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The 3 Step Pathway Out of Poverty · The Family Teams Podcast

• 0:00
  most fathers are not training their sons. What are the steps to come out of poverty? What are the steps to getting to a place of abundance as a family? Hi, welcome to the family teams podcast. Our goal here is to help your family become a multi-generational team on mission by providing you with biblically rooted concepts, tools, and rhythms. Your hosts are Jeremy Pryor and Jefferson Bethke, and we can't wait to chat about all things family.
• 0:28
  Howdy ho everybody, welcome back to the Family Teams podcast. I'm excited for this episode. I've been thinking about this for about six months and I am pumped to do this with my son Jackson. Hey Jackson. Hey dad. And my daughter Sydney up in the attic. How's it going Syd? Yeah, I'm good.
• 0:50
  Awesome. Okay. So what I want to do is I'm going to, I want to unpack the greatest business book of all time, in my opinion. Okay. And if you look throughout the world and try to find anyone else who thinks it's the greatest business book of all time, I don't, I'd be surprised you find somebody else who thinks this, but I think this.
• 1:10
  Um, this book is very short. It's like, it could be, it could be pulled on a single page. It's very simple. And most of you all who are listening to this today are familiar with it. Um, and it is the legend of Jack and the Beanstalk and the meaning of Jack and the Beanstalk.
• 1:26
  is how you lead your family out of poverty. And it does unveil the secrets, the secrets to do this. There are particular steps you take that will take your family from a state of poverty into a state of abundance. And it's really important to understand that that's the whole point of this fairy tale.
• 1:44
  And I think I'm going to say a few things about fairy tales so that you guys understand how important they are, because I think oftentimes we're like, oh, that's like those are ridiculous like children's stories. It's like, oh, man, C.S. Lewis said that someday as adults, you'll get old enough to appreciate fairy tales again. And I am entering that phase. I am appreciating fairy tales so much.
• 2:05
  And why do I appreciate them so much? Because like Joseph Campbell says, fairy tales are things that have never happened and are always happening. In other words, the story of Jack and the Beanstalk has never happened, of course, but it's always happening. Virtually every single person who leads their family out of poverty does it through the steps that are articulated in this fairy tale.
• 2:32
  And so that's one of the reasons why I wanted to walk through it because it is so helpful. And Jonathan Pajot, who is just a great interpreter of stories, he started pointing out some of the different meanings of this fairy tale in a video he made about a year ago.
• 2:48
  And I was really fascinated by it. And I kind of went all the way down the rabbit hole because what I realized when he was talking and he was he was kind of talking about this, not really at the business level the way I am more on like a sort of idea of hierarchies and symbolism.
• 3:03
  It's a really helpful video. But but then I realized everything I teach at Family Inc. So those of you guys who are familiar with family teams, I coach about 100 families that are making the journey from, you know, sort of normal employment into asset building.
• 3:19
  And there's a whole process that we call the family freedom path. And we take people down it and I explain the steps. And the steps that we articulate are ones that I really discovered by not only taking the path myself, but as I was coaching other families in our city of Cincinnati, friends of mine who were also on the path.
• 3:38
  I started noticing that we all were taking the same steps and, and these patterns were repeating over and over again. And when people would deviate from the patterns, they would oftentimes not be as successful. And the ones that really stayed close to the path kept, kept succeeding. And I was like, man, we, I got to really study this. So I spent a lot of time studying it. And then we created the course and I began to coach and I started seeing this affect other families and,
• 4:01
  And then I encountered this fairy tale and I'm like, oh my gosh, the entire thing is right there in symbolic form. How helpful is that? I think it's incredibly helpful to see the symbolism and the symbolism is powerful. And the last thing I want to say about kind of how fairy tales work is that when you tell a child a fairy tale, you should never unveil the meaning to a child. A child cannot understand the meaning of a fairy tale. If you unveil the meaning of a fairy tale to a child, they will not understand it and it will lose its magical power.
• 4:29
  Um, and so what happens to a child was when they, when they are hearing a fairy tale, they symbolically, um, understand it, you know, more subconsciously. And so like, let's say you're reading a fairy tale to your child every night, a different fairy tale, and they want you to want it. You'll find that your child starts to do a weird thing. It's like, they'll want you to repeat a fairy tale. Like daddy, read that one again, mom, read that one again. What's happening is there's something in the fairy tale that they, they understand is true and that they need to hear over and over again. Um, and so what happens to a child is when they, when they are hearing a fairy tale,
• 4:58
  And so it's really important to read fairy tales to your children and not necessarily explain what they mean. But I think it's actually really valuable as adults to understand what they mean. Kind of like what C.S. Lewis says, there's sort of like two phases of appreciating fairy tales. There's the childish way of appreciating a fairy tale, which is just I don't really know why I like this story. I just want to hear it over and over and over again. That's why kids oftentimes will watch the same movie over and over and over again.
• 5:21
  and drives adults crazy. But I think there's a, comes a point where adults need to take a step back and actually understand the symbolism. And so Jackson and Sydney, since you guys are now adults, I'm like, Hey, we can talk about the meaning of fairy tales. And especially a fairy tale like this, that really kind of unpacks the symbolic meaning of how, how a family is led out of poverty. Your, your families will start in poverty. Jackson, your, is your family. We're way in poverty. Are you ready for this? Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:51
  And Sydney, you're probably excited for the day when you get to enter poverty with your future husband. Oh, I'm so excited. It's going to be so awesome. Can't wait. So I want to help you guys understand, Jackson, how you can lead your family out of poverty since you just entered into it. And Sydney, someday you can lead your family out. And the lessons are all here in this ridiculous little fairy tale that can be understood by a small child. So I will – what I'm going to do –
• 6:17
  I will play part of the fair. Now, I'll just describe really quick that the high level fairy tale is this kid named Jack. You know, he gets magic beans from this wild man, grows a beanstalk. He goes to the beanstalk, meets a giant, and he starts to take things away from the giant that brings his family out of poverty. That's the high level story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
• 6:36
  Now, there are details, and I want you guys to pay attention to the details of the story itself and try to understand with me the symbolism. I'll unpack what I'm seeing happen in this story and how this could apply to a family today. So if you're listening to this and you're like, ah, I'm really struggling financially as a family, please listen to this whole podcast.
