Charge Forward Podcast

Unleashing Growth & Confidence: Top Lessons from 13 Game-Changing Guests

• Jim Cripps • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Ready to level up? Dive into the ultimate recap episode of the Charge Forward Podcast, where we bring you the best insights from our first 13 powerhouse guests. Each segment distills the lessons that help high achievers push boundaries in business, community, and personal growth. Get ready to discover game-changing wisdom on resilience, strategy, and leadership from:

  • Bobby Hopkins – Entrepreneurial insights for navigating the travel industry
  • Valerie Kemp – Financial strategies for sustainable growth from a CPA’s perspective
  • James Cripps – Veteran advocacy and the journey for justice, shared by my amazing Dad
  • Kate Joiner – Building a thriving outdoor community with Outdoor Women of Nashville
  • Troy Sandifer & John Hughes – Helping others Overcome addiction with Hustle Recovery
  • Jason Lewis – Lessons in grit and vision from LG Landscaping Services
  • Jamie Steelman – Mortgage expertise and the legacy of the #GIVELIFE4RYAN blood drive
  • Joshua Gifford – Optimization tips for a more efficient life and business
  • Nick Hiter – Entrepreneurial wisdom from an award winning speaker, marketer & podcast host
  • Carissa & Amber of HomeFront Builders – Shaping home construction in TN
  • Bob Learn Jr. – Resilience in bowling and beyond from the PBA legend
  • Bill Wilson – Real estate insights & recovery with Murfreesboro’s own “Mr. Murfreesboro”
  • Colby Jubenville – Talent development and purpose-driven success from a TEDx coach

Don’t miss out on the top strategies, personal stories, and advice that have driven these leaders to charge forward. Tune in to ignite your own path to growth—and stay tuned for the next round of incredible guests coming soon! 😉

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Thank you 
Jim Cripps

#ChargeForwardPodcast #PersonalGrowth #TalentDevelopment #HealthJourney #Mentorship #TEDx

Speaker 1:

You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household. However excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is. Hey, team, jim Cripps, here with the Charge Forward podcast. I have a special treat for you on this episode and that is a look back. So if you've missed some episodes, if you're just now tuning in and you want to get a little taste of the amazing guests and the stories and nuggets that they have shared, well, that's what we're going to give you on this episode. We're going to keep this trend once a quarter we're going to do a look back at the best moments and share those with you. So this is your one-stop shop for all the fantastic things that have happened on the Charge Forward podcast. Please enjoy.

Speaker 1:

Today. I have a special guest with me, mr Nick Heider, rock star marketer, podcaster and family man For you today, a world-renowned coach just finished up with Team USA, got some big things in the works and he's had an amazing. I have a special treat for you in the studio today. Joining me is Colby Juvenville. Yes, sir, I guess. What's your background? How did?

Speaker 2:

you get started in helping people get into recovery programs and beyond. To be honest, man, I don't believe anything was an accident, but you could say by complete accident. May the 1st of 2020, I was in early recovery myself. I got a call from a friend of mine's mother that morning to tell me that my friend, josh Barley, had died of a fentanyl overdose. That morning I remember when she called, just being really upset, crying uncontrollably and just feeling like I needed to do something. Josh, he wasn't the first person I ever knew that died of an overdose, but something about his just kind of hit different. Josh left behind a four-month-old son and a 14-year-old daughter and a wife. I want the old son and a 14 year old daughter and a wife.

Speaker 2:

What I did is I put a post on Facebook that basically said look, man, if you're struggling with this, you don't have to die. There are people out here who will help you, and if you don't know where to find help, here's my number. Not really knowing what I was going to do to help. I feel like this is kind of where God showed up in my story, because that post took off. It was shared hundreds of times over the next few months. About the 20th day I had that post up, my phone started to ring. The first day I got six calls all the same people I'd never met in my life, who said hey, man, a friend of mine shared this post on Facebook. Says you can get people into rehab. And I remember looking back at my phone and scrolling and saying, oh my God, where did I say that? Because I had no clue how to get anybody into rehab. I was thinking more along the lines of you know, we could go to a 12-step meeting or maybe go to church or have coffee and talk about it. I mean, I really had no idea what I was going to do to help. I just felt driven to help. I remember going to bed that night, really disappointed, like man, you don't put it out there, you're going to help these people. Now you don't know what to do. I remember praying about it and when I got up that next morning I said man, I'm going to teach myself how to get people into treatment.

Speaker 2:

At the time we were quarantined. This was early pandemic so we couldn't go to work, so it gave me plenty of time. Sure, I remember sitting at my kitchen table with my iPhone and a notebook and just Googling treatment facilities in a 200-mile radius of Nashville, I would call these facilities as they popped up on Google. They would answer and I would say hey, ma'am, my name is Troy. I would call these facilities as they popped up on Google. They would answer and I would say hey, ma'am, my name is Troy. I'm a recovering addict and I'm tired of watching these people die. Could you please tell me how to get people in your treatment center? So I just started taking notes. You know, was it a male or female facility? What insurances do they take, that they have grant funding? What was the procedure? What was the criteria people needed to meet? Before I knew it, I'd filled up three subject notebooks.

Speaker 3:

Manager of HG Hill Company, Then a mechanic again and then opened my own company, Custom Wood Products. And then, due to a heart attack, two heart attacks due to a heart attack, two heart attacks, pacemaker defibrillator I'm on number five now Heart surgery, bypass surgery In 2020,. I had to be reconstructed from my knees to my navel, was given 4% chance to make it through the operation and 12 percent to make it another 90 days. But here I am. That's right most people.

Speaker 5:

When they hear what I do for a living, they say if I had to wake up and do that, I would never get out of bed. And so most people are fearful of taxes. Just the word taxes causes anxiety to come up for them, and I must have something wrong with me, because I really like it.

Speaker 1:

And so in that process because you started, you were making copies and you know your entry level position at that time how did that kind of transition into you know what I'm going to go become a CPA.

