March 10, 2025 • 62 mins
Discover how to break free from the cycle of stagnation and embrace the idea of "failing forward." Brian engages with Jim Bell, a seasoned mortgage industry veteran and mentor, discussing profound insights into personal growth and resilience.
- Introduction to Jim Bell and his unique journey
- Embracing failure as part of growth
- The role of mentorship in discovering pathways
- Continuous learning as a vital part of success
- Real-life struggles and the importance of resilience
- Defining success beyond personal achievements
- Encouragement to confront fears and embrace challenges
Continue to drive yourself toward the things you're passionate about and give it your very best. Life is short, and every second we tick away gives us one less second to chase the dream.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your
host, peak Performance Coach,brian Bosley.
Are you stuck on the hamsterwheel of life, spinning and
spinning but not really movingforward?
Are you ready to jump off andsoar?
Are you finally ready to sculptyour life?
If so, you've landed in theright place.
(00:21):
This podcast is created andbroadcast just for you, all of
you strivers, thrivers andsurvivors out there.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Brian and the Bamboo Lab,
feel free to reach out toexplore your true peak level at
wwwbamboolab3.com.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey everybody, welcome to this week's episode
of the Bamboo Lab Podcast.
I am Brian Bosley, your host,and today we have a gentleman on
this show, this episode, who Ihave known for over 30 years.
We have Jim Bell.
Jim is the president of MSource Training and Consulting.
Jim has worked in just aboutevery facet or probably every
(01:07):
facet of the mortgage industryfor almost 30 years now.
This guy knows the ins and outsof the industry.
But more than that, jim is justan incredible person in this
sense.
When I talked to him a fewweeks ago, when I asked him what
is your purpose in life andpassion?
First thing, didn't evenquestion it to serve the world,
to serve other people.
And that just shows he'smarried to Julia of 24 years I
(01:29):
believe I could be wrong on that.
He's got a daughter, chelsea 21, and a son, brandon 19.
And when he's not focusing onhis children or his family and
work, he loves to hunt, he lovesto fish and he has a deep
passion for cooking.
But going back to what I saidabout serving others, jim really
loves to mentor people.
(01:49):
He loves to mentor otherprofessionals in his industry,
but he also likes to coach youthsoftball.
So he's got this spirit abouthim of just wanting to give back
to the world, to his family, tothe community.
And the other side of it is Jimknew me at and I knew him at
probably our goofiest stages oflife.
Back in the 1990s we bothplayed rugby football at Central
(02:12):
Michigan University.
So those stories will probablystay off this show.
But in the meantime, jim Bell,my friend, welcome to the Bamboo
Lab podcast.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Thank you very, very much for having me.
Yeah, I think it's best that weleave the rugby stories off,
just to keep things on the upand up.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You've got to keep some integrity in the show and
everybody else I want to mention.
We're experiencing a lot ofhigh winds here today I'm in
Wisconsin and a lot of snow andblowing.
There might be some glitches inthe audio.
Just let it go.
The service might beinterrupted here and there.
So, anyway, let's get back toJim.
Jim, tell us about yourself.
(02:50):
I mean, obviously, I know agreat deal about you, but tell
the Bamboo Pack members outthere a little bit about
yourself your childhood, family,where you grew up, and Kevin,
who or what inspired you tobecome the man you are today.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, I grew up in Trenton, michigan, born and
raised, I guess, south ofDetroit.
I've never really moved outsideof about 10 miles from where it
all started.
In fact, my parents still livein our childhood home, so I get
to go back and visit my old roomand see that on a regular basis
(03:22):
, although now it's an office, Ibelieve.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It never stays in our room.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, I had two brothers, john and Mike, both
older, so I was the baby of thefamily.
Both mom and dad are stilldoing well and, living in the
old house on Cleveland Street,grew up playing a lot of sports,
(03:49):
did a lot of things within ourneighborhood.
I guess you know back then andmaybe you'll attest or
understand, those were dayswhere we went out and played,
right, I mean, we went out andwe played all day.
So it might have been baseball,basketball, football, depending
on the season, or maybe it wasjust a hide-and-seek or whatever
it might have been.
(04:09):
So we spent lots and lots oftime running around the
neighborhood.
They were kids of all ages, soour gang of merry folks running
around the neighborhood rangedanywhere from six to 16.
So it was a neat neighborhoodto be a part of.
I grew up, like I said, you know, small town but you know very,
(04:34):
very loving family, very closeto my family still.
So somewhere in the career path, I mean I meandered a bit.
Yes, I landed in the street,but I will tell you the same as
anybody in the mortgage industryit was never a career goal.
Mortgages is something thatpeople sort of fall into, right,
(04:56):
I mean, I don't know that, ifyou were to go around a room
full of people and ask how manypeople said they wanted to be a
loan officer when they grew up,that you're ever going to see an
end raised.
Why is that, jim?
Why is?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
that you think You've said that before.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I just don't know that people understand that it's
out there, that it's a thing,right, I mean it's.
You know we hear about doctors,we hear about firefighters and
police officers and accountants,but I don't think people ever
think that you know there's thisguy whose whole job is to help
you finance a home.
You know we hear about therealtor, but you know it's just
(05:35):
not a career that I think is inthe forefront and there's not a
lot of education directly for it, which I think is kind of a
mistake in the industry, andit's something that we're trying
to help solve at M Source is,you know, how do we provide some
additional education on theloan origination and running a
broker shop and being a businessowner and things like that?
(05:57):
But I think it's just a matterof people just don't realize
that it's a career path and itcan be an incredibly profitable
and rewarding career path.
Um, you know I I've spent thebetter part of these last 30
years in shape or form, whetherit's a direct to consumer or
(06:19):
helping other loan officers orother business owners.
Um, you know, try to reach theirgoals right.
So, as a consumer, it was howdo I get you into the best
financing we can to satisfy yourhome needs.
Right, as a loan officer, it'show do I make you a better loan
officer?
How do I help you to sell moreloans?
(06:40):
How do you get in touch withmore people?
How do you build more referralnetworks?
And then, as business owners,it's kind of taking it to that
next step.
Right, how do you manage allthe hats you have to wear?
Because you're still alone byheart and that's what you want
to be doing, but you now have alot of other responsibilities.
How do you balance and jugglethose things?
(07:00):
So that's me, I guess, is Ilove to help people solve
problems.
Right Is get in there and seewhere they're at and what they
need to be doing and what theywant to be doing, and then how
can I help them?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Well, going back, I want to so that idea, and you
had mentioned that to me when wetalked three or four weeks ago.
What, what was it that you?
Who was it in your childhood?
Or was it an experience or ateacher, or a book or a parent
who inspired you, or whatinspired you as a child to be
this man who wants to helppeople solve problems?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
You know, I think it goes back to my parents, right?
I mean I still look back at myparents and think how in the
world did they do the thingsthey did, right?
I mean, between the fact thatwe weren't a wealthy family
growing up but we never reallywanted for anything, we always
went on summer vacations.
We always did things right.
You know, I don't know how mydad, as many hours as he worked,
(07:59):
never missed baseball games orbasketball games or football
games, never missed baseballgames or basketball games or
football games.
So I think, you know, I grew upwatching two people do
everything for their kids andfor their parents and for their
friends, and just the joy thatthey got out of watching other
(08:21):
people get what they wanted orsucceed in what they were trying
to do.
To me it's.
You know, I just look back onthat and it's like how they did
the things they did.
I don't know like how we wenton summer vacation every single
year all over the country.
I think by the time I was 17, Ithink I had already been in
(08:43):
like 42 states, wow, and most ofit was driving in a big old
blue Econoline van.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It wasn't flying around, were you buckled in.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Oh no, we were sitting on the big hump.
That was right between thefront seats, right, I mean
that's where we all sat.
I mean that's where we all sat.
So, but you know, it's when Ilook back, I mean that truly is
where it is.
I mean they've inspired me atso many different levels, you
know, and even today, I meanthey are still there anytime I
(09:18):
need them for anything.
You know, I still look back to aconversation that I believed
changed the trajectory of whereI am right now, and it was a
conversation I had on my dad'sporch and we sat there one day
and I was still kind of new andgreen in the mortgage business
and I think I was bellyaching abit about the market and I don't
(09:42):
know if this is the rightcareer for me and maybe I'm
doing this wrong and I, you know, hemming and hawing and
second-guessing, and he satthere just very quietly
listening and you know, I thinkwhen I was done with my pathway,
he looked at me and he said isthis what you want to do?
(10:02):
Like, do you enjoy this?
Is this, I mean, does thisdrive you, does it make you
happy?
And I said, yeah, it reallydoes.
I said I just don't know.
And he's like stop, and he'slike you have never had anything
in your life that you put atime period on that you weren't
able to do.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And he's like what I need.
Can you repeat that from whatyour dad?
What you said, it's glitchingin and out a little bit.
Just use your dad quietly.
Then he asked you, do you likethis?
And then you said yes, Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
So you know, he, he listened to what I finally said
and and he just quietly lookedat me and said you know, there's
never been anything you'vewanted to do that you haven't
been able to do.
And what I think you need to donow is focus on what are your
next steps?
Right?
(10:53):
Stop second guessing, stopquestioning yourself, stop with
all the negativity and justfigure out how to do it.
And you know, I think it wasthat conversation that led and I
don't know exactly where Iheard the quote the first time,
but it's something that hasdriven my career ever since,
(11:14):
which is, you know, fail yourway forward.
And you know, it was thosewords that he said that day on
the porch that just kind ofdrove me to the idea of just
keep moving forward, get up andkeep working toward the things
you want, stop questioningwhether you can or can't and
just do it.
And for me, that changedeverything.
(11:37):
What are your mom and dad'snames?
My dad's name is John and mymom's name is Kathy.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Kathy.
So this is dedicated to Johnand Kathy Bell, because you have
raised one hell of a great sonand he's making a difference in
the world and I love that.
And you have said that.
I think every time we've talkedin the last few weeks, jim, you
have said Fail your Way Forwardand tell us what that means to
you.
There's an audience member outthere right now who's probably
thinking what does means to you.
(12:04):
There's an audience member outthere right now is probably
thinking what does he mean byfail your way forward?
Because we think of failure aswe're regressing, but you're
talking about failure as aprogression.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
So failure way forward is and I share this with
my kids all the time too, andanybody that I work with is that
if I fail and I screw up morethings than just about anybody I
know, and that's because I willtry things that most people
won't try.
And I guess my thing is I don'tfeel like I have to be the
(12:36):
expert to get started atsomething, I just have to get
moving.
And to me it's I would rathertry something and fail and then
get up and try it again and failagain and keep failing at it
until I've got it right.
(12:56):
Because at the end of the day,I mean, we go back to all those
stories we've ever heard aboutThomas Edison and the light bulb
and all the things that peoplejust kept failing and failing
and failing.
You know, I think the otherpowerful one that you hear from
the sports side is like MichaelJordan, right Cut from his high
school basketball team and youknow all the shots that he
(13:17):
missed.
But he just kept going and hekept failing and failing and
failing until he wasn't failinganymore.
And I still believe that I failevery day, but I want to think
that I'm always failing ahead.
I'm failing forward in my lifethat yeah, just because I fell
(13:38):
down, I still got back up and Itried it again the next day and
I keep achieving things becauseI failed forward.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
You know that reminds me.
There was a time, Jim, when Iwas with American Express
Financial Advisors.
This is back in 95, maybe 94,probably a year or two before I
left and started my consultingfirm.
We were in Monterey, california, for a leadership conference
and my regional vice president'sname was John Hance.
You probably see HanceFinancial around the Detroit
(14:09):
area we do.
Yeah Well, he was withAmeriprise and I think at the
time and I don't really know theexact numbers, but I think
there were 35 regions around thecountry that were Ameriprise
financial advisors.
You know each one had maybe 400or 500 different employees,
ameriprise financial advisor.
Each one had maybe 400 or 500different employees.
At the time John's region wasnumber one in the country but if
(14:31):
I remember the numbers and Icould be wrong we were doing a
billion dollars a year where insecond place was doing like 500
million.
So it was a dramatic differencebetween first and second place.
So all the other 34 people, allgreat human beings, weren't
competing well with John andthere was a lot of, I think,
jealousy and animosity towardhim and we were.
(14:52):
But he was like you, he triedeverything and we were at a
conference in Monterey,California.
Again, this was 30 years ago, so31 years ago, but I remember
the words.
I think we were on a buffettable getting our food and John
and I and a few other peoplefrom our region were in line and
somebody yelled across thebuffet line and said hey, mr
(15:13):
Hance, a person who didn'treally think highly of John, who
was maybe a little envious orjealous.
He said I see, you guys havecrashed a lot of planes this
year and the whole buffet or Ithink it was the buffet, or
maybe we're on a big table.