• 6:58
  Let us walk you through the steps because they're going to come out of this story. So I'm going to play a YouTube version here, and then we're going to walk through what this is all about. Jack and the Beanstalk Once upon a time in a small shack near a village lived a poor widow and her son Jack. They were going through hard times, with their only remaining possession being a cow named Milky White.
• 7:29
  With no other means to sustain their livelihood, Jack's mother instructed him to go to the market and sell the cow. Jack, we have become so poor. We need to go to the market and sell Milky White. But mom, Milky White is part of our family. I know, Jack, but we have no other choice. You understand, don't you?
• 7:55
  On his way to the market, carrying a heavy heart about selling the cow, Jack encountered a mysterious old man. The old man offered to exchange the cow for some special magic beans. Young man, trade your cow for this magic bean. A magic bean? What does it do? This single bean holds great power. It can change your life. You'll find out soon enough. Your destiny is calling.
• 8:28
  Enchanted by the promise of the magic beans, Jack exchanged the cow for the beans and returned home. Okay, so I'll kind of unpack the beginning of the story and then we'll kind of go deeper. So we're going to go into the layers, but this is the first layer. So the first layer of Jack and the Beanstalk, it always starts, and so there's lots of ways to retell the story. This is, you know, there's no canonical way of telling Jack and the Beanstalk. There's thousands of ways the story has been told, but it has all the same basic elements. So the elements are what's important.
• 8:56
  And so the elements start with, it's a widow and a son. And so the importance of that is to understand that Jack does not have a father. And so a lot of what creates poverty is not having a father. And so if Jack had a father, the story would not have proceeded the way that it does. The story would have been the father training his son how to come out of poverty. But there's something that happens when you don't have a father and your mother is a widow.
• 9:25
  And for a lot of people listening to this, you may have a father. You might say, well, how does this apply to me? Well, it applies to you because if your father has not trained you how to come out of poverty, then you might as well, at least in this small area, be fatherless like Jack. And most men are. Most fathers are not training their sons. What are the steps to come out of poverty? What are the steps to getting to a place of abundance as a family?
• 9:51
  And so if you don't have a father who has taught you those steps and is walking down that road with you, then you find yourself a son of Jack, you know, like my son, Jackson, who does have a father, by the way, but who does want to help him lead him out of poverty. But I think I think this is this is why I think this is so important, because it unveils this and it makes it accessible for everyone.
• 10:14
  So it's a great learning tool for a father to teach his son, as I'm doing right here, or it's a great tool for for somebody who has no father to help them. So the next thing you see is that they have a cow. And and in the story always is that the mother and the son are about to starve. So and they have a cow that actually produces milk. The milk that the cow produces is what what kept them from essentially dying of starvation.
• 10:40
  It was the means of just basic subsistence. I hate saying that word. Subsistence. Okay, so they are living at just the level of poverty. And the way the story starts is they're about to enter into extreme poverty, where the chance of them not surviving, it will happen to them, right? Because...
• 11:00
  Because Milky White is no longer producing milk, they have to sell the cow. And so it's over. There's no plan. There's no way out. They are now going from subsistence to extreme poverty and in real danger of survival. So that's the context of the story.
• 11:17
  And so Jack is going out and he's like, okay, I'm going to sell the cow for one last, essentially like one last meal. You know, we're going to have maybe enough food for a week or something. And then we're going to basically die. That's the, that's the circumstance of the, of the fairy tale. So Jack is heading out and what does he see? What does he find? And this is so important. Okay. He has to find a wise old man.
• 11:43
  And the way that fairy tales like to portray a sage of this kind is sort of like a wizard. So a wizard is a sort of symbolic way of talking about a sage or somebody who has wisdom that in its basic form is so powerful that it can transform your life.
• 12:01
  Obviously, there are no real wizards, but symbolically, there are all kinds of wise people who understand things at a level that, especially for a child who doesn't really understand things at all, their lessons are like magic because they can completely change the way that they go about their lives. And one of the things you'll find in fairy tales is a pattern of wizards encountering fatherless men.
• 12:27
  This is a pattern. So Bilbo was fatherless, right? And he encountered a wizard. Frodo also had to be fatherless to encounter Gandalf the wizard. Jack is fatherless, and he encounters this wizard, this old man. Harry Potter. Harry Potter, yep, is fatherless. So if you find yourself fatherless, what you need to look for is? A wizard. A wise old wizard man. Yeah.
• 12:54
  Luke Skywalker also. Yeah, Luke Skywalker also fatherless had to find a wizard. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Right. So because you don't have a father to, again, walk with you out of and train you out of these problems, you need somebody who's willing to help you. And their lessons are going to be so shocking to you that it'll seem like magic. Now, what do you need to get from the wizard?
• 13:19
  You always need to get a seed, right? So a bean is a seed. And that seed could be an idea. That seed can be a little investment. Something that will grow. Something like the wisdom that will take you to a new place. That's what you're looking for.
• 13:39
  You have to go out on an adventure, and you don't know which direction to go. And so the wizard is there to basically hand you a seed, a bean is a seed, to help propel you into the next phase of your journey. So that's what Jack is needing to encounter, and so that's why the fairy tale, again, this is a pattern. Fairy tales are something that has never happened but is always happening.
