Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / The Bunkhouse Podcast Live _ The Business She Built From the Collapse w_ Amber Houghton

Transcript

The Bunkhouse Podcast Live _ The Business She Built From the Collapse w_ Amber Houghton · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

0:08
There were times I was looking at myself.
0:10
In the mirror dude. Why are you putting on?
0:12
Khakis. Where Gunny Holly, who was blown
0:19
up and killed, who had two children.
0:22
I lived in a reality for about, I think 15 years that it should
0:27
have been me. Your source of strength has
0:31
never been you, it has always been from somewhere else.
0:34
It's just my belief that mine is from God and I, I choose to rely
0:38
on God and I'm far from perfect. I screw up all the time, but my
0:43
life is at peace. I have found it in past the
0:46
storm where I am at peace. When things got really bad,
0:53
which they will, we all are going to have times in our life
0:56
where we just can't handle some things.
0:58
To know that reaching out for help is an option.
1:00
It's the same as going to the doctor.
1:02
When you you can't get over the common cold and it's turned into
1:05
something crazy, sinus infection, you got to go to a
1:09
doctor and get medicine. It's the same with your mental
1:11
health. Hey, hey everybody, and welcome
1:33
back to the Punk House where we're live every Monday night at
1:35
6:00 PM Eastern 5 Central Herald Military Broadcast radio where
1:39
we give veterans of voice. If you could, please go ahead.
1:42
And if you haven't done so already, follow the link tree
1:45
link that's scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
1:47
You'll find all my content there.
1:48
But go to YouTube, Apple podcast, wherever you want to
1:51
listen to your podcast at. Please follow, share and like.
1:54
And if you've already subscribed to either my YouTube channel or
1:56
something else, go ahead and hit that little bell because you can
1:58
get alerts whenever we're going live or whenever I publish new
2:00
content. All right, and also every
2:03
something else I'd like to do before we kick anything off.
2:06
If anybody's out there listening or need any of anybody that's
2:09
out there, please let them know that they're not.
2:12
They can reach out. They can call the the mental
2:14
health crisis sign die dialing 988 for veterans, press 1 and
2:18
I'll get you over to the veteran crisis line as well.
2:21
So again, you're not alone. I promise you there's help out
2:23
there for you. And before I bring my guest on,
2:28
let's get a little bit of a word from MBR.
2:30
The station where our veterans voices are heard.
2:34
MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
2:37
channel by watching and listening.
2:39
Find us on the web at MB radio dot.
2:44
All right. Welcome back, everybody.
2:45
And with me tonight, I have Amber.
2:47
Amber, welcome to the show. Hey John, super excited to be
2:51
here. Thank you for the invite.
2:52
I'm honored to be able to be here tonight.
2:55
Share some story. Absolutely.
2:57
Thank you. If you could real quick, just
2:59
give a quick intro, a little background about yourself and
3:01
what you did in the military. OK, so I was 28 years in the
3:05
United States Air Force. I retired as an E9 out of the
3:09
Air Force Special Operations Command and I was ordinance and
3:13
or ammo for us in the Air Force. I I built bombs and missiles and
3:17
anything that went boom. Nice.
3:21
So yeah, I know we'll get to this in a little bit.
3:23
So what was so and after you transitioned you kind of started
3:26
your own path and if you could tell us a little bit about that,
3:28
like what transition was like for you and kind of if there was
3:31
any struggles there? There's a there was a lot of
3:34
struggles. I think I've had more than one,
3:37
one person ask me why I like to take the hard Rd. all the time.
3:41
But so it was, you know, 28 years and through our formative
3:47
years and everything I had built identity wise was, was, was
3:52
within the military and my time in the military.
3:56
So it's my struggles when when I made the decision to retire, I
4:02
had done it for my family. At the time, we had not been a
4:07
family unit for three years. And then they were talking about
4:10
splitting this up again. And so we both made the decision
4:13
to retire. And within three months of
4:15
retiring, the marriage blew up. My mother, my identity as a
4:20
mother blew up because again, unfortunately, sometimes in
4:24
those situations when they're not amicable, one parent gets
4:28
blamed more than the other parent.
4:29
And so in that time period, I lost 3 core identities that I
4:33
had built my entire formative life around.
4:37
So it was, you know, it was, it was really dark, dark times for
4:42
me. And my transition was not easy.
4:45
I know, you know, we went to tap the transition assistance
4:48
program and, and there's executive tap, but none of it
4:52
prepares you for who you are without your uniform and your
4:59
responsibility and your, you know, service to your country
5:03
and everything that you built and in that time period.
5:06
And, and it doesn't matter to me if it was four years or 28
5:09
years, you know, there's a, there's a big chunk of identity
5:12
in that. So it was a John, it was a
5:15
really difficult time for me and, and my family.
5:18
So and I, and I know that there's others out there that
5:21
are experiencing something similar on some sort.
5:24
There's no way I'm the only one. No, definitely not.
5:27
I would definitely say that's probably the probably the most
5:30
common theme I hear from all veterans, including myself with
5:33
my transition. Like like you said, you go
5:36
through your tabs or TRS, whatever you want to call it
5:39
depending on when you got out and stuff.
5:41
And I think you brought up a good point too.
5:43
It doesn't matter if you were in for four years or close to 30
5:47
years, like you spend most of your adult life up to that time
5:54
in the military and you figure out who you are in the military,
5:59
you excel at who you are in the military.
6:02
But those, and we say this jokingly, but not really it's
6:06
pretty really serious about it too, is the military does not do
6:10
a very good job of setting you up on how to be an adult outside
6:14
of the military, right. And again, we say this jokingly
6:18
a lot because I don't know what I'm going to do when I grow up.
6:20
We all say that like when it's time to get out like I don't
6:23
know what I'm going to do when I grow up.
6:24
And like but it's really true is because if you grow up as an
6:27
adult in the military, you already have a very standard way
6:32
of how you operate your what I would consider a work life,
6:36
right. And yeah, we like to say that
6:39
family comes before everything, but for us veterans, we all know
6:43
that that's not always the case. And I would probably say 95% of
6:46
the time that's not going to be the case because like you said,
6:49
you either get told you have to move and sometimes it's not with
6:53
your family, you know, and it's not because you don't want to go
6:56
with your family. It's just this is how the cards
6:58
are dealt sometimes. And when you get out, you no
7:03
longer have anybody telling you those types of things.
7:07
And it could be for the very first time in a long time, if
7:10
not ever, that you are both together all the time, always at
7:16
home every night, always getting up in the morning together,
7:19
doing stuff with the kids together.
