Charge Forward Podcast

From Tragedy to Triumph: Jamie Steelman on Family, Faith, and the #GIVELIFE4RYAN Legacy

September 12, 2024 • Jim Cripps • Season 1 • Episode 7

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In this powerful episode, we sit down with Jamie Steelman, a local mortgage broker, coach, and father of six. Jamie shares his 30-year journey in the mortgage industry, balancing his passion for helping families with the grief of losing his son Ryan in a tragic motorcycle accident. Inspired by Ryan’s memory, Jamie and his family founded the #GIVELIFE4RYAN blood drive, which has saved thousands of lives.

Jamie also reflects on the life-changing impact of his high school teacher, Miss Sanders, who refused to let him quit. Her encouragement led him to embrace learning, a mindset that shaped the course of his life and career. Tune in for an inspiring conversation on resilience, family, faith, the power of mentorship, and the importance of community support during life’s toughest moments.

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Jim Cripps - :

Hey team, welcome to the Charge Forward podcast. I'm your host, Jim Cripps, coming to you from the HitLab studio here in Nashville, Tennessee. Thanks so much for joining us again. I have a special guest today, Mr Jamie Steelman. Jamie, how are you doing today?

Jamie Steelman:

Great, great Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, man, Absolutely so. I mean, you're a rock star in the mortgage space. Family man Six kids, Six kids. Yes, sir that Family man, six kids.

Jamie Steelman:

Six kids. Yes, sir, that's a big family. It is. It is Big blended family and love every bit of it.

Jim Cripps - :

I love it. That's fantastic, man. Well, thank you for coming out with us today. How long have you been in mortgages?

Jamie Steelman:

So it's coming up on about. I looked at the date the other day. I try not to look specifically but it's cool. That's cool.

Jim Cripps - :

Now. You've seen some ups and some downs and some sideways.

Jamie Steelman:

Been through a lot of different market changes. I was just talking earlier. Everybody's like, hey, are rates going down? I'm like, yeah, it looks like we're in a motion where we're going to see a little bit better rates, but, either way it goes, I've been through all that kind of stuff up and down. People always buy homes. So I love what I do. You know, regardless of what the rate is, I get to talk to people about, you know, buying their home, moving up into a bigger home, becoming a first time home buyer, all that kind of stuff. So I really love what I do and would never want to do anything else.

Jamie Steelman:

I love it, the game you've probably helped some people really kind of go from their first starter home all the way to like, whether it be the pinnacle home or hey, now we're selling and we're going to travel. Oh, absolutely Absolutely. One of the cool things about, you know, getting on the little bit of an older side is I not only get to see people that were first time home buyers that eventually move into that that big home or they want to travel, or they start to buy investment properties and they've, you know, start to build a portfolio and kind of go through that. And it's kind of fun to sit down with them and go. Man, at one point we were just talking about you not renting an apartment and now you've got a portfolio of you know six investment properties that you're Airbnb in here or you're making money from that, and so it's.

Jamie Steelman:

It's really cool to see people you know take that step and then other people that are just happy owning their home and they're traveling and doing different things, and then all the way full circle to the age thing again, but to where I'm doing mortgages for kids that I coached when they were little in baseball, or kids that you know went to school with my kids, and that's just, it's a huge thing and it's so rewarding and it's really cool to go. Man, I remember that kid running around my living room, you know, tackling, playing around, and then now they're married, buying a home, having kids, that kind of stuff. So those kinds of full circle moments are really fun.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, and I think it kind of goes hand in hand, because you know there's got to be a level of trust on the on the baseball field, or, you know, on the football field, whatever it is you're coaching. You know those parents have trusted you with not only their child's time but their attention and and what they're going to learn good, bad or ugly from you. And you know, fast forward now, 10, 20, 30, 40, 30, 30 years later, here you are and you're guiding them through what is the beginning of the largest purchases of their life.

Jamie Steelman:

Sure, and that's, that's one of the coolest things. I mean. I tell people all the time, mostly mostly my family, you know it's it's so cool to have a 25 year old person call you and go hey, coach, I'm looking at buying a house, I need you to do this kind of stuff. So it's just that you know, my wife is a former dance teacher so she taught ballet and tap and that kind of stuff. So she'll have girls reach out to her. You know that she taught forever ago, checking in and just you know, hey, miss Stacy, and that kind of stuff. And so it's it's really great All that time you got to pour into people that they still have that trust level and they want to get your opinion on what they're doing, you know now in their life. So it's, it's really special.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, and I don't know if it has the same effect on you or not, but when somebody calls me coach, I mean it just. It feels every void in your body. You're just like 10 feet tall and bulletproof, and what can I do to help you? You know, it's just. It puts that wind underneath you like nothing else.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, yeah, and I've talked to my wife about it. I'm just saying it. A second ago I just got like warm my whole body. I mean it's kind of crazy, I told. I told her I was like man. I hope some of those kids forever just call me that. It means so much to hear it. They probably don't realize it, but it's just, you know, it's in their head and it's a respect thing. You feel like you've definitely had an impact in their life if they're willing to refer to you that way. You know. So it's, you're absolutely right. It gives me chills. It just, yeah, fills you up with joy big time when you hear somebody say that and that's why she loves it. When a dancer will say, you know, hey, miss Stacy, I'm doing this, or she'll post on Facebook congratulations on you know, your kid, or whatever, and they'll type back thanks so much, miss Stacy. And so we talk about it all the time.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, it just fills you with joy, oh yeah, and you love hearing where they are, what they're doing and and really to me, like, what really tells you whether or not you made an impact, is how excited they get to tell you what they're doing.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, I mean, it's just yeah, and I just you know, we recently had our, our blood drive, um, and I had some, some ballplayers that I've had before, and when they walk in and not only just say like hey, coach, or they just give you this huge hug, it's like one of your kids hugging you. I mean, it's just you can't explain how great it just fills you up and what it does for you. It's just, it's amazing.

Jim Cripps - :

Okay, so you just mentioned this blood drive. I've been hearing about it, so this is the eighth annual. Yes, sir, and how was our success on this one?