• 14:03
  Every single person who goes and in search of a of the wisdom that's going to help lead them and lead their family out of poverty, whether you're, you know, crushing YouTube and trying to find a online course or whatever you're doing, you're looking for a wizard to give you a seed. That's what you're that's what you're doing. And you have to do that. Like it's it's important for you not to think. And this is this is a really dangerous thing, I think, for a lot of kind of like an orphan.
• 14:29
  to think that you can somehow figure your way out of this situation. It's too complex. The world's incredibly complicated. And to get what you need to get out of poverty, you're going to need wisdom you don't currently have. You're going to need a seed. It's going to seem like magic. Okay, so that's how the story starts. And that's how we know how to begin this journey. So yeah, I'm curious, Jackson, starting with you. What are your thoughts about that? Like that part of these steps in the process?
• 14:57
  Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. It's exactly sort of, I feel like we're... Also, the other thing is, in most fairy tales, that same thing happens. There's a starving boy, fatherless, who finds the wise old man. He's usually the only one that's kind to the wise old man or actually wants to hear him out. That's the same sort of the golden goose and that sort of thing. But yeah, I think for me,
• 15:27
  Um, yeah, I definitely, I definitely encountered that. It's like at some point that epiphany, you know, um, and then being able to sort of run with, run with that epiphany until you're trying to become financially stable. I think that's even, I feel like, um.
• 15:44
  I was even, I was reflecting a little bit in my, in the past when you, I was trying to think of like when this whole construction journey for me started, because that's my trade. And I was trying to think of, you know, and I remember I was like, when I was 15, I had a completely different idea of how my life was going to go.
• 16:04
  And then I remember, um, in your, and, uh, I was asking you to get an internship in the summer after my first year of public school. And then you were like, yeah. So I'm picturing an internship at the video production business, you know, doing sales or something like that. So I literally, I can, I can, I can remember this strong emotion of being like, um, what I'm going to wear of what I'm going to bring in my backpack and, you know, how I'm going to look and all that stuff. And, um,
• 16:31
  And then I remember during, it was like some sort of event and you were like, all right, this is the guy that's going to be, you know, doing your internship this summer. And it was Justin and it was like, you know, that's when I realized it was going to be a construction gig. And I was like, what? And I remember I was like that shock.
• 16:48
  But then at the same time, it was more of like the question mark. I was like, okay, I wonder what I can make out of this. And ever since then, I've been trying to make something out of that. And it's actually, you know, after seven years, it's actually starting to turn over a profit. I remember that, that epiphany of like, oh, the trades. Oh, that's going to become really valuable in the future. Oh, like, you know, I'm seeing, you know, that's, I remember, remember that, that moment was pretty big for me. Yeah.
• 17:12
  Very cool. Yeah. And I would say, yeah, that process of understanding, and one of the things I think I was thinking at that time is I don't have the magic bean that Jackson needs. I got to find a friend of mine who can actually give Jackson the seed for how God's made him to follow his destiny.
• 17:34
  Um, and so, and fortunately I did have multiple friends that were both able and willing to, to guide you, um, during those seasons and continue to. So, yeah, I think that that's a part of the process is just understanding. Sometimes you have the beans and sometimes you don't, but you can always find, I love the phrase, a father doesn't meet every need. A father sees every need is met.
• 17:55
  And one of the things that's really tough about this story is that the mother is unable to introduce Jack to the old man. It has to almost happen by accident. And I think there's a really divine providence that's happening in the story that he encounters what he needs. So I love that. Any other parts? What was this standing out to you and the symbolism of this story so far?
• 18:22
  I think that's just so cool how so many different people have made so many different stories have caught on to that truth that a lot of the times these young men need mentors and they need people that will bring them up in the ways of the force.
• 18:37
  And because they don't have a father of their own to do it for them. So or that father is an evil, dark lord. So it's kind of nice that this is something that people have acknowledged. And I think it's so important for young men to know this because there are so many fatherless young men and then they think they need to do it themselves. But I think it's yeah, it's so good for them to know that they they do need someone to help them and it's OK to ask for help and to seek out.
• 19:08
  I think that for anybody who's either estranged from their father, I'm talking about like a young child. I think it's so important that they read fairy tales. Because what fairy tales do for children is it gives them hope. Because you can't tell a child who's like seven and whose dad's abandoned them, you know, life's going to be okay. Life is really, really bad. And they're incredibly confused. But what happens is every fairy tale really has a...
• 19:35
  happy ending. That's really what makes it a fairy tale. Fables don't always have happy endings. Myths usually have sad endings, but fairy tales have happy endings. And they're really designed to comfort children, not just with sort of placating them, but it's like, no, it's going to be tough. Like you'll see really scary things in this fairy tale. But it does show them that there is a way out. And it's really important for them to have that.
• 19:58
  that realization that there is a way out. And by the way, another really critical element of understanding fairy tales is you have to understand that over the course of thousands of years, millions of fairy tales have been told, but there's a handful of them that get retold so often they become sort of part of the lore and of where we just...
• 20:19
  We're all familiar with them. And it's really those that tend to contain the most helpful truths symbolically. So Jack and the Beanstalk has just been so resilient because it has these truths. It's not just like a random story. It's a story that's been, that somehow has made it through one of the greatest filters for stories that exists, which is time, like lots and lots and lots of time. Okay, we're going to continue the story and then see what happens next.
• 20:49
  However, Jack's mother was greatly disappointed when he returned with the magic beans. Jack, what have you brought? Where's the money? These beans are magic beans that will change our fate. Magic beans? I'm so disappointed. They're worthless. Jack's mother, in her frustration and disappointment, threw the beans out of the window.
• 21:18
  That night, the beanstalk grew to an incredible height, reaching up to the sky. Jack witnessed this astonishing growth, sensing the start of a new adventure. Wow, what's this? The beanstalk has grown up to the sky. I must climb it. Driven by curiosity and a sense of adventure, Jack decided to climb the beanstalk.