7:22
And I think that that was one of the things that really was hard
7:25
for my transition too. If you could kind of speak on
7:29
that a little bit and and kind of how that LED you into where
7:34
you started to become. So I mean, for me, I could feel
7:39
I, I, I related to Pandora's box, right?
7:41
So depending upon where you came from and the environment that
7:45
you grew up in, some of us learned how to compartmentalize
7:48
and be able to execute whatever's in front of us very,
7:51
very young. And then in the military, you
7:54
know, they hone that skill. And so in order to be able to be
7:57
in a high OPS tempo and execute the mission, we have to be able
8:00
to compartmentalize. There's things that just have to
8:02
be pushed down. Well, I gave mine a name.
8:04
It's Pandora's Box. And I stuffed everything in that
8:07
thing and then buried it 6 feet under.
8:09
And so towards the end of my transition, you know, I, I
8:13
started feeling this box take a, take a life of its own.
8:16
And I, I could feel, I, I felt off, I felt antsy, I felt edgy.
8:21
You know, all of these things that that as a leader, we don't
8:25
really talk about feeling because if we do, you know, it,
8:31
it can be misconstrued. And so we just keep it to
8:33
ourselves, right? And if we're on the struggle
8:36
bus, fine, I'll just go serve some servant leadership to help
8:41
me be OK, you know, refill my cup.
8:45
Well, towards the end, you know, my box took a life of its own.
8:49
And I, I realized, you know, I'm going to start hurting the
8:53
people that I love the most. And, and it's not, it's not
8:55
intentional, but because now I'm more edgy and, you know, the
8:58
tiniest thing would, would rub me wrong.
9:00
And I'm like, what is going on with me?
9:03
Like this is not how I've conducted myself for the last
9:07
20-30 years. Like what is happening inside.
9:10
And one night I just, you know, I got really, really frustrated
9:14
with myself because I do expect myself to be, you know, my
9:18
standards for myself are really high.
9:22
And so I, I, I came back from Korea and everything was
9:25
starting to kind of fracture and fall apart.
9:28
And I got a whiteboard and I put it up next to my bed and I was
9:31
like, who am I? Like, if I'm not a leader in the
9:36
military, who am I? If I'm not an airman, who am I?
9:40
If I'm not part of this institution, this organization
9:42
that I've dedicated a huge chunk of my life to, who am I?
9:46
If I'm not a mom, who am I? If I'm not a wife or a spouse,
9:49
like who am I? What?
9:51
When you start listing out all the different identities or
9:55
masks that you put on every day, like what is underneath all of
9:58
that? Like, what do I like?
10:00
What do I not like? And that was the beginning of
10:03
the exploration into, you know, really getting to know myself,
10:07
because even as a leader and, and we talk about it, but really
10:12
getting to know yourself, doing that honest self inventory.
10:15
That's, that's a lengthy journey.
10:17
You know, we, we all have unique circumstances, experiences and
10:21
situations that have happened to us.
10:23
And that some of those things we processed and some of those
10:25
things we didn't, we just put them away because it was too
10:27
heavy at the time or we didn't have the time or the capability
10:30
or the capacity to, to handle it.
10:31
So we just stuck it in that box, you know?
10:34
And so I think when you begin to really do that honest inventory,
10:38
a lot of things start coming out.
10:40
And I don't know how many people are on the show are Harry Potter
10:43
fans, but there's one scene from the Harry Potter movies, and
10:46
it's Dumbledore in his office. And Harry goes in there, and
10:49
there's this big clear bowl, and there's like, all these wispy
10:52
things flying around there and voices and stuff, you know?
10:55
And Harry sticks his head in there, and he realizes they're
10:57
memories, and he starts pulling them.
10:58
You know, you can pull them out and be transported into that
11:01
memory. And so that's really what that
11:04
was like for me as I started to, no kidding, get to know myself.
11:08
Like who am I is is just going deep down and pulling out all of
11:13
these memories that I have and, and experiences traumatic, not
11:17
traumatic. You know, that formed me and,
11:19
and trying to understand like, why did I build myself this way?
11:23
You know what, because of this situation, I made these
11:26
decisions and that's how I decided to build myself because
11:31
I believe everything is a choice, conscious or
11:33
subconsciously we're, we're choosing.
11:36
So that was kind of the beginning.
11:38
That's how it all started. That becoming is, is really just
11:41
an honest self inventory. And the second part of that was
11:45
acknowledging there's some, there's some nasty shit in
11:47
there, man. Like there's nasty stuff in
11:51
there and I have to excavate that and I have to sit with it
11:54
and, you know, shame and embarrassment and anger and, you
11:59
know, all of these things that you're basically sifting through
12:03
and trying to figure out where did it come from?
12:05
Why did I react that way, respond that way?
12:08
Why did I decide to build myself that way?
12:10
You know, every situation that I'm not going to say happened to
12:14
me, but happened for me resulted in putting on another piece of
12:18
armor, right? Like I'm just going to armor
12:21
myself up and and make sure that nobody can ever have that kind
12:25
of effect on me again. And so taking that some of that
12:28
armor off that's been in place since I was a young child is
12:31
like ripping your own skin off with it.
12:33
Like this is not an easy process at all.
12:35
And so part of that becoming was, you know, honest self
12:40
inventory acknowledging like just all of the stuff I didn't
12:44
want to see about myself. I didn't want to admit it.
12:47
I sure didn't want to give it a voice.
12:50
And so from there, you know, now we roll into understanding and
12:55
reverse engineering, You know, why did I make those decisions,
12:57
why I built myself that way? Do I want to continue to operate
13:02
that way or do I want to rewire and rebuild myself in a
13:05
different way? And so it's been a, a three-year
13:09
journey for me. Yeah, that's part of the
13:14
beginning of, of, of my becoming.
13:16
But I, I had to, I had to reach rock, rock bottom.
13:19
I have a high threshold for things.
13:22
And so the universe decided that, you know, some of the
13:25
experiences I were going to have, they're going to be pretty
13:28
powerful and in my face to get me to to start this journey.
13:32
So we do have a quick question for one of the viewers.
13:34
So who were you before the military?
13:38
I was a troubled youth. I was I grew up with an in a
13:49
tumultuous environment. I bounced around from house to
13:52
house, relative to relative until I made the decision when I
13:55
was 15 to find my mom and live with her.
13:59
It was about 14 1/2 and that lasted about a year before she
14:02
kicked me out. And that was in Salt Lake City,
14:05
UT and I lived in downtown Salt Lake City and I rented a room
14:11
from a friend's aunt and uncle. I worked three jobs and put
14:15
that's really, you know, a, a pretty nice punch to your face
14:19
for you to figure things out. And I managed to stay out of
14:26
trouble. I'd already done 1 stint in
14:29
juvie for we'll say my temper. And it resulted in having a
14:39
conversation with my older brother who I hadn't talked to
14:41
in a while. And he was like, you got to join
14:43
the military, man. They feed you, they clothe you,
14:46
they give you money like a place to live.
