchise purchased by the endof the year, and then something happened.
And, you know, the economicsof the country change and people's
attitudes to the US havechanged. And sadly, it's a little
harder to get folks to coughmoney to go traveling because they're
(15:39):
worried about their finances.So, you know, that'll change, that'll
come back. And that's wheremy. My belief and perseverance is
that travel will return again,because we were seeing travel already
way beyond where it was preCovid. So it'll come back and it'll
turn into a great career whenit's time, and it'll be something
(16:01):
I can ride through sort ofretirement without having to kill
myself to do it.
You know, from thatperspective, well, it's a risk. I
mean, obviously, any. Any timewe take an endeavor and we go forward
with it, it's always have thisrisk. And it has its benefits in
this regard. Unfortunately,with the current conditions across
the world, I'm sure that thereare some hesitations with going somewhere.
(16:22):
And, you know, even with what used.
To be a trickle business whereyou'd get little, this is. And that's
coming through that kind ofsustained you. That's the part that's
Dried up. There's bigcustomers out there buying big travel.
Right. So you know, I'll get.A customer wants to spend 25,000
instead of a customer spending 2500.
Right.
But you don't get a lot of$25,000 customers, you know.
Yeah. From that perspective.Yeah. You know, it, it's. My wife
(16:46):
and I have thought about thesame thing in, in regard to travel
because the, without goingdeep into it. But you know, there
is a fear, there is, there isan expectation that we watch the
news, we watch what's goingon. My sister went to Spain. My sister,
my brother in law justrecently went to Spain and Italy.
(17:06):
So they went, they went on a,a Viking cruise that went kind of
around the different ports andthen ended up in Spain. And when
they got into Spain inBarcelona there, and I'm sure you've
seen this on the news, youknow, they were yelling at people
and sparing them with waterand get out of here and leave. And
(17:26):
just. It was reallydisheartening. And she said that
she didn't have any issueswhen they were in, in Italy. She
had me issues going all aroundthe real Italian part of it. When
it got to Spain, it kind of,it kind of really put a sour note
on the whole trip, unfortunately.
Yeah. You know, I think that'sthe thing. There's always gonna be
something somewhere. Right.That's how I look at it. There's
always gonna be something tobe aware. I always advise my clients
(17:50):
to sort of, you know, knowwhat they're getting into because
it's important.
Yeah.
You know, we probably. Nobodycould have predicted Barcelona would
act that way. It's just been athing. But there is a pushback, especially
on cruise lines. I think that,you know, these, these ships come
in and this is the challenge.I find sometimes they come in with
thousands of people and moreand more they're buying their own
(18:12):
private spaces instead oftheir private activities. They don't
really help that economy. AndI think that's why get out beyond
the gates, get out beyond thedoors. Because if you don't, you're
just feeding the cruise lines.Economics. You're not necessarily
feeding the country.
The country part of it. Yeah,that makes sense. Well, hopefully.
I mean, you're chasing thisdream. I would love to chase the
(18:33):
same dream, to be honest withyou. My wife and I love to travel.
So I mean, I understand. We,from our perspective, it's. You get
to, you get to touch history.I mean, yeah, yes, the United States
is as old as we are, but whenyou Go so much, so much deeper. You
know, thousands of years ofhistory that you get to walk in,
you get to touch, you get towalk the same path. You know, you
(18:56):
get to feel this, you get tobe in the presence of this. As you
can see, I get really. I getexcited about that from that perspective.
So. But, you know, we have toalso be careful because it's. I'm.
I'm. I. I'm a little oldernow, too, and, you know, I have to
be careful with. With where wego, where we walk now and this kind
(19:17):
of a thing because I don'twant to screw up where they rebuilt
me.
Yeah, well, heck, I have to becareful where I walk these days.
Yes, It's. It's, you know,getting. Getting to this age of wisdom
we'll call it. Yep. We neveranticipated, like, wait a minute.
It's not supposed to be likethis. The golden years are supposed
(19:40):
to be a little more.
Let me say, by the time youhave the knowledge and resources
to go explore the world,you're getting old enough, you can't
explore it.
Yeah, that's it. That's it.That's. That is the answer. That
is the answer. So in regard tothis, you still believe from a life
perspective, if I can ask,because one more thing before you
go. We're about life and lifeexperiences, and from a life perspective,
(20:04):
do you think that thisdecision for you to chase your dream
this, this way, do you thinkhas changed your life forever?
Well, you know, a year ago,would I thought I'd be a podcast
host? Would I have thought I'dbe running a podcast when I thought
I'd be booking travel forpeople? Would I have thought I'd
go to the places I've gone,even when I don't really have a lot
of money sitting in the bankwhen I'm making it work? Right. No.
(20:27):
It's changed my lifedramatically. It's like. And it's
good stuff. It's fun stuff.This. This is a whole new me that
I've never gotten to do. Andwhat I will say is I'm happier, I'm
more alive. My stresses arecompletely different than they used
to be. And that it, to me, isthe sign that I'm doing something
right. I'm not stressed aboutthings. I probably should be, but
(20:51):
I'm not. I'm not stressedabout making somebody else happy,
although I like to make mycustomers happy. And I'm. I get up
every morning and it's sort oflike, what's today gonna bring? What's
today's adventure. What do Iget to work on? You know, and I look
through and I get client askfor something and I'll go dig around.
It's, it's just a differentexperience and I'm loving it and
(21:12):
I'm, I'm, I'm cherishing itand taking it in every moment. And
started the podcast. Life inthe baggage claim was sort of a realizing
that I, I needed to get myselfa visibility because there is no
brick and mortar travelanymore. And when I reached out to
the person who was my co host,Chuck Longer Beam, we had both gone
(21:33):
to travel school together, soto speak, and knew each other, liked
each other, I said, do youwant to do this with me? And he's
like, sure. And next thing youknow, we were doing a podcast and
I don't think either of usknew what would happen. We didn't
know whether we do it or fallflat on our faces. And we've had
reasonably good acceptance andwe're loving it, but we're not doing
it because we're trying to geta sponsor or build viewers. We wanted
(21:57):
a place to just expresscreativity in our thoughts. And funny
enough, when I turned AI onour podcast and said, what is this
thing? It came up similar towhat you mentioned in the beginning,
but it also said somethinglike, chuck and Jim must be lifetime
friends because they know eachother really well. And we both laughed
because it's like you didn'tknow. We only knew each other weeks,
months. But it's showed thatobviously we had a connection and
(22:22):
that was a good thing. So,yeah, it's been life changing, it's
been fun, it's been thestresses. Don't worry me. It will
all work out as how I look at it.
That's brilliant, actually.And, you know, we just, you have
soulmates out there. Soulmatedoesn't have to be somebody like,
you know, you meet and youfall in love. A soulmate can be friends
that you have that just. Youconnect and that's the way it goes.
(22:45):
Yeah, 100%.
Yeah. You know what? It's,it's kind of fun. We are both very
different, which is sort ofthe fun part. We have a little bit
of different beliefs anddifferent systems we grew up with,
which is awesome. So it kindof proves to me the thing I love
most, which is when people gettogether and get to know each other,
they find more about what's incommon and different and the media.
(23:07):
Right. The talking heads andall what have us believe that everything's
about how we're different.It's not. And the Americans are great
at this. When Americans gettogether and talk, they actually
find what they like. They findeach other. And so I encourage people
to get out there and talk tofolks, you know, don't, don't just
take the opinion.
From t. You know, I think thatthe world, the world of the computer
(23:30):
in our hand and not havingreal conversations unfortunately
has dissipated to a point thatit, it's. They forget how to have
a conversation. They forget tohave personal interaction. They forget
the value of doing what youand I are doing right now where we're
having a face to faceconversation. And yes, we're across
(23:51):
the country, but we're stillhaving a face to face conversation.
And we don't, you know, peopleforget how to argue and disagree.
It's, you know, like I alwayssay, I grew up in a family where
you'd sit around for dinnerand have know a political discussion,
right. And my dad and mygrandmother were politically discussed
all the time. There werethings going on and. But the end
(24:11):
of the night you knew you wereloved, you knew you were cared for
and when you went to bed, youdidn't hate anybody. You knew you'd
see, you'd say I love you andI'll see you tomorrow. And I think
people need to figure out howto get back to that. I really do.
And this is something we'vetalked about on the podcast is that's
something's missing. There's awhole lack of that impact ability
in our world world, right. Forpeople to disagree and be constructive
(24:34):
in their disagreement.
Well, I think it's becausethey've lost the art of communication.
Yeah, absolutely.