• 21:44
  Upon reaching the clouds, Jack discovered a huge mystical castle. The castle seemed to be from another world, radiating a fantastic and magical aura.
• 21:56
  Okay. So more details of the story. The plot thickens. Okay. So part of what happens is, and this, try not to be offended by this, but one of the steps of the story is that when the boy comes home, the maternal doesn't understand the magic bee.
• 22:16
  I've heard this many times, and this is not designed to be offensive, but the reality is that because it's really the job of the father and the son to provide for the family and bring them out of poverty, and it's the job, again, this is a traditional story of the maternal to really be focused on the family, the home, that there's a huge disconnect that oftentimes erupts.
• 22:46
  she misses it. And so part of my experience is there is a pattern here. Again, it's not universal a hundred percent without exceptions. It's just, it's a pattern. And I often, often in coaching men, they will, they will say things like, you know, my wife doesn't understand why I keep like
• 23:06
  basically looking for seeds. Like, um, there, there, there's a, there's a basic tension that occurs between the maternal at this point, um, or the, the, um, the feminine and the masculine. And so, you know, so thank God fairy tales are not attempting to be politically correct because this is a pattern that repeats often. And, um, it doesn't mean the maternal's bad. It's just, she has a different focus and her focus, one of her blind spots tends to be the kinds of risks
• 23:36
  leading your family out of poverty. There's a basic tension that exists oftentimes within marriages and families. Now, sometimes it is the woman who has more of a risk tolerance. So again, there are exceptions. This is a general pattern that often happens.
• 23:51
  And so that's the first kind of step of the symbology is that she, he comes home. Now the mother carelessly throws the beans out the window and the windows often symbolize sort of this transition that occurs in a story. And so it's like a portal and all of a sudden, so it goes out the window, lands in, you know, and then all of a sudden you have this, and you know, the symbol of a port, which is the beanstalk itself into a completely different dimension and to another world.
• 24:17
  that the seed that the old man provided actually does provide a portal for Jack to potentially solve his real problem. Remember, the real problem that the old man is trying to help Jack solve is not to sell the cow. If they would have sold the cow, there'd be even a worse situation. The old man is trying to provide a better asset. The cow was an asset, but it kept him at that very
• 24:41
  low level of assets, of the subsistence level. They needed, what Jack really needs is he needs the kind of wisdom, the seed that's going to provide a portal into a place that will actually help him solve his real problem, which is how do I build enough abundance for me and my mother so that we can escape the poverty that we're in right now? And that requires ascension into a completely different space that he's familiar with.
• 25:07
  And for a child, that is an ascension into the sky, into sort of this cloudy place, right? This other world where there's a castle. Okay, so that's where the story takes us next. So, yeah, Jackson, anything of that stirring up for you?
• 25:27
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• 25:59
  Yeah, I mean, first of all, the point about the risk tolerances between the genders or the maternal and the paternal kind of, I think that's so interesting. I can't even count the amount of times that I've had some brilliant idea, you know, and then I've gone to mom and I've been like, okay, listen, here's this genius idea, like, you know, and then she just like, you know, we thought of like zero, like it's not even like, I hope you chase your dream someday. It's like,
• 26:28
  I hope that goes without saying all the practical one day would. Yeah. But like, did you think about this and this? And it honestly just sounds like your wife's going to be stressed out of her mind. You know, that's sort of where her brain goes. One of the things I was thinking of is I think that like a pattern that I've noticed a little bit is in a in a.
• 26:48
  Like what I think the biggest thing the story is sort of conveying maybe a little bit is what I've noticed in a family is where there's relative comfort, maybe not wealth, but like relative comfort. It's the man that sinks to that standard and learns to be like, all right, I'll just be a penny pincher and, you know, I'll just, we'll just, you know, kind of be a little bit miserly and live this kind of lifestyle. And the woman, for whatever reason, you know, just given a little bit of comfort is able to cook up all these really amazing ideas, you know.
• 27:16
  And, you know, have like a little like because they have that sort of foundation. But what's weird is that in a poverty situation, when there's like nothing, and there's actually very little for whatever reason, even though they're literally like you were saying one meal away from starving, the man still has an ability to dream.
• 27:34
  of a castle, you know, like that's crazy, you know, that it's like, you know, we're, we're a meal or two away from starving. And I'm thinking about what we'll do one day to become successful. You know, the woman's like, we're a meal or two away from starving. You know, how could you have traded and you can kill the cash cow for an idea. That's, you know, for a seed, you know, like that's ridiculous. Right. So I think that's the, yeah. So I, I think that in their poverty situation, it's crazy that Jack and I am like, I can identify with his emotions. I can imagine, you know,
• 28:04
  being there at the market with the cow and being like, all we're going to get is coins. That's all I'm imagining. You know, then this guy shows up with magic in his hand. I'm like, I buy it. I take it. And as soon as I go and show it, and then she starts like pushing back a little bit, I feel like a confidence crumble, you know, and be like, wait, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. You know, you would have had to have been there, you know, or something like that. Like you're not catching the spark, you know, it's like, but I don't know how to explain the spark to you. So, yeah. Well, and it is incredibly risky what Jack is doing in the story.
• 28:34
  Um, and so, yeah, there's, there's good reason for the mother to be alarmed. We were going to have maybe a week's worth of food. Now we're going to have nothing. Um, you know, but one of the things that, that also fascinates me about the story is that the old man requires, why didn't he just give Jack the seed? Why did he take the cow? And I think that part of the reality is because Jack is fatherless, the old man actually requires payment. Um, and so, yeah, there's, there's good reason for the mother to be alarmed.
