March 25, 2025 • 32 mins
Danny O'Neel's journey from Army Forward Observer to successful entrepreneur and veteran advocate exemplifies resilience in the face of devastating challenges. After enlisting on 9/11 and serving through two intense tours in Iraq, Danny returned home carrying invisible wounds that nearly cost him his life. In this raw and enlightening conversation, he reveals how his family's history of veteran suicide—his grandfather after World War II and his father's contemplated suicide following Vietnam—created a pattern he was determined to break after his own suicide attempt.
The turning point came through connection—first with his wife who encouraged him to seek therapy, then through building businesses that created purpose and community. Danny now owns multiple successful ventures including Kinetic Ink Tattoo Company and Kinetic Threads, while chairing Warfighter Overwatch, the nonprofit he founded that provides free mental health services to veterans and first responders.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is Danny's practical wisdom about networking for veterans transitioning to civilian life. He shines a light on the courage it takes to ask for help, reframing it as strength rather than weakness. His perspective that "if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room" offers a powerful guide for personal and professional growth through intentional relationships.
Danny's approach to life after service demonstrates how veterans can leverage their military discipline, leadership skills, and teamwork experience in civilian ventures while healing from combat experiences. His three essential tips for veterans—network purposefully, be visible in your community, and support fellow veterans—provide a roadmap for anyone navigating significant life transitions.
Have you built a network that elevates your standards and aspirations? Connect with Danny through Warfighter Overwatch or his businesses to see how community can transform trauma into triumph.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to your Thoughts, your Reality with
Michael Cole, the podcast thatshines a compassionate light on
the journey of veterans battlingthrough life's challenges.
Michael is a dual elitecertified neuro encoding
specialist in coaching andkeynote training presentations
dedicated to guiding militaryveterans as they navigate the
intricate pathways of postdeployment life.
(00:23):
Join him as we delve into theprofound realm of neuroencoding
science, empowering these braveindividuals to conquer universal
battles procrastination,self-doubt, fear and more.
Together, let's uncover thestrength within you to re-engage
with families and society,forging a new path forward.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello, hello, hello everybody.
I got my buddy, danny O'Neillon today, super excited whenever
he's on.
The funny thing is he'sprobably the only one that has
ever been on probably 110episodes that actually lives
near me, so glad to see you on,obviously, danny.
(01:07):
So Danny is a US Army veteran,listed on 9-11 as a forward
observer, rising to sergeant andsquad leader into 17 months.
He had combat experiencethrough two tours in Iraq,
including challenging deploymentin Sadr City.
He's an entrepreneur I'm goingto say a mega entrepreneur,
because it's not just a business.
He just keeps going and goingand going.
(01:29):
He's like the energizerentrepreneur rabbit.
I just made that up.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Owner of Kinetic Tattoo.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Kinetic Threads, providing outlets for veterans
as well.
He's a veteran advocate,chairman of the board of
Warfighter Overwatch, which is anonprofit dedicated to
combating veteran suicide, andof course, I worked with his
wife, Fawn, to help veteranssuccessfully reintegrate into
civilian life and beyond.
So I'm super honored to haveyou on again, buddy.
(01:56):
Tell us a little bit more aboutyourself, people that have not
heard or seen you before on thepodcast.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in Northern
California and I'm glad we liveby each other because we can
have sushi sometimes.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I know Coming up soon .
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Exactly, yeah, I was born and raised right here.
My dad's a Vietnam veteran.
He was a police officer inStockton for a bit and then my
mom had struggles with substanceabuse and she was a drug addict
and life was pretty chaoticliving with her.
And then so, dad, when theyseparated, I was two.
(02:33):
Dad was in Stockton, mom was inthe Northern part of Sacramento
, in the Del Paso Heights area,so I moved around a lot as a kid
.
I went to like seven or eightdifferent high schools and then,
you know, the stability or thediscipline that's required in
the military was kind of, youknow, besides the fact that my
(02:54):
dad served and my grandfathersomebody in my blood.
So when 9-11 happened, I wasworking for a highway
construction company, quit myjob, joined the army and, um,
pretty adventurous after that,uh, to continue to continue the
(03:14):
chaotic life yeah, so so youknow, and my dad was three tour
vietnam vet as and you youweren't.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
again, it wasn't like , oh, you're forced into it, but
I'm assuming it just felt likethis is what we do, Especially
when nine 11 happened.
I know you just wanted to stepup.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, to be honest with you, I if you can't tell by
the way, you can't see all mytattoos but I had probably a
problem with authority, right?
I don't want people telling mewhat to do.
My dad was already overbearing,so it wasn't.
That was not my career paththat I was looking towards, you
know, growing up, and then, tobe honest, when it happened, it
definitely felt like a sense ofduty for me.
(03:57):
I was an athlete, playedfootball and baseball growing up
, you know, and I didn't justplay right.
So I was like the captain of myfootball team, co-captain the
baseball team and, and thoseleadership roles taught me the,
the importance of um, ofleadership and uh, teamwork and
being a good teammate.
And so my dad was angry with mewhen I signed up on 9-11.
(04:19):
He was not happy with thatchoice because he knew what war
was like.
Right, he'd saw, you know, 60,over 65,000 Americans lost their
lives in Vietnam and many ofthem he went to school with, he
grew up with, and those were hisfriends, and they got drafted
or forced into the military togo fight in the unpopular war
and it didn't turn out very well.
So he definitely had somebitterness and animosity towards
(04:40):
me serving in the government inthe military capacity, for sure
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Right.
So you know you look backthough, right, and you know the,
the amazing life that you havenow you know.
You know people that don't know.
Danny, he went through someshit you know, and came out on
the other side of it, and that'swhy I love having you on here,
brother, because you are theexample you know, because he, he
(05:05):
, he went through it, you know,and he's super successful and
has an amazing wife and all thestuff you know.
So congratulations for notgiving up and pushing through
and doing what you need to do.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, so I did two trips to Iraq and on my second
trip we lost nine guys, two ofthem the day we left Iraq, on
November 26th.
And that's hard right, becauseit was a day after that year, it
was a day after Thanksgiving.
We're getting ready to go home,we're looking forward to seeing
our family and it wasdevastating.
It took any morale we had leftand it evaporated very quickly.
(05:42):
Unfortunately, after returningwe've had 15 suicides, right.
So you know, my dad was gettingready to commit suicide when I
was a freshman in high school.
His dad, my grandfather, was aWorld War II vet.
He did commit suicide when mydad got sent to Vietnam.
He's buried in the Golden GateNational Cemetery and that was
devastating for our family.
(06:04):
I never met him.
I don't know his stories, but Iunderstand what he was going
through because I had my ownsuicide attempt.
I didn't want to be here.
I didn't think that I couldstop the war that was going on
in my head right, the PTSD, theconstant hyper.
Just, I was so hypervigilanteverywhere I went, always
(06:25):
looking for someone to attack me.
You know, I've been shot, I'vebeen blown up, my friends have
been killed and so I have these,this baggage that I brought
home and these things that werethat were causing me issues and
relationships.
Right, they were caughtliterally causing me to end
relationships and somehow youyou know my wife giving me grace
and allowing me to put myselffirst, instead of the team
(06:46):
telling me that I needed to goto therapy and I needed to start
working on these problems,allowed me to have the life that
I have now, and I'm so gratefulfor that.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, and you know I always look back and I think if
you didn't go through the thingsyou went through, you wouldn't
be doing the work and helpingall the people you do every day
now, which is such a blessingnow.