(15:33):
Everybody stopped and Johnpaused and he said we have.
He said but you know what?
We've crashed planes, you don'thave the balls to fly.
And it just took the wind outof the room, out of the
everybody there, like whoa.
And that was, that was alearning for me at that moment
of that and that stuck, thoseexact quotes stuck with me and
it hit.
That was his learning for me atthat moment of that and that
stuck, those exact quotes stuckwith me.
And that was his way of sayingfail forward, just like you're
saying now, 30-some years later.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, I think it's just we have to be willing.
I think the other one that I goback to is along those lines,
was something I remember, wassomething I I remember hearing
you know less Brown um, who Ialways love listening to less
Brown, just because I'm not sureyou know it's if I'm being
(16:14):
coached or going to church,right, a little bit of both,
right, cause I always feel likeI've when I listened to him.
But you know, what I wanted tosay was that you don't have to
be great to get started, but youhave to be started to be great,
right, and I don't know if thatwas originally him who coined
(16:36):
it, but it was something Iremember him saying over and
over and over and and I justit's.
It's that same type of apremise of you know you got to
get started somewhere and I'mwilling to fail until I figure
it out.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah Well, I think so many people in the world and
even myself and probablyyourself included.
Years ago I always thoughtmotivation was the creation of
action.
And I've learned and I tell mychildren, I tell my clients
motivation seldom creates action.
But action creates motivationIf you just get out there and
(17:10):
start something.
Think about working out.
I can't sit on the couch on aday like today when it's stormy
and snowy and windy, andmotivate myself to go for a hike
or a run.
But if I just go out there anddo it instantly, I'm motivated.
Within the first three or fourminutes I'm ready to go, and I
think Mel Robbins does thisreally well.
I'm a big Mel Robbins fan.
(17:32):
I'm reading her third book rightnow.
It's called Let them, but shehas the five second rule.
I think that's the title of herfirst book.
She's like, whenever you'recontemplating doing something
you don't want to do, that youneed to do, don't think about
say five, four, three, two, one,go and just do it, because with
after five minutes you're goingto convince yourself, or five
seconds you will convinceyourself not to do that thing.
You're talking about that on amuch larger scale, of course,
(17:54):
but that applies whether we'redoing something.
You know we're trying somethingnew, that we might fail it, or
if we just have to go for a runor put the phone down and start
reading a book.
So fail your way forward.
I love that, hey.
So in the last 12 months, oneto two years, jim, what would
(18:16):
you say is your greatestlearning?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Excuse me.
You know I think about this alot and for me, it's that we're
never done learning.
I think of the points in mylife, in my career, where I have
been stuck, and it's usuallybecause I stopped feeding my
(18:40):
brain.
Feeding my brain, you know.
I think I shared with you oneof our previous conversations
about the fact that, you know, Ilook at my career in mortgages
and I consider myself a 30-yearrookie, right that every day I'm
going to learn something new,and I think one of the bigger
things that I've learned overthe last several years is that
(19:03):
we always have to keep thatmindset in our the forefront of
what we do.
Right, we're constantly openingto learning new things, whether
it's from our peers, whetherit's from a book, whether it's
from a podcast like this,whether it's, you know, going to
a seminar, wherever it might be, we have the ability to absorb
(19:23):
more information in today'senvironment than we ever have
before.
So keep feeding your brain.
Keep feeding your brain, causethat's you know, I don't know
that ideas are, and we may havetalked about this previously,
but it's like I don't know thatideas are really truly created
anymore.
I think a lot of the things,but I think we spur new
(19:44):
variations of ideas and how canwe take something else and and
modify it to help somewhere somesome other way?
How do we repurpose older ideasto new ideas?
And and I just feel likelearning for me has always been
that outlet to continue thecreativity, to continue to
(20:07):
strive for something more thanwhat I see in front of me,
because I know that there'salways more to learn.
So I think the more we feed thebrain, the better we get.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I couldn't agree more .
You're right.
Right now in this era of ourexistence is an era we have so
much information at the tip ofour fingertips and we can use it
.
One of two ways we can scrollsocial media TikTok, snapchat,
or.
My weakness is YouTube.
I can literally sit down and Ican go a half an hour and wake
(20:40):
up not wake up, but come to mysenses and say I just watched 30
minutes of dumb stuff that Ihave that provides no value to
me, you know and so we have thatoption of doing that or the
option of look, you shouldlisten to podcasts.
You know, watching speakers thatwe would never have access to.
You know, we can obviously readbooks online or actually pick
(21:01):
up a damn physical book and readit there.
I don't know if you and Italked about this, jim, but
there's an interesting storythat happened in 1899.
At the time, this gentleman bythe name of Charles Duell was I
think his title was theCommissioner of the United
States Patent Office.
He ran the US Patent Office in1899.
So he's the guy running thepatent office inventing of new
(21:21):
things.
And he sent a telegram or atelegraph to president US
President William McKinley, andit said something to the effect
of I, dear Mr President, I, ascommissioner of the US Patent
Office, request or recommendthat we consider shutting down
the US Patent Office.
And in quotes, his reasoningwas because everything that can
be invented has already beeninvented.
That was 1899.
(21:42):
And he thought everything thatcan be invented has already been
invented.
That was 1899.
And he thought everything thatcould ever be invented was
already invented, has alreadybeen invented, and I think just
about everything you or I or anyof the podcast listeners right
now have done since they woke upthis morning.
Probably 99% of the thingsthey've used or experienced was
something created, inventedpost-1899.
(22:05):
And it seems so short-sightedand narrow-minded for Charles
Duhal to say that and to thinkthat way.
But at the same time, I askmyself are we really any
different?
I mean, so many times we shutour own patent office down, so
often we stop learning, we stopabsorbing, we start clicking
YouTube videos for 30 minutes ata time, or we scroll Facebook
(22:27):
or TikTok, snapchat, instagram,when we have that opportunity,
at those moments, to learn andabsorb information that is right
there at our fingertips.
Any possible subject you everwant to learn is there, and
there's a good book for anybodyout there who wants to listen,
called the War of Art, byStevenven pressfield, and he
talks about when you are in themoment of trying to learn,
(22:48):
absorbing, uh, being free withyour mind instead of being
connected to social media you'llcome up with ideas, and they're
not even ideas you create, kindof what you said, jim, earlier.
He calls it the muse.
The muse will speak to you andyou will come up with some
grandiose thought or idea thatcould revolutionize your life or
the lives of others.
(23:08):
But we have to be available.
We have to have that mind.
Our patent office has to beopen for that muse to enter the
door.
So I appreciate you bringingthat up because I think that's
an incredibly powerful lesson.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And another thing about it is it can be empowering
, not just for the personabsorbing the information.
You know, one of the things thatI think we get our egos
sometimes get in the way, right,we think we know more than we
do, we think we know it all, wethink we've arrived, we think
we've achieved what we need toachieve.
(23:42):
You know, achieved what we needto achieve.
Um, and one of the things Ienjoy about just being open to
learning is is like even youknow, with the people I work
with, you know we'll talk aboutwhy we do certain things the way
we do certain ways, and mypoint to them is we do it that
way because that's the best ideaI've had so far and I have no
(24:04):
problem that if your idea isbetter than mine, we're going to
make that a reality and we'regoing to change the way we do
things.
And it's your idea, let's runwith it.
So I think, being open to theidea of learning from everybody
around you, whether it's up thechain, down the chain, laterally
, wherever the information iscoming from when you're willing
(24:28):
to accept that you learn fromother people, I think it becomes
empowering for them as well,because now you're giving them
the power to be able to makedecisions and make suggestions
and understand that there'svalue in their ideas, in their
ability to learn more.
And it just creates that cycleof freedom for all of us, right
(24:50):
Like we're not trapped by ourconfines anymore, because it's
not just what I can come up with, it's what you can come up with
, it's what my neighbor can comeup with, it's what anybody else
can come up with.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
So when we're open to it, we just expand the array of
possibilities 100% and there'snothing better than believing in
someone else's idea to increasetheir sense of self-worth, to
give them a voice, to empowerthem as a human being and really
give their opinion, theirthoughts, their ideas the
(25:22):
respect that it deserves.
And you know you're raising twokids, but I know they're still
in college now and I have a sonin college and I've raised a
daughter and I've helped raisethree other amazing adult men
when they were little.
We learn a lot from the peoplewe think we're supposed to be
teaching.
If we just open our ears andeyes and listen, I mean I learn
(25:43):
at least as probably as muchfrom my clients over time as
they learn from me.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
It's interesting.
You say that because, you know,when you asked about
inspirations, I find it ironicfor me that my inspirations seem
to be two very interesting endsof a spectrum, right.
So, like my primary, you know,sense of inspiration early in my
life and it still is my parents, but I find a tremendous amount
(26:13):
of inspiration from my children.
I mean Chelsea, and ofinspiration from my children.
I mean Chelsea and Brandon arejust amazing people.
I mean their general acceptanceof others and their kindness
and the way that they viewthings and their I mean the
perseverance that I watch withthe two of them.
It's inspiring to me, you know,I think of you know.
(26:38):
Chelsea, you know, was notprobably the most gifted athlete
there ever was but was arguablythe best catcher I've ever had
the pleasure of watching playsoftball Because she worked at
it and she loved it and she justkept going and going and
(26:59):
working and trying.
And I see brandon, brandon hashad some some, you know, whether
it's some health issues hereand there and physical issues,
and he, he just has the bestattitude and the best frame of
mind about just continuing to,to charge forward and keep his
mind and body focused on beingpositive.
(27:20):
I mean it's just some of thethings he's been dealt at his
age of only 19.
I mean, a lot of people wouldbe like, oh, you know, the
world's got it in for me, andinstead he just keeps driving
forward and figuring like, okay,well, there's a wall there, I
guess I got to go either over it, around it, in for me, and
instead he just keeps drivingforward and figuring like, okay,
well, there's a wall there, Iguess I got to go either over it
, around it, under it.
I don't know, but I'm gettingpast it and you know I find them
(27:45):
inspiring as well.
And you know, like youmentioned about, we learn from
the people we're supposed to beteaching.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I think we can also be inspired by the people we
hope to inspire 100% agree, likeyou said, as long as we keep
that patent office door open,and we, you know, I know there's
been times in my life where mydoor has been shut.
You know, thankfully I've gotenough people in my life that
call me out on when I feel likeI'm getting narrow.
(28:11):
Because, look, you and I havebeen doing what we do for almost
30 years and that would be inthe world of.
In the real world, we'd becalled experts.
I've never considered myself anexpert, but I've gotten very
arrogant at times about myability to coach others and
understand human behavior, andit's embarrassing.
Look at the podcast.
(28:31):
Last year I've shared this onthe air a couple of times I was
so gross by my own behavior, myown thought patterns, because I
was so worried not worried, Iwas so intrigued, or in in, uh,
engage the numbers.
You know we hit the top 10 ofall podcasts in the world.
I was looking at every day howmany more countries did we get?
How many more cities?
Um, how many more subscribersdo we have?
(28:52):
And it got to the point where,after about maybe, I don't't
know, I'm thinking six weeks ofthat, two months, I don't know
what it was late last summer, Istarted feeling just disgusted
with myself.
The arrogance took over why Ireally started doing this, and
so I shut it down for threemonths two and a half three
months to open up my patentoffice because it was clearly
closed.
(29:12):
On doing why I the on doing,why I did this and I, you know
that's the problem with becomingvery experienced, I think, in
life, like you are and I am inour chosen fields is we have to
always be on guard against thatego.
Um, at least I do, um and uh, Ihave to keep a really tight
(29:32):
noose on that thing, or a ropetie around that thing, or it's
going to get let, it's going togo.
It's going to go crazy.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I think we, we forget , we forget the, the, the
mission and the purpose, rightit, it.
It's like the, the success orthe experience or the, whatever
it is we're doing, takes on alife of its own and we and we
lose the original essence ofwhere we were Right, like for me
it's.
You know, when I was writingOriginating Loans, it was all
(29:59):
about helping consumer.
Right, it was like how do Ihelp you get into the house of
your dreams or take some cashout of the property so you can,
you know, add on that new, youknow wing of the house, or add,
you know, put in a new kitchenor whatever it might be?
How do I help you reach thosedreams All through my career?
(30:20):
I think you're right.
We get stuck in the idea of okay, how many more loans can I
write, how many more dollars canI make, how many more things
can I do, and you start to losethe essence of no, it's, how
many more people can I help?
You know, and it's powerfulwhen we go back to that really
(30:43):
core essence of why we starteddoing what we're doing, and I
think, the more that we stayopen to the idea of you know,
like you said, that you have alot of people in your world that
help you sort of correctyourself when you start veering.
