Have you ever laughed at yourself to beat others to the punchline? Steve Gamlin, our jack-of-all-trades guest, takes us on an adventure from self-deprecation to self-empowerment in our latest Kindness Matters podcast episode. As a skydiver, base jumper, and motivational speaker, Steve has a unique perspective on life's ups and downs—literally. We chat about his transition from a comedy writer to a voice of positivity, and how a stormy epiphany on a golf course helped him to harness the power of positive self-talk and change his life's path for the better.
Philanthropy isn't just a buzzword for our guest; it's a way of living. Steve shares his personal evolution toward giving back through Beach Bum Philanthropy, starting from a modest vow to donate a part of his earnings and growing into a substantial, heartfelt mission. We peel back the curtain on the joys, misconceptions, and genuine impact of altruism, demonstrating that the act of giving is not just about the dollars but also about the difference one makes.
As we wrap up this episode, it's clear that Steve's journey is not just inspiring—it's a call to action for all of us to foster deeper connections and be a source of inspiration in our own circles. His approach to life coaching and kindness isn't just about feeling good; it's about creating real change, one act of kindness at a time. Tune in for an episode that celebrates the human spirit and proves that, indeed, kindness matters.
Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.
Have you ever laughed at yourself to beat others to the punchline? Steve Gamlin, our jack-of-all-trades guest, takes us on an adventure from self-deprecation to self-empowerment in our latest Kindness Matters podcast episode. As a skydiver, base jumper, and motivational speaker, Steve has a unique perspective on life's ups and downs—literally. We chat about his transition from a comedy writer to a voice of positivity, and how a stormy epiphany on a golf course helped him to harness the power of positive self-talk and change his life's path for the better.
Philanthropy isn't just a buzzword for our guest; it's a way of living. Steve shares his personal evolution toward giving back through Beach Bum Philanthropy, starting from a modest vow to donate a part of his earnings and growing into a substantial, heartfelt mission. We peel back the curtain on the joys, misconceptions, and genuine impact of altruism, demonstrating that the act of giving is not just about the dollars but also about the difference one makes.
As we wrap up this episode, it's clear that Steve's journey is not just inspiring—it's a call to action for all of us to foster deeper connections and be a source of inspiration in our own circles. His approach to life coaching and kindness isn't just about feeling good; it's about creating real change, one act of kindness at a time. Tune in for an episode that celebrates the human spirit and proves that, indeed, kindness matters.
Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.
This podcast is part of the Deluxe Edition Network. To find other great shows on the network, head over to deluxeeditionnetworkcom. That's deluxeeditionnetworkcom.
Speaker 2:Kindness, we see it all around us. We see it when someone pays for someone else's coffee or holds the door open for another person. We see it in the smallest of gestures, like a smile or a kind word. But it's different when we turn on the news or social media. Oftentimes what we hear about what outlets are pushing is the opposite of kind. Welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. Our goal is to give you a place to relax, to revel in stories of people who have received or given kindness, a place to inspire and motivate each and every one of us to practice kindness every day. Hello everybody and welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. I am your host, mike Rathbun, and before we get into the show, let me remind you that over at the Deluxe Edition Network, every month they highlight a podcast of the month, and in January of 2024, they have three. First up is Barrel-Aged Flicks. New movies are featured weekly, spiraling into hilarious discussions. The guys review an alcoholic beverage that relates to the movie they review, then talk about the movie with facts, trivia and clips, then their final thoughts. New Barrel-Aged Flicks episodes are every Monday and a bonus episode is every Thursday entitled the Tasting Room. Make sure to join Ron, stu Chase, ragnar and Gutt for this hilarious podcast. It does contain explicit language and content. Just a heads up. Next up is Bev's Video Kingdom. There you'll find four small town friends as they hilariously and unpretentiously review movies they love and then hold highly competitive drafts. That's air quotes on categories related to that week's film. And, of course, also on the list is the Kindness Matters podcast. Check them out deluxeeditionnetworkcom. And now on with the show.
