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From Battlefield to Business: The Inspiring Journey of a Veteran Entrepreneur and His Mission with Wounded Woodworkers · Mrs. PIE

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Giannis-G.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Exciting music.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: All right, welcome back everybody.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It's another fantastic episode.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I don't mind saying so myself.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I'm Mrs Pa and I'm here with my friend Jacob.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: We have a lot to talk about, but first of all I just wanted to say I am so glad you hear.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Honestly, I've been waiting for this conversation for quite some time.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, I am so excited to be here, so I really appreciate you being patient so our schedules can align.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so all right.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: So everybody, I want to give this a really quick do.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: All my admin influencer things, I got to get this out of the way, so huge thank you to everybody who's watching.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, I am aware that we've lost our link on Facebook.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: The video will also be on YouTube.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: We can catch the replay, but just want to do a quick shout out to the folks who are watching us on LinkedIn and YouTube and Twitter and definitely want to say hello to our all of our friends and fam over at Parade Deck Live TV.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: You know you're on live TV, jacob.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I do now.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Parade Deck Live TV.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So okay.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So I want to set the stage for why we have you here, because I know for a fact I know this for a fact that Wounded Woodworkers, the organization that you've started, is just one of those.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: In my estimation.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: It's more than just art.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: You're really creating opportunities for wounded warriors to and veterans to tell stories through pictures and your custom wood engraving services and really helping preserve memory.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: So, as I was thinking about having you come on and I know I dropped the title Impacting Lives, one Masterpiece at a Time, and you guys will understand why.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: That is the more we're talking to Jacob, but I really wanted to make sure that well, hello, hello, dump and Ground podcast, see, and you're on somebody else's podcast on top of that.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So I really wanted to just take the time, though, to find out a little bit more about your.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Why, like how did you get this started?
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: What is Wounded Woodworkers and how did you get your business started?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a very big question.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: It evolved so I transitioned from the military, like many other veterans, and I had no idea what I wanted to do next with my life.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: What am I going to do when I grow up?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: It hit me, so I lucked out.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: My military transition was, you know, it came at a very quick time.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting to get out of the military.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Military ended up cutting my contract and giving me a severance, which was very interesting, didn't the military did that?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: But Not me, neither yeah.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: So here I am young and have a lot of money, so I ended up purchasing a workshop.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I had done woodworking in the past and I enjoyed doing that.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I loved building things and working with my hands and honestly found it very therapeutic and kind of helped me overcome some of the invisible wounds.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Before that I didn't really realize I had and started inviting other veterans over and you know we were kind of more of a club or group at the time.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: We just build stuff, sell it at craft fairs, reinvest the money and buy better tools or equipment or take on bigger projects and it was just very exciting at first.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: So that's really how it started out and it just evolved over the years.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Didn't realize the liability part having a bunch of veterans over your house with power tools so quickly ended that after a couple years of doing it had a close call and realized it's probably not the best thing to continue doing.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So I got the laser and started building things with the laser engraver and found that there was a huge gap for photos and those could be used for bereavement, retirement, just because gifts, pets, I mean, anything really and I found that you know, through that I could still give back to organizations that can do the therapy or therapeutic things that I could no longer do, liability wise.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: So I still felt like I was able to give back and contribute to others and I just kept the name because it means a lot to me having that group and seeing where we began.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, Wow, I love the.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: You know I was going to ask you about the tools and technology, but before we get there, I just wanted to double down a little bit on what you were talking about really around the community of veterans and I dropped a thank you to our veterans.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: We are quite well-known in that also, that's the only thing that we're from again of which we're kind of family members here.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: That is an entire, that's an entire, you know story in itself about Paradek and all the veterans that we serve through this content, and so what we want to do is to make sure that we're sharing inspiration and encouragement, but I really want to make sure that you know y'all this is a real person doing incredible things, right, you know that is so important.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: So, as you were talking about the community that you essentially were building up and you started to look into this as a way to preserve and engrave memories, and I thought this was really important and this is what was so unique.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: And just to give you all some background, I met Jacob through an organization called the Rosie Network and y'all need to check them out, especially if you're a veteran and you're interested in starting a business, so shout out to the Rosie Network as well.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: But I was thinking about the way that we approach engraving and preserving memories and what I think makes your business so successful and growing and even more successful and you can see it coming right it's also the care that you put into the products that you sell.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: So can you talk a little bit about what are some of the products that you basically sell, and this is a service, y'all.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: So what are some of the products that you sell and what are some of the clients that?
