Latest / Revolution of Purpose Podcast / John Street interviews Rob Malcom: Episode 24 Restoring Houses, Restoring Lives
Transcript
- 0:00Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose Podcast. I'm your host,
- 0:03John Streit, and each week we bring you conversations with thought leaders,
- 0:07entrepreneurs, and individuals who have aligned their life
- 0:11with purpose and created extraordinary results. So I'm going to live through
- 0:15it and accept it radically with grace and hope and love. I mean,
- 0:19I would be proud to be in this household. It was an honor. I had
- 0:21so much fun. Tune in every Monday for the Revolution of Purpose
- 0:25solo show and every Thursday for Revolution of Purpose Conversations.
- 0:29Welcome back to another episode of the Revolution of Purpose podcast,
- 0:33where we believe that your purpose isn't something you find,
- 0:37it is something you awaken to. And today's
- 0:41guest has one of the most remarkable transformation stories that I've ever
- 0:44heard, and I'm sure that you've ever heard. Rob Malcolm
- 0:48has flipped over 400 homes, and he has been involved in over
- 0:521,200 real estate transactions. Today, he coaches investors
- 0:56across the country through his Rise Up Renovation Empire community,
- 1:00teaching people how to profitably flip houses in virtually
- 1:04any market. But that is only part of his story.
- 1:08You see, years ago, Rob was homeless. He was addicted
- 1:12to drugs and alcohol. He was sleeping in his car, sleeping under bridges.
- 1:17But today, he and his wife Shannon not only own
- 1:21a successful real estate business, but they've become— they have
- 1:25become known for restoring neighborhoods,
- 1:27restoring lives, and giving hope to people who feel like their
- 1:31best days are behind them. Their own journey of transformation
- 1:35became the inspiration for their book, The Long Way
- 1:39Still Gets You There. And that reminds us that our past
- 1:43does not have to determine our future. Oh, amen. So Rob,
- 1:47welcome to the Revolution of Purpose podcast. I'm so glad you're
- 1:51here, my friend. Dude, what a great intro, bro. I mean, we're done. Thank you,
- 1:54man. That was good. I know. Thanks for coming. That was a good episode.
- 1:58Dude, thanks for having me, man. I'm so glad you're here.
- 2:01I'm excited to be here. Well, I'm excited to have
- 2:05you here, man. I'm sure the viewers are excited. If you're watching this on YouTube
- 2:09or if you're listening on Apple, Spotify, wherever you're listening
- 2:13right now, you're in for a treat today because I know Rob well.
- 2:16I have heard him speak many times and he is indeed inspirational.
- 2:22So, Rob, I'd love to start the this podcast with the same question
- 2:26every time I do an interview. And it is this: who are
- 2:30you today that your younger self would be proud
- 2:34of? Oh, man, you took me off guard there.
- 2:38Caught me off guard. Who am I today that my younger self
- 2:41would be proud of? I mean, honestly, it's every
- 2:45day that I wake up and what my wife
- 2:49and I are doing right now and the amount of people that we're
- 2:52helping, I think my younger self would
- 2:56be like, wow. Like, when I was young, everything was
- 3:00about me. It was just me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Everything was about
- 3:04me. And, you know,
- 3:07now because we own this brokerage, we have like 54
- 3:11realtors at our brokerage, and we're able to help them see and help
- 3:15them figure out what their dreams are even, right? And help them accomplish
- 3:19them. And then on my coaching platform, I'm able to do that as well.
- 3:22So I think that's probably, probably it, the amount
- 3:26of people that I'm able to help now in this
- 3:30part of my life. My younger self would be super proud of that.
- 3:34That's awesome. That is awesome. Well, there would be good reason
- 3:38to be proud for sure. So a lot
- 3:41of people, most people who are watching this may not have heard your
- 3:45story before. So I just want you to kind of take us back a little
- 3:49bit and tell us, who was Rob before real
- 3:53estate? Yeah, how far back do we go? Not necessarily
- 3:58first grade or anything, but, uh, you know, who was Rob maybe in his 20s
- 4:01on up? Yeah, so, you know, in my 20s,
- 4:05um, I was still in the Marine Corps. And what's crazy is, you know,
- 4:09we, we look at, I think, as a whole, as a as a whole,
- 4:12we look at Marines and we're like, oh man, they've got it together.
- 4:16And to be honest, I was a Marine and I had none,
- 4:19nothing together. I was an active drug addict
- 4:23in the Marine Corps, a very active alcoholic in the Marine Corps.
- 4:28And so in my 20s, I was getting by because I could have
- 4:32real shiny boots and perfectly pressed uniform,
- 4:35right? And I could be on time for everything, but I was a massive drug
- 4:40addict and alcoholic during those years. And what happened
- 4:44there is I just didn't have, I mean, I had a
- 4:48lot of structure because of the Marine Corps, but I didn't, I was young and
- 4:50didn't have a lot of like really good people above
- 4:54me telling me, hey man, that's not right, or hey, you shouldn't be doing this,
- 4:57right? And so I was just kind of floating as a young person.
- 5:02And then after that, I ended up getting
- 5:06a job, get this, John, I ended up getting a job with McDonnell
- 5:10Douglas, and I was like young, like 25 years old.
- 5:13And I went from making in the Marine Corps, whatever it was, $400 every
- 5:182 weeks as an E-3 or whatever, to making
- 5:22like $27 an hour. And this is in the mid-'90s,
- 5:26right? Early to mid-'90s. I went overnight,
- 5:30rich in my head, you know what I mean? And so I was living out
- 5:34in the desert in a little town in Nevada,
- 5:38and that just fed my everything
- 5:42that I had going on that was, that was bad. It fed all that.
- 5:45So young person, now I own 3 cars, I have a
- 5:49house with a 3-car garage, brand new, had it built out there.
- 5:52I'm single, I'm able to do anything I want to do.
- 5:57So all the way up through, man, my mid-30s, I was
- 6:01still running like a crazy maniac. And I
- 6:05think, you know, there's a whole lot in there,
- 6:07but at some point, I don't know
- 6:11what age I was, but my mother got sick with early onset Alzheimer's,
- 6:15and we've talked about that and how that affected me mentally and spiritually,
- 6:19but that, created an opportunity
- 6:23for me to leave where I was, out with no real roots
- 6:28on the West Coast, to come back home and help my family take
- 6:31care of my mother. And it was a great idea. It was,
- 6:35it was a great idea. But I brought— and I thought, you know what,
- 6:38I can leave all these problems that I have. I'll just leave them in Nevada.
- 6:43Yeah, but dude, all my problems loaded up in my U-Haul
- 6:47and rode with me. You know what I'm saying?
- 6:50Yeah. Um, how often do we think that though? If we just change
- 6:55our environment, we could leave all the bad habits behind. Oh dude, without a little
- 6:58work, I mean, you're just packing a backpack of problems and carrying— it's
- 7:02just a heavier problem on your shoulders, you know? Um,
- 7:06and I mean, I had tried to leave my problems several
- 7:11times. I had got this different job and gone here and gone there and thought,
- 7:15you know, hey, I can leave that behind. And it was just the first gas
- 7:18station in a new town It was everything's the same,
- 7:22right? So moved back to Birmingham and
- 7:26everything really just got worse.
- 7:30I thought I was here to help my dad take care of my mom,
- 7:33and I mean, it's embarrassing to talk about, but man, I mean, I dropped the
- 7:36ball so bad. I lost my mom when I was supposed to be
- 7:39looking out for her, you know, on several occasions.