So, amen, man, thank you, amen,yeah, hey, so we totally got
(07:16):
sidetracked with that amazinggood stuff.
You know, that really is goodstuff.
Doesn't sound like it, but it'sall part of because we're going
to get into where he is now andnetworking both personally and
(07:47):
professionally and how that canhelp veterans and their families
.
So before we do that, though, Ialways get all excited and have
fun with people and at the topright-hand corner of your screen
there there's a blue QR code.
Please scan the QR code.
It takes you toempowerperformancestrategiescom
for people listening later onAgain,
empowerperformancestrategiescom.
(08:10):
There are books, free books I'vewritten.
There are Facebook groups forboth veterans and their families
to join.
You know, get involved in themission and in our tribe if you
will.
Community, because isolationdoesn't help anybody.
So come join us.
So with that, said DannyO'Neill, so let's talk about
(08:31):
professional and personalnetworking.
So a lot of people, they gonetworking.
Oh gosh, right, but if wedidn't network, we wouldn't be
together right now, talking, youknow.
So tell us why let's start withpersonal networking, especially
if you're veterans reintegratedinto civilian life, and their
families.
Why is it so damn important?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
All right, I mean at the basic level, we want to
provide for our family.
So when you're transitioningout of the military or switching
jobs or something to thateffect, you need people who can
help you Number one find jobsthat are available.
You need to help them or theirhelp, rather with potentially
(09:12):
resume building or the verbiagethat's in there to make you a
better looking candidate.
And even more so, you want totalk to these people to get an
idea of what that transition isgoing to look like, right, and
if you've never done that, itcan be scary, daunting,
overwhelming, it can give youanxiety.
If you haven't had those sort ofthings, I didn't have anxiety
(09:32):
until at least that I canremember, until after war, but
certainly going into the, youknow, going into the workforce
after being in the militarycompletely different mindset.
I didn't know what it was goingto be like.
It was a little, it was alittle scary.
And, um, there I know so manyguys who have struggled with
that transition, right, who, um,say and do things that are not
(09:53):
appropriate in the civilianworkforce, who, um, you know,
have to go see HR because theysaid something that was okay in
the military and not okay there,and I understand that these,
these are things we have to beaware of or cognizant of, right,
and so you need those peoplewho have done this to help you,
to show you the way.
It's just the best.
It's just the best way forward.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know you're working for a job or looking for
a job, and I want to go alittle to the darker side and
then come out to the light, aswe always do on the show Right.
So you know when you'restruggling to find a job, just
getting out if you're.
If you haven't already starteddoing that, whether you are
reserves or reservists whateverthe case may be, what are some
of the things that you say hey,keep your head up, keep your
(10:44):
chin up.
May be.
What are some of the thingsthat you say hey, keep your head
up, keep your chin up right andkeep moving.
So give us some thoughts on youknow that.
Kick in the pants if you will,if you do hit that wall of you
know you're coming back tocivilian life and things aren't
what you expected.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Absolutely, you got to be persistent.
So one of the things that Ithink people struggle with is,
when we get that rejection, orwe didn't get the job we wanted,
right, we immediately startfeeling inadequate.
Why am I not good enough?
Those seeds are planted and wedecide to water those.
I don't get it, I don'tunderstand.
But well, I do understand morethan I want to, because I know
it happens right.
And when I got a job in the oilfield for a Fortune 500 company,
(11:23):
I was lucky, but I had again I,when I went through the
interview process and there's 50guys and they're going to pick
two, and I didn't know after Idid, uh, went through the
process if I was even going toget hired.
So I actually called myrecruiter and I said, hey,
should I go get a job Cause Ineed to take care of my family.
(11:44):
Like I got to work.
This is not going to, it's notgoing to be okay for me, because
I was already starting to getthat anxiety, right, right, I'd
also put all my eggs in onebasket.
I thought this was just goingto work out and that's the way
it was going to go, and that'snot the case.
In most instances it doesn'twork out the way.
Not your first time.
I will say I was lucky.
They told me do not go getanother job, and the next day I
(12:04):
got my contract and my packetand everything to sign so that I
could start the hiring process.
Well, if it doesn't work outand you don't get that first job
, you need to be doing at leastthree or four, and I would say
every week.
If you can't do it every day,do it every week, because if you
do, something is going to shakeloose.
And if you don't get your dreamjob right off the bat, fine,
(12:24):
continue working towards that.
But you've got to do whatyou've got to do, and that means
we have to adapt and overcomethe adversity that we're facing.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
The adversity that we're facing, yeah, you know
that's.
I love that you said that,because anytime I looked for a
job I'm not joking, and it'sbeen a while, because we've
owned businesses for a while nowbut so don't laugh when.
I say this, but I would fax like30 different companies.
Yes, I said fax.
So I literally it would just belike, all right, here's my
resume just everywhere Ipossibly could.
I'd make a list and I wouldjust be like, all right, here's
(12:55):
my resume just everywhere Ipossibly could.
I'd make a list and I wouldjust send it out and I literally
would generally have a jobwithin days.
You know because you know that.
So you know, keep that in mind.
I also want to bring upsomething else, because we're
talking about networking and youjust brought the thought in my
head.
I actually work with ACP,american Corporate Partners, and
we coach veterans for businessand mentorship and resumes and
(13:19):
all of that stuff.
So it might be a greatnetworking asset for you to
reach out, not you specifically,danny, but the people listening
and watching.
It's ACP and they're aphenomenal group.
I'm actually going to be doingsome extra trainings with them
and so forth for veterans, socheck that out.
Just an extra little tip thatpopped into my head.
Thank you for making that cometo my mind there, danny.
(13:42):
I appreciate it.
So, with networking, and I lovehow you said, just get it out
there, man.
And I want to add one morething I'm sorry because it's a
hot topic for me.
Every time you send a resume,every time you send a text, an
email, follow up with a company,celebrate yourself for doing it
(14:03):
, because it creates new neuralpathways instead of it being a
negative thing and a pain in thethat.
Hey, this is what I'm supposedto be doing and it's exciting
and it's fun and you know, itchanges the magnetism and so
forth and the vibrationalpattern of your body to actually
(14:25):
bring more people into you, notto get all woo, woo and
unicorns and rainbows, but it'sactual science.
So just just a quick tip there.
So, danny, with with thenetworking, so you know, you,
you, how do I say this?
You went out, you know, for thejob, you've got it all this,
you know life happens right.
(14:45):
So what, what other resourcesdo you think are important with
networking?
Personally, you know whenyou're getting out, besides
maybe business and jobs and thatkind of thing.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I think you know, you know where.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'm going with this as far as.
So we have a ton of.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
We have a ton of resources available to us now
that weren't available, like,say, 25 years ago, number one
being LinkedIn, right.
So you can go on there and seewhat people who were in the
military transition out aredoing, you can see what fields
are going into, you can see thejob opportunities they have and,
more importantly, you can kindof see what it looks like in the
civilian workforce and get agood read on that just by going
(15:21):
on LinkedIn and kind of checkingstuff out.
Even if you're not engagingwith those people right away,
it's a good idea to go on there.
Even more so, and with folkstransitioning out of the
military, your job may becompletely different.
I called for bombs in the army,right, and so that wasn't a job
that I was going to have goinginto the civilian workforce.
