Transcript

0:01
What's up everybody?
0:02
Welcome to another episode of the Christian Agent Podcast.
0:05
I am Garrett Maroon, your host, and I'm super excited for my guest today.
0:08
You're going to love learning about Austin Hare.
0:11
He is way cooler than I am first and foremost, and he's done a lot of really interesting things.
0:16
And we're going to talk today about the disciplines.
0:19
of success and specifically from a biblical perspective, what does it take in terms of discipline in our day, in our family, in our bodies, in our finances, in our health, and all of those pieces that are going to lead us to success because the reality is we work to honor and glorify the Lord.
0:35
You don't honor the Lord if you are less than excellent.
0:38
Let's just be honest about that.
0:39
But by being excellent in all things, and we're not going to do that perfectly, by striving for excellence in all things, we honor God and we want to do that.
0:46
And so that's what today the episode is about.
0:49
Before I forget, we're super excited that you guys have joined.
0:52
I have a free online community to teach you all.
0:55
how to sell three to four homes a year from a biblical perspective.
0:58
You can find that link in the show notes.
1:00
It's a free online platform called school.
1:02
I hope you'll join me there.
1:03
But before we dive in and talk about Austin and introduce him to you, let me start with a Christian dad joke.
1:10
He's got one too, which is very timely because when you're listening to this, it would have just been Christmas a couple of weeks ago.
1:16
So let me kick off my Joel Schultz.
1:19
Thank you for sending this to me.
1:21
Austin's literally to the point where people are sending them to me, which is fantastic.
1:25
It cuts down so much of my research time just to be honest with you.
1:28
So thank you, Joe.
1:30
So here was his joke.
1:31
Why does Jesus frequent a Japanese soup restaurant?
1:38
Because he loves me so.
1:42
I thought that was pretty good.
1:43
That's pretty funny.
1:44
Yeah, I like that.
1:45
All right, so what you got, man?
1:47
Hit me with what you got.
1:48
What do you call the day before Christmas Eve?
1:53
Christmas Adam.
1:54
Fantastic.
1:56
I really do like that.
1:57
Like it's amazing It's sad how much time I've spent researching jokes that are Christian and dad jokes that you know I just keep finding the same what I've never heard that before and so props I think you told me your sister told you that so props to her That's awesome they just did I Like it I like it.
2:17
Hey, well done buddy.
2:18
Well done.
2:18
Well, we've got Austin hair with us today guys I'm super excited for y'all to hear from him He was a professional wakeboarder for 11 years, an American Ninja Warrior finalist.
2:28
He's now a real estate investors as short-term rentals commercial, even wedding venues, which is really unique and niche.
2:35
And most importantly, he's married with two kiddos, he said.
2:38
His daughter's three, his youngest is eight months, and his wife is 32, because no one asks how old the wife is.
2:44
So we're excited that you're here, man.
2:45
We're going to talk today about the disciplines of success.
2:48
But Austin, thanks so much for joining me, buddy.
2:50
I'm glad you're here.
2:51
Hey, thanks for having me, man.
2:52
It's my pleasure.
2:53
Yeah, a hundred percent, man.
2:54
So let's dive straight in, right?
2:56
You've had an interesting experience, you know, professional wakeboarder.
2:58
That's interesting.
2:59
Personally, I've never wakeboarded.
3:01
I've never skied.
3:02
I like trying not to die.
3:03
Apparently you like to die and test the Lord's sovereign plan for your life, which I, which I respect.
3:09
And then going to American Ninja Warrior, but let's talk first about this professional wakeboarding experience, right?
3:13
To be a professional anything I imagine, especially in that field where at least from my perspective feels even more niche than like being a professional baseball player like Tyler was, there's probably even fewer opportunities to do that.
3:25
Walk me through how you even got into that and then how do you get to the level of actually being professional and then doing it for 11 years.
3:31
Walk us through that.
3:33
So my mom was a skier.
3:35
She learned how to ski.
3:37
We actually, lived in Orlando when I was like zeroed or one years old pretty much.
3:42
And my mom learned how to ski and then we bounced all over Florida and we ended up relocating to South Carolina when I was in fourth grade.
3:51
And because my mom loved skiing, so she was a snow skier.
3:54
My dad was into it as a hobbyist, but she was really into it.
3:56
So they wanted to be on the lake so she could water ski as much as possible.
4:00
So in fourth grade, I learned how to water ski.
4:03
And then around sixth grade, started wakeboarding and just like, I got kind of bored with water skiing pretty quickly, just like the going back and forth type thing.
4:09
You know, I saw some guys doing flips on a wakeboard and I'm like, man, I gotta go.
4:13
Like that looks so, so cool.
4:15
We followed them around.
4:17
There's this group of the guys called South Town Riders, we're actually a Christian group.
4:21
And they were just generous, invited me on their boat, taught me how to do like my first flip.
4:26
And then I was just like, man, I wanna do this.
4:29
And I was like all in, know, but this from the time I was 12.
4:32
So then it took me full circle because it brought me back to Orlando to pursue it professionally because that was kind of like the hub of wakeboarding was in Orlando because warm weather, a bunch of lakes, all the photographers, bunch of guys with boats and that sort of thing.