14:50
This is, this is, this is it right here.
14:52
And so at when I graduated at 17, I was like, OK, I'm going
14:56
to, I'm going to join. I'm going to join the military.
14:59
And I had not talk to my dad in a really long time.
15:03
And I had told him, you know, I wanted to join the Marines
15:05
'cause he was a Marine. And he explicitly told me some
15:11
that, that that was not the, the route for me, implying I, I
15:15
wouldn't, I wouldn't make it in, in other words, you know, and
15:20
that only solidified my resolve. But then my brother said the Air
15:26
Force is better Amber for me. And so to the Air Force I went
15:33
and they were able to get me in. I graduated in May.
15:36
I had to figure out my life and stay out of trouble the the key
15:41
thing there and make it to December 5th when I turned 18.
15:47
And then I joined the military and was in Basic on December
15:51
21st. Yeah, I think, I think a lot of
15:56
us, we that join the military, we, we come from, I wouldn't say
16:01
it's the best situation in life, right.
16:05
And that's the reason a lot of us do join, is to get out of
16:08
those situations, regardless of what they are to because we know
16:13
that there's something inside of us that we have something for a
16:16
higher or bigger purpose than just us.
16:18
And we want to prove that to ourselves more than anybody else
16:21
a lot of times. So yeah, I, I can, I can relate
16:25
to that too. And I mean, I came from a small
16:28
town in North Carolina and there wasn't really much going on.
16:30
And it was, I just, I wanted to do something bigger, something
16:35
better. And that's the reason I joined
16:37
the Marine Corps, you know, just kind of prove myself wrong and
16:40
improve the ones who thought I would just stay there in my
16:43
hometown and not amount to anything, right?
16:46
And because that's what a lot of a lot of folks do in small
16:48
towns. And it's just the reality of the
16:50
world because that does happen everywhere across the country is
16:53
a lot of people get stuck in their own head and stuck in
16:56
their own kind of everyday monotonous life.
17:00
Really nothing to play down on anybody that stays at home
17:03
because I'm not trying to do that whatsoever.
17:05
But that does happen. And you don't see real growth in
17:07
the potential that people really have.
17:09
And like, for me, that was the reason I joined the military,
17:13
because I needed to prove myself that I was, I could do
17:17
something, you know, I could serve and do something bigger.
17:20
So, and, and, you know, just being honest with myself and the
17:23
audience, right It, it was, I joined the military out of
17:25
survival and, and, and hopes for it in a little bit like give me
17:30
a break, man. And it wasn't until I got
17:34
through basic and tech school in my first base where I was like,
17:37
I can do this and I can be good at this and and I can, I can
17:41
like that's when I found that's when that higher calling hit me
17:45
was my first base. So, but just upon joining was no
17:50
kidding. I just I'm so I'm bone tired.
17:52
I, you know, I, I'm, I'm not making any money.
17:55
I'm barely paying bills. I still live with strangers.
17:58
I had a, a Ford Pinto that was so rusted out in the passenger
18:05
side, there was no floor for you to put your feet.
18:07
I had a, some wood down there so that it was like a Flintstone
18:11
car, man, Like it was just, you know, I'm scrounging for gas
18:14
money and I'm just like this. There's got to be a better way.
18:16
And, and when I, my older brother reached out to me and
18:19
like I said, we hadn't talked in a while and he told me because
18:21
he had joined the Air Force and he had told me, you know, hey,
18:23
this I get money, I have a place to sleep.
18:26
Nobody's, you know, beat me up or, you know, other than the
18:34
typical, you know, Air Force supervisory discipline checking
18:37
in on you stuff. It wasn't, you know, it compared
18:40
to that, I was like, this sounds amazing.
18:43
Like where do I sign? You didn't even have to.
18:45
They were like, how soon do you want to be in?
18:46
And I'm like, what's the soonest you can give me in?
18:48
And they're like, well, what do you want to do?
18:50
And I'm like, does it matter? And so at the time, you know, it
18:56
was security forces or build bombs, you know, ammo.
19:01
And I was like, I, I kind of want to do both.
19:04
But I went to the, the nearest base at Hill Air Force Base, and
19:07
I saw cops standing outside in the, in the freezing cold,
19:10
holding guns, guarding planes. And I'm like, that looks boring,
19:14
like very boring. I don't want to do that.
19:16
And so I was like, building bombs sounds a lot more fun.
19:21
So that's literally how I made that decision.
19:23
Might as well just flip the coin.
19:26
How soon can I get at it? So through all of that, through
19:33
your military career and and the struggles with transitioning,
19:37
how did that set you up to kind of start on your upper path to
19:42
where you are today? So I love helping people be the
19:48
best version that they can be. I love watching somebody just
19:53
bloom in step into themselves and just bloom.
19:57
And so that's one of the things that I absolutely loved about
19:59
getting the opportunity to be a supervisor and a leader.
20:03
So when I retired and that went away, that's what really
20:05
refilled my cup. And so it was really hard for
20:09
me. And this all came about.
20:13
At one of my son's football games, and so he played seven on
20:16
7 and tackle football and he's been playing since he was 5.
20:20
He's now 14. But we were he was 10 years old.
20:23
We were in Atlanta, GA at A7 on 7 tournament.
20:25
And in those tournaments they're very high energy, intense.
20:31
But there is no, you know, you can stand right on the sideline.
20:33
And so parents are all just camped out on the sideline and
20:39
this younger kid, he had a bad play, coach got mad, you know,
20:44
the coaches and nothing against coaches.
20:47
You know, he's righteously passionate.
20:49
Lot a lot of stuff was said, you know, some things were throwing.
20:54
Ultimately the kid, he was like, you know, get out, get out of
20:57
the game, sit on on the on the ground.
21:00
His parents were disappointed in him, right?
21:03
The community, everybody there, you know, I'm not saying that
21:07
they're disappointed in him, but he thinks they're disappointed
21:10
in him. And so when that happens, right,
21:13
what do we do? We spiral, we beat ourselves up.
21:16
And so this kids in tears and you know, the coach is screaming
21:19
at him, be a leader, be a leader.
21:20
And I'm sitting here going, man, it took me freaking 30 years to
21:22
figure out how to be a leader. And I'm still learning.
21:25
Like, how does this 10 year old know what the hell be a leader
21:30
means? There's so much to that.
21:33
And so I just walked over to him and I had a conversation with
21:36
him. I taught him some breathing box
21:38
breathing technique. We got him back in his body, got
21:40
him refocused, got him out of the past into the present, Told
21:44
him to go tell the coach he's ready to go back in.