It's important that we surroundourselves with those people so
that they can keep us focused onwhy we do what we do and not to
(31:05):
get swallowed up by the I guess, the process.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I agree, and I think, in addition to that, is putting
ourselves in theenah, wisconsin, as well as there's one in
(31:36):
Appleton, wisconsin.
So Jackie's big into yoga.
Her daughter owns it.
She's been doing yoga for yearsand a couple of Sundays ago we
were doing yoga in her livingroom and I've only done yoga
like three times in my life andthat was years ago and she was
instructing me on thesedifferent poses and they hurt.
I mean, I don't care how muchyou work out, yoga hurts.
And she was kind of snapping atme a little bit.
(31:58):
I'm like dude, relax man.
And I realized no, no, no, youneed to listen because you need
to be an apprentice at this andact like an apprentice.
Keep your mouth shut and yourears open, brian.
And it was a good learning forme that I need to make sure that
I'm in a role at least several,at least once a year, in
something I've never done beforeand to be taught and trained by
(32:18):
somebody who knows what they'redoing and put myself in the
role that my clients are in whenI'm working with them.
So I think you know listening,being open, as well as you know
putting yourself in a positionof being a newbie at something
on occasion is really powerfulfor our development.
I 100% agree, jim.
What would you say would be oneof the most difficult things
(32:42):
you as an individual has gonethrough over your life, and what
did you do to overcome that?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, I think, you know, I've thought a long time
about, you know, these types ofquestions over my lifetime, like
what is the most difficultthing?
And I think for me, life is themost challenging thing we all
deal with, right, we all getthrown curveballs, we all get
thrown to adversity.
(33:11):
You know, I think about my wife, julie and I, you know, 24
years ago, here we were youngkids, getting married, thinking
about starting a family,successful careers, everything
going, you know.
And we find out, you know what,four or five months into our
(33:33):
marriage, that you know we'reexpecting and we couldn't be
happier.
I mean, I never missed adoctor's appointment and I felt
like that was my role.
Right, I had to be there forall the doctor's appointments
and all the stuff, right?
Um, and, and apparently youknow, good lord had a different
(33:53):
plan, that we had to learn somethings and we lost our son at 37
weeks.
He was stillborn.
It was devastating.
But I think what when I lookback and I think of that, I
think of times when we wentthrough the financial crisis
(34:13):
with the mortgage industry.
I think of physical healthissues that I've had, physical
health issues my wife has had,setbacks we've had with the kids
.
Life deals us a lot ofchallenging things, but if I
were to tell you what, the onething that I think has been most
difficult is learning to getback up.
(34:34):
You know, when somethingterrible happens, no matter what
it is, and it's all.
It's all in perspective, right?
So what happens to me, you know, doesn't isn't better or worse
or more significant or lesssignificant than happens to
somebody else.
It's the most important thingand the most significant thing
(34:56):
in their world.
So I I think the the mostdifficult thing is is, when
those things happen, is to to beable to figure out how to get
back up and just start goingagain.
And I think the answer for thatis you sort of scale that wall
by just getting up and you startone step at a time.
(35:19):
You do one day at a time.
And I go back to my mantra thefailure way forward.
When difficult things happen toall of us, it's important for
us to have whatever it is withinyou to be able to just get back
up and keep going.
And like I said, for me, I mean, I could point to a whole host
(35:42):
of different things that havehappened.
I don't know that any one ismore significant than another.
But I think it's really aboutgetting back up.
And how do we just keep movingforward?
You know, and that that takesfriends, it takes family, it
takes, you know, support, ittakes all the things that we all
cherish.
But we got to keep going and wegot to keep getting back up.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
There's definitely a general theme to the message
you're delivering to theaudience today and it's very
clear.
And quite often when I'm in themiddle of a of a talk like this
with someone, I am thinkingabout what is the theme here?
What is this individual tryingto get across to the Bamboo Pack
members out there?
And this one has been veryclear.
It's probably the most clearone I've had in a long time.
(36:27):
It is failure.
Way forward, get back up onestep at a time, one day at a
time.
Just get it back up off theground.
Have you ever read I mean, wemight've talked about this and
I'm sure, but I and I know Ibrought it up with the audience
before the book, uh, the lastlecture by Randy Posh.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
I, I think I've heard of it.
Um, I don't know that, I'veactually read it myself, but I
think, if it's the same bookthat I'm thinking, I think I
have heard of it.
But I mean, please refresh me,because I don't know if it's the
same thing I'm thinking of.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Well, Brandy Posh was a Carnegie Mellon University
computer science professor and Idon't know the time I'm going
to say this was 15 years ago.
It might have been not quitethat many years.
It might have been not quitethat many years, it might have
been longer, but in thattimeframe.
And he was diagnosed.
He was a young guy, I think itwas in his early forties and he
had I think I believe it was twoyoung boys he and his wife did
and he was diagnosed withpancreatic cancer and incurable,
(37:26):
so he knew he was going to die.
So, as a professor at CarnegieMellon University, remember we
used to remember we used to bein rugby tournaments and they'd
see our CMU shirts and theythought we were Carnegie Mellon
University.
Is that right there?
I think it's Carnegie.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Mellon, I do remember that.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
You guys go to Carnegie Mellon, nah, cmu,
central Michigan, anyway.
So when you retire from thatschool you get to give a last
lecture.
So you fill the auditorium withanybody you want and they tape
it.
They videotape it.
And he wrote this speech forhis two boys.
And the speech you can find iton YouTube.
Just Randy Posh Last Lecture.
It's the actual speech, avideotape, and in part of the
(38:01):
speech he talks.
As he's giving a talk.
He's saying this is my legacyto my children because they are
going to grow up without afather.
The rest of their lives and hetalks about life is all about
brick walls.
You know you're going to comeacross brick walls all your life
.
Some are going to be high, someare going to be short, some are
going to be average.
And he said the reason the brickwalls are there are not for us
(38:21):
to turn around and retreat.
And his quote was the brickwalls are put there for you to
prove how badly you want what'son the other side.
And that quote stuck with meand I read the.
I saw the lecture I don't knowwhen it ever aired on YouTube or
wherever it was aired back thenand then I read the book.
So he it became so popular itwas the number one I believe it
(38:43):
was YouTube download of alltimes when it came out and then
he wrote a book on the samesubject before he passed away
and left an amazing legacy tomillions of people around the
world who heard his vision.
And that's exactly what you'resaying is brick walls are there,
but they're there for us toprove how badly we want what's
on the other side.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Yeah, I mean that's powerful, but it's true, it
really is.
It's just, you know, we havejust such infinite potential and
it's just a matter of offiguring out what, what ignites
every person to go for thatRight, and how to keep going
(39:24):
when, when we, when we don't getwhat we want, like I see right
now in the mortgage industry.
You know loan officers arereally struggling.
This is a.
You know, we've had aprotracted 20 years of
incredibly low interest rates.
We've had plenty of housingavailable for sale and now we're
(39:46):
seeing another one of theseperfect storms in the financial
markets with mortgages becauserates have gone up rapidly.
Markets with mortgages becauserates have gone up rapidly.
There are generations of buyerswho've never heard of rates in
the sixes and sevens, let aloneeight.
There are loan officers thathave never heard of rates in the
(40:08):
sixes and sevens and eights andI think they're all kind of
finding that.
You know, I call it the whomoved my cheese moment.
Right, like, for a long, longtime things were very, very good
and now the market has gottenreally difficult.
There's limited inventory,there's a lot of vying for
(40:29):
competition on on every housethat goes up on the market, and
then a couple of that withinterest rates and people not
wanting to move.
You know, and I get thatquestion.
You know I get questions aboutyou know, what do I do Like how
do I stay going in this business?
And it's like, well, you justgot to keep going.
You have to find new avenues,right?
You know?
Do you manage the people's lifeevents for them?
(40:52):
You know, if I'm a 50 somethingand both my kids have moved out
and I'm in a 3 000 square foothouse, I'm probably thinking
about downsizing.
And at the same time, if I'm aloan officer and I see a family
that are a young couple, that'sfind out they're pregnant with
twins and they're in aone-bedroom apartment, guess
what?
They're probably going to needa bigger place and maybe a house
(41:13):
.
You know, go out there andfigure out how do you tap into
people's needs more effectivelyand how do you just keep moving
forward?
I mean, I think so many arejust sitting back in the woes of
, well, I'm waiting for rates tocome down.
It's like, well, you're notgoing to wait until gas prices
(41:35):
go down to drive the car.
That's a good metaphor, youknow.
So you just get up and get outthere and go after it, and I
think I go back to thatconversation with my dad.
Right, it's like you have achoice, right?
You want this.
Then go figure out how to makeit happen.
Stop second-guess guessingwhether you can make it happen.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Is that a book you recommend to people who Moved my
Cheese?
Speaker 3 (42:02):
Oh, absolutely.
I think who Moved my Cheese isa very, very short read, but for
me I thought it was verypowerful.
I mean, the message is very,very clear that you know we
constantly have to be lookingaround the corner for the next
thing, right?
I mean because we can't bankthat everything we ever had will
always be there.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
I agree, and for those who haven't heard of it,
this is a book by SpencerJohnson called who Moved my
Cheese and it's about two miceand two little men going through
a maze and how they havedifferent personalities and how,
you know, one obviouslycontinues to persevere and adapt
to the changes in his or hersituation and finally, you know,
(42:43):
obviously gets the cheese, soto speak, because the cheese
keeps moving in the maze.
So I would recommend that bookto anyone.
In fact, as you were talking, Ithought I haven't read.
I haven't read that book inprobably three or four years and
I have it in my best.
I have my books.
Most of them are in storage ina storage unit, but I have a
select group of books, maybe 150at my house but then I have
about 30 that are set right infront of my TV in the TV stand,
(43:07):
but on the bottom, so that whenI'm looking at the TV those
books are drawing me and that'sin that pile or in that row.
I mean, and that's in that pileor in that row, but I have not
read that in a while.
So I'm going to reread it thisyear.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Yeah, it's a great read.
Like I said, it's not a longread, but it's a very powerful
message.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
It's very true, jim.
At this stage in your lifeyou've got two children, been
married for 24 years.
Was I right on that?
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yes, 24 years at the well.
What is today?
At the end of this month, onthe 31st, it'll be 24 years
officially.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Okay, don't forget that date.
Nope, never do Good for you.
You got two children in college, obviously doing very well.
Career is doing well.
You're coaching softball.
What do you consider a win tobe in your life?
What's a victory for you?
What do you consider a win tobe in your life?
Speaker 3 (43:56):
What's a victory for you?
I mean a win is watchingsomebody else succeed.
It's just that simple for me.
It's them getting what theywanted and me being able to help
in any way I can to get themthere.
So I look at it as you know.
I'll go back to softball.
Right, I've been doing softballand or baseball when Brandon
(44:17):
was playing, but you know, Icoached a lot of softball for
Chelsea as she was growing upand I continue to coach now and
there's I don't know.
There's just nothing to me likewatching the effort and, you
know, the years and hours ofworking in a gym or out on the
(44:37):
field with with a kid that allof a sudden it clicks and they
get it.
And they get that, that hit,that home run, they make that
play in the field, they makethat throw.
Whatever the circumstance maybe, there's nothing more
exciting to me than watchingthat moment.
(44:58):
You know people have alwaysasked like what did I love about
sports?
Why did I play sports?
Why do I do the things that Ido now?
Right, Whether it's in themortgage industry, whether it's
in coaching, whether it's, youknow, being a father, being a
husband, I always say you playfor the moments After it's all
(45:23):
said and done.
Every single one.
We're not going to remember ifwe won the game.
We're not going to remember ifwe lost the game.
Some of those rugby games Idon't even know if we remember
the game, probably not evengonna.
You know some of those rugbygames.
I don't even know if weremember the game.
We get hit so hard.
But what you will remember isthe moments.
Yeah, right, that moment thatyou hit the home run, the moment
(45:45):
that you made the play that younever thought you could make,
the moment you drove in thewinning run, you scored the
touchdown, you scored the try,you stopped the try from
somebody else that was about toscore.
Those moments.
No one can ever take away thosemoments from us.
Those are just etched in ourminds and I'm sure you, me and
(46:09):
everyone on this call can thinkback to one of those moments in
their life that, if you closeyour eyes, you can not only just
see it, but you can smell it,you can feel it and it sends
tingles around your body.
Right, it's those moments thatwe do things for.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
I love the way you phrase that Literally.
When you were talking, I wasthinking back about moments and
I got goosebumps, I guess thetingles.
I don't remember what ourrecord even was the years I
played rugby.
I have no idea.
Yeah, I don't remember.
Sometimes I don't know if wewon or lost a game.