Speaker 5:

Yeah. So I started out like you said, making copies and typing up legal briefs and helping put together tax returns. And then one of the girls who works there doing taxes actually got mono and was out for several weeks. And the man that I worked for was an older gentleman. He was in his 60s and not to age myself, but computers were not always the mainstream up until that point, and so he wrote out his tax returns by hand and he said, honey, do you know how to use a computer? And I said, yes, sir, I do. And he said, well, I know how to do taxes. We're going to sit at a computer and we're going to do them together. And so I sat there with him and I was like man, this is like solving a puzzle.

Speaker 5:

And I loved puzzles and clue and board games and all that kind of stuff and it was like it was like that to me. It was like a big puzzle, um, and I just gravitated toward it and I loved it. So um changed my major from just business um to accounting and the rest is history.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Remember, I remember us having a conversation and you were talking about the things in the business that you struggled with Not that were hard, but they just sucked the life out of you. And you were like I just want to be out there either talking to customers, getting new customers, servicing my existing customers. I want to be out there doing the work and the billing piece and, uh, you know, answering the phone and this and the scheduling, and I was like, well, quit fighting with it and just hire somebody. And so, you know, introduced you to Rosemary. And then how did how did that go?

Speaker 4:

Whoa, so just you. Really. Your introduction, Rosemary, is like totally way outside the box for, like I think, a lot of people, Because when you were in the cell phone industry you outsource things to different places. Well, that's nothing that your average redneck does.

Speaker 4:

He just thinks about stuff to get done. Well, rosemary lives in Costa Ricaica and she used to outsource things to sprint where you worked or y'all outsource stuff to her. Well, she opened up a business, kind of a remote assistant, or they call it virtual, but she's real, so I don't know the virtual and remote, but anyway. So we communicate through, uh, zoom, whatsapp, email, stuff like that. But like marco polo introduced marco polo, so I'll send her a marco polo, which is a video text yep, is that what you yeah?

Speaker 4:

yeah and uh, just hey, can you do this, can you look at this, can you? This customer called about this and like she knows my software, my email, like she knows that stuff better than I do, but she's just all the office, uh, paperwork type stuff, her and her team, like they just I don't have to think about it, I just they just automatic every month they send it all out, they keep up with, uh, who's paid, who hadn't paid, uh, just everything, and it's all kept in the software, okay, and so I mean, did you talk to anybody that was in the business full-time or anything like that?

Speaker 1:

That's a big leap to go from I'm clocking in and out every day to I'm going to take what little bit of money I can pull out of this and go buy a truck and a trailer and mowers and you know, tomorrow I'm in business well, at the time I had looked at like trying to find a business, to buy a final long business, because I just working for a big company or whatever you're, you're just kind of a number.

Speaker 4:

You know. I think everybody can say but you get comfortable in, you know I've got benefits, I can retire one day. You know I can take my, I can get, I can get harnessed up every morning to the plow here for him. Then when I get done you know everybody hits the door running. But I mean now I like I don't really care, like I'm, I mean I got insurance through Farm Bureau, I mean I'm a fairly healthy dude, I don't, you know. So it's really not that bad.

Speaker 4:

Like it's not as scary as I thought it was going to be. But I'll tell you I've been very prayerful about things and just tried to take things as they come. I haven't done some Google reviews and stuff like that, but I haven't done anything else. But I've had this stuff just kind of come my way and I'm just like, whoa, I guess I'm going the right direction.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that's one of the main reasons I wanted to have you on is you know, there's this entitlement in the world these days where people think they're owed the business they're owed. Customers are owed all these things, even people that have been around for a while, and that is just not how you do business. You know, a lot of yours is word of mouth, A lot of yours is referrals, A lot of it is the fact that you're doing great work out in the uh, in the landscaping space, and they're not afraid to give out your name and your number and know that you're going to be doing great work for the person you're referring to.

Speaker 4:

Well, I mean, customer service has kind of been gone for a long time per se. You know, you call somewhere, you get like a phone tree, push this, push that, or most times you leave a voicemail for somebody. Well, I do my darn just pick up the phone if I'm mowing or doing something, unless I'm like in a dangerous, in a compromising position with something that's dangerous, I'll answer the phone and I've got like so many calls blocked because of the spam call. But you don't know if you get. If you're having a business you want to you, you won't throw calls to get coming in. So I just I answered the phone and I try to show up and but I do drop the ball sometimes. I don't write stuff down, but you know I just show up and I like most of the time if it's a big project, like like I'm there the other time I'm you trying to get more business, meeting with people looking at this, looking at that, so it's you know.

Speaker 1:

I just like to work One. You don't want to admit that he's right.

Speaker 7:

Oh, he's 100% right. My husband is the smartest man I've ever met. Just don't tell him, I said it, that's right, that's right, but I mean.

Speaker 1:

so how did you fall? I mean, I know you were in the wood, these woods, it's like you were in your own backyard. You feel incredibly safe there, but you're in the middle of the day, I'm assuming, in the middle of the week.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

It's not like it's really. There's not many people there at that time.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, it was actually surprising. So I wasn't worried about any animals in the woods getting lost in the woods, any nefarious actors in the woods you know I always have a pistol, I know these woods, I'm not getting lost Felt super confident and never once considered getting injured. I mean, did not cross my mind, jim. I was a collegiate athlete in incredible shape at the time. My ankles don't twist, I mean none of that. So I really wasn't concerned. But I had tripped. I actually looked down on my watch and pride got the best of me and they really, pride really does come before the fall for sure, literally.

Speaker 7:

I looked down at my time I was like, oh, I can beat that, no problem. And like super turbo charged ahead and tripped right there and I split my kneecap open on a rock and I tumbled down the holler because I was at the top of the peak. So I tumbled down and had to like crawl out and I came out. I probably looked like a kidnap victim. I mean I was covered in leaves and dirt and blood from the road rash on my arms and hobbled out. And you know, I passed three different groups of hikers and not one person offered to help me. Not one Granted I didn't ask for help. I was probably in shock, but they saw me hobbling along and no one offered to help. So after that my husband was like look man, you really can't do this, it's really not safe. And so I built Outdoor Women of Nashville so I'd always have a girlfriend to hike with because I work from home and nobody could hike whenever I could, so that's why we built it.