21:46
He went and told the coach and went back in and he made it and
21:49
he made a touchdown. You know, he had a great play
21:51
after that. And so from then on, the coach
21:54
was kind of like, oh, you're my muse.
21:55
And I'm like, no, I'm not a muse, You know, I just see a
21:59
need fill a need. The kid was in a bad place.
22:02
Let me help him. And that's kind of how this
22:05
whole coaching thing started for me was at that level, just with
22:11
the, the young kids teaching them, you know, and, and it's a
22:14
real thing. High performance meltdowns are
22:16
real things because we have so much pressure on us.
22:19
And whether it's military or athletics, I find the 2 worlds
22:22
have a lot of parallels between them.
22:24
And so that's how my journey into this started and just being
22:27
able to see, you know, them come off of a bad play, have a three
22:30
to, you know, 10 second conversation with them, watch
22:34
them get back into themselves, go back out and do a great job.
22:38
I mean, that is a beautiful thing.
22:41
And and again, it doesn't matter what the the medium is sports
22:45
work like pick one. I just think it's really
22:49
fulfilling to be able to help someone through whatever that
22:54
muck is that they're going through in that moment and then
22:56
watch that bounce back. I love the bounce back man.
23:00
That's awesome. Yeah.
23:03
I think that was probably some of my favorite times as a leader
23:07
in in the service as well in the military is seeing somebody,
23:11
especially when they you could tell they're doubting
23:13
themselves, but you just give them a second chance and a
23:17
little bit of a push in the right direction.
23:20
And then all of a sudden you just see them flourish and do
23:22
some great things, man. Like that's that was one of my
23:25
favorite things of being a leader.
23:27
It, it really was. And like that is probably,
23:30
that's probably the biggest thing I do miss honestly about
23:32
my time and services, those opportunities.
23:37
I do think this brings us to a great time to take a short
23:40
break. We'll take about a 3 minute
23:41
break. And when we come back, we're
23:44
going to go more into transitioning your, almost your
23:50
identity going from being chief to founder.
23:53
We'll start talking about that a little bit more and actually get
23:55
into the business itself. We'll be back in about 3
23:59
minutes. Hey everybody and welcome.
26:59
Back to the bunkhouse, if you did, if you're just now joining
27:02
us after the break, before we took our little short break, we
27:05
were talking about Amber and her time in the military and kind of
27:09
really the struggles of transitioning and, and finding
27:11
her new identity and, and really kind of honed in on, I think
27:14
what is what would we could call a very pivotal point and what
27:18
kind of drove her, guided her in the direction that she's become
27:20
today. And Amber, if you could talk to
27:23
us a little bit about what that going from a retired Chief
27:28
Master Sergeant into now being a founder of your own business,
27:31
what was that like? Woof.
27:36
I will say that it has been relentless learning.
27:40
Let's go with that. So, you know, as a, as a, as a
27:45
chief, you have a team and you never really, I always tried to
27:50
acknowledge what my team did for me and be grateful and have an
27:53
attitude of gratitude. But I don't think it really
27:57
quite hits you until that moment when you are wearing every
28:03
single hat. So as a solo entrepreneur, there
28:07
is nobody to delegate to. It's just me, you know, and
28:14
there's nobody following up on me.
28:16
So I'm, you know, I, I am every single role.
28:20
And I will say that it can get, it can get pretty lonely at
28:25
times because yes, it totally depends on who you surround
28:30
yourself with, right? And, and being able to find a
28:32
community in which you fit in and support you and are able to
28:38
have shared thought leadership. And I, I was lucky to find that
28:43
community through a, a fellow ammo troop who I had just
28:46
blindly reached out to on LinkedIn.
28:49
I was scrolling through LinkedIn, you know, trying to
28:51
find my 5 to 10 contacts a day. And I was like, oh, this guy,
28:56
Joshua Roberts is a, is a previous ammo troop.
28:59
And now he's a, he's a leadership coach.
29:02
You know what? What I'm gonna reach out to him
29:05
and just on a whim, I reached out to him and he was like
29:09
absolutely a phenomenal human. He was like, absolutely, let's
29:13
link up. Let me tell you what I all the
29:15
things that I've learned in my journey to help you avoid the
29:18
same pitfalls. And from there, he invited me
29:20
into a community called Empire Partners.
29:23
And it is full of entrepreneurs, you know, just trying to make
29:27
their way through the world. And but the community is the
29:30
closest thing that I found to what the military community is
29:35
like. It's very close knit.
29:37
It's very supportive. They check on you, they ensure
29:39
you're doing OK, you know, do you need anything?
29:42
So it's a, it's a phenomenal community that I'm able to and
29:45
blessed to have in my corner, to be honest with you.
29:48
And so that has been pivotal in, in, you know, moving in the
29:54
right direction. And there's a lot of things, you
29:55
know, I, I don't know. And that's what I mean by a
29:58
relentless learner. You know, I don't know anything
29:59
about marketing or sales or offers or, you know, ideal
30:03
client avatar, like all of these things that are I, I knew
30:08
nothing about Canva, you know, like pick a, pick a, a, a
30:13
platform here and Amber's like, oh man, fire hose to the face on
30:17
learning all of these things. And so you, you have to have
30:20
that open mindset and that just grit and determination in this
30:26
is my higher calling. And I'm because times get tough,
30:30
you know, and, and you're sitting there and, you know,
30:33
you're not making the money that that you need to be making the
30:35
pay bills. You're, you know, ends aren't
30:38
math is not math in here. And you still just have to
30:41
somehow find a way to get up and come in here and work on the
30:44
thing and trust in in what you're doing is is the right
30:47
thing for you and your family. So a whole nother level of
30:52
respect for anyone on the entrepreneur journey.
30:55
It is some of the hardest things I've had to do outside of, you
30:59
know, knowing myself and excavating myself to be able to
31:02
be a better human. But this is definitely one of
31:05
those journeys that is going to reveal who you are under
31:09
pressure. Hey, Tim, thanks for.
31:12
Stopping in man got a got a comment saying Sup John zipper
31:15
fine hey Amber, great content thank you guys I appreciate that
31:20
yeah so with that So what does really performance coaching
31:27
actually mean right so is all your clientele veterans or do
31:32
you have different type of clientele so.
31:35
I have really anyone who's looking to improve.
31:41
I, I love the athletes I love, I love that work because I feel
31:46
like we're getting in front of it And you know, I, I, I put a
31:51
lot of things into the know yourself, lead yourself for that
31:55
age that if they water those seeds down the road there, it's,
31:58
you know, it's going to help them throughout life, no matter
32:00
the terrain that they're, they're rolling through.