I remember I've talked to a lotof guys who over the years have
bragged about us winning theMichigan Cup and I'm like you
(46:52):
know, guys, we never did win theMichigan Cup.
Yeah, we never did win theMichigan Cup.
Yeah, we did.
I said, no, we didn't.
We came in second place oneyear and I remember somebody
running I won't say the name incase he's listening but running
down the pitch, went to score,put the ball down what he
thought was the try line, but hewas still 10 yards back.
We would have won the MichiganCup but we never won that thing.
(47:15):
But that's the point you'remaking is whether we won or lost
is not the memory.
Some of us remember having won.
The rest of us don't say wedidn't but we don't care.
It was the moments in some ofthose games or those practices,
or just even off the field thatyou make in life Sometimes it's
in a boardroom.
Sometimes it's with your familyon a vacation.
That's it.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Sometimes it's in a boardroom, sometimes it's with
your family on a vacation,that's it.
And it's like I said, even evennow, at this stage of my career
, I I'm really I get to livethose moments when I watch
somebody that I'm coaching havetheir moment and I get to sort
of relive my own set of momentswatching them get theirs, and it
doesn't matter to me if it's.
(47:54):
You know, I think back to youknow, in my current role with M
Source.
You know we work with mortgagebrokers all over the country and
I think of you know, like rightnow I have one thing of that I
remember, you know, six and ahalf, seven years ago when they
called up terrified and theywere, they were breaking off on
their own and it was just thehusband and wife, right, that
(48:19):
was it.
I fast forward now and Iconsider them as much friends as
clients.
And to watch that they're now.
They were licensed in one state.
It was just the two of them andnow they're licensed in about
27 states.
They've probably got 75 plusloan officers.
(48:39):
They're closing more loans thanthey could ever have imagined
or dreamed of at that time.
And and to just watch that andknow that I got to be a part of
that and watch that success, Imean, to me that's, it's
exhilarating and it's it's again, it's it's.
For me, those are the momentsright Like every time, I get to
see that it's it's that momentthat that drives me it's like
(49:04):
you, what you're.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
What I hear you saying is you love to be a part
of someone else's journey, justbe a part of helping.
Yeah now, jim, can you say in achair, in a nutshell with the
audience, exactly what m sourceprovides?
I know, obviously, just so thatpeople know, because there's
there are mortgage lenders outthere, brokers listening to this
, I know know there are a lot ofthem, so share.
Speaker 3 (49:23):
So M-Source is what we're consulting for.
We specialize with the mortgagelenders and brokers and loan
officers of the country.
I always say that our idealclient is that individual that
decides they want to break offon their own and they want to
carve out their own niche andstart their own company.
(49:47):
We will help them from theinception of that idea up to the
point where they are stillexpanding and growing as they
continue on.
So it could be, you know, youcould call me and say, hey, I
want to become a mortgage brokerand this is what I'm going to
do, and we form your company, wehelp you get established, we
(50:07):
help you with all the licensingand the paperwork that needs to
happen to get there.
And then we counsel and coachyou on, you know, making sure
that you're running a compliantcompany and you're doing the
things that you need to do tostay, you know, compliant and
successful company and you'redoing the things that you need
to do to stay, you know,compliant and successful.
So you know, I guess I the waythat I put it to people is you
(50:31):
know we help you get up andrunning and licensed and then we
help you keep it Perfect.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
So we're going to include on the show notes, if
those who are interested, please, in the bottom of the show
notes we're going to click.
We're going to include a linkto mSource.
Click on that explore.
They've got a really greatwebsite.
You can see a picture of theteam and please click on it.
If you have any questions, feelfree to email me and I'll
connect you directly to Jim.
Okay, this is my favoritequestion, jim.
(50:54):
This is one that intrigues methe most with people, or at
least one of the top twofavorite questions is I'm here
in Ne, in nina wisconsin, hereon the south side of detroit
south side, yeah, don't remember.
Um, if I've come over today,log on a trailer, my time
machine, you and I get in it.
We go back to a predeterminedwhatever you decide.
(51:15):
When you were a younger versionof jim bell and you get to sit
and give yourself some words ofadvice, some direction, some
success ideas, what would yousay to your younger self?
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Okay, so this is outside of the back to the
future, where I know what to beton, right, yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
We don't have a betting book.
Speaker 3 (51:37):
I was going to say because that's going to work out
okay, for a part of it.
I think I would just go back andsay, look, you know what I mean
.
Be true to yourself, do thethings that bring you joy and
help you kind of get where youwant to be.
(51:58):
I think and you and I havetalked about this before I think
we all sort of build barriersaround ourselves in anticipation
of who we are, and I thinkoftentimes we get stuck within
our own barriers that we'vebuilt up and we lose sight of
(52:18):
who we truly are.
And we lose sight of who wetruly are Right, and it's it's
finding those ways back to yourtrue self and what your true
purpose and your, your, youressence is.
That is that is most valuable.
And I think I think I know mepersonally I have veered from
that path and sort of lockedmyself into time periods where I
(52:45):
was convinced I was somebody.
I wasn't and I just lost thattime.
And you know, time is one ofthe things we just can never get
back.
And I would say to myself look,don't lock yourself in a box
ever.
Be true to yourself, believe inthe things that you believe in
(53:06):
and go 100% toward them.
I often tell my staff here at MSource.
You do the right things andgood things follow, and I think
we lose sight of that sometimesbecause we get caught in the
process, we're too consumed byother things and we lose sight
(53:28):
of ourselves.
And I think if I were to goback in time and look at myself
in the mirror or look at myselfface to face, I would just be
like you have to be true toyourself.
Be true to yourself.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
And I think that's a difficult one for a lot of
people because, like you said,sometimes we have these barriers
around us I call it layers ofmarble around us that we don't
really know who our true selvesare, and that's why I think it's
so important to stop and listento yourself, listen to others,
get off social media, turn theTV off, journal Read Whatever
(54:02):
you need to do to quiet yourbrain meditate, yoga, workout,
go for a walk, spend time innature, whatever it might be.
When you do those types ofthings, you have a propensity to
actually start to find out whoyou are.
A mutual friend of ours, jim,that played ball with us in
college.
He and I used to go to the dams.
Oh yeah, yeah.
(54:23):
I don't remember where theywere.
I remember we could walk or wecould pedal our bikes in the
rugby house to the dams.
I remember that, so theycouldn't have been too far.
We would go there on occasionand I remember one time he and I
were sitting there and he saidyou know why we don't slow down,
brian, in life, and of coursethat was a different level of
speed back then.
It was partying and playingrugby and maybe chasing women or
(54:45):
whatever we were doing in ourearly 20s and I said, no, I
don't, he goes, because if weslow down, the stench of our
lives will catch up to us andI'm like, wow, and I think about
that so often is when I'm goingtoo fast or you're going too
fast, anyone, and you stop andreally start to reflect and
think and feel who you.
(55:05):
You realize that that's a lot oftimes why we don't really know
our true selves, because when westop so many things, we're
afraid things are going to catchup to us the mistakes we've
made, the regrets we have.
In reality, that stuff's alwaysgoing to be there, it's always
going to chase us.
When we stop and turn and fightit, it's when we really
determine okay, now I know who Iam.
(55:26):
I at least have a better senseof who I am than if I just keep
running and running and ignoringmy true self, or what I call
your true peak identity.
So that's a powerful one.
I like that answer.
I haven't heard it worded theway you worded it, all right
(55:50):
brother.
Speaker 3 (55:50):
What's next for Jim Bell?
Just keep moving forward, right, keep sailing forward.
You know I've got a lot ofplans.
I mean new things that you knowin my career.
Anyway, that it's.
I think there's some excitingthings on the horizon for
mortgage brokers and some newideas that I have to try to help
them be better, right, like howdo I help them, you know,
(56:15):
manage their day better, manage,you know, have a little less
stress, be able to focus on whatthey enjoy doing more.
So I've got some ideas aroundthat.
Personally, you know I got thetravel bug again last year.
Kids and I flew down to theGalapagos Islands for eight days
(56:35):
, which was just absolutelymind-blowing, amazing.
So, you know, I know we'vetalked about Africa and possibly
doing a safari or somethingelse, but I guess I want to go
out there and just continue toexperience the world.
Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, you told me about the Galapagos trip.
I think the first time weactually spoke a month or so ago
and I put it on my on my bucketlist of somewhere I do
definitely want to go at somepoint.
I've never been there yeah,absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (57:07):
I mean you think back and I mean this is where
charles darwin did a lot of hisresearch.
You know about evolution and youknow how how things you know
develop over time and you knowyou go down there like we spent
probably half a day with thegiant tortoises okay, tell
people how big they are they arelike the ones we were and they
(57:29):
vary dramatically depending onwhat island that they they are
originally from and where theyare, but the the average that we
were seeing was probably three,three and a half feet tall,
some somewhere a little bittaller.
Their heads stick up evenfurther and they're probably
seven feet long.
I mean, in some of these, theysaid, were 175 to 200 years old.
Speaker 2 (57:53):
That's almost hard to comprehend.
Speaker 3 (57:55):
Isn't it?
And then when we went back tothe little breeding area,
because they've got them inthese preserves and they're like
30, 40 acres, so it's not likethey're, they're confined in a
pen, um, but they had the, the,the babies, and I mean they're
the the size of a half dollar.
And you think about that,you're like holy moly, that that
(58:18):
seven foot long, four footbeast that we just saw moseying
along out there came from thatlittle half dollar.
Speaker 2 (58:27):
Well, when you have 200 years to grow man, you can
grow something.
Speaker 3 (58:30):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah, I'd be a little afraid ofwhat I'd look like in 200 years
.
I'll be honest.
Speaker 2 (58:35):
If you keep growing, man, I don't know if I want to
say that.
How much do you think thebigger ones weigh?
Speaker 3 (58:42):
Oh, I don't even know they were.
They were enormous.
That that shell had to beseveral hundred pounds.
Wow, I mean, it was just.
You know, I have videos of themwalking and it doesn't.
They don't look I'm a, but Imean it was the same way with a
lot of the animals in that area.
There's just so many uniquespecies of animals and because
(59:06):
the whole area is protected, theanimals are not afraid of
humans.
So you could be walking alongand there could be a bird
sitting on a branch that's twofeet from you and you just look
over and look at it, take apicture and it doesn't flinch,
it doesn't move, it doesn't flyoff.
Um, because they're so wellprotected, I would go there just
(59:30):
to see these turtles theturtles, I mean the sea lions,
the the different iguanas.
They have marine iguanas thatjump into the water and swim
Tropical penguins which, I'll behonest, before I went to
Galapagos I don't even know that.
I knew there were tropicalpenguins.
Speaker 2 (59:49):
Yeah, I've never heard of them.
All right, one final question,jim.
Is there anything that I didn'task, any question that you wish
I would have?
Or is there any one finalmessage you want to leave with
the audience members out there?
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
You don't actually physically interact, but you're
like right there with them.
Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Jim, we lost you for a moment.
Oh sorry, that's okay, I wasactually.
I thought you were done, so Iasked the final question.
Oh I'm sorry, no, you're good.
So.
Oh, I'm sorry, no, you're good.
So I'll ask it again.
Is there any question that Ididn't ask that you wish I would
have?
Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Or is there any final message you want to leave with
the Bamboo Pack audience?
I don't think so.
I think we've hit a lot ofstuff.
I mean we've gone over a lot ofinformation.
(01:00:49):
I mean, you know, I guess if itsums it all up is, you know,
continue to drive yourselftoward the things you're
passionate about, right, do thethings you love, um, and and do
them a hundred.
You know we only get a certainamount of time on this, uh, on
this big rock, um, just try toto, to embrace every moment that
you have to do the things youlove.
Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
All right.
So I'm going to rephrase thatagain, cause I think that's a
great final message Continue todrive yourself toward the things
you're passionate about andgive it your very best, Give it
your 100%.
Life is short and every secondwe tick away it gives us one
less second to chase the dream.
Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Brother, I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
I really do.
You're a great man.
John and Kathy have done anamazing job and now you're doing
an amazing job.
You and Julie are doing anamazing job with Chelsea and
Brandon, and that's how wecontinue to make this world a
better place.
Good people breed good peoplewho breed good people.
I love it, amen.
I love it.
All right, can you stand for aminute after we're done, after
we wrap up?
Sure, all right.
All right, my brother, Iappreciate you, man.
(01:01:39):
You were an amazing guest onthe Bamboo Lab podcast.
We're going to have you back onhere again in the future if
you'll take your time under yourbusy schedule to do so.
But again, I appreciate you,thank you.
Thank you, all right, everyone.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek.
We'll be back again next weekwith another episode and in the
meantime, I want to Please getout there.
