Charlie Mike The Podcast
Valor to Victory Crafting a New Mission Post-Service
When Lou, a proud Marine Corps veteran and mover-and-shaker in the Houston Veteran Chamber of Commerce, recounts his leap from New Jersey to Houston, you can't help but feel the magnetic pull of new beginnings and the tenacity of the military spirit. This episode is a rich tapestry of life after service, with Lou's voice adding a note of authenticity as he talks about his transition, the power of networking, and the unexpected paths our lives take post-uniform.
We weave into the discussions the raw, sometimes conflicted emotions surrounding veteran benefits, with a firm nod to the importance of claiming what's earned without the shadow of guilt. It's not just about benefits; it's about understanding the value of continued contributions in civilian life, and finding a sense of purpose that aligns with the drive and discipline that service instills. William and I share our own experiences, including my early medical discharge, offering a mirror for fellow vets making similar journeys.
And what's a plan without action? We champion the value of incremental steps, the transformative power of reaching out to those who've climbed the ladder of success, and the essential practice of owning every choice we make. It's a conversation that's as much about the power of asking 'now what?' as it is about celebrating the victories, large and small, on the road to fulfilling aspirations. So join us, share in the energy, and be part of the Charlie Mike community—as we always say, the mission continues!
Veteran Owned & Operated
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Charlie Mike Military Apparel
Veteran Owned & Operated
When Lou, a proud Marine Corps veteran and mover-and-shaker in the Houston Veteran Chamber of Commerce, recounts his leap from New Jersey to Houston, you can't help but feel the magnetic pull of new beginnings and the tenacity of the military spirit. This episode is a rich tapestry of life after service, with Lou's voice adding a note of authenticity as he talks about his transition, the power of networking, and the unexpected paths our lives take post-uniform.
We weave into the discussions the raw, sometimes conflicted emotions surrounding veteran benefits, with a firm nod to the importance of claiming what's earned without the shadow of guilt. It's not just about benefits; it's about understanding the value of continued contributions in civilian life, and finding a sense of purpose that aligns with the drive and discipline that service instills. William and I share our own experiences, including my early medical discharge, offering a mirror for fellow vets making similar journeys.
And what's a plan without action? We champion the value of incremental steps, the transformative power of reaching out to those who've climbed the ladder of success, and the essential practice of owning every choice we make. It's a conversation that's as much about the power of asking 'now what?' as it is about celebrating the victories, large and small, on the road to fulfilling aspirations. So join us, share in the energy, and be part of the Charlie Mike community—as we always say, the mission continues!
Veteran Owned & Operated
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Please like share and follow..
Support@CharlieMikeThePodcast.com
Website
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieMikeThePodcast
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNyGgJYIgU8b02NypoJgHAg
Charlie Mike Military Apparel
Veteran Owned & Operated
Yo, what's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Charlie Mike the podcast. It's always. I'm your host, raul, and your co-host is William.
Speaker 2:Yo, what's going on y'all? Welcome to the Paraland podcast. Who do you look here, just out of Houston, texas. It's so good to be here.
Speaker 1:Man. Hey, it's been busy, hasn't?
Speaker 2:it, it has been.
Speaker 1:Bro, since you started making the calendar and started lining people up.
Speaker 2:Oh, is that what it is? It's been amazing. It's been amazing.
Speaker 1:Hey, so whoever doesn't know, william does it all here. Yeah, okay, because there's anything that looks amazing, it was done by William, and if it doesn't look good, it was done by Jelly.
Speaker 2:So you can't defend yourself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah that's why I said it yeah, man, so how's?
Speaker 2:everything going. Hey, man, life is good. I'm blessed, brother. It's good to be back here and getting on a roll again. You know, like I was telling our guests here, just that's kind of what got us. What guys started when we first got into the studio is exactly what we were doing getting guests in, paying homage to them and just bringing you all out there at good value.
Speaker 1:I think, as we continue to grow the studio, it's not that we forgot, it's just we kind of put it in the back burner.
Speaker 2:You worry about everybody else.
Speaker 1:We were both exactly, and that's a strength and a curse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you always want to over deliver for folks, and then we do.
Speaker 1:And you forget about yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're like, oh, dang it, man, we gotta make sure we do this. But that's that's what I started. Bread and butter, that's what we tell folks. You know you come in a podcast with us because we podcast, we podcast, we do this. You know we want to help you do this, we help you grow and and if you're a vet out there and you're looking to start a podcast, man, there's a lot of great free resources out there. But hit us up, let us know. You know we're down to tell you everything that we've done wrong, but especially what we've done right 100% no we say it often.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:We're not. We're not just smoking mirrors, Like we've had folks call us and say, hey, what did I do?
Speaker 1:Let me tell you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's stories.
Speaker 1:So if you have any questions, reach out to me at William at Charlie Mike leadership dot com and I'll answer everything you got. Oh, was that the wrong email?
Speaker 2:No, that's a good email.
Speaker 1:Cool.
Speaker 2:I'll get you to the right people.
Speaker 1:Man let's go ahead and introduce our guest.
Speaker 2:Go ahead brother.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to tell you what I think we've. Uh, we don't just bring anyone on the show, we have to find you interesting and, and that's one thing that we find in our, our guests coming up, we I think we've tried to link a few times and we've actually. Who linked us? The Houston.
Speaker 3:Chamber, the veteran's chamber of commerce Houston veteran chamber of commerce.
Speaker 1:That's right, and our guest is today is Lou Lou. What branch were you in?
Speaker 3:Marine Corps. Marine Corps.
Speaker 1:Oh man nevermind.
Speaker 3:We're having technical difficulties. That's how we're going to start this.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, audio's out.
Speaker 2:No, lou, and you first popped up a marmite d'art too, from the veteran's chamber, and you weren't even in town at that time, right.
Speaker 3:I was so um from New Jersey where um, you know, in case you didn't pick up um from the accent, where we drink, where we drink water.
Speaker 1:Water yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's my daughter sitting over there. But, um, yeah, so when, when my wife and I knew that we were going to be moving over here, um, eventually I came a year in advance, so I got a small one bedroom apartment, um started networking, building my book of business um, learning the lay of the land. Every weekend I'd be driving somewhere at Galveston and Katie and and Sugarland and just driving all around learning things, um, and that's when I came across the chamber, um, and a bunch of other groups, but the chamber was very obviously um different. You know um, and that's um. You know the, the, the. That's when, that's when I came across the stash you know that's different, that guy's different yeah.
