Latest / The Scene Projects / Sara Kelsey on Faith, Transformation, and the Power of Podcasts

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Sara Kelsey on Faith, Transformation, and the Power of Podcasts · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is founder of Book by Sarah, Sarah Kelsey.
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  Welcome to the show, Sarah.
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  Hi.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  It's great to be here.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, it's my pleasure to have you.
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  We're just getting to know each other a little bit here, so I'd love to just kinda give you
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  the floor off the top and have you give us a little bit of your, backstory, and then we can
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  kinda get into the weeds, and then we can talk about all the things that you're doing to help
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  other, podcast guests find podcasts like this one to be guests on.
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  So, the floor is yours, Sarah.
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  Absolutely.
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  So I am a wife, a mom.
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  I have a really strong faith background.
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  I come from a history of a customer service work background.
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  Previously, my husband and I, and even prior to that, I had a really unhealthy relationship
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  with alcohol.
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  I spent a lot of time not in necessarily an alcoholic situation, but in binge drinking
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  where I was a lot of unhealthy habits, even as I was raising my kids, if they were gone with
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  their other parent, I was going out that weekend, looking for connection in places that
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  it it wasn't gonna be found.
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  I wasn't going to find the right relationships.
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  Once my husband and I got married and had our daughter who we first, we fostered her, and
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  then about a year later, we ended up adopting her.
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  We then no longer had that every other weekend to go out together.
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  So we started going out separately, arguing all the time.
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  Things were getting fairly toxic in our marriage as well as for our kids.
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  It wasn't a healthy relationship for anyone.
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  And in January 2024, I had got out by myself and was drinking excessively, like,
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  unfortunately, I was known to do.
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  And I drove my car, and I caused property damage.
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  And I do not remember it.
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  I woke up the next morning and was told about what I did and decided that day I would never
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  drink again.
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  Brandon decided Brandon is my husband.
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  He decided as well that there was no benefit to our lives by continuing to drink alcohol.
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  So that day, we decided we were done with alcohol.
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  Not really a whole lot else changed in our lives at that point.
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  Later on in the year, I would open up an insurance agency.
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  It did not go well.
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  It was not something that I spent a lot of time thinking about.
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  I just knew what I was looking for was some freedom to spend time with my daughter as far
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  as if she needed to go to appointments and things like that.
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  I didn't wanna have work conflicts.
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  I wanted to be available to get her where she needed to go.
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  So in January 2025, we were still doing good with you know, not drinking, nothing going on
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  there.
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  And I had a friend who reached out to me, invited me to a mom's meet group.
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  And it was in her church.
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  I had grown up Catholic and was really involved in church as a kid, not so much as an adult.
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  But she said, just think about coming.
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  I really like church here, and, you know, you're working by yourself.
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  Come and just get out get out and meet some new people.
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  So I agreed to go, and I was really surprised by how welcoming everyone was.
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  And a lot of people asked about if we were coming to church on Sunday.
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  And I was surprised that I said, yes.
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  So we started attending church every Sunday.
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  This was completely different from anything I had ever known.
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  This was just a nondenominational Christian church, a much bigger church than anything I
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  was used to from and just about a polar opposite from mass.
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  But I was starting to feel differently about my relationship with God, and it was really good.
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  And so in May, I was baptized.
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  In June, my husband was baptized.
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  In June, we also, closed the doors on my insurance agency.
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  Someone had asked me if I had prayed on it, and the answer was no.
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  I had not because that's not where I was in my faith.
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  So we closed the doors, I came home without any income to replace mine.
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  And I'd only been home a few days, and a friend asked if I wanted to meet with for coffee.
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  And I said, sure.
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  So we met up, and I've known her for years.
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  She's a professor, and she has a podcast, and she's also a coach.
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  She does a number of different things.
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  And she said, hey.
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  I would really like to get on some other people's podcasts.
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  Would you just wanna help me out with that?
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  I know you're kind of trying to figure out what your niche is and what, you know, what you
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  wanna do.
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  And I had been, at that time, praying, you know, for the right type of work and the right
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  fit for me and my family.
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  And this was very I mean, this was minimal hours.
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  This wasn't going to cover all the finances, but it was going to be a start.
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  It was going to be something.
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  And it was flexible hours.
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  And so I said, absolutely.
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  And suddenly, she was very successful.
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  She was booked in six weeks on more than 20 podcasts.
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  And so she started getting referrals or requests from her her peers in peer groups and
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  asking for my contact information.
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  And I've just been very blessed to have people reach out to me, and it's something that I do
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  feel is very much faith based for me.
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  I work with people that I feel that I've got a connection with, and it's not something that I
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  do just because I feel like I have I don't have to say yes to every client.
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  Like, I wanna feel if I'm going out and pitching you to be on someone else's podcast, I
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  wanna know that you are truly aligned, and I wanna feel good about what you have to say.