I'm going to ask you to striveto be and give your best.
(01:02:00):
Please show love and respect toothers and for yourself, and
please live consciously andintentionally and remember, fail
your way forward by Jim Bell.
All right, everyone.
Thank you very much.
Talk to you soon.
I appreciate each and every oneof you.
Until next time.
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your
host, peak Performance Coach,brian Bosley.
Are you stuck on the hamsterwheel of life, spinning and
spinning but not really movingforward?
Are you ready to jump off andsoar?
Are you finally ready to sculptyour life?
If so, you've landed in theright place.
(00:21):
This podcast is created andbroadcast just for you, all of
you strivers, thrivers andsurvivors out there.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Brian and the Bamboo Lab,
feel free to reach out toexplore your true peak level at
wwwbamboolab3.com.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey everybody, welcome to this week's episode
of the Bamboo Lab Podcast.
I am Brian Bosley, your host,and today we have a gentleman on
this show, this episode, who Ihave known for over 30 years.
We have Jim Bell.
Jim is the president of MSource Training and Consulting.
Jim has worked in just aboutevery facet or probably every
(01:07):
facet of the mortgage industryfor almost 30 years now.
This guy knows the ins and outsof the industry.
But more than that, jim is justan incredible person in this
sense.
When I talked to him a fewweeks ago, when I asked him what
is your purpose in life andpassion?
First thing, didn't evenquestion it to serve the world,
to serve other people.
And that just shows he'smarried to Julia of 24 years I
(01:29):
believe I could be wrong on that.
He's got a daughter, chelsea 21, and a son, brandon 19.
And when he's not focusing onhis children or his family and
work, he loves to hunt, he lovesto fish and he has a deep
passion for cooking.
But going back to what I saidabout serving others, jim really
loves to mentor people.
(01:49):
He loves to mentor otherprofessionals in his industry,
but he also likes to coach youthsoftball.
So he's got this spirit abouthim of just wanting to give back
to the world, to his family, tothe community.
And the other side of it is Jimknew me at and I knew him at
probably our goofiest stages oflife.
Back in the 1990s we bothplayed rugby football at Central
(02:12):
Michigan University.
So those stories will probablystay off this show.
But in the meantime, jim Bell,my friend, welcome to the Bamboo
Lab podcast.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Thank you very, very much for having me.
Yeah, I think it's best that weleave the rugby stories off,
just to keep things on the upand up.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You've got to keep some integrity in the show and
everybody else I want to mention.
We're experiencing a lot ofhigh winds here today I'm in
Wisconsin and a lot of snow andblowing.
There might be some glitches inthe audio.
Just let it go.
The service might beinterrupted here and there.
So, anyway, let's get back toJim.
Jim, tell us about yourself.
(02:50):
I mean, obviously, I know agreat deal about you, but tell
the Bamboo Pack members outthere a little bit about
yourself your childhood, family,where you grew up, and Kevin,
who or what inspired you tobecome the man you are today.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Well, I grew up in Trenton, michigan, born and
raised, I guess, south ofDetroit.
I've never really moved outsideof about 10 miles from where it
all started.
In fact, my parents still livein our childhood home, so I get
to go back and visit my old roomand see that on a regular basis
(03:22):
, although now it's an office, Ibelieve.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It never stays in our room.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, I had two brothers, john and Mike, both
older, so I was the baby of thefamily.
Both mom and dad are stilldoing well and, living in the
old house on Cleveland Street,grew up playing a lot of sports,
(03:49):
did a lot of things within ourneighborhood.
I guess you know back then andmaybe you'll attest or
understand, those were dayswhere we went out and played,
right, I mean, we went out andwe played all day.
So it might have been baseball,basketball, football, depending
on the season, or maybe it wasjust a hide-and-seek or whatever
it might have been.
(04:09):
So we spent lots and lots oftime running around the
neighborhood.
They were kids of all ages, soour gang of merry folks running
around the neighborhood rangedanywhere from six to 16.
So it was a neat neighborhoodto be a part of.
I grew up, like I said, you know, small town but you know very,
(04:34):
very loving family, very closeto my family still.
So somewhere in the career path, I mean I meandered a bit.
Yes, I landed in the street,but I will tell you the same as
anybody in the mortgage industryit was never a career goal.
Mortgages is something thatpeople sort of fall into, right,
(04:56):
I mean, I don't know that, ifyou were to go around a room
full of people and ask how manypeople said they wanted to be a
loan officer when they grew up,that you're ever going to see an
end raised.
Why is that, jim?
Why is?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
that you think You've said that before.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
I just don't know that people understand that it's
out there, that it's a thing,right, I mean it's.
You know we hear about doctors,we hear about firefighters and
police officers and accountants,but I don't think people ever
think that you know there's thisguy whose whole job is to help
you finance a home.
You know we hear about therealtor, but you know it's just
(05:35):
not a career that I think is inthe forefront and there's not a
lot of education directly for it, which I think is kind of a
mistake in the industry, andit's something that we're trying
to help solve at M Source is,you know, how do we provide some
additional education on theloan origination and running a
broker shop and being a businessowner and things like that?
(05:57):
But I think it's just a matterof people just don't realize
that it's a career path and itcan be an incredibly profitable
and rewarding career path.
Um, you know I I've spent thebetter part of these last 30
years in shape or form, whetherit's a direct to consumer or
(06:19):
helping other loan officers orother business owners.
Um, you know, try to reach theirgoals right.
So, as a consumer, it was howdo I get you into the best
financing we can to satisfy yourhome needs.
Right, as a loan officer, it'show do I make you a better loan
officer?
How do I help you to sell moreloans?
(06:40):
How do you get in touch withmore people?
How do you build more referralnetworks?
And then, as business owners,it's kind of taking it to that
next step.
Right, how do you manage allthe hats you have to wear?
Because you're still alone byheart and that's what you want
to be doing, but you now have alot of other responsibilities.
How do you balance and jugglethose things?
(07:00):
So that's me, I guess, is Ilove to help people solve
problems.
Right Is get in there and seewhere they're at and what they
need to be doing and what theywant to be doing, and then how
can I help them?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Well, going back, I want to so that idea, and you
had mentioned that to me when wetalked three or four weeks ago.
What, what was it that you?
Who was it in your childhood?
Or was it an experience or ateacher, or a book or a parent
who inspired you, or whatinspired you as a child to be
this man who wants to helppeople solve problems?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
You know, I think it goes back to my parents, right?
I mean I still look back at myparents and think how in the
world did they do the thingsthey did, right?
I mean, between the fact thatwe weren't a wealthy family
growing up but we never reallywanted for anything, we always
went on summer vacations.
We always did things right.
You know, I don't know how mydad, as many hours as he worked,
(07:59):
never missed baseball games orbasketball games or football
games, never missed baseballgames or basketball games or
football games.
So I think, you know, I grew upwatching two people do
everything for their kids andfor their parents and for their
friends, and just the joy thatthey got out of watching other
(08:21):
people get what they wanted orsucceed in what they were trying
to do.
To me it's.
You know, I just look back onthat and it's like how they did
the things they did.
I don't know like how we wenton summer vacation every single
year all over the country.
I think by the time I was 17, Ithink I had already been in
(08:43):
like 42 states, wow, and most ofit was driving in a big old
blue Econoline van.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It wasn't flying around, were you buckled in.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Oh no, we were sitting on the big hump.
That was right between thefront seats, right, I mean
that's where we all sat.
I mean that's where we all sat.
So, but you know, it's when Ilook back, I mean that truly is
where it is.
I mean they've inspired me atso many different levels, you
know, and even today, I meanthey are still there anytime I
(09:18):
need them for anything.
You know, I still look back to aconversation that I believed
changed the trajectory of whereI am right now, and it was a
conversation I had on my dad'sporch and we sat there one day
and I was still kind of new andgreen in the mortgage business
and I think I was bellyaching abit about the market and I don't
(09:42):
know if this is the rightcareer for me and maybe I'm
doing this wrong and I, you know, hemming and hawing and
second-guessing, and he satthere just very quietly
listening and you know, I thinkwhen I was done with my pathway,
he looked at me and he said isthis what you want to do?
(10:02):
Like, do you enjoy this?
Is this, I mean, does thisdrive you, does it make you
happy?
And I said, yeah, it reallydoes.
I said I just don't know.
And he's like stop, and he'slike you have never had anything
in your life that you put atime period on that you weren't
able to do.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And he's like what I need.
Can you repeat that from whatyour dad?
What you said, it's glitchingin and out a little bit.
Just use your dad quietly.
Then he asked you, do you likethis?
And then you said yes, Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
So you know, he, he listened to what I finally said
and and he just quietly lookedat me and said you know, there's
never been anything you'vewanted to do that you haven't
been able to do.
And what I think you need to donow is focus on what are your
next steps?
Right?
(10:53):
Stop second guessing, stopquestioning yourself, stop with
all the negativity and justfigure out how to do it.
And you know, I think it wasthat conversation that led and I
don't know exactly where Iheard the quote the first time,
but it's something that hasdriven my career ever since,
(11:14):
which is, you know, fail yourway forward.
And you know, it was thosewords that he said that day on
the porch that just kind ofdrove me to the idea of just
keep moving forward, get up andkeep working toward the things
you want, stop questioningwhether you can or can't and
just do it.
And for me, that changedeverything.
(11:37):
What are your mom and dad'snames?
My dad's name is John and mymom's name is Kathy.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Kathy.
So this is dedicated to Johnand Kathy Bell, because you have
raised one hell of a great sonand he's making a difference in
the world and I love that.
And you have said that.
I think every time we've talkedin the last few weeks, jim, you
have said Fail your Way Forwardand tell us what that means to
you.
There's an audience member outthere right now who's probably
thinking what does means to you.
(12:04):
There's an audience member outthere right now is probably
thinking what does he mean byfail your way forward?
Because we think of failure aswe're regressing, but you're
talking about failure as aprogression.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
So failure way forward is and I share this with
my kids all the time too, andanybody that I work with is that
if I fail and I screw up morethings than just about anybody I
know, and that's because I willtry things that most people
won't try.
And I guess my thing is I don'tfeel like I have to be the
(12:36):
expert to get started atsomething, I just have to get
moving.
And to me it's I would rathertry something and fail and then
get up and try it again and failagain and keep failing at it
until I've got it right.
(12:56):
Because at the end of the day,I mean, we go back to all those
stories we've ever heard aboutThomas Edison and the light bulb
and all the things that peoplejust kept failing and failing
and failing.
You know, I think the otherpowerful one that you hear from
the sports side is like MichaelJordan, right Cut from his high
school basketball team and youknow all the shots that he
(13:17):
missed.
But he just kept going and hekept failing and failing and
failing until he wasn't failinganymore.
And I still believe that I failevery day, but I want to think
that I'm always failing ahead.
I'm failing forward in my lifethat yeah, just because I fell
(13:38):
down, I still got back up and Itried it again the next day and
I keep achieving things becauseI failed forward.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
You know that reminds me.
There was a time, Jim, when Iwas with American Express
Financial Advisors.
This is back in 95, maybe 94,probably a year or two before I
left and started my consultingfirm.
We were in Monterey, california, for a leadership conference
and my regional vice president'sname was John Hance.
You probably see HanceFinancial around the Detroit
(14:09):
area we do.
Yeah Well, he was withAmeriprise and I think at the
time and I don't really know theexact numbers, but I think
there were 35 regions around thecountry that were Ameriprise
financial advisors.
You know each one had maybe 400or 500 different employees,
ameriprise financial advisor.
Each one had maybe 400 or 500different employees.
At the time John's region wasnumber one in the country but if
(14:31):
I remember the numbers and Icould be wrong we were doing a
billion dollars a year where insecond place was doing like 500
million.
So it was a dramatic differencebetween first and second place.
So all the other 34 people, allgreat human beings, weren't
competing well with John andthere was a lot of, I think,
jealousy and animosity towardhim and we were.
(14:52):
But he was like you, he triedeverything and we were at a
conference in Monterey,California.
Again, this was 30 years ago, so31 years ago, but I remember
the words.
I think we were on a buffettable getting our food and John
and I and a few other peoplefrom our region were in line and
somebody yelled across thebuffet line and said hey, mr
(15:13):
Hance, a person who didn'treally think highly of John, who
was maybe a little envious orjealous.
He said I see, you guys havecrashed a lot of planes this
year and the whole buffet or Ithink it was the buffet, or
maybe we're on a big table.
(15:33):
Everybody stopped and Johnpaused and he said we have.
He said but you know what?
We've crashed planes, you don'thave the balls to fly.
And it just took the wind outof the room, out of the
everybody there, like whoa.
And that was, that was alearning for me at that moment
of that and that stuck, thoseexact quotes stuck with me and
it hit.