32:03
I love working with veterans. It's very deeply personal for me
32:10
because I've, I've, I'm on the path that that you're starting
32:13
on or that you're in the middle of and, and you know, I'm still
32:17
figuring out stuff for myself as well, because a healing journey
32:21
like this is, it's never ending. Just when you think you have it
32:26
down, you know, like just just when you think you got it, the
32:30
universe sends you a human that's like, Are you sure?
32:32
And stomps all over that red button every time.
32:36
Just kidding, let me go back. I guess I still have more to
32:39
learn about that. So it's been it.
32:45
It depends. You know, I, I firmly believe
32:47
that coaching is not peanut butter spread.
32:51
I don't I don't think that it's one-size-fits-all.
32:53
It is a deeply intimate and personal project or program.
33:00
It, it just can't, it can't be, you know, what works for you,
33:03
John may not work for for Sarah or for me.
33:06
And so in order to be able to build something together,
33:09
because it, it takes both of us, you know, we, we have to be able
33:12
to get vulnerable and real and raw with what's going on with
33:16
you so that we can get that forward movement and it
33:19
movement. And you have to have buy in
33:21
anybody who comes to the table. You know, you have to
33:23
understand, this is what I'm getting myself into because it's
33:26
going to ripple out. It's going to affect friends and
33:28
family and relationships and dynamic because you, you are
33:33
going in and excavating yourself and rebuilding.
33:36
So for me, it's, it's all about the human, the human.
33:40
So if you reach out and you want to have a conversation, then
33:43
that just that first discovery call is like, OK, who are you?
33:46
Where are you? How do you want to move forward?
33:48
What do you envision for yourself?
33:50
Like tell you just getting to know each other and then making
33:53
a determination, 'cause I might not be the the person for you.
33:56
And and that's OK. You know, I wasn't the chief for
33:57
everybody. But if I'm not, I will damn sure
34:01
do everything I can to find you a human that you do fit with
34:04
because that's how important this work is.
34:06
So yeah, it's really anybody who's in a place where they're
34:09
ready to do do deep work. Oh, that's awesome, man.
34:13
And I think you're right because, and I think that's one
34:15
thing I know I learned too, is as a leader in the military,
34:18
like you, you have certain troops that you can handle a
34:21
certain way, then you have other troops that you can't have that
34:24
type of leadership with them at all.
34:26
Like you have to completely change and like really, almost
34:29
really go off script of what you're what you would consider
34:32
your leadership philosophy just because it just doesn't work
34:34
with them. And it's like, it's like even
34:36
with your kids, like I have 3 kids of my own.
34:38
I each one of them. I can't even treat each one of
34:40
them the same, even they're all three of my kids.
34:42
Like I have to, I have to do something.
34:44
I have to parent a little bit differently with each and every
34:46
one of them. Yeah.
34:47
Oh. Yeah.
34:48
And it's, you know, and it's not that I'm changing my leadership
34:51
philosophy, but I am definitely changing and adapting how I
34:55
deliver my message. And I think that the art of
34:59
leadership and a big facet of that is art of communication has
35:03
just not something that we intentionally develop.
35:09
Even even the military, you know, we weren't, we weren't
35:12
developing that until we hit a certain milestone.
35:15
Why, why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we start with that?
35:20
So I know there's a lot of humans out there that bear the
35:24
and I'm gonna use Josh Roberts phrase, you know, the scars of
35:27
my leadership journey as I tried to figure out, you know, what
35:31
kind of leader I was wanted to be where I wanted to go as a
35:35
leader. And and for that, you know, I
35:39
honor them because I essentially practiced on them.
35:42
You know, it's like your first born child.
35:44
You, you practice on them because we overdo it.
35:47
And and there is no, there is no master playbook.
35:50
There's just not there's not a master playbook for leadership.
35:53
Again, it's a very deeply personal.
35:55
You know, what works with John doesn't work with Sally, doesn't
35:58
work with Sarah, You know, and some things may standards may
36:03
cross all those gaps, right? But how you help them reach
36:08
those standards or that's all in individual.
36:12
So for me, it's a it's a very personal journey.
36:15
I think that's awesome. If there's anybody out there
36:18
listening right now that maybe either wanting to get on their
36:21
own growth journey or even really starting entrepreneurship
36:25
themselves, what are some lessons learned that you've
36:27
taken through through this and are still maybe even learning?
36:32
I will say at times I questioned my sanity, like who decides to
36:44
to build a business from scratch in the middle of rebuilding
36:48
themselves? And I think that I wouldn't have
36:54
done it any other way. And I say that because as I
36:57
continue my journey, you know, learning myself, facing the, the
37:04
yucky reverse engineering, I'm able, there's almost always I'm
37:09
able to help someone else through whatever it is they're
37:12
going through by sharing my story.
37:14
And so I, I do that a lot on social media is I'll have
37:17
something happen that activates or triggers me and then I'll
37:19
talk about, or I'll post about it.
37:22
And I think that it's definitely not an easy journey, but it is,
37:27
it is well worth it. And, and a lot of the times I, I
37:29
relate it to like, Hey, I'm on this on this path and in front
37:33
of me is this nasty icky swamp. And you know, there's different
37:36
emotions swirling through there. Think of every icky emotion, you
37:40
know, shame, embarrassment, pride, ego, put it all in there.
37:45
And on the other side of that is this, this beautiful lit up
37:50
mountain trail. And I need to get.
37:53
Over there and the only way to get over there is to go through
37:56
this and so being able to help anybody as they're in that
38:03
journey. I think it's just that's the
38:06
higher calling like, and I know I've seen your, you know, be a
38:09
light in the dark for someone and it and it's the same
38:11
concept. You know, I know that what I've
38:14
been through the journey, the lessons that I've learned
38:17
everything has been for me to be able to be a light for someone
38:20
to help light someone else up in their own like literally help
38:25
them find their own light. It's not my job to light your
38:28
light for you, but it is, I think, my higher calling to help
38:32
you find the light within you so that you can illuminate your own
38:35
path and find your way through your darkness.
38:39
Oh yeah, I like that. And, and it took me some time to
38:42
kind of get to that same kind of, I guess thought process or
38:46
conclusion is like everything that has happened in my life,
38:51
good and bad. Like I've came to a point in my
38:54
life now where I know for a fact, like all of that has
38:56
happened for a reason, right? Rather be good stuff, bad stuff
39:00
or indifferent. All the things that I've been
39:02
through and experienced, all are for a reason and.