4:43
And so I continued to focus on wakeboarding while I still went to school, UCF, but I didn't take any summer classes.
4:50
I was always traveling, you know, all throughout the summer, couldn't do any school.
4:54
And so it took six and a half instead of four years, just like going pretty, pretty part time, but it was really fun.
5:01
Yeah, I won the world championships in wake skating actually.
5:05
was doing professional wake skating for a little bit there when it was not super competitive.
5:09
And then I got second in the world's, one of the years, I don't know, like 2010.
5:15
And then yeah, just blessed to be able to do it for like a really, really long time.
5:19
And so, you know, I'm sure a lot of people can relate.
5:22
It's like, it's not like a clear cut, like A to B.
5:24
There's a lot of overlap in my story of like when I started wakeboarding, then I read Rich Dad Poor Dad.
5:30
when I was like 19 and then I got my first house when I was 24 or 23 I think, 2011.
5:36
And then I opened up some fitness centers and I was like house hacking and trying to open this gym and trying to wig board and you know what mean?
5:46
I always like to buy off more than I can chew.
5:49
it was kind of like, but that's what got me into real estate.
5:51
was actually like, I think I had that house and then I bought another house.
5:57
and I just held on to it because I couldn't sell it really and and it was like I kind of was like phasing out of wakeboarding and then I was focusing more and more on the gym so I was really focused on the gym for like two years I ended up selling the gyms it was a ton of work and then like afterwards I still had the houses and I was like man my dollar per hour is actually a high by far the highest from like these two like doing Airbnb and stuff like and these two houses than ever was from like wakeboarding or or running these gyms or anything like that it's like why don't I just focus on that so that was kind of around 20 19, 2020.
6:28
Yeah, well, and then another God moment, I guess, is like, I ended up selling the gyms in November of 2019.
6:32
So I had had three of them in Orlando, sold it right before COVID.
6:36
And then, but it was in the process of the gyms that I met my partner because he was helping me do the site selection.
6:41
And so then that's how I got into commercial real estate.
6:43
Because when I sold those, then he invited me to come and do commercial real estate site selection for and development for healthcare groups.
6:49
And then because I was done weight boarding and my body was feeling way too good.
6:53
Like I didn't have any injuries or, you know, I woke up feeling awesome.
6:56
I was like, Hey, why don't I go do Ninja Warrior?
6:58
Cause I need something to beat me up apparently.
7:01
And, and so that's kind of the timeline and happy to dive into detail on any one of those things.
7:05
no, okay, so obviously you're a guy who likes to sit still, I can tell, right?
7:09
You have nothing going on in your head or don't want to take action.
7:12
obviously, and it's such a, I love that, right?
7:15
And I appreciate anybody that way, because it's such an entrepreneurial story and entrepreneurial life.
7:19
That's how.
7:21
people don't understand like I don't, know, Tyler and I had an Amazon business.
7:24
Why do you have an Amazon business?
7:25
have a real estate team.
7:26
That doesn't make sense.
7:27
You're like, it's not going to make sense, right?
7:29
It's just that I thought that was interesting.
7:31
Right.
7:31
Yeah.
7:31
We thought it was terrible.
7:32
You know, and I've talked about that in the show.
7:34
It was the worst decision we could have made, but we were like, it's going to be amazing because we're entrepreneurs and I assume it's going to be awesome.
7:39
And it just wasn't, but okay.
7:41
So let's kick back real quick.
7:42
Cause I love that as an overview.
7:44
So you, you're growing up, you're doing wakeboarding, you're learning from these guys.
7:47
And then you really decide, I really want to kick this in the high gear.
7:50
And was your thought at that point, I want to become a professional.
7:53
And then it was in order to do that, I got to do X, Y, and Z or, or how did you get to the point to say, I love it.
7:59
Now I'm going to make a career out of it.
8:00
What did that take?
8:01
What did that look like?
8:03
Yeah, correct.
8:04
Yeah, yeah.
8:05
So, we started doing the local competitions right away.
8:09
My parents were very supportive, you that was awesome.
8:11
I never knew if I was gonna make it professionally.
8:13
I didn't know if I had what it takes.
8:16
And so I always focused on school and that was my fallback plan.
8:19
And I said, I ever have to choose between wakeboarding and school, I'll choose wakeboarding.
8:23
I never really had to choose, I got to do both.
8:26
But the way it kind of works is like, you can do the junior tour until you're 18, and when you're 18, You know, you have to go pro pretty much if you want to keep doing it.
8:34
And so that's what happened.
8:35
I graduated high school turned 18 and then I moved down to Florida to go on the pro tour.
8:40
And so at the time, I mean, I had done well, like I think around 16, I realized like, Hey, like I can, you know, I think I can turn this into a career, you know, but I mean, like in hindsight, do you know Alex Hormozi?
8:55
Yeah.
8:55
So I got lucky enough.
8:56
I worked with him directly in 2017 when I had the gyms.
8:59
We were one of the when early on in doing gym launch, but you know, he really breaks down everything into a science.
9:05
And so honestly, like, I believe you can do whatever you want to.