Unfortunately. And look, I amglued to my phone, so I'm guilty
of that as well, but becauseit's convenient, you know what I
mean? If you need to look upsomething, you need to get something,
you need to have youcommunicate for a different way or
(24:55):
quickly. But I also understandthat we need that aspect of it as
well because you can quicklytext somebody, say, hey, are you
okay? Hi, how are you doing?You know, checking in on somebody
like this. But I prefer and itcalled me old fashioned. But you,
I know that you agree becauseyou just said it. I, I think that
(25:19):
the face to face, the one onone D, the interpersonal communication
when you do it this way givesus a better understanding if we as
human beings need this to beable to kind of have a positive effect
on our lives, to really get toknow your neighbor, get to know the
people in your neighborhood.So yeah, I agree with That I.
(25:42):
Always say a text message isgreat. I love when someone just texts
to say hi. I think it's eventhe step further is call somebody
once, call somebody, get on avideo call. Because we are devolving
in our ability to be aroundeach other. And I don't want to be
this just text and grunt andgroan society. Right. And I want
to be able to say, hey, I'llmeet you for coffee, or hey, let's
(26:04):
get online and have coffeetogether. You know, you don't be
in my city, let's see eachother. Because more, we are human
beings are expressive. Right.We, our faces say it, our bodies
say it. Everything about ustalks. But what we hear and what
we see don't get connectedwhen you don't have that visual presence.
I agree. I agree with that.It's easy. You can do it with zoom.
(26:27):
You can do it with what we'redoing right now. It just makes it
a lot easier. I think that,that that's part of your Yes, I will
mindset that you.
Well, and it's the one thingwhere I say technology has done something
great for us. It's given usthe ability in our hands to pick
up a call and put you on face.And I can speak.
Yeah.
And I know how you're doing.But I think back to being a kid,
you know, and we have anearthquake in California and Grandma's
(26:48):
calling from Pittsburgh. Areyou okay? And that earthquake happened
hours ago. But she's just seenit on the news. Right. If we were
in trouble by now, thingswould be bad.
Things would be bad.
Now we get everythinginstantaneous. It's kind of odd.
We're living Star Trek.
Yes.
We're living Stark.
Very known something, right?
Exactly. Exactly. Maybe histravel may have gone a little farther
(27:13):
than, you know, he may.
Have followed that silvercord, that Shirley MacLean light
out there somewhere.
That's it. Yeah, that's it. Itfigured it all out. Figured it all
out. Well, I appreciate themindset. I think the Yes, I will
mindset as a, as a, you know,if I work with it, I understand it
and I believe in it because asI mentioned to you earlier, my audience
(27:36):
knows, my community knows. Youknow, if I would not have said, yes,
I will walk my daughter downthe aisle, I would. I would still
be sitting in a wheelchairfeeling sorry for myself, and my
daughter would have walkeddown the aisle by herself or had
to roll with me or push medown the aisle, which, you know,
is not good for both of us.So, yes, I will mindset. I think
Is a wonderful opportunity forus to be able to get rid of the fear,
(27:59):
get rid of the doubt, and, youknow, kind of move forward in a positive
way to benefit us and othersaround us.
Yeah. I used to say at workwhen someone would say something,
I mean, that's kinda hard. Iwould never say, no, I can't do it.
Right. It was the kind of,yeah, I can do it, but I don't know
if I can get to this part thatyou want. Right. It's like this thing.
Maybe it still puts thepositive yes out there, but gives
(28:22):
you that opportunity to have alittle, you know, wiggle room. Right.
So I don't really like theyes, but. But it works, you know,
the yes and is always nicer.But finding ways to say, I can do
it. I will work on how I getall the way to what you want.
Let's step back and look atthe bigger picture of the philosophy
that guide you. The banquet oflife. I think that I love that you've
(28:42):
embraced the anti maim ethosthat you had come up. How did you
come up with the anti ethos?
Oh, my gosh. So this goes backto early 90s. I was changing jobs
and I had a good friend whoworked for Nestle Beverage company
and he got me a job working,working there. And he had a lot of
(29:06):
influence on my life in termsof just how I looked at work and
did things. It was reallywonderful. But he got that movie
on a video one night and let'swatch it. And I never laughed so
hard at the conversations andthe. It was such a great movie. I
still watch it usually everyyear for Christmas. When you think
(29:27):
about the age and the timesand just the fact that it was when
it was set in the 20s and 30sand 40s era, the, the. The sets are
amazing, the costumes aregreat, the color is vivid, but the
lines, the dialogue, thescript is so crazy and it's fast.
Rosalind Russell could deliverlines like no one ever could. And
(29:51):
that line is used in the endwhen she comes out and tells her
her grandson, you know, I'mgonna, you know, life's a banquet
and most poor suckers arestarving to death. And I just said,
wow, that resonates becausethere is so much to do in this world.
You should never find yourselfat a moment of boredom or not knowing
(30:13):
what to do. There is so muchto explore, so much to see. And that
was Auntie Mame's world. Shewent out and explored and did things
and explored the world. Andthat was, you know, it Was just a
thing that stuck with me in myown passions. So she became my, you
know, iconic cultural hero.
(30:34):
This works. Do you think thatthat helped you to connect, like
a legacy and meaning. Meaningin life and how we should.
Approach it, like is more.
Life is more. Exactly. I thinkthat a lot of us get stuck in the
nine to five, you know, getup, get your coffee, go to work,
(30:55):
sit at a desk all day, do yourjob, drive home in horrendous traffic.
Yep.
Sit down, eat dinner, watchlittle tv, go to bed, get him, do
it all over again.
Yeah. And then you. The timeframe, the era of that movie. Right.
This was the great Depression.It was post depression. And I think
it just showed me that therewas a way to make something out of
(31:18):
anything. There's a way tomake life good, whether you have
abundance or scarcity, There'sa way to find the abundance in life.
If you don't have moneybecause there's emotions and there's
love and there's care, there'sa way to find ways through any time
of scarcity, you can make it work.
Well, that goes back togratitude. I mean, and we talk. I've
talked about that over thelast six years. I've talked about
(31:40):
gratitude and how important itis to have gratitude, even for the
little things in life.
Yes, absolutely.
You know, and so I know cop.As a cop, you know, I saw people
at the worst. I saw the bestpeople at the worst. I've walked
into situations that areunbelievable, that most people would
have, you know, been appalledand turned around and walked away.
(32:02):
And within that, even withinthat, you would find people desperately
trying to find purpose anddesperately trying to find something
to be thankful for. So gettingsomebody even out of some situation
like that, it was like theyhit the jackpot. It was. It was the
world to them. So I've alwaysbeen a big believer in. In gratitude,
(32:27):
in.
I'll share a gratitude storywith you, Michael, that you'll love.
While I was working atSalesforce, I became the angriest
white man you've ever met. Itwas terrible. I mean, I. I just.
I carry a chip on my shoulder,and I don't know why, but these two
wonderful ladies that I workedwith pulled me aside one day and
said, hey, Jim, why are you soangry? What's wrong with you? You're
(32:49):
a great guy, but you're justangry, and it's not you. And it hit
me like a ton of bricksbecause I didn't know I was being
that angry. And it was one ofthose moments. That became a pivot.
And at the time it was be abig thing in, in the public to do
these seven days and ten daysof gratitude. I says, you know what
I'm going to do? 365 days ofgratitude. And so every day I was
(33:13):
going to post into my journalsomething I was thankful for and
onto social media what I wasthankful for to just sort of show
what things were good in life.And it was a transformational moment.
It pivoted me into a very goodspace. I became more aware, presence
(33:34):
became part of my life.Gratitude became part of my life.
Happiness and joy returned andI really fully embraced then the
pivots the times to moveforward. And I've told these ladies
several times they didn'trealize that saying something as
simple as you're angry thatday would change my life so much.
And nowadays when, I mean I, Iwent 365 days posting something you're
(33:58):
thankful for makes you reallydive internally and look. And so
nowadays when I get angry orget upset or feel like the world's
not a great place, I remindmyself of some of the stuff. And
what I love is the journalprogram. I have pull stuff up and
remind you too. I learned alittle bit about patterns on myself
and other stuff that reallyhas helped me move forward. But it
(34:22):
changed me and it putgratitude front and center for the
rest of my life. No matter whoor what, if someone does something
for you, if someone crossesyour path, when people come into
your life, think about whythey're there. Be grateful that they
are.
That's profound actually. Youknow, it's one of these things that
you don't know what somebodyelse is going through in their daytime.
(34:42):
You don't know what they'vebeen through. You don't know when
something had just happened.You don't know anything about them.
And even a nice hello, how areyou doing?
Oh my gosh.
A profound effect on somebody.Recognizing them so they don't feel
like they're not visible iseven something that's important.
(35:03):
I think it goes back toreading the room, right. It's like
being smart enough to lookaround and see what you see. And
sometimes you're saying tosomeone, are you okay? What can I
do for you can.