Speaker 1:

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, especially if you're a male. You most people, 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. Uh, my sister in particular has been saved twice. Uh, 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.

Speaker 9:

Yeah, that's amazing. I didn't know that your sister had an experience like that. I mean, yeah, ours is very personal. You know, 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 life-saving measures, and it's actually something completely different. So it's great when we get to share his story.

Speaker 9:

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 want to give other people that gift of life through remembering him.

Speaker 1:

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.

Speaker 9:

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 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. You know 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 read about it a little bit because I saw all the signs and everything I loved y'all's cause.

Speaker 9:

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 will 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 In the South Pacific and you could put your foot at one point in the island.

Speaker 10:

It's so narrow, you can put your foot on both sides of the ocean and stand there and it was incredible. That was super fun. I loved that. I then transitioned and I was a country music artist and so I got to go on tour, got to open for some people who I consider fantastic artists. I got to work with people who are now names that you would recognize if I said them and I really loved doing that. And now I just try to do passionate. Bring passion, sorry with everything that I do. I think that's what makes life fun. Fun is a very motivating factor for me. It has to be fun or I don't want to do it.

Speaker 8:

In a roundabout way, she has brought her family dynamic that she's following in her dad's footsteps and her family's footsteps. So she's done all these things, but she's still circled back to being in the building industry where she came from.

Speaker 1:

Well, because she saw an opportunity where she thought this could be that adventure. And you probably stayed out of a building before that or at certain points in your life where you could have easily gone into the family business. You didn't because you didn't see how that could be the adventure.

Speaker 10:

Yeah, exactly, I think I never wanted anything to be handed to me. I always wanted to show that I was worthy of what I had worked for, and so I think that is what kept me out of doing the family business, because I didn't want it to be like, well, that's Ryan's daughter, so that's why he has that job. And so, you know, I think by partnering with Amber who we are very yin and yang, we are we work so well together because we are so different in how our minds work, you know, and and so I I think, by partnering together, that did create that new adventure and a new challenge to overcome.

Speaker 8:

And we have completely different design aspects of kind of what we like, and so Carissa brings those things out of me too that I normally, you know, I'm kind of about two years behind trend, you know, I see a new trend and I'm like, eh, I'm not sure about that, and about two years later I'm loving it, just when it's kind of going out. And so Carissa keeps me in the know and keeps me in the new. And that's kind of where my husband actually brought her to me about five years ago. She was pregnant with her second child at the time and so he kind of brought her to me and said, hey, there's this girl that I met, you know, at our real estate stuff and and I think she would be fantastic and her dad's been in building, she's a designer and, you know, running in building the business I did before I was really busy, and so I love designing, I love picking colors, and I did that for many years.

Speaker 8:

But I didn't have time to really go out and figure out what the new styles were, what we needed to change, because when we pick a style for a house it's not coming out for six more months, you know, and so we kind of got have to keep in that future what's coming out in the future, and so I had hired Carissa at that point to do that for me, you know, five years ago. And then here we are today. So she, she's keeping home front builders in line with you know, making sure we're staying on trend, like she had talked about earlier, and staying in those new styles.

Speaker 1:

I love it. I think one of the reasons that we suffer, that we go through the tough, tough parts, is so that we appreciate the good stuff, the good stuff, and so that we understand what a gift it really is yeah.

Speaker 11:

Well, with pride and ego comes shame and guilt. Well, the things you know. The way I was living my life. I was like lord, if there is a hell, I'm going to hell. Um, but thank god again for his grace and mercy because and I have I think it's important to have, uh, mentors around. I have Philip Robinson, who's an associate pastor down at New Vision Baptist in Murfreesboro.

Speaker 11:

We talk daily, I'm in the Word daily to keep me accountable, sure, because left to my own devices, I'll self-destruct. That's just the way my past history has been. So I have to think of like a thoroughbred horse and you have to have handlers. You have to have somebody you know guide. I had to have somebody not ride my back. A coach, yeah, to coach me. Say hey, bill, how are you doing? You know what's going on.

Speaker 11:

And I have a disease called alcoholism or addiction that tells me I don't have a disease. It says you're, you know it's out there doing pushups in the parking lot while we're sitting there, and but I have still not found it necessary to take a drink in these last nearly 33 years. My life has not been perfect. I have not been perfect, but my life is so much better with the plug and the jug. Fine, there's three things in life if I can do that. First of all, you find I've always been a believer, so I need to trust God. A clean house that doesn't mean I'm going to come go clean your house or my house. That means I keep all that negative stuff. If I owe somebody an amends, I need to make that amends. So, clean house, trust God, god and help others. There you go. So trust god first, clean house, then help others.

Speaker 11:

When I'm helping others, I don't have time to worry about all my junk that's right well and and it gives you it also kind of refills you you know, it fills that the sunlight of the spirit, because we all do better when, for some reason, sunlight or light light goes through darkness that's right there's been many times I didn't think I was going to get out of the darkness.

Speaker 11:

you know I was like this is it? It's usually still the. The things that affect me, affect you, affect everybody. Oh Lord, I can't. You know, there's been times in my life where I didn't know. I've never worried about money, never had to Done very well. But there's been other times in my life where if I didn't have family, friends, the pastor, I could have been easily under a bridge. Oh, absolutely. So go from one extreme to the other.

Speaker 7:

I've got been easily under a bridge.

Speaker 11:

Oh, absolutely so. Go from one extreme to the other. I've got to be okay in recovery, no matter what's going on. I can't drink. There's nothing I can do, I'm powerless. So I think that is the key is knowing that I don't have the power, and that's why I need God in my life. I need God in my life, but I need godly people in my life too. And if I can go through what I've been through and if you're going through something, believe me, you can do it, you can make it, but not by yourself.

Speaker 1:

Well, some people, I think just well, not some people, everybody. I think from time to time, we just need somebody to help us remind us that there is hope. There is hope. That's it. And the podcast studio a couple of years ago. What was your vision then versus your vision of it now?