- 7:45It was a mess. In my mid-30s, I was a Mess,
- 7:48mess. And at that time, man, I don't know, like, I know this will resonate
- 7:52with a lot of people listening, but I was super,
- 7:55super mad at a God that I
- 7:59didn't really know. Does that make sense? Like, absolutely. My mom was
- 8:03dying in front of us, and I'm just angry at a
- 8:07God that I don't even know. And I think that just really helped
- 8:11me find my rock bottom and get a jackhammer and go a little bit deeper.
- 8:16Um, at some point my dad had had
- 8:20enough and he said, hey, look, he was in the middle of this, right?
- 8:22He's trying to take care of my mom, he's trying to keep a business together,
- 8:25and then in the middle of all this he's finding out that he makes too
- 8:28much money to get assistance to help her with
- 8:32early onset ALS, but he doesn't make enough money to pay for
- 8:36the care that she needs. And so he was dealing
- 8:40with all that and you know, I'm making things worse. And one
- 8:44day he brought me over to his house and, um,
- 8:47he— in the same day now, I got fired from my job because
- 8:51I was working for him, I got kicked out of my house because I was
- 8:55renting it from him, and I lost my vehicle because
- 8:58it was his truck. All in the same day, dude.
- 9:02And, um, gosh, I can look back at that and laugh a little
- 9:06bit, but like, yes, I went immediately homeless. With no car
- 9:10and no job, like all at the same time. And it
- 9:13was, every bit of that was because of actions
- 9:17that I took, that I made on my own,
- 9:21right? Like none of that was his fault, he just had enough of it.
- 9:26And it broke his heart, 'cause I'm his oldest son,
- 9:30and you know, he loves me like,
- 9:34matter what I'm doing, but he doesn't love what I'm doing at that point,
- 9:37you know. And so, um,
- 9:41at some point he decided that he was only enabling you, right? Is that why
- 9:45he was like, okay, he was almost like tough love, like they
- 9:49talk about, right? Yeah. And he was. And so I went out on my own
- 9:53and I was homeless for a while. And then I got a decent job.
- 9:56And, you know, I was in and out of jobs, in and
- 10:01out of apartments. And For a long time, I ended up just being homeless.
- 10:05Just, it just, that's where it was leading. It was just, I'm just gonna
- 10:09be a homeless person. And at some point I told myself, this is who you
- 10:12are. And it is heartbreaking to
- 10:16think back about those actual thoughts going through my mind,
- 10:21telling myself, well, this is just who you are. This is who
- 10:25you are. You're meant to be homeless. You're meant to be a drug addict.
- 10:28You're meant to be an alcoholic. You're meant to be a piece of crap,
- 10:32right? I actually had those thoughts. Like, this is,
- 10:35Rob, this is just who you are. Like, some people
- 10:39are born to do this. Some people are, this is just who you were born
- 10:41to be. You found it. And when you have thoughts like that,
- 10:45it really, really can take a person down a super
- 10:50dark road. And during those times,
- 10:54a lot of this had to do with drugs and alcohol, but I
- 10:58can tell people without a shadow of a doubt, that I carried demons
- 11:01with me. They just, they were around me.
- 11:04And when I met my future wife, who I'm married to
- 11:08now, she was running the roads crazy just
- 11:12like me, 2 different directions. We were running head-on like this when
- 11:16we met, you know. And I could describe those demons to her
- 11:20and I'd be like, hey, they're here. And I know people are like probably
- 11:23tuning out at this point. No, I'm just saying, no, but It
- 11:28was real. There was spiritual warfare going on all around me,
- 11:32and I could see it. And again, a lot of it
- 11:36was drugs and alcohol, but man, it was, it was very scary. I would be
- 11:39tormented at night. I couldn't sleep. I would wake
- 11:43up just being shook. And anyway,
- 11:47I spent years trying to figure that out and
- 11:51what that was about. And it wasn't until we
- 11:55got— my wife and I, this is just the short version, but it wasn't until
- 11:59we got in a lot of trouble legally with some of the drugs and
- 12:04stuff that we were doing, and we were presented
- 12:08by a judge that said, hey, we're gonna sentence
- 12:12you two to 10 years in prison,
- 12:16or you can take this opportunity right here And he gave
- 12:20us a drug court opportunity, which for the charges that we had,
- 12:24nobody had been given that opportunity. That's usually a straight to jail.
- 12:29He gave us this opportunity and everything,
- 12:33it was like the Lord had ordained these steps. Like he knew it was my
- 12:37time to start coming out of this mess that I was in, right?
- 12:41And just specific people were put in front of me
- 12:45And I believe coaching is like that. Like a specific person is put in
- 12:48front of you for a specific reason, for a specific amount
- 12:52of time to have you go from here to here. And I can go back,
- 12:56I get chill bumps, my hair's standing up on my arms. I can go back
- 13:00and point to a person that was in my
- 13:03life at a specific time that allowed me to go from here to here,
- 13:07and then they were just gone. Like it wasn't like I kept up
- 13:11with them that much. You know, they were there, they were put there, for a
- 13:14specific reason. And some of those guys were pastors, some of those guys
- 13:18were friends of friends, some of those guys and women, some of them were
- 13:22health people. And it
- 13:26took a whole lot of people from
- 13:30different little angles while I was in that process
- 13:34of drug court. And that lasted 18 months. And the whole thing was for
- 13:39us, If we popped with drugs
- 13:43or whatever, or even alcohol once, we would go to
- 13:47jail, like county jail, for like a weekend. If we did a second one,
- 13:51they would send us for a week, and then there was no
- 13:54third option. Third option, you do the 10 years. That was enough
- 13:59for me. That was enough for me. I was like, you know what, man?
- 14:01I'm so tired. I was so tired. Now look,
- 14:05I'm a small person. I'm 5'5. 126 pounds,
- 14:09but in those days I was like 94 pounds,
- 14:12you know. I mean, you— I look,
- 14:15I look so much different than I did back then. Um,
- 14:19it was amazing. That part of my road was so amazing.
- 14:23Like, there was just so many people that actually even stood up for me.
- 14:27And I'll tell you a quick story. Yeah, I was,
- 14:30you know, obviously I'm coming out of a deep charge that
- 14:34most people would be scared of.
- 14:37My future wife was still in
- 14:40jail for something she had done. And I'm asking
- 14:44family member, hey, I've got nowhere to go. I'm trying to change
- 14:48my life. Can you help me? And my brother-in-law, who I didn't
- 14:53know because my drugs and alcohol refused to let me get close,
- 14:56right, in the past. I didn't even know him. He said, yeah,
- 14:59you can stay at our house. Now get this, he had 3 little, little boys.
- 15:02They were under 5, under 6.
- 15:05Um, his family and some of their friends were like,
- 15:08you can't let this guy stay in your house. You can't let him stay
- 15:12in your house. You've got young children. He's a drug addict. And this guy that
- 15:17I didn't know stood up and said, you know what, man, you're gonna
- 15:21make me cry on your podcast. That's okay. I'm not far from it.
- 15:24This man is family, and I've been called to
- 15:28help him, and I'm gonna help him. And if you don't like it,
- 15:32you can stand back, right? And it makes me cry every time I think about
- 15:36that. I needed
- 15:40a place to lay my head. And he offered that to me without
- 15:44expecting anything. You know?
- 15:49That was one. And then there was other, like I had Shannon and I,
- 15:52when she got out of jail, we walked into a church and we were just
- 15:56like, we didn't know what church was. We were like, hey, let's try church.
- 15:59You think it's gonna burn down when we walk through the door? You know what
- 16:00I mean? We went into church and
- 16:05we still looked like we were doing our past, you know.
- 16:10And the folks in this church, we just got lucky because you hear stories
- 16:14on the opposite side of this, but these folks were just like, hey,
- 16:17come on in, we've been waiting for you.
- 16:20And I can remember a guy in the church was like, hey, what do
- 16:25you do? And I told him, you know, I did construction stuff and odd jobs.
- 16:28And this sounds so crazy, but back then it meant so much to me.
- 16:32And I'd been going to church there for probably 4 or 5 weeks, not even
- 16:35a long time. And they said, hey, we wanna give you these keys so
- 16:39that when you're doing the maintenance, you can come in and out. And I'm like,
- 16:42these people trust me enough to give me
- 16:46keys to the building? Like, you see
- 16:50how things started building for me.
- 16:55So from there, you know,
- 16:59we— I went and started working at—
- 17:04it wasn't a drug and alcohol rehab, it was a rehabilitation place,
- 17:07but it was rehab for men that were coming out of prison.
- 17:11And these guys were coming out of prison, and the guy
- 17:15that hired me, he told me, look, I'm just gonna create a position for you.
- 17:18I need you to help them get IDs, help them get Social Security cards,
- 17:23you know, help them come back part of society. And I could
- 17:27just relate to all these guys, you know, because it felt like nobody was
- 17:30there. You know, you're coming out of prison, you think everybody's against me,
- 17:34and I knew that feeling. And so I made it
- 17:38a point to look these guys in the eyes when I
- 17:42saw them, when they got off the bus or when they got off the the
- 17:45van at our place, and I looked them in their eyes, and I made sure
- 17:49they looked at me, and I wanted them to know I see you, I understand
- 17:52you, you know? And that's when I was able to start giving back,
- 17:57like, and I really felt like, oh man, this is awesome.
- 18:02This is awesome to be able to help other people. My whole life
- 18:06started changing when I thought, when I started seeing I can help other
- 18:10people. And the few little things that I know how to do can
- 18:14be such a huge impact on someone
- 18:18else. Just like somebody handing me a set of keys, that was very little to
- 18:21them, but it was massive in my life, right?
- 18:25So I worked there for several years,
- 18:30and without telling her story,
- 18:33because I know you'll have her on at some point, but yeah, my wife— we
- 18:37will definitely have your wife Shannon on. Yeah, she had got out of jail and
- 18:40she had gone back to her past shenanigans.
- 18:45And at the place where I was that was helping men
- 18:49come out of prison, we found her at one of the lowest
- 18:53places of her life. And she's like, I just need help. And so I asked
- 18:56Andrew, the guy that was running it, I said, hey man, I know this is
- 18:59just for men and it's just for coming out of prison. Can you help someone
- 19:03I know? And it's a woman.
- 19:07Him and his wife at the time took her into their personal house,
- 19:12not knowing her. This is just God
- 19:16intervening in our lives, you know? And again,
- 19:20for her it was the same thing for me. It was somebody that was willing
- 19:23to take a chance on her. That's when things changed. It changed for both
- 19:26of us. And she came in and was like one of the first women to
- 19:31start a new program at that place. She was one of the— after
- 19:35that, they started taking women there. But the
- 19:40people in that part of my life changed everything for
- 19:44me. And I'll tell them so many times when I see them or run into
- 19:48them, I'm like, man, you don't even know. And they're like, we kind of know,
- 19:51you've told us 100 times.
- 19:55You're like, I'll tell you 100 more. John, there's no way to pay somebody
- 19:59back like that. There's nothing that you can do to pay
- 20:03somebody back that has that much of an impact on
- 20:07your life, you know. And, and just the little things. It reminds
- 20:10me, like, to this day when I see homeless people, it's so easy to get,
- 20:15you know, glazed over and go, oh, they're probably a drug addict.
- 20:19It— I try to make it a point to look at them and
- 20:23speak to them. I don't necessarily have to give them money,
- 20:26but I want them to know that they're seen because I think worst part for
- 20:30me being homeless was I felt like I was in
- 20:34the society of people, but people didn't even see me. They chose to not
- 20:38see me. Um, and so when we had
- 20:41our ministry downtown Birmingham, we would— in our homeless
- 20:46outreach, I always told all of our volunteers to ask
- 20:50their name. Ask their name because it's so
- 20:53important for them to realize we see you as a
- 20:58person. You have a name. It shows respect, and it shows— it,
- 21:02it also shows that, you know, we're brothers and sisters.
- 21:05We're all— just because someone is on the streets versus someone that
- 21:09is not unhoused, none of that makes someone better than the other. We're all children
- 21:13of God, and they're worth knowing their name, you know.
- 21:17I 100% agree with you there. 100% agree with you. It's just
- 21:21really, it's really hard to not get hardened, you know,
- 21:25like you give somebody $10 and then you see them on the other corner,
- 21:29they, they tell you whatever story it is. And I just try to be like,
- 21:32hey, look, if I feel led, if I'm supposed to give this guy $10,
- 21:35who cares what he's doing with it? Yeah, you gave it, God will take
- 21:39care of it. Be obedient. If I feel prompted that I'm
- 21:43supposed to give that, it doesn't really matter what that guy does with it.
- 21:45It doesn't matter if he goes and tells a different story to someone else.
- 21:493 feet away from me, right? Because that happens.
- 21:52Like, yeah, um, it's not on me what happens after
- 21:56that. It's just a give. So what makes your story— one
- 22:00of the things that makes your story so amazing, and especially amazing for this
- 22:04particular podcast, is, you know, not only do we, do we interview
- 22:09people who are flowing in their purpose, but I've been teaching on my solo episodes
- 22:13a lot about we change our reality by changing our
- 22:17identity and the importance of identity and,
- 22:21and the importance of, of identifying those, those limiting
- 22:24beliefs, the stories we're telling ourselves and how we don't
- 22:28have to believe those anymore. We can stop that cycle and change what we're telling
- 22:32ourselves. And at some point you were telling yourself
- 22:36that you were meant to be homeless. You were telling yourself you were nothing but
- 22:40a drug addict. You were nothing but alcohol. Like, this is who you were.
- 22:43This horrible negative self-talk. But it
- 22:47sounds like to me one of the pivotal moments for you that started to change
- 22:50that was drug court. Is that right? Like, is that when you're like,
- 22:54maybe, maybe I can be something different, or I can be something
- 22:57more? So through drug court, I was
- 23:01introduced to— like, I had to go do— man, they put so many parameters
- 23:06on us. Like, I, I had to go take a urinalysis every day.
- 23:11For like 11 months, and then it changed almost like every other day for that.
- 23:15We were on it for 18 months, um, and I
- 23:20was introduced to a thing called Celebrate Recovery. And there was a church out
- 23:25in Calera, which is way out from where I was staying, um,
- 23:29and the pastor of the church named Pastor Mark— Pastor Mark loved,
- 23:35or still loves, people no matter where they are.
- 23:39And you know, we get these, we get these thoughts in our head that this
- 23:43is who I am, and because I am, then this, or because this is who
- 23:48I am, then this. And to be honest, none of it is even true,
- 23:51you know what I mean? But we tell ourselves these lies and it keeps
- 23:56us by ourselves. And anyway,
- 24:00I was introduced to Pastor Mark, and I've never Other than my
- 24:03father, I've never met another man that loved people the
- 24:08way he loves people. And it changed,
- 24:12man. It changed the way I saw a lot of stuff just
- 24:17by watching him operate. Like, I was the
- 24:21quiet guy. I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to be there. I didn't
- 24:23want to do it. But I was watching Pastor Mark, and I'm like, what is
- 24:26up with this guy? He's so different.
- 24:29You know, and I ended up becoming a very good friend
- 24:33of his through that. But yeah, drug court opened that door for me,
- 24:38and then being able to see that. And also, you know,
- 24:41I had to do so many meetings. I had to be at all these different
- 24:44places all the time.
- 24:48There was a very small church called Tapestry of
- 24:52Hope back in those days, and it was run at one of the
- 24:55Samford University like classrooms.
- 24:59And the guy that was doing it was so awesome.
- 25:03He was meant to be in my life at that time. Like,
- 25:06I wasn't ready for a church where I sat in a
- 25:10pew and heard 4 or 5 songs and then heard a sermon. I wasn't ready
- 25:13for that. I was ready for someone— I needed
- 25:17that real and raw person that
- 25:20was— that had lived a life similar to mine and
- 25:24was on fire with the Holy Spirit and could push
- 25:29it outward, right? I needed that, and that's who Tal was
- 25:32at that point. And man, I just,
- 25:35again, it was just, I don't wanna say luck, 'cause I just feel like
- 25:39all these different people were put exactly in the right place at
- 25:43the exact right time. Tal introduced me
- 25:46to something in those days when I was getting better. Called solitude.
- 25:50And I was like, come on now, what is solitude? So I started reading about
- 25:53it and I'm like, all right, this is fun. I was like, well, if I
- 25:58wanna find solitude, I need to go stay with some monks. And so I went
- 26:02to this place, this little town north of us called Cullman, Alabama,
- 26:06and they have a monastery out there. And I called ahead of time,
- 26:10spoke with someone, and I went and stayed for 3 nights with
- 26:13monks. And it wasn't a super long time, but man,
- 26:16it opened my mind up to see how other people
- 26:20give their lives to something that's not theirs.
- 26:25And seeing them live that and hearing their stories by
- 26:31just being there for that short period of time was so eye-opening for me.
- 26:34Like, first of all, who goes and stays with monks, right? But then like,
- 26:39my friends were asking, well, what are y'all gonna eat? And I'm like, we're gonna
- 26:42eat food, man. What are you talking about? I mean, like, ah.
- 26:46Saltine crackers for 3 days. It was wild. These guys
- 26:49were, um, they made an oath to give away
- 26:54everything they had ever owned, and they couldn't own anything.
- 26:57Like, I had— when I was there, I stayed up late and I drew some
- 27:00pictures, and I was trying to give them to this guy, Brother Brennan. And,
- 27:04um, he's like, I can't accept that. You can give it to the church,
- 27:08and I can love it, but I can't accept it. Like,
- 27:11that that crazy of I can't own anything.
- 27:15Um, and to see them take a vow of silence
- 27:19for the first part of the day too, man, that was super hard for me
- 27:22because I'm a— I love talking. But, uh, you get up in the morning and
- 27:27you don't say anything until well after breakfast, right?
- 27:30You do all this stuff. And anyway, man, that's a whole story
- 27:34by itself. But there's just a whole lot
- 27:38of different things that help change? Like, how does Rob
- 27:41see himself? I was searching for answers and I was
- 27:45getting them. And I think the reason I was getting them is because I was
- 27:49searching for them. You know what I mean? We can sit back with this negative
- 27:52mindset and go, oh, nothing works for me. Well, you're not looking for it.
- 27:57Absolutely. You know that Steve Jobs quote?
- 28:00You can't connect the dots looking forward, but you can connect the dots
- 28:05looking backwards. Like there is a loving God that is
- 28:08using the entire universe to work things out for our good.
- 28:13But that's because you're looking through that lens. You could
- 28:16also look back and be like, look at this. My mom had, you know,
- 28:20early onset Alzheimer's. I was a drug addict. I couldn't beat addiction
- 28:24for years. I ended up in prison. I ended up,
- 28:27I mean, your story is beautiful because you
- 28:31see it as beautiful. Because you see God's hand on
- 28:35your life. And that's, that's amazing right
- 28:39there, just having that perspective. And, you know, I'm a big believer
- 28:42that in sowing and reaping and whatever energy we put out,
- 28:46we get back. And so because you're living in gratitude,
- 28:50then you're, you're receiving things to be grateful for.
- 28:54You know, I mean, you're successful because you see yourself as successful.
- 28:58Your identity is that of successful. And you're, you're blessed
- 29:02because you believe you're blessed. I mean, it's so huge. It comes down
- 29:07to that identity and that belief system of,
- 29:10am I a victim or a victor? And that doesn't mean we don't go
- 29:14through things that victimize us. It doesn't mean we don't have injustice
- 29:17in the world, but we do get to take ownership of
- 29:21our story by deciding how we're going to let it impact our lives.
- 29:24Yeah, I agree. And I think that's what's made you so successful,
- 29:28and Shannon as well. And because we look at ourselves as overcomers,
- 29:32you know what I mean? Like, we've overcome some things. Now, a lot of the
- 29:35stuff that was bad for us was self-inflicted. Let's not get it
- 29:38wrong. It wasn't like somebody did me wrong. I created a
- 29:43tornado around me, you know? I created the storm. I created
- 29:47the mess. Um, but so
- 29:50many people can't come out of it, John. So many people can't find their way
- 29:54out of it. So many people, you know, don't— can't live through
- 29:58it. And we're just fortunate. We're so fortunate
- 30:03about the things that were placed in front of us and how we were able
- 30:07to see them and grab them and be like, this is a
- 30:10lifeboat, not, oh my God, I've got to do this, right?
- 30:14Like, I was able to see things as a, as a life raft. Um,
- 30:19Amazing. Now that is huge. You know,
- 30:22I can tell you too, I know some of your listeners may want to hear
- 30:26this. So like at that, at that place that I was working to help prisoners
- 30:29come in, I'd worked there probably almost 5 years. And I
- 30:34was, I got called in to do a staff meeting. I was actually, I started
- 30:38out by the way, making no money. He's like, hey, well, I'll give you a
- 30:41place to stay and you can eat the food here.
- 30:45It took like almost a year before I drew a paycheck.
- 30:49But again, like, that's where I needed to be.
- 30:53So I'd been there about 5 years and I was on staff and they called
- 30:58me in for a staff meeting and I was there a little early. So I
- 31:01go out on— it was on 3rd Avenue South, downtown Birmingham,
- 31:05and I'm smoking a cigarette. I still smoked back then.
- 31:08And a car pulled up about 4
- 31:12feet from me, because I was on the sidewalk and there was a little piece
- 31:15of grass about 3 feet wide, and he rolled his window down and just unloaded
- 31:20a pistol on me. And you know, you're thinking
- 31:23like, why?
- 31:26It was real easy for me to go negative here and
- 31:30think, everything I'm doing is right right now.
- 31:35Why now? But I didn't allow myself
- 31:39to go there. Like, one of the men,
- 31:43this is nuts, it'll probably make me pretty emotional. One of the men
- 31:47that was there, we called him Pee-wee. He was shorter than me,
- 31:50and I'm only 5'4, right? He was shorter than me, Pee-wee.
- 31:54Pee-wee saw the car pull up and then heard the gunshots.
- 31:58And Pee-wee knew who the driver was that did that.
- 32:03And so I'm on a gurney,
- 32:06like after the ambulance gets there, and they had already cut my clothes off
- 32:10of me, and I'm strapped on this gurney, and they're putting me in this ambulance.
- 32:14And he's saying, hey, we know this guy, we're gonna go get him.
- 32:17Like they were gonna exact street justice on this guy. It was just gonna be
- 32:21a vicious cycle.
- 32:25Like it was never gonna stop. And this is like a moment
- 32:29in time that felt like it was 20 minutes, it was probably
- 32:3317 seconds, right? I was able to ask Pee-wee,
- 32:36I was like, Pee-wee, you know how much God loves me, right?
- 32:40And he said, yeah. And I said, listen, God loves that man as much
- 32:45as he loves me. He just did something that God doesn't love.
- 32:48We're not gonna go attack. I could cry.
- 32:52That little thing that I was able to say to Pee-wee— now
- 32:55that didn't just come out of nowhere. We had been talking about the Apostle
- 32:59Paul for about 5 weeks before we left to go to work every morning.
- 33:04So all this stuff was going like this in Pee Wee's head. When I said
- 33:08that to him, something clicked. They didn't go exact street justice,
- 33:12but after I got sent to the hospital, he goes into
- 33:16the office where we were and asked one of the staff members if
- 33:20they could, if they could pray with him.
- 33:23And He accepted Christ that morning and
- 33:28he got out of our program a few weeks later and he got murdered
- 33:32because he was back in the street. People went to heaven through
- 33:36something that was uncomfortable for me, right?
- 33:39Yeah, I got shot, but when you look at it, it was just very uncomfortable
- 33:43when you look back. I would— now,
- 33:47could God have done, orchestrated that in a whole different way?
- 33:49100%, 100,000 different ways.
- 33:54But I can never go back and be angry about getting shot when
- 33:58those things happened. Like,
- 34:01think about me being in that place for
- 34:06the amount of time that I was and being able to say, like, that man
- 34:11went to heaven.
- 34:14Wow. Yeah.
- 34:19That's, um, that's such a powerful story. And I remember
- 34:24reading your book and reading that section of your book, and I
- 34:28think I even sent you a voice note and was like,
- 34:32damn it, I can't believe Pee-wee died. Or something like that. I was just like,
- 34:35no, I was crying. I was so upset when I
- 34:38read that part of the book. You told me you were at the gym and
- 34:41you were like, no, Pee-wee, like, you're not gonna see you again.
- 34:45I was listening to— I listened to your book on audio,
- 34:48and yeah, I was at the gym and was like, oh, um,
- 34:53it still gets me too. But it, it shows,
- 34:57first of all, again, how powerful that perspective is.
- 35:01When we look at things in a positive way, we can
- 35:05find the positive in it. And,
- 35:08you know, you're looking at this in a way that you were able to
- 35:12forgive on the spot, which was able to cause Pee-wee
- 35:16to forgive, and then Pee-wee to want to get prayer, and, you know, to then,
- 35:20you know, find salvation, and for him to live those last,
- 35:24you know, few weeks as a follower of Christ,
- 35:27you know, and all of that. And, and I think that's just beautiful because
- 35:31we get to decide if things happen
- 35:35for us or to us. And yeah, there is power when we decide that everything
- 35:41has happened for us. And I know that can be like, what, what do
- 35:44you mean everything's happened for us? We get to decide it because
- 35:49God works all things together for our good. And I know that we have listeners
- 35:53who, you know, are Christian and Muslim and Jewish and spiritual.
- 35:57So whatever you call God, if it is the
- 36:00universe, if it is, if it is Allah, if it is the great
- 36:04stream of consciousness, you know, or whatever, I truly believe
- 36:08that God is love and that God is working everything together for our
- 36:12good. As long as we are surrendered, as long as we are saying,
- 36:16okay, I know that God's gonna, gonna use this for
- 36:20me. Everything is happening for me instead of to me. And as long as we
- 36:23are flowing in that, you can look back and see things that,
- 36:27that are flat out miracles that are just happening because
- 36:31everything's working out for your good. And you're looking for God in even
- 36:35the worst circumstances. You know, John, I think it's a little harder.
- 36:39Like, for me, it's easy to look back and say, you know what, it was
- 36:43easy for me to accept what you're saying when I was at the bottom,
- 36:47or even when I didn't have things, right? And so now put
- 36:51me in a position where I have this really nice house, I have a new
- 36:54truck, right? I have a beautiful wife. And when things don't
- 36:58start going the way I want them to go, not necessarily the
- 37:03way they're supposed to, but the way that I want them to go, I can
- 37:05get caught up in something even when everything's nice
- 37:10around me. Because I— it's, it's not as easy to
- 37:13go back into that everything's happening for me because
- 37:18I have all this stuff now, you know what I mean? Yeah,
- 37:21it's easier to trust God when God's all you have to trust.
- 37:25Isn't that the truth, man? I mean, that it's
- 37:29It's so true, it's so true. And so I still battle, I still
- 37:33battle things in my head and in my heart, like,
- 37:36why is this happening? Why is this going on? And I look around and I'm
- 37:40like, holy cow, I'm upstairs in a really beautiful home
- 37:45that I was able to build, right? I've got this beautiful truck
- 37:50out front, I have this gorgeous wife sitting in the kitchen. I have
- 37:54to constantly remind myself that. Because I get stuck in the,
- 37:58why isn't this working, or why am I not here, when at
- 38:02the same time you never want to think, all right, I've arrived and this is
- 38:06where it stops. There has to be that, that we're going for, that we're reaching
- 38:09for, right? But I think there's got to be that balance
- 38:12there. I, I constantly find myself going, hey, stop complaining about
- 38:17that. What are you complaining about? Look how gorgeous your life is.
- 38:20Look where we've come from. I have to always remind
- 38:24myself that. Please pardon this interruption to your podcast episode.
- 38:27This will not take but a minute. Before we continue, I want to ask you
- 38:31something. Do you know that you're capable of more, but your life right now just
- 38:34isn't fully reflecting the person you know you can become?
- 38:38Then I want to personally invite you to schedule a Shift Mindset call with me.
- 38:42This Shift Mindset experience is something that I created to help
- 38:47you identify one decision that you can make that will shift
- 38:51your life. And when I say that this is a call with me, I mean
- 38:54exactly that. This is a live, one-on-one personal call
- 38:59between you and I. This is not prerecorded. This is not a
- 39:02member of my team. It is you and I having a real coaching conversation
- 39:06about your life, and it does not cost you any money.
- 39:09It is a 45-minute exchange of time. I'll give you 30
- 39:13minutes of my best mindset coaching to help you identify a decision that will create
- 39:17a real shift in your life. And in exchange, I just ask that you give
- 39:20me about 15 minutes to show you the coaching experiences that I offer.
- 39:25There's no obligation, but there is an opportunity to create a
- 39:28meaningful shift in your life just from this call. You can schedule
- 39:33yours today at johnstreet.org. Just click on the button
- 39:36that says schedule your shift call. And also, if this podcast
- 39:41is helping you, please subscribe. Please like and please share
- 39:44it. Every time you do that, every time you engage, you are helping to spread
- 39:48this message and inspire someone else to create their best
- 39:52life through also living their own revolution of purpose. Now,
- 39:55let's get you back to the Revolution of Purpose podcast.
- 39:59Yeah. And it's, it is so important. You know, when you stop
- 40:03to think, I'm living a life now that I used to pray for, I'm living
- 40:07a life now that I used to dream about. And yes,
- 40:10there are stresses and there are, you know, all of that that
- 40:13comes with it. Like somebody said, you know,
- 40:16they said, I used to have $100 problems, then I had $1,000 problems.
- 40:20Now I have $10,000 problems or $50,000 problems.
- 40:24And it's true. You're going to always have problems.
- 40:27So adopting and keeping that mindset that no matter
- 40:30what, everything is happening for us instead of to us is
- 40:34the answer to all of that. Um,
- 40:37one thing that you mentioned that I think is so cool too is that not
- 40:40only do you live in a beautiful home, but you live in a beautiful home
- 40:45in a very historic area of Birmingham that
- 40:49has changed just hugely
- 40:53because of the work that you do for that area.
- 40:57And so, you know, so Rob lives in the Norwood area
- 41:01of Birmingham that was just absolutely known
- 41:05for high crime and, and just for absolute,
- 41:08um, a place you didn't even really want to drive through. And his— so
- 41:13much of his company has been renovating homes in Norwood.
- 41:17And not just somebody who lives 30 miles
- 41:20away coming in and doing it. He moved in and renovated his own house
- 41:25and lives there. And he's a part of the community and a part of trying
- 41:28to make it better and not just trying to gentrify it to get rich,
- 41:31but actually actually causing the community to improve
- 41:35in so many ways. And I think that's a part of your
- 41:39story that maybe a lot of people don't realize. They're just like, oh, great.
- 41:42Yeah. So this guy's flipped a bunch of houses or he's done— but I mean,
- 41:46you live in the area that you've done so much work in. And I think
- 41:50that's an amazing, you know, an amazing accomplishment
- 41:55right there too. So Shannon says,
- 41:59a good bit, you know, hey, the homes in this neighborhood
- 42:02parallel our lives because we
- 42:07were born beautiful and we went
- 42:12downhill, destroyed ourselves. Like whatever happened
- 42:15here, this was a beautiful neighborhood at the turn of the century in the
- 42:191900s. Oh yeah. And then it went downhill And then
- 42:23it just needed someone to see it.
- 42:27And we happened to be that someone 11 years
- 42:31ago. That we saw it and we're like, oh my gosh, look what we can
- 42:33do here. And we didn't know how big it would turn out.
- 42:37But we knew that if we did one at a time, it would make a
- 42:40difference. And that's so
- 42:44much parallel to our lives. Like people that saw us and
- 42:48how much different and beautiful our lives are now. Right? Same thing with these houses.
- 42:52And then you start putting them all together and the neighborhood really is a
- 42:55gorgeous neighborhood. Still got a lot of work to do, just like in my life,
- 42:59right? There's still a lot of work to do in the neighborhood. There's still a
- 43:01lot of work to do in my life. So I, I love being a part
- 43:05of a neighborhood that still has ups
- 43:09and downs and still needs stuff and still needs love. And hopefully
- 43:13we can meet more neighbors and start, you know, connecting more.
- 43:18Um, that's what it's really all about. I think that's
- 43:21wonderful. Yeah, it— and I had the question on here, actually.
- 43:25It was my next question for you, but you beat me to it. Was,
- 43:28have you ever noticed the metaphor between breathing
- 43:32life into abandoned houses and the type of life that you and Shannon
- 43:37led? And honestly, the way that you have,
- 43:40through volunteering with, with ministries and all the things that you've done helped
- 43:45breathe life into other people that maybe have been forgotten by their families or friends
- 43:48too? Oh man, I mean, just being able to do
- 43:53small things. I think a lot of people are like, oh man, you know,
- 43:56they did this big thing and I'll never be able to do that. Like,
- 43:59doing something very small makes huge differences
- 44:02for people. And I mean as small as opening
- 44:06up a door for someone and telling them have a great day.
- 44:10That could be the difference in someone staying
- 44:14alive and not staying alive.
- 44:17Like, especially in neighborhoods like where we are, there's just so much
- 44:21despair, you know? There's just still so much
- 44:25despair. And so I think that one little action— if—
- 44:29think about if all of us that are even— that are part of this
- 44:32podcast right here decided to do that. Every day
- 44:36for a month. Like how big of a ripple that would make
- 44:39in the community around us. It makes a huge
- 44:43difference, dude. I'm telling you, like just telling someone, looking them in the eye,
- 44:48especially if they're different, like socioeconomic class, right?
- 44:51Like different, look different than you. And you look them in the eye and say,
- 44:54hey man, have a great day. Like people aren't used to that.
- 44:58They're not used to it. It affects them right here and then
- 45:01they go home and something is different.
- 45:05Um, I truly believe in that. I, I think that we can change the world
- 45:09with very, very small things.
- 45:12Absolutely. I believe that's how we flow in our purpose. Like, to me,
- 45:17there is no better way to live
- 45:22an enlightened life than to be
- 45:26kind to each other. Lost John for a second. Let's see.
- 45:31John was talking about living an enlightened life. Now hopefully
- 45:36he comes back on. John, we're hoping you come back on. Okay, here we are.
- 45:40Hey. Yeah, I just texted you. I'm like, internet went out.
- 45:43Okay, we're good. We're good. We'll pick it right back there. The good thing is
- 45:47we edit all of our episodes too. Um, I jumped in
- 45:51and I was like, John was talking about an enlightened life. Hopefully John will come
- 45:54back on. That is the great thing about
- 45:58this not being live. Um, so yeah, that 44-ish minute mark.
- 46:02Yeah. Um, I have a great editor, thank goodness. Um,
- 46:06so, uh, so to pick back up, so I believe
- 46:09that there is no better way to flow
- 46:13in God, to live like an enlightened life.
- 46:16For those, you know, you, you spent some time with the monks who are living
- 46:19in enlightenment. Like, there is no better way to live in God's
- 46:24nature than to be kind to each other, to show
- 46:28love to each other, to find the things we have in common
- 46:32instead of the things that separate us. I think that's amazing. So yes,
- 46:36seeing someone, saying their name, being kind,
- 46:40being kind to, um, the, the guy that picks
- 46:44up our garbage, being kind to, you know, the, the person
- 46:48that mops the floor. They should be treated the same way as the CEO,
- 46:52as the president, as everybody else. Like, we should treat every
- 46:55person like the most important person in the world. I totally
- 46:59agree with that. When we do that, that's when we are truly flowing
- 47:03in God. And I think that's a huge key to enlightenment. Do you know what
- 47:07I think really is slowing that down? Because I think a lot of people are
- 47:10like, man, you know what? That's a great idea. But I think these
- 47:14things right here hinder what you're talking about.
- 47:19And I agree. Let's just say, just like your husband or
- 47:23your wife, and you're out to eat, and you should be spending that time
- 47:27together, but then you look across a restaurant and everybody's like this,
- 47:30sitting 2 feet away from their spouse.
- 47:34That's crazy work. What? What?
- 47:37Yeah, my husband Joe and I have that rule. If we're
- 47:41at dinner together, we treat it like a date, even if it's not not.
- 47:43And phones are down. Like maybe when we first get there, we'll check
- 47:47a little bit, but then phones go down and we have dinner. And if it's
- 47:51a date night, we'll put on do not disturb too. Like we are, you know,
- 47:54things are so busy, but you know, and I know you and Shannon,
- 47:58that's something that I love that you guys do. You pre-plan your date nights.
- 48:01You, you have like a meeting each year where you plan out your year,
- 48:05including your date nights. And I think that's important. We have to
- 48:10make that time to, to love on our
- 48:13spouses and, and to connect with them,
- 48:16especially in a world that's pulling for our attention, especially with
- 48:20our spouses. Like, you know, how can you be kind to
- 48:23everyone else and then ignore your spouse when you come home because your
- 48:27phone is so important? Like, real estate is so— it
- 48:32is so high, like, energy, just takes up so much time
- 48:36and you've been in it before and that's what we do now.
- 48:39And I really have to step back and go, you know what, these deals
- 48:43aren't going to fall apart if I don't answer my phone for 2 hours.
- 48:47I need to focus on who's in front of me. If my daughter comes over,
- 48:51I want my phone hidden. I want to spend time with
- 48:54her, right? If I'm with my grandbaby, I want my phone hidden.
- 48:58Like, it's so hard. It's so hard, dude.
- 49:02Absolutely. So I know we need to start wrapping up,
- 49:05but this is, uh, this has been amazing. And, you know,
- 49:10you have so much success to talk about and
- 49:14so much, you know, and we're gonna have Shannon on, and then I actually would
- 49:17love to do an episode with you and Shannon together at some point too.
- 49:19But, but I appreciate you talking to us today about your earlier
- 49:23years and all the things that have built you, because that's
- 49:27where I think you connected with your purpose. Like, it wasn't
- 49:31because now that you're flipping houses, you're finally living your purpose.
- 49:35You connected with your purpose way back then and
- 49:38started flowing in that. And I think that's really,
- 49:42really powerful. It's important to know too that
- 49:45things don't just change in an instant. If you've
- 49:50done things to mess your life up, it can change,
- 49:53but it's not going to change this fast. If it took me 25 years
- 49:56to mess it up. I can't expect it to be fixed and perfect
- 50:01in 6 months. Exactly. But I
- 50:05didn't lose 120 pounds overnight. It took me 2 and a half years.
- 50:09You know, I mean, it's— and I still have to go to the gym.
- 50:11Like, I still have to do it. It's, it's always a process, but it's
- 50:15so worth it. You know, it's choose your hard. You know,
- 50:19I love that. It's, it is hard to live in addiction.
- 50:22And lose people and things. It is hard
- 50:26to get sober. Choose your heart. You know,
- 50:29like, it's, it's hard to, to be heavy and get
- 50:34made fun of and, and have a food addiction. It's hard to get
- 50:38past that and get healthier and build your life. But choose your heart.
- 50:41It— you know, we either way, we're choosing something that's difficult.
- 50:45But the beautiful thing is that when we're choosing the thing that's
- 50:49best for us, that's when we're getting the help that we can't explain.
- 50:54That's when people appear in our lives that take you in when you're a
- 50:58drug addict and says you're part of the family. Yeah, you know, that's when
- 51:02it happens is when we're choosing ourselves and, and what's best for us.
- 51:06You know, it's funny, I came on your podcast to talk about like some
- 51:10of my success in business. And then like we talked about faith
- 51:14and family. You know, but that's, that's really what it's all about, honestly. Faith,
- 51:18family. Absolutely. So I do— I
- 51:21have a lightning round and then one final question. But before I get to
- 51:24that, I do want to say one of the things that you're doing
- 51:28that's so powerful in business right now is your real estate coaching.
- 51:32So if someone is listening to this and they've always thought about maybe
- 51:37flipping a house or something like that, how, how would
- 51:41they get in touch with you to find out more about the coaching that you
- 51:43offer? Oh yeah, so 2 ways. You can go straight to the website, which is
- 51:47riseuponline.info,
- 51:50riseuponline.info. Or I also have this ebook.
- 51:54Now I got it here in print. I just happen to have it right here.
- 51:56Um, it's called the Rise Up Flip System.
- 52:00And this thing, if you've ever been interested
- 52:04in flipping houses, this answers the 3
- 52:08main questions that every single person asks It answers
- 52:12them in this 113-page ebook. Oh, that's great. And it
- 52:16is riseuponline.info/1.
- 52:22Oh, okay, cool. And that little ebook will answer— I mean, I'm telling you,
- 52:25every person that ever wants to flip asks the same exact
- 52:293 questions, and we dive deep in on that so
- 52:33that when they're done with that, it gives them an opportunity to make a discovery
- 52:38call with me or one of my partners And those questions are already
- 52:41answered so that the 30 minutes that we have with them can really be
- 52:45focused on them and how we can help them instead of saying,
- 52:48well, if you don't have enough money, this is how you do it. If you
- 52:51don't know the systems, that's— those questions are answered in the book.
- 52:55Oh, that's wonderful. That's awesome. Well,
- 52:58and then if people want to read The Long Way Still Gets You There,
- 53:01how do they read that book? It is an amazing book. I highly
- 53:04recommend the book. You'll get through the part about Pee-wee. At least you
- 53:08know it's coming now. So for most people, the easy— look,
- 53:12this is what it looks like. Now, all the—
- 53:15look at all these tabs. This is my book, and I still have tabs,
- 53:18and I've read the book and put tabs so I can go back and answer
- 53:22questions to myself. Um, the easiest way
- 53:25for most people is just to go on Amazon, um, and look up The Long
- 53:29Way Still Gets You There by Robin Shannon Malcolm. Um, they can also go
- 53:32on to our website and get the book there. Um, that supports
- 53:37us a little bit more, but is that the same Rise Up website?
- 53:41Yeah, they can get it, they can get it there as well. Um,
- 53:44most people feel more comfortable going to Amazon because they know and trust that place,
- 53:48and that's fine. Um, it takes a couple of days. If you go into our
- 53:52website, you can request a signed book and we'll sign it and send it out
- 53:55from our shipping station in the basement. That's nice.
- 53:59That's awesome. Um, okay,
- 54:02cool. And then lastly, if someone just wants to reach out to you directly,
- 54:06how, like, what are your socials? How do they follow you? What,
- 54:09what's the best thing? Yeah, Robert Malcolm on,
- 54:13um, Facebook and 3D Properties on Instagram.
- 54:18Awesome. And I answer direct messages, private messages.
- 54:22I answer all that. And then You know, once we're
- 54:26friends, we start sharing cell phones.
- 54:29Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, that's fantastic, Rob.
- 54:32So, okay, so get ready for the lightning
- 54:35round. It won't be too bad, I promise, but it'll be good.
- 54:39So just answer the first appropriate thing that comes to your mind.
- 54:43I always tell people that.
- 54:46Okay, not your own book or my book. What is your favorite
- 54:50book? Oh dude, right now it has to be The
- 54:5510X Mentor by Grant Cardone. Oh,
- 54:58nice, nice. Yeah, I've just finished reading it the second time.
- 55:03Yeah, now I've read a whole lot of books over the last 3
- 55:07months and I probably, after we get done with this call,
- 55:11man, I should have said, but yeah, that first one comes to my mind.
- 55:15The 10X Mentor, that's good to know. That's good. I haven't read that one yet.
- 55:18That'll, that'll go on my list. What is your favorite business habit?
- 55:22Would you call consistency a habit?
- 55:26Yeah. Yes. So like doing the same
- 55:29boring thing over and over and over and over
- 55:33and over until the door breaks down. Wow.
- 55:38I feel like there's a sermon in that somewhere. Like that is just, that is
- 55:41like Business Bible 101. Like that is huge.
- 55:44That is huge. The people that I coach, most of the people I coach are
- 55:48like, they get aggravated and upset after they've made 3 calls.
- 55:52And you're like, dude, you made 3 calls. Come talk to me when you made
- 55:553,000 calls. Right? Consistency over
- 55:59and over and over and over. Like, my wife's like, stop saying it like that.
- 56:02And you're just like, you have to. It's what— that's how you drive the point.
- 56:06That's awesome. Okay, Rob, are you a morning
- 56:09person or a night owl? 100% morning person.
- 56:13Have you always been? It depends on what stage of life,
- 56:17but I think like when I'm living clean and living my purpose, yes.
- 56:21Um, there was a lot of times where I, where I was just the night
- 56:24owl because that's what came with all the backstory. Gotcha. Um,
- 56:28morning person because I right now I'm getting up at 4:30 AM and I'm running
- 56:325 miles every other day. Like that's a part of my deal until
- 56:35I can— next week I run 6 and Next week I run 7 up to
- 56:3910. So I love my mornings. If you win your morning, you win your day.
- 56:42I say that all the time, but it is just so true. It's 100%.
- 56:47Nobody can talk me out of that. And I can get so much done
- 56:51before the sun comes up too. Because your phone's not
- 56:54ringing, your emails, you're not checking your emails. I refuse to check my emails until
- 56:58after the sun comes up. Mm-hmm. Same.
- 57:02One word that Shannon would use to describe you.
- 57:06Relentless. There you go. I won't stop until
- 57:10the job gets done. Nice, nice. You know, I think,
- 57:14I think that there's a lot of us that are like that. Like, and when
- 57:17you realize that's who I am, and that, that was my word of
- 57:21the year last year, like relentless. Like,
- 57:24a lot of people see that as a negative, like, oh, that you're just pounding
- 57:28something. No, relentless. I'm gonna keep on and on and
- 57:32on and on consistently until the work
- 57:36is done. And John, the work's never done.
- 57:40Right? Yeah. It's just— well, my next question is,
- 57:43what's one thing you're still trying to master?
- 57:47Whoo. I want to be— I
- 57:52want to be a known coach nationally.
- 57:56I want to help more people. And with
- 58:00the things that I've created recently, I can— I'm so excited about how many people
- 58:04I can help. I mean, look, man, I have one success story I want to
- 58:08tell you about real quick. I know we got to go up the podcast,
- 58:10but there's a husband and wife team in a town about an hour
- 58:15west of us, and I got introduced to them,
- 58:18and they both worked in a factory. Both of them— one of the husband
- 58:21made $40,000 a year and she made $38,000 a year.
- 58:25And I was able to show them real estate. And not only
- 58:28just real estate, I was able to show them house flipping. They were
- 58:32able to leave these jobs in these factories where even in 2025,
- 58:37the whistle would blow to tell you when to go to the bathroom. Okay,
- 58:41what, what, people are working like that, right?
- 58:45Real estate and some of the coaching that I've helped them do has
- 58:49changed everything for them.
- 58:53And I can't wait to help more and more people
- 58:57like that because what we do, anyone can do it if they
- 59:01have the right systems and processes. Absolutely. Anybody.
- 59:04Absolutely. So what
- 59:08is— this is not the final question, but there's one more that just I have
- 59:11to ask you because it came to me with that. People who don't
- 59:16start flipping, that they want to? And I was in that boat. You saw
- 59:20my first flip when I did it. I thought about it for years before I
- 59:23finally did it. What is one limiting belief that keeps people from pulling
- 59:27that trigger and trying their first flip? I think one of the biggest—
- 59:31there's 3 that I know of, um, and I can just tell them to you.
- 59:34The biggest one is, I don't have any money. I don't, I don't have enough
- 59:37money. I don't have any money. I don't have enough money. The other one is
- 59:40I don't know how to do it. And the other one is, I don't
- 59:44know if it's the right time. Because we watch the news and people say,
- 59:47oh, the market's down, or the market's soft, or the market— in
- 59:52reality, every day is the perfect day to flip houses.
- 59:55Absolutely. You have to know what your exit strategy is or
- 59:59who's gonna buy it. Once you figure out who's gonna buy it, whether that's Joe
- 1:00:03and Susie Homemaker or it's big You
- 1:00:07know, hedge fund, or it's just something— when you know who's gonna buy it,
- 1:00:10you could— every day is a good day to buy real estate. Every day.
- 1:00:13Mm-hmm. Exactly. That's it. Continues to appreciate,
- 1:00:18dude. Yeah, it trips people up. Oh, the market's
- 1:00:22gonna— is bad. Maybe I should wait. No. Oh, I don't have enough money.
- 1:00:24No, you can use other people's money. You got to be coached on how to
- 1:00:27do that. Those 3 things, those are the 3 things that are
- 1:00:31in that little Flip System book that I talked about. It's the 3 things that
- 1:00:34hold everyone back. That's, that's huge. And it's
- 1:00:37absolutely true. And, and you're 100%
- 1:00:41right. So, Rob, I do end every conversation with this same question.
- 1:00:47What is one thing about purpose that you believe most
- 1:00:51people are missing? Okay. It doesn't
- 1:00:56matter where you come from. Or even where
- 1:01:00you've been to get where you're designed to be.
- 1:01:05I think it doesn't matter. It'll make
- 1:01:08me cry because like you can take where I
- 1:01:12was and you don't have to be in the same crappy
- 1:01:16mud puddle that I was in. You can take whatever situation
- 1:01:20you're in and plug it into that blank line That
- 1:01:25does not matter when you're, when you're
- 1:01:28going to where you're designed to be. Like,
- 1:01:32I had to come out of it, but man, I'm living
- 1:01:36the life I was designed to live. Absolutely.
- 1:01:39It doesn't— and you're impacting so many people. Yeah, it just doesn't matter where
- 1:01:44you've been. You can get where you're designed to be. Oh, I love
- 1:01:48that. That is, you know, people say it a different way. Your past doesn't define
- 1:01:51you. Right? It's just a different way of saying that.
- 1:01:54Yeah. Well, and redemption is real too.
- 1:01:57Like, your story is proof that your past does not
- 1:02:00define you, that redemption is real, and that sometimes the
- 1:02:04long way really is the way that prepares you for the life you were
- 1:02:09created to live. That somehow everything did work for
- 1:02:12you instead of happen to you. Dude, and I think that's
- 1:02:16amazing, Rob. All those nights in my car, all those nights under
- 1:02:20the bridge prepared me for where I am now. It prepared
- 1:02:25me. I love that. And I love you, brother. I really appreciate you being on
- 1:02:28here, Rob. I really do. Dude, thank you so much for having me.
- 1:02:32You're so welcome. It has just been an amazing conversation.
- 1:02:36It was everything I hoped it would be. And I'm so thankful for you.
- 1:02:39For everyone who's listening, I'm going to put the links to Rob's
- 1:02:43books, the coaching community, his website, social media, all that in the show notes.
- 1:02:47And, and I just want to thank you all for
- 1:02:51joining us, whether you watch on YouTube, so you get to see my dog Judah
- 1:02:55sleep in the background, or whether you, you listen on Apple,
- 1:02:59Spotify, Podbean, Amazon, wherever you listen.
- 1:03:03Either way, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the support. This,
- 1:03:06this podcast is growing so quickly. And I'm so appreciative of that.
- 1:03:10Um, if today's conversation encouraged you, please take
- 1:03:15a moment, subscribe, leave a review, share this episode
- 1:03:18with someone who needs the type of hope that we've been talking about
- 1:03:22today, that needs to find their purpose. And remember, you don't create the
- 1:03:26life you desire by chasing a different future. You create it by awakening
- 1:03:30to who you are inside. So until next
- 1:03:34time, Keep living your revolution of purpose.
- 1:03:37Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. If this episode
- 1:03:41encouraged you, if it challenged you, or if it helped you see your life a
- 1:03:45little bit differently, would you do me a favor? Subscribe to the podcast,
- 1:03:49leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone
- 1:03:53who needs to hear it. Every share helps us reach more
- 1:03:56people who are searching for hope, purpose, and a
- 1:04:00life of greater meaning. And if you're ready to stop wondering what's next
- 1:04:04and start living with greater clarity and purpose in your own life,
- 1:04:08I would love to meet with you personally. Visit johnstreet.org
- 1:04:12right now to schedule your complimentary live purpose and
- 1:04:16clarity call with me. Until next time,
- 1:04:19remember, your purpose is not something you find.
- 1:04:22It is something you awaken to, and then you choose to
- 1:04:26live it. Go make today another step in your own revolution