Change everything, you know,everything for somebody change their
day. You find that and, and I,I, I know this from personal perspective.
That in itself has theopportunity to save somebody's life.
(35:24):
It does, it does. And I hadone or two people tell me because
you said hello and invited meinto your life. It changed mine.
And I was on a path. And Ithink to myself, wow. I mean, when
someone tells you that,that's. That's a lot. It's a lot
of weight, right? To suddenlyrealize that you can do these things.
And I think that's the powerof human beings that we don't embrace.
(35:48):
We have so much within us tobe so strong and so encouraging and
change the world in such a simple.
Way the way it needs to be.Yeah, I agree. But the question resolves,
was Auntie Mame before orafter the girls, the two women?
Oh, before. Well before. Wellbefore, which is interesting. So
the seeds have been plantedfor a long time. I find I learned
(36:11):
how to nourish them and makethem grow.
So she. Auntie Mame influencedyour decisions about your relationships
and your work and yourcreative work, and the two young
ladies just kind of nudged you.
They gave me the catalyst tofinally get it going right. And,
you know, that's been a lot ofmy life. I find that when someone
nudges me, I really listen tothese days, you know, I'm. I'm a
(36:35):
relatively spiritual guy. Ibelieve in a higher power. And when
that stuff happens, I sort ofsay, stop. Listen to it.
Yeah.
Hear what your body's tellingyou. There's a book I read said,
you know, let your life speakis the name of the book, and it's
a great book about justlistening to you and who you are.
Just says where you should go.
(36:57):
And that in itself is alsoprofound. We don't take the time
to listen to ourselves. Ithink that that's getting lost somewhere
in the universe that we needto really agree with.
We're gonna take a pill, put aband aid, get through it kind of
world. Right. And I think thatI. I embraced counseling early in
my life because I felt it wasimportant to sort of understand myself.
(37:18):
I. A lot of want to learnthings, so, you know, when I was
making decisions aboutreligion, I wanted to learn about
every religion. What was itlike? When was it out? You know?
And I don't want to just takea pill to make the world better,
so I want to understand what'sgoing on with me that's making me
need the bill. Right.
We have. We have a lot more incommon than you think. I did the
(37:40):
same thing. It's, you know,instead of just one religion, I experience
a number of religions, so Ican understand the different perspectives
and kind of. I grew up thatway, you know, and. And it gave me
a broader vision of people.
And, yeah, I don't hate peoplebecause of their religion. No, I
disagree. But I don'tnecessarily have to hate, you know.
(38:00):
And that's the thing. I feellike if people took the time to learn
and this is where travel comesback in. Go experience that. Go experience
something that you wouldn'tnormally do. You're going to come
home a better person. Youwon't be as angry with those folks
that you think are all bad.
Absolutely. Because if life isa banquet, then we have to embrace
that banquet. Right, Right.
(38:22):
There's Indian food, there'sgoing to be pasta, there's going
to be salad, you know, anddessert. And dessert.
Don't forget about dessert.
It may not be the dessert youthink is best.
That's true. But then again,it may surprise you enough to say,
hey, this is really good.
Exactly.
So it kind of works. So what'scurrently on your plate and what
(38:42):
are you going back for?
So, you know, I never can getenough travel and cruising. Cruising
is my go to now. I selleverything. Right. I sell land, crew,
vacations, I sell tours,everything else. But cruising is
my safe space. That's where Ilove to go. Because I as a, I'm a
Leo, I'm a fire sign. But Ilove my water. I need to go to the
(39:04):
ocean. And then growing up inCalifornia, that was part of life.
I need to get that, thatrecharge of those salt airs and all
that. Right. It really gets meback on place. This cruising really
puts my body back into balanceand getting in the water is a big
deal and just love it. Right.So. And cruising allows me to go
do taste testing of all kindsof cultures and countries. That's
(39:25):
sort of. Then I can go backsomewhere while I'm really down for
that. So I'm gonna continuecruising. I. A year from now I will
be just getting home from a 17night LA to Miami Panama Canal cruise
that I'm bringing people alongwith me on. That should be fun. That'll
be my second time through thecanal and it's on an all adult cruise
(39:47):
line, so no kids.
Cool. Cool.
And it's not that I don't likekids. I just don't like unruly other
people's kids.
I agree with you in thatrespect. Yes, yes.
So. And it'll be on VirginCruise Line. That's my Virgin Voyages
is my. It's like my spirit ship.
Very cool. You need a spiritship. A spirit ship. Not the kind
(40:10):
that looks like the piratesfrom this, you know, but the good
spirit ship, the ghost ship Iguess would be a Better idea.
Yeah. I'm working on some,Some travel for some groups. That's
kind of been fun. I like thatbecause I get them doing some stuff
to just get them information,research on some big tours. So it's
going to be. I think it'sgoing to be a good year this next.
(40:34):
That sounds like a good year.Well, let's talk about your, your
cruises in your opportunityand how you help people to understand
the value of culture andtraveling and enjoying life.
So, you know, I, I often getasked, like, why, why would I use
a travel advisor? Right. And Iget that question because everybody
thought in the 90s, when theInternet became a thing, that you
(40:57):
didn't need a travel advisor.But I would say that post Covid travel
is more complicated. Gettingeverything to align and come together
is never easy. Your traveladvisor's job is to help make your
dreams come true with theleast amount of friction and stress
possible. So when someonecomes to me, it's an opportunity
for me to go explore and in mymind, even just take that trip and
(41:21):
see what it's like. And I loveexploring it and figuring out things
for my customers. I loveseeing where they want to go and
how I can make that come toreality. So over this next year,
the big goal is to have acouple cruises that will be aligned
with life in the baggageclaim. We'll say to our listeners,
come join us, maybe meet someof our guests that we've had. But
(41:43):
otherwise it's going to be,you know, I'm really focusing on
trying to get some affinitygroups together to get their travel
going. I've got a garden clubI'm working with with and potentially
a flamenco troop. But I selleverything, and I love working with
folks who are ready forsomething different and they're looking.
Maybe they haven't done a bigvacation in a while and they want
to know where to go and whatto do. You know, I, I love the process
(42:07):
of getting to know my customerand getting to understand their.
What drives them and gets themexcited, where they want to see and
why they want to see it, andthen helping them again get beyond
the gates and the walls.Right? So I always say, if you go,
for instance, to a lot of theCaribbean islands and you get off
the ship, the first thingyou're in with is a pool and a bar
(42:27):
and a place to eat. And it'sall within the confines of a compound
that is run by cruisecompanies. It's not the country you're
in. You got to go out beyondthe gate to where things are maybe
a little dirtier and grittierto really experience a country. And
I encourage people who workwith me on travel to get out and
explore the culture there itgo, the beach like you're a native.
(42:51):
Go eat like you're a native.Go walk around and be confident that
you're going to be okay. Likeyou live there. And you will find
that most people are friendly,most people actually don't mind Americans.
They don't hate us like we'retold sometimes. And they welcome
us and put some money in alocal store's pockets, buy some beer
(43:13):
at a local restaurant, havesome food at a local restaurant.
You're not going to die,you're not going to get sick. You
know, it's a very rare thing.Maybe don't drink the water out of
that spare, but just getbeyond where you land, right? If
you're going to an allinclusive resort and you stay in
the resort the whole time, youdidn't see that country, you saw
that resort. So just, youknow, make a chance to get out and
(43:36):
see things. So my company, I'mfranchised with a company called
Cruise Planners. My company'scalled JP Hou Adventures. It's@jpalkadventures.com
and you know, I can, I, I selleverything. That's one joy of being
a franchisee is that I cansell cruises, I can sell land tours,
I can sell excursions, I canget you on your flights, I can get
(43:59):
you your car. And, and I lovekind of learning what a customer
likes from a sense of how theylike to travel so that I can sort
of put together the perfectpackage. So, you know, you want to
go travel like a rock star andbe treated to VIP service everywhere.
I'll make it happen. You wantto go to an eco tour where you give
back and you go work for aschool or you go do cleaning on a
(44:19):
beach or something like that.I can make it happen. I got connections
all around the world that Ican work with. And there's really
no trip you would want to dothat I can't help you get into.
Sounds like a wonderfulopportunity for us to be able to
get to understand whetheryou're just starting out in cruising
or just starting out with yourtrip across the country or across
the world that you help allaspects of, whether you're a seasoned
(44:43):
traveler or a beginner traveler.
Yeah, exactly. And, and don'tever worry about it. Just, just let
your. That's where a traveladvisor. I'm always saying I'm here
to sell you a dream. But I'malso here to be your garden angel
while you're on your dream. Right.
Yeah, I think we need thatespecially. Yeah, I think we need
that. Well, thank you foreverything. I really appreciate you
(45:03):
being here. I think we've.There's been a great conversation,
and I have enjoyed learning alittle bit more myself in regard
to traveling. So I appreciateyou being here.