Speaker 12:

So, you know, in 2020, a lot of stuff was changing and when the insurance industry which was where we spent the majority of our time back then was the business model that we operated under was a brick and mortar get everybody together and conquer the world and then, all of a sudden, everybody was sent home and we realized there was a big technology gap that we did not have and it made some things hard, but it also opened up our eyes and made us start learning a lot of things. I met Bradley in 2020, and he was kind enough to invite me out to his place in Vegas and to be on his podcast, and at the time, honestly, I thought podcasts were a little bit stupid. I thought it was bad radio or bad TV. I just I really didn't understand the purpose of them because I hadn't explored them very much. I didn't listen to any back then, but I saw his setup and I saw the audience that he had, and then the moment that that episode dropped like literally over 30 days, I think I got like 10,000 new followers on Instagram and I was like, holy cow, I was wrong, there's something here. We've got to figure this out. And so I came home I was wrong. There's something here. We got to figure this out.

Speaker 12:

And so I came home and my buddy, lance Wascom, who's a founder of AVLX him and I coach our baseball team, our son's baseball team together and have even back then we were carrying ball buckets to practice one day and I just got back and I said hey, buddy, I need you to build me a podcast studio. And he goes, okay. And then I showed him videos of Brad's and I said said, now, here's the catch. It's got to fit in this little tiny room and there is no control room. And he was like whoa, and I was like and I can spend $10,000. And he was like, okay, and it took him a while.

Speaker 12:

And they came back and said hey, I think we figured it out, because I'm like I need the cameras to switch on their own. I need all this to happen. I need the cameras to switch on their own, I need all this to happen. You know, he said we can do it, but you can do. You can either spend $10,000 and do it your way or you can do it the way we recommend, but it's going to be a lot more money than that. I was like, well, okay, well, why would I spend more? He said well, we're not. We can serve service. If you do it the way that we believe is right, we won't, you're going to have a lot of problems out of that. And if you do it our way, we'll service it.

Speaker 12:

And I've only had to call him like once in like three and a half years. So, um, that led to that. I built it off for me, yeah and um, and then. But once people saw it, they started asking if they could use it. And when we built all this stuff again, remember, it was create sources of content for insurance agents to be able to reach customers, new customers, and so I built this for me with the, you know, thinking I'm going to build this mountaintop for my people to scream from, you know. And a lot of things change and things evolved and we moved, we moved on to some other things and, and now that turned into what's now an agency known as the hit lab, you know. So we've partnered up with some great people.

Speaker 1:

I think we think very similar in that regard, because I do think it is, the most important decision of your life is who you choose to spend your life with and the life that you build together. And so good, bad or ugly, you know it is that important and I think we both got just incredibly lucky. You know, the heavens shined out on us, us, and we found the person we were supposed to be with. My favorite story of you and Stacey is that day in Erie 1996. You're crushing it, but she reminded you that there was more on the table. Oh yeah.

Speaker 13:

Well, you're referring to the day that I broke all the records on.

Speaker 13:

ABC Sports, which still stands today. I love it. And going back to, like you said, a device moment, I had just pulled a perfect game, the first game in front of my hometown crowd on a $100,000 bonus, right. And of course I'm just like, oh my God, what a great moment, blah, blah. And you get caught up in that because you're so excited about what just happened.

Speaker 13:

Then we went out of commercial break and started our next match and I had not struck twice on the same lane starting our match. And we went back to commercial break and's like what do you? What are you doing? What do you mean? What am I doing? I just pulled 300 and, uh, 100 000. I mean this is great.

Speaker 13:

She goes no, no, you need to figure this out because you're not here just for that. You've always wanted to win in your hometown. You need to figure something out because you're not here just for that. You've always wanted to win in your hometown. You need to figure something out because you didn't strike twice on that lane. And I sat and I thought about it and I'm like wow, okay, so I just threw perfect game, but I do need to make a change, it's, it's evident. Okay, so I made a choice to a ball. Actually that wasn't working that well in practice, but I knew that it was going to give me the ball motion I needed now and came out and struck out that game to win by a pin 269 against my 270. So it was at the right time nine against my 270. So it was at the right time.

Speaker 13:

And maybe look at really what the big picture was versus the moment that I was living in. So yeah, it had. I would never have had all those records if she hadn't kind of set me straight in that moment. But I think historically, when that has been done on television, that was the end for many. They didn't win the next because you have a lot going on in your mind, you're not as focused as you needed to be.

Speaker 13:

But she reset my focus and as the day went on I was put into some pretty unique situations where I had to really prove myself in the 10th each game and it couldn't have been really a better day to be able to prove yourself as an athlete. In fact, chris Shankle, who was the voice of the PBA and a voice that I wish I could hear still today in the PBA broadcast you know broadcast room. He said to me and he had covered sports of you know, I mean every sport yeah, he was well-known and he came up to me he goes, bob, he goes. That is the greatest and most impressive individual performance that I've ever seen in sport. And I'm like what Chris Shankle just told me, this and I'll never forget that.

Speaker 3:

You've got a family to feed. You've got responsibilities. No matter your medical condition, you've got to provide somehow for your family. You know you had to have milk, you had to have diapers. You had to have diapers, you had to have, no matter what. So you work, you push through, you persevere, you don't quit. We're not quitters, we're winners.

Speaker 1:

That's right. Yeah, well, and you know, I think, one of the things that you know, I started this conversation saying that your background was, you know, checkered or random or however, however you want to look at it, but I see it more as your son. I see this evolving, like you evolved. And, yes, when I was, when I was a son, when I was a young man, you were strong but you were passive for the most part, meaning, you know, as long as it it wasn't somebody hurting our family there was, there was no reason to get involved, there's no reason to raise much ruckus, and then I love it. So, and to kind of paint the picture for everybody out here, so you started as a coach yeah, a football team, football team and then you've progressed in your career, but also, we added some family along the way. Absolutely, you've got two rock star kids.

Speaker 14:

Well, thank you.

Speaker 1:

We've got Jack on the MTSU basketball team Basketball team yep. And then we've got MB is on the dance team.

