Beards on the Street
Parry Ward and Aaron Pehrson, two Real Estate agents in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a team at Century 21 Everest called "The Luxury Agency". Beards on the Street is two seasoned agents chatting about Life Experiences, Love, Family, Friends and of course the Utah Real Estate Market conditions. Parry and Aaron primarily focus on a system coined "My Top 50" based around showing up for the people in there sphere consistently and with purpose.
Beards on the Street
Beards On The Street - Episode 36 - Entrepreneurial Veterans and Virtual Reality Healing: From Business Battles to Realty Thrills and Family Chaos
When Friday rolls around, it's time to swap the suit for something a little more comfortable and gather 'round for tales that resonate with heart and hustle. This week, we're joined by a guest whose entrepreneurial spirit is lighting a beacon for veterans, charting a course from military service to the frontlines of business success. Their company is not just a story of funding triumphs but a testament to the power of belief and backing from organizations like Warrior Rising. Our real estate segment, featuring Aaron's latest adventures, might just convince you that property deals are the ultimate rollercoaster – complete with client wins and the kind of health scares that remind us life is as fragile as it is precious.
Strap on your VR goggles and prepare for a cognitive revolution because we're diving into how virtual reality therapy is redefining the healing process for our brave veterans. With tales of brain function improvements that defy expectations, our conversation with Brendan Borrowman, a former military scout sniper, becomes a masterclass in resilience and adapting to life's curveballs. The episode gets personal, too, as I share my own confrontation with mortality and the driving force behind my mission to leave a lasting impact. Plus, we tantalize your tech taste buds with a sneak peek at a Kickstarter campaign for a groundbreaking VR game with the promise to change the lives of teenagers, veterans, and adults alike.
Lastly, we peel back the curtain on the controlled chaos that is family life, from those 'genius' moments that keep our spouses lovingly bemused, to the heart and soul of a home that's more than just walls and a roof – it's the epicenter of impromptu youth parties and endless Oreo escapades. Embrace the hilarity and warmth as we recount the audacious tale of a massive balcony that became a magnet for merry-making and the surprising wisdom found in comforting a child under the stars. Join us for stories that weave through the fabric of daily life, celebrate community, and honor the service of those who've given so much, all wrapped up in an episode that's as human as it is humorous.
Rock and roll, baby. It's Friday. Beards on the street time. Beards on the street. Here we are Got a special guest with us today that I'm really excited to chit chat with here and find out some cool stuff.
Speaker 2:Catch us up to the goings on. Right, that's right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, our company was funded this month, so we went to Warrior Rising an awesome non-profit here for veterans and our company got funded. So it's been a crazy journey from exiting a non-profit in June.
Speaker 2:That's when we met you initially, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I exited that group and then by myself, put together a new team, new product, patent everything all within four months, starting in August. To you know, we raised 5 million on a 20 cap, on a safe note. Damn, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to we're going to jump in and listen to what this guy has to say. I can promise you that because it's for the veterans. Man, you're a stud. Thanks, man. A little bit of house cleaning. If you haven't already, jump on and subscribe to Beards on the Street, come on, people, help us out here. Jump on and subscribe for crying out loud. Just click a button.
Speaker 2:click a button, mom, get your friends to jump on.
Speaker 1:It's so easy, so easy I ask every week and you sons of heifers freaking, ignore me every single week. Help us build this sucker.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jump on well, I think subjects like this will get fantastic reach and I think so too impact a lot of people.
Speaker 1:I hope theo watches this theo baby, we love you kid. We've had him on the show before another total.
Speaker 3:Uh, veteran stud, okay, um so I thought, theo vaughn, I'm like oh damn, what a follow. So, aaron, what went on this week?
Speaker 2:It's been a big fun week. I know I've had a couple new listings going live this week, Excited about the folks I'm getting to help up in Layton Yep and out in Harriman. Yeah, I have a fantastic townhome in Harriman, so it's going to be getting busy, busy. It's fun. Good job, dude, thanks man.
Speaker 1:I had a couple closings and a couple new clients, and so, matter of fact, I've got to tell a really quick story about what happened to me yesterday. Okay, oh, yeah. I'll make it really fast.
Speaker 1:Holy hell, this was a day dude, so dude. So I have these different lead sources, that leads come in every once in a great while. So last week I had this lead come in. The guy's name is Dave and he's got a house that he's maybe wanting to sell, maybe wanting to do a reverse mortgage. He's not really sure. He's got some major health issues going on. That's about all I know going into it. So yesterday I set up a listing appointment with him. I show up at his house and knock on his door and nothing, get nothing. So I call him and I can actually hear his phone ringing in the house and he answers his phone and I'm like, hey, dave, I'm on your front porch bud. And he's like okay, give me a minute. It's going to take me a minute to get there. I was like okay.
Speaker 1:So all of a sudden, after a few minutes I hear all this clanging and banging behind the door and I'm just like what the heck is going on in there, just like this banging and and and then the door cracks open about this far and I can can see the back of him and he's turned and he's got a walker and he's walking away and he's like I've got to sit down. So I open the door and this big metal bar about this tall falls on the ground and it was one of those freaking things you put on your door.
Speaker 3:so your door can't get kicked in. What city does he live in here? Grantsville, grantsville.
Speaker 1:So, anyways.
Speaker 2:But there's more. There is reason for that story too.
Speaker 1:I'm sure yeah, all right, there's major reason for that story. So, anyways, I walk into the kitchen, which is just right off the front door, and I'm just looking through the kitchen that goes into a family room and Dave is is with his walker, going as fast as he can to the family room, makes it to the family room and stops and just stands there for a second and then he says can you help me? And passes out like eat shit. Bam, lands backwards, hits the table, falls into this. He's like what the hell is this thing? And I mean he's out and I tip him back up. So he's sitting upright. I'm just holding him. I'm kind of behind him holding him.
Speaker 3:Is this the point? You call 911, right? This is the point. You're grabbing your cell phone, so I'm reaching for my cell phone to dial 911.
Speaker 1:He starts coming back and I'm like, dude, I'm reaching for my cell phone to dial 911. He starts coming back and I'm like, dude, I'm going to call 911. He's like no, just give me a minute, just give me a minute. So I just sat there and held him for I don't know how long and he started coming around a little better. I mean, he was breathing hard and I'm sure falling didn't feel very good and the guy has a black eye. I forgot to tell you he already has a black eye. He'd fallen like twice that morning.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, I, I he comes around, I get behind him, I do the dead man thing, I hook under his arms and I drag him over to his, to his uh rocking chair, and hoist his butt up and throw him in the rocking chair, and he immediately kicks back the rocking chair and is laying flat and he's just like give me a minute. So I gave him a minute and he came out of it and we started chatting and this guy, you know, without breaking confidence, confidence, the guys had a pretty rough few years, like really rough. Um, he got he, he, he had some prostate problems and didn't get them handled and and in turn, uh, went septic, oh man, and gotten his liver and kidneys and heart and that's what's causing his problems and his heart pressure is down. Hence why he keeps going lightheaded and passing out so chatting with the guy.
Speaker 2:COVID hit him in the sky as well, which kind of delayed a lot of the help he would have probably got. Yep.
Speaker 1:So bottom line is man, I was glad I was there and and I was the dude to, to help him through it, and now I'm, I'm. We're gonna either figure out what's gonna be the best.
Speaker 2:That's your new project. You are gonna figure this guy out. Yeah, I know I'm figuring this guy out.
Speaker 1:I actually called him last night and checked on him, yeah, and he had moved from his chair all day, oh man. So yeah, this, this, this guy's got troubling road ahead of him, but he's got me in his he's.
Speaker 2:He's also um homebound fixed income yeah, very fixed, not a lot of options. I mean it's it's just the stuff we we get to run into occasionally is just like wow, wow, yeah.
Speaker 1:But you know what I'm a firm believer of?
Speaker 2:You were there for a reason I was the guy that needed to be there to help this dude.
Speaker 1:You know and this is my personal opinion I don't give a shit what that guy's done or been through in his life. All I care about is right now, you know, if, if, if he made some poor choices in his life that led him to that, that's on him, that's not on me, but but for some reason I was put in front of him and I'm going to help him, period, yep. So so yeah, anyways. Uh, that was, that was my morning. It's a hell of a morning.
Speaker 2:You know what's cool, dean? It's going to take all your talents, care, and you will be able to help them yeah.
Speaker 1:I will. I mean, I'll figure this out, and you know we already reached out to one of our mortgage guys that they specialize in, or they have a person in their office that specializes in these reverse mortgages, and maybe that's not the answer. You know, maybe the answer is is is we sell this guy because he's got a ton of equity in his home? Maybe we sell the home, get the equity out and he can live somewhere else. That that I mean, it's a beautiful, big, huge yard, but he can't keep up with it. So so, anyways, that was my morning yesterday yeah, wow so awesome though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was. I'm glad I was there. A couple of quick things. We've got. Mixer Guys participate. This is an ugly sweater mixer. We want you to come out.
Speaker 2:if you're in town, I know you're all over the damn place.
Speaker 1:Next, Thursday yeah, yeah, starts at 5 and goes until we're done. Whatever that looks like, usually Aaron and I end up bowing out and people are still there enjoying wild guys go to like two o'clock in the morning no, we don't do that, but it's at the ice house, my buddy Dave's bar. It's in Midvale or Murray, one or two Murray, and we've got some really cool prizes for people that that actually we're doing a food drive.
Speaker 2:So basically we're going to do a raffle if you bring donation for the food drive and then a second ticket you'll get if you participate in the ugly sweater.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right so it's good, you and I just take our shirts off, exactly like shaving merry christmas into my chest.
Speaker 1:I actually ordered a really funny sweater. I'm not going to give it away, but I did. It's going to be fun, and I did see some sweaters that actually looks like you White trash, jingle Bells yeah, jingle Bells hanging off your nipples. So, anyways, come out and join us guys and, more importantly, as always, it's a great cause. We want to really really get as much food that we can take to the food bank to help out anybody and everybody that can use it over this holiday season. That's important. That's our goal.
Speaker 2:That is our goal.
Speaker 1:Newsletter came out this week. If you are not subscribed to our newsletter, what do they got to do, Aaron?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they just got to go on and subscribe, maybe they'll listen to you.
Speaker 3:Go, click a button, you know what. Go on your info.
Speaker 2:And it's fun stuff. It's what we're up to. It's what we're up to. It's what we're doing. It's last month's mixture pictures, things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll show you. So that's our cover sheet. We always put up stats that have happened.
Speaker 2:Maybe if we got a little bit more interesting and fun we'd have more subscribers, whatever dude.
Speaker 1:Look what's all in here. We got our book, our reading. We highlight people. I highlighted a client of mine that just bought a beautiful home. We do all kinds of stuff. We have recipes, we talk about our mixer. I know we think we're fun. We put in pictures. I mean, it's not a boring newsletter by any means. It's got some good stuff, and if you care about me, you care about him. That's what we're doing. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 3:Mom, get your friends Mom get about me.
Speaker 1:You care about him. That's what we're doing, that's what it's all about. All right, right, mom, get your friends. Come on. Come on, mom, come on. Barb, right, and uh, I know we had him on the show last week but, uh, I just want to show you off our, our team. It's growing, getting bigger and bigger and, uh, we're excited about it, man uh, it's kind of a shout-out.
Speaker 2:We're trying to gather a crowd. Our whole system is built around our friends and our immediate closest relationships. You're in my top 50. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, but what we're trying to do we're trying to gather also people in our industry to come join what we're doing and participate with some of these fun activities we're up to.
Speaker 1:so exactly so if you're an agent, or are going to become an agent, and want to be on a badass team that has a good time and knows what we're doing, come and join us. Yeah, it's what it's all about.
Speaker 3:It's fun we love it again.
Speaker 1:Click the button and subscribe click the damn button right yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do one of those click the button clapping, it's clapping. Okay, guys, last thing, and then we're gonna get with our uh, with our special guest. Uh, we started a brand new book, uh, the first of this week in our book club. Uh, it's change your thinking, change your life. Um, man, I mean, we're only what a chapter, maybe two, into the book, and it's already just got the chapter two or yeah yeah, I read the, I read the acknowledgements and Aaron's like was that the acknowledgements.
Speaker 1:That was powerful. So, killer, killer book. If you, if you want to participate, call one of us and listen in or show up.
Speaker 2:I have a friend who for the last 10 years he reads this yearly and basically his idea is that every single year it's changed, he's changed, and so he's gathering something different out of this book every year.
Speaker 1:Well, the last book we read. I just read it. You'll always get more out of it when you read it again, just like a movie. You see stuff that you didn't see Right. You'll always get more out of it when you read it again, just like a movie. You see stuff that you didn't see Right. So, okay, people, let's chat with Brennan. I kind of introduced you, but give us the lowdown on what you got going on here. I know that you said you were with a nonprofit. You got away from the nonprofit, you just raised.
Speaker 2:I want to hear where you come from. How is this?
Speaker 1:Who are you, who am I? Who are?
Speaker 3:you. We're getting philosophical my name is. Brendan Borrowman. I served in the military when I joined on 17. I was a scout sniper deployed in 2011 with their group special forces. Was wounded in combat, spent two years in a medical hospital recovering from that injury. Got out Did you guys hear that? Two years, yeah, so it was about two years and a few months. Really bad neurological problems. I had two or three seizures Grand mal seizures a day when I first got wounded. Had to go through the progression of healing through that.
Speaker 1:So obviously it was a head wound.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I took ground through a complex ambush and fell on a bomb. Boom. It went off my face Two inches forward, I'm dead, you know. If you don't believe in God or divinity whatever, there it is. Whatever it is you want to put to it. Two inches forward. I'm dead and Kevlar sheared really bad injuries to my hands. My wife likes to joke about when we started dating she was still pulling shrapnel out of my legs.
Speaker 1:Wow, literally.
Speaker 3:Literally it was like her favorite, because I got staph infection when we first got together and I lost like 60 pounds in 45 days, and so all the shrapnels in the very bottom surface of the fat was finally exposed, and so she's pulling little shavings out. She loved it.
Speaker 2:She loved it. The ultimate picking Some women like to pick zit.
Speaker 3:She was like I do shrapnel. This is awesome, Wow. But yes, I did that, got out, struggled finding work, like most military veterans do. There's not a lot of jobs in the civilian sector for a sniper Couldn't get a job.
Speaker 1:Really Couldn't find one out there.
Speaker 3:Dang Active shooters weren't hiring. I don't know oh my gosh. Horrible joke, american humor. Right.
Speaker 3:Couldn't get a job at McDonald's, couldn't figure it out, right. Um, couldn't get a job, mcdonald's, couldn't figure it out, um. I responded to a craigslist ad looking for purple heart veterans to give a business opportunity to and I was like either I'm gonna lose my kidneys or I'm gonna get an opportunity. So I messaged that, wrote the essay they asked for. Two days later I was on a plane to new hampshire and met david montoya stone makers and started my first company with them, did that for about a year and a half, exited that, decided to get back into what I was good at, operating with Africa counterpoached.
Speaker 3:During this time I lost my 60th friend to suicide 60th, 60th through the WTB. I was fortunate enough to meet thousands of great American heroes when I was in the hospital system. But unfortunately with that you get a population of people that are struggling and continue to serve when they leave. I need. I knew I needed to do something. I didn't know how to do it, so we started the you are not alone mission. It was a Facebook group where vets could talk to other vets. I ended up spending 20 hours a day on that thing. So I exited that, still doing businesses, and then I was doing solar with my business partner and his son failed his third rehab. He's's like what do we do? I was like give him to me, we'll figure it out. So it started as a boot camp. I was seeing neurological issues with him during that phase that I was experiencing after being blown up oh something neurological here.
Speaker 3:so we started going down the neurological path, met our partners dr Alina Fong and dr Mark Allen at cognitive effects in Provo. I've been with them now for seven years, earned my PhD. We not only identified the mechanics of PTSD physically in the brain and drug addiction but also how to treat it in a clinical setting. Wasn't scalable or affordable. And so that's my path into virtual reality Make it cheap, gamify it, remove patient resistance, get the same effects I get in a clinic, but through a video game.
Speaker 1:So explain because I know we've talked about this explain how much it costs through something like that. The clinic.
Speaker 3:Yes, almost 40 grand 40 grand people, 14 days, $40,000, a team of 55 specialists that work with them.
Speaker 1:And how much does it cost now with your system?
Speaker 3:$600 headset. We're telling everybody to get the Meta 3 because it's the best on the market currently. So it's $600 to get the Meta 3, and then our game's $40.
Speaker 2:Dang, and the big deal is that it's accessible and it's not a taboo thing.
Speaker 3:They'll play it yeah so the first commercial products. Our engine's what patented. That's how the game, the base, build. We do blood flow restoration. We have a plug-in using wearable. So your apple watch, fitbit, whatever we take all your sleep data for the last three months if you give it access, and we take real-time data as you play. So your heart rate variability, biomodulation, features that those collect already go into our engine. Our engine, through machine learning, our database, adjust the game to you. So it's a multiplayer game. The surface doesn't change. Back end mechanics will change to you as an individual to help you instead of being cookie cutter approach and everything on top of it's a skin.
Speaker 3:So the first skin we have is like a call of duty escape from tarkov extraction shooter. But we're thinking of a product for children next got it.
Speaker 1:So, in layman's terms, what? What does this? What does this? Putting putting on this VR headset and going through your program? What does it do?
Speaker 3:Restores the blood flow to midbrain. So when you have trauma in your life addictions, depression, just struggling you most likely have an imbalance of blood flow in your brain. We're inundated with blue light technology. A lot of people are experienced head traumas they've never really thought of. You know bump in your head when you were a kid fall in sports. It affects the way your blood moves in your brain. If your brain is not getting the blood flow it needs electrically, it's overstimulated For the last 20 years. We're like, oh it's overstimulated.
Speaker 3:Let's de-stimulate it. It was the wrong thing to do. Stimulation balances itself out.
Speaker 1:Got it. That's what our game does.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Through a state of play.
Speaker 2:One last thing. So trauma, when you have a trauma you had explained to me before, that is what stops the blood flow in that area. Is that right so?
Speaker 3:it can either make it overproductive or underproductive. The trauma we don't know what, how the trauma does it, but it's your brain's survival state. It's how your brain in the moment goes. We need to survive. So, veterans, with adrenaline dumps, you're getting in firefights every day. Your brain goes oh, we need to protect ourselves. So let's adjust blood to certain areas, live in a heightened state, but it never gets input to de-stimulate. So they come back and they're in this one state. That's broken. But you know, for my helmet cam.
Speaker 1:In Afghanistan we laughed during firefights, you know you think I throw a grenade over that wall like we're making bets. Wow, in the middle of a firefight, when you know you should be freaking out.
Speaker 3:That's where my brain was and then doing my well, you have to. It's it's self-survival. So dr davis's clinic in topeka, kansas really helped me through that, because the modalities they were using from for seizure treatment are almost identical to what we were doing, but it's a a piece of it and then you know life experience after I kind of fixed the rest of it. That's how we identified what we were doing Wow. But then so that's our current commercial product.
Speaker 3:Privately, we're working with Northeastern Neuro Lab. We're developing platforms for them to test in VR for neurological impact and studies, a project with NASA that we're pretty excited about. So our chief medical officer is a NASA doctor, dr Mark Agrippa, amazing Irishman. Our team's amazing Brian Holland, our head developer. He's a PSYOPs Army guy, worked in the space industry and now he's making video games with us. I mean our team's amazing Coop, john Kat. I mean we put together I put together a team of, you know, world-renowned experts in their fields and it's shown through four months we're here, wow. Not a lot of startups can go from conception to product to funding in four months and we did it, wow. So I give all credit to my team. Without them, this doesn't get done.
Speaker 1:So you kind of touched on it. I know you're big into rehab. Yeah, Mostly drug rehab correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I owned a practice called Reboot Centers. It's a nonprofit entity for teens and vets. I transitioned from that into the celebrity space in about 2021. And so I take a celebrity client on every now and then. That's been the bread and butter to fund Axios to this point, okay.
Speaker 1:And does this application, does this help with that?
Speaker 3:I believe so. We haven't done a study yet.
Speaker 3:Haven't done studies or the studies we have right now are just before and after blood flow studies and impact on behavioral health. Got it, but it's something to come in the future. So a telehealth product we're working on right now is for therapy rooms, for therapists and their clients, through VR so they can do telehealth, not Zoom or through phone. But you can breach that layer. The big application with our patent is going to be for adolescent therapy, so you get the child in a state of play and then let the therapist do their job instead of having to build a bond over six months Coloring and becoming their friend. It removes that in a state of play. Within five minutes that child's opened up and talking because they're busy with a complex project. Playing a video game Wow, and it's immersive. They're immersed in it.
Speaker 1:So give me an example, a personal example, that somebody that you know that this has helped. So I have one that I have permission to talk about.
Speaker 3:It's how we met actually Brian Ouellette.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Air Force veteran could not look me in the eyes when we started Very sporadic, horrible communication skills all over the place. Day one, four minutes into having the VR in his head, he was giggling, laughing like he was a kid. We did a four-day study on him it was four days before and after. It repaired his brain over 600%.
Speaker 2:He told me, this saved his life.
Speaker 3:Wow, brian tells everybody it saved his life. I'm not saying that.
Speaker 2:He told me, and then I reached out. That's how the connection it saved his life, wow.
Speaker 3:Brian's doing stellar, I mean his everything.
Speaker 1:I was just going to ask you what about now.
Speaker 3:He's crushing life. That's awesome, so I'm very proud of him, brian proud of you, buddy. Love you, kid.
Speaker 2:You did the work buddy, fuck it. I'm sorry if I can't swear, you're fine, you're great, you're good. He cannot not swear, perfect.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm proud of you, dude, you're killing it, and thanks for taking the risk to trust me to do the treatment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so is it hard to get these guys to trust you to want to come in.
Speaker 3:Or are want to come in, or are they at their ropes end usually, and it's it's the guys that I treat so from an addiction standpoint, you celebrity rehab, they could give two fucks right they don't care but when it comes to veterans like normally when they're getting to me, they're at their I don't know what to do.
Speaker 3:They're at the last point. The va has failed them, therapy's failed them, and what happens is we throw modalities of therapy people and their brain can't even absorb it because the brain's not operating correctly. So instead of starting getting the machine working right, we're trying to get it to break land speeds. All right, let's get the engine to turn on, let's get it going. Before we start trying to drive this car, and that's what I focus on. Let me do the neurological reset. We get your brain operating and let's find a modality that works for you on the correct path, because everybody's different. You can't cookie cutter approach this right Industry at all.
Speaker 1:Right, I can't even imagine that's like every time.
Speaker 2:I talk to this guy, I'm just like Ooh it's been a journey to get here, but man dude.
Speaker 1:Well, and I know that you've you've had some personal journeys as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Well, yeah, so I have terminal cancer. I was diagnosed in 2015 with leukemia and PV. And leukemia they were like oh it's small, don't worry about it. 2017, it came back, rooted its head and damn near put me out of the fight. Beat that. But the PV hasn't gone away. It's a terminal diagnosis, there's no beating it. So I'm eight years in on a 14-year sentence. Wow, best case scenario. I mean, I had two emergency surgeries this year. I had a fist-sized blood clot pulled out of my chest my left kidney went into necrosis because, of a blood clot.
Speaker 3:So yeah, wow, it's on a path. What do you got to do?
Speaker 1:Let me tell you guys something. You know I haven't spent a ton of time around Brennan, but the time that I have spent around him, wow Dude, wow dude. I mean I don't know if everybody just heard what he just said he has terminal leukemia cancer.
Speaker 3:Pv. Yeah. Pv. Pv.
Speaker 1:Yeah which there's no cure. It's, he's, he's on a time clock and yet this dude's out there worried about his fellow brothers that are struggling, and and with mental illness or pstd, I mean you name it and this guy is doing everything in his power to try to help them.
Speaker 3:That's pretty impressive, dude I mean not to be selfish or anything, but legacy things. You know you're, they've done so many studies on it. You know by your second generation no one knows your name, that the family forgets. You know your kids, your kids, grandkids will never know your name, right, right, and from a legacy standpoint, if the more content I can do, the more good I can do, at least my kids have that to hold on to for their lives, and maybe their kids and you know you fade like I don't know, the third emperor of rome, I don't yeah he told me the fourth king of england.
Speaker 3:I mean hell, give me the 16th president of the united states. Right, shit, I can't, no, right. I mean I could in fifth grade when it's mandated, but I forgot now yeah, I mean legacy thing is it's arrogant to say legacy, but if I can make impact and that can carry on awesome and if my kids can have something to hold on to for their whole lives. And I did my job as a parent and dude.
Speaker 1:I mean I follow you on social media and you're you're not letting any moss grow. I can tell you that we stay busy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you do. Yeah, we were just. I was just in dc testify to congress um to the veteran community. It's a shit show. Dc sucks, but uh, I mean they do call it the swamp for a reason you know I had to go.
Speaker 1:Do call it the swamp for a reason.
Speaker 3:You know I had to go tell people that tell lies for a living the truth.
Speaker 2:I don't think that standard's fair, Right, but wow, what can we, what can our little community do to support and help?
Speaker 3:So if you go to AxiosVRcom there's a newsletter signing up. We're going to be doing a Kickstarter. So every video game now does a Kickstarter for marketing. We'll be doing a Kickstarter for our commercial product, probably towards the middle of February. We haven't locked down the date, but that will get pushed out if you sign up on our website, axiosvrcom. So it's A-X-I-O-S-V-Rcom. I'm sure you can put a link up to that. But our first commercial products coming out it's going to be a game for teenagers veterans, adults, it's think call of duty and that's what you're gonna get in vr.
Speaker 3:Uh, like halo, we have a, I think I brought a teaser.
Speaker 1:We'll play it. I'm gonna play that right now. We'll play that it's pretty legit.
Speaker 3:Uh, it's the first vr game of its type. The the size of the game. Most of the maps are um procedural, meaning they'll change every time you're in it, but they're so large that in the 45-minute rate timer you couldn't walk from one side to the other. On some of these maps we had to put vehicles in for you to traverse it. I mean for VR, it's pushing the boundaries of what these machines can do and we're extremely proud of it.
Speaker 1:Okay let's watch, I can hear. Come here, thank you, thank you, holy cow dude. See, yeah, that gave me the chills chills.
Speaker 2:So general. So general consumer can buy that. Looks like something my kid be playing right now, so that's like straight up kickstarter come out quarter one.
Speaker 3:Uh, we plan on doing a two-month kickstarter. Uh, 60-day window for supporters, early adopters, a bunch of awesome rewards for your listeners that are that are big donors and stuff. Uh, we'll have some packages on there. They'll be legacy packages, so some of the big ships, some of the maps, can get named after people and the money that we raise from that will go to provide headsets and coats to veterans. So it's not a profit piece but it's a way for us to give back to our community immediately. We've partnered with a couple nonprofits. Our big partnership right now that we're really happy with is Mission 38. A couple nonprofits Our big partnership right now that we're really happy with is Mission 38. I don't know if you're familiar with Brant's story. His brother was a captain in the Marine Corps special operations community, got out of the military, became a firefighter, took his own life. And so they do a 38 challenge, kind of like the Murph challenge 38 minutes of hard workouts, like 38 miles running, 38 minutes of crazy, crazy exercise stuff. But we're partnering with them and they're going to be taking our mini-games, the neurological piece, to the UFC and NFL for us, wow. But yeah, I'm blessed to be surrounded by a team that is getting stuff done.
Speaker 3:Like Brian, all of what you just saw in that trailer was real in-game footage. Nothing was doctored up. It's Quest 2 and 3 that we pulled it from screen recording, so there's a little bit of lag in it, but when you're in the headset there's no lag at all. It's completely smooth and butter. He's creating physics in it, so the armor actually works as armor. Things that look cosmetic have a purpose. You try to stab armor, you can't. You try to stab someone's arm and you hit bone. The knife won't go forward like they're doing some fun stuff that doesn't exist in commercial VR right now. Wow, because that's the issue with VR is it's everybody's dying for something that's good. Right, like what's the next big thing? They'll hit it. I think our platform's that and there's a benefit. If you're a parent, let your kids play this game because it's good for them. Right, and play it's. Let them come home from school, play this game and then do homework. Their brain is going to be firing at a whole new level.
Speaker 1:That's insane. Let them play this. I bet you buy this.
Speaker 2:He plays. Do you play VR?
Speaker 3:I do, man, I tell everybody, if you have a sales team so I come from a sales background I would put all my salesmen on this game for 10, 15 minutes and then let them knock doors, let their brain get activated firing, and then put them on a door. So you've got a salesman knocking a door that's fun and energetic, instead of slow and bored like I've got to go knock doors, right, you know, for every 10 salesmen you've got, you've got one stellar one, a handful of them that are okay, and the rest of them are just there to be there because they needed a job. Put them on this game, get, get their brain firing and let them roll.
Speaker 1:Well, I know a guy, that knows a guy and I'm going to actually get on the game. Okay, I want to try it.
Speaker 3:I wish I knew that before I came here I would have brought a headset and played a demo. Okay.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to do it.
Speaker 2:How about we come visit you sometime and do next round at your spot?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have our clinic in Provo.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So cognitive effects. You can take some photos of the MRI machine and the clinic stuff, but I'd rather you guys be in a more intimate setting, which is have you over for dinner and let you play. It's an experience, man. If you're a VR gamer, this is something I don't think people have experienced yet. When it comes to just the interactive, like our physics from grabbing things, stacking loot I mean, brian and his team have done an amazing job and we would not be here without them. Wow, they took my vision. I said this is my good idea and my vision, what I want to do, and he ran with it. I mean, his team is cranking it out.
Speaker 1:I'm very impressed and proud of what our team has brought to bear that was really really, really cool well, I, I saw all.
Speaker 2:I saw different landscapes, times of day.
Speaker 1:Uh were those cheese burgers you were shooting out of the air cheeseburgers you were shooting out of the air Cheeseburgers you're shooting out of the air. Oh, up in the space it looked like a cheeseburger.
Speaker 3:The storyline is, as World War III happened, corporations on Earth decided to create arcs that would be in orbit on Earth and they would shelter up there and kind of reset humanity to the brightest minds. And you're a technician on an arc before people could get up to you. No one got up there. So you're rebuilding and finishing the arc. As you're leveling up and through the play you get more crew members. They show up, they'll see. You'll see them on stations. But there are other arcs that will raid. So that big ship you saw at the very beginning that entire thing you can move through. There's engine decks that we're creating that. So the engine corridor. You saw the flickering lights. Yeah, it looked like a movie. That's in game. That's the engine compartment of that. What we're doing with lighting in vr hasn't been done yet. I mean, they've tried, just the hardware until meta 3 came out wasn't up to speed to do it and the meta 3 runs it like butter.
Speaker 3:It's amazing, wow so yeah, those things you saw were drones from another arc uh, space battle. So there's ship to ship battle. There's a lunar vehicles to go traverse and fight on the moon, stuff on on earth. There'll be expansion packs in the coming year or two for mars and resource gathering. I mean, it's wow. This, the system on this is the from the solar system is going to be huge.
Speaker 3:We can with sci-fi, we have a lot of, you know, leg room, I think, without being realistic. That was the issue with some of these realism games, like ghost of tabor, which is a vr shooter game, and Escape from Tarkov on the computer. They focus on the militaristic realism. We're trying to do that, but we're also doing sci-fi, so we can play a little bit more too. The whole point of this is not to relive trauma. I don't want a veteran to be shaking when he's done, like, oh, I'm back in Fallujah. I want them to still have the like this is fun. I want them to feel fun but, at the same time, complexity of something that's normal to them, to where you bring them a little bit of sense of home while they're still being able to engage and play and help their brain.
Speaker 1:Wow, you know, the other day I was watching, I think, a football game and the Meta 3 commercial came on and my wife looked at me and said have you ordered them yet?
Speaker 3:Did you Not yet? But I'm going to Listen. If you are, get the battery pack on the back for extended play time, okay, and it's more comfortable to wear. But damn, I am so impressed Honey.
Speaker 1:I have to have this. For this, I'm a case study.
Speaker 3:The moment you get it, let me know and I'll download our demo onto it. Okay, dude. Right now, I've got to basically do it from the laptop, but I'll do it for you. Okay. And then you can show whoever you want and play with it whenever you want Dude oh man, I'm going to order it Perfect. Ordered. Ordered, it's done.
Speaker 1:Hey.
Speaker 3:Alexa. Mom, come on Mom. Hit the subscription box and order a Meno 3.
Speaker 1:All right guys. Well, holy cow, man, we got to have you back on, we're gonna, we're gonna play the game and I'm gonna, I'm gonna figure out.
Speaker 3:There's got to be a way that that integrated and that I can integrate it and we can kind of watch so we can pre-record, so we can do a record on the phone, so we'll just pair the headset to a phone.
Speaker 1:Okay, we can record it, and then you can play a video of, like perfect, afterwards we're gonna have you back, because I mean, dude, you're in the beginning and this is so exciting.
Speaker 3:We're on a rocket ship yeah it's been nuts well, you have to be if you want to see it to the end not only that, but I mean, this is the first company so I've I've started an exited six company so far in my life and this is the first one that, like, actually went well. Not only, but it's a door that I have to break down, we go, I don't even have to knock on doors, they're just flying wide open. We did that event. I mean, you guys are familiar with our investor. He offered at your event and at this last one we went to, he doubled his offer to get in on this. Wow, amazing human being. Wayne, thank you so much. Wayne, yeah, I'm hoping you're watching this?
Speaker 3:He's winning of you and thank you for yeah and you guys met at our mixer. He's one of the big. Him and my wife were the big influences to and jason van camp to leave that non-profit I was with and you know you're being held back. You need it was a stepping stone man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it got you to where you needed to be at that point in your life or in that point of this, of this program, and you're thankful for them, I am.
Speaker 3:I hope they win I hope they win in what they do. Yeah, there's no hard feelings there. I hope they go out and succeed.
Speaker 3:But you know I needed to go out of the cocoon, from fat caterpillar to butterfly, yeah baby, that's what we did and you know, wayne and his team have decided to join us in this endeavor and we have a couple others we're talking to. But I'd rather have them as clients than partners, because the clientele person is where it's at Yep, and partners because the clientele person is is where it's at yep.
Speaker 1:They have subscribers that we can directly plug into and dude. That makes me so proud that that happened at one of our events it was your. That's what they're all about that's so cool is people meeting people, socializing. We're there for a great cause to, to, to help our community. And look what happened it.
Speaker 3:I mean I tell aaron all the time I know we don't talk as often as Aaron and I do but man, your guys' event. It was impactful from just giving a platform for people to meet Like that's here in Utah. There's so many connectors.
Speaker 1:I remember you guys were outside sitting around that table he pulled me out.
Speaker 3:He said hey, don't talk to anybody else in this room, let's go talk business. And I didn't believe him. He's a veteran himself. I'm like, all right, we'll see. And we went out and I was like, oh shit.
Speaker 1:That's for real.
Speaker 3:This is a legit offer. And then from there, it just progressed and progressed, and everything he asked me to do I've gotten done. It's important to me, Dude, amazing. You guys gave a platform for that conversation to happen and it happened.
Speaker 2:Naturally, it wasn just like hey, show up, have a beer, yeah, and just you want to ask him, but he this, it was almost, it was almost a one-off he's. That was the one he came to.
Speaker 1:That was the one and only one, he came to.
Speaker 2:That was a one-off.
Speaker 3:You guys were supposed things. So when I tell people go to their events, I mean it Go to their events. Thanks, man, this ugly sweater one. Go to their events, Go to it.
Speaker 1:And I got some really cool gifts. Just use your natural sweater. Yeah, I ordered the gifts yesterday, so I promise you, if you win, you're going to get a killer gift Right on.
Speaker 3:Or prize Go to these events.
Speaker 1:You never know who you're going to meet ever. That's what it's all about. It's not forced, like you said, it's just people hanging out with people. I mean, we're humans, man, and nowadays, with social media the way it is, and just our cell phones and our face buried in our cell phones, it's just a small period of time where you can actually be human and actually interact with other people and start new friendships and and start relationships and this, yeah, that's amazing I mean you gotta think like, before all this, I have my beautiful wife, she's our breadwinner.
Speaker 3:And yeah, there's been multiple times during our marriage where I'm like, I'm, I'm not gonna build this shit, I'm gonna go get a normal job. She's like, no, you're gonna build this, this is what you're meant to do, and what a special woman supported me through it. And then you know, breaking out into the network in Utah and the community, and now we're nationally connecting and everything else. It's a. It's not just a win for me, it's a win for my wife and our family.
Speaker 3:But okay, so here's the deal because of events like yours that you know gave small little startups like my wife and I, who were starting this ourselves, a platform to grow.
Speaker 1:Your wife gets to come on next time.
Speaker 3:Oh, she'll hate it. She's probably listening to this and sweating immediately. She hates public speaking. That's not to put my wife down. I know her strengths.
Speaker 2:She's too pretty to be in here, dude.
Speaker 3:She is way too pretty to be around you too.
Speaker 1:Just let her know that Way too pretty to be around me. I don't know.
Speaker 4:How did we do it? Way out of my league, listen.
Speaker 3:We're geniuses, we are, we're geniuses, dude, that's what it's all about they're so dumb, like we tricked them Into marrying us Evil.
Speaker 1:Whatever dude we could rule the world If we wanted to. I think you're a pretty Alright dude and I think we are very lucky.
Speaker 3:Blessed yes, that's the right word.
Speaker 2:And the right kids yeah.
Speaker 3:Two out of the three, I'm not going to say which one you three can guess, Mark you amongst yourselves.
Speaker 1:It just depends on the day. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:No, for all reality. My kids are amazing.
Speaker 1:Really lucky with all three of them. Well, they have a pretty amazing dad. Thank you, and mom them.
Speaker 1:Well, they have a pretty amazing dad, thank you, and mom, yeah, that's what it's all about me. Yeah, well, you know what man my kids turned out freaking amazing and and it is, it's the mom and dad combined. But you know, we were really, really, really involved with our kids and and we made our house the kool-aid house. We wanted to know who our kids were hanging out with, and so we were open. I mean, I, I literally every single week I would go to Sam's and Costco and spend about $300 or $400 at both just to stock the cupboards, because we had so many kids coming in and out of the house that is our house and I hate it.
Speaker 1:They're freaking hungry I hate it.
Speaker 3:It's better than awesome, it's not the right economy to be the Kool-Aid house? No, it's not. But you know what? It's your kids, it's their life. I'll tell you a funny story if you want. So this was in the summer, so that'd have been July or August timeframe. Because they're out of school, they're having to sleep over with their friend. One of the neighborhood kids is over, sleeping over, and I was on a strict like 60 day diet and I told my wife I'm buying Oreos, I'm going to treat myself with Oreos. I bought a package of Oreos, got home late, wasn't able to eat them that night.
Speaker 3:Little sucker, ate them, Dude. I come out and he's sitting on my kitchen floor behind my island eating the pack of Oreos. I was pissed, so I'm like they're never allowed in my house again.
Speaker 1:This was a friend. This wasn't even a friend, this was upset over Oreos guys. That's how rough that diet was. Oh my hell.
Speaker 3:That's seriously as good I remember telling my wife like he's never welcomed my house again ever. I was so pissed. My wife's like it is Oreos, it's fine, go spend another $4.
Speaker 1:And I was like Brandon, take a deep breath.
Speaker 3:Thank God, I wasn't on steroids.
Speaker 1:So there was one night we.
Speaker 1:This is back when I was married and my kids were younger, and we went to dinner and we pulled up to the house after dinner and there's a girl sitting on our front porch crying, okay. And so I'm just thinking you know, beanie Bobber, you know she's boyfriend doesn't like her this, that or the other. And so when you walk up to my front door, if you took an immediate left you would go, and there's a gate and I had a swimming pool, and then you'd walk down the whole length of the swimming pool and then around the side of the house, and then there was a big yard, okay, and I had balconies above you when you're walking by, because I put a balcony up there so the kids could jump off into the swimming pool. A balcony up there so the kids could jump off into the swimming pool. And then, when you went around the corner, there was another big, huge balcony that came off of our great room. That I mean it was probably a 30 by 40 balcony, I mean huge balcony with stairs coming down.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I can hear this noise from my backyard. I just seen this girl on my front porch crying and I'm walking down and all I can see is the back of a whole ton of kids, like hundreds of kids in my backyard. So I walk over there and I'm just standing at the back of it and there's all these kids and I mean that deck was covered with kids. Down the stairs above me there were tons of kids everywhere and they had made a little rink and there were two dudes in the rink.