But I will say this having ajob at a Fortune 500 company as
(15:45):
a supervisor, as a fieldengineer, what that did was it
laid the groundwork for me tobet on myself, to believe that I
could do these things, eventhough I didn't have an
engineering degree.
I didn't know anything aboutthe oil field, well, I also
didn't know about owning my ownbusiness and QuickBooks and all
these other things.
Guess what.
We're making it work and youcan do the same thing.
I promise if I can do this, youcan do this.
I barely graduated high school,but the people that I've met,
(16:08):
the relationships that I'vebuilt, those people, when they
hear about something that may beinteresting to me or maybe up
my alley, they reach out to me,and that's what networking can
do, for you, yeah, absolutelylove.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
you say that you know I dropped out right after
eighth grade and so, you know,went and did my GED, just passed
the test.
But you know you talk about theother people in your life,
right, I mean I built everythingby talking to people I respect,
like Mr Danny O'Neill and so on, literally the construction
(16:42):
company.
Everything I've done in my lifeit's that network of people
that are around me that Irespect and learn from every
single day, every single day.
So I mean, how, how, how wouldyou say, that's changed.
You know, I mean your, yourlife in general, the personal
connections that have said, hey,keep going, hey, you're doing
(17:03):
the right thing, hey, try this.
That you're just talking about.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So there's always going to be trial and error.
We're going to learn thingsthat work and things that don't.
We're going to fall on our faceand you got.
Like you said earlier, we haveto use those experiences to
propel us forward.
Now I will say that, despite thehardships that we face in life,
we're pretty resilient as aspecies.
Right, we've come from livingin caves to having awesome
dwellings, you know, right.
(17:31):
So it's, it's pretty phenomenalwhat we can do, even as an
individual, and I'll justimagine what you can do with a
team, with support, with peoplewho want to see you win.
And I'll say this cause, Ithink it's, I think it's
pertinent, but if you're thesmartest person in the room,
you're in the wrong room.
I surround my, you're theaverage of the people you
surround yourself with, sochoose wisely.
(17:52):
And I surround myself withpeople who are highly
intelligent, who are highlymotivated and disciplined Right,
because motivation doesn'talways last, but if they're
disciplined, they'll continuedoing it.
And again, if we're persistent,we're going to be successful.
We're going to find successes,and you have to celebrate those.
You have to acknowledge the,what it took to get there, and
then you have to find that youknow that next goal, that next
(18:14):
mission.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And James Hicks, I agree, danny is a good dude man.
That's fantastic.
So, yeah, you know, here's thething that I learned in my life,
too.
Right is you have to keep going.
You can't play victim mode,because that doesn't solve
anything, or the people aroundyou.
Danny, you're the reason that Ihang out with you, because you
are the smarter guy in the room,my friend, and if we don't fall
(18:41):
on our face, we don't learn.
You fall on your face.
You have two options, right,danny?
You either play victim mode atsomeone else's fault or some
other circumstance's fault, oryou learn from it, you change it
and you do it again untilyou're successful, right?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
100 and listen, I will say this despite you know,
all my friends who have been, um, killed or injured, what I've
got to see in my life and I knowit can be, you know, a somewhat
extreme experience, but I willsay this um, you know, we got
guys like, uh, louis puertas,who's a double amputee, he's
also a Paralympic runner Right,and Shane Parsons is a double
(19:19):
amputee and he plays sled hockey.
So what I'll tell you is we cando things, despite other people
telling us we can't, giving uslimitations, giving us labels,
and, even more so, we see thehuman spirit in people like that
, right.
So when, when we find, uh, anexample of someone who has had
(19:41):
you know kind of this crapsandwich that life has dealt
them for lunch, they can smileand still figure out a way
around what they've been through.
And and for me, that reminds methat, no matter what I'm
complaining about, no matterwhat's going wrong in my life, I
can still get my ass back up.
Because Shane laid in thathospital bed and he had two
choices with no legs and hewasn't getting prosthetics, he
(20:03):
could lay there and wait till hedied he was a 21 year old young
man at the time or he could gethis ass up and figure out a way
to live a life that wasfulfilling despite his injuries.
And I'll tell you, watching himis awe-inspiring because I know
that if he can do it, I can doit.
If I can do it, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I absolutely love it.
And shout out to him for sure.
Huh yeah, absolutely, that'sawesome.
So you know, that is it right.
It is.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself, get up and move.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Stop being a victim and start being a victor.
Amen, love that.
So, and it is literally, it'sjust.
You know, I always, when I'mdoing trainings and I don't
everything I teach people I domyself right and so all it is is
take that little action to getthe ball rolling and then follow
up the action and so all of asudden you have a tsunami.
You know it's not a rippleeffect, it's a damn tsunami, you
(20:59):
know.
So you know, I love that whenyou say that, because it's just
the little two millimeter shiftor that take that next step that
takes you to that next place ofwhere you are Right, Because
when you got out of the military, did you ever see yourself
doing this?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Absolutely not, and that's why I will say that's why
this is so important.
I hope you guys hear this athome.
Listen, not only did I notthink I'd be doing this, but I
thought I'd failed at so manyaspects of my life that I wasn't
capable of doing this stuff.
So if you are in that positionwhere you've been successful,
you've found some of the trialsand tribulations and have
(21:36):
overcome them, turn around andhelp the next person, because
you know that's what helps us.
You know, build a bettersociety and community is when we
have good leaders and peoplewho are willing to look out
after each other.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I love that you said that, because really when
you find a success formula too,you can share the success
formula.
It may be a little bitdifferent for other people, but
generally it's still there,right?
That's it.
So if we can tell me about yoursuccess formula a little bit,
oh man, so I have a.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
My life is mostly routine, though we get lots of
curveballs around here,especially because we put
ourselves out there to helppeople with Warfighter Overwatch
, right.
But aside from that, we havebusinesses.
Right, we have multiplebusinesses.
We have a tattoo shop withKinetic Ink Tattoo Company, we
have custom apparel with KineticThreads, and then Fawn wasn't
(22:29):
busy enough, so she startedMother Trucker Hat Bar and
boutique.
So they're doing permanentjewelry and all that stuff.
And at the end of the day youknow, the formula is simple I'm
the water boy, I'm, I'm the guywho cleans it, I'm the janitor.
Right, I have to invest inthese businesses, and not just
that, but it's relationshipswith the community.
(22:49):
I need them to know that we'rea good business run by good
people.
You know, I want to do goodthings, and so, number one, I
hope that helps us stand out and, even more importantly, that
goes to my value.
So it's more important that Ido that for myself than anything
else.
But people are watching, and soI want including my kids, and
so we got to set a good example.
We have to be good businessowners, and that starts with,
you know, waking up in thatroutine is, you know, I take my
(23:12):
kid to school, I exercise, andthen it's work time, right, and
I have to make sure that thefolks who are you know what
they're tattooing, that theyhave the supplies they need.
If it's the printing shop, Imake sure that the boxes, the
supplies that we need are thereso we can continue to provide
quality product in a timelymanner, right.
And so all of those things comedown to being persistent,
(23:41):
getting good at your craft.
And then, even more importantly, something I teach my kids if
we need help, we ask for help.
Sometimes my wife is in theremaking the shirts and she gets
overwhelmed.
She gets a bunch of orders andshe's like, hey, enough golfing
today, I need you to come help.
Yeah, all right.
So you know we've got to havebalance.
It's so important to have thatbalance, especially as a
business owner.
But in the beginning, uh, thebalance isn't necessarily going
to be there, but it's worth it.