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: What are some of the stories that they're telling through the memories that you're engraving?
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: It's interesting actually, you know, this year I've done four retirement gifts for some CEOs of pretty large organizations and I never really expected that, but you know it happens from word of mouth and people just seeing what I do.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: And you know you can give every senior leader the same retirement gift and it's cool and all and traditions are great.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: But you know, if you really want to give something unique and impactful to someone, that's great.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: You know that they've never seen before they don't have then this is a good alternative.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: And you know some of the other folks.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: You know I'd say the main customer experience some type of loss, and you know I'm pretty good with people.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I'm really good at speaking with them and understanding what they're going through and you know I spend a lot of time really just hearing their story.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: You know whether they lost a loved one or even a furry friend we all enjoy those companions and I'm just I spent a lot of time understanding the story behind the photo before I actually start creating it, because it I enjoy learning about others.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: You know it's an interesting way to learn about my you know customers and their families and whatever they care about, and then ensuring I can represent that well when I engrave it.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: So you know that's, it's exciting.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: So that's the customization, but also the personalization and the service that you offer.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: What is it so?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: So for those who are not aware, and what is the scan?
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: What is this barcode that's?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: That's behind you?
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: So for those, for those of you that can see this, you know it's all my contact information, so you know it'll bring you to the website, my LinkedIn, facebook, instagram, my phone number, email, whatever.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: It's all there.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: So if you're just listening in, then you'll have to check it out.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: We'll get to cover.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Don't worry about it, we'll drop the info.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I love that, so okay.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: So the technology is and the way you're approaching it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: So so, traditionally, when people have memories, we, you know, we use memories digitally.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Or, you know, back in the day, most of us had, you know, the paper pictures, right, and we, you know, basically again, I'm dating myself, but we have photo albums and then those things would kind of run out over time because it's paper, and so now the ability to use, for example, premium wood and engrave the stories onto those types of products is that how it works?
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Like, how does the laser?
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: How does the technology work?
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: So honestly, it's interesting how it works and I'm really surprised that not more people do this.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I found it very easy.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: That's why you're a pioneer.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Honestly, it's came really easy and aptly to me, and other people struggle terribly with photos and engraving them, so I sometimes give tips to others.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: I don't mind because there's plenty of customers out there for all of us, so I'm not worried about that.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: But I spend time editing the photos.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: That's probably the most important part, especially if the photo is not a high-quality photo.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: So quality matters.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: If it's done by a professional photographer then obviously it's going to come out really good.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: I've taken pictures of pictures, so I'm talking really old photos.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: From way back in the day.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: There were yellow photographs from a gentleman working on his farm with his donkeys.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is old and we took a picture of it with our cell phone, edited it, it worked, but it doesn't come out as good as a photographer's photo.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Quality matters.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: So you spend a lot of time making the edits and ensuring everything is done well and then after that with the equipment, it's as simple as uploading it, positioning the product and pushing the button.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I've got my three-year-old she handles the button pushing it for me.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: So if I'm in the other room I'll send it to the laser and I'll send her off and she'll go start the machine for me.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: It's pretty convenient.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: So it ends up being a family affair then?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Right, because it sounds like what you've started is definitely something that is generational, something that you can inspire both your kids to and I say both.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Jacob is.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: There's another blessing of a baby coming soon, so we're excited about your new little one coming here shortly, in a couple of weeks.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: So there'll be another team member on staff for Jacob's organization.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: So let me ask I wanted to find out you know what are some of maybe the milestones you mentioned that you were able to create, basically these awesome gifts and these memories for CEOs of other organizations we're not going to drop their names here, but he's doing very well y'all.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, what are some of the other milestones you've had in your journey as the CEO of a woodworking company?