Speaker 2:Okay, everybody, my guest today on the show. I don't even know where to start. He is a skydiver, a bass jumper. He was a radio DJ. Just talking to him, I got kind of a Dr Johnny Fever vibe. For those of you who are too young to know, look it up, google it, and he is now a successful motivational speaker, coach, vision board coach, right, yes, yeah, absolutely. And a hey. He's founded his own philanthropy. I didn't do my mama, mama, mama, mama, mama before I came on. Please welcome to the show, steve Gamlin. Welcome, steve.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much for having me. Great to great to have an additional conversation to the great one we already had off air, I know it was so natural, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. It was just like sitting on a front porch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. So now you started, was radio your first gig, your first job, or was that Not the first job, but that was my first.
Speaker 1:When I was 11, I wanted to be a radio DJ because of Dr Johnny Fever on WKRP and Cincinnati. He was my inspiration. I also wanted to be an author of my own books because my mom instilled the love of reading and writing in myself and my sister. Yeah, I wanted to be a standup comedian because Steve Martin was huge at the time in the late 70s. Oh my God. I wanted to be a teacher of people, but not in a classroom, because I had an amazing fifth grade teacher named Mrs Farron who whenever I finished my work early would encourage me to help other students. So I didn't even know, wow, that was. That was basically coaching. I was 11 years old, I just loved helping people out. So all these things I wanted to be. And when I was 24, I got my first radio job and quickly found out it paid nothing. So I started a weekend DJ business. So I pretty much worked six or seven days a week for 10 years. So I did about 15 years worth of hours in 10.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, you know you think about DJing and I also wanted to be a DJ, but I never got there. The best I could do was an intern. I guess they'd call an intern now. I was like a weekend guy at this country radio station town I grew up in and my first night I was supposed to record a Paul Harvey segment and then play it later on after our triple A or double A Hometown baseball game. Right, I hit the record button at the time and I went to queue it up and there was nothing there. Oh no, oh yeah, which I should have been more upset about that. But I'm like, hey, now I get to play music and talk.
Speaker 2:So if I hadn't gone, into the Air Force, I probably still wouldn't be employed there, oh my God. So yeah, and but yeah, DJs, they're not rich guys, people, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:You know, and the funny part was I wasn't even actually an on-air DJ until my eighth of 10 years, because I was a rock morning show producer, a comedy writer, did all these things behind the scenes mostly because I did not have the confidence in my voice. I did not have this version of my voice Right Then. Very insecure, very low self-esteem, no confidence at all.
Speaker 2:How much did it come out in your writing?
Speaker 1:The comedy writing was good. I actually won an international award for a comedy that I wrote. It was a commercial parody. You remember the old Motel Sick commercial and we'll leave a lot on for you. Yeah, I wrote one called Major Six, which is basically what would have been with Jesus and his disciples trying to rent a room after a long day at Ciaran Leppers and something like that. And you know, through that and someone else voiced it for me he did an amazing job, okay.
Speaker 1:And our boss came to us and said hey guys, it's the annual radio and production awards. You know, you got to send something and we're looking at him like we've never won a single thing. Yeah, you got to send something. So at the last minute I decided to throw this bit in and it wound up taking first place out of all market sizes in every radio station in America, canada, mexico and the UK Holy crap. And three weeks before we found out we won the award, the radio station got sold and we all got fired. Oh no, somebody broke into the trophy case and stole the trophy and gave it to me and I've had it ever since. It's actually up on the wall.
Speaker 1:Somebody my recording studio, a friend of mine, dear friend, apparently Very good friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, risking larceny charges for you? Yeah, we didn't have cameras at the time we didn't have cameras at the time, so it's a little hazy yeah. Details are fuzzy.
Speaker 1:Details were fuzzy. Well, hey, there were those 10 years. A lot of details get fuzzy. I was exhausted the whole time.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. So you, you talk about the station being sold. I never understood format changes on radio stations. I in, let's see, the mid 90s there was a I listened to a country station up here in Minnesota Always had it on. I went through a whole country thing and I went to bed. I had my alarm clock set for the next morning. I wake up to Howard Stern and some metal radio. I'm like, what the hell Radio? I'm like, did I change it in my sleep? What the no, they just changed formats.
Speaker 1:Yeah it all comes down to money, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, everything happened to me twice.