Thank you for having me. Thisis always fun.
I will make sure that there'slinks in the show notes and everything
to find you so they know howto get there and get connected with
(45:26):
you. Um, but this is one morething before you go. So before we
go, I. I would like to askyou, what legacy do you hope to leave
behind for those who hear yourstory today?
So, first and foremost, Ibelieve you need to leave the world
a better place than you camein. So that's important to me. But
(45:46):
if there's anything I canleave somebody listening to this
is don't wait till tomorrow.Go do it today.
Those are brilliant words ofwisdom. Life can change in an instant.
Take advantage and takeadvantage. Well, again, Jim, it's
been a pleasure meeting you.It's been a pleasure having a conversation
(46:06):
with you. I look forward toeventually, one day possibly calling
you up and getting on a cruisewith my wife.
Still, you know, I've got ananswer for you. So when you're ready,
we'll talk. Well, put on ariver cruise. That way you're not
worried about deep water.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I neverthought about that. Yeah, Old Navy,
(46:26):
guys. All I thought was theocean, right? Well, that's. That's
brilliant. I will be in touch.But thank you very much for being
here. I really appreciate yourtime and your effort and your conversation.
Absolutely.
As Auntie Mame reminds us,life is a banquet. And today's conversation
has been feast of wisdom,presence and gratitude. So thank
you for sharing your journey,your philosophy, and your invitation
(46:48):
to live boldly to ourlisteners. You carry these insights
with you on your lives,travels. Say yes a little more often.
Savor every moment at your ownbanquet. And until next time, one
more thing before you all go.Have a great day. Have a great week,
and thank you for being partof this community. Thanks for listening
(47:08):
to this episode of One MoreThing before youe Go. Check out our
website@beforeyougop podcast.com.
You can find us as well as.
Subscribe to the program andrate us on your favorite podcast
listening platform.
Hey, one more thing before yougo. The show where we explore the
stories, the moments, and thephilosophies that shape our lives
and the legacies we leavebehind. Today's guest is someone
who doesn't just talk aboutliving in the moment. He embodies
it. His life has been atapestry of highs and lows, woven
together by fearlesscommitment to presence, purpose,
and possibility. He's adreamer, a doer, and a believer in
(00:21):
the power of saying, yes, Iwill, even when the world whispers,
no, you can't. Guided by theethos of and Auntie Mame's timeless
quote, life's a banquet, andmost poor suckers are starving to
death. He's made it hismission to load up his plate and
savor every bite and go backfor seconds. His story is a masterclass
in embracing consequences,chasing joy, and creating memories
(00:44):
that matter. So whether you'restanding at a crossroads, searching
for inspiration, or simplycraving a deeper connection to your
own journey, this episode isan invitation to the banquet. Hi,
(01:06):
Jim.
Hey, Mike.
How are you?
Great.
Welcome to one more thingbefore you go.
Thank you. I think thatintroduction was pretty amazing.
I. I need you to write all mymaterial going forward.
Happy to do it. Happy to doit. You know, it. It's. It's interesting
when I'm doing a littlebackground on you and kind of get
to learning a little moreabout you and what you've done. That's
(01:28):
what generated thatintroduction. So you've earned it.
You've earned it all the waythrough. You and I have a couple
things in common. One of themis we both had to redefine our purpose
midlife. And I think thatyou've done it brilliantly.
Yeah. You know, it's. My wholelife has been a series of redefining
moments. Right. And I think Inever was afraid. After I got through
(01:52):
the first couple, it became acase of just keep doing it. You know,
I came from a family where wedidn't really have any roots. Right.
My family was all inPennsylvania, but my mom and dad
left and headed west. So Igrew up in sort of a family where
you just didn't put down tip.Right. You moved on, you changed
and adapted as you go. Right.So it's. It's been sort of my ethos
(02:15):
that there's no reason youcan't change things up. No reason
you can't do something. If youdo, you can.
I agree with that a thousandpercent. I do have a question, though.
Growing up in Pennsylvania.What part of Pennsylvania?
I didn't grow up InPennsylvania. My family's in pen.
Your family from Pennsylvania?
Yeah, they're all from thePittsburgh area.
Yeah, we have that in commonalso. My parents are from Pittsburgh.
My father's from Pittsburgh.That whole side of the family, all
(02:37):
the way back, way back in the1700s, straight through, if we go
that far back.
I have done some genealogy,and I find that the circles get close
up in what was called Prussia.And I started to get anxious because
I didn't want any kissingcousin knowledge.
Yeah, yeah. Don't. Don't wantto go there. Don't want to go there.
(02:57):
Well, let's begin at thefoundation. What is it really like
to live in the present, evenwhen the moment's imperfect? Every
philosophy starts with a firststep, and yours begins with presence.
I appreciate that because Ihave the same philosophy. We have
to live in the present becauselife can change in instant, as we
all know. And sometimes it'sfor the bad, sometimes.
(03:19):
It'S for the good, you know,so the. The reason this sort of became
who I am really comes toconversations with my father where
he would say, you know, Idon't understand why you travel.
I understand why you do allthis stuff. And I really came down
to saying to myself, you know,I want to do things in my life before
I come to a point where Ican't do them, because life is short
(03:41):
and life changes. You don'tknow what tomorrow brings. So why
put it off? Why not do it?It's something I talk to all my clients
about in travel is when theysay, well, maybe we'll do this next
year, and go, what if nextyear is the year you can't do it?
And I think Covid brought thathome for a lot of folks. Finally,
they sort of realized, gottado things while you can. And I think
(04:04):
even more so in this currentworld, things can change overnight,
and you may not be able to gosomewhere. So for me, even my career
was that way. I took on thingsI never thought I would do. I didn't
finish college. I did most allthe way through an associate's degree
and a couple years into mybachelor's before I got a job in
it. And next thing you know, Iwas managing and running things that
(04:25):
I knew enough about to bedangerous. But I have a good ability
to learn on the fly and tosort of adapt and go, and I retain
things. So that always paidoff in my transitions. And so I learned
a lot as I went along, andthat serves me now. I'm in the biggest
transition of my life rightnow. I've left the corporate world
(04:48):
and have made this huge pivotout to be an entrepreneur, a podcaster,
a travel advisor, and maybenot the best year to start being
a travel advisor, given thecurrent economics of the world, but
I did it. I took that chance.And I always say to folks like, just
try. Just really gotta try.
(05:09):
Well, what did in. From thatperspective, what does presence like
truly mean to you? What isthat? Because you said we talked
about being present in themoment and. And so forth. What does
it mean to you?
So for me, it's. It's taking asecond and listening to your heart,
not always to your head. Ashumans, we, you know, tend to go
to our heads a lot and getinto the. All the numbers and facts
(05:31):
and figures, but I think ifyou can listen to your heart, that
brings you present. Getting tolisten to your heart makes you a
present individual. When I wasin one of my career jobs, we actually
learned all about beingpresent in the moment. And I would
walk into a room and I wouldstop at the door and take a big breath,
look at everybody around, andthen try to shut the noise off from
(05:55):
whatever I just walked out ofto start fresh. And those were always
the best times and bestmeetings and best conversations because
there's always a dialogue inour heads. There's always something
going on. And being presentmeans turning that off for a minute
and listening to the fact thatyou steal your mind, you still your
body, and you sort of get intojust listening to yourself, listening
(06:18):
to your heartbeat, listeningto your breath. And in that moment,
those moments, that's where Ifind the true self for me.
I think that you had a keyfactor there that I can share all
the time. And I knew this frompersonal perspective as well as a
professional perspective thathow life can change in an instant.
And I think that we all needto live in the moment and we all
(06:42):
need to really understand thatevery moment is precious and that
we really should take the timeto enjoy it, to embrace them and
to kind of move forward andtry as best we can in a private,
in a very positive way. Canyou, can you share, like, a time
when living in the moment ledto unexpected joy for you, or maybe
(07:02):
an unexpected consequence oneway or the other, whether it was
positive or negative.
You know, so there's two I'llshare. I'm going to share the joy
first, because I always feellike it's good to start at the positive.
This past summer, I made adecision in the middle of the summer
to go to my family's reunion.They have been for 72 years. They've
been meeting every summer inPennsylvania, in Wyoke, near Pittsburgh.
(07:24):
And it's a park and they meetand they have all the different families
come together and they bringfood and it's a lovely celebration.
It's a great way to seeeverybody at one time. And I lost
my mom six years ago. I lostmy dad this summer. So I thought,
I'm going to make this journeybecause I want to see these folks,
they're getting older. And soI got to see my uncle, my mom's brother,
(07:45):
and my aunt and all my cousinsand. And extended family was just
wonderful and reminded me howimportant family really is. And again,
not having roots, that wasn'tcommon in my life. And literally
within a couple of weekscoming home, my uncle died. And it
was one of those moments, likeI got to sit with him and talk to
him and have dinner with himand laugh and just go back to the
(08:06):
times that were reallybeautiful about knowing him. Right.