Speaker 3:And um yeah, then went back home in March of this year. All right, um got the house ready to sell, sold it and in July, man um planted our flag here. Permanent Houstonians, brother.
Speaker 1:That's what's welcome man yeah, Welcome is a big, it's a big difference. What made you come out to Houston?
Speaker 3:The um, the. The firm offered me an opportunity, so I'm not just an advisor for the firm, I'm also VP of admin affairs. Um, we had decided years ago God moved so many parts I mean, this was not checkers, this was chess, you know um, when I was 41, I decided to go back to college. Um, or, go to college as soon as they go back, and never went.
Speaker 1:Yeah 41., yeah, 41.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna be 47 in February. Man, yeah, my baby girl's 19. She just wrapping up what? I'm gonna break from freshman. Her freshman year in college. Dang, my oldest is 23. He's teaching now, so that's crazy. Yeah, Wifey and I have been together damn near 30 years bro, Congrats.
Speaker 2:We've had a run of guests who have been together for quite some time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah I mean y'all say 30 years. I had the last one was 18 years. I'm gonna we're trying to 12 months Bro. We were there. Bro, that's cute, we were there yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man. So the we knew it wasn't gonna be Jersey for us in retirement years, you know where, don't know when, god only knows you know. And then, as I wrapped up college and decided I wanted to be a financial advisor and there's a whole story why I became that and changed I mean, I left a 15 year career for a Fortune 50 company for to start over again, you know and then I got into a conversation with the owner of the firm and he says man, listen, you did everything that you did in a very short time span and that everything is my. In just under two years I got my associates in general studies, I got my bachelor's in business management, I got my life insurance licensing and started the process to get my securities licensing to be an advisor. He said you did all that in two years. Man, we could really use you here. And I'm like well, what does that look like?
Speaker 1:You know, and that was the that was the genesis of it all. I love questions.
Speaker 2:So yeah, man like yeah I would do.
Speaker 3:You got to what's that look like. You know in what capacity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a real question all day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, you know, and, and we were wide open to it. I mean we literally, you know, we started looking at this window probably the better part of three years ago. You know we knew she was going to be 1819, her freshman year in college. My son would be done doing his thing. We don't need a four bedroom house with a big old backyard in the pool anymore, it's just us.
Speaker 3:So to open up a map and say where do we want to go, what do we want to do? You know that was, that was. It was fun, yeah, it was really fun. We started, obviously. We started young, you know. So, for 21st, for two decades, man, everything, every move we made was foreign about them and for the first time it's going to be like what do?
Speaker 3:we want, where do we want to go? You know, and, and just as we were asking these questions, this opportunity was was presenting itself. So we started planning, bro, and two years, two and a half years later, here we are. Man, here we are. I'm on your podcast.
Speaker 2:That's dope.
Speaker 1:That's that man? It is dope, that is dope, I know we, so we skipped a little bit about your, your time in the Marine Corps. Man, tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:What's your?
Speaker 1:service. Why the Marines yeah. Why the Marines yeah?
Speaker 3:Sorry, sorry, go ahead. There's a pattern. I see it. I see it. No man, I heard they eat crayons there, so I was getting.
Speaker 1:No, no, no.
Speaker 3:So I take in the ass fab. In high school I was in a co-op program so I would work half the day and then get out, or in school half the day and then get out and go to work and credits for working. And part of that program was taking the ASFAD Took. That knocked it out, had no intentions on going to the military, had a stepfather who I wasn't we'll just say weren't sympathical right.
Speaker 3:And he was all about the army and I just wanted no parts of the military. So fast forward. I had a cousin and he and I, four days apart, like in Berthesville. We grew up like twins and he barely made it through high school, man barely made it. But he made it right. And he calls me up one day and he lived two blocks from me. He says, bro, come over. I said all right, so I walk over and I'm like what's going on? He says I'm leaving next week. I'm like where you going? He said I'm going to Marines. I said no, seriously, man, where you going?
Speaker 1:He said I'm going to Marines.
Speaker 3:You nuts like have you ever seen full metal jacket bro?
Speaker 2:Like what are you talking?
Speaker 3:about hey man, what year is this? This was 90, I went into 97. Damn, I went into 97. So he says no, seriously, bro, I'm leaving next week. I said, if you do this, I will go down and I'll watch you graduate. He's like all right, sure as hell. He did it, and when I saw him, in no way did I recognize him. I mean, obviously he'd shed a few pounds, stood up. His belt was up, not around his butt.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:It didn't recognize him in any way. And now I was a kid that had drive, like I was self-motivated. I've always been self-motivated. What I lacked was direction, like I didn't know where I was going to go, what I was going to do. I knew, whatever it was I was going to do the hell out of it, but I didn't know what it was. I said, damn, if the Marine Corps can do that for him, where do I sign? First thing? Monday morning I'm knocking on the recruiter's office. He said how can I help you? I said I want to be a Marine. He said all right, great, you're going to have to take a test. Yada, yada, blah, blah. I said I think I took that. He said you took the ASFAB. I said yeah, I took that. He said what'd you get? It was an 80-something.
Speaker 3:He was like you can do whatever you want to do, I was like, all right, cool. He said what do you want to do? I said I want to be a Marine. He was like bro, you have to have a job.
Speaker 1:He said I want to cook.
Speaker 3:I said I want to make sure he takes me out to date it. He takes out this big-ass book man and he stumps through. He says I need CFR. I said what's that? He said Crash Fire Rescue Sounds fun. I'll do that, no clue.
Speaker 1:No clue.
Speaker 3:I am in week nine, week 10 in boot camp. That's my senior journal instructor. What it was, he said when planes crash and everybody runs away, you run in. I'm going to be a firefighter, he said.
Speaker 2:you're going to be a firefighter.
Speaker 3:Ok, best thing ever, best thing ever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But unfortunately, man and this is I often it wasn't really until I came here that I often talk about the Marine Corps. Because my stint was a cup of coffee long, I got a medical discharge, oh wow. So I was only in for two and a half years.
Speaker 1:Well, you say only in, bro, that's a good amount of time.
Speaker 3:You know, it was quiet when I was in the first before it was already over. Yeah 9-11 hadn't happened yet. You know what I mean. So my unit was on standby during Kosovo. That was it, and there is no survivors remorse or anything like that on my part. But I always the guilt comes from. I got out of the Marine Corps so much more than I was able to give to it. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like I wasn't even able to. You're still giving to it, man.
Speaker 3:I am You're still giving to it. That's where the chamber comes into play, though, bro. You know like when I came across the chamber, I was like all right, you now got to do some networking, and who better to network within a bunch of vets, right? So I jump on the first call and I'm like, bro, this is like the barracks, this is awesome.