Jamie Steelman:

It was unbelievable. We're still kind of waiting on official, official numbers, but it looks like we, you know, surpassed the other seven years, which is amazing. We had a couple of years that we went through COVID where it was harder to get people in and we had some really good numbers through that time, but, um, this year was just just amazing. I mean, it looks like we're going to be at about 140 units collected and we do that in about five or six hours. Oh, wow, so, um, you know, that has the potential to save 420 lives. So I mean, it's just huge, huge impact. And, um, we started it about eight years ago and come in full circle just so many stories, kind of like we were talking about people coming in and, uh, it's just, it's been phenomenal. Some of the, the purpose and some of the impact that's came out of why we started it and what we're doing it for.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, well, and I want to selfishly, I'm going to throw this out there there's so many reasons for somebody to donate blood, so many selfish reasons. You get a health benefit by your body not having that blood and generating new blood. Uh, especially if you're a male you, most people are not if you're anemic, but most, most males especially you're going to get a benefit from it. Dropping your ferritin levels. Obviously, check with your doctor, you know, and those types of things they a lot of times. They check it right there. But, uh, there's a lot of selfish benefits, but there's a lot of selfless benefits as well, in that you potentially save multiple lives with just one donation. My sister, in particular, has been saved twice, once 20 years ago, this month and once just about four months ago. So please get out there. They have a Red Cross app. You can donate or find a wonderful blood drive like the one that Jamie sponsors every year.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, that's amazing. I didn't know that your sister had an experience like that. I mean, yeah, ours is very personal. I lost my oldest son, ryan, in 2016. And he passed away in a motorcycle crash and everybody kind of always thinks, oh, I'm sure you do the blood drive to bring awareness to that kind of stuff and it's completely different. So it's great when we get to share his story.

Jamie Steelman:

He was born at Vanderbilt Hospital and when he was born his mother's placenta separated, lost tons of blood, so he was delivered emergency C-section and had to have two blood transfusions just to survive, and so he had AB negative blood, which is the rarest, and they said, you know, this is 1994. So they told us, you know, if you wouldn't have been at Vanderbilt, you know, maybe in a rural hospital, may not have even had it on hand and would they have been able to get it from wherever to where you were at. So, literally, you know, blood donation gave us 21 years with him that we would have not had without. So we're forever grateful that we had that time with him and we so we're forever grateful that we had that time with him and we want to give other people that gift of life through remembering him.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, my goodness, it's just a God thing. You were in the right place, you know, and got to spend 21 wonderful years with him.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, yeah, so so grateful for that. Our family has done that blood drive for the last eight years now and we've just we've crossed paths with so many different lives. You know I was telling you just having the people come out and donate because they're just doing it. To be there and to donate blood is one thing, but the stories over and over that come out, now that we're eight years into it, of people that have not just knew us from baseball, knew us from the community, but the impact of what we're doing, the hashtag that we use, and people coming in and telling us little stories. I had a lady walk over to me while we were doing stuff and said, hey, are you Ryan's dad? And I said yeah, and she said I just wanted to tell you. Last year I got married in this building after your blood drive. Y'all were cleaning up while we were setting up my wedding and she said I just I read about it a little bit because I saw all the signs and everything. I love y'all's cause.

Jamie Steelman:

Me and my dad used to donate blood together because he's got some stuff in his family and I had got to where I had a few donations that were a little rough, got bruising and stuff and I kind of got discouraged. And my dad had sat down a couple weeks before the wedding. We were just talking about life and different things and he said you know, you really need to find a cause that'll get you back into donating, because it meant so much to you and she was, you know. She kind of just grabbed me by the arm and she said this is my cause. And it was just, you know, and I had a couple of people around me at the time that had been helping and volunteering for the last couple of years and it was just that impact of somebody that said, hey, I'm using something you're doing to really make a difference in my life was just kind of like wow, yeah, that's why we started this.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, really and truly, I mean when you, when you give you, you get a different feeling that you don't get really from anything else. I mean, coaching is a version of giving, but donating blood is a version of giving and I think sometimes the reason people need to make that connection to a cause is because they don't see the person that benefits.

Jamie Steelman:

It's a great point.

Jim Cripps - :

And so there's that disconnection of oh, I just gave something and you know it's just out into the ether, no that that that blood gets somewhere, Somebody puts it to good use and in some places, I mean, there's a drastic shortage, sure, sure and you referenced the uh mobile app the red cross has.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, there's actually a place on there that's called the blood journey, so now you can actually donate. You look back on the app and it tells you hey, my blood's being tested, my blood's been approved, it's, it's at baptist hospital here st thomas, whatever it's called now. So you can actually follow that and get a little bit of that sense of hey, I got to watch. You know, not only did I give that day to help, but here's, it's at, it's at somewhere being used.

Jim Cripps - :

It is it is. And it it does help because it's not uh, it kind of connects you to where your yours went, and that may not seem valuable, but as somebody who donates regularly, it is. I mean, I look it up every time. And another great part about the app is it lets you schedule close to your house, and so I schedule. The last time I donated it was four doors down from my house.

Jamie Steelman:

That's pretty cool.

Jim Cripps - :

I mean. So the ability to do that is just invaluable. So again, please get out there, please donate Research causes, find one that speaks to your heart and be sure to donate regularly. Thank you All right. So kind of the essence of the Charge Forward podcast is people charge forward during those moments. That would break some people and I can't think of a uh, uh, a more spot on instance, um, and I'm not asking you to relive those moments, but uh, you know how, how did you push forward through that?

Jamie Steelman:

Sure, um, it's, it's been a journey and I think it's a it's an ongoing journey. It's something that, um, you know, you never, really, never really move on from um, but you move on in a different way. So a lot of people use terms like, you know, a new normal or whatever there might be, just to kind of get your head around it. But you know, we, we were very lucky that we have a a very caring community. We had some friends step forward that, of course, we thought were friends at the time, but we became, you know, we really found out what they mean to us through that time.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, big time family and, uh, we had some real young people, you know. So when Ryan passed away, we had that summer of 2016,. We not only lost him, but we had two kids graduate high school at the same time. Both were leaving the house to go to college. So we lost him and then we basically felt like our house was going from five kids at home to one at home just almost overnight. So it was a big change and we had some friends of theirs that hang around, and particularly a friend of my daughter's that basically came to the house, stayed at the house every once in a while and said, hey, I'm not leaving. Not leaving until I feel like Gabby and the rest of y'all are okay and she still has a real special place in our life and not sure what gave her that intestinal fortitude at such a young age to be like, hey, I'm going to look these, these adults that are, you know, same age as my parents, and say I'm here for you and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me I can't stay here anymore. So there were some real special people that stepped up.