• 28:57
  or what he's about to give him. Now he will give him a way out and it is going to be very risky and it's still going to require Jack to climb the beanstalk and deal with what's up there. And if he chooses not to, then it was a bad exchange. So a lot of this is, I think a lot of men struggle with confidence. Like, do I, okay, if I sell the cow,
• 29:16
  throw my family at even greater risk and then, and then, uh, and then get the seeds. Do I have what it takes to climb the beanstalk? Do I have what it takes to deal with what's up there? Um, that's really frightening. And the fairy tale is really here to help you as, as somebody who's thinking through that, that it's, it's here to give you confidence that it is possible, but it's going to be dangerous and we'll, we'll see what happens next. Is there anything that this is a startup for you?
• 29:42
  Yeah, I was just thinking about what other examples I've seen of this. And I thought of two at the top of my head from the Bible where the wives are like,
• 29:53
  kind of confused by their husband's actions. And I've been kind of fascinated by Job lately, re-fascinated, and that kind of happens in there when Job is worshiping the Lord and all this stuff. And she's like, you realize that we just lost everything, right? And she just has a very different attitude from him. And then I also thought of when David goes out and dances around the Ark.
• 30:20
  And how his wife looked out and was super embarrassed by him. And so that's just kind of an even biblical pattern of men doing something that women would find eccentric and not natural or not practical. And then they're like judging the man for it or not necessarily supportive. So it is kind of a pattern there.
• 30:44
  That's a pattern. And it's important you guys understand Jack and the Beast talk is a very masculine story. And we're going to unpack some fairy tales that are really feminine, that really kind of emphasize the strengths of the feminine and the blind spots of the masculine. This story does really focus on the masculine primarily because it assumes that it's the job of the masculine to solve the poverty problem for the family. So, okay, we're going to continue. Okay.
• 31:13
  See what's up the beanstalk. You guys ready for this? As Jack approached the castle, he faced a golden iron gate with elaborate designs. He cautiously opened the gate. Jack looked closely at the castle situated above the clouds. Feeling a sense of awe for this mysterious world above the clouds, he decided to enter to uncover its hidden secrets.
• 31:45
  Jack sneaked into the castle and encountered the wife of the giant. The giant's wife looked at Jack pityingly and said, Hide quickly before the giant returns. He's a very frightening man. You could be eaten. The giant in another room was playing a magical harp and holding a chicken that laid golden eggs singing a song.
• 32:09
  Fee-fee-foo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Startled, Jack followed the giant's wife quietly out of the place. Jack hid in a place where the giant's wife had concealed him. There he discovered a treasure chest and stealthily took it with him as he left the castle. Jack returned home with the treasure chest and gold, starting a new life with his mother.
• 32:40
  However, their fortune soon ran out.
• 32:46
  All right. Okay. So a few major events occur in the process of trying to lead your family out of poverty. So you have to do the work of climbing the beanstalk and getting the seed, climbing the beanstalk. And then when you get up to this other place where the treasures are, you're going to encounter a few things in terms of patterns. Okay. One is you're going to encounter a friendly force. And here we have a little bit of redemption for the maternal in the story.
• 33:14
  We have a friendly female giant, the wife of the giant, and she is there to help Jack. Now, in a fairy tale, when you encounter a giant, giants are symbols for adults because to a child, everyone's a giant because they're short. And so when you're up in this other world, there is you're encountering these giants and they're not friendly. They're not they don't care about you, generally speaking.
• 33:41
  Um, they're, they're hoarding something, but there are adults that care about you and that, that are friendly and that you can trust and that might help you on your journey. And so that, that, those kinds of adults are really symbolized by the wife of the giant. So she's interested in hiding Jack. Um, and so every version of the story that the giant's wife is, is friendly and understands how much, how vulnerable Jack really is. And so this is a story that says, look, this is not safe.
• 34:06
  And if you just stumbled into this castle, you will get killed. And this is pretty gruesome. The giant is very interested in eating Jack, which is another part of fairy tales often because kids are devoured by adults in various ways. And they are in danger because they're incredibly vulnerable.
• 34:24
  And so one of the things that you have to encounter is a friendly force that'll help you. And she doesn't really help guide Jack, but she does sort of protect him from the immediate danger of the giant. So the giant really symbolizes...
• 34:40
  the person who has control of the treasure. And one of the things that happens when you're trying to get your family out of poverty is that there is a competitive nature to try to drive your family out of poverty. If there's treasure anywhere, it's not going to just be handed to you. Sorry, guys. You're going to have to take it. And when you take it, you're going to have to endure serious risks. Yeah.
• 35:04
  And there are always three kinds of treasures. And this is the most brilliant part of the fairy tale to me. I couldn't believe it when I first realized what the fairy tale was communicating, that there are three kinds of treasures that exist that will help lead your family out of poverty. And it's important that you acquire them in this order. And it's important that you understand the difference between each kinds of treasure.
• 35:28
  And so the first kind of treasure is just simply gold. And so Jack takes the first kind of treasure, the gold. And oftentimes when you take that treasure, yeah, it helps your family for a little bit. But the story always describes that there's a problem. And that is when you go for the easiest kind of treasure to get.
• 35:46
  Your family just ends up back where you started. Now, you will enjoy the treasure for a little bit. You know, the gold helped Jack and his mother for a while, but it can't actually solve the problem forever. And so you always end up having to go back up the beanstalk.
• 36:03
  So one of the things that I teach at Family Inc. repeatedly is that there are three steps to actually getting out of poverty. We have a whole video called Businesses Come in Threes. And I wrote this before.
• 36:18
  I realized the symbology of Jack and the Beanstalk. I just saw it happen over and over again. I saw every family that successfully came all the way out of poverty. They always started three businesses instead of one. And I didn't understand. I kept studying it as it happened over and over again. We did it. Other families did it. And I started calling these different kinds of assets by the name that they were, by what they were really creating for the family. So there's a freedom business that helps the family immediately get out of an employment situation.