Speaker 1:And the reason I left radio is because I heard the rumblings of it happen About to happen at my third radio group in 10 years. Somebody said hey, steve, did you hear Scott the owner's going through a divorce? He might have to sell the stations. And I just said I'm out of here and I, without talking about it with my then wife, without lining up another full-time job, all I had was my little weekend DJ business which is making maybe 11, five a year at the time. Yeah, I just quit. I walked away. I said look, I can't take this hit again Because even though it's hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I never filed for unemployment. I just crawled into a hole, oh Boy, and hope for the best. I mean I never. I just just sank, yeah, not. Oh see, there's another reminder. You're not good enough. Each time a connection of a connection, of a connection, reached out and said hey, steve, I heard about an opportunity, that's how I got the successive jobs. But at the end of it I just said, look, I'm done, this is it. Yeah, yeah, most well thought out decision.
Speaker 2:But Long story short, in the end that worked out for you.
Speaker 1:It took a while. Right, it was a long, long story with a lot of introspection and and Overcoming a lot of things, especially Self being, self deprecating and bad self-talk and lack of confidence and all that. You know, somebody, somebody said to me recently oh my gosh, I'm, I'm almost intimidated by you, and I said why. I'm about as threatening as a salad and she goes your confidence is off the chart, she goes. I'm amazed by it. And I just said okay, let me tell you something. First off, thank you, I appreciate that, oh sure, yeah, second, 20 years ago, this is not the version of me that walked the planet. I was brutally self deprecating and which I don't recommend anybody. Self-talk, how you speak to yourself and about yourself, yeah, so much more critical. But see, I didn't think it was a bad thing because I could get laughs doing it, sure absolutely, but that takes a toll over time, doesn't?
Speaker 1:it. It took a big toll over time and it took me about 10 years. After all of that stuff went down, when I blew up my life, my first marriage ended, I was tens of thousands of dollars in debt and had to crawl home and live with family. I spent another 10 years being self deprecating, even after I became a speaker. Throughout most of the years that I did stand-up comedy, which is 04 to 11, until a friend of mine who invited me to speak on one of the stages. He said I got a three-day event. I want you to speak all three days great.
Speaker 3:Small audience first to chase me.
Speaker 1:Great, it's a page day I was in a bad mood. I actually he wasn't even paying me for this, it was just helping out a friend, oh, okay. And third day, I just melted down into this self deprecating rant in the middle of it. Now I was getting some laughs, but I destroyed my credibility. Oh, in this friend. This was June of 2011, I believe, and this friend pulled me aside after put me in a chair.
Speaker 1:Him and all the other speakers sat in a circle and they staged an intervention. Oh, usually for drug addicts, but in this right was somebody who was just demolishing himself on stage. He said if I ever hear you talk to or about yourself like that again, first off, we're no longer brothers and second, you are not welcome on any stage I ever create, wow. And he said here's what I just watched you do. Here's what I've been watching you do since I met you. Bro, you gotta stop this. You got to knock it off. It's not funny.
Speaker 1:And that was the day it finally dawned, like the. The clouds parted, like in the movies, the you know. The light came through and the angels went, oh, and the lesson was learned and the hero was born. And, and ever since then, I go back to that and I refer to it now. I said here's how good of a friend he was. He put on a pair of steel-toed boots and kicked me so hard and part of my body that my Doctor only gets to see once a year that the lesson finally stuck.
Speaker 2:So you would never put together your, your self-deprecating talk with your life. You're blowing up yourself, your life.
Speaker 1:No, I thought it was just part of the story and I thought I was doing a good thing by being so open and honest about it. But what I was not doing was showing the part of moving beyond it. I was still in the middle of it. I was still actively doing it. Yeah, because I thought it was funny and it's not actually in the real scheme of things, it's not funny at all and I can't show people now doing it. I don't put on the boots and kick them like he did, but with kid gloves I'll say, hey, you know what. Let me just share where my life was going when I was doing that and where it's gone since. Right, and why. That may not be your best idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, Wow. So here you are. You're 10 years in and you're broke and you have kind of an epiphany.
Speaker 1:Well, it was kind of thrust at me. But yeah, People say, what's that moment that changed your life? I go oh, I got that, I don't even have to.