Jamie Steelman:

But you know, biggest part I think about moving through anything like that I had to learn because I didn't move forward at all at first, anything like that. I had to learn um cause I didn't move forward at all At first. I kind of shut down and went through a lot of the, the denial, and a lot of the, the questioning and questioning everything in this world and beyond. Um, at that time and as time, you know, moved fast, moved faster, um, I finally was able to talk to a few people and I think that was the biggest key that helped me at least take a few steps forward was shutting down and keeping everything inside.

Jamie Steelman:

I'm definitely one of those, those guys that you know kind of suppresses everything and tries to say I'm OK, I'm fine, I'll move forward. But I really learned through that experience how speaking with other people, talking to other people, not only opened my heart up to figure out you know, there's things we don't control, um but also there's other people that are going through things. So, you know, I feel like, definitely in my heart of hearts, I feel like I went through something incredibly tragic that I uh will never get over and daily life will not be the same, but I've learned that there's a lot of people dealing with a lot of things out there and the best thing we can do is be there for others and give them, give them that voice or give them that ear, whatever to help them through some of that stuff and that was probably the biggest major breakthrough I had was just finally learning how to talk about it a little bit.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, Well, I had. I heard somebody say one time that it was you live every day because they didn't get the opportunity to. That's great, and you know I think you have to, yeah, Otherwise you don't get through it.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, and I feel like we're. We're really lucky as a family, you know, getting to share Ryan's story. He was a huge at his age. He just loved adventure, loved living life and one of the things I'm getting more of an understanding of it now, but it used to puzzle me as a 15-, 16-year-old kid.

Jamie Steelman:

Ryan would always say like, hey, go do it today. Tomorrow's not promised. He would just constantly say things like that. And we're like you know, I've talked a lot about everybody having a five-year plan, ten-year plan, like he had a five-minute plan. He was always about like, what could we do now to, you know, just enjoy this moment.

Jamie Steelman:

Um, so many stories like that and so many of his friends have came back and said exactly what you just said. Talked to a few of them at the blood drive and they were like, hey, man, I hope he knows that we're we're living because he didn't get to, we're traveling because he didn't get to. And I love the stories that I see some of his great friends. I mean he has a good friend that just went to Italy last week and just I mean there's, there's this group of good friends that he had that are just out there doing things and they always make a note to shoot me a quick text or let me know. You know, hey, we're doing this or this was.

Jamie Steelman:

This was really interesting in this, in this crazy that I'm here what would Ryan think about this? And it just reminds me and drives me forward to go. That's what he would want, that's what he'd be doing right now. So the fact that he left that impact that drove others to do that kind of stuff wakes me up to the fact of, hey, don't sit here, share his story, Share what he would be doing and do some of the stuff that he would be doing, because that's what he'd be telling me to do. I mean, if I was standing in my house right now and he came in the door, I know he would be like, dude, what are you doing? Yeah, what are we doing today? You know, it just wasn't about being bored at all. So that helps me a lot to have them. This event every year gives me a chance to see them face to face. I mean, we had a couple kind of his best friend growing up, you know, made the trip from North Carolina here just to donate blood, to be there around everybody on that day.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, so that's special, that's a moment right there. Yeah, it's really cool, that's wonderful. You know, I think, just in general, as we get older, the, the norm or whatever we want to call it takes us from that childlike default to yes to default to no, and I think it is just an ongoing battle that we as parents, we as just people trying to be positive and be awesome every day, we have to try to remind ourselves that, whenever possible, we should default to yes.

Jamie Steelman:

I love that. I love that. Yeah, yeah Makes more sense to say yes and enjoy it while we're here.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah.

Jamie Steelman:

You know, than to than to shrink up back up and just say, no, yeah, that's right, love that.

Jim Cripps - :

Now, uh, so how many y'all do you have at home?

Jamie Steelman:

still Just one, just one, just one at home Um Willa, our youngest uh. She finished cosmetology school last year.

Jim Cripps - :

Okay.

Jamie Steelman:

And she's got a small shop in Green Hills that she took over from my late father-in-law who cut hair for 45, 50 years, and so she kind of had a huge advantage in life that most people don't have Got to step right out of cosmetology school and have a place to run a business. So she's learning how to cut hair and run a whole business at the same time, but it's a huge opportunity for her. So, uh, she's still at home getting the business off the ground until she can be on her own, but, yeah, just just one at home. And then, um, have a granddaughter that's that's here, local, that's seven, and a granddaughter that was just born in South Carolina. So we're we're moving into the next phase of children, which is phenomenal.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, being grandparents, absolutely that's good stuff, man, that's good stuff. Uh, and so this is. This is one I haven't asked anybody, but, um, so how would you describe Stacy? How would you describe your lovely wife?

Jamie Steelman:

Man, there's. There's not enough words. You know, with what we were just talking about, I have no idea how in the world I would have ever, you know, put one step forward without her. Um is truly the rock, truly the person that keeps our family together. You know, we refer to our big blended family because she had three, I had three, came together with six kids and at one point we had five teenagers at the same time and she was the one responsible for getting everybody to school. And you know I'm showing up to coach a game, but she's getting everybody to the game and making sure they've all got their stuff and they're.

Jamie Steelman:

I'm leaving work, showing up on the field and like hey, where's everybody at? So, um, and just just everything. Cheer practices, volleyball, you know every, every, all of our kids were involved in a lot of activities. We encourage that a lot when they were kids because I feel like there's a strong connection to being coached, being a part of a team, learning a lot of life lessons, regardless of what sport or activity is. We encourage them a lot to be a part of something and it's paid huge dividends as adults.

Jamie Steelman:

So, yeah, she's the one that got everybody everywhere and still does and holds everything together for us and I don't take it lightly at all. Still does and holds everything together for us, and I don't I don't take it lightly at all. She's a we. Actually, I could probably talk to you for an hour about how our relationship came to be, but we've known each other since we were seven years old. Oh wow, her, her parents had a hair salon and my mom managed a daycare right next door, so we kind of saw each other after school. Family friends right next door, so we kind of saw each other after school. Family friends, all that kind of stuff but you know never dated.

Jamie Steelman:

both went off and did our own things and somehow found each other back together. So you know, it's a. It's a pretty cool relationship because we get to uh, not only share the future and our kids and everything now, but we get to go back and kind of talk about we grew up in the same place, we're around a lot of the same stuff, so there's a lot of stories when we weren't a couple that we get to kind of share different perspectives from and know what each other are talking about. So it's, it's a really cool thing.