Speaker 14:

I love that you know these things, man. It gives me chills, man. I mean, yeah, little MB, man, you've got to watch out for her. Man, she's the one that she'll slap you. I mean, if you come across her the wrong way, man, she is coming at you.

Speaker 14:

Both those kids I told Jack from a very early age. I said I am going to treat you like an adult and along the way we're probably going to have a relationship that most fathers and sons wouldn't have. But I promise you, when I hand the baton off to you, you will be able to run the race in ways that nobody else can. And as I sit here before you in the hit lab at 52 and Jack is 22 and watched what he's done at MTSU and I would have never guessed in a million years that both my kids would have gone to MTSU it just was not the story that I was telling myself. And what's so cool is I get to go out to your point. I get to go out and I get to watch my son be part of a team, learn how to use adversity to accelerate growth, get specialized coaching.

Speaker 14:

What's rule number one of talent development? Get around people better than you. What's rule number two Become better than them in the ways that you're uniquely gifted. What's rule number three Make the pie bigger. What's rule number four Make the pie so big you can start the bakery.

Speaker 14:

And I see that happening for them and I love it. It's what I saw for them from a very early age. For both of them. And MB has found this little home and dance and she's out there on the field and uh, I know we're going to talk about health and she's part of that story as well but they're thriving. Man Jack's getting a degree in finance, which good, good Lord, I know I couldn't even pass the first class in finance and MB is doing social media, electronic media, and they're thriving and they're happy and and I get them here with me during this stage of life- and it is exactly what you wish for them right, for them to be happy, for them to be thriving yes, and so hats off to both of them as parents parents, it's our job to build the foundation, but it's up to them what they do with it.

Speaker 1:

And so well, and both of you have expressed just how supportive your spouses are, and so I think that's a big piece to this, and most people this was not by design, but most people that end up sitting in this podcast studio and and coming on the show will agree that who you pick as your partner in this world, in this life, your spouse is probably and I say probably cause I really want to say is, but we'll leave a little bit out there for some people in as the biggest decision that you will make, the most important decision you will make, the most important decision you will make on the trajectory of your life.

Speaker 10:

Yeah, I'd agree with that. I mean, having done it wrong the first time, I can tell you that when you're with the wrong person, it makes life a lot harder, and then, when you're with someone that's supportive and kind and wonderful, it makes life so much easier and I wouldn't be able to do it without the support of my husband, my family, my sister.

Speaker 8:

I wouldn't have ever taken that leap. And your spouse has to be 100% with you, because when you start a business, you're giving it everything, absolutely your finances, your house, yourself, everything that you own, and your time. You're putting it into this business. It's taking 100 percent to get it off the ground and to get it going. So if you don't have your spouse supporting you in doing that, I really don't see how it's going to work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, and I think for entrepreneurs there's there's a natural point where you've kind of reached um, the pinnacle of what you're going to do for somebody else and now it's time to do it for yourself. Yep, and you know.

Speaker 10:

I'm just happy that y'all reached that Us too.

Speaker 8:

Actually, we got pushed into it and then we accepted it yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, there's plenty of people that would have a self-doubt or a mindset that would keep them from doing that, and so I don't think that's by accident, but your support system is strong and I think we agree on this. We've never actually talked about it, I don't think, but we've talked about it on the podcast several times. Your spouse selection is one of the most critical, if not the most critical, adult decision you make.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, absolutely. I will be the first to tell you that my spouse selection was as shallow and there was no depth to that shallowness. I was introduced to my wife through two mutual friends of mine. They called me up and were like hey, do you have any plans this weekend? I was still living in the Nashville area at the time. I said no, I don't have any plans.

Speaker 6:

They were like well, there's this girl that we really like, that we think you would really like. Her 24th birthday is this weekend and we're going to be going out and celebrating it. I was like was she hot? They were like you would think so. Was she hot? And they were like you would think so. And so I drove to Knoxville that weekend and as soon as I saw her walk through the door I was like I'm going to, I'm somehow going to convince her to marry me, and I even told my mom that that that night. And when I got home my mom was like well, well, tell me about her. And I was like I don't know, she's an English teacher, know, like grandma, but she's, but she's really pretty. I'm like, and I mean, that was it. Uh, she friend zoned me for like, uh, three years and I finally broke through there you go.

Speaker 1:

We're a great sales guy.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, that's, yeah, yeah yeah, well, you say that I, uh, the uh, what, what finally pushed her over the edge? I had been out with some buddies having a good time and made a late-night phone call to her and just acting stupid, saying Stevie Wonders, I just called to say I love you and left it as a voicemail on her phone. Unfortunately for me, her boyfriend at the time uh, ended up getting the message. Getting the message, uh and uh. So I I ruined that relationship. Uh, inadvertently, it was not on purpose, I was just being silly and uh. So she called me and was like, look, I've got tickets to this concert this weekend and you're gonna, you're gonna drive into town and you're gonna pay me for that ticket and you're gonna pay for my beer that night. And uh, and you're going to take me to that concert. And uh, we've been together ever since.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Thank you, stevie Wonder. Well, and you know uh again.

Speaker 1:

I think we're both incredibly fortunate in that we have amazing wives and you know we had that conversation 14, 15 years ago. Uh, you know that this was a big deal for both of us was finding the person that you know. And again, I think it really comes together when people are solid, well-rounded people by themselves, yes, but then you realize with this other person, they compliment you in the areas where you're weak and you compliment them in the areas that they're weak, and together you're just a powerhouse yeah, my wife is extremely driven um and, and I've learned I've learned more from her about organization and details than I than I ever would have learned otherwise um and, and I mean that's necessary.

Speaker 6:

Uh, she teaches uh 12th grade AP English and then she's got I think right now she's doing like a ninth grade and a 10th grade honors class and to to get all of those essays graded you have to do it in a methodical, like organized way, and that it I'm amazed at the just her drive for other people's kids, for the benefit of other people's children in a job that she loves.