• 36:46
  And often I say that's like a service-based business. You're still trading your time for money. It doesn't actually solve the long-term problem, but it helps you kind of on the path. And so I would say that just getting gold is sort of like that first step that I see people take when they're trying to get out of poverty. And there is sort of a trap to think that that's actually going to solve the problem. It never solves the problem, but it is often a necessary step.
• 37:08
  Then there's a scale business and then a legacy business. I'm going to talk about each of those as we go further in the story, but I want to pause here and say, yeah, Jack, anything that this is starting up for you, this step of like encountering the castle and encountering the friendly giant's wife, the giant and the chest of gold. Yeah. I mean, it is similar. I have another like memory sort of attached to it, or I remember when you would take me into board meeting and stuff.
• 37:36
  I mean, that concept, when you were saying how all the adults are big and scary to a kid, and that is really what it is. It's like a little boy trying to play in the big leagues with the most successful people that they know. And it's like, that's... I remember going in there and everyone was just like...
• 37:55
  saying these big words I didn't understand, making the gravity of the room very serious all the time. And yeah, it was all these tall masculine adults. And I'm just like...
• 38:07
  Jeez, like I don't, and I couldn't, I could never imagine being, I remember like I probably felt more incompetent in those situations than I've ever felt in my entire life. I'm like, I just can't imagine playing this game that they're playing right now or like having a seat at this table, like what that would require. You know, I remember looking at the whiteboards you guys would make sometimes be like, I don't have anything to add. Like my most creative imagination couldn't even understand what's going on right now, let alone, you know.
• 38:34
  have something to contribute. So it's like, that's sort of where I'm at. Or like when I think of this, it's like, yeah, he's basically completely screwed. But I think that, yeah, like the other thing I think is really symbolic is,
• 38:49
  But then the person that takes pity basically gives them the crumbs of the big deal. You know, it's like, it's not, it's not a, it's not the, it's not the harp, you know, that's just constantly like, you know, providing, you know, a lavish, you know, castle or whatever else that he's using. It's nothing like that. You know, these men are still playing the harps, but you can have, like, I'll give you a room for you to try to get something, you know? And I feel like I'm kind of in that phase right now where I'm getting like, okay.
• 39:17
  sort of the crumbs of deals that I'm hearing about from other people. Even the business that we're getting into right now is like the unwanted, you know, portion of somebody else making all their money, you know? And it's like, I'm just like that. Like I'll take that and see what I can do with it, you know? And, and yeah, so I think that that it's, I mean, yeah, I'm just walking along this journey. I can't wait to get to the next two parts of a Jack short experiencing, but yeah, it's kind of right now. Yes.
• 39:43
  Oh man. Yeah. That, that, uh, yeah, that, that encounter with, um, giants. And even like when it's interesting, I noticed as I took you guys to work and often, you know, you're surrounded by these giant adults. Um, you'll often encounter kind of a maternal force, right? Somebody who's, who takes, who's like, Oh, like really paying attention to you. Um, like a nurturing man or a, you know, a woman, um, who, who recognizes your vulnerability and your situation and is, is sensitive and thoughtful about, okay, what are you learning from,
• 40:12
  How, you know, are you understanding what's going on? Is this is there anything here that's like intimidating? Yeah, I think these two forces that happen up in the world where you are trying to attain the assets exist. And they're really important. Yeah, Sydney, how about you?
• 40:32
  Yeah, I've noticed a little bit how if someone is going to be successful, you can tell by if they are only targeting like this monetary gain or if they're targeting one of the other two options and or if that's at least one of their goals.
• 40:53
  Like, I know I can tell this when I play Monopoly with someone. I love Monopoly. It's like my favorite board game. And it's like, if someone is not going after the properties and they're just asking for money from everyone, I know that they're going to lose. Even though they have thousands of dollars right now, I'm like, you are going to lose in the long run. So it is a reality of like, if you're just using this as your goal, this little, you know, soon to run out treasure chest. Yeah.
• 41:22
  that you're not over the hump yet. You're not there yet. You just have this little bit of money and then hopefully that'll get you to the next phase. Yes. It blows me away that this story unveils that because most people don't even understand that. They don't, they don't know that they don't know the difference between a golden chest and the goose that lays the golden eggs. Yeah. So we're going to, uh, get the rest of the story and then, and then, um, bring this to its amazing conclusion.
• 41:50
  As the situation became desperate, Jack climbed the beanstalk two more times. On his second climb, he brought back a chicken that laid golden eggs. On his last climb, Jack discovered a dazzling golden magical harp and decided to take it home captivated by its beauty.
• 42:13
  But then, discovered by the giant, Jack hurriedly fled the castle amidst great chaos and began descending the beanstalk. As the giant followed, shaking the beanstalk on his descent, Jack was engulfed in terror. With the giant's roars echoing, Jack descended the beanstalk more rapidly and desperately.
• 42:41
  As soon as Jack safely reached the ground, he called out to his mother to bring an axe. Once she brought it, Jack ran towards the beanstalk and began chopping it down with all his might. As the beanstalk fell, the giant crashed to the ground along with it. The earth shook with a great impact and the giant lay still, no longer moving. Jack sighed with relief and his adventure finally came to a peaceful end.
• 43:14
  After this perilous adventure, Jack and his mother lived a peaceful and comfortable life. The chicken that laid golden eggs provided them with a steady income. Jack and his mother could afford everything they needed, and their lives became much more stable than before. Moreover, the magical harp filled their home with music and joy.
• 43:43
  The harp played beautiful melodies on its own, soothing their hearts. Thanks to the magical harp, Jack and his mother could enjoy art and beauty in their daily lives. They no longer suffered from worries and difficulties, living happily and contentedly. All right. Yeah, good job, Jack. Wow. He did it. Okay, so...