And if you're again, if you'repersistent, if you stick with it
(24:02):
, you'll, you will find thatyou'll own your time.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, absolutely, and there's a.
There's a life balance flow forsure.
You know, I don't I don'treally call it myself a balance,
because sometimes there's moreon one side and more on the
other, but hopefully they evenout and you know, and so on, for
sure let's.
Let's talk about asking forhelp for a second, because you
brought that up, and I knowwe're getting a little low on
time, but I think it's super,super, super, super important,
(24:26):
right?
So, as as veterans, as as humanbeings, as as men, as women,
whatever you are, a lot of timeswe have trouble asking for help
and we think that it's aweakness, when actually it's the
most courageous thing we canactually do.
Talk to me about that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Three hardest things on this planet to say are I'm
sorry, I was wrong, orWorcestershire sauce.
And so I know that I struggledso hard with asking for help.
As the last thing I wanted todo specifically with my mental
health stuff, because in thearmy I had a security clearance,
right.
I didn't want that to beaffected when I got out.
I didn't want to tell peoplebecause I thought it was a
(25:03):
weakness, right.
And then now I screen thisstuff from the rooftops.
That, if you listen, I told mykids when they were four years
old, you know, eventually you'regoing to be able to put the
straw in the Capri Sun, butuntil then, if you need help,
ask for help.
I wouldn't be a very goodleader or parent or example if I
said to do something and thendidn't follow that.
So if I need help, I ask forhelp.
It's so vital.
(25:23):
And it's not a sign of weakness.
It is actually a sign ofstrength because I can do so
much more with a support system,with help right.
And I used to do things.
Listen, I've lifted things andhurt myself my back, trying to
be tough like a sink.
Most recent memory I waslifting.
My wife asked me to go pick upthe sink.
(25:45):
I didn't ask my buddy to gohelp me.
I could have.
I even had a friend offer.
I said, no, that's all right, Igot this, went over there.
It was like 300 pounds.
I'm like, what are we doing?
And so, uh, I got it taken careof, but at what cost?
And so that's what I want, as Ithink about is, there's
consequences, and if we don'task for help, there can be
negative consequences for thattoo.
(26:05):
But we're definitely, uh, morecapable, or capable of doing
more with with others.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
So Absolutely, absolutely.
And Danny, I'm half an houraway, man, I could have helped.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Exactly, you know, that's exactly it, right, I have
people who would help me andI'm I'm, you know, my pride or
ego gateway.
I try to do that more.
I say but absolutely, and thenthe next time you need help, you
ask me and I'll come help you,because I'm always like, I'm
down for that.
If you need help, I'll comehelp you, and I don't always
(26:37):
accept it.
And so that's where you know Ineed to make changes, and that's
OK, because we don't have allthe answers and we do need help.
We're always going to have tocount on someone at some point
in our life.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And I just want to make a point Amen, first of all,
and see, see how we justlearned by the mistake.
That's what we're talking about.
That, that simple.
And I want to say somethingelse.
You know, asking that personfor help, um, physically,
mentally, whatever the case maybe If someone else has moved
that sink beforeds, are they canget you further faster.
If they've opened that businessbefore, they can get you there
further faster.
You know, and that's the beautyof that network and we're
bringing it back to the networkhere Networking is just there's
(27:24):
people out there, you probablyknow that have done it before.
You have the experience and orsuccessful with it, and they can
get you there three timesfaster.
I mean, that's what coaching isall about, right, but you have
friends that can do the samedamn thing, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
So amen, yeah, please .
Well, I'll just say this realquick.
I even asked people like, let'ssay, with my business, right,
if I see someone with the tattoo?
I asked them that is just, youknow, kind of a little
icebreaker or whatever, but it'splanting that seed.
And they're like oh, you own atattoo shop, you do tattoos, and
then we start talking aboutthat and art and those sorts of
(27:58):
things.
Well, I'm asking them to helpsupport my business.
Is what I'm asking them to do,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Absolutely so.
With that said, if you're inthe Folsom area, so tell us a
little bit real quick.
I know we're getting low ontime.
But about Warfighter OverwatchI want to make sure we bring
light to that.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Absolutely.
Warfighter Overwatch is aveteran and first responder
nonprofit.
It's focuses on mental healthand suicide prevention.
I pay for veterans firefighters, police officers to go to
therapy.
We do trips.
I took 15 guys up half dome inoctober to remind them that you
know what's inside of them isgreater than what's in front of
them.
You can overcome any adversity.
It's better if you do ittogether.
(28:39):
Climbing that mountain wasdifficult.
It would have been even moredifficult as an individual when
I have 14 other guys next to me.
Uh and gals.
It's you know.
It reminds you that I can keepputting one foot in front of the
other, but I I don't just haveto put my head down and grind.
It's important to look aroundat all the beauty we see and not
just grind all the time.
So we do a lot of good stuff.
(28:59):
It's all cost-free to those wehelp.
We're an all-volunteernonprofit.
Everyone does this because theycare.
We don't get paid a dime.
We were the nonprofit of theyear for the state of California
in 2022.
We hope to continue that going.
We're almost at a milliondollars raised since 2021.
And I'll say that I'm this ismy purpose right?
(29:20):
I do a lot of different thingsin my life, but getting to help
other other war fighters.
This is, this is what allows meto um, to fill my bucket or my
cup so that I can do those otherthings, whether it's with my
kids, my businesses.
This makes me feel whole.
It allows me to be part of mycommunity instead of isolating,
(29:40):
drinking and doing thosenegative coping skills.
We do the opposite.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Amen, man, and it's, it's.
It's so easy to go down thatroad, but when you find
something fulfilling to fillyour bucket and I was literally
just talking to somebody aboutthis yesterday it mitigates the
negatives you know, number onedeterrent for suicide is
connection to others.
Amen, I love it, absolutelylove it.
All right, we're past time.
So, with that said, danny, howdo people reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Man, you can find me on social media Instagram,
facebook.
Danny O on Instagram.
Danny man, you can find me onsocial media instagram, facebook
.
Uh, danny o on on instagram.
Danny o'neill, I'm super easyto find.
Warfighteroverwatchorg uh,kinetic ink, tattoocom and any
of those things.
You can reach out if you needthreads.
Any of that stuff we got, uh,we got stuff, and if I don't
have the business that you need,you let me know and I got
(30:29):
someone who does and we'llnetwork and get you hooked up
with them too easy, hey man backback to networking.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Nice little, nice little bow on the on the end
there.
Absolutely fantastic and asalways, danny.
Three tips to get veterans andtheir families further faster.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, man.
So first off, you got tonetwork.
You need to know who yourneighbors are, because they're
going to help you get to whereyou want to be Right, and I
think it's important to to havethose friendships you have to.
You also have to be a goodsteward of the veteran and first
or veteran community.
So that means be out in yourcommunity, let them know that
you know we're leaders, we havethese skills and values and we
(31:04):
want our communities to knowwhat those are.
And, even more importantly,we've got to support each other.
So if you're in that positionand you've gone somewhere that
someone else hasn't, help themunderstand the groundwork and
what you need to do to get there.
And if you're in a bad spot,don't be afraid to ask for help
so that you can get to wherethose other folks are that you
want to be Absolutely man.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
I love that.
I love the three tips andliterally man use them because
they're priceless.
Those are golden nuggets, danny.
Just drop right there.
So, with that said, danny, justdrop right there.