Speaker 2:There we go. This is cool as hell right.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I mean I jumped in full bore and then afterwards typical Marine, right, I'm in. Now tell me what I'm in for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I saw what the chamber was all about and I'm like all right, man, how can I help? And the president says well, what can you do? Point the high nail, I'll hammer the hell out of it. What do you need help with? And this is when we were gearing up. We were at the tail end of getting ready for the expo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:We are, bro. We probably were about three weeks away maybe and he said we need somebody to run registration, right? So when people are coming in, they got to register and sign up, all right, cool. So what's going on with it? He was like nothing. We need somebody to do it.
Speaker 1:We're expecting like 2000 people.
Speaker 3:It was like that sounds like a pretty high nail. All right, I'm in. And they gave me a good crew man. I gave them all the credit and lined them up. They hammered it, Everything was great. And then they approached me afterwards, said listen, you're super engaging with everybody, man, how would you like to be the director of membership? Sign me up? I was like, all right, well, let's talk about the job description.
Speaker 1:Like talk about it on the way man, but what's my first gig?
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, I've been at that for, I don't know, maybe three weeks A month max, let's do it.
Speaker 2:I think it's very I mean, coming off of the last episode too, I see that we see that a lot with vets, especially because we were talking about with Hector about pre-911 vets and like the dead period, and sometimes I feel like my service wasn't enough. And it's funny because I know you and I feel the same way sometimes and folks would look at us like well, but yeah, with your combat veterans, like it doesn't matter, like I look at the World War II vets like man, I didn't do enough, I could have given back more to the military and we're both medically discharged and I was at 13 years and he's at 10. And it still feels like there was something that was left incomplete and so there's probably something to that. You know those who have been medically discharged where it's like, if you feel like you haven't given enough, like there's there's somewhere or an organization that can use you to finish that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Oh no, I'm sorry, and you found it with the chambers, yeah, and that's one thing I wanted to tell you, man, is don't, don't discredit your service. Bro, you did two and a half years. That's a lot of time. There's people out there saying like I would have, but I would have knocked him out.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would have pushed that drill.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I've gone back and forth with, with, with many a service member man, john Cacolese.
Speaker 1:That's a good dude yeah.
Speaker 3:He's all right.
Speaker 2:I said what I said.
Speaker 1:He's one of my favorites man, yeah man, I mean and he proved, point after point, valid point.
Speaker 3:I'm like yeah, you know, it's still 41, 49% no. You know 49% yes and and 41% no. And the 51% no is is the fact that it's my feelings.
Speaker 1:Man, you can't tell me my feelings are wrong, so I don't care how right you are.
Speaker 3:Yeah Right, I'm 51%, you know, and that that conversation stems from he's like so you know what's your percentage. I don't have one, don't want one, I get one. Wow, you're entitled. I came out whole. You know my medical discharge had nothing to do with the Marine Corps. I have a hard time taking anything else from and I understand. It's not that I'm taking, I'm not taking from anyone else's plate. If I claim my bennies, I get it. I get it. I just don't.
Speaker 2:I don't feel in my heart like I justified rating it, you know it's interesting man, and I think that's a that that is exactly why we have these conversations, you know, because I'm someone out there feels exactly the way you do. We know, you know, we know that more than likely there's a vet there's when we've talked to them. There's a few vets out there that feel the same way.
Speaker 3:If I had, you know, had had, if anything would have happened in the Corps that would, if, basically if, if my issues were related to the Marine Corps in any capacity okay, that's a different conversation. I I've a lot of my, a lot of my brothers have. We all know, you know, some of the baggage. My brother-in-law did three tours in the sand. Took him a few years to get back to his normal up here. Um, still physically has issues, right, um, yeah, I just I'm in every capacity physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. I'm whole. I just don't feel the need Interesting.
Speaker 1:You know. You know. It's one thing I noticed about you no-transcript. Even in your bio you didn't mention anything about the Marine Corps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, I was looking it over.
Speaker 1:So that's different. Most Marines you meet that's the first thing they say before they say their name. Yeah, I mean, I'm a ring oh by the name. My name is Jeff. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3:It's almost like it matters more. Yeah, it's what I am right, you know. So, yeah, um, anything, anything more than 10% discount at, you know, at Lowes man, you know, it's like I just got a hard time taking. All right, I'll take your cool parking spot, appreciate you, I'm good with that. I'm good with that, you know. But the chamber man, the chamber is my way of putting my thumb on the scale and balancing that out. Now, you know, helping veteran-owned businesses Get that spotlight on them. You know, now I'm helping you succeed, making your bread and butter, feeding your family, growing your business by way of the military, because I served a little stick, I'm in, I'm in now. That makes me kind of feel more complete.
Speaker 2:Let's put it, let's put a little pin in that, because I do, I do. I love talking about the chamber when we both do. I. I'm curious, how was that transitioned out? Because you did say you got out, you had a medical discharge, yes, so how does that transition out, especially at that time frame, and what have you found has helped you? You know, I mean, we always say that we haven't fully transitioned yet. Yeah, continuing like it's, it's a process even now. So how did that go for?
Speaker 3:you. Yeah, I didn't have a plan B, right. So, fortunately for me, I lived in in South Jersey, so I was half an hour from the casino, so finding work was easy for me. You know, I get a job the next day in the casinos and I did casino hopped, paying the bills. My son was just born you know what I mean just recently married. I Needed a paycheck, right.
Speaker 3:So the grind was there. I Got stuck in that, though, right, I just got stuck in the gotta make it. Gotta make it. Okay, cool, made it to this week. Okay, gotta make it this week.
Speaker 3:You know, and and I was stuck in that mindset man to just grind, grind, grind. And you know, there's something I wish I knew how or why it happens, but we all do it. We all forget the number one lesson that's ingrained in us. They won in bootcamp and that's goddamn teamwork. Yeah, bro, we get out. I got this, I got. I'm good, I'm good. Where's all this I coming from? They literally beat the eye out of you. Where's all this I coming from? Where's all this me?
Speaker 3:Right, and and I was just stuck in that mindset forever and Didn't realize it. Really, like you know, people say you go through a midlife crisis. Right, I went through a midlife awakening, bro, it's very difficult Sent me into a little bit of a tailspin For the better part of a year and at that point in time, man, that at 40, 41, that was the first time I had a conversation with God. I had no connection at all at all. I Said, man, you know, I'm in a good place, right Like, I'm making a decent dollar in my career, I'm healthy, beautiful, healthy wife to great kids, I'm surrounded by people who love me.