39:08
I've. Determined that part of that is
39:10
sharing stories like this sharing my own story and and and
39:13
hopefully that one day or somebody can listen to something
39:16
and and get some hope out of it and and know that there is some
39:20
light at the end of the tunnel. It's just it is going to take
39:23
some work continuous work too. It's not you're not going to
39:26
find a one week class here or a 30 minute seminar over here and
39:32
it's all going to like the light bulbs going to click then like
39:34
no it's just those are just stepping stones to get you
39:37
through the tunnel right Really is what those are but yeah, it's
39:41
just hopefully somebody can can hear something and know that
39:45
there is light at the end of the tunnel.
39:46
Give them some hope to kind of pull themselves back up out of
39:49
the darkness even if it's just but even if it's just a little
39:52
bit you know give a little bit of light you know for their
39:54
path. I think that I think you're, I
39:57
think you're spot on with that is like we all have, we're all
40:01
called to do something. It's just now how are we going
40:04
to use that experience to better the world, right?
40:08
And and I think it's. Important to, you know, when you
40:10
hit on the, the light and the, and, and the tunnel that none of
40:14
us are alone unless we choose to be.
40:17
And I, and I say that because it's a choice, right?
40:22
And I do this. This is 100% Amber's default is
40:26
to go inward. And when I go inward, I shut off
40:30
everybody else around me and I put myself on a little isolation
40:33
island, you know, and I'm like, nobody understands me.
40:36
Only I could be having this very unique problem.
40:39
And that's not accurate. And that's a story, you know,
40:44
that I've caught myself telling myself is that, you know, nobody
40:49
else can possibly understand what I'm going through.
40:53
And that's not to take anything away from anybody else's story
40:56
or path or journey or experiences.
40:59
There's always some commonalities, you know?
41:01
And I think it's important that the first step be like, hey,
41:04
man, you're not alone. You're not alone in this
41:06
struggle unless you choose to be in, especially in the veteran
41:11
community. I know and I, I don't know about
41:15
you, but in my experience, anytime I've ever posted
41:18
something on social media that could even hint that I was not
41:21
in a good place, there was an outpouring of, of, of DMS, you
41:24
know? Hey, are you OK?
41:25
What are you carrying? What's going on?
41:27
How can I help? You're not alone.
41:29
And so I really think that's important that we in in the vet
41:33
fam understand that doesn't matter.
41:35
You know, again, the time you served, where you served, what
41:39
service you served in none of that matters.
41:43
You're not alone unless you choose to be.
41:46
Yeah, I know. I.
41:46
I, I think you're, I think you had a really big thing there is
41:50
it's so easy for us to isolate when we start having some bad
41:55
days because it's so much easier because when we don't want to
41:57
feel like a burden to somebody else with our problems, right?
42:00
We, we, we don't want to seem weak to the people that we care
42:04
about and that we love that are around us, You know, so we got
42:07
to stay strong and by doing that, we have to pull all of
42:10
that in and, and hide it away and not let not share with
42:13
anybody. And we, we definitely, we're
42:19
very good at that. Like you like this, I'll use,
42:20
I'll use your term. We put it down in Pandora's box
42:22
and we lock it away and like put it up in the closet somewhere,
42:25
you know, and eventually there's no more room in that box for
42:30
anything to go. And, and, and you're right is
42:34
that's one thing I've definitely learned just since I've
42:37
relaunched my show, is the veteran community, especially in
42:41
this day and age of social media and just the Internet in
42:45
general, Like there's so many great individuals out there that
42:50
there nobody's looking to compete, especially at least the
42:53
veteran community that I've become to know around is like
42:57
nobody's there to compete with each other.
42:59
Like you're there to help each other out.
43:02
And when we say that, Hey, we got you at any time of day, if
43:06
it's 2O clock in the morning, you need just somebody to
43:08
listen. I promise you, somebody's going
43:10
to be there to answer the phone for you.
43:12
I promise you. Because that's, you know,
43:15
because almost a lot of us know what it's like to feel lonely
43:18
and to feel, you know, and do the self isolation.
43:21
Like it's a lot of times it's our fault that we feel lonely,
43:24
you know, but we, but there's, there's a group of us out there
43:29
that we've figured out and got into a point to where we are
43:34
vulnerable and, and, and comfortable enough to be
43:37
vulnerable and accepted that vulnerability and use it as a
43:40
strength to be able to connect with each other.
43:43
Well, it is a strength. You know, I mean like the amount
43:46
of courage it takes to be vulnerable, you know, is, is 10
43:50
times the, the amount of strength it takes to isolate.
43:54
It's very easy to isolate or to hide from from the world, you
43:57
know, but just to stand boldly and proudly and say I'm in a bad
44:01
place or this is, you know, I need some help, some just even
44:05
if it's a sounding board. But one thing I want to I want
44:07
to back up just a little bit too, is you.
44:11
Let me ask you this question. You know, how do you, how do you
44:13
feel when you are able to be of service to another human to help
44:18
them through some hardship stuff man?
44:23
Yeah. So if if I, if I know or I feel
44:26
like I could provide any kind of, you know, inside wisdom,
44:31
whatever you want to call it, and especially when I do and I
44:35
could see the effects in the positive that it has on them.
44:40
There's nothing else like it, right?
44:43
It is. It it.
44:45
It it absolutely does. There is no other high in this
44:48
world that is like that feeling when you could you can honestly
44:53
say that you were you had the ability to help somebody, even
44:57
it may not even be a it might even be a small health right.
45:00
It may not even be nothing big, just a small thing like it's, I
45:03
don't know. So it's, it's hard to put into
45:06
words sometimes, like how it makes me feel inside, like I, I
45:10
can feel it right now, like I'm getting cold chills and like
45:12
just thinking about it, you know, and how it makes me feel
45:15
so. Here's my question, right?
45:17
And this is how I had to rewire my own brain because I was that
45:19
human that wouldn't allow anybody else to help me.
45:23
I had to rewire my brain to say, hey, by not letting them help
45:27
me, I am robbing them of that same joy I get from helping
45:33
others. I'm taking that opportunity away
45:35
from them. And what what happens when I
45:38
take that opportunity away so many times, right?
45:41
Eventually they stop offering to help.
45:44
So let people help you they want.
45:50
It. Gives them something very
45:52
fulfilling and, you know, soul enriching to do something like
45:56
that, yeah. So real quick before we take a
46:01
note when our last break of the night.
46:06
Out of. All the lessons learned and
46:08
everything that you've experienced throughout just life
46:11
up until now. What would you say to a veteran
46:15
or even a transitioning service member right now?
46:18
If they're listening to the show, what would you tell them
46:21
if, if they're a few months out from or they may be a few months
46:25
out from making the a decisions like they're on the fence of
46:29
should I go down this path or not?
46:32
You know, what do I need to do? What would what would you tell
46:34
them to help encourage them to to take that big step and jump
46:40
off the ledge, so to speak, and just go for it?