So with that said, danny, thankyou again for being on the show
.
As always, time is the mostprecious resource we have as
human beings.
We do not get it back.
So thank you for spending somemore minutes of your life with
me and our audience, justbringing value man.
(31:44):
Thank you, my friend Appreciateit brother, all right, man Love
you, brother, we're out.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Thank you for joining us on another insightful
journey of your Thoughts yourReality podcast with your host,
michael Cole.
We hope the conversationsparked some thoughts that
resonate with you.
To dive deeper into empoweringyour thoughts and enhancing your
reality, visitempowerperformancestrategiescom.
Remember your thoughts shapeyour reality, so make them count
(32:12):
.
Until next time, stay inspiredand keep creating the reality
you desire.
Catch you on the next episode.
Welcome to your Thoughts, your Reality with
Michael Cole, the podcast thatshines a compassionate light on
the journey of veterans battlingthrough life's challenges.
Michael is a dual elitecertified neuro encoding
specialist in coaching andkeynote training presentations
dedicated to guiding militaryveterans as they navigate the
intricate pathways of postdeployment life.
(00:23):
Join him as we delve into theprofound realm of neuroencoding
science, empowering these braveindividuals to conquer universal
battles procrastination,self-doubt, fear and more.
Together, let's uncover thestrength within you to re-engage
with families and society,forging a new path forward.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello, hello, hello everybody.
I got my buddy, danny O'Neillon today, super excited whenever
he's on.
The funny thing is he'sprobably the only one that has
ever been on probably 110episodes that actually lives
near me, so glad to see you on,obviously, danny.
(01:07):
So Danny is a US Army veteran,listed on 9-11 as a forward
observer, rising to sergeant andsquad leader into 17 months.
He had combat experiencethrough two tours in Iraq,
including challenging deploymentin Sadr City.
He's an entrepreneur I'm goingto say a mega entrepreneur,
because it's not just a business.
He just keeps going and goingand going.
(01:29):
He's like the energizerentrepreneur rabbit.
I just made that up.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Owner of Kinetic Tattoo.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Kinetic Threads, providing outlets for veterans
as well.
He's a veteran advocate,chairman of the board of
Warfighter Overwatch, which is anonprofit dedicated to
combating veteran suicide, andof course, I worked with his
wife, Fawn, to help veteranssuccessfully reintegrate into
civilian life and beyond.
So I'm super honored to haveyou on again, buddy.
(01:56):
Tell us a little bit more aboutyourself, people that have not
heard or seen you before on thepodcast.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in Northern
California and I'm glad we liveby each other because we can
have sushi sometimes.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I know Coming up soon .
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Exactly, yeah, I was born and raised right here.
My dad's a Vietnam veteran.
He was a police officer inStockton for a bit and then my
mom had struggles with substanceabuse and she was a drug addict
and life was pretty chaoticliving with her.
And then so, dad, when theyseparated, I was two.
(02:33):
Dad was in Stockton, mom was inthe Northern part of Sacramento
, in the Del Paso Heights area,so I moved around a lot as a kid
.
I went to like seven or eightdifferent high schools and then,
you know, the stability or thediscipline that's required in
the military was kind of, youknow, besides the fact that my
(02:54):
dad served and my grandfathersomebody in my blood.
So when 9-11 happened, I wasworking for a highway
construction company, quit myjob, joined the army and, um,
pretty adventurous after that,uh, to continue to continue the
(03:14):
chaotic life yeah, so so youknow, and my dad was three tour
vietnam vet as and you youweren't.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
again, it wasn't like , oh, you're forced into it, but
I'm assuming it just felt likethis is what we do, Especially
when nine 11 happened.
I know you just wanted to stepup.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, to be honest with you, I if you can't tell by
the way, you can't see all mytattoos but I had probably a
problem with authority, right?
I don't want people telling mewhat to do.
My dad was already overbearing,so it wasn't.
That was not my career paththat I was looking towards, you
know, growing up, and then, tobe honest, when it happened, it
definitely felt like a sense ofduty for me.
(03:57):
I was an athlete, playedfootball and baseball growing up
, you know, and I didn't justplay right.
So I was like the captain of myfootball team, co-captain the
baseball team and, and thoseleadership roles taught me the,
the importance of um, ofleadership and uh, teamwork and
being a good teammate.
And so my dad was angry with mewhen I signed up on 9-11.
(04:19):
He was not happy with thatchoice because he knew what war
was like.
Right, he'd saw, you know, 60,over 65,000 Americans lost their
lives in Vietnam and many ofthem he went to school with, he
grew up with, and those were hisfriends, and they got drafted
or forced into the military togo fight in the unpopular war
and it didn't turn out very well.
So he definitely had somebitterness and animosity towards
(04:40):
me serving in the government inthe military capacity, for sure
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Right.
So you know you look backthough, right, and you know the,
the amazing life that you havenow you know.
You know people that don't know.
Danny, he went through someshit you know, and came out on
the other side of it, and that'swhy I love having you on here,
brother, because you are theexample you know, because he, he
(05:05):
, he went through it, you know,and he's super successful and
has an amazing wife and all thestuff you know.
So congratulations for notgiving up and pushing through
and doing what you need to do.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, so I did two trips to Iraq and on my second
trip we lost nine guys, two ofthem the day we left Iraq, on
November 26th.
And that's hard right, becauseit was a day after that year, it
was a day after Thanksgiving.
We're getting ready to go home,we're looking forward to seeing
our family and it wasdevastating.
It took any morale we had leftand it evaporated very quickly.
(05:42):
Unfortunately, after returningwe've had 15 suicides, right.
So you know, my dad was gettingready to commit suicide when I
was a freshman in high school.
His dad, my grandfather, was aWorld War II vet.
He did commit suicide when mydad got sent to Vietnam.
He's buried in the Golden GateNational Cemetery and that was
devastating for our family.
(06:04):
I never met him.
I don't know his stories, but Iunderstand what he was going
through because I had my ownsuicide attempt.
I didn't want to be here.
I didn't think that I couldstop the war that was going on
in my head right, the PTSD, theconstant hyper.
Just, I was so hypervigilanteverywhere I went, always
(06:25):
looking for someone to attack me.
You know, I've been shot, I'vebeen blown up, my friends have
been killed and so I have these,this baggage that I brought
home and these things that werethat were causing me issues and
relationships.
Right, they were caughtliterally causing me to end
relationships and somehow youyou know my wife giving me grace
and allowing me to put myselffirst, instead of the team
(06:46):
telling me that I needed to goto therapy and I needed to start
working on these problems,allowed me to have the life that
I have now, and I'm so gratefulfor that.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, and you know I always look back and I think if
you didn't go through the thingsyou went through, you wouldn't
be doing the work and helpingall the people you do every day
now, which is such a blessingnow.
So, amen, man, thank you, amen,yeah, hey, so we totally got
(07:16):
sidetracked with that amazinggood stuff.
You know, that really is goodstuff.
Doesn't sound like it, but it'sall part of because we're going
to get into where he is now andnetworking both personally and
(07:47):
professionally and how that canhelp veterans and their families
.
So before we do that, though, Ialways get all excited and have
fun with people and at the topright-hand corner of your screen
there there's a blue QR code.
Please scan the QR code.
It takes you toempowerperformancestrategiescom
for people listening later onAgain,
empowerperformancestrategiescom.
(08:10):
There are books, free books I'vewritten.
There are Facebook groups forboth veterans and their families
to join.