Jim Cripps - :

That's awesome, man. That is really cool. That's good. Um, what is what is? What is something unexpected? Um, that that has happened in either business or in in in life. Outside of that, that one major moment, that, uh, that you, you had to push through, that you had to decide we're going to buckle down down as a, as a couple or, um, you know, it could be in business, what's what's? What's one of those that you you had. You just ran through it.

Jamie Steelman:

Sure, in business, um and and, business kind of flows into family, of course, when you're self-employed and you're an entrepreneur. So a couple years ago I had been at a bank for about eight years and kind of been a loan officer, kind of doing the mortgage thing, for a while and had a lot of success and loved it, but had an opportunity to kind of go out on my own with the backing of a larger company. So now I do mortgages my, my team is team Stillman mortgage at CMG home loans. So they're the larger company but it's just a much different setup. It's much more entrepreneurial, it's much more my own business. And we had a lot of discussions because I had gotten really comfortable doing what I was doing. But I felt like, felt like I could help more people, I could do more things for our business, for our family and take us to, you know, bigger places. And so I was, you know, probably 48 at the time, 51 now. So I was kind of, you know, hey, are we? Are we on track, you know, to retire. Am I enjoying what I'm doing? Am I doing everything that I want to do with this and this?

Jamie Steelman:

And this opportunity came up and it was, you know the timing felt right, but it was a hard decision because you know you get eight to 10 years with one group. You get a group of people you know didn't necessarily want to leave the people that I worked with, but the opportunity seemed to make sense and felt like, hey, I can really make a difference if I go do this. But it was a hard step to take. Sure, and we talked about it and it's it's been the greatest decision I've ever made. Um, but at the time there was a lot of oh man, what if? What if I step out here and I can't step back, kind of taking your, you know, stepping off the dock with both feet. So you know, like, if we're going to do this, we're going to jump in, you know, and, uh, it's been really great.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, if you're going to do it, you've got to commit.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah.

Jim Cripps - :

It's plain and simple. Yeah, how many team members do you have with you?

Jamie Steelman:

now I have three on my direct team and then of course we've got processors, underwriters, that are dedicated to our staff, sure, and I mean it's been phenomenal when I was where I was, I didn't have a loan officer, so now kind of building that thing and mentoring other people. So a lot of people on my team have aspirations to do other things, so they're kind of learning the business through me?

Jim Cripps - :

which kind?

Jamie Steelman:

of gives me that coach feeling again, absolutely. You know I didn't realize at the time how much I missed that and I'll be sitting and telling Stacey like man, it was so cool. You know so-and-so asked me this question. I got to kind of tell them well, this is how it works. You know, here's how you get from a to B. And you know I'm coaching again, not realizing that that's what I'm really technically doing by you know title or whatever. So it's, it's been really cool to build that team and to watch it grow.

Jim Cripps - :

I love it. Well, one of the things that I like to ask everybody is especially I mean, you've got six kids, so most families, especially middle class. Money wasn't talked about around the kitchen table, money wasn't taught inside the house, and I think that is one of those pieces that is just missing just across the board. Is that financial responsibility, understanding how money works, understanding how you know when you provide value. Now money changes hands. How big a conversation was that around the kitchen table or with your kids?

Jamie Steelman:

Huge conversation. Was that around the kitchen table or with your kids? Huge? We probably can't, you know, state it enough because I I grew up with no discussions of money at all. I mean my parents never talked about it at all. You know, I learned kind of how we grew up and how we made it with some family members that helped us along the way much after the fact. Everything was just kind of not talked about and how anything worked. So I got out of school with no clue and I kind of learned the hard way, ups and downs and different things. But yeah, once me and Stacey got together it was a big topic of conversation and still is. I mean, we and I and I tell a lot of my clients this kind of stuff too.

Jamie Steelman:

You know, we've encouraged with all the technology that's out there now all of my kids know how to go on a credit, karma, see what's on their credit, see what's reporting, what's not reporting, how important it is to have, you know, some things in order. We talked about debt. You know good debt, bad debt, what's okay, what to do. You know homeownership of course is a big topic in our house, but just the day-to-day stuff. Talking to them and I think we all want to give our kids things that we didn't have, and that falls into that. I mean advice. Financial advice is huge because it was not talked about in school for me at all. It wasn't talked about at home. Um, it just, you know, learned everything. I learned the hard way and, uh, really want them to. You know, there's that fine line between helping your, your kids and teaching your kids things. I feel like, you know, because you want to teach them things, you want them to learn how to, you know, prepare for when you're not here, and you know what they want to do, how they want to manage things, and if things aren't going right, you know how to research it, figure out what you're doing.

Jamie Steelman:

So, yeah, big topic in our house was kind of, you know, like saving and uh, and it's really cool now that some of the kids are in their late 20s, we kind of joke. You know, a couple of our kids have these savings accounts that have a little bit of money in them. You know whether they're married or not, but they've got these accounts that we started when they were kids and they'll dump a little money in there and they're like, you know, we'll ask them about something, they're like oh, I don't spend that money. That's not real money, that's mine. It was kind of like when my one of my sons started his first job when he was in high school. You know we'd be like hey, you're working, why are you asking me for gas money? He's like well, I want to spend my money on that, so we had to.

Jamie Steelman:

We had to kind of go through that, you know. But but it's great that they have that saving mindset. They all want to not only have their checking account with what comes from what they work. They've thought about savings and stuff. I mean, I had a really rough time as a young adult in my 20s, and I never had a savings account until much later in life because I was just trying to every check make it to the next one. So a checking account was all I needed. There wasn't any money to save. So just teaching them those aspects and those practices has been very beneficial. To look back to, like we were talking about feeling good. It's kind of some of those things you see your kids do or hear that they're doing. You're like, oh man, that's stuck, how about that?

Jim Cripps - :

One of the most fun things that I've. It's kind of a game I play with my 10-year-old because he's got a little. He's got a couple yards that he mows, and so I introduced him to the Dave Ramsey investment calculator and so having him play with the numbers.

Jamie Steelman:

What if?