The man always had a song inhis heart, always whistled when he
was happy. And that stuck withme. I walk around whistling and often
think of him, you know, and itwas just a great opportunity. It
was a chance that, you know,if I hadn't made that, I would have
regretted not having seen it.So. And then the one that brings
(08:26):
me regret. It's sort of silly,but I had an opportunity when I was
younger, living in California,to go see Frank Sinatra up in Reno.
And I said, ah, he'll be thereagain. I'm not going to do it. And
within a few months, FrankSinatra died. I've always racked
my head over that because Iwould have loved to seen that man
perform. And it's just aregret that I didn't get to. And
(08:47):
that sounds very trivial, butI'm a musician, I like to sing. I'm
into that style music. Itwould have meant a lot to have seen
him. And that has actuallychanged even now, more so when I
say I want to see do or besomewhere, it puts more urgency on,
you know, I don't like towait. So it's. It's really. Those
things impact you more thanyou realize sometimes.
(09:09):
Well, I think it's importantand it's not trivial for something
like that. We all have ouridols, we all have the people we
look up to. And I think, youknow, having that personal connection
with them, even in theirpresence in the audience and being
that close to it and listeningto it, not on a record, not on a
cd, not on the radio, not onthe tv. But in person, it makes it
(09:30):
huge. Especially from acreative perspective. You know, you
can embrace the music as it'screated because we all know things.
Things you put in a studio andit gets tweaked. We get done with
this and I put it through athing and I clean up all this stuff.
I know, right?
You know, so. So you got tohear it. You would have gotten to
hear it straight, straight out.
(09:51):
So I. I respect thatcreativity out into you. Right. You're
in that room to take thatenergy and feel it, which I love.
And that's. I felt that wayabout. When we get down to you about
my story with Tony Curtis.That happened to me with Tony Curtis,
it was like. It was. And Igot, you know, he didn't die, but
I got to meet him. And he wasa hero of mine. I grew up watching
his, you know, his stuff. So.Which, you know, what you mentioned
(10:13):
about, you know, doing stuff.Now my wife and I have this conflict,
and every time we gosomewhere, she just wants to lay
on a beach. And like in Maui,for example, lay on a beach, just
relax, taking the sun. Okay. Ikind of go. I either want to plan
something or a spontaneity go,hey, why don't we do this today?
(10:35):
And she's going, well, I wasplanning on laying on the beach.
That's all I want to do is layon the beach. How do. How does somebody
balance, like, spontaneity?Like you. You mentioned that. Now
you do it. How do you. How doyou balance spontaneity with responsibility
or. Or especially with a trip?
(10:56):
Yeah. So obviously, financesare my counterpoint to everything.
Do I have money to enjoy it?Right. That's always gonna be the
one.
That's all of us relationship.
You gotta negotiate. Right.You gotta talk about both sides of
that equation. And there aretimes where I think you just have
to go lay on the beach. Ithink it's okay. I think it's a good
(11:17):
reminder for those of us whoare go go goers is sometimes stopping
puts you into presence. Right.It's a sudden moment to go say, oh,
yeah, I forgot what it smellslike to be here. I forgot what it
feels like to be here.
Yeah.
And bring it back. And I thinkthose are actually really beautiful
times.
She. She's actually changed mefrom that perspective, I'm happy
(11:38):
to say from. You know, I do,obviously, probably you probably
figured this out. In my careerin law enforcement, it was a. AAA
personality. It was. It waslike you just said earlier, go, go,
go. It was do. Do Do. It washard for me to shut down. It was
hard for me to stop doingstuff because my mind was constantly.
You're constantly on the move.You're constantly thinking. Even
(12:00):
when you're off duty, you'relooking at this, you're looking at
that, you're watching people.You know, I called stuff in because
I saw something going on. Hey,gotta this Intersect, go do this.
So she's kind of melded memore into a balance like that now.
So she has also evolved. So ifwe go someplace, we plan some things,
(12:22):
but we leave some things openfor spontaneity.
And I think that's a greatbalance. And I do. I do similar.
I, I'm. I. I probably couldhave been a cop. I often think to
myself, because I walk in aroom, I don't want my back to anything.
I want to see everything. Iwatch. I've been in scenarios where
I've had to be quick,actionable, right? Because you see
something going on. You know,I get out of here. This is not right.
(12:44):
You know, and my friendsalways laugh because, like, how'd
you never settle down? You'realways just like, constantly surveying.
I go, you know, I'd rather besafe than sorry. That's how I look
at it. But I have learned toturn, to shut it off and find a switch
to go off. I sometimes go toofar the other way now, which is sort
of the pendulum swings, and Ishut it off, and it's like, I'll
get on a cruise and. And it'sthree days and I haven't left the
(13:07):
cabin. But that's okay becauseI'm really enjoying myself.
That's what life is about.Yeah, that's what life has to be
about a lot. Enjoy. And nomatter what we're doing, whether
it's cruise, whether it's avacation, or whether we're just with
family, we need to relax, weneed to enjoy ourselves, we need
to have fun. So we talk aboutpresence and journeys, if you don't
(13:30):
mind. Like, for example, youchased a dream. If I looked at my
notes, right. And have youalways wanted to get more involved
in the travel industry from acruise perspective or from any kind
of travel, actually.
So I often tell people, travelis really not about travel. It's.
The travel business is aboutresearch. It's about learning and
(13:52):
learning cultures, learningwhere things are, learning about
stuff, where you go. I even inmy last few years and corporate,
it was working on events andthings like that. So I was trying
to, you know, explain myknowledge of being in those Spaces.
Travel's a passion. I've justloved traveling. I love traveling.
(14:13):
And I always say it's beyondthe doors, beyond the gates. It's
getting off of the vehicle andout and exploring the people, exploring
the culture, exploring thefood, and getting a chance to really
partake in that and get toknow where you're at. That's real
important to me. So it wassort of a logical thing when this
(14:33):
last job sort of came to anend to say, do I want to do corporate
life again at nearing 60 yearsold, or do I want to do something
where I get to be in charge?And, you know, I. I've always prided
myself on sort of making gooddecisions, making good calls. I said,
(14:55):
well, I think it's time tojust go be my own boss. It's. This
is done. I'm not gonna do thisanymore with other people telling
me what they want and, youknow, decisions, not always being
smart and just feeling like,you know, you're. Like. I said, you
shouldn't do this. Youprobably shouldn't have. And when
you find out you were right,you can't really say anything. So
it's just. It was anopportunity to jump. Now, as I said,
(15:17):
it's not necessarily been thebest year to go into the world of
travel. So I launched mybusiness last summer, got the travel
franchise purchased by the endof the year, and then something happened.
And, you know, the economicsof the country change and people's
attitudes to the US havechanged. And sadly, it's a little
harder to get folks to coughmoney to go traveling because they're
(15:39):
worried about their finances.So, you know, that'll change, that'll
come back. And that's wheremy. My belief and perseverance is
that travel will return again,because we were seeing travel already
way beyond where it was preCovid. So it'll come back and it'll
turn into a great career whenit's time, and it'll be something
(16:01):
I can ride through sort ofretirement without having to kill
myself to do it.
You know, from thatperspective, well, it's a risk. I
mean, obviously, any. Any timewe take an endeavor and we go forward
with it, it's always have thisrisk. And it has its benefits in
this regard. Unfortunately,with the current conditions across
the world, I'm sure that thereare some hesitations with going somewhere.
(16:22):
And, you know, even with what used.
To be a trickle business whereyou'd get little, this is. And that's
coming through that kind ofsustained you. That's the part that's
Dried up. There's bigcustomers out there buying big travel.
Right. So you know, I'll get.A customer wants to spend 25,000
instead of a customer spending 2500.
Right.
But you don't get a lot of$25,000 customers, you know.
Yeah. From that perspective.Yeah. You know, it, it's. My wife
(16:46):
and I have thought about thesame thing in, in regard to travel
because the, without goingdeep into it. But you know, there
is a fear, there is, there isan expectation that we watch the
news, we watch what's goingon. My sister went to Spain. My sister,
my brother in law justrecently went to Spain and Italy.
(17:06):
So they went, they went on a,a Viking cruise that went kind of
around the different ports andthen ended up in Spain. And when
they got into Spain inBarcelona there, and I'm sure you've
seen this on the news, youknow, they were yelling at people
and sparing them with waterand get out of here and leave. And
(17:26):
just. It was reallydisheartening. And she said that
she didn't have any issueswhen they were in, in Italy. She
had me issues going all aroundthe real Italian part of it. When
it got to Spain, it kind of,it kind of really put a sour note
on the whole trip, unfortunately.