Speaker 3:If this is all because of you, first and foremost, thank you, appreciate you, you know. But second, man, show me and it goes to show my ignorance, right, like, imagine going to your parent or whoever raised you and be like, hey, man, you know these clothes and this roof over my head, if, is this? Did you do this? You know, prove it, prove it, man, what you know. It would have been a real short conversation and a couple of lumps, you know, but it just showed my ignorance, you know, to ask the father if this was him, and it took about six months, eight months, and showed me he did, and he put the ball in my court, said all right, it's time for me to start growing, man. You know, I don't know where, I don't know how, but I'm gonna start and that's when I that's, that's when I went to college, that's when it's a college, so yeah, man, it's a thing.
Speaker 2:So can you? What Brought on the realization of teamwork again? Was there a specific incident or was it? Well? Do you want every conversations where you're like I'm not doing this alone, this isn't just me, and who was it that you reached out to?
Speaker 3:My, so one of my best friends, who's actually my boss, who actually used to work for me. I used to run a boys and girls club, like 20 years ago, and I was unit director, and quadre Williams goes by Q. He was the director of teen services and education there. So he was my right hand and he's he now owns the firm that I'm the VP of, and there's no way on God's green earth that this would be possible this being the whole transition from Jersey to Houston Without him guiding me through the licensing, making, the I mean it Listen, it all takes dollars, right. So a significant amount of, you know, money had to move in a lot of different ways to make this possible. It's my partner. That's my partner, right, and the things that we are trying to do From a financial perspective in black and brown communities, you know that's. That's just no way he can do it on his own. You know and our magic goes back to that boys and girls club the things that we were able to do.
Speaker 3:I didn't know anything about board a boys and girls club at all, like I wasn't a club kid. You know where I grew up. They didn't have that. You know, we just played kickball in streets, but he's very, he's a very electric, dynamic guy, right.
Speaker 3:So when they offered me the position I had, I was the director of teen services in education here and he was a supervisor there and they said we want you to be a unit director. I Need him to have my old job then, because without him I can't do this and without the rest of the team I can't do this right? So that whole team leader aspect that goes back to the core right, like who's the tip of the arrow, and then he's gonna. He's gonna get that shaft to the point where now he becomes the feathers and the team is doing their thing. I just had to put my team in the best position to succeed and that has just been continuously. I left there somewhere else and then eventually ended up at a major company Corporation. Same concept there. You know, let me, let me build my team, let me train them and let me let them loose, you know.
Speaker 2:I feel like we were just having that conversation not too long ago about teamwork. Do you remember who we're having a conversation with? Those powers? Mean, you know, maybe it's it's, it's a, it's an important factor that I went we we need vets to realize Is exactly that, like yeah, we were made to be part of a team, we are able to run teams. Actually, I think it was at the Army Navy game when I was talking to a oh, my soldier that was there and his baggy and he, he's running the team at KW no, I can't remember which which.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't remember which builder he is, and he was, like it's just running, running five squads.
Speaker 2:That's how I treat oh it's any veteran that comes out can, can do this, and I like that's. That's. That's the thing that we all forget those soft skills that were taught over and over again. The military is One of the premier leadership schools organizations there is. It's all built on leadership. I can't influence you to go take this bullet or fight this fire. There's no point, and we do it in such a way that when we get out, we can do it again Without the authority and for some odd reason, man, we just it's like all of a sudden everybody's a damn sniper.
Speaker 3:We're just in the bush by ourselves, like. I don't understand how that happens.
Speaker 1:Guilty of it, obviously yeah and we're talking about that too, just right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you get out of service and you feel like it's just you yeah, yeah, and that's the others, man, and it's like again, fortunately I was, you know, my wife was waiting for me to come out, you know, and and so I had something, I had someone, and I see, brothers, this is who don't, right, and that's a whole tailspin. Yeah, that could be, you know, because now, now you're building walls that don't even need to be there, you know, and that's going to lead to to some dark places. You know what I mean. So, if I can be someone's light, sign me up, put me in a game.
Speaker 2:Right in. That's awesome and I so to. To finish up that, that transition do you feel like you've, you're, you found a good home here now, like your transition never stops right. So do you feel like your transition now, your trend, all those times you move, has really made you have this transition successful to?
Speaker 3:yeah, I've, I've, I've. You know, I've learned that when I'm going through a hard time, it's either preparation for a storm that's coming um, or tests right to To prove that what I've gone through. I'm up for this now. So, either way, knuckle up and go through it. Right, I'm either built for this, I've been prepared for this, right. You've been putting me through things that have gotten me ready for this moment, so I'm ready to rock or this is preparation for something that's coming either way.
Speaker 3:It needs my undivided attention. So you know the what's the fastest way through a storm? Straight through it, right. So, let's go and, and that is 100 percent, marine Corps right there like go, go. You can bitch along the way, but keep going, keep going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2:In going back to you know your job title of fighting fires, I feel like that, you know, we, we don't ever know how it's going to affect us on the outside like what is this actually going to teach us? Yeah, but for you to actually fight fires, you know, uh, when there's a major life incident, do you think that prepares you at all for what you're doing now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it makes. It makes things um so much smaller. Like, man, if I, if I mess this up all right, you know I can, I can unscrew it. You mess up in a burn, your squad might be down one, you know what I mean. Like there is no margin for error. Everyone has to function A1 like period, there, there is no margin for error. There, man, you could literally not come out. No, no, no, oversights, right.
Speaker 3:So when you come out into the civilian world, you know, and obviously situation dictates, right, but, like I'm in a financial space right now, a mistake can cause someone to lose some money, right, um, but I'm part of a team, so it's not. There are several eyes On this, right, so it doesn't really happen. But if it does, you know, it's cool, we can make the money back up. Period, the end. You're not gonna die, I'm not gonna die. You know what I mean. Um, and and that mindset, man, you know when, when my son was, when my son was a baby, I was working. Christ, if I worked 12 hours in a boat yard, it was a short shift, you know, and that was six days a week. There was nothing compared to being, you know, in a hole in the ground that I dug in North Carolina.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:In December, sleeping behind the damn bush. You know, in a three-day simulated war, when we were combat training, like I got frostbite, first degree frostbite on my damn toes. You know what I mean? I still can't feel half my big toe. You know what I mean? There's nothing, man, give me some wires, I'll pull some more wires. Whatever, you know what I mean. Just let me get something to eat, man, I'll keep hammering. Yeah, you know Everything. After that, man just became especially if you're talking about from a physical perspective like it's mind over matter, and if you don't mind shit, just don't matter. So keep going.