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  So it's not something where I'm just saying yes.
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  And so I can really feel good about the work that I'm doing every day.
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  And so now that's what I'm doing.
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  I have really just changed the rate excuse me.
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  Changed around the way that I lived my whole life since that's happened.
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  2025 has been really a transformational year.
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  I've started going to the gym, working out every morning.
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  I've got a routine down with my time with God, with my bible reading, my journaling, spending
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  time with my kids.
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  I have the privilege of taking them and picking them up from school, taking them to their
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  appointments, and not having to miss out on things, and still being blessed with the
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  opportunity to get to work in something that fills me up and I'm passionate about.
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  Absolutely love your story and your testimony here, Sarah.
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  It's why I do this.
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  It's why it's why I've had over 500 interviews with people in the last eighteen months of this
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  podcast and others and why I'll never stop.
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  You got to kinda see the end of my conversation with Cam, who has his own podcast.
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  And we talked a lot on that episode about how conversations are changing the world.
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  Right?
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  Podcasts are changing the world because they're allowing they're allowing an audience to hear
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  what in its essence is just a one to one conversation.
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  Right?
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  There's no one here spectating our conversation.
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  We're just getting to know each other here live on camera as it is the way that we communicate
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  now.
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  And in a way that up until this point in time, you know, in history that we did not have the
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  opportunity to communicate in this way.
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  I say this is how God is healing the world and how we're healing one another.
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  And even if only one life is changed in the course of a podcast and that life is mine,
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  well, then it has been completely successful regardless of of numbers or whatever.
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  I don't do it for the, I'm doing it for an audience, but I'm not necessarily doing it
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  where I need that gratification of the downloads or the listeners or whatever it is.
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  Now we've been very fortunate at the scene projects to have over 300,000 views in the
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  last, you know, eight months or so on our YouTube channel and hundreds of thousands
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  across, our social media.
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  I, I don't really put a whole lot of weight on that because I can't necessarily see that
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  impact, but I know that it's happening.
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  Right?
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  And and that we're planting these seeds, and I see it in the way that society is changing
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  around us.
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  And I myself, I quit drinking around the time that I started my podcast mainly because I had
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  quit my job with no security net either.
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  Right?
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  I was living a very, I would say, life, you know, working in a factory, making a decent
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  wage, especially for South Dakota where the cost of living is is quite minimal compared to
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  other areas of the world and of the country.
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  And but I was also coming home and drinking a six pack of pounders every evening, and I was,
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  you know, drinking too much on the I'm a musician as well, so we would go out and party
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  on the weekends just because that's that's where we were.
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  And it it only led to, similar to you, fights with my wife and, you know, time hungover with
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  our children and not being there.
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  And even if we were there, not being present and, you know, really came to ahead with, you
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  know, a situation with my wife and my mother-in-law where I was just like, I don't
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  wanna be this person person anymore.
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  And I'm not gonna tell anyone else what to do with their lives, but I'm not going I'm not
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  going down that road anymore.
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  I know I'm not a very good person when I drink and do it.
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  Now have I drank, you know, had a few here or there over that time?
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  It's with a lot more self control now than I had before.
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  But these podcasts have also opened a door to me to allow me to process maybe some traumas
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  that, you know, I'm not an alcoholic for because I like the taste of alcohol.
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  Right?
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  Like, I wasn't an alcoholic because of that.
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  It was because I was bearing something else and something that, you know, Cam and I just talked
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  about at length with him as well that, you know, it's often something else that's driving
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  us to substances.
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  I've always had a much harder time with, you know especially when I was younger with with
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  drugs of all I never had a drug of choice.
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  Right?
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  It was whatever was going to numb that feeling.
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  And, so, yeah, I love your story.
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  I love that you, you know, came on today prepared to share that, which I know is kind of
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  a new thing for you as well to be able to share your part of the story.
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  Now have you started your own podcast yet, or is that on the horizon?
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  I haven't.
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  It's something that someone asked me about, and I I said not quite yet, I don't think.
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  Maybe later, but right now, I feel like I wanna just share.
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  Like, I had someone ask me they responded to an email, they said, well, what are you going to
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  promote?
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  And I I was like, oh, nothing.
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  I just I just wanna tell people, like, that god is good and that it can get so much better.
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  Like, I don't nothing.
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  I just wanna talk I just want people to know that there's hope.
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  And like you said, that even if it's one person, like, yes, that absolutely makes a
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  difference.
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  And so right now, I just think it's really cool to reach out to different people and talk to
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  different audiences and just kind of touch people that way and just meet different people.
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  One thing that I've noticed is that people will say, like, make a comment about sharing my
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  story and, wow.
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  I can't believe you do that.
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  And for me, it's just this is my life.
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  Like, I've just lived it.
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  And so it's not necessarily that hard thing to do anymore, which is what makes me feel like
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  I'm supposed to share it.