That was his learning for me atthat moment of that and that
stuck, those exact quotes stuckwith me.
And that was his way of sayingfail forward, just like you're
saying now, 30-some years later.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, I think it's just we have to be willing.
I think the other one that I goback to is along those lines,
was something I remember, wassomething I I remember hearing
you know less Brown um, who Ialways love listening to less
Brown, just because I'm not sureyou know it's if I'm being
(16:14):
coached or going to church,right, a little bit of both,
right, cause I always feel likeI've when I listened to him.
But you know, what I wanted tosay was that you don't have to
be great to get started, but youhave to be started to be great,
right, and I don't know if thatwas originally him who coined
(16:36):
it, but it was something Iremember him saying over and
over and over and and I justit's.
It's that same type of apremise of you know you got to
get started somewhere and I'mwilling to fail until I figure
it out.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah Well, I think so many people in the world and
even myself and probablyyourself included.
Years ago I always thoughtmotivation was the creation of
action.
And I've learned and I tell mychildren, I tell my clients
motivation seldom creates action.
But action creates motivationIf you just get out there and
(17:10):
start something.
Think about working out.
I can't sit on the couch on aday like today when it's stormy
and snowy and windy, andmotivate myself to go for a hike
or a run.
But if I just go out there anddo it instantly, I'm motivated.
Within the first three or fourminutes I'm ready to go, and I
think Mel Robbins does thisreally well.
I'm a big Mel Robbins fan.
(17:32):
I'm reading her third book rightnow.
It's called Let them, but shehas the five second rule.
I think that's the title of herfirst book.
She's like, whenever you'recontemplating doing something
you don't want to do, that youneed to do, don't think about
say five, four, three, two, one,go and just do it, because with
after five minutes you're goingto convince yourself, or five
seconds you will convinceyourself not to do that thing.
You're talking about that on amuch larger scale, of course,
(17:54):
but that applies whether we'redoing something.
You know we're trying somethingnew, that we might fail it, or
if we just have to go for a runor put the phone down and start
reading a book.
So fail your way forward.
I love that, hey.
So in the last 12 months, oneto two years, jim, what would
(18:16):
you say is your greatestlearning?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Excuse me.
You know I think about this alot and for me, it's that we're
never done learning.
I think of the points in mylife, in my career, where I have
been stuck, and it's usuallybecause I stopped feeding my
(18:40):
brain.
Feeding my brain, you know.
I think I shared with you oneof our previous conversations
about the fact that, you know, Ilook at my career in mortgages
and I consider myself a 30-yearrookie, right that every day I'm
going to learn something new,and I think one of the bigger
things that I've learned overthe last several years is that
(19:03):
we always have to keep thatmindset in our the forefront of
what we do.
Right, we're constantly openingto learning new things, whether
it's from our peers, whetherit's from a book, whether it's
from a podcast like this,whether it's, you know, going to
a seminar, wherever it might be, we have the ability to absorb
(19:23):
more information in today'senvironment than we ever have
before.
So keep feeding your brain.
Keep feeding your brain, causethat's you know, I don't know
that ideas are, and we may havetalked about this previously,
but it's like I don't know thatideas are really truly created
anymore.
I think a lot of the things,but I think we spur new
(19:44):
variations of ideas and how canwe take something else and and
modify it to help somewhere somesome other way?
How do we repurpose older ideasto new ideas?
And and I just feel likelearning for me has always been
that outlet to continue thecreativity, to continue to
(20:07):
strive for something more thanwhat I see in front of me,
because I know that there'salways more to learn.
So I think the more we feed thebrain, the better we get.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I couldn't agree more .
You're right.
Right now in this era of ourexistence is an era we have so
much information at the tip ofour fingertips and we can use it
.
One of two ways we can scrollsocial media TikTok, snapchat,
or.
My weakness is YouTube.
I can literally sit down and Ican go a half an hour and wake
(20:40):
up not wake up, but come to mysenses and say I just watched 30
minutes of dumb stuff that Ihave that provides no value to
me, you know and so we have thatoption of doing that or the
option of look, you shouldlisten to podcasts.
You know, watching speakers thatwe would never have access to.
You know, we can obviously readbooks online or actually pick
(21:01):
up a damn physical book and readit there.
I don't know if you and Italked about this, jim, but
there's an interesting storythat happened in 1899.
At the time, this gentleman bythe name of Charles Duell was I
think his title was theCommissioner of the United
States Patent Office.
He ran the US Patent Office in1899.
So he's the guy running thepatent office inventing of new
(21:21):
things.
And he sent a telegram or atelegraph to president US
President William McKinley, andit said something to the effect
of I, dear Mr President, I, ascommissioner of the US Patent
Office, request or recommendthat we consider shutting down
the US Patent Office.
And in quotes, his reasoningwas because everything that can
be invented has already beeninvented.
That was 1899.
(21:42):
And he thought everything thatcan be invented has already been
invented.
That was 1899.
And he thought everything thatcould ever be invented was
already invented, has alreadybeen invented, and I think just
about everything you or I or anyof the podcast listeners right
now have done since they woke upthis morning.
Probably 99% of the thingsthey've used or experienced was
something created, inventedpost-1899.
(22:05):
And it seems so short-sightedand narrow-minded for Charles
Duhal to say that and to thinkthat way.
But at the same time, I askmyself are we really any
different?
I mean, so many times we shutour own patent office down, so
often we stop learning, we stopabsorbing, we start clicking
YouTube videos for 30 minutes ata time, or we scroll Facebook
(22:27):
or TikTok, snapchat, instagram,when we have that opportunity,
at those moments, to learn andabsorb information that is right
there at our fingertips.
Any possible subject you everwant to learn is there, and
there's a good book for anybodyout there who wants to listen,
called the War of Art, byStevenven pressfield, and he
talks about when you are in themoment of trying to learn,
(22:48):
absorbing, uh, being free withyour mind instead of being
connected to social media you'llcome up with ideas, and they're
not even ideas you create, kindof what you said, jim, earlier.
He calls it the muse.
The muse will speak to you andyou will come up with some
grandiose thought or idea thatcould revolutionize your life or
the lives of others.
(23:08):
But we have to be available.
We have to have that mind.
Our patent office has to beopen for that muse to enter the
door.
So I appreciate you bringingthat up because I think that's
an incredibly powerful lesson.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And another thing about it is it can be empowering
, not just for the personabsorbing the information.
You know, one of the things thatI think we get our egos
sometimes get in the way, right,we think we know more than we
do, we think we know it all, wethink we've arrived, we think
we've achieved what we need toachieve.
(23:42):
You know, achieved what we needto achieve.
Um, and one of the things Ienjoy about just being open to
learning is is like even youknow, with the people I work
with, you know we'll talk aboutwhy we do certain things the way
we do certain ways, and mypoint to them is we do it that
way because that's the best ideaI've had so far and I have no
(24:04):
problem that if your idea isbetter than mine, we're going to
make that a reality and we'regoing to change the way we do
things.
And it's your idea, let's runwith it.
So I think, being open to theidea of learning from everybody
around you, whether it's up thechain, down the chain, laterally
, wherever the information iscoming from when you're willing
(24:28):
to accept that you learn fromother people, I think it becomes
empowering for them as well,because now you're giving them
the power to be able to makedecisions and make suggestions
and understand that there'svalue in their ideas, in their
ability to learn more.
And it just creates that cycleof freedom for all of us, right
(24:50):
Like we're not trapped by ourconfines anymore, because it's
not just what I can come up with, it's what you can come up with
, it's what my neighbor can comeup with, it's what anybody else
can come up with.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
So when we're open to it, we just expand the array of
possibilities 100% and there'snothing better than believing in
someone else's idea to increasetheir sense of self-worth, to
give them a voice, to empowerthem as a human being and really
give their opinion, theirthoughts, their ideas the
(25:22):
respect that it deserves.
And you know you're raising twokids, but I know they're still
in college now and I have a sonin college and I've raised a
daughter and I've helped raisethree other amazing adult men
when they were little.
We learn a lot from the peoplewe think we're supposed to be
teaching.
If we just open our ears andeyes and listen, I mean I learn
(25:43):
at least as probably as muchfrom my clients over time as
they learn from me.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
It's interesting.
You say that because, you know,when you asked about
inspirations, I find it ironicfor me that my inspirations seem
to be two very interesting endsof a spectrum, right.
So, like my primary, you know,sense of inspiration early in my
life and it still is my parents, but I find a tremendous amount
(26:13):
of inspiration from my children.
I mean Chelsea, and ofinspiration from my children.
I mean Chelsea and Brandon arejust amazing people.
I mean their general acceptanceof others and their kindness
and the way that they viewthings and their I mean the
perseverance that I watch withthe two of them.
It's inspiring to me, you know,I think of you know.
(26:38):
Chelsea, you know, was notprobably the most gifted athlete
there ever was but was arguablythe best catcher I've ever had
the pleasure of watching playsoftball Because she worked at
it and she loved it and she justkept going and going and
(26:59):
working and trying.
And I see brandon, brandon hashad some some, you know, whether
it's some health issues hereand there and physical issues,
and he, he just has the bestattitude and the best frame of
mind about just continuing to,to charge forward and keep his
mind and body focused on beingpositive.
(27:20):
I mean it's just some of thethings he's been dealt at his
age of only 19.
I mean, a lot of people wouldbe like, oh, you know, the
world's got it in for me, andinstead he just keeps driving
forward and figuring like, okay,well, there's a wall there, I
guess I got to go either over it, around it, in for me, and
instead he just keeps drivingforward and figuring like, okay,
well, there's a wall there, Iguess I got to go either over it
, around it, under it.
I don't know, but I'm gettingpast it and you know I find them
(27:45):
inspiring as well.
And you know, like youmentioned about, we learn from
the people we're supposed to beteaching.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I think we can also be inspired by the people we
hope to inspire 100% agree, likeyou said, as long as we keep
that patent office door open,and we, you know, I know there's
been times in my life where mydoor has been shut.
You know, thankfully I've gotenough people in my life that
call me out on when I feel likeI'm getting narrow.
(28:11):
Because, look, you and I havebeen doing what we do for almost
30 years and that would be inthe world of.
In the real world, we'd becalled experts.
I've never considered myself anexpert, but I've gotten very
arrogant at times about myability to coach others and
understand human behavior, andit's embarrassing.
Look at the podcast.
(28:31):
Last year I've shared this onthe air a couple of times I was
so gross by my own behavior, myown thought patterns, because I
was so worried not worried, Iwas so intrigued, or in in, uh,
engage the numbers.
You know we hit the top 10 ofall podcasts in the world.
I was looking at every day howmany more countries did we get?
How many more cities?
Um, how many more subscribersdo we have?
(28:52):
And it got to the point where,after about maybe, I don't't
know, I'm thinking six weeks ofthat, two months, I don't know
what it was late last summer, Istarted feeling just disgusted
with myself.
The arrogance took over why Ireally started doing this, and
so I shut it down for threemonths two and a half three
months to open up my patentoffice because it was clearly
closed.
(29:12):
On doing why I the on doing,why I did this and I, you know
that's the problem with becomingvery experienced, I think, in
life, like you are and I am inour chosen fields is we have to
always be on guard against thatego.
Um, at least I do, um and uh, Ihave to keep a really tight
(29:32):
noose on that thing, or a ropetie around that thing, or it's
going to get let, it's going togo.
It's going to go crazy.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I think we, we forget , we forget the, the, the
mission and the purpose, rightit, it.
It's like the, the success orthe experience or the, whatever
it is we're doing, takes on alife of its own and we and we
lose the original essence ofwhere we were Right, like for me
it's.
You know, when I was writingOriginating Loans, it was all
(29:59):
about helping consumer.
Right, it was like how do Ihelp you get into the house of
your dreams or take some cashout of the property so you can,
you know, add on that new, youknow wing of the house, or add,
you know, put in a new kitchenor whatever it might be?
How do I help you reach thosedreams All through my career?
(30:20):
I think you're right.
We get stuck in the idea of okay, how many more loans can I
write, how many more dollars canI make, how many more things
can I do, and you start to losethe essence of no, it's, how
many more people can I help?
You know, and it's powerfulwhen we go back to that really
(30:43):
core essence of why we starteddoing what we're doing, and I
think, the more that we stayopen to the idea of you know,
like you said, that you have alot of people in your world that
help you sort of correctyourself when you start veering.
It's important that we surroundourselves with those people so
that they can keep us focused onwhy we do what we do and not to
(31:05):
get swallowed up by the I guess, the process.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I agree, and I think, in addition to that, is putting
ourselves in theenah, wisconsin, as well as there's one in
(31:36):
Appleton, wisconsin.
So Jackie's big into yoga.