9:08
I mean, like, okay, maybe not NBA because you got to be like seven feet tall.
9:12
But like for the most part, I honestly believe you can do almost anything you want to if you break it down into a science.
9:16
And even Malcolm Gladwell says the 10,000 hour rule, meaning if you do something for 10,000 hours, you're an expert.
9:21
And so I kind of took that mentality.
9:22
It's like, I wanted to ride all the time.
9:24
Like I would, I would try and ride three times a day, which is like, you know, 20, 30 minute sets.
9:29
But it takes, I mean, takes a toll on your body.
9:31
And look, I when I'm 16, you can, you're pretty much invincible, but like, that was pretty much what I was focused on.
9:38
was wakeboarding, I was going to school, I was working out.
9:40
I would ride three times and then I would hit the gym.
9:42
And so I was literally obsessed with this.
9:44
And so I think I just figured like, if I worked hard enough at it, I could do it.
9:48
And so to your point about discipline, yeah, at end of the day, like that's what it comes down to is discipline.
9:54
And so I wish I had like some hack for like how to, how to get more disciplined or whatever, I think I had high motivation, right?
10:04
I think maybe one of the ways to look at it is like, you're most motivated for what you think you're lacking in.
10:10
You're lacking in the most.
10:12
And so I looked at the guys who were the best and I felt really far away from them.
10:16
And so that motivated me because I wanted to be more like them, right?
10:20
And that's a dangerous mentality to get on because it can lead to discontentment and fulfillment, which we can talk about later.
10:26
But I think like...
10:28
For me, know, that was, I wanted it so bad that that gave me the discipline.
10:32
Like I just, knew that if I was gonna be good at this, I had to put in the reps and I had to put in the hours.
10:37
And I figured if I did this enough times that I would eventually get the outcome I was looking for.
10:41
And that's exactly what happened.
10:43
And another thing about that is I never, like I never had the goal to be the best in the world, which sounds so weird now.
10:50
Like I remember other people saying that and being like, you just put yourself out there.
10:54
Cause if you don't hit that goal, then you're gonna look like an idiot.
10:55
Well, he did become the best in the world.
10:57
you know, like when he said that at a young age and it's like, it's like I hit the goal.
11:01
Like I wanted to be, you know, like the best paid guy for my level.
11:06
Like that's such a weird random goal, but like, you know, I could have, if I would have shot higher, I think I could have gotten higher.
11:15
Like, yeah, I mean, yeah, I got second in worlds and I had some great finishes, but like, you know, I could have done a lot better, right?
11:20
Even though on paper it looks great.
11:22
Like we always are left feeling like we could have done better.
11:23
And so I think it's just an interesting.
11:26
thought process really, like a thought exercise of like, you can achieve like what you really shoot for.
11:33
Yeah, so I think that's fascinating because so let's dig into that and there's a couple things I'll impact but let's dig into that specifically because how do we Join that with this biblical worldview, right?
11:43
Cuz I think at least in my opinion in my personal experience.
11:46
There's always this balance in these wrestling of ambition versus obedience, right?
11:53
I can become so ambitious that it's I'm in front of the Lord, if you will, not that you can do that, right?
11:58
But like I I'm in front of where the Lord wants me to be.
12:01
And then I can just sit there in obedience and not have any ambition, which is also not honoring to the Lord.
12:07
And I'm sitting there waiting for something to happen.
12:09
He's like, I granted you ambition.
12:12
so that you would use it for my sake and my glory, right?
12:14
And so to me, there's always kind of that wrestling and you tend to be one or the other.
12:19
You tend to be overly ambitious like I am, and obviously you are.
12:22
You tend to be overly quote unquote obedient, which I would say actually ends up being laziness, because you're sitting there doing nothing, waiting on the Lord to do something.
12:30
It's like, we got to get up and you got to move your feet, right?
12:33
So that opportunity to say, well, if I had aimed for more, I could have gotten more.
12:38
Right?
12:39
How do we balance that?
12:40
Because there is this, I'm reading a book right now about Elon Musk and it's so fascinating when, yes, his biography.
12:47
Yep.
12:47
Yeah.
12:48
And yeah, that's right.
12:49
And when you start to see any of these high performers, right, there is almost an unbridled ambition.
12:56
And that's why they get there.
12:57
Now he's not a Christian and that's certainly not, he's not doing it to honor the Lord by any means, but a good family life either.
13:04
It's a terrible family, a terrible upbringing, all those things.
13:07
But his unbridled ambition, like Steve Jobs, those people that have changed the world didn't know the Lord number one.
13:13
And so there was no guardrail.
13:14
There didn't need to be for them.
13:16
The question in all that is for us, right?
13:18
Because you still made it to this high level and you said you could have made it higher.
13:22
How do we balance that though?
13:24
Right?
13:24
How do we understand what should be our ambition level, if you will, versus we gotta scale back and we say I'm gonna be the best and then it causes us to do things maybe we shouldn't or whatever, become obsessive in the way we should, whatever it is.
13:40
Does that question make sense?
13:41
How do we do that?
13:42
Yeah, go.