Speaker 2:We're still talking the same story. I'm thinking there was some divine intervention there somehow.
Speaker 1:Most definitely. Yeah, in August of 2003, and I live up in New Hampshire it was a very hot and humid Friday afternoon. I was driving around doing some errands, just aimlessly, and I drove past this place, used a mini golf place, but they also had a driving range on part of their property. And I'm a horrible golfer and in order to avoid denting anyone's cars, I decided to go to the farthest T box on the property, which was also under these gigantic steel towered power lines, oh God. So here I am just whacking the crap out of a $3 bucket of golf balls and a thunderstorm came ripping through. I mean thunder, lightning, wind, pouring rain, everything, and everybody but me ran from the storm and I just stayed out there like well, I spent three bucks. I only have a few bucks left for the week, so I'm going to use up my $3 and get my three bucks worth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get my three bucks worth. And so I hit my bucket of golf balls and at one point I just held up the club, just being sarcastic or really stupid, I don't know which one yet but I held up the club and looked up and said go ahead, I dare you, go ahead, I don't care. And nothing happened, of course, and I just chuckled to myself like even he doesn't want to take me out right now. And then I saw two more buckets of balls from guys that had run away from the storm and weren't coming back. So I hit their bucket of golf balls.
Speaker 1:So I hit for like an hour in the storm. I couldn't even lift my arms. At the end I had like T-rex arms by the time I was done and I got to my car and I opened the door and all of a sudden the rain stops and the sun starts breaking through the clouds and I just started laughing. I just thought that was funny. It was like the happiest moment of that whole week. And I look up and I'm thinking that was well played.
Speaker 2:Well played, sir.
Speaker 1:Yes, well played, sir. Yes, and the next day I was on a phone call with who was then a brand new life coach, new to me. I was one of his first clients. He was coaching me for free and he asked this question that changed my life. It was the first one how was your week? And I said well, let me tell you what happened yesterday. And it was very self deprecating, but it was very funny, right. And when he stopped laughing which is something a coach should not do when your life sucks is is not right. When he stopped laughing, he said okay, I've got one more question for you. Have you ever thought of being a motivational speaker or a standup comedian? I think you'd be great at both.
Speaker 2:We'll be right back to my interview with Steve Gamelin, but first let's hear from one of the deluxe edition network podcasts. Spoil my movie.
Speaker 3:I'm Chris and I'm Mal, and together we host the podcast Spoil my Movie. We were watching movies anyway, and we were having in depth conversations about those movies too, so we decided to share our thoughts with the world. You can expect me to gripe about inaccurate details like supposedly cold weather, but you can't see anyone's breath and you can expect me to be totally adorable, but also psychologically deep, and by the end of each episode, we'll provide our respective ratings, using a rating scale custom tailored to the movie in question. Check us out wherever you get your podcasts. We're everywhere. We're actually behind you right now.
Speaker 1:What he didn't know and what I had not thought of in years are all the things I wanted to be when I was 11 years old, sure Radio DJ author. At the time, I was working on my first book, which was a collection of wedding stories based upon the weirdest things that ever happened to me as a wedding DJ. Oh, I would imagine that's a volume in his book. Well, 16 short stories.
Speaker 1:And I'd want it to be a standup comedian and a motivational speaker or a teacher of people, sure, and I said you know, I've wanted to do both those things for most of my life but I have no idea how to pursue it. And on his desk you're a talk divine intervention. And the jump mail pile on his desk was a little card, a brochure from a local community college that had a class called intro to standup comedy. That started two weeks later.
Speaker 2:Whoa.
Speaker 1:He goes. You won't believe this. He goes this is on my desk, will you go? I said yeah, yeah. And then he asked have you ever heard of Toastmasters? And I said, well, they kind of teach you how to speak and be confident and all that he says. You got the storytelling. He's just go sharpen your tools. There's a chapter that meets near your house and, by the way, they're the most award-winning and successful chapter in New Hampshire Boom. So I went there a week after the first comedy class, did stand up for seven, was a Toastmaster, for eight, won a bunch of awards, had an absolute ball. And here we are, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:that is a crazy story, but you use these life events of yours in your motivational speaking and your coaching, right?