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, first would be just learning what I was doing and what I was supposed to do, and I'll bring in the Rosie Network for this one.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: I've been doing this for seven years as a hobbyist a profitable hobbyist is what I call myself.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: So you know, making just enough money that you don't have to file taxes or be an official business, which I think is like just under 2000 annually.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: So you know every state and county.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit different, but you know I was just doing them here and there for friends and family.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: You know, and honestly, I signed up for the Rosie Network as it's a program that I often tell other warriors and spouses about just based on what I knew from reading the flyer as a cool opportunity and I wanted to go through it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: So I was more knowledgeable on what I'm telling others to sign up for.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: And in my cohort, you know, I learned a lot, a lot of the things that I should be doing as a business owner.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: And you know, some of my members in my cohort really motivated me.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, are telling me about how awesome the product is and you know, they were very interested in what I was doing.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: And you know, honestly, it took others to really motivate me to do more.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: And, honestly, once I started applying some of the tools and resources, things really progressed quickly and that was very exciting for me, because I've tried to go to the gym many times to lose weight and I usually give up, okay, because I don't see results, and you know.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: So I found that, you know, just being consistent with processes and actually using tools and having a roadmap of hey, you got to do this, this and this.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Well, now it makes sense to me because that's how the military trained me is.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: You know, hey, these, these are what you're supposed to do, or the use of the items that you should work on.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: So having those steps and resources in place truly helped me out.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: So I mean, I feel like that was the biggest milestone is just going from hobby to business and then focusing on growing that.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, what advice would you share with with veterans?
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Maybe there are, maybe there are veterans who are transitioning from the military life into you know I was going to say private sector.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Or maybe there are veterans who are thinking about starting a business, but you know they're kind of concerned.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: What advice would you, would you give to those veterans?
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Well, first off I'd say veterans and military spouses make the best entrepreneurs.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: So sorry for all the civilian entrepreneurs out there.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: That's a fact.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: By the way, that's actually data.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you're going to be very good at what you do as long as you apply it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: But I'd say the best piece of advice would be to find out what you're passionate about early.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: You know, for me it took a lot longer than it probably should have, like most things in my life.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: So, Um, you know, finding out what you enjoy doing, uh, what you're passionate about, and then, if you can make money doing it too, I mean that's really nice also.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: So, but, but I mean, finding finding the passion is important, Whether you want to become an entrepreneur or structure on business, or if you're just looking for a career.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: You know, you don't have to be stuck doing what you've always done.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: No, there's, there's a lot of opportunity out there.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Like, I didn't know a lot of these jobs existed till I was out of the military, you know.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: So I only knew that they.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Hey, there's this many MLSs and this is what you can do.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: So when I got out, I was like, wow, there's this job, this job, and you know, you can, you can make your own job.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: So, uh, you know, there's a lot of possibilities that you can do as long as you put your mind to it and, uh, you're consistent with what you do.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: So what?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: What is um?
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: What do you think is is next for?
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: For wounded woodworkers?
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's a good question too, because, as I've been finally motivated to do this work and get consistent with it and you know things are growing and developing, uh, a lot quicker than I thought they would I now have a new child coming very soon, so, uh, that's a good question.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I feel like growth is still going to happen.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: I'm still very motivated to grow and develop this because, honestly, the more that when the woodworkers grows, the bigger impact we can make on the community because, um, I donated a percentage of every sale back to organizations to help veterans and military spouses.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: So, um, I feel like the bigger, the bigger or the more growth uh helps make that um goal, and I know that I shouldn't set the goal because I don't have it down yet.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Um, but my first milestone goal, really, and I set really high on purpose and, uh, you know I'd like to hit a million dollars in donations.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: So obviously I need way more sales than that to hit that number, but I mean, I think that would make me very proud and happy.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: And, um, you know, I'd be very excited to give back that amount to organizations that can do the work and help, uh, veterans and military spouses, cause that's what I'm passionate about.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: However, I can't do that at the capacity as these other organizations can.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: So if I can do my part and help them do that, I'm excited for that and that's the support heroes part of engraved memories.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: support heroes right it is.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the day, it's your heart.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: It's.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Your heart is in it for veterans and male spouses, as you said.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: And so there is a, there's a.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: That's the purpose behind all of this is not just creating another product.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: So that's that's part of why you know I had to have you come on, because I I do stand behind what you do and your heart is is is very evident.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: For those of y'all who don't know, jacob also gives free advice on LinkedIn on a lot of encouraging posts, so I do stalk him for that information as well.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: So I'm just talking it out there that you know we're talking about wounded woodworkers here, but he's he is a well rounded veteran and just absolutely honored to know you as a person.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: So just want to throw that out there.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Like this is the person that you want to go read his post.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: It's not just not just wounded woodworkers, but just well rounded.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to find out from you around your motivation, because I think that one of the things that I say this all the time when I have people come on my show, I try to let the audience know or I try to say this so that we're clear A lot of times, people see your success and they don't understand that there was a journey in order for you to get here.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: A lot of times, they're seeing what's been in play for 10 years and and we're we're talking about it now but there is a lot of hard work and commitment that went into it, and so I wanted to find out from you what has kept you motivated over this time.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: What keeps you motivated?