• 44:07
  Yeah, this is so this kind of concludes the full scope of what it requires to move from poverty to abundance. Once you understand that just getting gold is not is not enough, like Sydney described in Monopoly. I think Monopoly is such an incredible game at this one thing, and that is.
• 44:26
  And that is helping you see the importance of the goose that lays the golden eggs, which of course are the houses in the hotel that actually help you win the game. It's helping you understand that you don't need just money. You need something that produces money. And so this is one of the hardest things to convince people of if they don't understand it. I remember the first time.
• 44:47
  I realized this. I was on a beach in Daytona beach in Florida and Jackson, you were, I think just recently born. And I had bought on eBay, a tape of set of tapes by Robert Kiyosaki, who eventually wrote rich dad, poor dad. And I was listening to these tapes. I was walking up and down the beach with my mouth was open. I was like, like suddenly realized that,
• 45:16
  that I needed to acquire assets. And that was the only way I was going to get my family out of poverty. We were in poverty at the time. I had no way of really producing much of an income. I was about to resign from the one thing I knew how to do that barely kept us going, gave us Milky White the cow.
• 45:35
  And I was like, how are we going to get this goose that lays the golden eggs? I didn't even know to look for the goose that lays the golden eggs until I read that book. And I always tell people, if you don't understand what we're talking about right now, you're doing what Sidney described and you play Monopoly by trying to stockpile cash, then please go out.
• 45:53
  and buy Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And if you don't do that, at least listen to the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale and its meaning. You need to get the goose that lays the golden eggs. You need an asset that produces. And so we talk about this as the second kind of business. You get your freedom business. You get some amount of cash, some amount of freedom, but that's not gonna get your family out of poverty. You need to get some kind of asset that produces money. We call that a scale business, something that actually moves in that direction. We talk a lot about that in our family and coaching.
• 46:22
  And then the final step in this, and I think the real goal and what I loved, I was blown away when I saw that Jack in the Beatsnock was describing this, is that the ultimate goal of this is to create a certain kind of lifestyle for your family where you can actually enjoy art. That's symbolic of being able to do what you're passionate about. This is why the worst advice ever for people who are looking for employment is follow your passion. That's great advice for people that already have a goose that lays golden eggs.
• 46:52
  And if you listen carefully to the people who say, follow your passion and that have been successful, they already have a goose that lays golden eggs. And so they are obsessed with the harp, the golden harp. They're like, yeah, of course you should go get a golden harp. Do not go for the golden harp first. That is not how it works.
• 47:09
  Um, so, so, but you are trying to get there eventually. So we call that a legacy business, which is really the, the, the capital producing assets that, uh, that a family acquires in order to give them the kind of freedom to be able to pursue the things they really care about. In our case, it's mostly ministry related. So, so once we start to develop assets that are producing.
• 47:29
  money for our family, we began to focus more and more of our time on ministry, on art, on culture. And really what this is describing is how culture is created within a home. And it has to be undergirded by these first two elements, right? The cash and the assets.
• 47:45
  And so this roadmap in Jack and the Beanstalk is so, yeah, it's so well described, the actual journey and the tensions that are created. And the thing that you have to understand is if you start to seize control of these assets, you are going to be in grave danger. Like what you hear? Be sure to leave a rating and review for this podcast wherever you use streaming.
• 48:14
  Because the giant is coming after you. Because as soon as you get to this place, protecting that is going to be really difficult. These are protected by people that are powerful, and they do not want you to acquire them. And so you're going to be in a fight. You're going to have to figure out what to do. And so there's a final part of the story. And again, we have...
• 48:34
  a moment where the maternal is redeemed because in a lot of the stories, the mother actually is the one who chops down the beanstalk in this version of the story. She gets the ax for Jack who chops down the beanstalk and is able to sever the connection between Jack and the giant. And man, those were some of the most difficult moments.
• 49:00
  moments in my journey of trying to acquire assets. Because every time I began to really succeed, then whoever, there was always somebody on the other end that if you don't sever your connection to them, that they want back,
• 49:15
  or they think that you owe them what you've created. That happens so often, and that's a constant story I hear from guys that are on this journey. It's difficult to sever that connection. And if you can't do it and they're able to bully you out of the assets or legally reacquire them, there's oftentimes some kind of tension or fight that has to develop between the,
• 49:42
  the giant, the one who wants the assets or maybe at one time had them, this could be a competitor. There's lots of ways. I'm not describing something that I think is illegal. It's just there's always a fight because, again, if treasure was easy to get, then the story would be very different. We would just go and pick it off the ground. This involves a real dangerous moment.
• 50:08
  And once that's achieved, then you have this moment where you bring abundance, stability, and art and culture into the home. And that's what we really want to see for all you guys listening to this. That's why this story is so important to understand. These steps and the way that you take them in order to get to the place where you have abundance as a family is so important. So yeah, Jackson, anything else that this is starting up for you, this final chapter of the story?
• 50:37
  Yeah, I mean, first of all, I like when the mom gives him the act. I think that's the perfect example. It's like her desire to protect the home is still strong. And she's just, yeah, it's like I can imagine in the same spirit, the mom being apprehensive about them getting into this business.
• 50:57
  also knowing exactly when they're supposed to stop, you know. And I think that kind of makes sense so that by the time they're able to begin enjoying this art and all that other stuff, like, it's very important to, you know, listen to the person that you might have had to, like,
• 51:14
  Ignore initially, because I think because, for example, like I think the same way that she's wired for the heart, you know, she's wired for that, like the homemaking and the stuff that really brings the joy, you know, the meaning to whatever wealth you're able to create.