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, and it's. I always laugh when people say hey, Steve, how do you make up the stories you tell on stage? And I always do the same thing I look them right in the eye, I tilt my head like a puppy and go really, Nobody could make this up.
Speaker 2:Have you ever paid attention to my?
Speaker 1:life over the past 20 years. I said come on, I am not short of material, I'm not struggling.
Speaker 2:I'm a good writer, but I couldn't make up that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly I said, you know, I just pay attention and I and I take a lot of notes, yeah, of everything in the world that goes on around me, that involves me or inspires me in some way. I write down a lot of stuff and I'm very fortunate that my mom put that love of writing and being creative for sure, into my mind and it's it's easy for me to come up with stuff and especially to come up with maybe metaphors or stories or ways to teach a lesson, because what facts tell, stories sell. So I became a storyteller.
Speaker 2:Yeah, storytelling is. I mean, we're all kind of storytellers, right? That goes back to like caveman days, right? Yeah, this whole podcast thing is just the 21st century version of painting on a wall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, sitting around a campfire telling a story about how Grock you know the other caveman got killed by the dinosaur, and the way the guy retold it. Everybody laughed, thought it was funny. So they kept telling the story, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 2:And here we are. So okay. But now, when you're motivational speaking, is that also aligned with your vision board coaching, or is it just motivation? They're two separate.
Speaker 1:It started off actually separate, but I started to get people asking me hey, you know, I know you do the vision board work and you have that, the learning program that you taught, and you do coaching. So I started to weave some of that into the keynote speeches.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, because I would encourage people to not only become the best version of themselves, but know where they are right now and where they wish to go in life and to create that vision. So that started to weave into the speaking as well, which then led to people saying, hey, would you like to come to our company and, you know, share the program with us and how do we continue to work with you? Well, we created a coaching program. So it all organically over time, as the need came up, as people had certain pains in their personal and professional lives, they would ask me hey, you talk about this. Do you have anything that goes deeper? Of course the answer is always oh, of course. We're just putting the finishing touches on that.
Speaker 2:And of course, then you go home and write it out the time. Then you go home and create it.
Speaker 1:The demand. You know. The world will tell you what it wants from you if you just pay attention Exactly.
Speaker 2:I have never sought out help with vision boarding. Is that a thing, vision boarding?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I mean, I see people. What if people have vision board parties and those just make me shake my head.
Speaker 2:I saw a friend of mine is a coach and she advertised this class for how to create the perfect vision board and I thought maybe I should check that out. And then when I looked at it, and it's like $300, and I'm like I'm not that interested. It's something that I understand and I understand how it's supposed to work, but I've never really gotten into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what she does an extreme price. As far as you know the ballpark of what's out there, you know you can go to a vision board party right around the beginning of the year. Every year you see the size everywhere. Hey, 25 bucks for having a vision board party with wine, cheese, cracker, scissors, glitters, glue sticks, magazines and poster boards.
Speaker 1:Come on down, get loaded and map out your successful life and you know and actually something I think I used to bash on them a lot, but Kind of like you have. You know, you have New Year's resolutions and you have goals right, you have vision board parties and then you have programs like mine. It's something it can trigger you to start thinking about what you want. It may not be as in-depth as is my program as a starting place other woman that you were talking about.
Speaker 1:I mean, my program is a thousand dollars, yeah, to take you from where you are now to design where you wish to go, create an action plan, boom, boom, but along going coaching as well. That's the value that my clients, sure, are happy to pay for it, and I was hers may be great as well, but you're right, though, that a lot of people Just look at them and think it's an arts and crafts project, when for me, it is the most powerful Goal-setting tool that I've ever imagined, and I've got the results to prove it.
Speaker 2:I may have to do some more in-depth looking at that, because yeah, I mean you know you go it's cutting out pictures out of it and pasting it on a. Board and how does that supposed to help me? And right.
Speaker 1:Well.
Speaker 2:I need to use them like a letter to Santa Claus.
Speaker 1:Anyway, they just go oh, I have a Lamborghini, a yacht, a mansion, a private jet, a helicopter, a big honking gold watch and a bank vault full the gold bars and pallets of cash. That's my vision board.