Speaker 2:It's like doing the hard stuff. You know, the more hard stuff you do, the easier it gets. Yeah, yeah, that's why cold therapy is so important. Right now, people are just you get the hard you do. You push yourself to do the hard things. After that it's easy. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we're gonna put one here in the office.
Speaker 2:Man, I'm down to do that. Man, who were we talking to recently, talking about doing a cold therapy session? Oh, it was a proximity boys.
Speaker 1:A proximity. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for real, that'd be good stuff, man.
Speaker 2:Cold and hot therapy it happens.
Speaker 1:I was kidding, but whatever.
Speaker 3:Clearly he's not right, no.
Speaker 2:Man bro, as cold as you keep it here, you'll be fine. It's different, though.
Speaker 1:I don't like my shower's cold bro.
Speaker 3:I like my shower's hot.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. When we're outside, I don't care, I don't know about yeah.
Speaker 2:God, you gotta do the hard stuff. See, that's the problem you don't do enough hard things.
Speaker 3:I can't do that whole hot shower thing man.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:Oh man, what I mean. My wife comes out to shower like her skin is red. Yeah, that's me Like. She's like come on in, it's like playing double dutch right.
Speaker 1:Hold on. It's like, definitely not. That's it. Well, I'm ready. That's a different word. If we don't got two shower heads, I ain't joining you.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying I miss that man. So when I renovated my house in Jersey, she mentioned that she was like can you do two shower heads? I was like the wall's going to be gutted open. I'll do whatever you want, best thing ever. Oh my God, like I was like, this is what I've been missing in my whole. Oh my, this is nuts. Oh, it was insane man. It was insane.
Speaker 2:I'll never take another shower again. New goal unlocked.
Speaker 1:I'm going to get that double shower head, now Game changer?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it definitely is bro Game changer for sure. I'm rethinking my whole piece of shit.
Speaker 1:man hey did you get that wink.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this town's been great to me, man, I mean. Where about you staying at I'm up in spring. Oh shit, yeah, bit of a hike to come here man, yeah, yeah, man, we appreciate you coming. As do I, bro. When I got that message, I was like yes, I made it to the big time, man.
Speaker 1:I tell you, man people that we have on the show. Like I said, man, we got to have some kind of interest in you and me and William talked about you a couple of times offline.
Speaker 2:I was like man, what the fuck is this?
Speaker 1:That's exactly right, yeah, yeah, I don't know, man, but yeah, I thought we were older than you so I was like who the fuck is this kid bro? Oh, that's funny man. That's funny man, yeah, now.
Speaker 3:I was. I've been outside man the whole first year that I was here, man. I was just, I mean, north of I-10, I was there from Katie to Galveston, bro, and as far north as Conroe.
Speaker 1:Do you love it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, a lot of it.
Speaker 1:A lot of it. I'm bored a lot of it. I still use GPS to go to the US.
Speaker 3:Oh, I will forever use GPS I mean just for traffic purposes. Right, like it'd be a whole red line and then it'd find a shorter route and some roads I never heard of, through some neighborhood, Tarzan, turning left and right.
Speaker 1:All right cool.
Speaker 3:Save 10 minutes, man, because that's traffic is a monster.
Speaker 1:I still use GPS from here to the VA. I know where it's at, I just do it yeah.
Speaker 2:I know where it's, at Expressway.
Speaker 3:Expressway yes one shot all the way, bro. Yeah, man, yeah but I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:I stay in the city, man, I stay in Paralel. Yeah, Only time I actually leave to the Houston area would be for a restaurant or two or a sporting event. Like I don't even go see my family. Man, Yo, y'all want to see me. Come to Paralel. You know where I'm at.
Speaker 3:Come to Paralel, I like it down here man.
Speaker 1:It's nice down here, it's cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, my office is in Soria Heights, so Okay, okay. I go there maybe once a week, twice max. The beauty of what I do I can work remotely, so I'm home a lot I'm home a lot.
Speaker 1:That's what's up, man.
Speaker 2:So tell me what brought you into the financial industry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you mentioned it a little bit. So when my son was getting ready for college, you know, and at that time I hadn't even gone to college myself. So as far as I was concerned, like I'm doing this dad thing right, like my son's about to go to a major university right now, so we go into the administrator's office and we're doing the registration and we get to the financial part of it and she goes all right. So do you have any investments? That's rich people. I don't know how many investments we're talking about. She was like no 401k, four, three B, five, 29. I don't know what these numbers are.
Speaker 1:I was sitting in front of the South. What's up? No?
Speaker 3:idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:Two-some Jersey, bro. Yeah, you know, south Jersey yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know I don't have any of that stuff. No, you know, I don't even have $529. She was like no, a five-29 is a college fund. I was like college fund, it's up to the trust fund, it's rich people stuff. No, I went in there, bro, and I was like higher than the highest high right and I left there. I was like yo, I am losing. I am 40 years old, I don't know a damn thing other than how to make a dollar and, even worse, I'm raising my kids the same way.
Speaker 3:Same way. Right, Like I'm failing bro.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I go to and I won't say the name of the company but I walk into. You know a name we all recognize from a financial planning firm.
Speaker 1:And I'm like listen man, I need to learn about money Now.
Speaker 3:mind you, I was making probably $90.95k at the time, but I also built the lifestyle that was like kissing that you know what I'm saying so, there wasn't much discretionary income at the end of the month. Go to a bank, tell them you want an IRA, who's an IRA and why don't want to give IRA my money?
Speaker 3:Like no an IRA. Can you teach me? You say no, it doesn't work that way. You got to have money, okay, and that was a common theme. You got to have a minimum before they'll start talking to you. Right, and I get it. They got to make money too, right, it's not a nonprofit.
Speaker 3:Right, but can you steam me in a direction, bro, you know, other than just get an IRA, you know. So I found out afterwards that it's financial advisors industry standard is a 1% commission, right. So they have like a $50,000 minimum, $100,000 minimum. I've heard as high as a million dollars before. The smallest I've heard of is 10 grand Never found one, but that's the smallest. And you have to have that either in cash or manageable assets, a 401k that you're rolling over, something for them to work with, so nobody would work with me.
Speaker 3:This is the same point in time where I'm like, going through this, I haven't fulfilled what I'm supposed to be here, what I'm supposed to be doing, kind of a thing. And long story short, man, it was my spirit just screaming out like you know, go, like, stop holding yourself back. Coincidentally, q says because I had trouble childhood, like we lived in an abandoned house for a couple of years. You know it was pretty rough. You ever think about going to a therapist? I'm like what for? And he was like just to go. And I was like bro, I'm fine, like all of my daddy issues, like I'm cool.