Yeah. You know, I think that'sthe thing. There's always gonna be
something somewhere. Right.That's how I look at it. There's
always gonna be something tobe aware. I always advise my clients
(17:50):
to sort of, you know, knowwhat they're getting into because
it's important.
Yeah.
You know, we probably. Nobodycould have predicted Barcelona would
act that way. It's just been athing. But there is a pushback, especially
on cruise lines. I think that,you know, these, these ships come
in and this is the challenge.I find sometimes they come in with
thousands of people and moreand more they're buying their own
(18:12):
private spaces instead oftheir private activities. They don't
really help that economy. AndI think that's why get out beyond
the gates, get out beyond thedoors. Because if you don't, you're
just feeding the cruise lines.Economics. You're not necessarily
feeding the country.
The country part of it. Yeah,that makes sense. Well, hopefully.
I mean, you're chasing thisdream. I would love to chase the
(18:33):
same dream, to be honest withyou. My wife and I love to travel.
So I mean, I understand. We,from our perspective, it's. You get
to, you get to touch history.I mean, yeah, yes, the United States
is as old as we are, but whenyou Go so much, so much deeper. You
know, thousands of years ofhistory that you get to walk in,
you get to touch, you get towalk the same path. You know, you
(18:56):
get to feel this, you get tobe in the presence of this. As you
can see, I get really. I getexcited about that from that perspective.
So. But, you know, we have toalso be careful because it's. I'm.
I'm. I. I'm a little oldernow, too, and, you know, I have to
be careful with. With where wego, where we walk now and this kind
(19:17):
of a thing because I don'twant to screw up where they rebuilt
me.
Yeah, well, heck, I have to becareful where I walk these days.
Yes, It's. It's, you know,getting. Getting to this age of wisdom
we'll call it. Yep. We neveranticipated, like, wait a minute.
It's not supposed to be likethis. The golden years are supposed
(19:40):
to be a little more.
Let me say, by the time youhave the knowledge and resources
to go explore the world,you're getting old enough, you can't
explore it.
Yeah, that's it. That's it.That's. That is the answer. That
is the answer. So in regard tothis, you still believe from a life
perspective, if I can ask,because one more thing before you
go. We're about life and lifeexperiences, and from a life perspective,
(20:04):
do you think that thisdecision for you to chase your dream
this, this way, do you thinkhas changed your life forever?
Well, you know, a year ago,would I thought I'd be a podcast
host? Would I have thought I'dbe running a podcast when I thought
I'd be booking travel forpeople? Would I have thought I'd
go to the places I've gone,even when I don't really have a lot
of money sitting in the bankwhen I'm making it work? Right. No.
(20:27):
It's changed my lifedramatically. It's like. And it's
good stuff. It's fun stuff.This. This is a whole new me that
I've never gotten to do. Andwhat I will say is I'm happier, I'm
more alive. My stresses arecompletely different than they used
to be. And that it, to me, isthe sign that I'm doing something
right. I'm not stressed aboutthings. I probably should be, but
(20:51):
I'm not. I'm not stressedabout making somebody else happy,
although I like to make mycustomers happy. And I'm. I get up
every morning and it's sort oflike, what's today gonna bring? What's
today's adventure. What do Iget to work on? You know, and I look
through and I get client askfor something and I'll go dig around.
It's, it's just a differentexperience and I'm loving it and
(21:12):
I'm, I'm, I'm cherishing itand taking it in every moment. And
started the podcast. Life inthe baggage claim was sort of a realizing
that I, I needed to get myselfa visibility because there is no
brick and mortar travelanymore. And when I reached out to
the person who was my co host,Chuck Longer Beam, we had both gone
(21:33):
to travel school together, soto speak, and knew each other, liked
each other, I said, do youwant to do this with me? And he's
like, sure. And next thing youknow, we were doing a podcast and
I don't think either of usknew what would happen. We didn't
know whether we do it or fallflat on our faces. And we've had
reasonably good acceptance andwe're loving it, but we're not doing
it because we're trying to geta sponsor or build viewers. We wanted
(21:57):
a place to just expresscreativity in our thoughts. And funny
enough, when I turned AI onour podcast and said, what is this
thing? It came up similar towhat you mentioned in the beginning,
but it also said somethinglike, chuck and Jim must be lifetime
friends because they know eachother really well. And we both laughed
because it's like you didn'tknow. We only knew each other weeks,
months. But it's showed thatobviously we had a connection and
(22:22):
that was a good thing. So,yeah, it's been life changing, it's
been fun, it's been thestresses. Don't worry me. It will
all work out as how I look at it.
That's brilliant, actually.And, you know, we just, you have
soulmates out there. Soulmatedoesn't have to be somebody like,
you know, you meet and youfall in love. A soulmate can be friends
that you have that just. Youconnect and that's the way it goes.
(22:45):
Yeah, 100%.
Yeah. You know what? It's,it's kind of fun. We are both very
different, which is sort ofthe fun part. We have a little bit
of different beliefs anddifferent systems we grew up with,
which is awesome. So it kindof proves to me the thing I love
most, which is when people gettogether and get to know each other,
they find more about what's incommon and different and the media.
(23:07):
Right. The talking heads andall what have us believe that everything's
about how we're different.It's not. And the Americans are great
at this. When Americans gettogether and talk, they actually
find what they like. They findeach other. And so I encourage people
to get out there and talk tofolks, you know, don't, don't just
take the opinion.
From t. You know, I think thatthe world, the world of the computer
(23:30):
in our hand and not havingreal conversations unfortunately
has dissipated to a point thatit, it's. They forget how to have
a conversation. They forget tohave personal interaction. They forget
the value of doing what youand I are doing right now where we're
having a face to faceconversation. And yes, we're across
(23:51):
the country, but we're stillhaving a face to face conversation.
And we don't, you know, peopleforget how to argue and disagree.
It's, you know, like I alwayssay, I grew up in a family where
you'd sit around for dinnerand have know a political discussion,
right. And my dad and mygrandmother were politically discussed
all the time. There werethings going on and. But the end
(24:11):
of the night you knew you wereloved, you knew you were cared for
and when you went to bed, youdidn't hate anybody. You knew you'd
see, you'd say I love you andI'll see you tomorrow. And I think
people need to figure out howto get back to that. I really do.
And this is something we'vetalked about on the podcast is that's
something's missing. There's awhole lack of that impact ability
in our world world, right. Forpeople to disagree and be constructive
(24:34):
in their disagreement.
Well, I think it's becausethey've lost the art of communication.
Yeah, absolutely.
Unfortunately. And look, I amglued to my phone, so I'm guilty
of that as well, but becauseit's convenient, you know what I
mean? If you need to look upsomething, you need to get something,
you need to have youcommunicate for a different way or
(24:55):
quickly. But I also understandthat we need that aspect of it as
well because you can quicklytext somebody, say, hey, are you
okay? Hi, how are you doing?You know, checking in on somebody
like this. But I prefer and itcalled me old fashioned. But you,
I know that you agree becauseyou just said it. I, I think that
(25:19):
the face to face, the one onone D, the interpersonal communication
when you do it this way givesus a better understanding if we as
human beings need this to beable to kind of have a positive effect
on our lives, to really get toknow your neighbor, get to know the
people in your neighborhood.So yeah, I agree with That I.
(25:42):
Always say a text message isgreat. I love when someone just texts
to say hi. I think it's eventhe step further is call somebody
once, call somebody, get on avideo call. Because we are devolving
in our ability to be aroundeach other. And I don't want to be
this just text and grunt andgroan society. Right. And I want
to be able to say, hey, I'llmeet you for coffee, or hey, let's
(26:04):
get online and have coffeetogether. You know, you don't be
in my city, let's see eachother. Because more, we are human
beings are expressive. Right.We, our faces say it, our bodies
say it. Everything about ustalks. But what we hear and what
we see don't get connectedwhen you don't have that visual presence.
I agree. I agree with that.It's easy. You can do it with zoom.
(26:27):
You can do it with what we'redoing right now. It just makes it
a lot easier. I think that,that that's part of your Yes, I will
mindset that you.
Well, and it's the one thingwhere I say technology has done something
great for us. It's given usthe ability in our hands to pick
up a call and put you on face.And I can speak.
Yeah.
And I know how you're doing.But I think back to being a kid,
you know, and we have anearthquake in California and Grandma's
(26:48):
calling from Pittsburgh. Areyou okay? And that earthquake happened
hours ago. But she's just seenit on the news. Right. If we were
in trouble by now, thingswould be bad.
Things would be bad.
Now we get everythinginstantaneous. It's kind of odd.
We're living Star Trek.