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Well, the $1 million donations keeps me motivated, for sure.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: And you know the encouragement support I get from my family, my friends and even my customers.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've been doing this for eight years and I have not got a negative review or any poor feedback about anything that I've done.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: You know it's all been oh excellence.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: So you know I don't need some of the start giving me them now.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: But you know I'm proud to do that and I'm proud that everyone is happy with what they get.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: You know, most of the time it's tears, so it's.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: It is interesting.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: When I get them their gifts, I like to hand deliver when I can because I really enjoy that moment.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Sometimes I try to get my clients to video me you know FaceTime or whatever when they open it, but they can't always do that Just because I like to be a part of that.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I like, I like seeing the whole process through.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: It excites me and as we grow I probably won't be able to do that as much, but that's one of my favorite parts.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: But you're right, they're.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Everyone usually sees the success and I've gotten this question a lot in the career coaching realm Because you know people see that and they see like, yeah, I've got all this information and all these resources and yeah, but I've been, you know, in the HR field for 10 years and I've got a lot of mentors and coach here coaching myself.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: So Same thing with the entrepreneur stuff and the laser work.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: I've been doing it for eight years, so it's not something I picked up overnight.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: You should.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: If you're really interested, you can go to my Facebook and scroll all the way to the beginning.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, my terrible work.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: That's still there.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: It exists.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I've made things that I'm just I look at now and I'm like, wow, I can't believe I made that.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: It's awful.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad that I've gotten a lot better and I'm at a place where people are paying for product now and I'm not just trying to sell the craft beer because nobody wanted it.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I started out and I was awful and you know, and you can definitely grow your talent and get better, but you gotta be passionate about it, you gotta enjoy it and you gotta put the time in.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: That's the one.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: That's.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: The biggest part is it takes a lot of time to perfect what you do.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: That's powerful and I think, again, that's why I like to ask this question, because, again, people see you know they're coming on and seeing where you are right now, but there are a lot of people who need to understand the journey behind it and also just to be encouraged that you know, if you just at least get started right.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Because how did you?
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: What was your first thing?
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Do you remember what your first thing that you made?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe it was the awful thing, but what was your first thing that you made?
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Well, so, just in general woodworking, the first thing was a live edge table and I tried to epoxy it.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: And anyone that's dealt with epoxy knows it's temperamental, right?
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: So you don't mix it well enough or you don't cure it or the temperature is not right.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: This thing cured and it was just so sticky and there was no fixing it right.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: And this table, by the way, it was a bunch of seashells.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: My wife and I got from the Dominican Republic.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: It was supposed to be this beautiful table for our living room and have all these memories encapsulated in it.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: And yeah, it was a disaster.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: It was ruined.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: I could not fix it and you can't just take them out.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: You know it's like cemented in there and yeah.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: So I mean it was awful.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And you know I've done awful laser stuff too.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Luckily, with that I'm able to fix it and refine the process before the customer gets it, you know, but you know it's.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: I mean stuff happens, you know, and you just gotta make sure that, hey, you learn from it and don't do that again, you know.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I love that, yeah, you do.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, at least at least start somewhere and then fix what you can and what you can't.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Just ditch it and move on right.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Don't waste your time trying to figure out, like what went wrong or all of those things.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: So I'm coming down to a couple more questions and I wanted to just ask you a question separate from being a businessman, but as a father, as a husband, a dad like I'm throwing all these turns out, as a veteran.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: But I wanted to find out from you if you had any advice or encouragement that you could give other dads who are, you know, again within the veteran and mill spouse community, those, because there's a lot of folks that who are really struggling right now, and I'm always tuned into, like, what we can do or say to encourage folks who aren't in the place, like they have the dreams they can't get there for whatever the reason is, and so I wonder if you would mind sharing some encouragement with those members of our families.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and honestly, this is probably gonna be the worst advice ever.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: So take it with a grain of salt, because I feel like I'm a lot different.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I care about my family way more than the success of who knew who were at work in my dream, in my passion.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: And if my daughter wants to hang out, play with dad or put it on the couch, play hide and seek, well I'm gonna do that and I feel like that is just time.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: I cannot get back.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: I've lost way too much time spending overseas.