Jim Cripps - :

I put $50 a month in there and I'm 10 years old now. What does that look like? And I would say he's sharper than most college kids when it comes to money. But if you turn it into a game and so that there's there's this back and forth and they can explain things to you, and then I think one of the most powerful things that you can do is teach your children how money works.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, I think there's. Yeah, that's really high on the list. Yeah, because they need to know it's. You know, people talk about the good and the bad of money and all that kind of stuff. Having a savings account and being able to save money doesn't just give you opportunities, it also, when things go wrong, you have options.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, you don't. You don't have that desperate moment. Yeah, you don't. Uh, it changes the way you make decisions. Yeah.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, I mean you can stop and say I've got this $500 car repair and you can go. I don't want to use this money on my savings, but I'm glad I've got it to take care of that, as opposed to, like you said, what am I going to do? My car's broke down. I can't get to work because I have no money in the bank. So just preparing ahead of time is good for all people. But teaching that to your kids gives you a peace of mind that you know they're thinking for and they're going to be okay. When something comes up, they're going to think okay. This is why I did this.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, and so many people have so much drama in their world anyway, whether we're talking about if that destroys a marriage or destroys a relationship with you and your child, or even if it just makes for a bad week, um, you having savings, you having money available, probably has never made that a worse situation.

Jamie Steelman:

That's a good point. That's a really good point. Yeah, it probably hasn't made it worse, yeah.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, I like that. Um, have you had a mentor along the way? A lot, yeah, a lot. Who's the most powerful? Who's the one that just pops in your head and you're like, oh my gosh, I've I've probably told so many people about this.

Jamie Steelman:

Everybody kind of has that that favorite teacher. They remember some that were just impactful because they made things easier. Mine, because they had a I think it's a life saving role in my life. So you know, like I said, early early teens, early adulthood, I was kind of all over the place, didn't know what I wanted to do a whole lot, and basically walked away from high school in my sophomore year and just thought I'm not going to go the rest of the year, I'll go back next year, and I just kind of left my home really early, moved out really really at a young age and thought I knew what I was doing and that kind of stuff.

Jamie Steelman:

And I had an English teacher that kind of ran into me one day and she said, yeah, you're, you're coming back to school and we're going to finish, we're going to make sure you finish. And uh, she has just always been kind of larger than life to me, really listened to her a lot. She was a, she was a track coach, a girls track coach. So I didn't, you know, wasn't my coach, but she just took an interest. And the year that I came back that year and I spent every lunch period my junior year grading papers and doing stuff for her, because she wanted to make sure that I was on track and doing what I was supposed to do and I mean completely turned around my whole thinking about what I wanted to do at such a young age that I feel like it was lifesaving, because I probably didn't have anybody in my life at the time that was really pushing at the time and it's not, you know, I'm not one of those blame game kind of persons, but you know, both my parents were really young when they got married, didn't finish school, so it wasn't a big deal that their kids weren't finished in school. It was just kind of breaking that cycle kind of thing and I needed somebody to step in that would make a difference. And she did and I mean went on to do, you know, finish school, of course, went on to do more stuff doing what I'm doing now.

Jamie Steelman:

And I think there's these little time periods in your life that you know you never know where God's going to take you and you don't have to have this to succeed at that. You can always start at any time. But I just feel like it was really pivotal and it really I think it's part of the biggest reason I started coaching and I enjoy mentoring so much is because somebody stepped in when I needed them to and said you know, this is what you need to do, and it was just such a positive influence. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't this person that was just riding me all the time. It was just somebody saying this is the right thing to do. Let me show you how this and it got me Grading papers and stuff helped me develop an interest in reading and English and doing more at that time, and so it just drove everything. It made my grades better, made me want to show up at school, made me want to finish, so it was really cool. So, miss Sanders, and she just changed my life big time.

Jim Cripps - :

Ooh, I love it.

Jamie Steelman:

Miss.

Jim Cripps - :

Sanders, this guy, yeah, Thank you. Uh, I, I've got one of those too. Um, miss, Kate McGlasson, you'll be on the podcast soon. Um, same thing. You know, I was in high school and, um, uh, I had a. I had a very destructive teacher in in elementary school and I didn't have confidence and had a couple of teachers along the way that helped pick me up, but she's the one that showed me that I wanted to teach showed me that I wanted to be the one coaching.

Jamie Steelman:

Man, that's awesome.

Jim Cripps - :

So we share that for sure. Yeah, how do you like to engage with people, and whether that's in business, getting new customers, that type of thing, what's what's kind of your special sauce that's made you successful?

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, I mean we're just talking about it. I mean I love, I'm kind of old school and I love face-to-face. So I'm kind of one of the rare breeds in the mortgage business that still likes to go out and meet with people or have them come to the office when they can. I'm a big believer and I understand the world that we're real technology driven. Some people are just like, hey, tell me where to go online, apply for a mortgage and I'll do it. I don't need to talk to you, I'll send you my docs, let me know when we're closing, and that's perfectly cool if somebody wants to do it.

Jamie Steelman:

But I really love sitting down with people. I meet with agents that I work with. I meet with clients that want to. I take phone calls, kind of you know, around the clock. If I've got somebody that works third shift and they get off at 5 am, I'll set an alarm, jump up, talk to them where people are going to say you know I've got business hours and I time block and I tell people I'll call them back the next business day and all these kind of you know things that can be good for some people.

Jamie Steelman:

But I've just always tried to cater to what people need. If I can and if there's a way I can, you know, learn a little bit more about them. You know, if there is that person that works a different shift, it's great to find out why they work that shift. Is that so that they can see their kids more? Is it because it's the only shift that's available? Um, it just. It leads to so much more and I love to know why people do what they do, why they're in the situations they are, where they're going, why they want to buy a home. So I really love to get to know people.

Jim Cripps - :

There you are again defaulting to yes You're right, you're right, I love it. I love it that, that, that that child that's still in you is going hey, we can, we can go meet this guy.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, there's gotta be a way.

Jim Cripps - :

That's right. That's right. Making it happen Um what's next for you. Making it happen Um what's next for you.

Jamie Steelman:

Well, um, you know, started the team two years ago, yeah, so really hoping to to grow that some. So I love what I do. Um, I don't think I ever want to have a different role. Um, besides doing mortgages for people, I've had a lot of offers to get into management and do that kind of stuff and it's not really something that, although management's kind of coaching. Um, I really like, you know, really enjoy talking with people.