Yes.
We're living Stark.
Very known something, right?
Exactly. Exactly. Maybe histravel may have gone a little farther
(27:13):
than, you know, he may.
Have followed that silvercord, that Shirley MacLean light
out there somewhere.
That's it. Yeah, that's it. Itfigured it all out. Figured it all
out. Well, I appreciate themindset. I think the Yes, I will
mindset as a, as a, you know,if I work with it, I understand it
and I believe in it because asI mentioned to you earlier, my audience
(27:36):
knows, my community knows. Youknow, if I would not have said, yes,
I will walk my daughter downthe aisle, I would. I would still
be sitting in a wheelchairfeeling sorry for myself, and my
daughter would have walkeddown the aisle by herself or had
to roll with me or push medown the aisle, which, you know,
is not good for both of us.So, yes, I will mindset. I think
Is a wonderful opportunity forus to be able to get rid of the fear,
(27:59):
get rid of the doubt, and, youknow, kind of move forward in a positive
way to benefit us and othersaround us.
Yeah. I used to say at workwhen someone would say something,
I mean, that's kinda hard. Iwould never say, no, I can't do it.
Right. It was the kind of,yeah, I can do it, but I don't know
if I can get to this part thatyou want. Right. It's like this thing.
Maybe it still puts thepositive yes out there, but gives
(28:22):
you that opportunity to have alittle, you know, wiggle room. Right.
So I don't really like theyes, but. But it works, you know,
the yes and is always nicer.But finding ways to say, I can do
it. I will work on how I getall the way to what you want.
Let's step back and look atthe bigger picture of the philosophy
that guide you. The banquet oflife. I think that I love that you've
(28:42):
embraced the anti maim ethosthat you had come up. How did you
come up with the anti ethos?
Oh, my gosh. So this goes backto early 90s. I was changing jobs
and I had a good friend whoworked for Nestle Beverage company
and he got me a job working,working there. And he had a lot of
(29:06):
influence on my life in termsof just how I looked at work and
did things. It was reallywonderful. But he got that movie
on a video one night and let'swatch it. And I never laughed so
hard at the conversations andthe. It was such a great movie. I
still watch it usually everyyear for Christmas. When you think
(29:27):
about the age and the timesand just the fact that it was when
it was set in the 20s and 30sand 40s era, the, the. The sets are
amazing, the costumes aregreat, the color is vivid, but the
lines, the dialogue, thescript is so crazy and it's fast.
Rosalind Russell could deliverlines like no one ever could. And
(29:51):
that line is used in the endwhen she comes out and tells her
her grandson, you know, I'mgonna, you know, life's a banquet
and most poor suckers arestarving to death. And I just said,
wow, that resonates becausethere is so much to do in this world.
You should never find yourselfat a moment of boredom or not knowing
(30:13):
what to do. There is so muchto explore, so much to see. And that
was Auntie Mame's world. Shewent out and explored and did things
and explored the world. Andthat was, you know, it Was just a
thing that stuck with me in myown passions. So she became my, you
know, iconic cultural hero.
(30:34):
This works. Do you think thatthat helped you to connect, like
a legacy and meaning. Meaningin life and how we should.
Approach it, like is more.
Life is more. Exactly. I thinkthat a lot of us get stuck in the
nine to five, you know, getup, get your coffee, go to work,
(30:55):
sit at a desk all day, do yourjob, drive home in horrendous traffic.
Yep.
Sit down, eat dinner, watchlittle tv, go to bed, get him, do
it all over again.
Yeah. And then you. The timeframe, the era of that movie. Right.
This was the great Depression.It was post depression. And I think
it just showed me that therewas a way to make something out of
(31:18):
anything. There's a way tomake life good, whether you have
abundance or scarcity, There'sa way to find the abundance in life.
If you don't have moneybecause there's emotions and there's
love and there's care, there'sa way to find ways through any time
of scarcity, you can make it work.
Well, that goes back togratitude. I mean, and we talk. I've
talked about that over thelast six years. I've talked about
(31:40):
gratitude and how important itis to have gratitude, even for the
little things in life.
Yes, absolutely.
You know, and so I know cop.As a cop, you know, I saw people
at the worst. I saw the bestpeople at the worst. I've walked
into situations that areunbelievable, that most people would
have, you know, been appalledand turned around and walked away.
(32:02):
And within that, even withinthat, you would find people desperately
trying to find purpose anddesperately trying to find something
to be thankful for. So gettingsomebody even out of some situation
like that, it was like theyhit the jackpot. It was. It was the
world to them. So I've alwaysbeen a big believer in. In gratitude,
(32:27):
in.
I'll share a gratitude storywith you, Michael, that you'll love.
While I was working atSalesforce, I became the angriest
white man you've ever met. Itwas terrible. I mean, I. I just.
I carry a chip on my shoulder,and I don't know why, but these two
wonderful ladies that I workedwith pulled me aside one day and
said, hey, Jim, why are you soangry? What's wrong with you? You're
(32:49):
a great guy, but you're justangry, and it's not you. And it hit
me like a ton of bricksbecause I didn't know I was being
that angry. And it was one ofthose moments. That became a pivot.
And at the time it was be abig thing in, in the public to do
these seven days and ten daysof gratitude. I says, you know what
I'm going to do? 365 days ofgratitude. And so every day I was
(33:13):
going to post into my journalsomething I was thankful for and
onto social media what I wasthankful for to just sort of show
what things were good in life.And it was a transformational moment.
It pivoted me into a very goodspace. I became more aware, presence
(33:34):
became part of my life.Gratitude became part of my life.
Happiness and joy returned andI really fully embraced then the
pivots the times to moveforward. And I've told these ladies
several times they didn'trealize that saying something as
simple as you're angry thatday would change my life so much.
And nowadays when, I mean I, Iwent 365 days posting something you're
(33:58):
thankful for makes you reallydive internally and look. And so
nowadays when I get angry orget upset or feel like the world's
not a great place, I remindmyself of some of the stuff. And
what I love is the journalprogram. I have pull stuff up and
remind you too. I learned alittle bit about patterns on myself
and other stuff that reallyhas helped me move forward. But it
(34:22):
changed me and it putgratitude front and center for the
rest of my life. No matter whoor what, if someone does something
for you, if someone crossesyour path, when people come into
your life, think about whythey're there. Be grateful that they
are.
That's profound actually. Youknow, it's one of these things that
you don't know what somebodyelse is going through in their daytime.
(34:42):
You don't know what they'vebeen through. You don't know when
something had just happened.You don't know anything about them.
And even a nice hello, how areyou doing?
Oh my gosh.
A profound effect on somebody.Recognizing them so they don't feel
like they're not visible iseven something that's important.
(35:03):
I think it goes back toreading the room, right. It's like
being smart enough to lookaround and see what you see. And
sometimes you're saying tosomeone, are you okay? What can I
do for you can.
Change everything, you know,everything for somebody change their
day. You find that and, and I,I, I know this from personal perspective.
That in itself has theopportunity to save somebody's life.
(35:24):
It does, it does. And I hadone or two people tell me because
you said hello and invited meinto your life. It changed mine.
And I was on a path. And Ithink to myself, wow. I mean, when
someone tells you that,that's. That's a lot. It's a lot
of weight, right? To suddenlyrealize that you can do these things.
And I think that's the powerof human beings that we don't embrace.
(35:48):
We have so much within us tobe so strong and so encouraging and
change the world in such a simple.
Way the way it needs to be.Yeah, I agree. But the question resolves,
was Auntie Mame before orafter the girls, the two women?
Oh, before. Well before. Wellbefore, which is interesting. So
the seeds have been plantedfor a long time. I find I learned
(36:11):
how to nourish them and makethem grow.
So she. Auntie Mame influencedyour decisions about your relationships
and your work and yourcreative work, and the two young
ladies just kind of nudged you.
They gave me the catalyst tofinally get it going right. And,
you know, that's been a lot ofmy life. I find that when someone
nudges me, I really listen tothese days, you know, I'm. I'm a
(36:35):
relatively spiritual guy. Ibelieve in a higher power. And when
that stuff happens, I sort ofsay, stop. Listen to it.
Yeah.
Hear what your body's tellingyou. There's a book I read said,
you know, let your life speakis the name of the book, and it's
a great book about justlistening to you and who you are.
Just says where you should go.
(36:57):
And that in itself is alsoprofound. We don't take the time
to listen to ourselves. Ithink that that's getting lost somewhere
in the universe that we needto really agree with.
We're gonna take a pill, put aband aid, get through it kind of
world. Right. And I think thatI. I embraced counseling early in
my life because I felt it wasimportant to sort of understand myself.
(37:18):
I. A lot of want to learnthings, so, you know, when I was
making decisions aboutreligion, I wanted to learn about
every religion. What was itlike? When was it out? You know?