Speaker 2:Right there.
Speaker 1:There's eight areas of life that you need to be concerned with and aware of. I go, that's one, yeah, right, but it's okay, nothing wrong with any of those things. But if you're just basically writing a letter to Santa Claus, then well, we need to talk a little. I need to educate a little bit, that's all. I don't want you to fail. I'm not gonna laugh at you for that. Maybe a little, oh I would, but no, maybe a little, but I will. I wouldn't want to them to tear it up. I would just right leave a little room for all these other things like physical health, emotion, well-being, relationships, court values, faith, connection, career, right. And then money. You have the money. One down. Let's figure out how to make the best version of you in the process.
Speaker 2:Let's slide this man, lamborghini and pallets of cash over here and make room for other things that are also important. Yes, yeah, and so now, at some point, you decided to Start a philanthropic Organized. I cannot believe I got that word out.
Speaker 1:You know, right here it's on tape, I said it so much of what I do is actually difficult to pronounce like beachbump philanthropy Visualization. A lot of people struggle on that one and I should just make it a lot easier. Aluminum and linoleum, exactly, and I will not use the word nuclear anywhere, because I know a lot of people struggle with that one as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my wife says nuke, yeah, how do you go?
Speaker 1:Yeah, right down.
Speaker 2:She says it the way George Bush used to say it. Yes, and I Smirk, but I don't correct her because that would be mean. Yeah, I know what she was talking about Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah so each bone philanthropy, even before it had a name. Right around December of 2012, I was Using my business, using my speaking, and I would give 10% of all the money I earned as a speaker on Be half of my client. I would do this while on stage. I would have my checkbook checkbook at the time in my back pocket. Or I'd ask my clients I say, how many of you would like to be givers in your life and give back and help others? And a lot of people Raise their hand. I said, but you don't have any idea of really what to do or how to do it. They go, yeah, and If it was a local company, I'd say right, what's one of your favorite programs locally that you like to help out?
Speaker 1:Is there shelters or program that helps kids or seniors or homeless or veterans, or what is it? And Whoever had hired me would say, well, we'd like to support this one. So I'd say, hey, let me show you how easy it is to give. And I pull my checkbook out of my back pocket. I already had the amount written because I knew what 10% of my paycheck was. Okay, sure. And I would write a look, a check to the nonprofit and on the memo line I would say on behalf of, and I'd write my client's name and I would tear it out and I would give it to the person who hired me and I said do me a favor, please deliver this to the program and when you do, if you don't mind, get a picture of you handing them the check and then send it to me so I can get on social media and tell everybody how generous my clients are. Nice, I love that.
Speaker 1:One time they all started applauding and I just said what's going on, what's happening? You're so generous. I said your name's on the check, dude, but that became I. That was my favorite part of being on stage. But then I started to speak in other, you know, parts of the country and sometimes people were like well, we have this, this, this, this, this, and I said I don't want it to just be tied to that one day's Paycheck. I might be actively doing some kindness. And then my family started to get involved and they said they wanted to do it and we decided to to all do it in a concerted effort. And then somebody said well, steve, other people may want to support you. You have to give it a name Like what do I name it? And they said well, what's your goal in life? And I just snapped beach bomb.
Speaker 2:I was gonna ask where you came up with the name.
Speaker 1:I just learned how to surf at the time not well, but I could do it. And I said I just I love the beach bum mentality where it's kind of laid back, it's not lazy, it's laid back, is very in touch with the energy of the world around it, like the waves and the tide and all that. Yeah, I said I just want to be in the moment like that. So beach bum. And then they said, well, what's the other word? I said philanthropy. And that's how it came about and for nine years it was what I referred to as our hippie giving mission.
Speaker 2:It was because be some does kind of project that image of, yeah, hippies, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I heard about it.
Speaker 2:I thought, it was out in California or something.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what people have asked to. I'm like, yeah, I'm in California in a long time. But people started saying, hey, steve would love to be able to support you and make a donation. I said, well, it's not, it can't be tax deductible and we can't ask for any money Because we were not a 501 C3, right, I had no intention of making it a 501 C3. But then people said, steve, you guys are so awesome at this and so you make it so much fun. I know Corporations would love to give you some money. So you got to do the paperwork and a dear friend sent me an extra copy of all the paperwork. I looked at it and said, no way am I gonna do.