You know, get involved in themission and in our tribe if you
will.
Community, because isolationdoesn't help anybody.
So come join us.
So with that, said DannyO'Neill, so let's talk about
(08:31):
professional and personalnetworking.
So a lot of people, they gonetworking.
Oh gosh, right, but if wedidn't network, we wouldn't be
together right now, talking, youknow.
So tell us why let's start withpersonal networking, especially
if you're veterans reintegratedinto civilian life, and their
families.
Why is it so damn important?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
All right, I mean at the basic level, we want to
provide for our family.
So when you're transitioningout of the military or switching
jobs or something to thateffect, you need people who can
help you Number one find jobsthat are available.
You need to help them or theirhelp, rather with potentially
(09:12):
resume building or the verbiagethat's in there to make you a
better looking candidate.
And even more so, you want totalk to these people to get an
idea of what that transition isgoing to look like, right, and
if you've never done that, itcan be scary, daunting,
overwhelming, it can give youanxiety.
If you haven't had those sort ofthings, I didn't have anxiety
(09:32):
until at least that I canremember, until after war, but
certainly going into the, youknow, going into the workforce
after being in the militarycompletely different mindset.
I didn't know what it was goingto be like.
It was a little, it was alittle scary.
And, um, there I know so manyguys who have struggled with
that transition, right, who, um,say and do things that are not
(09:53):
appropriate in the civilianworkforce, who, um, you know,
have to go see HR because theysaid something that was okay in
the military and not okay there,and I understand that these,
these are things we have to beaware of or cognizant of, right,
and so you need those peoplewho have done this to help you,
to show you the way.
It's just the best.
It's just the best way forward.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know you're working for a job or looking for
a job, and I want to go alittle to the darker side and
then come out to the light, aswe always do on the show Right.
So you know when you'restruggling to find a job, just
getting out if you're.
If you haven't already starteddoing that, whether you are
reserves or reservists whateverthe case may be, what are some
of the things that you say hey,keep your head up, keep your
(10:44):
chin up.
May be.
What are some of the thingsthat you say hey, keep your head
up, keep your chin up right andkeep moving.
So give us some thoughts on youknow that.
Kick in the pants if you will,if you do hit that wall of you
know you're coming back tocivilian life and things aren't
what you expected.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Absolutely, you got to be persistent.
So one of the things that Ithink people struggle with is,
when we get that rejection, orwe didn't get the job we wanted,
right, we immediately startfeeling inadequate.
Why am I not good enough?
Those seeds are planted and wedecide to water those.
I don't get it, I don'tunderstand.
But well, I do understand morethan I want to, because I know
it happens right.
And when I got a job in the oilfield for a Fortune 500 company,
(11:23):
I was lucky, but I had again I,when I went through the
interview process and there's 50guys and they're going to pick
two, and I didn't know after Idid, uh, went through the
process if I was even going toget hired.
So I actually called myrecruiter and I said, hey,
should I go get a job Cause Ineed to take care of my family.
(11:44):
Like I got to work.
This is not going to, it's notgoing to be okay for me, because
I was already starting to getthat anxiety, right, right, I'd
also put all my eggs in onebasket.
I thought this was just goingto work out and that's the way
it was going to go, and that'snot the case.
In most instances it doesn'twork out the way.
Not your first time.
I will say I was lucky.
They told me do not go getanother job, and the next day I
(12:04):
got my contract and my packetand everything to sign so that I
could start the hiring process.
Well, if it doesn't work outand you don't get that first job
, you need to be doing at leastthree or four, and I would say
every week.
If you can't do it every day,do it every week, because if you
do, something is going to shakeloose.
And if you don't get your dreamjob right off the bat, fine,
(12:24):
continue working towards that.
But you've got to do whatyou've got to do, and that means
we have to adapt and overcomethe adversity that we're facing.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
The adversity that we're facing, yeah, you know
that's.
I love that you said that,because anytime I looked for a
job I'm not joking, and it'sbeen a while, because we've
owned businesses for a while nowbut so don't laugh when.
I say this, but I would fax like30 different companies.
Yes, I said fax.
So I literally it would just belike, all right, here's my
resume just everywhere Ipossibly could.
I'd make a list and I wouldjust be like, all right, here's
(12:55):
my resume just everywhere Ipossibly could.
I'd make a list and I wouldjust send it out and I literally
would generally have a jobwithin days.
You know because you know that.
So you know, keep that in mind.
I also want to bring upsomething else, because we're
talking about networking and youjust brought the thought in my
head.
I actually work with ACP,american Corporate Partners, and
we coach veterans for businessand mentorship and resumes and
(13:19):
all of that stuff.
So it might be a greatnetworking asset for you to
reach out, not you specifically,danny, but the people listening
and watching.
It's ACP and they're aphenomenal group.
I'm actually going to be doingsome extra trainings with them
and so forth for veterans, socheck that out.
Just an extra little tip thatpopped into my head.
Thank you for making that cometo my mind there, danny.
(13:42):
I appreciate it.
So, with networking, and I lovehow you said, just get it out
there, man.
And I want to add one morething I'm sorry because it's a
hot topic for me.
Every time you send a resume,every time you send a text, an
email, follow up with a company,celebrate yourself for doing it
(14:03):
, because it creates new neuralpathways instead of it being a
negative thing and a pain in thethat.
Hey, this is what I'm supposedto be doing and it's exciting
and it's fun and you know, itchanges the magnetism and so
forth and the vibrationalpattern of your body to actually
(14:25):
bring more people into you, notto get all woo, woo and
unicorns and rainbows, but it'sactual science.
So just just a quick tip there.
So, danny, with with thenetworking, so you know, you,
you, how do I say this?
You went out, you know, for thejob, you've got it all this,
you know life happens right.
(14:45):
So what, what other resourcesdo you think are important with
networking?
Personally, you know whenyou're getting out, besides
maybe business and jobs and thatkind of thing.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I think you know, you know where.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'm going with this as far as.
So we have a ton of.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
We have a ton of resources available to us now
that weren't available, like,say, 25 years ago, number one
being LinkedIn, right.
So you can go on there and seewhat people who were in the
military transition out aredoing, you can see what fields
are going into, you can see thejob opportunities they have and,
more importantly, you can kindof see what it looks like in the
civilian workforce and get agood read on that just by going
(15:21):
on LinkedIn and kind of checkingstuff out.
Even if you're not engagingwith those people right away,
it's a good idea to go on there.
Even more so, and with folkstransitioning out of the
military, your job may becompletely different.
I called for bombs in the army,right, and so that wasn't a job
that I was going to have goinginto the civilian workforce.
But I will say this having ajob at a Fortune 500 company as
(15:45):
a supervisor, as a fieldengineer, what that did was it
laid the groundwork for me tobet on myself, to believe that I
could do these things, eventhough I didn't have an
engineering degree.
I didn't know anything aboutthe oil field, well, I also
didn't know about owning my ownbusiness and QuickBooks and all
these other things.
Guess what.
We're making it work and youcan do the same thing.
I promise if I can do this, youcan do this.
I barely graduated high school,but the people that I've met,
(16:08):
the relationships that I'vebuilt, those people, when they
hear about something that may beinteresting to me or maybe up
my alley, they reach out to me,and that's what networking can
do, for you, yeah, absolutelylove.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
you say that you know I dropped out right after
eighth grade and so, you know,went and did my GED, just passed
the test.