Speaker 6:

But I think we can all agree that we could probably do a little bit better as a society in the way that we appreciate educators in the public school system, in the way that we appreciate educators in the public school system. But she inspired me to not settle for just giving it all I've got. So I mean that's the way I approach work, that's the way I approach fatherhood. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to figure out the right way to do it first, and then I'm going to do it the right way and then I'm going to see if I can do it better and if I can figure out a way to do it better, then I'm going to figure out a way to recreate that doing it better.

Speaker 7:

Oh yeah. And so when Mills came home, we realized how easy it was to homeschool her. She sat right beside me and did her work while I did my work. So we decided you know what, let's homeschool. And so we were already like full steam ahead on that. And then, once the um, we trusted God for that and I guess I wasn't pregnant yet, Cause we got pregnant after that Um and then, once the baby was coming through, it was like I would love for you to stay home with our children.

Speaker 7:

I want you to leave the workforce. And as much as I wanted to do that, I worked hard to get where I was at. I was the one person in the state that could do what I did and I was good at it and I liked it and my ego was very attached to that. And so when he asked me to let that go, I prayed about it, we prayed about it as a family and decided, obviously this is the best choice. The same day that I turned in my resignation was the same day that we got an offer from the TWRA to be funded to do what we do, and it came pretty close to what I was making before. So it was like God saying okay, you trusted me, you did it, you sent your resignation. Here's this opportunity for you.

Speaker 1:

Surrounding yourself with people who think that same way. Absolutely. Proximity is everything, man, Especially at home. Now you've got one heck of a support system. Tell me a little bit about the family.

Speaker 12:

My wife's the true superstar. The joke is, but it's the truth. My mom and grandmothers did a great job of raising me, but they got me to a certain point and my wife had to finish the job. She's incredible, and raising two kids with her is the gift of a lifetime. It's by far the greatest thing that God ever gave us. Besides Jesus was our kids, and my wife she's that, you know, growing up the most beautiful women.

Speaker 12:

A lot of times they came with some baggage. Maybe they thought too much of themselves or they just didn't have that kind big, sweet heart, or at least they didn't put that out there. And I think about that movie, the Mean Girls. My wife's the exact opposite of that. She's just an absolute knockout. But she has the big heart and is the exact opposite of of like the mean girl syndrome. You know what I mean.

Speaker 12:

So, um, raising kids with her and our son is a exact replica of her, our daughter's exact replica of of me and um, just teaching them. You know it's so hard not to want to do everything for them, when actually your job is to, as a parent, is to prepare them for life, and you can't prepare them by anything by doing it for them, you know. So on one hand, you want to do nice things for them and give them everything, but the really, the really, the thing you should give them is the knowledge so that they can get hit less when light, when they grow up on their own and they're out and and you know so, that way life's going to knock you down.

Speaker 1:

But, man, if you're prepared for that punch and you can brace for it, um, it doesn't have, it doesn't knock you back as far. You know? Yeah, absolutely Well. And you know when, when you started out, obviously, um, mr Harris had a depth, um being an attorney, being a professor, all those things, um, so obviously he helped you in in this world, um, of becoming a CPA, but what else? But what other mentors have you had in your life?

Speaker 5:

So I've had several mentors in my life. Tom Harris was one of those. He was a brilliant man, knew all about taxes. Now, he mentored me in a way that I don't think he realized, and that was in work-life balance, because he had none. His goal was to die with his hand on a calculator leaned over a tax return. That is not my goal, sure, and so I saw that in him.

Speaker 5:

My father has been a huge part of mentoring me because, like I said, I grew up in the family of entrepreneurs, and so my mother and father. When we sat around the dinner table at night, we talked about issues, or they talked about and we listened issues with employees, issues with bankers, how to get financing, how to promote this product, and so, as young girls, me and my sisters were learning more than we really realized we were doing, which has served us so well. And then, you know, your dad is probably your biggest cheerleader, or at least mine was, and he made me feel like Tiger Woods on the golf course, which I'm mediocre at best would be the way to describe that but he always helped, instill confidence in me, but was able to critique me and to help me be better in business, and one of the things that he told me when I became a CPA and was opening my own firm. I said, daddy, what should I do Like? What, as a business owner, would you want your accountant to do?

Speaker 5:

And he said we know, you're smart, you've got CPA after your name, you've gone to college, you passed that test, which is very, very hard to pass.

Speaker 5:

So you don't need to talk down to me, you don't need to talk over my head. You need to talk to me in ways I can understand my business and help me be better. And so that was a huge thing that he instilled in me is speak to your client in terms that they can understand, because they need to walk away from your office, from that tax return, from that meeting, and understand why they owe the IRS, why they're getting a refund, why their quarter was down or up this year or this season. So I think that is a huge part of it. And then I've also had several business owners in my community and in Middle Tennessee bankers as well just kind of take me under their wing and help me find financing for clients or help me find other strategies to be in business, and I'm grateful for all the people that have poured into me, and that's why I think it is so important for me to do likewise.

Speaker 1:

Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Me and John come from a 12-step background, so we're firm believers in the 12 steps of recovery AA, na, all those, all the A's yeah all the.

Speaker 2:

A's. So one of the reasons that we have been successful is we've had an outpouring of support from the recovery community here locally. People come into the homes and actually sponsor these guys and girls to help take them through the 12 steps of recovery. Every day while they're there they go to work and then they get an hour of programming every day. We do a mix of a few different curriculums and then they do an hour of 12-step work every day. We do a mix of a few different curriculums and then they do an hour of 12-step work. Every day we go to several meetings outside meetings. That way they can kind of build a network of people who are in recovery. We try to go to all the recovery fests and different events that they have.

Speaker 2:

And then the other thing that we do is we try to do as much volunteer work with these guys as we can to get them giving back something in the community. What we found is that the opposite of addiction is connection. So these guys and girls have to be able to make connections with other people.

Speaker 1:

And I think the calls that you get from your your, you know the kids that you coach through uh, through college and other other programs you you get to see, you get that feedback. You know, for me one of the things that I attacked when I uh was was running a big company here in Nashville is I taught my team members how to manage their money and about a month and a half ago I got the 11th phone call that a team member had paid off their house. That's awesome and you know, much like you. Changing someone's mindset that's kind of what I was doing in that space is changing their mindset that they can own a home, that they don't always have to have a payment, that you can do this. And you know, once you give that person hope in one area of their life, it carries through to the others. So you're teaching that, yes, in the sport of bowling, but they're going to grow that mindset so that they believe anything's possible.