Speaker 2:I've heard it's. It's a lot, it's nothing.
Speaker 1:My sister's a CPA and she struggled with some of it, but she also has the patience that I don't have. So she did it and for just over three years We've been an official 501 C3 and Wow, that's awesome. The rules are very stringent but Other than paying for our domain name and stamps and maybe some envelopes now and then, everything else goes to the program. So we help. None of us take a dime. We have a board of directors. Nobody gets a dime of compensation. Wow, all about giving. Make sure to creative, make it fun, involve, as many people share ideas on social media, not us on a, you know, on a phone Camera going. Look at me, I'm helping a homeless person. I.
Speaker 2:You're not, mr Beast huh.
Speaker 1:Oh that that blurs the line for me. Yeah, really does too much of it, is self-serving and I really don't like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I can see it occasionally to inspire, yeah, but just consistently it's all this is an audio podcast. I'm patting myself on the back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, so many of the videos are faked. I, in some of them, actually, I give them credit. At the end it says this is a dramatization of an act of kindness. Some of them, okay, many don't. And then all these people think, oh my gosh, this person's wonderful. Look at him helping people out. It gives me hope and I almost want to say it does give hope. But please understand, this isn't really happening, right? This is all pre-formatted, pre scripted, pre staged. It's not real.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so hard to Because I think most people want to believe that that's real and it's really happening. Sure, but yeah, like most of life these days, yeah, scripted, yeah, that is fantastic, it, it, wow. What a life you have led.
Speaker 1:It has not been boring. I'll tell you that it's. It's been a lot of fun and I call my life a lot of things.
Speaker 2:But better not call it boring yeah.
Speaker 1:I but you know it's funny for me because a lot of it and sometimes say well, steve, you've gotten to do all these things and and this and that it must be so exciting. And it's kind of like when you're on the radio people say it must be so exciting to be on the radio. Radio is boring for most of the time it's. It's those little moments you get to shine. It's when I'm on stage Getting to shine that I love the most. It's when I'm in a conversation with a show host that I absolutely love. When I'm having a conversation with one of my vision board coaching clients who calls up with a problem and within five minutes they're jumping up and down with excitement and joy and passion again. That's pretty cool. Those are the moments I love. I've been in this recording studio Laughing, crying, yelling, screaming, cheering, jumping up and down, dancing, with my clients on the other side of the camera somewhere in America, celebrating each other, and that's the best Then and that makes everything else that makes all the dull moments worth it, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, because a lot of it is downtime and prep work and writing and producing on social media and and creating new content.
Speaker 1:And I'm working on a new program now what's called going to be called vision board, one on one. It's going to be an introductory version To my larger program so that people can get it's like basic training, because some people get very intimidated by the big program, even though it's not really a big program. It's. It's Right. 10 modules, it's 74 minutes and 52 seconds. All combined, the longest module is 11 minutes. So that way I had a client that I called week after week. What module are you on for? You were on for last week.
Speaker 1:I know I haven't had time, so that's where the comedy and humor cap comes back. That'd be me. I said, okay, you don't have time. So I got off the call. I looked up, I googled how long does the average American sit on the toilet every morning? Answer 12 minutes. Shut up, I copied and pasted it, sent it to her. I said the average American sits on the can for 12 minutes. The longest module of my program is 11. I'm not going to tell you get off your ass, I'm going to tell you to get on it and keep the tablet in the bathroom. You can finish my program in 10 days. She thought that was the funniest thing I've ever done. I've never done it before. She thought that was the funniest thing. We still joke about it. She sent she would send me a Toilet emoji every time she finished a module. She would just send it, not say a word.
Speaker 2:You that's very funny, that's good stuff right there. Comedy gold.
Speaker 1:Yep, love it and it's effective because I'm not gonna. I'm not a coach that yells at people, right? So people say I need somebody to be a disciplinary. Well, I am not your guy, I'm.
Speaker 2:Keep looking.