Speaker 3:Me and my father were like this Now we fixed everything. I was 21 when we fixed it, all the negative things that have happened to me growing up. I poured all that into the kids at the Boys and Girls Club, like I was. I was happy, you know. And he says and I still want to punch him in the face for this but he says, don't you, don't you work out. I say, yeah, man, doing a little treadmill action, my little light weights, whatever he was like why, what's wrong with you? I said nothing, I just want to stay son of a bitch.
Speaker 1:I see what you did. Yeah, all right, I'll find one. Two shape, two shape.
Speaker 3:Took me about six months, man, and I found I found a therapist and man. She unlocked some shit, you know. Long story short, everything that I'd gone through led me to living a super conservative, zero risk life. Yeah, right, like we're cool, everything is great, don't move, don't touch shit, you might break something. Everything is fine, right.
Speaker 3:So there was like no growth in my life, right Again, happy with, with the kids and the wife, and I mean shit people. How many people want to be married for 20 years, right, and have stable, come home to stability every day, like people died for that and I understood that and I appreciated that and I was content with that. Like I said, I'm, I've, I've peaked, I'm 40. I made it, you know, because I broke every cycle that I'd been raised with. You know what I mean. And and when she said that it's like you're just, you're holding yourself back, and I'm like that's what's screaming in me. I have all this untapped potential. What can I do? Let me, let me ramp this college thing up. They told the. My academic advisor said the the average duration to get the associate's degree in the program that I was in was two and a half years. I said I'm going to do it in two. I did it in 10 and a half months.
Speaker 3:Bachelor's degree she says average is about three years. I did that in 10 months, so, and and I've since then, really for the past few years. It's really strange, but I'm not operating on goals, which is so counterproductive of what I. It's against everything I do as a financial advisor right, but a context is everything, man. So I'm trying to find what my limits are, because I've been setting goals my whole life and hitting them. That's telling me I'm setting goals at a two damn low Right, like I'm not the shit bro, like I'm not that great, right To where it's like everything I do, no, like my goals are just too low.
Speaker 3:So what am I capable of? How far can I go? How many people can I impact? How many souls can I shine some light on? Once I kind of get a vibe of where I'm at. I'm like, all right to the 10th power. That's going to be my goal now. That's going to be my stretch goal, right? You know we're going to put an exponent on that. But right now I use the analogy man.
Speaker 3:I do a lot of public speaking and I use the analogy of you can get into a car, you can get into a car, you can get into a car. You can get into a car on an open track, right. And you can say, all right, I'm going to do, I want to do 200 miles an hour in this thing, right, that's what indie cars can do, that's what I want to do. I want to see how fast it can go, period. That's my goal. I want to red line this thing how fast can it go? Then my limit. You know that whatever's past that, that's going to be my goal. So right now I'm just kind of digging see how far I can go.
Speaker 2:Shit Calm down, Moana.
Speaker 1:Geez Dang it and you got to have kids.
Speaker 2:I know that reference, sorry, ro. I have kids, but I don't have kids.
Speaker 1:What are you going to have? Young kids?
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, yeah, how far will I go? How?
Speaker 1:is that Anyways?
Speaker 2:calm down Whatever Now, man, I think that's amazing because we've said that before on the show. Like this, this is just the beginning, right? And then this is for and I love this because one of the things that we're so passionate about is, like man, veterans come in all shapes and sizes and ages and we're always transitioning and trying to get better. And you, like you, helped depict that for us because you know, everybody gets a taste of Ro and I all the time. But to see someone from the outside pre-911, coming from the north side of town I mean the north side of the States you know picking up and moving and changing and saying, like you know, it was 41 and I want to go see a therapist and I didn't start going to college until I was in my 40s like, and to see where you've come and go now, like, that's the example that we want to share.
Speaker 2:You know, this is the kind of exposure we try to get everyone else to see. Like man, you know the best comes in all shapes and sizes and your potential is not even unlocked yet. You know, no matter where you're at, even for yourself, like I can see you like man, you're not even unlocked yet you know you've only been here six months Now. Imagine what you'll be in the next six months. You know exactly what you're saying. Like you're going to hit that red line and then you're going to be like you know what that red line ain't even my red line, like that's only first year.
Speaker 3:That was red line for third year. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly Like we've got time to shift again and forget what we're going next.
Speaker 3:That's dope man, it feels good, yeah, I mean, I got asked from. So networking virtually met someone who runs a nonprofit in Atlanta. We sparked a conversation. He asked me to come on his podcast, went on there, talked about finances, but from a different perspective. Like nobody wants to sit there I shouldn't say nobody, but I'm not even the type to want to sit there and just listen to investment talk. Like how does it impact your life, bro? You know what I mean. Like I tell people I don't care about how much money you make, I care about what you want to do with the money that you do make. That's what matters to me, Right? So we got to talking about a lot of things and he was like man, would you like to be on my board?
Speaker 3:I'm like well what does that look like? Yeah, you know he's like. Well, when it comes to making big decisions for the nonprofit, you know you have a vote, you have a say Sounds pretty cool, man. And the nonprofit's called Remand. It works, you know it's based out of Atlanta and it's about helping black men break cycles right and apply that accordingly.
Speaker 3:It doesn't matter where you are in life Like you can be a successful CEO and still have some, you know, some stigmas and some, some, some, some things, some things to break right. Or you could be young and up and coming, you can be right. Now we're looking into trans, helping men transition from the prison system. Yeah, right, and what does that look like? That's dope man. That's so I do. You know we're doing. Thank you, brother. So you know I work, do work with there. I do a lot of work up in the Cleveland prison with the prison entrepreneurship program. You know these are guys that I made a mistake when I was 28. My daughter my wife, was on bed rest with my daughter and had to brush my first brush with the law Did a lot of dumb shit growing up, like we all did, but never had the right to remain silent.
Speaker 1:Bro, look at the definition over here.
Speaker 3:Hey, man. So that was, that was my first brush, man, you know. And a detective said listen to me, man, if you, if you listen to me and you do what I tell you, you'll be just fine. And you know, young and stupid, you know, I ain't no snitch bro, and it's like no, it's not that, I just need you to own it. And I lost that like some somewhere in my life, like I lost a sense of of owning everything that I do what I did right Mine.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like I did it, you know, and I'm like that's all I got to do. And he was like, yeah, it's like I remember how to do that. I didn't do that, you know, and I did fast forward now and I'm looking at these guys and I'm working with these guys in the prison system. They didn't have that. Nobody was there to say, bro, stop, do what I tell you to do and you'll be okay, right. So they landed where they are, they are what they are, they're owning what they've done. But now what? Now what, right? So if that's where I can touch their souls, that's where I'll be. So that's I do. I do a lot of work in that space in the prison system.