13:42
all, don't think I have the right answer to this, but I can just tell you how I think about it.
13:48
And on a tangent on that, I think it's kind of funny how there's a lot of really successful guys and billionaires who go out and write their books or their own autobiography, and they say what you gotta do, and they kind of low-key brag about all the work that they put in and that sort of thing, and they're all divorced.
14:05
And then they all say, oh, make sure you've...
14:09
value your family, like make sure you put your family first so you don't have to give them up.
14:12
And it's like, okay, so you're bragging about how much work you did, you're telling us that we gotta work this hard, but then you're saying like, you put your family first.
14:18
It's like, my takeaway is kind of that like, you can't really achieve that level of success without compromising, severely compromising your family.
14:28
And so that's just a side note, but I gotta remind myself of that like all the time because I'm just so tempted to look at everybody else who's ahead of me financially.
14:36
or her spiritual, like whatever, like I have a tendency to compare myself too much, but like specifically financially and be like, like what do I have to do to get there?
14:44
Like why am I not there?
14:45
And so, but then it's like, well, you you might give up your family if you do that.
14:50
And I almost did give up my family last year, which we can talk about, the, yeah, like, so to me, I really think it comes down to your heart.
14:58
Like what is the motivation behind your heart?
15:00
Because you may or may not be able to tell that like externally, you probably can, but it might not be so evident.
15:05
And so, I think like, you know, like I was, I took like a day to journal and talk with God last month and just like read the book of James, I love.
15:16
And I just felt like God was saying, you're living for the dot, not the line.
15:22
Like the dot is like the amount of time we have on earth and like the line is like eternity, right?
15:26
Like it's like the dot that starts it.
15:28
And it's like, you know, God doesn't care about how much money you make at all.
15:33
He cares about like what you do with it.
15:34
You know, he doesn't.
15:36
care about how successful you are or like how fast you apply what you learn from a podcast or for me, like I've done a couple masterminds this year and I've been involved in a couple of groups where I see all these people doing amazing things and I just am always like having to juggle not feeling incompetent or inferior to the people who are like at the very top of the quote unquote totem pole.
15:59
And so what I really felt God saying was like, you know, that stuff, like it really doesn't matter.
16:02
Like what matters is a relationship with him.
16:05
I mean, Like you have to obviously do like go to work, put your hand in the plow and proverb says in all labor there is profit.
16:13
So like, I think you were saying earlier, the answer is not to just sit on the couch and be like, God loves me and he'll sustain me.
16:19
Like, no, that's laziness, that's sloth.
16:21
Like that is absolutely not okay.
16:23
But I don't think, I got a feeling most listeners on this podcast probably don't have that problem.
16:26
We're probably more geared towards achieving things.
16:28
And so I think the question is just like why.
16:32
Why do you want to achieve things so bad?
16:33
Because I got to check myself all the time.
16:35
It's like, truthfully, I want to look good in front of other people that I don't even know.
16:38
Like, what a silly thing.
16:41
it's like, well, the reason is because you want to honor God in the way that you do it, like doing things with integrity.
16:46
And then you can be generous with what you earn and what you keep.
16:51
mean, with your tithing and charity and gifts and that sort of thing.
16:57
But doing it all, I think the biggest thing is whatever you do to make money, doing it.
17:02
in an honest way.
17:03
then, but like also maybe having time constraints around like when you work, like that's been a big thing for me too.
17:10
Cause like, if you're just working really hard and then you're making a bunch of money and maybe you're really generous, but you neglect your family, which I had a tendency to do.
17:16
I don't think that's honoring God, you know?
17:17
So I don't know the way I'm kind of landing and balance, trying to balance this right now.
17:21
If we want to get like really specific, it's just like weekends are recovery days.
17:25
So I'm trying really hard to not work at all.
17:26
I'm still failing.
17:27
And then I try and stop work at 6 PM, you know?
17:30
At least from like six to eight, 30 or nine.
17:32
Maybe if I have a couple things to do after that, I'll do that.
17:35
like really try it, even though I set my own schedule, I work from home, I do whatever, it's like trying to be like, okay, set like very specific, very guarded to family times.
17:43
And I think like God will honor that.
17:46
It's like if I make less money because I do this, like so what?
17:50
What does that matter?
17:51
But I think I'm free to make absolutely as much money as humanly possible within like doing it without neglecting my family, doing it in the time that I've dedicated.
18:00
and doing it in a way that's honest and with integrity.
18:04
So, I don't know.
18:05
that's, that's so good.
18:06
mean, and I think that's right.
18:07
There's no clear cut answer.
18:08
Right.
18:08
But I think that's spot on is it is the question of where's my heart in this, right?
18:13
Am I building, you know, I was sharing to this group I was coaching earlier that it's really easy for me to convince myself on building the Lord's kingdom when really I'm building my own and I can convince myself so hard.
18:26
This is for the Lord.
18:26
This is for the Lord.
18:27
Or I need to get influenced because then I'll point them to the gospel, whatever.
18:30
And it's exactly what you said.
18:31
It's just cause I want them to know who I am.
18:33
Like I'm, just want to receive glory.
18:35
That's of course, that's how we are.
18:37
We're wired.