But you know you talk about theother people in your life,
right, I mean I built everythingby talking to people I respect,
like Mr Danny O'Neill and so on, literally the construction
(16:42):
company.
Everything I've done in my lifeit's that network of people
that are around me that Irespect and learn from every
single day, every single day.
So I mean, how, how, how wouldyou say, that's changed.
You know, I mean your, yourlife in general, the personal
connections that have said, hey,keep going, hey, you're doing
(17:03):
the right thing, hey, try this.
That you're just talking about.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So there's always going to be trial and error.
We're going to learn thingsthat work and things that don't.
We're going to fall on our faceand you got.
Like you said earlier, we haveto use those experiences to
propel us forward.
Now I will say that, despite thehardships that we face in life,
we're pretty resilient as aspecies.
Right, we've come from livingin caves to having awesome
dwellings, you know, right.
(17:31):
So it's, it's pretty phenomenalwhat we can do, even as an
individual, and I'll justimagine what you can do with a
team, with support, with peoplewho want to see you win.
And I'll say this cause, Ithink it's, I think it's
pertinent, but if you're thesmartest person in the room,
you're in the wrong room.
I surround my, you're theaverage of the people you
surround yourself with, sochoose wisely.
(17:52):
And I surround myself withpeople who are highly
intelligent, who are highlymotivated and disciplined Right,
because motivation doesn'talways last, but if they're
disciplined, they'll continuedoing it.
And again, if we're persistent,we're going to be successful.
We're going to find successes,and you have to celebrate those.
You have to acknowledge the,what it took to get there, and
then you have to find that youknow that next goal, that next
(18:14):
mission.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
And James Hicks, I agree, danny is a good dude man.
That's fantastic.
So, yeah, you know, here's thething that I learned in my life,
too.
Right is you have to keep going.
You can't play victim mode,because that doesn't solve
anything, or the people aroundyou.
Danny, you're the reason that Ihang out with you, because you
are the smarter guy in the room,my friend, and if we don't fall
(18:41):
on our face, we don't learn.
You fall on your face.
You have two options, right,danny?
You either play victim mode atsomeone else's fault or some
other circumstance's fault, oryou learn from it, you change it
and you do it again untilyou're successful, right?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
100 and listen, I will say this despite you know,
all my friends who have been, um, killed or injured, what I've
got to see in my life and I knowit can be, you know, a somewhat
extreme experience, but I willsay this um, you know, we got
guys like, uh, louis puertas,who's a double amputee, he's
also a Paralympic runner Right,and Shane Parsons is a double
(19:19):
amputee and he plays sled hockey.
So what I'll tell you is we cando things, despite other people
telling us we can't, giving uslimitations, giving us labels,
and, even more so, we see thehuman spirit in people like that
, right.
So when, when we find, uh, anexample of someone who has had
(19:41):
you know kind of this crapsandwich that life has dealt
them for lunch, they can smileand still figure out a way
around what they've been through.
And and for me, that reminds methat, no matter what I'm
complaining about, no matterwhat's going wrong in my life, I
can still get my ass back up.
Because Shane laid in thathospital bed and he had two
choices with no legs and hewasn't getting prosthetics, he
(20:03):
could lay there and wait till hedied he was a 21 year old young
man at the time or he could gethis ass up and figure out a way
to live a life that wasfulfilling despite his injuries.
And I'll tell you, watching himis awe-inspiring because I know
that if he can do it, I can doit.
If I can do it, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I absolutely love it.
And shout out to him for sure.
Huh yeah, absolutely, that'sawesome.
So you know, that is it right.
It is.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself, get up and move.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Stop being a victim and start being a victor.
Amen, love that.
So, and it is literally, it'sjust.
You know, I always, when I'mdoing trainings and I don't
everything I teach people I domyself right and so all it is is
take that little action to getthe ball rolling and then follow
up the action and so all of asudden you have a tsunami.
You know it's not a rippleeffect, it's a damn tsunami, you
(20:59):
know.
So you know, I love that whenyou say that, because it's just
the little two millimeter shiftor that take that next step that
takes you to that next place ofwhere you are Right, Because
when you got out of the military, did you ever see yourself
doing this?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Absolutely not, and that's why I will say that's why
this is so important.
I hope you guys hear this athome.
Listen, not only did I notthink I'd be doing this, but I
thought I'd failed at so manyaspects of my life that I wasn't
capable of doing this stuff.
So if you are in that positionwhere you've been successful,
you've found some of the trialsand tribulations and have
(21:36):
overcome them, turn around andhelp the next person, because
you know that's what helps us.
You know, build a bettersociety and community is when we
have good leaders and peoplewho are willing to look out
after each other.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I love that you said that, because really when
you find a success formula too,you can share the success
formula.
It may be a little bitdifferent for other people, but
generally it's still there,right?
That's it.
So if we can tell me about yoursuccess formula a little bit,
oh man, so I have a.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
My life is mostly routine, though we get lots of
curveballs around here,especially because we put
ourselves out there to helppeople with Warfighter Overwatch
, right.
But aside from that, we havebusinesses.
Right, we have multiplebusinesses.
We have a tattoo shop withKinetic Ink Tattoo Company, we
have custom apparel with KineticThreads, and then Fawn wasn't
(22:29):
busy enough, so she startedMother Trucker Hat Bar and
boutique.
So they're doing permanentjewelry and all that stuff.
And at the end of the day youknow, the formula is simple I'm
the water boy, I'm, I'm the guywho cleans it, I'm the janitor.
Right, I have to invest inthese businesses, and not just
that, but it's relationshipswith the community.
(22:49):
I need them to know that we'rea good business run by good
people.
You know, I want to do goodthings, and so, number one, I
hope that helps us stand out and, even more importantly, that
goes to my value.
So it's more important that Ido that for myself than anything
else.
But people are watching, and soI want including my kids, and
so we got to set a good example.
We have to be good businessowners, and that starts with,
you know, waking up in thatroutine is, you know, I take my
(23:12):
kid to school, I exercise, andthen it's work time, right, and
I have to make sure that thefolks who are you know what
they're tattooing, that theyhave the supplies they need.
If it's the printing shop, Imake sure that the boxes, the
supplies that we need are thereso we can continue to provide
quality product in a timelymanner, right.
And so all of those things comedown to being persistent,
(23:41):
getting good at your craft.
And then, even more importantly, something I teach my kids if
we need help, we ask for help.
Sometimes my wife is in theremaking the shirts and she gets
overwhelmed.
She gets a bunch of orders andshe's like, hey, enough golfing
today, I need you to come help.
Yeah, all right.
So you know we've got to havebalance.
It's so important to have thatbalance, especially as a
business owner.
But in the beginning, uh, thebalance isn't necessarily going
to be there, but it's worth it.
And if you're again, if you'repersistent, if you stick with it
(24:02):
, you'll, you will find thatyou'll own your time.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, absolutely, and there's a.
There's a life balance flow forsure.
You know, I don't I don'treally call it myself a balance,
because sometimes there's moreon one side and more on the
other, but hopefully they evenout and you know, and so on, for
sure let's.
Let's talk about asking forhelp for a second, because you
brought that up, and I knowwe're getting a little low on
time, but I think it's super,super, super, super important,
(24:26):
right?
So, as as veterans, as as humanbeings, as as men, as women,
whatever you are, a lot of timeswe have trouble asking for help
and we think that it's aweakness, when actually it's the
most courageous thing we canactually do.