Her daughter owns it.
She's been doing yoga for yearsand a couple of Sundays ago we
were doing yoga in her livingroom and I've only done yoga
like three times in my life andthat was years ago and she was
instructing me on thesedifferent poses and they hurt.
I mean, I don't care how muchyou work out, yoga hurts.
And she was kind of snapping atme a little bit.
(31:58):
I'm like dude, relax man.
And I realized no, no, no, youneed to listen because you need
to be an apprentice at this andact like an apprentice.
Keep your mouth shut and yourears open, brian.
And it was a good learning forme that I need to make sure that
I'm in a role at least several,at least once a year, in
something I've never done beforeand to be taught and trained by
(32:18):
somebody who knows what they'redoing and put myself in the
role that my clients are in whenI'm working with them.
So I think you know listening,being open, as well as you know
putting yourself in a positionof being a newbie at something
on occasion is really powerfulfor our development.
I 100% agree, jim.
What would you say would be oneof the most difficult things
(32:42):
you as an individual has gonethrough over your life, and what
did you do to overcome that?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, I think, you know, I've thought a long time
about, you know, these types ofquestions over my lifetime, like
what is the most difficultthing?
And I think for me, life is themost challenging thing we all
deal with, right, we all getthrown curveballs, we all get
thrown to adversity.
(33:11):
You know, I think about my wife, julie and I, you know, 24
years ago, here we were youngkids, getting married, thinking
about starting a family,successful careers, everything
going, you know.
And we find out, you know what,four or five months into our
(33:33):
marriage, that you know we'reexpecting and we couldn't be
happier.
I mean, I never missed adoctor's appointment and I felt
like that was my role.
Right, I had to be there forall the doctor's appointments
and all the stuff, right?
Um, and, and apparently youknow, good lord had a different
(33:53):
plan, that we had to learn somethings and we lost our son at 37
weeks.
He was stillborn.
It was devastating.
But I think what when I lookback and I think of that, I
think of times when we wentthrough the financial crisis
(34:13):
with the mortgage industry.
I think of physical healthissues that I've had, physical
health issues my wife has had,setbacks we've had with the kids
.
Life deals us a lot ofchallenging things, but if I
were to tell you what, the onething that I think has been most
difficult is learning to getback up.
(34:34):
You know, when somethingterrible happens, no matter what
it is, and it's all.
It's all in perspective, right?
So what happens to me, you know, doesn't isn't better or worse
or more significant or lesssignificant than happens to
somebody else.
It's the most important thingand the most significant thing
(34:56):
in their world.
So I I think the the mostdifficult thing is is, when
those things happen, is to to beable to figure out how to get
back up and just start goingagain.
And I think the answer for thatis you sort of scale that wall
by just getting up and you startone step at a time.
(35:19):
You do one day at a time.
And I go back to my mantra thefailure way forward.
When difficult things happen toall of us, it's important for
us to have whatever it is withinyou to be able to just get back
up and keep going.
And like I said, for me, I mean, I could point to a whole host
(35:42):
of different things that havehappened.
I don't know that any one ismore significant than another.
But I think it's really aboutgetting back up.
And how do we just keep movingforward?
You know, and that that takesfriends, it takes family, it
takes, you know, support, ittakes all the things that we all
cherish.
But we got to keep going and wegot to keep getting back up.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
There's definitely a general theme to the message
you're delivering to theaudience today and it's very
clear.
And quite often when I'm in themiddle of a of a talk like this
with someone, I am thinkingabout what is the theme here?
What is this individual tryingto get across to the Bamboo Pack
members out there?
And this one has been veryclear.
It's probably the most clearone I've had in a long time.
(36:27):
It is failure.
Way forward, get back up onestep at a time, one day at a
time.
Just get it back up off theground.
Have you ever read I mean, wemight've talked about this and
I'm sure, but I and I know Ibrought it up with the audience
before the book, uh, the lastlecture by Randy Posh.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
I, I think I've heard of it.
Um, I don't know that, I'veactually read it myself, but I
think, if it's the same bookthat I'm thinking, I think I
have heard of it.
But I mean, please refresh me,because I don't know if it's the
same thing I'm thinking of.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Well, Brandy Posh was a Carnegie Mellon University
computer science professor and Idon't know the time I'm going
to say this was 15 years ago.
It might have been not quitethat many years.
It might have been not quitethat many years, it might have
been longer, but in thattimeframe.
And he was diagnosed.
He was a young guy, I think itwas in his early forties and he
had I think I believe it was twoyoung boys he and his wife did
and he was diagnosed withpancreatic cancer and incurable,
(37:26):
so he knew he was going to die.
So, as a professor at CarnegieMellon University, remember we
used to remember we used to bein rugby tournaments and they'd
see our CMU shirts and theythought we were Carnegie Mellon
University.
Is that right there?
I think it's Carnegie.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Mellon, I do remember that.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
You guys go to Carnegie Mellon, nah, cmu,
central Michigan, anyway.
So when you retire from thatschool you get to give a last
lecture.
So you fill the auditorium withanybody you want and they tape
it.
They videotape it.
And he wrote this speech forhis two boys.
And the speech you can find iton YouTube.
Just Randy Posh Last Lecture.
It's the actual speech, avideotape, and in part of the
(38:01):
speech he talks.
As he's giving a talk.
He's saying this is my legacyto my children because they are
going to grow up without afather.
The rest of their lives and hetalks about life is all about
brick walls.
You know you're going to comeacross brick walls all your life
.
Some are going to be high, someare going to be short, some are
going to be average.
And he said the reason the brickwalls are there are not for us
(38:21):
to turn around and retreat.
And his quote was the brickwalls are put there for you to
prove how badly you want what'son the other side.
And that quote stuck with meand I read the.
I saw the lecture I don't knowwhen it ever aired on YouTube or
wherever it was aired back thenand then I read the book.
So he it became so popular itwas the number one I believe it
(38:43):
was YouTube download of alltimes when it came out and then
he wrote a book on the samesubject before he passed away
and left an amazing legacy tomillions of people around the
world who heard his vision.
And that's exactly what you'resaying is brick walls are there,
but they're there for us toprove how badly we want what's
on the other side.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Yeah, I mean that's powerful, but it's true, it
really is.
It's just, you know, we havejust such infinite potential and
it's just a matter of offiguring out what, what ignites
every person to go for thatRight, and how to keep going
(39:24):
when, when we, when we don't getwhat we want, like I see right
now in the mortgage industry.
You know loan officers arereally struggling.
This is a.
You know, we've had aprotracted 20 years of
incredibly low interest rates.
We've had plenty of housingavailable for sale and now we're
(39:46):
seeing another one of theseperfect storms in the financial
markets with mortgages becauserates have gone up rapidly.
Markets with mortgages becauserates have gone up rapidly.
There are generations of buyerswho've never heard of rates in
the sixes and sevens, let aloneeight.
There are loan officers thathave never heard of rates in the
(40:08):
sixes and sevens and eights andI think they're all kind of
finding that.
You know, I call it the whomoved my cheese moment.
Right, like, for a long, longtime things were very, very good
and now the market has gottenreally difficult.
There's limited inventory,there's a lot of vying for
(40:29):
competition on on every housethat goes up on the market, and
then a couple of that withinterest rates and people not
wanting to move.
You know, and I get thatquestion.
You know I get questions aboutyou know, what do I do Like how
do I stay going in this business?
And it's like, well, you justgot to keep going.
You have to find new avenues,right?
You know?
Do you manage the people's lifeevents for them?
(40:52):
You know, if I'm a 50 somethingand both my kids have moved out
and I'm in a 3 000 square foothouse, I'm probably thinking
about downsizing.
And at the same time, if I'm aloan officer and I see a family
that are a young couple, that'sfind out they're pregnant with
twins and they're in aone-bedroom apartment, guess
what?
They're probably going to needa bigger place and maybe a house
(41:13):
.
You know, go out there andfigure out how do you tap into
people's needs more effectivelyand how do you just keep moving
forward?
I mean, I think so many arejust sitting back in the woes of
, well, I'm waiting for rates tocome down.
It's like, well, you're notgoing to wait until gas prices
(41:35):
go down to drive the car.
That's a good metaphor, youknow.
So you just get up and get outthere and go after it, and I
think I go back to thatconversation with my dad.
Right, it's like you have achoice, right?
You want this.
Then go figure out how to makeit happen.
Stop second-guess guessingwhether you can make it happen.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Is that a book you recommend to people who Moved my
Cheese?
Speaker 3 (42:02):
Oh, absolutely.
I think who Moved my Cheese isa very, very short read, but for
me I thought it was verypowerful.
I mean, the message is very,very clear that you know we
constantly have to be lookingaround the corner for the next
thing, right?
I mean because we can't bankthat everything we ever had will
always be there.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
I agree, and for those who haven't heard of it,
this is a book by SpencerJohnson called who Moved my
Cheese and it's about two miceand two little men going through
a maze and how they havedifferent personalities and how,
you know, one obviouslycontinues to persevere and adapt
to the changes in his or hersituation and finally, you know,
(42:43):
obviously gets the cheese, soto speak, because the cheese
keeps moving in the maze.
So I would recommend that bookto anyone.
In fact, as you were talking, Ithought I haven't read.
I haven't read that book inprobably three or four years and
I have it in my best.
I have my books.
Most of them are in storage ina storage unit, but I have a
select group of books, maybe 150at my house but then I have
about 30 that are set right infront of my TV in the TV stand,
(43:07):
but on the bottom, so that whenI'm looking at the TV those
books are drawing me and that'sin that pile or in that row.
I mean, and that's in that pileor in that row, but I have not
read that in a while.
So I'm going to reread it thisyear.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Yeah, it's a great read.
Like I said, it's not a longread, but it's a very powerful
message.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
It's very true, jim.
At this stage in your lifeyou've got two children, been
married for 24 years.
Was I right on that?
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yes, 24 years at the well.
What is today?
At the end of this month, onthe 31st, it'll be 24 years
officially.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Okay, don't forget that date.
Nope, never do Good for you.
You got two children in college, obviously doing very well.
Career is doing well.
You're coaching softball.
What do you consider a win tobe in your life?
What's a victory for you?
What do you consider a win tobe in your life?
Speaker 3 (43:56):
What's a victory for you?
I mean a win is watchingsomebody else succeed.
It's just that simple for me.
It's them getting what theywanted and me being able to help
in any way I can to get themthere.
So I look at it as you know.
I'll go back to softball.
Right, I've been doing softballand or baseball when Brandon
(44:17):
was playing, but you know, Icoached a lot of softball for
Chelsea as she was growing upand I continue to coach now and
there's I don't know.
There's just nothing to me likewatching the effort and, you
know, the years and hours ofworking in a gym or out on the
(44:37):
field with with a kid that allof a sudden it clicks and they
get it.
And they get that, that hit,that home run, they make that
play in the field, they makethat throw.
Whatever the circumstance maybe, there's nothing more
exciting to me than watchingthat moment.
(44:58):
You know people have alwaysasked like what did I love about
sports?
Why did I play sports?
Why do I do the things that Ido now?
Right, Whether it's in themortgage industry, whether it's
in coaching, whether it's, youknow, being a father, being a
husband, I always say you playfor the moments After it's all
(45:23):
said and done.
Every single one.
We're not going to remember ifwe won the game.
We're not going to remember ifwe lost the game.
Some of those rugby games Idon't even know if we remember
the game, probably not evengonna.
You know some of those rugbygames.
I don't even know if weremember the game.
We get hit so hard.
But what you will remember isthe moments.
Yeah, right, that moment thatyou hit the home run, the moment
(45:45):
that you made the play that younever thought you could make,
the moment you drove in thewinning run, you scored the
touchdown, you scored the try,you stopped the try from
somebody else that was about toscore.
Those moments.
No one can ever take away thosemoments from us.
Those are just etched in ourminds and I'm sure you, me and
(46:09):
everyone on this call can thinkback to one of those moments in
their life that, if you closeyour eyes, you can not only just
see it, but you can smell it,you can feel it and it sends
tingles around your body.
Right, it's those moments thatwe do things for.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
I love the way you phrase that Literally.
When you were talking, I wasthinking back about moments and
I got goosebumps, I guess thetingles.
I don't remember what ourrecord even was the years I
played rugby.
I have no idea.
Yeah, I don't remember.
Sometimes I don't know if wewon or lost a game.
I remember I've talked to a lotof guys who over the years have
bragged about us winning theMichigan Cup and I'm like you
(46:52):
know, guys, we never did win theMichigan Cup.
Yeah, we never did win theMichigan Cup.
Yeah, we did.
I said, no, we didn't.