18:37
We're going to battle the Lord for that all the time.
18:39
And we need to repent and put that to death and have people around us come and put that to death.
18:43
Right.
18:44
But, a hundred percent of what you're saying, I think is spot on the reality for us is we, so I talk about this, like what I call the hierarchy of attention, right.
18:53
And the biblical hierarchy is the Lord, my wife, then my kids, then my work.
18:58
And it's really easy for me, right?
19:00
Cause the Lord, well, really you look at my wife and my kids can't, they're not going to get another husband, another dad.
19:05
They can't, but my clients can get another agent, right?
19:09
Or whatever.
19:10
I was leading worship at our church and I was spending a lot of time those years ago and my pastor comes up to me.
19:15
This is I really learned this concept from him.
19:17
And he's, and he, was like, pastor, I don't know what to do.
19:19
I love leading worship.
19:20
My wife's asking me to kind of scale back.
19:22
Cause we're not going to church together and church in a box, right?
19:25
I was just there a lot.
19:26
And so said, what do I do?
19:27
Cause I want to serve the church.
19:28
He said, and he flat out said, Garrett, the church can find another worship leader, but your wife's not going to find another husband.
19:34
So, right.
19:35
You need to go home.
19:36
What's his point?
19:37
And so I think when you talk about that, as long as we're honoring, I agree with you, as long as we are honoring the God given priorities, then go be amazing at what you're doing.
19:48
Cause that also honors the Lord.
19:50
And if that means you make a crazy amount of money, praise God.
19:52
If that means you make a just enough to live, praise God.
19:56
And we also, to your point, serve a God, it's our unfair advantage, if you ask me, that if I'm honoring the Lord by being present with my kids where someone else is working and it's not honoring to the Lord, right, and they're ignoring their family, the Lord can grow my business anyways, right?
20:10
Like, he can do whatever he wants.
20:11
I'm not saying, again, it's not like I can sit there and do nothing, but the point is, I love that idea.
20:16
It's time constraints for me.
20:17
I'm done at five every day.
20:18
I'm not working past that, right?
20:20
I mean, sometimes I do, right?
20:22
Just like you, just like any entrepreneur, but.
20:24
It is the protection of those things.
20:26
My family needs to know when I'm there, I'm present.
20:29
And if they can't figure that out, I'm doing something wrong.
20:31
My order is wrong.
20:32
I've got to figure that out.
20:33
Right now.
20:34
So I love your answer.
20:35
I'm going to ask you a question in that context.
20:37
You're talking about masterminds and all of these different pieces.
20:40
Right.
20:41
I think it's absolutely true.
20:42
We should be growing.
20:43
We should be learning.
20:44
She's do all the things, but we should also be really careful because for, for us in the real estate space, right.
20:50
For any space that you're in investing, whatever it is.
20:52
In these spaces, it's not often governed by a biblical mindset, right?
20:58
So of course the real estate industry is going to say, what are you doing?
21:00
Go sell more homes, do this, do that, do all these things, make more money.
21:04
If you're not doing that, you're not succeeding.
21:06
And it's really easy for us to listen to those voices, right?
21:09
It's easy to, man, I feel that deeply.
21:11
It's easy to look at the people and say, look at what they're accomplishing and want that and feel bad about that or compare myself or strive after that too.
21:20
When I know deep down, their family is suffering, but I'm like, ah, it's fine.
21:25
I can do both.
21:26
Right?
21:26
How, how do we avoid, this is an impossible question.
21:31
So you're not going to have a perfect answer, right?
21:32
But how do we avoid slash caution ourselves against this comparison that's going to lead us astray, right?
21:40
Legitimately lead us astray, cause us, you said you had a challenge with your family, almost lose your family.
21:45
Like talk about whatever you want to talk about there, but how do we, how do we protect ourselves from that?
21:50
Right?
21:50
Cause it's everywhere.
21:52
What do we do?
21:52
Well, yeah, I feel like I have the right answer, but it's not necessarily one that I'm good at.
21:58
But I just joined a program called Strategic Coach with Dan Sullivan, this guy named Dr.
22:03
Benjamin Hardy, who's also a believer, but he wrote a book called The Gap.
22:08
I think they partnered on the book called The Gap and the Gain.
22:10
And have you heard about that?
22:12
Have you read it?
22:13
Okay, yeah.
22:14
So I haven't read that book, but I just, I'm familiar with it, you know, by being in the program, but, and I'm glad you're asking, because beginning of the year is like a really good time to go through this, but.
22:23
you know, what they say is we're always going to be dissatisfied when we look, we wouldn't compare ourselves to like other people, right?
22:30
And so like as entrepreneurs, we set our goal, you know, we, whatever it is, we're gonna move it, right?
22:36
And so it becomes like the horizon, like we walk towards it, but we never feel like we're gaining distance, we're closing the distance, cause we aren't.
22:42
So if we're always looking at the goals, we're gonna be continually dissatisfied, but that's called the gap.
22:46
When we look at the game, the game means where do we come from?
22:49
And so you have to take time to turn around and reflect.
22:52
And I still haven't done it.
22:52
And at the time of this recording, it's January 6th.