Speaker 1:I'll hug. Yeah, I won't scream at you. Yeah, you know I might put you in the head nook. You know the headlock with the head nook you can go. Go, come on, you big dummy guy had finished the program. But, uh, that's that's. That's the coaching relationship. And we're gonna have conversations like this and people ask what's it like to coach with you? I'm like, uh, this.
Speaker 2:This right here. Wow, that's amazing, steve. It has been such an intense pleasure Having you on it. I could talk to you Forever. It's just, it's so comfortable. You are amazing. Your beach bum philanthropy Is amazing. You post a lot of pictures of oatmeal cookies. Do you guys make those yourselves?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, we, we cook and we bake a lot for the shelters. Matter of fact, this weekend, uh, myself and my wife teen, are gonna be here at our house. My mom and her, her husband, my stepdad, will be cooking at their house and my stepmom is going to be cooking at her house and Tina's mom is going to be baking cakes. Whoa, all gonna meet at three o'clock at one of the shelters. They already know all the food is coming and we're going to bring as much food as we can because they have an overnight Warming station. Oh, sure, sure, and sunday nights they don't have anybody bringing them food. Perfect, decided. As a family, we're all going to bake on saturday and early sunday and then we'll bring some stuff.
Speaker 1:And that's why I try to never put pictures of us Doing things. I take pictures of cookies and say, hey, look, if you want to give us a family, if you want to teach your kids something, go get a roll of cookie dough and let your kids cut it up and put it in the pan and they can each have one. But then reach out to a shelter or a program and say let me bake some cookies. Could we bring these there? Because you got to ask permission and earn the. We had to earn the trust of all these shelters. Right, you can't just show up with home baked items. You've got to be very, very cautious.
Speaker 2:I was gonna ask about that because I I know it's gone, this whole like it used to be when your kids would go to school and you could send Homemade treat. No, they want store bought now, so and I know so okay, so as long as you plant it in advance, it's cool.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We just reach out and they have their favorites. Now I mean, I'm not gonna say because they're spoiled, but they've. There's things we've made. Where I walked into one of the shelters recently one of the programs called Liberty house in southern new Hampshire. They help homeless and in need veterans and I peeked my head around the corner to the window and they didn't say hi, steve, they said pear bread. I took my head, no, and they went. The saddest face Was there on the other side of the glass and I said this was an unplanned visit. Today I happened to be coming into town. I said I brought you some canned goods, but no pear bread. And I also love to barbecue and we've got a little smoker Nice. So they love smoked hickory, smoked meatballs with barbecue sauce. Oh, so I do 50 or 60 of those at a time and pop. I know I said that one time on my stomach in the middle of an interview went.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's so much fun and rewarding and it's, it's a blast and I just feel so connected To these people. That's simplest ways, that's.
Speaker 2:That's how simple kindness can be because, honestly, therefore, but the grace you could have had it not been for your coaching connection, that could have been you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm glad it wasn't. Yeah, me too. It actually other if, if not for family, yeah, giving me a safe place to land. Um, that very easily could have been me over the years, because you know, the spirit was 100 broken, yeah, and I just I was so mad at myself for what I did to my life that I kept missing potential opportunities until that one Hit me right in the face on that coaching call. Yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're doing what you're doing, steve. I'm glad I got an opportunity to chat with you. I really appreciate it. My pleasure. We'll do this again. Let's do it again. I would love to anytime. We'll stay in touch. Awesome, steve gambling. All your information will be in the show notes. And have a fantastic weekend, man, you too. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Did you ever just meet somebody and instantly connect with them? That that's how my conversation with with steve went this week. He is absolutely fantastic, I fascinating. He has lived more life in I don't know how many years, then. I think most of us have lived in our entire lifetimes and and just so kind and so generous. His philanthropy effort is off the charts amazing, and his coaching Is just fantastic as well. I it was such an honor for me To be able to spend some time and chat with him. I hope you enjoyed the show. I hope you were able to take something away from it and and yeah, it was. It was a great show, and so that will about do it for this episode of the kindness matters podcast. We'll be back again next week with more, but until then, you know what's coming. Be that person who roots for others, who tells a stranger that they look amazing and encourages others to believe in themselves and their dreams. You have been listening to the kindness matters podcast. I'm your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.