And I don't want to just takea pill to make the world better,
so I want to understand what'sgoing on with me that's making me
need the bill. Right.
We have. We have a lot more incommon than you think. I did the
(37:40):
same thing. It's, you know,instead of just one religion, I experience
a number of religions, so Ican understand the different perspectives
and kind of. I grew up thatway, you know, and. And it gave me
a broader vision of people.
And, yeah, I don't hate peoplebecause of their religion. No, I
disagree. But I don'tnecessarily have to hate, you know.
(38:00):
And that's the thing. I feellike if people took the time to learn
and this is where travel comesback in. Go experience that. Go experience
something that you wouldn'tnormally do. You're going to come
home a better person. Youwon't be as angry with those folks
that you think are all bad.
Absolutely. Because if life isa banquet, then we have to embrace
that banquet. Right, Right.
(38:22):
There's Indian food, there'sgoing to be pasta, there's going
to be salad, you know, anddessert. And dessert.
Don't forget about dessert.
It may not be the dessert youthink is best.
That's true. But then again,it may surprise you enough to say,
hey, this is really good.
Exactly.
So it kind of works. So what'scurrently on your plate and what
(38:42):
are you going back for?
So, you know, I never can getenough travel and cruising. Cruising
is my go to now. I selleverything. Right. I sell land, crew,
vacations, I sell tours,everything else. But cruising is
my safe space. That's where Ilove to go. Because I as a, I'm a
Leo, I'm a fire sign. But Ilove my water. I need to go to the
(39:04):
ocean. And then growing up inCalifornia, that was part of life.
I need to get that, thatrecharge of those salt airs and all
that. Right. It really gets meback on place. This cruising really
puts my body back into balanceand getting in the water is a big
deal and just love it. Right.So. And cruising allows me to go
do taste testing of all kindsof cultures and countries. That's
(39:25):
sort of. Then I can go backsomewhere while I'm really down for
that. So I'm gonna continuecruising. I. A year from now I will
be just getting home from a 17night LA to Miami Panama Canal cruise
that I'm bringing people alongwith me on. That should be fun. That'll
be my second time through thecanal and it's on an all adult cruise
(39:47):
line, so no kids.
Cool. Cool.
And it's not that I don't likekids. I just don't like unruly other
people's kids.
I agree with you in thatrespect. Yes, yes.
So. And it'll be on VirginCruise Line. That's my Virgin Voyages
is my. It's like my spirit ship.
Very cool. You need a spiritship. A spirit ship. Not the kind
(40:10):
that looks like the piratesfrom this, you know, but the good
spirit ship, the ghost ship Iguess would be a Better idea.
Yeah. I'm working on some,Some travel for some groups. That's
kind of been fun. I like thatbecause I get them doing some stuff
to just get them information,research on some big tours. So it's
going to be. I think it'sgoing to be a good year this next.
(40:34):
That sounds like a good year.Well, let's talk about your, your
cruises in your opportunityand how you help people to understand
the value of culture andtraveling and enjoying life.
So, you know, I, I often getasked, like, why, why would I use
a travel advisor? Right. And Iget that question because everybody
thought in the 90s, when theInternet became a thing, that you
(40:57):
didn't need a travel advisor.But I would say that post Covid travel
is more complicated. Gettingeverything to align and come together
is never easy. Your traveladvisor's job is to help make your
dreams come true with theleast amount of friction and stress
possible. So when someonecomes to me, it's an opportunity
for me to go explore and in mymind, even just take that trip and
(41:21):
see what it's like. And I loveexploring it and figuring out things
for my customers. I loveseeing where they want to go and
how I can make that come toreality. So over this next year,
the big goal is to have acouple cruises that will be aligned
with life in the baggageclaim. We'll say to our listeners,
come join us, maybe meet someof our guests that we've had. But
(41:43):
otherwise it's going to be,you know, I'm really focusing on
trying to get some affinitygroups together to get their travel
going. I've got a garden clubI'm working with with and potentially
a flamenco troop. But I selleverything, and I love working with
folks who are ready forsomething different and they're looking.
Maybe they haven't done a bigvacation in a while and they want
to know where to go and whatto do. You know, I, I love the process
(42:07):
of getting to know my customerand getting to understand their.
What drives them and gets themexcited, where they want to see and
why they want to see it, andthen helping them again get beyond
the gates and the walls.Right? So I always say, if you go,
for instance, to a lot of theCaribbean islands and you get off
the ship, the first thingyou're in with is a pool and a bar
(42:27):
and a place to eat. And it'sall within the confines of a compound
that is run by cruisecompanies. It's not the country you're
in. You got to go out beyondthe gate to where things are maybe
a little dirtier and grittierto really experience a country. And
I encourage people who workwith me on travel to get out and
explore the culture there itgo, the beach like you're a native.
(42:51):
Go eat like you're a native.Go walk around and be confident that
you're going to be okay. Likeyou live there. And you will find
that most people are friendly,most people actually don't mind Americans.
They don't hate us like we'retold sometimes. And they welcome
us and put some money in alocal store's pockets, buy some beer
(43:13):
at a local restaurant, havesome food at a local restaurant.
You're not going to die,you're not going to get sick. You
know, it's a very rare thing.Maybe don't drink the water out of
that spare, but just getbeyond where you land, right? If
you're going to an allinclusive resort and you stay in
the resort the whole time, youdidn't see that country, you saw
that resort. So just, youknow, make a chance to get out and
(43:36):
see things. So my company, I'mfranchised with a company called
Cruise Planners. My company'scalled JP Hou Adventures. It's@jpalkadventures.com
and you know, I can, I, I selleverything. That's one joy of being
a franchisee is that I cansell cruises, I can sell land tours,
I can sell excursions, I canget you on your flights, I can get
(43:59):
you your car. And, and I lovekind of learning what a customer
likes from a sense of how theylike to travel so that I can sort
of put together the perfectpackage. So, you know, you want to
go travel like a rock star andbe treated to VIP service everywhere.
I'll make it happen. You wantto go to an eco tour where you give
back and you go work for aschool or you go do cleaning on a
(44:19):
beach or something like that.I can make it happen. I got connections
all around the world that Ican work with. And there's really
no trip you would want to dothat I can't help you get into.
Sounds like a wonderfulopportunity for us to be able to
get to understand whetheryou're just starting out in cruising
or just starting out with yourtrip across the country or across
the world that you help allaspects of, whether you're a seasoned
(44:43):
traveler or a beginner traveler.
Yeah, exactly. And, and don'tever worry about it. Just, just let
your. That's where a traveladvisor. I'm always saying I'm here
to sell you a dream. But I'malso here to be your garden angel
while you're on your dream. Right.
Yeah, I think we need thatespecially. Yeah, I think we need
that. Well, thank you foreverything. I really appreciate you
(45:03):
being here. I think we've.There's been a great conversation,
and I have enjoyed learning alittle bit more myself in regard
to traveling. So I appreciateyou being here.
Thank you for having me. Thisis always fun.
I will make sure that there'slinks in the show notes and everything
to find you so they know howto get there and get connected with
(45:26):
you. Um, but this is one morething before you go. So before we
go, I. I would like to askyou, what legacy do you hope to leave
behind for those who hear yourstory today?
So, first and foremost, Ibelieve you need to leave the world
a better place than you camein. So that's important to me. But
(45:46):
if there's anything I canleave somebody listening to this
is don't wait till tomorrow.Go do it today.
Those are brilliant words ofwisdom. Life can change in an instant.
Take advantage and takeadvantage. Well, again, Jim, it's
been a pleasure meeting you.It's been a pleasure having a conversation
(46:06):
with you. I look forward toeventually, one day possibly calling
you up and getting on a cruisewith my wife.
Still, you know, I've got ananswer for you. So when you're ready,
we'll talk. Well, put on ariver cruise. That way you're not
worried about deep water.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I neverthought about that. Yeah, Old Navy,
(46:26):
guys. All I thought was theocean, right? Well, that's. That's
brilliant. I will be in touch.But thank you very much for being
here. I really appreciate yourtime and your effort and your conversation.
Absolutely.
As Auntie Mame reminds us,life is a banquet. And today's conversation
has been feast of wisdom,presence and gratitude. So thank
you for sharing your journey,your philosophy, and your invitation
(46:48):
to live boldly to ourlisteners. You carry these insights
with you on your lives,travels. Say yes a little more often.
Savor every moment at your ownbanquet. And until next time, one
more thing before you all go.Have a great day. Have a great week,
and thank you for being partof this community. Thanks for listening
(47:08):
to this episode of One MoreThing before youe Go. Check out our
website@beforeyougop podcast.com.
You can find us as well as.
Subscribe to the program andrate us on your favorite podcast
listening platform.
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