22:54
Like I need to do that for 2024.
22:56
I'll do it right when we get off the call.
23:00
yeah, it's like, you know, just that turning around and looking at, okay, well, a year ago I was here, right?
23:06
Man, maybe you had a bad year.
23:07
Maybe you go back two years.
23:08
At like some point, you have definitely made progress in your life in certain areas.
23:11
know, a big progress point for me is recovering from addiction.
23:16
I've been sober since February 4th of this year, or 2024.
23:21
And so yeah, almost lost my family in the process.
23:23
And you know, being sober has been like a big spiritual journey for me.
23:31
And so a big thing for me is like every day I have to do my devotions in the morning.
23:36
You know, I read from the 12 step book for anybody who's familiar with that.
23:39
And then I will read from the Bible, maybe do some meditation, that sort of thing.
23:42
But like it keeps me grounded because I do have a tendency to just constantly compare myself to others.
23:47
And I get more and more like, ambitious and angry and covetous and jealous of other people as the day goes on.
23:53
And then it's like, I have to like reset that every morning by being like, okay, God, you're in control.
24:00
You it's about relationships, not about material things, not about how much I can accumulate, but it's about relying on you, you know, and showing your love to other people throughout the day and, know, like giving time to other people as well as resources.
24:15
So yeah, those things have been helpful.
24:17
to me and like, look, I have a long way to go, but I think like, that's a good framework to look at.
24:23
no doubt.
24:23
We're all working progress for sure.
24:25
Right.
24:25
And I appreciate your honesty in that.
24:27
If, someone comes on here they're like, I've never said, I'm like, you're not a believer, get off, you know, that's not true.
24:32
We struggle with those things all the time and for each person, they're different, you know, so we talk about, right, all these disciplines and, and you can share whatever, but You know, as we discipline is a bad word for a lot of people.
24:43
It is for me a lot of times, you know, I, I, so I've got a health coach right now and discipline of trying to get my body back and I work out.
24:51
It's, it's not my body.
24:52
It's the eating is the problem, right?
24:54
Cause I love donuts.
24:55
They're amazing.
24:56
And they're definitely going to be in heaven as a side note, but they won't make me fat and that'll be a beautiful thing.
25:01
But, but the reality for me is the number of times I've messaged him and he's been amazing, but the number of times I've messaged him and just said, Matt, man, I just don't want to do this.
25:10
Right?
25:10
Like.
25:10
I don't care.
25:11
I don't want to care right now.
25:13
And it's a, it's a reminder of bro.
25:15
You got to choose this.
25:16
If you don't choose your mindset, you're going to chance your mindset.
25:19
And I chance it a lot in certain areas, right?
25:22
In some areas I tend to be good in some areas I tend to not be as good, but for you to be disciplined in the getting up every day of certainly wakeboarding, right?
25:32
Going out three times a day, getting out and being disciplined to read.
25:36
read your Bible, right?
25:37
Read the 12 steps.
25:38
I think you said, and do some prayer or meditation, whatever that looks like for you.
25:42
Those disciplines is there is discipline something for you that you just had to figure out and you just did it enough where it became natural, or is it something that you're constantly wrestling with whether you want to be disciplined?
25:56
Right?
25:56
Cause I think our bodies and our minds naturally become undisciplined and the devil wants to distract us with everything.
26:03
And so that's part of what he's trying to do, but You know, discipline, everybody can look and say, yeah, if you're consistent, it's going to create consistent results.
26:10
Most of us can't do that.
26:12
So for you and getting to those higher levels or for you right now or whatever it is that's going on, how do you maintain discipline?
26:21
is it a mindset thing?
26:22
Is it, I just have to talk about that.
26:25
Well, yeah, this is something that I've always struggled with because like, I really, hate constraints in any form, right?
26:32
Like I've done the macro counting and I can do it as long as like I can eat junk food, right?
26:40
But like I've done different diets where it's like you gotta take out junk food or like I tried vegan and like, just, wanna eat, maybe I can do smaller portions but I gotta try everything.
26:48
And so like with discipline of like putting everything on a calendar and sticking to it, like a lot of people say it works for them and it hasn't really worked.
26:55
Well, for me, obviously I do have things on the calendar, right?
26:58
I think the way that I kind of look at it about it now is just trying to be reactive, trying to set up things to where I am reactive.
27:04
And so what I mean by that is like with wakeboarding, it would be, I would just call somebody and say, hey, do you want to ride tomorrow?
27:11
Right?
27:11
Like you want to ride at nine?
27:13
Well, it's like, okay, he's coming over to drive the boat at nine.
27:15
So it doesn't really matter what I feel like at nine o'clock because he's going to be there to drive the boat.
27:19
Right?
27:19
And so, um, I have my weekly calls with my property managers for the short terminals and the wedding venues.
27:24
so every Monday and Friday at like nine and 10, you know, we're getting on the phone and we're talking.
27:30
Like again, it doesn't matter what I feel like, but I've tried to create a situation to which I'm reactive about that.
27:35
So I don't have to feel like doing anything, but like at 9 a.m.
27:38
we're gonna be talking about the properties and what needs to be done.