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  Like, yes, I have some nerves behind it, but there's a part of me that's like, yeah.
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  I'm supposed to talk about this.
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  And I just feel like I that's what I'm meant to do.
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  Yes.
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  You are.
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  And I'm gonna lean on you when we get off camera about starting your own podcast a little
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  bit more.
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  I'll let you off the hook for now, but I think you're you you have the hard part down.
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  You know how the booking process works and getting people on there and doing that.
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  I think that's where a lot of podcasts tend to fail early on is maybe they have something at
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  the beginning and they have a lot of energy into that.
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  And then when it gets hard, they're they're not able to necessarily overcome that.
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  And I feel like you've learned, some of the harder parts of the job first, then maybe it
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  just matched your skill set.
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  I'm assuming for someone that was out drinking regularly on the weekends that you were a
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  little bit of a socialite anyway and that you have that part of it.
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  You mentioned some some, you know, customer service background and things like that.
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  So talking is obviously not a problem for you.
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  You're gonna do great when you get that podcast started.
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  Don't worry.
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  So, yeah, I love it.
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  I have my own adoption story as well.
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  My son, Mick, we we've adopted him.
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  And in the future, my wife has talked about adopting the two youngers.
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  It's become a financial barrier for us, especially with me, kind of quitting, the the
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  comfortable paycheck to to pursue something that, you know, necessarily, I didn't get into
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  it for the money anyway.
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  Anyway.
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  Yeah.
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  So if it ever does become, you know, financially, successful, if we could just stand
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  on its own, it would be happy.
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  I didn't get into this business to, be a mill I got in it to impact people's lives.
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  And if that impact means that we need, you know, more money in the future, you can
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  obviously see the banner behind me for operation combating veteran suicide.
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  One thing that we like to do is we realize that because of our voices that we could impact
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  lives without money.
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  Right?
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  And a lot of people kinda like, oh, we'll get the money first, and then we'll we'll have the
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  impact in that way.
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  And I've kind of been in reverse to that as like, well, no.
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  You can impact lives, and then I feel that, you know, God will bless you in that financial way
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  if if you're doing the right things.
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  And for me, it's all about sharing our stories no different than you have with us today,
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  Sarah.
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  So I appreciate you being brave enough to to share your story, and I think that it connects
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  with a lot of people out there.
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  And to, there's a lot of people that would not that would be too scared to deliver that
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  message and to share their story and to put it out there.
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  They they would much rather keep that in the darkness when in this day and age, there's
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  nothing that won't come to light, and there's nothing that can't be found if someone is
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  willing to dig deep enough, especially with, you know, AI being as powerful as it is now.
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  You know?
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  So I think that it's more important that we that we share and deliver on our good side more
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  than that because that's also what will be discovered in the world is your light rather
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  than your darkness.
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  Absolutely.
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  I completely agree.
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  And, you know, God's gonna meet you in your messy part.
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  That's where he's gonna come find you.
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  It's not in the perfect put together everything.
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  It's in that mess.
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  You know?
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  I'm sure that's because that night in 2024, I made it home.
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  No people were involved.
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  No I wasn't injured.
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  Nothing happened outside of the property dam like, I was covered.
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  God was in my life far before I was asking him to be involved, before I was looking for him.
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  No.
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  I I completely feel you in that.
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  I in a when I was actually making a drug run, and bringing home a copious amount of marijuana
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  from California, we had, stayed over in Reno and, had done methamphetamine for a a day.
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  And, I fell asleep behind the wheel or fell out and, woke up when I hit the rumble bars and
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  clipped the side mirror off of my vehicle, and I believe that I was in someone else's hands
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  then and my life was spared.
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  I still didn't choose to listen after that, and that's why I eventually did a few years in
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  prison.
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  And it was not long after that moment that, you know, that I was led on that path.
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  But now it's brought me here.
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  And being unafraid to share that story and my wife cringes when I always lead off with, you
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  know, well, I did a couple years in prison.
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  She's like, no.
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  Not everyone needs to know that.
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  And I was like, well, I'm I'm unashamed of it because without that prison time, I would have
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  never met her.
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  I would have never been brought to the path that I'm on now.
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  So it's all a part of our story, and I appreciate you coming on and sharing a part of
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  your story with us today.
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  Is there anything you'd like to add?
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  I know that you have your business.
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  If you wanna take a chance to kinda, plug that and tell people where they can find you if
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  they're looking to get booked on more podcasts in the future themselves, feel free, Sarah.
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  Yeah.
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  You can, find me on LinkedIn.
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  It's sarah kelsey, just s a r a k e l s e y, or I'm on Instagram at book by sarah k.
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  Awesome, Sarah.
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  Well, thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with me today, and thanks for being
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  part of the scene.
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  No problem.
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  Thank you so much.
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  I really appreciate it.