Speaker 13:

Right. I mean that it's okay for them to be successful. That's another piece of that, you know, because a lot of people do get to a level of comfort and it usually is extended from what they knew growing up and it kind of puts them in that space and that's okay if they're happy, but without realizing that that becomes a comfort and that there's more for them if they want it, and believing in the fact that it's okay for you to be more successful than that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah well, and I do think that we have the education system as a whole is essentially is grooming workers yeah grooming people to go into existing opportunities, not create new ones yeah and except for quals except for quals. So we we have to talk about quals, yeah, so uh, jeremy, quals for everybody who does it doesn't know him you talk about charging forward that's right right. He runs the EIC down in Williamson County Entrepreneur and Innovation Center, which is keep me honest here 9 through 12. 9 through 12.

Speaker 14:

Feeds all schools in Williamson County and just secured $16 million to build a new facility. That is bringing industry right into the fold and started with?

Speaker 1:

was it $20 million? What was the initial? That is bringing industry right into the fold? And started with? Was it 20 million?

Speaker 14:

What was the initial? I think it's 20, and I mean sometimes I like to overstate, so I'm trying to keep it on the back end versus the front, but I mean it's somewhere between 16 and 20 million.

Speaker 1:

Well, and to be honest, what they're doing down there is they are they are fostering an environment where young entrepreneurs have a space to build those relationships, hone their skills and really get a taste for what it is to start run and and be a leader in business yeah um well, to me, I mean, if I'm going to boil it down and a little shameless plug here, I mean it's talent development 101, man I love it and and it's like no other edge.

Speaker 1:

I mean, when you walk in there it just feels different. You got to get him on here. We absolutely got him on here. He's a.

Speaker 14:

Jeremy's one of a kind. He's a force man, um, and you can't give away what you don't have. That's right. And Jeremy was gifted and through both academics and athletics. Prior to being at Williamson County and running EIC, he was the district athletic director. And so Jeremy is a force of nature, a very close friend, tremendous respect for him and his body of work and a true gift to Williamson County, who have you mentored, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Who have we mentored, mentored or spoken into or helped along the way. There's no way that you've been in this business 30 combined years and you haven't shared some of your wisdom.

Speaker 8:

Well, I feel like anybody that has been employed under me or that I have worked with, I have mentored with, I have mentored. And if you speak to anybody that has has worked with me in the past or that has been an employee, they will tell you I am not just a boss, I am a therapist, I am a leader, and you know, I tell them how it is. I'm a straight shooter, I'm a straight person. If they come to me and they're whining about something, I'll be like, well, what did you do? You know, and I don't tell them what they want to hear.

Speaker 8:

Same with my husband. You know he tells his people. He's like my wife keeps me accountable. If I get up and I start complaining about something, she'll put me in my place, you know. And so I'm big into leadership and not being a boss, and I'm 100% about lifting people up, encouraging them, and I'm the kind of person that will pretty much kind of demand that you give everything you can to fulfill your potential. And everybody that's worked for me has always rose up. They've, you know, always gotten a lot better underneath working for me, and so I don't really know of many people that haven't enjoyed working with me, and so I try to mentor everybody that I come in contact with.

Speaker 1:

Really, I love that.

Speaker 8:

I mean.

Speaker 10:

I can speak to that. I worked for Amber. Amber was my mentor at one point, you know, and and that's I mean obviously, obviously I liked her enough that we're here, no, but I, yeah, definitely agree with what Amber's saying, like I was definitely better for having worked with her and for her.

Speaker 10:

On a personal level I feel that I have been blessed with the opportunity to kind of pour into people who are a little bit younger than me. So back in the day I had a nanny who would take care of my daughter when I would go on the road and I would you know, she would come to me with questions and life advice kind of stuff, and I felt like I was able to act almost like an older sister and give her some advice. And now she's like, not because of me, of her own volition, she is doing amazing Like I love seeing where she is and she's a mom and she's such a fantastic mom and I love watching that. And then a couple of years ago I had some boys from Kennedy's cheer team come into my life who needed kind of a role model, parent figure.

Speaker 10:

And we actually hired them on to the company um that we were working for at the time as kind of like the um, the boys that have to do all of the work no one else wants to do yeah you know they had to clean up pick up the lots and and clean the houses and that kind of stuff and, um, one of them in particular was very receptive to both what I was trying to teach him and also what our foreman was trying to teach him. And he to see where he is today like it could make me cry. Honestly, I'm so proud of him and the life that he came from. He came from just a really horrible circumstance and he has turned it a hundred percent around. He is 180 from where he was then and I think that's partly from working for Amber and partly from him wanting something different for himself and me just in my.

Speaker 10:

I think what I do is I bring a vibe Like you know, I'm a positive person, I'm like you can do this, you can accomplish this, and he'll still, to this day, text me or call me and say you know, I think I'm going to do this. What do you think about it? I'm like you got this buddy, like you can totally do this, and that's kind of my personality.

Speaker 1:

No, right, and really anybody can say I want to go do something.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, and we hope you do. Our goal is to get women into the outdoors safely and have the knowledge and then a friend group that'll do it. So if you're brand new to, say, paddleboarding, you can post in there hey, I'm thinking about getting a paddleboard, what do you all think? And you'll have 15 people that'll tell you hey, this is what worked for me as a lady. This one's lighter to carry or easier to manage or whatever they're looking for. So it's been cool to watch that kind of mentorship happen organically.

Speaker 1:

Right, and they're really just. They're trying to help somebody. And let's be real. I mean, we all like to talk about ourselves.

Speaker 7:

For sure yeah.

Speaker 1:

And so them. Sharing their experience is making them more connected to the group, which is also helping somebody else out.

Speaker 7:

For sure.