27:42
And so I think like in order to continue to create that, and I've put stuff in the calendar and like I have done it, like, So just for me, what kind of works is my email.
27:55
And it's the worst thing, they all say don't do it, but my email kind of serves as my to-do list.
27:59
And so I go through it and I check things off and what ends up happening is like, yeah, I did the quickest ones first and then it stuck with the long ones at the end of the day.
28:07
And so yeah, that does suck.
28:08
So there's room for improvement.
28:09
But when it comes to how do you continue growth and scale something and whatever, for me, I think it's acquisitions.
28:18
so, okay.
28:19
If I do an acquisition, that's going to make, if I put in an offer on something, right?
28:23
Like that's going to make me reactive.
28:24
And then I'm going to have to balance my time well.
28:27
Like I'm going to have to start, you know, calling investors and scheduling time with them for people who are interested in doing the deals.
28:34
And then I'm going to have to get these things to the bank.
28:37
And after I acquired the property, I'm going to have to hire people, you know, to do the management.
28:42
You know, I'm going to like, I'm like, now we're on this timeline.
28:45
Like your IRR is ticking the second you close and you got to put it to use.
28:48
Right?
28:48
So like.
28:49
all of a sudden things become really reactive.
28:51
I don't know, that's kind of like the way I look at it is like, can I set up things that make, and even like I have virtual assistants and I have some virtual property managers and physical property managers and whatever.
29:02
And so like I'm trying to make things easier for myself, but like I'll ask them like, hey, hold me accountable.
29:06
Like let's set a deadline together for me because like without a deadline, I'm just not gonna do it.
29:11
no, that's good.
29:12
But I love that.
29:12
I mean, I love the honesty again, but I also appreciate that because I would say the majority of real estate agents are also that way.
29:20
But like you said, they're hearing all the time.
29:22
That's not a good way to be.
29:23
That's not a good way to be instead of, if that's who you are, let's figure out how to make that work.
29:28
Cause that's who the Lord made you to be.
29:29
It doesn't mean we can't become more excellent in things, right?
29:31
Don't hear me say that, but I love that that's the honesty, right?
29:35
You've accomplished a lot.
29:36
You're continuing to do that and the Lord's grace, but it's by causing other people to, to initiate things.
29:42
So you have to react to that.
29:44
That's really interesting, right?
29:45
A buddy of mine, you know, and I'm sure many, many people have said this, but he told me he wanted to lose weight and train.
29:51
so he figured he trained for a triathlon, but he knew he'd never do it.
29:55
So he started a local group to train for the triathlon.
29:58
He's like, that way I knew they'd be coming to my house and I better get up.
30:02
Force accountability, yeah.
30:03
The forced accountability.
30:05
And that's really smart.
30:06
Whether agent that's, know, you have a friend who's really disciplined and you say, call me every day at whatever 9 a.m.
30:12
and make me tell you what I'm doing that day for lead generation, or did you read your Bible or whatever it is?
30:18
Those things as a really good idea, right?
30:21
Is just create the forced accountability.
30:23
Like you said, last thing I want you to comment on is you and I love, I just love that you said this.
30:29
You said earlier that you worked hard enough at it that you knew you could do it.
30:33
Right?
30:33
It's this, it is the 10,000 hour rule, right?
30:35
But it's just the reps.
30:37
It's just the showing up, right?
30:39
You're better today at finding and purchasing a wedding venue than you were when you started, right?
30:45
It's just showing up in the reps.
30:46
And I do think a lot of the comparison game shows us the person.
30:50
I'll give a quick personal example, a buddy of mine about a month ago or so, as you know, I'm doing this class for, believers in my area, just to help them understand finances in certain ways that I've learned and whatever.
31:02
Anyways, one of the guys who's really smart, I mean, he's way smarter than me, right?
31:06
I'm constantly amazed how many people smarter than me don't make as much money as I do just because I'm in real estate and they're not, right?
31:12
He's got his MBA from a prestigious college and anyways, and he goes, man, I love that, Garrett.
31:18
I just wish I could do what you did.
31:20
And I stopped and I said, first of all, you totally can.
31:23
And second of all, you're looking at me after 10 years, you'd be starting day one.
31:27
So of course you won't be as good as I am.
31:29
Don't look at me 10 years ahead of you and think, well, I can't do that.
31:33
And then you're just discouraged by that comparison game, right?
31:36
There's no way for you and I to meet 10 years ago on my day one and you see how terrible I was at this.
31:43
But it's that reality of I've just gotten the reps.
31:46
Man, for anybody listening, if you want to do something well, just start doing the reps.
31:50
And the beginning of it's going to be terrible.
31:52
and you just keep doing it, right?
31:54
How many times you fell when you started wakeboarding?
31:56
How many times you fell doing American Ninja Warrior, right?
32:00
I just took my kids to a trampoline park last week and there's like this American Ninja Warrior, you know, little thing.
32:06
I couldn't even do the first one, right?
32:08
And my kids could do it.
32:10
I'm like, this is terrible.
32:12
So yeah, crazy.
32:16
Oh good, well, maybe I shouldn't feel so bad, right?