Jamie Steelman:

I go to my closings every chance that I get, so I like to be there. I'd like to be there for the fun stuff and I don't really want to be the guy in the suit sitting in the corporate office somewhere managing spreadsheets. It's just not something I've ever wanted to do and when it gets offered to me, I'm like thank you, you know, huge um compliment, but but I like doing this. So, you know, hopefully we'll get to grow the team a little bit. Bring on some other loan officers to be a part of what we're doing and just help more people and just be, you know, be a trusted source for people. That's what I really want to do. I don't really want to change what I'm doing, but I want to do more of what I'm doing. And then, you know, um, got kids growing up and grandkids coming, so hopefully somewhere in there there'll be a little bit of me and Stacy time, maybe traveling a little bit, and uh, and then we're really working on growing the impact of the blood drive. So it's it's once a year right now and I don't know if we'll ever. So it's once a year right now and I don't know if we'll ever expand it into more, but we definitely want to bring attention to the cause and to the need for blood year round. Yeah, so we're really kind of stepping forward and trying to say you know, how else can we do that? How can we, you know, encourage people to do the app, go on there and join the team a little bit more, so when you've got a chance to go give and you don't have to wait till next August, so really kind of expand that reach and, uh, and you know, be more impactful. Yeah, um, I think what you were talking about with really people learning how giving blood can be healthy and it can do things for them. So I think you know there's just we started out with just this one time a year do this big event and we really want to make it where we can, you know, have an impact more often.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, and also people that have gone through the reason we started the blood drive, you know, missing my kid. I think it'd be really cool just to to be out there and let people know that, hey, we're here to talk about it. We've been through it, maybe something similar I've really found, just talking about it a little bit more publicly, which I've never really done before except around the blood drive. I've been amazed some of the people that have messaged me on Instagram or different places that are, hey, like just thanks for sharing your story. I know it's tough, but thanks for talking about it. So I'm I've learned over the last couple of, you know, four or five months that there are people that want to hear what we have to say, and that was a little bit tough for me because I was like, you know, I don't want to. I don't want to sound sad and I don't want to. I don't want to get real emotional while I'm going through all this stuff and trying to, you know, basically relive it, cause in my head I'm like I do that every day, um, but learning when we were talking about, with age, learning what I want to do. So I want to stay in my lane, mortgage-wise, so I know that's what I want to do and with the blood drive, and Give Life for Ryan.

Jamie Steelman:

I think there's some people that we can help by just opening the dialogue and let them know they've got a safe place that they can message or they can call. I'm willing to go say yes and go sit down and, you know, just have coffee or listen. Um, because I had people that always said, you know, hey, call me if you need anything, call me if you need anything. But I'm like, is that, yeah, do I want to share this with you? Right? And so, trying to look at it from that perspective and go, you know, hey, I can reach out. And if somebody don't want me to bother them, great, but I want to let people know that I'm here. If they genuinely want to have a conversation, I'll sit and listen and, you know, do anything we can to help.

Jim Cripps - :

From what we went through, yeah Well, I'll share a best practice. I'm still not great at instituting it yet, but I had a wonderful guest on just a few weeks ago, mr Bobby Hopkins, and he picks three people per week that he has not spoken to in a significant amount of time, whether that is all the way back to high school or college, or whether it's just somebody that he used to talk to all the time and hasn't spoken to in a few months, and he strategically reaches out and just says catch me up on what you're doing.

Jamie Steelman:

And I thought that was just an amazing best practice. Yeah, because you're right.

Jim Cripps - :

We tell people all the time it's like, hey, let me know if you need anything. But in our minds it's like, oh, that's just what people say, but if they meant it and I think a lot of people actually do and we don't utilize it. Well, I mean, we're kind of being ungrateful to their offer.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, yeah, I've been on the other side of it a few times where I've had somebody that was thoughtful enough to reach out for no reason at all, and it always kind of catches me off guard and I'm like wow, yeah, you know, I even had conversations with Stacy and I'm like you know, you know, so-and-so, I'm like man, they really they're really nice, they really they really care. I feel like there's no hidden agenda there and they really, they really just called to say hey, and I don't think I do enough of that and I think around what me and my family have been through, we haven't done enough of that.

Jamie Steelman:

So I mean, I think that's, that's phenomenal yeah it's just to be there, because that's that's the ultimate goal is to, you know, be there when people need you to be there for somebody else?

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, absolutely, what's the most fun experience you've ever had in your entire life?

Jamie Steelman:

My entire life.

Jamie Steelman:

When I say that it makes it sound like my entire life. Man, that's a long time. So I mean the the earliest memory I have. So this is kind of like my childhood.

Jamie Steelman:

So the the funnest thing that I remember I um eight years old and uh, I was at a nashville sounds game back in the day and, uh, I got picked to do the. They used to bring this big board out. The home plate had a hole in the middle and you had to throw three pitches and you know however many you got through the through the hole. You got different prizes, and so I was eight years old and, uh, through the first one went through. You know most people got like one, maybe none.

Jamie Steelman:

Everybody's kind of laughing about it.

Jamie Steelman:

It's two, three, throw all three of them through and like one of the only people to ever do it at that time which was, I mean, it's forever ago, gosh, 1979 or something like that you know all three of them and I win like a hundred100 gift card to a boot place or something and like a dozen donuts for a year.

Jamie Steelman:

It was just something crazy. Now I look back and I'm like it's wild, but it stuck in my head as probably one of the funnest things I ever did and probably one of the times that I felt like I was just on top of the world, because I remember, when the third one went through, eight years old, I ran across the field, jumped into my dad's arms and he's, like you know, holding me up in the crowds, you know, cheering for me like I just won the world series, when I just won a little contest on the field. And it's just it sticks in my head of just like man. It was such a such a feeling of just like man, I'm on top of the world, and I was like so I mean, it was definitely by far, probably the funnest thing ever.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, and I, as you're telling me that story, I'm thinking of your dad's point of view and, oh my gosh, how, how proud he had to have been. Like you know, you get randomly drawn out of the crowd, you go up there and just sink all three when you got. Probably everybody else has struggled, and that's you know. That's why there's this. You know, year of donuts, nobody's ever going to do it.

Jamie Steelman:

Nobody's ever. Yeah, it was so cool and as a parent now I remember watching my boys play ball and different stuff. So yeah, I can just imagine what it was like for him and that's kind of helped me realize, like why he was like holding me up real high in the crowd, going crazy, because not only was I thinking this is the funnest thing in the world, he was probably thinking how proud he was at that moment. You know, like that's my boy yeah look what he just did.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What an awesome moment. It was so fun that's great man.

Jim Cripps - :

You know my son, the very first game we ever took him to, we took him to a sounds game. I think he was six years old and kind of the same thing. We we get there, we we're walking in and they go. Do you want to announce tonight?

