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The Death Claim That Changed His Career With Tony Holland · find your cause

• Joseph Smalzer: went through some adversity and I realized later in life that it was good to look at life for what it is. We're only here for a short period of time. Someone once came to me one time and goes, Tony, you gotta enjoy life. You only live life once. You only live life once. I'm like, nah, you die once. You live life every day. So I started to realize probably later in life in my probably late 20s, early 30s to start. living a little better life than I was. It wasn't all about the awards and the money because I was making a lot of money at a young age. It started to be about giving back and I thank God my wife signed me up for youth football to coach my five-year-old son, Peewee football. She gave me a distraction that I needed and a way to give back at the same time and that was one of the best things that helped me for me personally, mentally, spiritually and physically kept me in shape. All righty. So thanks everyone for tuning into this episode. It's a really special episode and Tony and were just talking before we hit record, but typically at Here On Find Your Cause, we don't, focus on nonprofit organizations unless we find some for-profit organizations that are really mission-based and founders and CEOs that are truly mission-based. So it's very excited to welcome Tony Holland, CEO of Global Premier Benefits and a managing partner of Integrity. Thank you so much, Tony, for your time tonight. Thank you, Joseph. An honor and privilege to be here. Blessed to be on your show. Awesome. Awesome. We'll get into what you're doing in your career, but before I do, I want to set the stage for the audience here about a topic that I think is on the top of a lot of people's minds. People that are young in their career or in the middle of their career, or even ending their career is sometimes a trade-off we feel we have to make between making money, making a living, and also trying to find purpose. And a lot of times they're conflicting. One thing, Tony, that I noticed in your career evolution, is it seems like you've found middle point to balance between both of those and have been able to carry that throughout your career. So I'd love to hear and use that as a starting point as far back as you think you want to go of that dichotomy and sometimes that conflicting challenge that maybe you faced from an early age and how that's evolved through your career. Thank you again, Joseph and great introduction. Appreciate the accolades and first and foremost, I give glory to God. I've been very blessed in my life, Joseph and especially where I came from, a single parent household. I grew up in a town called Brunswick, Maryland. It was a railroad town. of fact, our mascot was the railroaders. And not much came out of that community. There were some really good people and I was blessed to be there. Cause I think God had a reason for that. All those adversities and challenges. And I tell audiences this all the time, Joseph. I went through some adversities that most kids shouldn't experience. And I remember one of my passions in life. First of all, I was very ingrained with my spirituality. And number two, I wanted to be the dad I didn't have. That was always something that was struck me that why did everybody else have had a father and I didn't? Why did I have to experience all these adversities? So I worked very hard through school, even with all the challenges, unbelievable challenges. I think it molded me to who the man I am today. And I tell audiences that a lot, people I speak to. Those adversities are really molding you, just like the story of Joseph. I had to go through a lot. A lot of adversity, even being betrayed by his own family, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery. He was convicted of a crime that he didn't even do. And ultimately he was number two in charge of for the country, nation of Egypt and saved his own people and the Egyptians. So it's incredible how God puts us in positions to be a blessing regardless of what we went through. So I was blessed enough to go off to Johns Hopkins University. And I studied engineering at first, didn't like engineering, was very bored, switched to pre-med. And I found out real quick once I graduated, I didn't like blood, I didn't like hospitals. It's a well-professed. So I gained a stab at trying to be a stockbroker and failed at that. And I found out real quick why they called stock brokers. I ended up broke. I was living out of a painting van. I had a painting business in school. I always had a passion for entrepreneurship. Even when I was young, I used to collect cans and bottles and sell them at the iStore. So had a painting business and all I had to my name was this red conversion van. Now I don't want your audience to feel sorry for me, Joseph. It had shag carpet and had an anion in it. So going back to my early days, think sometimes you got to hit rock bottom, but I found my calling in the insurance business. So I'm grateful to the Lord and grateful to God and grateful for everything that I've experienced even going back to those tough times as a kid. So adversity is a word that you mentioned a couple of times throughout this and I think adversity can be defined by, is defined individually by people in very different ways. Some people that I've met and friends of mine, like sometimes have experienced adversity that if somebody else experienced it, would be much less or much more. So how did you, the adversity that you went through at a young age, at what point did you start realizing that was adversity versus it was the norm? And then how did you reframe that as a fuel versus a keeping you down framing? It wasn't until I was older understood at the time I was better. I was angry. I had a little chip on my shoulder, especially in high school, but made me really good at football. By the way, I was a pretty good football player. was only like five foot eight and a half, five, nine. But I can hit. I used to knock guys out. I used to break helmets every other game. So I had a lot of anger. So lashing out at people like when fights or something on the street, I was a hellion on the football field. So I was like tearing people up. And so I channeled that energy, even though it was negative energy, because I had a lot of better, I channeled that into my grades, number one, I channeled that into sports, music, I was pretty good in music. Believe it not, I actually played football, varsity football, and I marched in the band. was in the jazz band, I was in a concert band, I was in performances and dramas, I was in drama as well. So was very eclectic