46:44
Wow. So these are easy questions.
46:48
I think, you know, first and foremost, don't suffer in
46:54
silence. I think that when we give a
46:58
voice to something that is unknown or a fear, it takes away
47:03
some of its power over us. So find someone that you trust
47:07
and have a conversation, even if you have that conversation with
47:11
yourself, whether that's journal, whether that's, you
47:14
know, AI, what, whatever. I know that, you know, we have
47:17
ChatGPT or AI now and it's like a pocket therapist, you know,
47:20
get on there and work through some of your stuff, but give it
47:23
a voice because when we don't give it a voice and we try to
47:26
silence it, guess what? That voice just becomes louder
47:31
and stronger and more intimidating.
47:34
And, you know, limiting it limits you and, and what you,
47:38
you start to believe about yourself.
47:41
And that's your own voice. So if you're thinking about
47:44
doing it, like walk through it, have a conversation with
47:48
somebody, give that a voice because it is scary.
47:50
It it absolutely is scary. You're walking away from
47:52
everything that you've known for four years or 28 years or, you
47:56
know, 20 years. That's a huge transition.
47:59
And when we don't talk about it and we pretend like it doesn't
48:01
exist. And I'm all for dark humor, wit
48:04
and sarcasm. Those are some of my go to, you
48:06
know, fun skills. But like, have the conversation
48:10
with somebody that you trust, somebody that can hold space for
48:12
you where you can be real, raw and vulnerable about the fears
48:16
you're having. Because it is there are fears.
48:18
It is scary. Yeah, I, I think you're
48:21
absolutely right. It's, and it's, I always, I
48:25
always try to, to kind of package it like accepting that
48:30
fear and then being vulnerable enough to express it and be able
48:36
to process it, right? Because those are, that's the,
48:38
that's the two key things that I've found in my own success,
48:42
right? What I consider myself being
48:43
like success for myself, because my success is different than
48:46
your success, which is going to be different than Tim's success,
48:49
right? But one thing that I, I've come
48:52
to realize and kind of ensure that I hold myself accountable
48:56
for is, OK, first I have to accept what's going on, the
48:59
feeling that I have or the emotion or whatever the
49:02
situation is. And then I have to be vulnerable
49:04
enough to actually process that. I got to write it up.
49:08
Like you said, I, I journal myself as well.
49:09
So journaling things down, writing things down and going
49:12
through it a couple of times because there may be some things
49:14
that you don't think about in the spur of the moment that as
49:17
you write it down and you walk and you walk through it, that
49:20
you're going to figure some other things out.
49:21
You're going to say, oh, I didn't think about this.
49:23
This is actually a this is a benefit or a bonus, right?
49:25
Like that I didn't think about in the heat of the thing.
49:27
So yeah. So I think that for me, that's
49:30
just the two pieces that I've found that keep me accountable
49:33
and keep me moving forward in my journey.
49:35
Is being like accepting those things and then being vulnerable
49:38
enough to to process them. Absolutely.
49:41
I think for like for me, I've developed a signal, a reaction,
49:45
a story, a truth. And then you know what, what am
49:48
I valuing and what am I? How am I responding is kind of
49:51
the, the operating system that I'm, I've installed recently,
49:55
like, you know, being able to say, hey, what happened?
49:57
Why do I feel this way? What's going on inside of my
50:00
body? What was said, changed,
50:02
experienced and then the reaction piece, right?
50:04
Like what came alive, what it, what is, am I anger?
50:08
Is there fear? Is there shame?
50:10
Like what is that? And the and the key here is not
50:13
to be judgmental. It's to be curious.
50:15
Be curious about your just as curious about yourself as you
50:18
are a loved one. When you see them struggle.
50:21
That is the key to this whole process.
50:23
Because if you come at yourself with judgmental, you know,
50:26
perspective, then now you're just beating yourself up and
50:29
sending yourself into a spiral. But be curious about who you
50:32
are, why you're feeling that way.
50:34
And then you know, what meaning are you assigning it?
50:37
Like, what does that look like? And then the truth, like, what
50:41
do I actually know? What are what are solid facts
50:44
here? And then is it what am I asking
50:47
for in this scenario? Do I want to feel protected?
50:49
Do I want to feel respected, safety, belonging, like all of
50:54
these things? And then from there, who do I
50:56
want to be when I eventually respond, right?
51:01
Not react, respond because reacting is usually from a
51:04
heightened emotional space. But who do I want to be when I
51:06
respond to something? And, and I use that system
51:10
within me all the time, all the time.
51:12
Somebody says something and I'm like, what, you know, what'd you
51:15
just say to me? And then I'm like, wait, why did
51:17
that bother me? Why did that?
51:19
Why did that do that? You know, because that's, that's
51:21
nine times at a time. It's not about them, it's about
51:23
me. And why, why am I receiving that
51:25
message that way? Why is it landing sideways?
51:28
So take, take the time to intimately know yourself.
51:32
I think that's that's such a big part of the journey and accept,
51:35
accept it. We all have these icky, nasty
51:37
parts of ourselves. You know, I think it's Carl Jung
51:40
and his work where he talks about the different archetypes.
51:42
You know, there's a killer, there's a warrior, there's a
51:44
king, there's a, you know, all these different archetypes out
51:47
there. And, and we all have that within
51:50
us. It's just when we choose, right,
51:53
it's got to be a choice when we choose to bring that out.
51:55
You know, I'm not going to bring my killer out because I was
51:57
disrespected, but if my life is threatened, then guess who's
52:00
coming online? Big difference.
52:04
Oh, 100%. That's awesome.
52:07
So we're going. To take a quick break and then
52:08
when we come back, we're going to dive in more detail about
52:11
your business specifically and what you provide.
52:15
We'll be back. All right, welcome back,
55:16
everybody to the Bunkhouse here on NPR where we give veterans a
55:19
voice. So before the break, Amber and I
55:21
were talking about some lessons learned, some struggles kind of
55:24
getting to where she is today. And what I would like to, what I
55:28
would like to try to think is some pretty decent advice on how
55:33
to kind of shape your kind of definition of self success,
55:37
really, right, Because success is different from everybody.
55:40
It's not the same for everybody, you know, So if you could give
55:46
us a real good rundown of your business, the services that you
55:50
provide and and where they can find all of your all your
55:53
information at. So I for a long time I thought I
55:59
was building a performance business.
56:02
What I realized is that the performance is the outcome,
56:06
right? It's it's not the starting
56:09
point. And so the people who usually
56:12
find me that want to work with me, like I said before, you, you
56:16
have to be willing to jump in that swamp into the ick and
56:20
understand like, hey, this is this is what we're going for.