Jamie Steelman:

Oh, wow.

Jim Cripps - :

And so they pull a six-year-old up to the booth and he nailed it. Wow and of course I'm over there like your dad, just as proud as I could possibly be yeah.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, that's so cool. You're like, I've got little Harry Carey here, he's ready to go, yep.

Jim Cripps - :

Oh, um, but I love those moments that you get to spend with your parents. That just there's. You couldn't have orchestrated them, you couldn't have planned them, but they were perfect.

Jamie Steelman:

Yes, absolutely yeah, never. It stands out so far, like when you just said what's a fun time of your life? It's like don't even have to think. It's like it's right there, like man, just yeah.

Jim Cripps - :

I remember I was on a podcast once and they were like we don't believe in perfect and I said you may not be able to be perfect all day or all year, but you can have moments of perfection that you wouldn't trade for anything.

Jamie Steelman:

And I think that's it Exactly, yeah, so what a great moment. Thank you for sharing that, jamie, of course.

Jim Cripps - :

That is really cool. Yeah, you know, I think one of the things that we always try to do here is we try to have an action item, something that somebody could take. You know that you have kind of fine tuned through your 30 years of doing mortgages a best practice or something that almost anybody could take that nugget and plug it into their life and make their life better. What do you think something that you would classify as that would be?

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, I think it goes back to a little bit what we were talking about with kids, because I think it applies to anyone. I think just reaching out I think it's particular into mortgages I tell people all the time, just have the conversation, and kind of all the aspects of my life lead back to just having the conversation. If I need to talk to somebody about how I'm struggling, what I'm going through in life, it's really hard to solve it by yourself. I mean, you can spend time, you can, you can reflect, you can have, you know, inner thoughts and you can, you know, talk to yourself and that kind of stuff.

Jamie Steelman:

But I think reaching out to somebody and just having a conversation whether it's you're going through a rough time or there's something you want to do in life, you know I I'm really big and I've told my kids a thousand times too there's something you want to do in life, find somebody that's done it, talk to them. Or, you know, call somebody that's expert in that field. When it comes to mortgages, if you want to buy a home, you don't have to go buy it tomorrow, but talk to somebody and see how to get on track to get there, I think. I just think communication is so huge and through the years I've learned more and more the only way to find out about anything is to ask somebody about it. I mean, you've just you've got to ask somebody and if you can, you know. Like I said, if you know somebody, that's where you want to go, that's the best place to start.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, because they've been through it.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, you've been through it, yeah, and they're going to have the best advice to tell you how to get started and help you learn it. So you know, from the smallest thing to the largest thing, I think the best thing you can do is just reach out and be open-minded about it. If that's really where you want to go or what you need help with, you can find it. You've just got to be willing to be open-minded and be open to it.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah Well, they can't help you if you don't ask for the help. Absolutely, you know they're not mind readers, yeah.

Jamie Steelman:

I've got so many things because I'm, you know, in my 50s now, so many things that I go. I wish I would have asked somebody sooner. So that's why I think that's the first step is, you know, I learned a whole lot of that process through our grief and through losing Ryan was how much you need other people. I was, you know, through high school, college age, all that kind of stuff. I was very quiet, didn't talk to a lot of people and really just didn't share hardly any thoughts.

Jamie Steelman:

I was really bad about keeping everything inside and I learned through Stacy, through what we went through with Ryan, about how much just being open and talking to people I mean, you know, I kind of fell into sales almost 30 years ago, into mortgages, and people that I went to high school are like dude. I can't believe when I see a video of you talking, like you barely, you know, said a word in high school, like you just did your thing, didn't barely talk to anybody. Um, and it's such, a, such a more healthy, enjoyable experience in life sharing it with other people. So, um, just, you know, opening your mind and being able to reach out and talk to people has been huge for me.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, absolutely.

Jamie Steelman:

Um all right, this.

Jim Cripps - :

This next part, is where we have a little bit of fun, All right, Um so obviously you know I'm a bowler. Oh yeah, and we your son and I share something in common we both got that, uh, elusive 300, although he did it a lot earlier than I did. Did he yeah. So you've got a task. You've got a task to put together a celebrity or people. You know it could be anybody on this planet, but you're putting together the bowling team and it's going to to be televised and it's going to raise money for charity and we're going to raise awareness for the blood drive.

Jim Cripps - :

Who is on that team?

Jamie Steelman:

Do they have to be good bowlers?

Jim Cripps - :

They just have to be people that you want to share that moment with yeah.

Jamie Steelman:

So we've been talking a little bit about family and so I mean, if we're going to market anything as much as much as I can't believe I'm saying this for my wife's sake we're probably going to have to have Taylor Swift there. Okay, just because the Swifty nation is so huge, that's right, and everybody's going to come, no matter what's going on. So I'll give her some props and I'll add her in there, okay, I think every time I think about this question, I probably greedily you know my favorite athlete of all times, michael Jordan, so I'd probably have him there, just cause I might get to say a word or two to him in between frames or something. So definitely have him there. Uh, we've got a four man team.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, you and you and four others.

Jamie Steelman:

Okay, okay, so we've got three there. Um, we're probably gonna include man this. Yeah, this is tough probably have to include my, my son baylor, because he's you know, he's got the 300 game there, so we need a ringer of some sort that's right so we'll put him in there.

Jamie Steelman:

Um, and then you know, probably you know I'm probably gonna stay on the athlete side somewhere and, uh, with marketing and everything that's going on, probably bring tom brady out of retirement to. I don't think there's anything he can do wrong, so he probably can bowl as well or figure it out somehow.

Jim Cripps - :

Probably so so.

Jamie Steelman:

I think if we had that team, we're probably I mean, I don't know how well we're going to bowl, but we're going to pack the place. That's right For sure. All right, we're going to.

Jim Cripps - :

So you've got got taylor swift, you got michael jordan, you got your, your son baylor, and then you got tom brady. You and you get to pick the commentator. The commentator is there to bring it all together and make this the party of the century. Who's going to commentate?

Jamie Steelman:

man. I mean I'm probably I might be a little old school on this one too, but but I was just talking about the other day how great Bob Euchre is, so in my head that would be phenomenal to have Euchre there calling it.

Jim Cripps - :

Okay, okay. Well, I will say that you're not the only one that has said that they would ask Bob Euchre to come out of retirement to commentate, so you guys will have to watch to see who else said the same. That's fun, I love it. What's the best book you've ever read?