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: You know I've been overseas three times not fun.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: You know it's time you don't get back.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: You've been in the field training.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: You know that's time you don't get back.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I work a full time job.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: You know those 40 hours, I don't get back.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: You know my commute, I don't get back.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: So you know, as a dad, I wanna make sure that when my child grows up, or children grow up, they remember good memories.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: And you know we're still best buds even when we're adults, because I can put the time in for my business or my job.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: You know, down the road, you know I don't have to do it all right now and you know so if you're a new entrepreneur and you don't have time and you're trying to pick which.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a gut thing.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: You know you have to go down.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You know your passion and your business and you know hopefully it's successful.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: But you know I'm a family guy so I'm not passing up those opportunities.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Wow, I love that and I appreciate you saying that.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: I think, again, you know some folks.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Sometimes people just need to be encouraged and, like I said, we've talked about your journey.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: You know you're creating something amazing and it's gonna last for as long as you want it to, and it's generational.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: You already have your baby girl and you know, involved, and new baby will be involved as well.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: But what you just wanna make sure that people feel like listen at the end of the day really is about our families, like we're doing this for them and you have to actually be there to participate in that life, so that there's a balance between being a successful business owner and also being a dad, and you're rocking it.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: I am so, again, I'm so grateful.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: First of all, I'm just glad you said yes to come on.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: You know, whenever people say yes, I'm like they did it.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: You know it's a yes.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: I'm so grateful.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Honestly, before we close out, I just wanna make sure that there's nothing else that you wanted to share.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I don't wanna lose any time with you, so is there anything else that you wanted to share with our audience?
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, two things, and I'll go back to that last question.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: So I make up that extra time, by the way, for the business.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I get up early every day, before any of my family members get up, and I work on social media posts or respond to clients, and I stay up late, you know, after people go to bed.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I'm still doing things.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: It takes a lot of time and effort.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: As you're beginning, hopefully you know, things will grow and develop and I can hire people to help me, so I don't have to spend all hours of the day doing this.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: But I do make up that time when others are asleep.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: So I take care of my family when I can and then, when they're asleep, I take care of the business.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: And then One thing that took me a while to realize is you really need to operate in your strength zone and don't waste time trying to improve what you're weak at, what you're terrible at, because there's other people out there that are great at it and you can rely on them.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Like, I've got a lot of great mentors who are way better at things than I am, and I focus on what I'm good at and then I try to get help in those other areas from experts.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: So you know, always, always, just get better at what you're already good at, because you're never going to be great at your weakness.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Wow, that is powerful and that is a whole Instagram clip and TikTok reel that I'll be.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I am not ashamed that.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I'm being prepared to see it a lot Y'all that that is perfect.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: That is a.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: That is a.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: That is a better way of staying in your staying in your lane, right, staying in your lane, but master your lane, like you know.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Staying in your lane.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I'm so grateful.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for for coming.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: I, you know, obviously I'm going to be all in your business anyways, talking to you as I do on social media, because I want to.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: I want to see baby pictures.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: I love the reels that you do and you know, when you're, when you're showing your products, I feel like I made it, like I was in the process.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: So those you know, revealing some of those work.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: It's so inspiring to see that I am so thankful for your service, also as a veteran, and you shout out to your wife, who is a male spouse, and I just want to make sure that you get all of the recognition that you well deserve.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you for everything that you're also sharing on social media.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: That's helping job seekers.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of coach, y'all free coaching advice from a job seeker perspective.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: It's, it's literally, it's all there.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: And the bar code for those of y'all who are watching the video you can see Jacob's there, but his information is also within the description of this video.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: For those of y'all who are listening to the podcast in a couple of days y'all go back and replay everything because you, because you're going to miss it.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: It was so good, you're going to miss it.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: So, with that, I want to tell everybody have a wonderful night.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Jacob, we're going to have it out in our back room, in our green room, our after party, as a, as the kids put it, and thank you for watching everybody.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Have a great rest of your week.