Speaker 2:Man, it's dope because you got to control what you can control. It is yeah, you've done what you've done.
Speaker 3:Right, the gavel came down, you know, and here you are.
Speaker 2:So I mean, we think about a lot of time too, where it's like you know, don't judge us by what we did, you know. Just remember what I'm trying to do. Yeah, look at where I'm trying to go. Like I got it. You know I messed up, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know that's for it. Now what? That question is so simple. Right Now what? And I use that all the time, whether it's great or my situation's horrible. Now what? Right, because what that does, bro, you hit the lottery. Right, millions of dollars, okay, cool, congrats. Now what? Because you lose it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right Now, what? Okay, now what, now, what? Right, because, now what? When you ask yourself now what it forces you to continue to move, you can't be stagnant. You got to answer the question. Direct question. Direct answer Now what? All right. Now I got to do X, y and Z, all right. So how do you do X? We'll get to Y and Z, but how do you do X? Well, I got to do this first step first. Okay, let's do that first step and it will keep you moving. If you consistently ask yourself now what, you'll never be stagnant. A Daniel life.
Speaker 2:So now what, charlie?
Speaker 1:Mike baby Continue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now, man, it's powerful stuff, you know, and this is this is for. I mean for you, listen anywhere. You know, there's so much that that you can do. You know, and having big goals and dreams is great, but let's take X at a time. What's the next step? What's my best next step? What's the one thing that?
Speaker 3:I can do One bite at a time, bro. Yeah, how are you dealing with it?
Speaker 2:And there's so many, there's so many resources Like I keep going back to that because I'm trying to think of who's listening to this and that's the veterans. Like you know, if you just look at our guest Lou here and where he started and what he's doing now, you know there's nothing to say that you can't do. That too, you know you can change at any moment. You just have to own it and then put in the work. You know, because if you're looking to invest, or if you you know you're looking you have a kid that's getting ready to like you know, we'll put Lou's information down and you can contact him and won't likely only answer the phone and be like this is where you got to start, this is what we got to do.
Speaker 2:You know, and oftentimes that's what it takes is just that conversation to be like hey, this is what you got to do next?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, you know, you just have to ask the question. Don't look at something right. You see someone with with nice car, nice house, vacations. Don't say must be nice. Ask them how.
Speaker 1:Because they might answer. Right.
Speaker 3:They might answer the damn question, and then you'll know how. And now the onus is on you. But until you ask, there's no ownership.
Speaker 1:I don't like that question Must be when people say, oh yeah must be now, man.
Speaker 3:you got a nice studio here, man. This must be nice. Work my ass off to get the studio.
Speaker 1:You see what these cameras, bro, y'all didn't see when we started in the closet, like you know what I mean. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Man, it must be nice man. You got a thousand subscribers and this, this, and that it must be nice man? Yeah, it is. You want to know how I can teach you? Do you want to learn or do you want to just sit back Right? Ask the question, that's all.
Speaker 1:Nah, that's real man. I want to tell you, man, you know, like the fact that you said you know you work with, with the prisons and things like that, it speaks. It speaks a lot about you as a person, because I think we've all you know, I've struggled with addiction and I'm on a board for addiction recovery now.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So so it's what we've. It's something I truly believe. You know it's not. People judge you a lot of times on your mistakes and you know not, not your. I don't know, man. I don't know what I'm trying to say, but props.
Speaker 2:Ditto, keep going, man, ditto, keep going, bro. I think I think you're on there. You know it's it's about. You know, not just your mistakes or the addictions that you've dealt with. It's like well, what have I overcome? You know everybody's dealt with a different path. You know everybody's dealt with some type of privilege one way or another. You know, I mean, folks look at us as vets and they're like oh yeah, I must be nice. You're like dude, the recruiter's office is open to everybody.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean you could have joined, you know, at any moment. You know, and you know I would bring it back to to Lou is like you know I, I I didn't notice that too, that you didn't put your vet, but I mean you are part of the veteran stream for commerce, you know, and it's like that those little decisions are paying off now and that's what I've seen too, when it comes to being being a vet, like and we're all hit on it, like more than just a veteran, you know, like we love that more, more than a vet, but to still identify as that vet because it is and what shaped me to be who I am now. But I encourage you to keep going, man. I think that was you were really onto something. I know you sometimes are worse escapee.
Speaker 3:I was just about to say that that's what it is. It's it's you can. You can see it Right, um, and what I explained to my clients is you don't have a goal until you have a game plan.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right Before then. It's a hope, it's an aspiration. You can see it clear as day. Whatever your purpose is, whatever your objective is, whatever everything that you went through it's for a reason. Right, Probably for a myriad of reasons. But where you are right now is when you're gonna draw on all of that. Right, you just gotta visualize that path, bro. And a path is made up of what Objectives? Right, there's more than one rung on the ladder, no roof, or jumps from the ground to the roof. Right, Just gotta see those rungs and get to that final objective. And then, once you get there, you're gonna say oh damn, this is a two-story house. All right. Now what? Right? That's how hopes and wishes and dreams become reality by a series of objectives that make them actual, attainable, measurable goals. That's all it is, bro. That's all it is Dang.
Speaker 1:Now, what, now, what yeah.
Speaker 3:Apply accordingly bro Whether you're talking finances, whether you're talking life, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Doesn't matter. That's what's up. Man, I'm dope man. I'm glad you came in today, man.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you, brother.
Speaker 1:William, I know that people are struggling with something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you are out there and you're struggling, don't forget the number is 988. You can press one if you're a military veteran, or you can text the number at 988. We're huge advocates for it. We all go through tough times. The number is there for a reason. Your awards fighting for and you're struggling with problems that face you.
Speaker 1:Well, would you got any closing comments? Call to action anything with all those lines, so before no, no you're good, bro.
Speaker 2:I always say two things. First, thank you for your time. We really appreciate you making the time and being here and being president and with all the things that are going on to really clear out your calendar for us. We really appreciate that. So how can someone follow along with you? What are some ways they can stay in contact?
Speaker 3:Yeah, super, super active on social media and on Facebook primarily Three accounts. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:Damn.