32:18
But the point is, but if I kept doing it, I would be able to do it.
32:22
I think that's the struggle, right?
32:24
Is we don't have the patience to get the reps in to become excellent at something, right?
32:30
For you, is it just, I want to be excellent, therefore I must get the reps.
32:34
I mean, is it just that simple?
32:36
Yeah, know, for the most part, it's like, with wakeboarding, you know, was, I knew what I had to do, right, in order to be good at it.
32:49
And it was just a question of like, how bad do wanna be good at it?
32:51
And so for whatever reason, I can't really take credit for it, maybe the way God designed me, but like, I wanted to be good at it really, really, really bad.
32:58
You know, like I just wanted to be good at wakeboarding, so, so, so bad.
33:01
And yeah, I think it's the same with real estate.
33:04
I mean, real estate, the benefit is there's no pain consequence.
33:08
Like with wakeboarding, it was like, okay, yeah, if I try this new trick and I fall, like that could really hurt, right?
33:13
Like pain is always in the back of your head.
33:15
And then same with ninja too, like, I gotta try this maneuver that I've never tried before.
33:18
And if I fall, you know, 10 feet, that might hurt a little bit.
33:23
So, you know, it is slightly different there, but yeah, it's just like, you know, for some reason I just, wanted it really bad.
33:30
So I knew that if I just kept showing up, you know, eventually it felt like it would have to work out.
33:35
And so I don't know, does that answer your question?
33:37
No, that's great.
33:37
I mean, again, that's encouragement and I would just encourage our audience in Austin said it.
33:42
You don't know why the Lord made you that way.
33:44
So agents, what we're trying to do is encourage you to figure out how did the Lord make me and then go be excellent at that.
33:51
Right.
33:51
Cause Austin didn't choose from birth that he was going to desire to be excellent at wakeboarding.
33:56
The Lord placed that in him and then he did the work right for you agent listening.
34:00
If you don't love whatever it is that the industry is telling you to do, go figure out what it is that the Lord has placed in you and that might be something in real estate.
34:08
It might be missions.
34:09
It might be playing guitar, whatever it is.
34:12
I don't care.
34:12
But the Lord gave you a passion for a reason, whatever that is, do the work to be excellent at it, right?
34:18
That's what Austin's talking about.
34:19
He doesn't know why the Lord made him love wakeboarding and want to be great at, but he did.
34:23
And so he did the work.
34:25
That's what we're talking about here.
34:26
Not everyone is wired like him.
34:28
Not everyone's wired like me.
34:29
Praise God.
34:30
There are so many different types of people.
34:32
However the Lord wired you, go strive to be excellent at that.
34:35
That's how we honor him.
34:36
Yeah, please.
34:37
know, I will say one thing on that that's helped me recently.
34:40
Like after I sold the companies or the gyms, like I did have a lot of free time and I was like, well, maybe like I can do whatever I want whenever I want.
34:47
Maybe I'll watch a movie, you know, and I'll work later.
34:50
But like one thing I noticed is order matters.
34:52
And so specifically like if you're not feeling disciplined and you're not feeling motivated, like for me, I still struggle with those things.
34:58
One thing that I did was I didn't say no, can't do it.
35:01
Like, no, you can't watch, you can't watch TV.
35:03
You can't watch movies.
35:04
You can't ever.
35:05
eat junk food, no, no, it's do it after, right?
35:08
So if I wanna have dessert, I do it after dinner.
35:09
And if I wanna watch Netflix, I wanna watch a movie, I don't do that first thing in the morning.
35:14
I wanna do the harder things first, right?
35:15
So like in the mornings, three times a week, I'm doing sauna, cold plunge.
35:19
And then I'll work out, I try and work out as early as possible, but on ninja days, it's a little later.
35:24
But if I wanna watch TV, I just do that at the end of the day, after I've done everything else.
35:29
And so that's another way, like, it kinda helps motivate me because it's like...
35:34
hey, if I get this thing done, then I can reward myself with this thing.
35:37
So I don't know if that's helpful or not.
35:39
really good.
35:39
And I just now have a new goal that I also have Ninja days, because that just sounds awesome.
35:45
Yeah.
35:45
Being able to say that, but awesome, man.
35:47
This, mean, we went over time because it was so good.
35:49
So much good wisdom here, brother.
35:50
I appreciate you sharing that, man.
35:53
If, our agents want to connect with you, learn from you, follow you, how would they go about doing that?
35:57
Yeah, Reach Out on LinkedIn.
35:59
That's kind of the platform I'm most active on.
36:01
It's just Austin, like the city hair like on your head.
36:03
Yeah, we're doing, you know, short-term rentals and we're doing, we're really into wedding venues.
36:09
So converting a lot of the short-term rentals into wedding venues is like a niche that I'm really interested in.
36:13
And so I would love, we'd be happy to talk about that with anybody.
36:16
And then we do some commercial healthcare buildings as well.
36:20
But that's kind of the niches that I'm in.
36:22
That's great, man.
36:23
Super helpful, brother.
36:24
We appreciate you so much coming and sharing your heart with us, brother.
36:27
So agents, we love you, and we will see you next week.