56:23
This is a this is a long term, you know, there is no red pill,
56:26
blue pill, no magic fix here. We're we're going to do some
56:28
really hard work and it's athletes, leaders, veterans,
56:34
coaches, business owners. I mean, I've got the spread and
56:38
I think it's important because this is, again, very
56:41
personalized. This is a journey in which I
56:45
walk beside you as we go through all of your stuff and the work
56:51
has to come from you. And So what I do is I create
56:55
that safe place to come in to, to put your armor down, take it,
56:59
take it off, put it down. However you want to phrase that
57:01
and get curious about who you are, who you are underneath the
57:04
rank, who you are underneath the uniform, who you are, you know,
57:09
underneath the athlete, the title, whether that's mom, dad,
57:12
leader, like doesn't doesn't matter what the title is.
57:15
We all tie an identity to that and we learn how to perform in
57:19
that role. And, and then once we know that,
57:23
that's, that's when we get to build, we build self-awareness,
57:26
we build self leadership. We build those internal systems
57:29
that allow you to stay connected to yourself, no matter the
57:32
terrain that you're on, no matter what point you're in
57:35
life. It, it doesn't matter you, you
57:37
have that skill set within you. And so, you know, in the
57:40
military, we're provided that that safety net, that
57:43
environment, we have somebody who's always checking on us,
57:47
always making sure that we're doing the things that we need to
57:49
do in order to be successful. Well, I teach you how to do that
57:52
for yourself. And it's a year long program.
57:56
You can't do this in a month again, we're gonna go, we're
58:01
gonna go deep. And so it's, you know, it's 4
58:04
phases and we walk through each of those know acknowledged,
58:07
dismantle, rebuild and integrate and integrating is probably the,
58:11
you know, one of the most important pieces to being able
58:14
to integrate everything that you've learned into your life so
58:17
that you don't need me. The goal is, you know, to not,
58:20
not have somebody that you have to lean on.
58:21
You're leaning on yourself, so it's really, you know, come
58:25
here, put your armor down and and let's find out who you are,
58:28
who you really are and those it's.
58:31
Amazing. It's it's, it's quite a journey
58:35
and. And I've done it for myself and
58:38
I'm still in it, you know, there's days I'm still and and,
58:40
and and and I'm just, I think it's, I think it's realistic.
58:44
You know, I'm not a motivational coach.
58:46
I'm not AI don't sell, you know, hope or, you know, motivation
58:52
like that's am I gonna tell you that I think you can do some
58:54
really hard things? Absolutely.
58:56
Am I gonna sugarcoat it for you? No, I'm not.
58:59
I mean, like, this is, this is gonna suck like, so let's just
59:01
go ahead and embrace it it all to get to that point, you know,
59:05
where you can truly know yourself and lead yourself
59:08
through whatever life may throw at you and, and, and be calm
59:14
and, and true to yourself and aligned and congruent with who
59:18
you want to be. And so the, the best way to get
59:21
a hold of me is amber@amberhoughton.com.
59:24
That's my e-mail. I do have something called the
59:27
drift check. If you're kind of curious, like,
59:29
you know, you feel something's off and you're not quite sure
59:31
where you're at. There's a drift check quiz takes
59:36
like 2 seconds to do. And it kind of helps you gauge
59:38
where, where you might be at some of that stuff that maybe
59:41
you haven't brought from the darkness into the light.
59:43
And, and I can send that over to you as well.
59:45
But it's a yeah. And it's definitely a journey,
59:50
and I'm willing to walk it with anybody who's willing to do the
59:52
work. Awesome.
59:55
Real. Quick.
59:55
I'm going to get your e-mail address up real quick so
59:58
everybody can have it. There we go.
1:00:07
So, yeah, so Amber, amberhoughton.com again, if you
1:00:10
got questions or just want to see what it's all about, give
1:00:14
Amber a shout. I guarantee you she'll get back
1:00:18
to you as quickly as she can. And I promise you those she'll
1:00:21
be able to help you out. If you're if you're looking to
1:00:24
take that next step in your journey, she'll she'll
1:00:27
definitely get you in the right direction.
1:00:28
So real quick before we drop off here, is there any last things,
1:00:35
any last comment that you want to say to anybody listening out
1:00:38
there? You are not alone.
1:00:44
I cannot foot stomp that enough. Don't suffer in silence.
1:00:49
There's a whole vet family out there that wants you to reach
1:00:55
out. Don't do this alone.
1:00:58
You don't have to. I did it.
1:01:00
It was terrible. It was a bad idea.
1:01:01
Don't be like me. It's really absolutely.
1:01:06
That's the best way I can say it, you know, is like, just
1:01:11
reach out to somebody. You, you are cared for.
1:01:14
You're seen, you're heard, you're valued.
1:01:17
Don't do this alone. Yeah, no.
1:01:20
And. That's, that's one thing that I,
1:01:22
I, I try to, you know, say every time on my show and a lot of the
1:01:27
veterans that I'm like in the, in the, in the podcasting
1:01:29
network with that we all say the same thing.
1:01:33
And, and I promise you, we all mean it.
1:01:35
You're not alone. If you've reached out to any one
1:01:38
of us that you find out there on any platform, you will get a
1:01:41
response and it'll be a, a heartfelt response.
1:01:44
It's not going to be like that, that, that bot that just
1:01:47
replies. It is, Oh, thank you for
1:01:48
contacting me, right? It's going to be an actual
1:01:50
message back and being genuinely concerned and curious about what
1:01:54
is going on with you, right? I can promise you that.
1:01:58
But that's all the time we do have for tonight.
1:02:01
Amber, thank you so much for joining me.
1:02:03
It has been a pleasure having you on the show.
1:02:05
Thank you so much. Oh, thank you.
1:02:08
It's. Been an honor.
1:02:09
Thank you for creating an environment for us to share
1:02:11
story I I, I cannot overstate how important that is.
1:02:17
Thank you. I'm just trying to do my, a
1:02:19
little bit of part that I can, you know, to provide back to the
1:02:22
veteran community. That's, that's part of my
1:02:23
purpose. All the things that I've, I've,
1:02:25
I've been through and learned and trying to give back any
1:02:28
little bit that I can. And again, everybody out there
1:02:31
listening, thank you again for tuning in tonight.
1:02:34
Hope to see you again here next Monday night at 6:00 PM Eastern.
1:02:38
And as always, be the light in someone's dark.
1:02:42
Hi I'm. Beaker with Military Broadcast
1:02:45
Radio TV. We're your virtual MWR bringing
1:02:49
veterans radio, podcasts, gaming, animation, 3D printing,
1:02:54
and a community that never leaves you behind.
1:02:56
Download our Roku or mobile app today.