Talk to me about that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Three hardest things on this planet to say are I'm
sorry, I was wrong, orWorcestershire sauce.
And so I know that I struggledso hard with asking for help.
As the last thing I wanted todo specifically with my mental
health stuff, because in thearmy I had a security clearance,
right.
I didn't want that to beaffected when I got out.
I didn't want to tell peoplebecause I thought it was a
(25:03):
weakness, right.
And then now I screen thisstuff from the rooftops.
That, if you listen, I told mykids when they were four years
old, you know, eventually you'regoing to be able to put the
straw in the Capri Sun, butuntil then, if you need help,
ask for help.
I wouldn't be a very goodleader or parent or example if I
said to do something and thendidn't follow that.
So if I need help, I ask forhelp.
It's so vital.
(25:23):
And it's not a sign of weakness.
It is actually a sign ofstrength because I can do so
much more with a support system,with help right.
And I used to do things.
Listen, I've lifted things andhurt myself my back, trying to
be tough like a sink.
Most recent memory I waslifting.
My wife asked me to go pick upthe sink.
(25:45):
I didn't ask my buddy to gohelp me.
I could have.
I even had a friend offer.
I said, no, that's all right, Igot this, went over there.
It was like 300 pounds.
I'm like, what are we doing?
And so, uh, I got it taken careof, but at what cost?
And so that's what I want, as Ithink about is, there's
consequences, and if we don'task for help, there can be
negative consequences for thattoo.
(26:05):
But we're definitely, uh, morecapable, or capable of doing
more with with others.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
So Absolutely, absolutely.
And Danny, I'm half an houraway, man, I could have helped.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Exactly, you know, that's exactly it, right, I have
people who would help me andI'm I'm, you know, my pride or
ego gateway.
I try to do that more.
I say but absolutely, and thenthe next time you need help, you
ask me and I'll come help you,because I'm always like, I'm
down for that.
If you need help, I'll comehelp you, and I don't always
(26:37):
accept it.
And so that's where you know Ineed to make changes, and that's
OK, because we don't have allthe answers and we do need help.
We're always going to have tocount on someone at some point
in our life.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And I just want to make a point Amen, first of all,
and see, see how we justlearned by the mistake.
That's what we're talking about.
That, that simple.
And I want to say somethingelse.
You know, asking that personfor help, um, physically,
mentally, whatever the case maybe If someone else has moved
that sink beforeds, are they canget you further faster.
If they've opened that businessbefore, they can get you there
further faster.
You know, and that's the beautyof that network and we're
bringing it back to the networkhere Networking is just there's
(27:24):
people out there, you probablyknow that have done it before.
You have the experience and orsuccessful with it, and they can
get you there three timesfaster.
I mean, that's what coaching isall about, right, but you have
friends that can do the samedamn thing, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
So amen, yeah, please .
Well, I'll just say this realquick.
I even asked people like, let'ssay, with my business, right,
if I see someone with the tattoo?
I asked them that is just, youknow, kind of a little
icebreaker or whatever, but it'splanting that seed.
And they're like oh, you own atattoo shop, you do tattoos, and
then we start talking aboutthat and art and those sorts of
(27:58):
things.
Well, I'm asking them to helpsupport my business.
Is what I'm asking them to do,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Absolutely so.
With that said, if you're inthe Folsom area, so tell us a
little bit real quick.
I know we're getting low ontime.
But about Warfighter OverwatchI want to make sure we bring
light to that.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Absolutely.
Warfighter Overwatch is aveteran and first responder
nonprofit.
It's focuses on mental healthand suicide prevention.
I pay for veterans firefighters, police officers to go to
therapy.
We do trips.
I took 15 guys up half dome inoctober to remind them that you
know what's inside of them isgreater than what's in front of
them.
You can overcome any adversity.
It's better if you do ittogether.
(28:39):
Climbing that mountain wasdifficult.
It would have been even moredifficult as an individual when
I have 14 other guys next to me.
Uh and gals.
It's you know.
It reminds you that I can keepputting one foot in front of the
other, but I I don't just haveto put my head down and grind.
It's important to look aroundat all the beauty we see and not
just grind all the time.
So we do a lot of good stuff.
(28:59):
It's all cost-free to those wehelp.
We're an all-volunteernonprofit.
Everyone does this because theycare.
We don't get paid a dime.
We were the nonprofit of theyear for the state of California
in 2022.
We hope to continue that going.
We're almost at a milliondollars raised since 2021.
And I'll say that I'm this ismy purpose right?
(29:20):
I do a lot of different thingsin my life, but getting to help
other other war fighters.
This is, this is what allows meto um, to fill my bucket or my
cup so that I can do those otherthings, whether it's with my
kids, my businesses.
This makes me feel whole.
It allows me to be part of mycommunity instead of isolating,
(29:40):
drinking and doing thosenegative coping skills.
We do the opposite.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Amen, man, and it's, it's.
It's so easy to go down thatroad, but when you find
something fulfilling to fillyour bucket and I was literally
just talking to somebody aboutthis yesterday it mitigates the
negatives you know, number onedeterrent for suicide is
connection to others.
Amen, I love it, absolutelylove it.
All right, we're past time.
So, with that said, danny, howdo people reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Man, you can find me on social media Instagram,
facebook.
Danny O on Instagram.
Danny man, you can find me onsocial media instagram, facebook
.
Uh, danny o on on instagram.
Danny o'neill, I'm super easyto find.
Warfighteroverwatchorg uh,kinetic ink, tattoocom and any
of those things.
You can reach out if you needthreads.
Any of that stuff we got, uh,we got stuff, and if I don't
have the business that you need,you let me know and I got
(30:29):
someone who does and we'llnetwork and get you hooked up
with them too easy, hey man backback to networking.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Nice little, nice little bow on the on the end
there.
Absolutely fantastic and asalways, danny.
Three tips to get veterans andtheir families further faster.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, man.
So first off, you got tonetwork.
You need to know who yourneighbors are, because they're
going to help you get to whereyou want to be Right, and I
think it's important to to havethose friendships you have to.
You also have to be a goodsteward of the veteran and first
or veteran community.
So that means be out in yourcommunity, let them know that
you know we're leaders, we havethese skills and values and we
(31:04):
want our communities to knowwhat those are.
And, even more importantly,we've got to support each other.
So if you're in that positionand you've gone somewhere that
someone else hasn't, help themunderstand the groundwork and
what you need to do to get there.
And if you're in a bad spot,don't be afraid to ask for help
so that you can get to wherethose other folks are that you
want to be Absolutely man.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
I love that.
I love the three tips andliterally man use them because
they're priceless.
Those are golden nuggets, danny.
Just drop right there.
So, with that said, danny, justdrop right there.
So with that said, danny, thankyou again for being on the show
.
As always, time is the mostprecious resource we have as
human beings.
We do not get it back.
So thank you for spending somemore minutes of your life with
me and our audience, justbringing value man.
(31:44):
Thank you, my friend Appreciateit brother, all right, man Love
you, brother, we're out.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Thank you for joining us on another insightful
journey of your Thoughts yourReality podcast with your host,
michael Cole.
We hope the conversationsparked some thoughts that
resonate with you.
To dive deeper into empoweringyour thoughts and enhancing your
reality, visitempowerperformancestrategiescom.
Remember your thoughts shapeyour reality, so make them count
(32:12):
.
Until next time, stay inspiredand keep creating the reality
you desire.
Catch you on the next episode.
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