Speaker 3:It's nuts bro. So I've got my personal account and I'm always throwing out things there. I might be talking about life insurance, I might be talking about finances, I might be talking about whatever in addition to all of my personal stuff that I put out there. So that's Lou Rosado Jr. And then I have my business, one which is strictly investment related or insurance related. That's my government named Louis Louis Rosado Jr, l-u-i-s. And then I also own a virtual tax and bookkeeping business, so I have that one that's called Altruist Taxes and more so. I got three pages.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dope man.
Speaker 3:But it's you know I mostly get hit on my hit up from Perfect Strangers. On my personal one, I get DMs all the time. Sometimes it's financially related, sometimes it's not because of the content that I put out there.
Speaker 3:If something's on my heart, I'm gonna let it out right, yeah, yeah yeah, so I might be on my treadmill, man and have a thought, and I'm gonna prop up my phone while I'm on the treadmill I'll speak my peace. I feel better. If it gets one, like, cool, that's one person who saw it. If it gets a million, great, that's fine too. It's gonna touch who it's supposed to touch. And I've gotten man. I've got one client.
Speaker 3:Never met her before, but she saw something I put out there speaking to single moms about finances, right, because that's what led to our situation. My mom really didn't know anything about finances when her and my father divorced and we lost everything, you know, sheriff, put a padlock on the house and everything. So I made a quick video, spoke to that. A single mom teacher out in Denver hits me up, can you help? I was like we can have a conversation. What's going on, you know? And she asked the question, right, and yeah, we were able. You know, I was able to do something for her to at least get her in a direction and help guide her in a way that no one did for my mom. You know, single moms kind of, when it comes to my clients, single moms hold a very, very special place.
Speaker 3:As they should, yeah man, you know it's like, man, listen, I might make a buck, literally a buck. That's fine, right? Because as far as I'm concerned, I operate with two bank accounts, bro, one to pay the bills and one's a spiritual bank account, and I got to deposit into both of those. Equally Damn, or I'm not living right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, because don't get me wrong all the good deeds in the world I can do at the end of the month, comcast still wants their money right or I'm not gonna have my internet.
Speaker 3:So I got bills to pay too. But yeah, like there are things that I'm supposed to be doing, half of which I don't even know yet. The other half I probably won't even see Like some of my goals I know for a fact I'm not gonna be around to see. When I work with some of my clients, they don't even have kids and I'm like one day you're gonna have a kid and that kid's gonna have a kid, and they're not gonna know anything about your struggles. Right now, like right now, we're literally pinching pennies to start in IRA Start. They're gonna be born with one, they're gonna have 529. Then I got to worry about student loans. All these things that you can barely even speak on is gonna be dinner table conversations and I'm not gonna be around to see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right, Like I've accepted the fact that some of those goals I know I'm not going to be here, but I also know I'm gonna hit them Cause I'm putting into work. Cause I'm putting into work Goes back to the start.
Speaker 2:The ripple bro, that's it you gotta be the ripple starter.
Speaker 1:Bro, I'm gonna use the two bank accounts joint. That was dope, that boy over there, he's dropping droves man.
Speaker 2:And you were here for the previous interview. So my last question is Charlie and Mike means continue mission. So what does that term Charlie and Mike mean to you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, and again, context is everything. So what I've gone through, what I'm, where I am, you know. And for the short window that we're all here, you know we're one grain of sand on an endless beach, bro. You know it's this millions of billions of years old. You know what I mean. We're here for what? 80 in a good life, right, it's nothing. Continuing that mission from me looks like a little black kid, little brown kid that doesn't know the struggles that financial illiteracy bring. Right, because that's what I grew up around. Right, that cheese that doesn't melt, that you got from the government, that just gets greasy when you, when you, nuke it, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah Spam. I still miss that shit though.
Speaker 3:God bless your soul, bro.
Speaker 1:My throat closes up thinking about it, and you know Al bro, you give me on a spam sandwich any bit, I can't do it.
Speaker 3:I can't do it anymore. You know that man and Chef Boyardee and Campbell Soup man. Like though I know, the more platforms that God gives me to speak on, the greater my reach becomes to touch more souls, to make a bigger difference, to continue that ripple effect.
Speaker 2:Damn, I got chills when we were talking about that. Bro, I really appreciate your time, man.
Speaker 3:I really do. I appreciate you guys reaching out man. I'm telling you I got excited when I got that direct message. I was like I made it mama, I'm here, I'm here, welcome.
Speaker 1:Welcome, Chef. What's so? The best way for anybody to reach you is social media.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just DM me, man. My Facebook is wide open. Shoot me a DM if you haven't. The biggest thing, man, I try to fight is assumption. People assume so much in finances. Oh, life insurance is too expensive. How much is it? Man? Rich people got that stuff. Let's run a quote. Let's run a quote.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You could be right, you could be wrong. I can't tell you how many times I've run a quote and they're like that's it, yeah, that's it. You know how much do I need to start an IRA? Can you afford $25 a month? It's open account right. You may not die a millionaire, but your son might.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And your grandson definitely will right. Gotta ask the questions, gotta start, Gotta start, man, I love answering questions because worst case scenario and I have these consultations all the time where it's like, listen, right now, bro, I'm an expense to you, right? So you're not gonna hire me, but here's a list of things I need you to do. If you do all of this, in six months to a year you're gonna be in a whole different position. Then you're gonna hire me, right? Call, do this, call me if you have any questions, If anything changes, call me. I'm here. I love answering questions because nobody would do it for me. I heard that.
Speaker 1:Nobody would do it for me.
Speaker 3:So now I'm in a place and I'm sorry, I can just get on my soapbox. No, you can, but now, like, because I've worked to get here, so now I'm in a place where I can do it. So I look at other advisors and I listen you don't wanna do it, that's fine, god bless. You go do what you gotta do, man, you know. But do me a favor, move out of my way. Yeah, cause I got something to do you heard it Get out of the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man Dang those dope episodes man. I appreciate it, man dropping jewels and stuff hey.
Speaker 3:What happens, brother? Yeah, I know, as always, man, if you haven't checked out my man, William, on all his social media platforms.
Speaker 1:Be sure to do that. That's TikTok, IG, Facebook, Instagram at Mustache Wisdom. I think he's got a feet bottom. Got a feet bottom too, Ha, ha, ha ha. But, as always, we appreciate it and be sure to check out Charlie Mike Military Apparel, cause that's what makes this possible, as always. Thank you, and Charlie Mike, Yo yo yo. What's going on? Everybody, it is me, Soja Harbour, Red Con One Music Group, and thank you for listening to Charlie Mike the podcast. Yay.