Jamie Steelman:

Oh man, you've got some good ones. You have really really got some good ones. You know probably the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Jim Cripps - :

That's a great one. You can't go wrong there. You can't.

Jamie Steelman:

There's some older ones. There's some Zig Ziglar books and different stuff that I've read, but that one probably had the the most impact. I mean, you know a lot of those, those classics rich dad, poor dad there's some, there's some real great ones that have influenced me, especially with the career path that I've chosen.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, but yeah, probably that awesome, awesome yeah, you can't go wrong with that one yeah, um all right, somebody out, somebody out there right now is struggling, whether it's in their business, whether it's in their personal life, whether it's to do with money or marriage or who knows what. What's? Just a blanket piece of advice that you think somebody could put to use in order to get that foot in front of the other and push forward.

Jamie Steelman:

I mean, you know, first and foremost, like I said before, I would definitely speak to somebody. There's nothing in life that you have to go through alone. I feel like we were put here on this earth to be around other people. I'm a Christian so I lean on my faith a lot and I think there's a reason that there's people around here for us to reach out to and talk to. So I know we talked about that being kind of a piece of advice, but when I was struggling, when I was at my lowest, it was the fact that when I finally talked to somebody about it, it gave me some hope and maybe they weren't the person that solved anything for me, but they listened and that gave me strength to have the next conversation, the next conversation and kind of some of those people that said, call me if you need something, call me if you need something, I realized some of those people not only meant it, but they would connect me with the people that I needed to be around.

Jamie Steelman:

So you know, I think keeping everything inside, being alone, doesn't lead to anything good. I've learned personally over many, many years of trying to fix everything myself and, you know, talk through everything myself has not led me to the best you know results. So I would definitely just say you know, at least just have a conversation. It doesn't have to be about what they're going through. That's the other thing I thought you know is, when I was struggling um different times through my life, I thought I always had to find somebody to fix that problem. That might be the ultimate goal.

Jamie Steelman:

But just having somebody to listen, somebody saying like call me if you need anything, sometimes you just need somebody to listen. Sometimes you just need somebody like Gabby's friend to sit there and say I'm going to be here until you don't need me anymore. She didn't demand any conversation. She didn't demand you get up and you get better right now. She just said I'm going to be here. And so I've learned that too. Sometimes just having somebody around can give you that little glimpse of hope that you need to be able to move on to the next, to the next step.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, well, I will say this. You know, one of the things that we pray for every night uh, is just part of our, our everyday prayer is that God give hope to those who have lost hope, and sometimes it takes somebody offering to listen, and then, at the same time, that person has to be willing to receive, that person has to be willing to engage, and so God can send his messengers and try, but we have to be open to it.

Jamie Steelman:

Amen, you do for sure.

Jim Cripps - :

Absolutely. We got to do our part.

Jamie Steelman:

Yeah, we do.

Jim Cripps - :

Right now in your career. What's your biggest problem in your business?

Jamie Steelman:

Oh man, biggest problem, my biggest problem is there's not enough time in the day. I think, yeah, so I've got my mind is one of those that just races all the time. My wife tells me all the time like, don't you ever just kind of slow down, you know, and I'm like not really. We wake up on Saturday and she's kind of like so where are we going today? You know, I'm just, I'm kind of always, and so it's a good, it's a good and bad thing. I feel like I'm never trying to stop getting better, stop implementing new things. I'm not, I'm not easily satisfied with like, ok, business is good, let's roll this way for a little while. This is good, let's roll this way for a little while. So, um, you know, hardest part is determining what I want to do the most and what can help the most amount of people. So just really prioritizing and, uh, and really taking time for the things that I need to take time for. So just kind of, you know, making sure I'm where I need to be.

Jim Cripps - :

Yeah, yeah, I think we I think that is an ongoing thing, especially for entrepreneurs is we're we're constantly having to ask, check in with ourselves Is this the best use of my time? Sure, Because it may be that I need to be at home on the couch with my family, or it may be that I need to be out here hustling, and you know different, different times for different things. Yeah, so that's.

Jamie Steelman:

I feel like that's one of the hardest parts of being that kind of person is because you want to do, you want to do all of it and you want to say, hey, I'm, I'm prioritizing my family and I'm staying here. Then sometimes you're saying I'm doing this because I want to be there for my family, but we're also not guaranteed time here, so you've got to find a way to say you know, you can't always say I'm doing this for them if you can never be with them.

Jim Cripps - :

Well, and back to our conversation about defaulting to yes. If we say yes to something, a lot of times that means we're saying no to something else.

Jamie Steelman:

Absolutely.

Jim Cripps - :

But my best advice to anybody is be conscious of that. Say yes to the right things and say no to the things that you can reasonably say no to. Right, right, yeah, cool Um how do you want to be remembered?

Jamie Steelman:

Man loaded question again.

Jim Cripps - :

You got a few of those.

Jamie Steelman:

I definitely. I tell people all the time my favorite thing to be called on this earth is dad. You know I'm I'm loving being a grandfather now and it's amazing. So I mean I don't think there could be any better legacy than to, you know, be remembered as the dad and granddad that my kids loved, learned from and enjoyed being around. So I mean that would that would mean everything to me. The rest of it's not not as important. I think it'll be great if I make an impact on as many lives as I possibly can, but if I can leave something good for my kids and grandkids, I'll be happy.

Jim Cripps - :

I love it. Yeah, jamie, thank you so much for spending some time with me today.

Jamie Steelman:

Thank you so much for having me Really enjoyed it.

Jim Cripps - :

Absolutely, man. All right, so right. So that's the charge forward podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today and, uh, thank you to our special guest, mr jamie steelman. Dad, granddad, coach, get out there, please, donate blood, please, uh, take, make that a priority, put that into your life, put it to schedule it. You can download the app. It is super easy. Again, this is the charge forward podcast. Special thanks to the creative team here at the hit Lab in Nashville, tennessee, and thank you to our sponsors, charge Forward Solutions and Sense Custom Development. Until next time, we'll see you later. Team, thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the Charge Forward podcast. Look forward to other amazing guests and until next time. I'm your host, jim Cripps. Special thanks, as always, to Nick Heider and the creative team at HitLab Studios here in Nashville, tennessee. Special thanks to our sponsors, sense Custom Development and Charge Forward Solutions. Please be sure to like and subscribe.