• 51:29
  But I think, yeah, I think it's super powerful is the fact that, yeah, if you if you had grabbed the heart first, how horrible their life would have been, because they basically would have just starved happily. Like they literally literally how close you can get to that. Like when you get a magic bean, that's incredible. And then it does something and grows into a beanstalk. That's incredible.
• 51:51
  Then it leads to a castle full of treasure. That's incredible. And then you just grab the wrong thing first. You would have had to cut the tree that this old beanstalk got instantly. And they would have been left with a, you know, a harp that plays and just make them happy as they die, you know, because he would have not had any more acts. And yeah, so I feel like I have in my wealth journey right now, I definitely, I feel like, you know,
• 52:16
  we did have the moments of poverty as a family, but for the majority, I feel like I've lived in a lot of wealth in terms of like, I don't have any poverty mentalities or anything like that. And so I tried that when we first started our family, I tried to just live like that. And I was kind of a wife, but,
• 52:36
  so we're so yeah we're actually having to backtrack you know our mentality like I love that I got to live in a place where the harp was being played all the time but we actually have to get our own you know before we can enjoy that it's obviously the best way to live but
• 52:56
  you need to get the other two first. You need to get the treasure chest and the chicken first. That's right. The sequence is so important. And I think that's maybe the most brilliant part, the most surprising part in some ways, I think of this is that all three are described and the sequence is described. And those are the two things that I'm like constantly trying to articulate that I think so few people understand. And I'm like, it's right here in this like old, old fairy tale. How crazy is that? And by the way, we do, we live in a house where literally there's a harp playing.
• 53:26
  my daughter Elisa plays the harp. And so we have multiple harps in our house and it's, we just had a party where she played the, it is, I love it. It's a symbol for, for culture. And in a certain season of abundance, it's,
• 53:43
  But yeah, it's crazy to me that Elisa, who I think, you know, she has such a powerful intuition, I think, for like where she's at, like what's happening. And I think that sort of maybe even drew her to the harp. Like I'm in a place of stability. I'm in a place of beauty. Yeah.
• 54:03
  how can I maximize the experience of beauty that we're having in this house? And so she makes art and puts it all over our walls and she plays the harp. And that, that, that is a direct result of these first two steps, you know, that of, of the years of, of doing battle with giants. You know, and this, this is the beautiful sort of,
• 54:26
  interplay between the feminine and the masculine. The masculine is putting himself in dangerous situations, trying to acquire the things that will create stability and abundance for his family. And then bringing that back and getting, and I, it's, it's really difficult to articulate how amazing it is for me to be able to, yeah, remember all those things.
• 54:44
  really hard seasons and just sit back and listen to at least to play the harp. Yeah. I'm just like, I don't want to be anywhere else. I am so happy. It's incredible. So Sydney, what is this final chapter of the story starting up for you?
• 54:57
  Um, it just really inspires me. I feel like having that as your goal would probably help you get through the hard times of needing to acquire assets because it's so worth it to be able to live in that beautiful music and, and that joy. And that's really where I feel like I, that's just constantly my desire. Um, and I think that when it is time for me to go on this journey
• 55:27
  I think it'll help get through that if we keep that as our main goal, because that's really where life, physical life begins. And we're able to actually produce the beauty. And so, yeah, I'm really excited for that part. And I feel like, especially as a woman, I'm more like, I'm more excited for that part. Let's get to that chapter.
• 55:50
  Yeah. So, um, yeah, I'm, I'm looking forward to going on that journey and it's going to be way more gratifying at the end of it when you need to go through all these steps first. I feel like it, it can be easy to take it for granted if you're just always there. Um, and so I think it'll make me appreciate it even more having gone through it, gone through the hard times. So I'm excited.
• 56:15
  Yeah, and this has been a hard thing for us to figure out is like, do we, is a vision of a multi-generational family to sort of start every new branch of the family, you know, with the harp, right? And I don't think that's the right answer. I think that the right answer, though, is...
• 56:32
  to be a father, like this is kind of my, my, my sense of how to take this story for our family is that for me, I need to do my best to help you guys in the process of showing you, like you can do it, climb the beanstalk, you know, like you could like, like go after the giant, like you, you got it, you know, do it in that sequence. No, no, no, not, not the harp. No, put it down. Get the, get the goose.
• 57:02
  So, I mean, that's, I think that's, that's what I've, what I feel like. And then because I want it to be yours, I want you to have the experience of what it's like to, yeah, to have acquired those things. But I also don't want you to get stuck in a dead end. And this is kind of why I really hope that this is helpful to those guys who are listening to this.
• 57:21
  Please share this with people that you think it might be stuck, not really understanding the pathway out of poverty because it's very specific. And I think this is so helpful. Just read the story and really understand what it's symbolizing and follow these simple steps. And like I said, if you want to join a whole community of us that are doing this, you can go to familyteams.com and click on Family Inc and join the wait list and really check
• 57:48
  What we do is two or three times a year, we basically open the beanstalk and say, who wants to join? And we'll go on this journey together and coach people on the three-step process of acquiring these kinds of assets and what that can look like for your family. But you have to do the work and it's going to be dangerous and difficult. But I think we want to be able to help each other get through this.
• 58:11
  And if you guys like this idea too of, of going through fairy tales, let me know. Probably have like a top 10 list of fairy tales that have just absolutely changed my life. And so I'd love to unpack more of them as we start to really understand how these symbols can be like guides in a world that is getting more and more chaotic, where a lot of the meaning behind these things I think is being lost.
• 58:36
  And we need to understand their meaning, what these things symbolize in the real world more than ever. So thank you, Jackson and Sydney, for joining me on this storytelling journey. Yeah.
• 58:49
  Yeah, thanks, Dad. Thank you for listening to the Family Teams podcast. If you're enjoying this content or have learned something new, please make sure to leave a rating and review and share with a friend. To stay up to date with our events, new content, and products, you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Family Teams.