Speaker 1:

And they don't feel like oh, I'm this weird person that wants to do this. Nobody else does it, Just because nobody in your subdivision or in your circle, does it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Speaker 7:

Yes, and something unique kind of about our events is there's not an age demographic. We have everyone that you know is coming out of high school, all the way to ladies that are retired and have to coordinate their babysitting of their grandchildren schedule to come play with us, and we're all shooting the big guns. It doesn't matter and you don't have to have any knowledge. We won't speak gun at you, we don't expect you to know anything. You come in and then we'll walk you through what you need to know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, really one of those environments where you meet them, where they are.

Speaker 7:

For sure, for sure, and we try to demystify this stuff. Hunting has been kind of a club for a long time and if you're not in it, you ain't in it. So we try to demystify and we have great partners the TWRA, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation so many guys across the board that'll help us out and help us learn, cause I don't know either, I'm not the expert, I'm not a turkey hunter, I don't know. I'm right there learning with them. So it's been cool.

Speaker 1:

We've learned a lot. Well, I love to this exercise. You got to put together a bowling team. This bowling team is going to we're going to be doing a charity event of some sort, so you want to have as many eyes on it and you want to have a great time. Obviously, you want to be around people that you're going to. You're going to learn from not necessarily bowling. So who are the other four bowlers that you're going to bowl with? And you get to pick a commentator.

Speaker 12:

Well, bowlers that you're going to bowl with and you get to pick a commentator. Well, first of all, um, jim crips is on my team, no doubt, um, jim crips is on my team. Um, then I'm going to go with, uh, randy huth, because we got to be good and my man ran bowling alleys. That's right, um, and I don't know a lot of other, um, competitive bowlers, but I know people who are just good at stuff, so I'll pick, I'll throw, I'll Brad in the mix, just because when we went golfing he made some big time putts and hit some balls to the moon that we used in our group. So he just knows how to win. All right, and I get one more. Yep, I get one more. Let's see, let's see.

Speaker 11:

I'm going to do and I'm not be Christopher Columbus, who founded America, and I don't know if we can say, of course I would say, I probably would say I would say Jesus, but I'd have him, he'd be the captain.

Speaker 1:

All right, who am I Rightfully?

Speaker 11:

so, rightfully so. So, and then who?

Speaker 1:

is Need one more.

Speaker 11:

Need one more, jerry Lewis.

Speaker 1:

That's a good one. Nobody said that one before.

Speaker 6:

I'll start with commentating. I'm going full on Jason Bateman and Gary Cole in character as the announcers from Dodgeball For my bowling team. Obviously I want the backwards bowler right, right, right, I'll be there. Yeah, we're trying to shoot 300s here. I want Bill Murray in character as Ernie McCracken from Kingpin.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. He's on my list too.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, I want the dude from the Big Lebowski. Yes.

Speaker 9:

For my wife's sake, we're probably going to have to have Taylor Swift there.

Speaker 6:

Okay.

Speaker 9:

Just because the, just because the you know the Swifty nation is is so huge. That's right and everybody's going to come, no matter what's going on. So I'll I'll give her some props and I'll add her in there.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 9:

Um, I think every time I think about this question, I probably greedily. You know, my favorite athlete of all time is Michael Jordan.

Speaker 9:

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

Speaker 1:

Probably so.

Speaker 9:

So 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- who's going to commentate? Man. I mean, I'm probably I might be a little old school on this one too, but I was just talking about the other day how great Bob Euchre is.

Speaker 14:

So. So in my head that would be phenomenal to have to have euchre. They're calling it okay. Who is it? Well, the commentator, that's easy, that's john floyd. I mean, to hear that guy commentate bowling would be hilarious. But I would either call it team satisfaction or team mountain view. And I mean, you know, john looks like a bowler. So I mean we got to have john leading us off. I mean, if I don't ask you a world record holder backwards bowler, then then I mean I'm not winning. Uh, my friend jason wheeler, and he's a good friend, and klein, he's like, he's like six, six, bald. So I mean he would work. And then I think, to bring it up, sean raceman, who was? Who was?

Speaker 13:

uh, he was, um, mad dog mattis's yeah, I mean, my, my dream would be able to pull the grades from each you know era, each era. Okay, so who are we putting on the thing? Well, dick weber, I mean, because he had such an impact in my life, yeah, uh, being on the same staff and traveling and seeing him work with people and whatnot. So, dick Weber, for sure. Mark Roth, marshall Holman One of those two would have to be on my team Going through up until the two handed. Walter Ray is one more than anybody and still has, and I felt like he doesn't get full respect for that. But who wouldn't want that guy on your team when you need one? But then, yeah, then you had someone like Norm Duke, who did play to the crowd, who people fell in love with but hadn't won as much as Walter, and yet they look at him as being one of the greatest ever because there was that appeal, right, that showmanship, yep.

Speaker 1:

All right. Last but not least, how do you want to be remembered?

Speaker 12:

I want to be remembered as somebody that left everything that we touched better than we found it found it.

Speaker 11:

I want to be remembered as the somebody that faced all of my own, my own demons, my own shortcomings, just as a kind, loving person who tried to put other people first.

Speaker 7:

You have one life. I know that's so cliche and you always hear that growing up and it really doesn't hit, but you have one life. What are you doing? Get out there and do what you want to do. As much as I love my job, man, I sure like this a whole lot better. So just get out there and make it what you want it to be.

Speaker 6:

As a good father.

Speaker 9:

I definitely 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.

Speaker 13:

So certainly as someone who cared, you know truly there for the right reasons. I think it's not something I'm, it's not a concerted effort, it's just who I am and I just feel like that I made a difference. Right, I received a lot from this sport. I really did beyond my imagination.

Speaker 14:

Man. I mean, if you boil it down to one thing for me, every decision I've ever made, from the person that I married to the career choices, to how I've tried to live my life and I'm not saying that I've gotten it right all the time, but the only thing that matters to me, and how I want to be remembered more than anything else that I've done, is my family. That's right.

Speaker 1:

Team is Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward podcast. I just want to tell you I love you, I appreciate you listening, I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the charge for podcast with people you know and you love, because that's what we're here for. We are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life, so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you were today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday.