Change Makers

Redefining Success and Authentic Manhood with Gerard Adams

June 27, 2024 Matthew Paetz Season 1 Episode 11
Redefining Success and Authentic Manhood with Gerard Adams
Change Makers
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Change Makers
Redefining Success and Authentic Manhood with Gerard Adams
Jun 27, 2024 Season 1 Episode 11
Matthew Paetz

What defines true success? Is it financial freedom, personal fulfillment, or something deeper? Join us as we sit down with Gerard, a remarkable entrepreneur with over 21 years of experience, who shares his compelling journey from immigrant roots to becoming a respected business leader. Gerard opens up about the challenges solopreneurs face, the transformative power of focus and decision-making, and how aligning with one's true self can pave the way to a life of pride and authenticity. This is not just a story of business triumphs but of personal growth and the relentless pursuit of one's potential.

Our conversation takes a poignant turn as Gerard recounts a life-changing trip to Colombia that redefined his identity and sense of belonging. Born of mixed Italian and Latino heritage, Gerard reveals the struggles of fitting in and how financial success alone did not fulfill him. A heartfelt moment with his father shifted his focus to personal happiness and family, emphasizing the importance of defining oneself beyond societal expectations and material achievements. This chapter is a heartfelt reminder that true contentment lies in personal growth and meaningful connections.

In a powerful exploration of masculinity, leadership, and spirituality, Gerard discusses the qualities that define authentic manhood—integrity, honor, respect, and compassion. He shares his journey of healing through plant medicine and psychedelics, and how a deeper relationship with God has guided him from seeking validation to becoming a guardian and mentor. We delve into the significance of small wins, consistent effort, and the courage to evolve, highlighting that true success is about more than external accolades—it's about leaving a legacy of wisdom and sacred masculinity for future generations. Tune in for an episode filled with profound insights, personal anecdotes, and inspiring stories of transformation.

Connect with Me
IG: @matthewpaetz

Start Here to Find Out - What's Blocking You From Making Your First $100k?

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

What defines true success? Is it financial freedom, personal fulfillment, or something deeper? Join us as we sit down with Gerard, a remarkable entrepreneur with over 21 years of experience, who shares his compelling journey from immigrant roots to becoming a respected business leader. Gerard opens up about the challenges solopreneurs face, the transformative power of focus and decision-making, and how aligning with one's true self can pave the way to a life of pride and authenticity. This is not just a story of business triumphs but of personal growth and the relentless pursuit of one's potential.

Our conversation takes a poignant turn as Gerard recounts a life-changing trip to Colombia that redefined his identity and sense of belonging. Born of mixed Italian and Latino heritage, Gerard reveals the struggles of fitting in and how financial success alone did not fulfill him. A heartfelt moment with his father shifted his focus to personal happiness and family, emphasizing the importance of defining oneself beyond societal expectations and material achievements. This chapter is a heartfelt reminder that true contentment lies in personal growth and meaningful connections.

In a powerful exploration of masculinity, leadership, and spirituality, Gerard discusses the qualities that define authentic manhood—integrity, honor, respect, and compassion. He shares his journey of healing through plant medicine and psychedelics, and how a deeper relationship with God has guided him from seeking validation to becoming a guardian and mentor. We delve into the significance of small wins, consistent effort, and the courage to evolve, highlighting that true success is about more than external accolades—it's about leaving a legacy of wisdom and sacred masculinity for future generations. Tune in for an episode filled with profound insights, personal anecdotes, and inspiring stories of transformation.

Connect with Me
IG: @matthewpaetz

Start Here to Find Out - What's Blocking You From Making Your First $100k?

Speaker 1:

Thank you, gerard. Welcome to the show brother. How are you? How are you?

Speaker 2:

Hey man, I am so freaking lit up Just. I have so much respect for you and it's had such an epic start to my day with such a powerful group of men and just been really looking forward to taking this time to connect with you and connect with your audience no-transcript.

Speaker 1:

But I deeply appreciate and respect you have for many, many years, and you know my intention for this conversation is to explore a topic of credibility and before we launch into that, I just want to share a little bit about the mission of this show. You know so this show is called Changemakers and our mission here is to really inspire specifically those that are struggling, you know, the solopreneurs, the entrepreneurs, and when I mean struggling, I don't mean they're down and out, I mean they're. You know, they're hitting the wall right. Yeah, they're trying to grow something that's new to them, that they're excited about. That's mission driven.

Speaker 1:

But, as we all know, a mission is going to bring us in direct contact with those parts of ourselves that maybe haven't been touched, that we've attempted to avoid. And you know so that's the specific part of the struggle that I'm most interested in and kind of exploring and unpacking. And you know, the goal here is to help these entrepreneurs and these humans raise their standards specifically and break through these limitations so they can actually create a life they're most proud of, instead of just trying to do the one that looks impressive. Instead of just trying to do the one that looks impressive and you literally like all bullshit aside, like I don't know another human in my life that is more capable of speaking on all of those things than you, so I just want to first toss it over for anyone who may have not been blessed with your work yet. I would love to hear from you, Like what is, what's the origin story you think is really important for people to understand before we launch into your wisdom.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I first of all love this intention with change makers, tension with change makers, and so if you're listening to this, you're a change maker. I honor you as a fellow change maker, as someone that continues to strive to raise my standards, that continues to go through my own struggles on a day in and day out. A lot of people see my success. Now. I've been an entrepreneur for 21 years man. I've launched so many businesses years. Man. I've watched so many businesses. It's ridiculous. My friend just came over my crib a few days ago to mastermind with me. Babies went to sleep. It was like yo get a mastermind in, come over, it's a Friday night and we started whiteboarding and just talking about vision and he was pulling back layers to my kingdom, you know, and he's like yo like, how are you doing all of this?

Speaker 2:

You know we got this business and that business and you're doing this and I'm like it's, it's not easy, you know, and um, the the greatest asset that we have is our focus. You know, is is our ability to focus and is our ability to make decisions that truly are in alignment, to listen to our discernment. And I think that's why I look at all the failures over those years. When I say that I've launched so many businesses, I really mean a lot Like I I don't know at least a hundred businesses I've tried and tried over the past 21 years and people know me for the you know the you that I really hit. You know, and I've had a, I've had an okay track record. You know you have a couple of really big hits. It's like a venture capitalist, you know they just they have those one or two that just make up for the other 20 that don't work is even more valuable than the things that do. And for me, I have learned so much from those moments of struggle and mistakes and even failures. It's taught me so much of what not to do. It's given me experience, it's given me wisdom, and then right now, I'm in a chapter in my life of living integrated wisdom which we can talk more about, but my origin story was a young kid from Jersey that didn't truly understand his roots much, because my mother didn't teach me Spanish as a kid because she wanted to Americanize me quickly, because my older sister spoke more Spanish, initially before English, and teachers scolded my mother for that and so when I was born she was like we're going to get him Americanized.

Speaker 2:

My mom came to this country, became a citizen at 16 years old. My grandfather was a dishwasher. You know he sacrificed to be able to make a move to America from Columbia, sent back for my mother and grandmother. That's on my mother's side, my father's side, from Italy. My great grandparents we still have the chest that they came over with from a boat, left everything behind, and so I come from, like many of us in America, came from roots that immigrated here for a shot of opportunity and I think my parents did a phenomenal job at teaching me work ethic, teaching me the opportunity to believe in myself.

Speaker 2:

But I didn't have entrepreneur roots. I was more of a kid who loved basketball, loved sports, was more of a third string player, got heavily bullied and had to deal with getting jumped, grew up in a neighborhood that was lower middle class. Just, I looked different. I was different, you know light eyes, tan skin. A lot of people near me were either white or black, and here I am, this, this Latin kid that doesn't even speak Spanish, and I didn't fit in quite right. And so I just I for whatever reason. You know, the kids that had struggles of their own at home took it out, took it out on on kids like me, and so that affected me in a big way, but what it did mostly was kind of put me in a corner where it was like, okay, it's time for me to have to lead my life. I have no other choice, and entrepreneurship pretty much saved me to go out there and prove myself and prove that I can do it.

Speaker 2:

Fuck the bullies, fuck all those people that didn't believe in me and that kind of really supported me to build epic businesses, but really from an operating system that I've had to unravel and unlearn so that I can create success from a new foundation. That isn't the same mentality or need for validation and proving myself and grinding and more from a place that is a place of wholeness and peace and impact and purpose, and so that's been primarily the work over the last eight to 10 years. But yeah, it's a long origin story. I will say that I wouldn't have gotten to where I am without betting on myself. I wouldn't have gotten to where I am without betting on myself, without all of the trauma that has happened to me growing up, alchemizing that, and also from mentorship. I've continued to seek mentors all my life, no-transcript, and so digital media stocks has been a pretty common denominator throughout my entire career and so, yeah, I'm just super blessed that I've had great mentors, and I had a very important moment in my life too where I lost it all.

Speaker 2:

My mother kind of told me in that moment what I didn't know about her coming to this country with nothing and a fire took everything that they even had at that moment, and in a one bedroom with her brothers and sisters.

Speaker 2:

And my mom had to get a job on canal street in New York and she was only 16 years old and she never even been to New York City. And she tells me you know what she had to go through to help to put food on the table at a young age, with nothing, coming to this country. And she had tears running down her eyes and she's like so if you lose everything, like, don't ever take this, don't ever take this. And she points to her head and to my heart and she was like so you get out there and you do it again. And so I really had this ambition of, at that moment, started to recognize my responsibility to playing all out and to get back to my mom, to get back to my lineage that sacrificed so much. And so that's it till this day is my leading, that's until this day is my leading, like fire in my belly. Still, you know, it's like I have this responsibility as the leader of my lineage to just be the very best man that I can be and to maximize my potential.

Speaker 1:

Wow, there's so many things here. And first off, shout out, mama Adams, like it's so interesting how defining certain moments are right. And you know, I know, as I'm listening to your story, one thing that I'm very clear on right, I grew up lower middle class, rural Indiana. But you know my now, at 40, in hindsight, you know, looking back at my life, I recognize how privileged I was in a lot of ways and most of the. You know one thing when I talk about privilege, it's one of the very first things I say is like the fact that you're unaware of it means you have it Right. And that's been my reality.

Speaker 1:

When I look back on that, you know, and one thing that I've noticed is, you know, one interpretation I have from my childhood was that, you know, it was it wasn't okay to to be bigger, to reach your potential to do these things because it made people around you uncomfortable. It was, it was it wasn't okay to to be bigger, to to reach your potential to do these things because it made people around you uncomfortable, right. So like the opposite interpretation of a struggle, like seeing my mother work seven days a week and all these different kinds of things. Like you know, it took me a long time and I'm still unraveling that, that narrative, that not just that it's okay, but it's my responsibility to now show up and take care of those who are, who are within my care right in a way, in a way that not just makes me proud but in a way that they ultimately deserve.

Speaker 1:

And I I know you do a lot of men's work now, and this is something I think has probably long been your destiny and what I'm very curious about, and there's so many details here, but identity is the big one, right? That's the thing that I heard you speaking to mostly, and I can't even imagine what it must have been like as someone who is so close, so connected to a heritage that, at the same time, probably felt so distant and foreign. And so how has that and I know I mentioned credibility, which I'll get to in a second, but that identity, like how has that struggle to know who you are to, I imagine, feel confident in where you stand, living with both feet, with a foot on each side of this fence of America and Spanish, and all of these things and never feeling like you could really fit in, is what I understood you sharing. How has all of that translated into you navigating the inevitable ass whoopings that is entrepreneurship.

Speaker 2:

Yeah yeah, first of all, thank you so much for sharing, man like, especially that piece on privilege. I mean more now than ever, with everything that's going on in the middle east and just the suffering that's happening on our planet, even just the local community, too, that that I've been building and just seeing what people are carrying, and it's so true, man, I love what you said there and if you don't even know that, most likely you have it and I feel extremely privileged at this point in my life. Wow, like I remember when I just got back from Columbia a few weeks ago, had the calling to go to meet a brother and it was during Mother's Day. I've never spent the Mother's Day without my mother and this is the first time I said you know, I want to go to the motherland and like, feel like, where you come from, a different kind of Mother's Day. Yeah, and it was.

Speaker 2:

I saw a guy get robbed at gunpoint. I've never seen a gun so close to me and I just like, when I got back to America, the things I saw out there, of course there was the beauty, the music, the food, everything, but there was also that other side and I got to really have the contrast of the safety that I have here in America, and the opportunity and the difference and that really cemented for me the privilege that I had and just also the sacrifice Sacrifice has been really present for me. Thinking about that, I've been hearing it more and more recently in different ways and so, yeah, thank you for bringing that forth. Yeah, man, the identity piece, you know it's also. You know I was Italian, my dad's side is very Italian roots. I'm very proud of that, but I also wasn't quite as Italian as my other.

Speaker 2:

Italian friends you know it's like I was on.

Speaker 1:

Both sides.

Speaker 2:

You know I had this Italian and Latino, but yet I'm, you know, both of those not quite fully able.

Speaker 1:

Which now is a superpower. I don't know if you know that. Like, yes, it's a full-blown Caucasian. I see that you got flavor. I love it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it just. You know, for me the biggest difference is when I was younger. It didn't feel like I fit in, so the way that that showed up for me was kind of I have no other choice. But and I know that some people do have a choice I mean, we all have a choice, you know, and we can be victims of the story or we can be victors of the story, and I I felt like I had this shot to like it was either that or I'm going to end up in jail, you know, or I'm going to end up as a drug addict.

Speaker 2:

You know, it's just, I was doing drugs, I was selling drugs, I just it was very close to, and I just had this moment in my life where I was like I found out about business. I was just like I want to be, I want to learn business, and I just and then that became my identity. It was just like I'm going to go out and not be this failure of what I think I'm going to be. I'm going to learn about business, go all in. And that just became my identity, so much so that I was still wearing a mask. I was still protecting myself wearing a mask. I was still protecting myself. I didn't know, I wasn't confident in who I was beyond this label of entrepreneur beyond the label of making money, and so that became a.

Speaker 2:

That became a limiting at some point. And then I needed and then I what I what happened was I sold my company for 50 million and I was depressed. I'm like, what the hell is this why? And it was because my identity was so tied to this successful entrepreneur the first multimillionaire in my family, in my school that came out of my class. It was so tied to that and then I realized that that's not what made me happy. And my father played a really big role in shifting helping me shift my identity, because he pushed me into a bathroom at that moment in my life and he handed me a letter and he said read it to me and talk about privilege to have a mother and a father in your life. You know like I had both. And so my father pushed me in that bathroom and made me read this letter he wrote and he said a father and a son's bond is unbreakable.

Speaker 2:

I've seen you go out and make your dreams a reality, but it's time for you to start focusing on your happiness. I could tell that you're not happy. You're focusing too much on these things. It's time for you to start focusing on your own happiness and family, own happiness and family and that and I've had a couple moments like this with my father and an Navy SEAL who called me out and it just like had me shift to look in the mirror, really look in the good. Take a good look in the mirror and say, you know what I'm proud of? These things, but these things aren't who I am. And then I started just getting in that. But these things aren't who I am.

Speaker 2:

And then I started just getting in that that was the beginning of my new journey with God. You know just like reshaping that relationship with God as an adult, as a young man, and that has allowed me to reshape my identity as a man of God and less about what I do or what external accolades I have. But how do I live more of a life that is aligned to my true nature? And, um, to start thinking about the things that you're not really taught as a man growing up, you know just what does that look like to live a life of integrity, of honor, of respect, courage, of love, compassion these attributes that, for me, I and I think, like many men, we don't have a lot of examples of that. I mean you got Jesus, but it's like I mean examples in the flesh. You know, a lot of us were raised. I'll speak for myself.

Speaker 2:

You know, raised with an amazing father but had his own, his own deep rooted pain, you know from his father, and and not pain revealed itself and a lot of rage and a lot of anger itself and a lot of rage and a lot of anger. And so it was as much as my father taught me how to be tough and I am so grateful for the way that I was raised. A lot of the men that I, that I've experienced growing up, was was that, that anger in the age reflected that.

Speaker 2:

So that was something I had to heal within myself so that I can let go of the anger and resentment and the rage I had inside of me. That helped me to build the identity of the entrepreneur. I said fuck you, I'm going to go out there and watch me motherfucker.

Speaker 2:

Watch me and that helped me build the $50 million company that helped me to become the multimillionaire. I still got that dude in me. I had to reintegrate that dude and say I love you, you are that motherfucker, I am that motherfucker, but I've been able to learn how to harness that, learn how to wield that power and learn how to make sure that I'm leading from a place that, even though I have that grit in me, still that helped me to build those multi-million dollar companies and be sure that I just you guys haven't even seen nothing Like I'm just getting started and I know that these guys out here, like you, we're just scratching the surface.

Speaker 2:

It's because now, if we can integrate those parts of ourselves and then actually start leading from the of ourselves and then actually start leading from the, from the place now, of the wisdom, of what we know, is the sacred masculine, the healthy masculine right, leading from compassion and leading from love and leading from courage as our true self, as a man of god, with that grit that that has been gifted to us as a blessing. That that's where I'm like oof, those are the kind of things I want to surround myself with and that's what's like yo, what can we build from that place? That's what I'm really excited about for this next chapter of my life.

Speaker 1:

I love this and it's so funny. You're answering so many of the questions that I jotted down before we hopped on here. But as conversations go, they kind of take a turn and I'm very curious about something. So we I I opened the same, we would touch on credibility, and I think we are, but in a different, different way.

Speaker 1:

So you mentioned this, this kind of, uh, pivotal intersection, where you highlighted two specific men that played a role, one being your father and another being a Navy SEAL, and it just so happened to be at the time where you had either it's when you sold the first company for 50 million but you were sitting in this really, really powerful position yourself. So three positions of debt, right, in perspective, it sounds like so. Credibility, right, and perspective, it sounds like so. Credibility what was the? You know, as a man who achieved the things that so many, so many of us, myself included, assume makes you whole, makes you powerful, makes you all these things right, to then yet be left with a void still, right, let me, I'm curious. So, in your experience, what's the difference as far as like credibility is concerned, in the eyes of those who you care about? First, I think that's a huge caveat right, but what's the difference, or what was the difference for you, between proving you were that dude, to being respected as that dude?

Speaker 2:

and these are the best. These are the best questions. You're such a great interviewer, you're. You're having me think about things like in a way I haven't been asked before. So thank you for your curiosity, say I like felt it so much when you mentioned the void if you're a man that is feeling that void man.

Speaker 2:

I've been there. It's real. It's real, mom, I've had it in different, a different season of my life. I just just went through one after my separation recently. It's just felt like I pulled a knife out of my stomach and there was a void. Yeah, in that moment, when I sold the 50 million dollar company that there was, there was this void, because it's like in it, it's like being exposed, um, and for me personally, I've had a really difficult time in accepting myself, like really accepting that I am that powerful and that I am, that I am worthy and that's been my life's work is just really coming into self-worth and recognizing my worth. And I think when that happened, I just didn't want to believe it. It was like I just want to sabotage that. I like actually am able and capable of building that and it's like fearing. One of my mentors talks about this in his new book, mind Shift. My mentor and pastor, erwin McManus, highly recommend following this man it's changed my life.

Speaker 2:

He talks about having the frameworks for success. A lot of people talk about overcoming failure, but we're not also taught. That's why we see so many NBA players, for instance, or athletes they make all this money and then they just lose it all or the statistics on people who win the lottery and they lose it all.

Speaker 2:

Or generational wealth. You look at the Roman Empire. Even you know, within three generations lost all of their power. You know right now the statistics of if you are a multimillionaire you create real wealth. By the third generation, they spend it all.

Speaker 2:

There is an opportunity to understand what stewardship looks like. Understand what stewardship looks like, and I think I've been scared of my own power and levels, of what I'm capable of, and so when that happened, I think there was a deep fear inside of me as to what does this really mean, and that's why I needed to come to God and say God, why did this really happen? And this identity shift for me became so important because it allowed me to understand responsibility and let go of the ego of proving to look worthy, look powerful, look like that I'm successful, and actually make the initiation, take the rite of passage to being powerful, being worthy, being successful not based on anyone else's views, but with my relationship to God, so that I can have a greater capacity to be responsible, to store the power, the wealth, the influence. And so I don't know if this is answering your question or not, but I just feel like God. When that void happened, I knew there's only one way to deal with this void. And it's like I've got to look, got to look at the man in the mirror. I got to like walk through this and you, but I just didn't know how. Luckily I had a couple of guides that called me out. You know, my dad, this, this Navy SEAL, and then from there it's like everyone's I can't my path is not someone else's.

Speaker 2:

If you're listening to it like you just got to, you just got to know it's time, like it's time to take that jump. It's time to take these, these paths forward. And it's your relationship to God. And that may look different for you. You know, for me, plant medicine played a role in it. That's how I met Matthew. Having psychedelics played a role in it. Church has a role in it.

Speaker 2:

You know, a prayer different, but it was, it was I was in this moment of like. Okay, it's time for me to go seek this relationship to god so that I can get more clarity as to who I get to become, so that I can be a match to the, to the level of responsibility that I, that I've been scared of. But it's time, it's time I. This is why my work now. What does it mean to step in being a guardian, a guard of honor, stepping into this role for me of being a guardian now, as the leader of my lineage, as a torchbearer beyond the external now, but also for future generations, and it's a way. It's just a completely different game. It's a completely different game but it's the most amazing game because you can have it all, but you stop chasing the money and the fame. You stop chasing all the money. Sex and power that we've been taught are the things that it's a boy's game boy's game and you step into king shit in that.

Speaker 2:

That's a whole nother game. But it's like yo, when you start seeing the results of that game, like I'm witnessing healing of my father, I'm witnessing healing of my mother, I'm witnessing healing of my family's lineage, like like I'm witnessing my daughter doing like things at two years old that I'm I had to learn in my 30s like it's a whole nother that's how you change.

Speaker 2:

That's how you change the game correct, and it's the faster that, faster that you just come face to face with the identity that you've built to protect yourself, and the faster you can get the courage to allow that to disintegrate and die to that and rebirth and resurrect in the image of God that he made you to be, the faster that you get to play this new game, as you know, as as a guardian, as a guard of honor, as a as a king.

Speaker 1:

I want to reflect something that just hit me pretty hard. So what I hear you describing is an ascension right, and the early years were protection right proven. You aren't going to be fucked with right. You're going to stand up for yourself, whatever that looked like, by any means necessary scrappy, and I'm mindful of the time here, so I'll make this quick so you go from that like you're realizing that you got two options right. You choose to create something, you choose to make your mother and your father proud, whatever that looks like, and then you prove that it can be done.

Speaker 1:

So that ascension level making the money, building the things what I hear and what you represented to me, long before we ever actually met, was you were the example. You were an example that it could be done. It was possible that you were an example, that it could be done. It was possible, right. But what I hear you describing now is moving from the example, which is ironic because you know you identified and maybe still do a lot, at least in your marketing as the millennial mentor right, and it's interesting because at that stage you were the example. You were the proof that it could be done. What I hear you talking about now is you're going from the example to mentorship, like from proof it can be done to the wisdom and how to guide and protect and manage. It's no longer proving you can because you have it. It's having it, knowing you got it if you need it and taking care of those in the process.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and to add to, because the question was really potent, and I thank you for that reflection because it allowed me to remember that if you're in the stage where you are still building the credibility, like you see the horizon of stepping into the guardian, the protector, this next chapter, but you're like I still am looking, figuring out how to make bills, I'm trying to figure out how to get to this financial freedom to take it. I get that and the way that I was able to do that was building the evidence that I can from small wins, and so it's like figuring out how can you set yourself up to get the small wins every day and be really clear as to what does it look like for you to to get the wins of that for x amount of clients or you know whatever that kpi is that's gonna build, build step-by-step, brick-by-brick, to get you there, and I'd love to do another podcast with you or connect more with entrepreneurs that are looking for that.

Speaker 2:

But for me it really was like not giving up learning from my mistakes, getting the small wins, compounding those wins, actually hustling to do what I needed to do to get to that level of income that started to allow me to recognize that I have the ability to generate revenue that is valuable, that solves real problems, and it's a little bit more of the mundane work. But to me it was like doing that for so many years. That wasn't the fancy stuff, that wasn't the thing that anyone was really witnessing, but it was like actually putting in the work, you know, and figuring out how do I build something of value and how do I create small wins and how do I do right by my clients and how do I, you know, build a strong foundation. And over time, you know, you start to see the evidence, you start to see the results. But everybody wants the quick fix, you know, and for me it's.

Speaker 2:

Most people don't see my success, they don't recognize the amount of years, like even the company that you know sold. It took me four and a half years to get it to a place of actual sustainability. That then would become an exitable company. People want it right now and so you just gotta. You gotta give yourself the patience, take the time, and the thing is is like it's the best investment you'll ever make. And short-term pain, long-term gain.

Speaker 2:

You you know, if you were to put and dedicate the next four or five years of your life to building that foundation, to building the credibility, to building the evidence, what is that worth? It's for the rest of your life. Those years, for me, set me up now, and I'm not even 40 yet. So it's like, okay, now I can step into the kingship and start playing more of this guardian role and play the new game. But I did want to make sure that I had a certain level of stability and so that's it. You just got to look at where you're at and you can have both. You can play that guardian role. But I do think that some people want the shortcut and to get the credibility, the evidence, evidence you got to put in the work yeah, what that reminds me of is focusing on building the roots instead of the leaves, right?

Speaker 1:

that's what people can't see. That keep you there in the storm, right? Yeah, that feeds you. Um, so, with the last question here, I'm gonna, okay, challenge you, if that's okay, to keep it. One sentence, okay. Two, if you have to stretch, okay, fair Brevity, brevity, g Brevity. I got you. So let me ask you this so, as a man that's seen many different sides of success and you know credibility and respect and all these things, what's the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you what's something that you respect now that you didn't understand before it's coming?

Speaker 2:

through. Right now it's coming through. Right now it's coming through solitude, inner peace privacy.

Speaker 1:

Inner peace privacy.

Speaker 2:

I'll say like I wanted to be so seen for so long. But once you finally face off with the person in the mirror, you recognize like creating space for you is okay, being a little selfish is okay. I would say brotherhood as well. I didn't understand that it was um, I had a hard time. Like I said, said trusting and giving you lessons. I would say that right now the run-on is good. Those things that I mentioned solitude that's been really valuable to me.

Speaker 1:

Well, this conversation has been really valuable for me. Genuinely, I'm going to go back and listen to it and take my own notes. It's proof that success is about recovery, not perfection, as this conversation started off off the rails as far as technical stuff, but it's the recovery and where we ended up that matters most, brother, and where I ended up was a little closer to you, and I appreciate you for letting me in, for being a part of this, and, yeah, thank you for your time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, brother, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. I think we should do it again. I think we should. I mean, you can have such great combo, like we got to do this again. I also would love to have you on my podcast. I'm relaunching it right now, so stay tuned for that. Leaders Create. Leaders is the movement.

Inspiring Stories of Change Makers
Identity Shift and Self-Discovery
Embracing Authentic Manhood and Accountability
The Path to Guardian Leadership
Brotherhood and Self-Discovery