We came in second place oneyear and I remember somebody
running I won't say the name incase he's listening but running
down the pitch, went to score,put the ball down what he
thought was the try line, but hewas still 10 yards back.
We would have won the MichiganCup but we never won that thing.
(47:15):
But that's the point you'remaking is whether we won or lost
is not the memory.
Some of us remember having won.
The rest of us don't say wedidn't but we don't care.
It was the moments in some ofthose games or those practices,
or just even off the field thatyou make in life Sometimes it's
in a boardroom.
Sometimes it's with your familyon a vacation.
That's it.
Speaker 3 (47:33):
Sometimes it's in a boardroom, sometimes it's with
your family on a vacation,that's it.
And it's like I said, even evennow, at this stage of my career
, I I'm really I get to livethose moments when I watch
somebody that I'm coaching havetheir moment and I get to sort
of relive my own set of momentswatching them get theirs, and it
doesn't matter to me if it's.
(47:54):
You know, I think back to youknow, in my current role with M
Source.
You know we work with mortgagebrokers all over the country and
I think of you know, like rightnow I have one thing of that I
remember, you know, six and ahalf, seven years ago when they
called up terrified and theywere, they were breaking off on
their own and it was just thehusband and wife, right, that
(48:19):
was it.
I fast forward now and Iconsider them as much friends as
clients.
And to watch that they're now.
They were licensed in one state.
It was just the two of them andnow they're licensed in about
27 states.
They've probably got 75 plusloan officers.
(48:39):
They're closing more loans thanthey could ever have imagined
or dreamed of at that time.
And and to just watch that andknow that I got to be a part of
that and watch that success, Imean, to me that's, it's
exhilarating and it's it's again, it's it's.
For me, those are the momentsright Like every time, I get to
see that it's it's that momentthat that drives me it's like
(49:04):
you, what you're.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
What I hear you saying is you love to be a part
of someone else's journey, justbe a part of helping.
Yeah now, jim, can you say in achair, in a nutshell with the
audience, exactly what m sourceprovides?
I know, obviously, just so thatpeople know, because there's
there are mortgage lenders outthere, brokers listening to this
, I know know there are a lot ofthem, so share.
Speaker 3 (49:23):
So M-Source is what we're consulting for.
We specialize with the mortgagelenders and brokers and loan
officers of the country.
I always say that our idealclient is that individual that
decides they want to break offon their own and they want to
carve out their own niche andstart their own company.
(49:47):
We will help them from theinception of that idea up to the
point where they are stillexpanding and growing as they
continue on.
So it could be, you know, youcould call me and say, hey, I
want to become a mortgage brokerand this is what I'm going to
do, and we form your company, wehelp you get established, we
(50:07):
help you with all the licensingand the paperwork that needs to
happen to get there.
And then we counsel and coachyou on, you know, making sure
that you're running a compliantcompany and you're doing the
things that you need to do tostay, you know, compliant and
successful company and you'redoing the things that you need
to do to stay, you know,compliant and successful.
So you know, I guess I the waythat I put it to people is you
(50:31):
know we help you get up andrunning and licensed and then we
help you keep it Perfect.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
So we're going to include on the show notes, if
those who are interested, please, in the bottom of the show
notes we're going to click.
We're going to include a linkto mSource.
Click on that explore.
They've got a really greatwebsite.
You can see a picture of theteam and please click on it.
If you have any questions, feelfree to email me and I'll
connect you directly to Jim.
Okay, this is my favoritequestion, jim.
(50:54):
This is one that intrigues methe most with people, or at
least one of the top twofavorite questions is I'm here
in Ne, in nina wisconsin, hereon the south side of detroit
south side, yeah, don't remember.
Um, if I've come over today,log on a trailer, my time
machine, you and I get in it.
We go back to a predeterminedwhatever you decide.
(51:15):
When you were a younger versionof jim bell and you get to sit
and give yourself some words ofadvice, some direction, some
success ideas, what would yousay to your younger self?
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Okay, so this is outside of the back to the
future, where I know what to beton, right, yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
We don't have a betting book.
Speaker 3 (51:37):
I was going to say because that's going to work out
okay, for a part of it.
I think I would just go back andsay, look, you know what I mean
.
Be true to yourself, do thethings that bring you joy and
help you kind of get where youwant to be.
(51:58):
I think and you and I havetalked about this before I think
we all sort of build barriersaround ourselves in anticipation
of who we are, and I thinkoftentimes we get stuck within
our own barriers that we'vebuilt up and we lose sight of
(52:18):
who we truly are.
And we lose sight of who wetruly are Right, and it's it's
finding those ways back to yourtrue self and what your true
purpose and your, your, youressence is.
That is that is most valuable.
And I think I think I know mepersonally I have veered from
that path and sort of lockedmyself into time periods where I
(52:45):
was convinced I was somebody.
I wasn't and I just lost thattime.
And you know, time is one ofthe things we just can never get
back.
And I would say to myself look,don't lock yourself in a box
ever.
Be true to yourself, believe inthe things that you believe in
(53:06):
and go 100% toward them.
I often tell my staff here at MSource.
You do the right things andgood things follow, and I think
we lose sight of that sometimesbecause we get caught in the
process, we're too consumed byother things and we lose sight
(53:28):
of ourselves.
And I think if I were to goback in time and look at myself
in the mirror or look at myselfface to face, I would just be
like you have to be true toyourself.
Be true to yourself.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
And I think that's a difficult one for a lot of
people because, like you said,sometimes we have these barriers
around us I call it layers ofmarble around us that we don't
really know who our true selvesare, and that's why I think it's
so important to stop and listento yourself, listen to others,
get off social media, turn theTV off, journal Read Whatever
(54:02):
you need to do to quiet yourbrain meditate, yoga, workout,
go for a walk, spend time innature, whatever it might be.
When you do those types ofthings, you have a propensity to
actually start to find out whoyou are.
A mutual friend of ours, jim,that played ball with us in
college.
He and I used to go to the dams.
Oh yeah, yeah.
(54:23):
I don't remember where theywere.
I remember we could walk or wecould pedal our bikes in the
rugby house to the dams.
I remember that, so theycouldn't have been too far.
We would go there on occasionand I remember one time he and I
were sitting there and he saidyou know why we don't slow down,
brian, in life, and of coursethat was a different level of
speed back then.
It was partying and playingrugby and maybe chasing women or
(54:45):
whatever we were doing in ourearly 20s and I said, no, I
don't, he goes, because if weslow down, the stench of our
lives will catch up to us andI'm like, wow, and I think about
that so often is when I'm goingtoo fast or you're going too
fast, anyone, and you stop andreally start to reflect and
think and feel who you.
(55:05):
You realize that that's a lot oftimes why we don't really know
our true selves, because when westop so many things, we're
afraid things are going to catchup to us the mistakes we've
made, the regrets we have.
In reality, that stuff's alwaysgoing to be there, it's always
going to chase us.
When we stop and turn and fightit, it's when we really
determine okay, now I know who Iam.
(55:26):
I at least have a better senseof who I am than if I just keep
running and running and ignoringmy true self, or what I call
your true peak identity.
So that's a powerful one.
I like that answer.
I haven't heard it worded theway you worded it, all right
(55:50):
brother.
Speaker 3 (55:50):
What's next for Jim Bell?
Just keep moving forward, right, keep sailing forward.
You know I've got a lot ofplans.
I mean new things that you knowin my career.
Anyway, that it's.
I think there's some excitingthings on the horizon for
mortgage brokers and some newideas that I have to try to help
them be better, right, like howdo I help them, you know,
(56:15):
manage their day better, manage,you know, have a little less
stress, be able to focus on whatthey enjoy doing more.
So I've got some ideas aroundthat.
Personally, you know I got thetravel bug again last year.
Kids and I flew down to theGalapagos Islands for eight days
(56:35):
, which was just absolutelymind-blowing, amazing.
So, you know, I know we'vetalked about Africa and possibly
doing a safari or somethingelse, but I guess I want to go
out there and just continue toexperience the world.
Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, you told me about the Galapagos trip.
I think the first time weactually spoke a month or so ago
and I put it on my on my bucketlist of somewhere I do
definitely want to go at somepoint.
I've never been there yeah,absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (57:07):
I mean you think back and I mean this is where
charles darwin did a lot of hisresearch.
You know about evolution and youknow how how things you know
develop over time and you knowyou go down there like we spent
probably half a day with thegiant tortoises okay, tell
people how big they are they arelike the ones we were and they
(57:29):
vary dramatically depending onwhat island that they they are
originally from and where theyare, but the the average that we
were seeing was probably three,three and a half feet tall,
some somewhere a little bittaller.
Their heads stick up evenfurther and they're probably
seven feet long.
I mean, in some of these, theysaid, were 175 to 200 years old.
Speaker 2 (57:53):
That's almost hard to comprehend.
Speaker 3 (57:55):
Isn't it?
And then when we went back tothe little breeding area,
because they've got them inthese preserves and they're like
30, 40 acres, so it's not likethey're, they're confined in a
pen, um, but they had the, the,the babies, and I mean they're
the the size of a half dollar.
And you think about that,you're like holy moly, that that
(58:18):
seven foot long, four footbeast that we just saw moseying
along out there came from thatlittle half dollar.
Speaker 2 (58:27):
Well, when you have 200 years to grow man, you can
grow something.
Speaker 3 (58:30):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah, I'd be a little afraid ofwhat I'd look like in 200 years
.
I'll be honest.
Speaker 2 (58:35):
If you keep growing, man, I don't know if I want to
say that.
How much do you think thebigger ones weigh?
Speaker 3 (58:42):
Oh, I don't even know they were.
They were enormous.
That that shell had to beseveral hundred pounds.
Wow, I mean, it was just.
You know, I have videos of themwalking and it doesn't.
They don't look I'm a, but Imean it was the same way with a
lot of the animals in that area.
There's just so many uniquespecies of animals and because
(59:06):
the whole area is protected, theanimals are not afraid of
humans.
So you could be walking alongand there could be a bird
sitting on a branch that's twofeet from you and you just look
over and look at it, take apicture and it doesn't flinch,
it doesn't move, it doesn't flyoff.
Um, because they're so wellprotected, I would go there just
(59:30):
to see these turtles theturtles, I mean the sea lions,
the the different iguanas.
They have marine iguanas thatjump into the water and swim
Tropical penguins which, I'll behonest, before I went to
Galapagos I don't even know that.
I knew there were tropicalpenguins.
Speaker 2 (59:49):
Yeah, I've never heard of them.
All right, one final question,jim.
Is there anything that I didn'task, any question that you wish
I would have?
Or is there any one finalmessage you want to leave with
the audience members out there?
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
You don't actually physically interact, but you're
like right there with them.
Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Jim, we lost you for a moment.
Oh sorry, that's okay, I wasactually.
I thought you were done, so Iasked the final question.
Oh I'm sorry, no, you're good.
So.
Oh, I'm sorry, no, you're good.
So I'll ask it again.
Is there any question that Ididn't ask that you wish I would
have?
Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Or is there any final message you want to leave with
the Bamboo Pack audience?
I don't think so.
I think we've hit a lot ofstuff.
I mean we've gone over a lot ofinformation.
(01:00:49):
I mean, you know, I guess if itsums it all up is, you know,
continue to drive yourselftoward the things you're
passionate about, right, do thethings you love, um, and and do
them a hundred.
You know we only get a certainamount of time on this, uh, on
this big rock, um, just try toto, to embrace every moment that
you have to do the things youlove.
Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
All right.
So I'm going to rephrase thatagain, cause I think that's a
great final message Continue todrive yourself toward the things
you're passionate about andgive it your very best, Give it
your 100%.
Life is short and every secondwe tick away it gives us one
less second to chase the dream.
Speaker 3 (01:01:14):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Brother, I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
I really do.
You're a great man.
John and Kathy have done anamazing job and now you're doing
an amazing job.
You and Julie are doing anamazing job with Chelsea and
Brandon, and that's how wecontinue to make this world a
better place.
Good people breed good peoplewho breed good people.
I love it, amen.
I love it.
All right, can you stand for aminute after we're done, after
we wrap up?
Sure, all right.
All right, my brother, Iappreciate you, man.
(01:01:39):
You were an amazing guest onthe Bamboo Lab podcast.
We're going to have you back onhere again in the future if
you'll take your time under yourbusy schedule to do so.
But again, I appreciate you,thank you.
Thank you, all right, everyone.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek.
We'll be back again next weekwith another episode and in the
meantime, I want to Please getout there.
I'm going to ask you to striveto be and give your best.
(01:02:00):
Please show love and respect toothers and for yourself, and
please live consciously andintentionally and remember, fail
your way forward by Jim Bell.
All right, everyone.
Thank you very much.
Talk to you soon.
I appreciate each and every oneof you.
Until next time.
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