in terms of my experiences in high school. Because to me, that was a good distraction from the reality. What tools do you think you'd built from being born to being in high school that allowed you to channel those in a productive way? I don't know if that's something you reflected on, but whether it was mentors of yours at a young age or if you just saw the opposite effects of if you channel it into worse ways. Great question. I already know I'm going to answer this is even listen, even though Joseph, my mother made a lot of mistakes. She made a lot and it took me years to forgive her. She's still making a lot of mistakes. God bless her soul and she just God bless her. And but it took me a long time to forgive her and realize she did the best she could with what she had. Matter of fact, she even admitted she was on her way to the clinic to abort me and her dad talked her out of it. So you can tell how that all started. My whole existence started with adversity. Thank God she decided not to, but I heard a lot of hateful things and very disturbing things from my mother and a lot of physical and mental and spiritual abuse. But let tell you this, some of the things she did, she knew how to use a belt. I thought my mom was, I thought she was Zorro in a former lifetime. I'm telling you. So you have, I didn't get in trouble. If I did, I knew, I was more scared of her than the police. I didn't worry about the police on you. My mom was only five foot tall because snap that belt like a whip. And she had no problem laying into me a little bit too much sometimes, but I think that was number one, her toughness and some people call it abuse. Looking back on it kept me out of trouble. Number two, I did have some good teachers and coaches in my life. think that was important. And that's why, if you looked at my bio, I spent 13 years coaching sports, namely football. I had 13 championships, five state championships, because I felt an obligation to pay it forward with those teachers and coaches. And community leaders poured into me. Yeah. At what age do you think that clicked for you? Where you're like, I want to start giving back or I want to start paying it forward. Was there like a moment in time where you're like, like I'm having it good now or crap. My mom would be on my ass right now if I didn't pay it for like whatever. had my time. was later in life. It definitely wasn't in high school. Definitely wasn't a college at Johns Hopkins university. It definitely wasn't my beginning of the business world because I was still bitter. Started chipping my solar and it wasn't until I went through some adversity and I realized later in life that it was good to look at life for what it is. We're only here for a short period of time. Someone once came to me one time and goes, Tony, you gotta enjoy life. You only live life once. You only live life once. I'm like, nah, you die once. You live life every day. So I started to realize probably later in life in my... probably late 20's early 30's to start living a little better life than I was. It wasn't all about the awards and the money because I was making a lot of money at a young age. It started to be about giving back and I thank God my wife signed me up for youth football to coach my 5 year old son, Pee Wee football. She gave me a distraction that I needed and a way to give back at the same time and that was one of the best things that helped me for me personally, mentally, spiritually and physically kept me in shape running around the kids and 13 years of that. I know I'm gonna tell you this Joseph. I changed a lot of young men's lives I'm gonna tell you that they still there's some of them in their late 20s still reaching out to me today and saying coach Tony I love you. I appreciate you and I'll never forget what you did for me because I was being the surrogate father to them mmm like the surrogate fathers I had those coaches and band teachers and People in the community that were pouring into me. Yeah, and as that surrogate father what role or what did you say? or coach them on that really landed as much like how was when you were doing different than maybe what they were experiencing in their life? Yeah, I talked more than just football. That was my main sport, but I did lacrosse. I did a little bit of lacrosse. I did a little bit of baseball, but football was the main. That's what I was known for. If you Google me in football, I was known as one of the top coaches. I won coach of the year many times, national coach of the year. And what I taught those kids was more than football. I them character traits. Things that were going to be beneficial to any character were five-year-olds. I coached five-year-olds, believe it or not. I coached teenagers. I coached kids all the way up to 18, but I taught them character traits and I lived them as well. Every week we had what's called the foundation rock. And actually there was a story written by me by a guy by the name of Dave Caesar. He started implementing that and many coaches across the country started implementing on a national scale, a character development trait every week. And I got that from the book. What it Takes to be Number One by Vince Lombardi. In that book, every chapter I focus on actually made the kids read the chapter. every week I give out four rocks with the name of that character, whether it was faith, whether it was commitment, whether it was dedication, whether it was loyalty. Every week and I applied that like Vince Lombardi did to the sport as well as into regular life. Faith is another thing that's come up a couple of times on this call. How has your faith journey developed? And I asked this topic because I think religion and spirituality at least are going to have a resurgence, especially with the younger generation coming up, at least from just attendance that I've seen from areas around us in the ages. And I think there, like it's, there was a generation that was very anti-religion because of a lot of the history and that you can read up on. Yeah, But think that there's, a gap in a sense of community that is just ever expanding since COVID and since technology and cell phones and social media. And there's not a lot of spaces as third spaces is another term for it where it's not work, it's not home, but it's somewhere you can go and hang out and be with community. I'm kind of religion and church, the tried and true one that's been around for a while. I'd to hear your journey when, you know, when it started, I you're Catholic. Right. And I was raised Catholic as well. But let's hear that journey. I'm gonna tell you something, I speak about God a lot because I know what he's done for me in my life. And I understand where people have been and we are on a journey where there's only one perfect person and that was Jesus Christ and we're not him. We're gonna have flaws, we're gonna make mistakes. But long as the foundation's right and you're striving for getting better. So for me, I've had peaks and valleys in that regard, but I'm thankful that I had a very strong priest when I was younger. I'm thankful my mom, another thing I was thankful for, she took us to church. I used to tell people all the time, my mom used to drug me and people were like, ⁓ my God. I'm like, yeah, she drugged me to church. She drugged me to Bible study. She drugged me to CCD class. She drugged me. No, but I think for me that journey has had peaks and valleys, but I always tell people this, whether it's business or your spirituality, keep taking three steps forward. And when you fall back those couple of steps. Take three steps forward, because over time, three steps forward, two steps back, three steps forward. Sooner later, you're where you need to be, where you're in excellent all aspects of your life, your business, your health, your spirituality, your family, all that it has is trials and tribulations. I've made a further commitment. It's an everyday commitment. So a lot of people say, when were you saved? Or when was that moment? I didn't have one of those. I think it it's the tie on family feud guy. What's his name? Epiphany moments or something? the family feud guy with his name. Good Lord, my brain is escaping me. My God. Yeah. Yeah. I know you're talking about that. He had a segment. Steve Harvey. Yeah, Steve Harvey. God, I shouldn't know that. But he said this in one of his segments. He didn't have one of those whitewash moments where, he was born again on this day, this time. And the same way, it's like it's been an everyday to say here. There wasn't this one dramatic moment. It's no it's been an everyday experience of trials and tribulations three steps forward two steps back and I'm thankful. I'm gonna tell you something every morning and every night Joseph. I do this and I learned this from the great zig zig. Are you heard of zig zig before? Yep. Zig zig was amazing and I actually got to meet him before he passed away at one of his seminars and he taught me this which is so profound that Count 30 things in the morning you're blessed for. Even if it's your eyesight, even if it's your ears, even if you're living in a van, thank God you got a van to live out of. Be thankful for what God's given you. He'll bless you with more. When you go to bed at night, do the same thing. I've been doing that for decades now and God has been blessing me with unbelievable success. Billion dollar companies have helped other people become millionaires. That's kind what I'm doing, paying it for, but God has blessed me even in the face of pure adversity, my friend. God was always there. And sometimes it's that footprints in the sand story. You've heard of footprints in the sand. Definitely many times Joseph, Ali saw what set of prints. It was him carrying me. Yeah. Wow. That's amazing. And I feel like you have done so like you said, you were in sports, but also in drama in high school, which are very two different. like communities and groups. You were an engineer and then you went into the medical program and then business and insurance. How have you been able to figure out and balance your entrepreneurial mind and being able to try a lot and then focus when you need to, try a lot, focus when you need to? Because I think there's a lot of entrepreneurs that are in our audience and figuring out when and where to widen the aperture and focus the aperture in your career. That's a great question. And like I told you before, it's very eclectic. I've always been that way. But I think it's so important. You have to focus. I do a speech about the magnifying glass. Everybody's had a magnifying glass, right? And you remember when you're a kid, I got my first one. The first thing I want to do is burn ants and caterpillars. And then it turned into light and fire crackers, right? Because we weren't allowed to have lighters. But we had these magnifying glass. If you harness the energy of the sun to a point, at the right spot, it ignites a fire. But if it's too close, it doesn't. If it's too far away, it doesn't. And you're definitely shifting it around on never. So I think the harness of God's energy, just like the sun, you focus that in your life, boom, it'll ignite a fire. So to answer that question, yes, I was very eclectic, but each and every one them, during those periods, I was ultra focused, whether it was music. It was all about music. When it was football, it was all about football. Even though it was maybe two hours, three hours here, those two or three hours had my undivided attention. I was focused. I was focused. So your entrepreneurs that are listening, one of the other tips I learned is from Brian Tracy, one of my great mentors from going back in the nineties. I used to do my to-do lists. There's a book he called focal point. Great book. Get that book called focal point. It talks about that same analogy of focusing your energy, get more out of a day than most people, I get more out of a day than most people get in a week. And how do I do that? I write down the top 10 things I need to accomplish and I focus my energy on those top two things that can make the most difference. If I can delegate the other things, I will, but I make sure that day is full of activities that leads me to my ultimate goal. Joseph, I take it even further. At the top each morning, I put my ultimate goal, what that is. And then I put my secondary goal, my third, fourth and fifth. And that's always written every morning at the top of every calendar. do the same thing and people go, good Lord, how did you do all this? I followed those principles. I've learned from Brian Tracy going way back, focused that energy on those critical moments. And I excelled at every level, whether it was music, drama, business, insurance, whatever I put my mind to, I focused that energy on that. Yeah. feel like the natural question for me to ask after that is. What have been your top 10 today and your focuses today or recently? My typical Monday. Of course, I write down my top goal, my ultimate net worth. I write down my weight, my ultimate weight. By the way, I'm down 26 pounds since the day before I lent. I gave up alcohol. I gave up meat. I do eat fish. I do vegetables. no sugar and I fast 16 hours a day and I've doubled up on my prayer every day. So that's one thing that's up there. Oh my God, making sure I stick to that mission. My mission to where I want to accomplish in my life, being tops in my profession. And I'll list the top 10 things from, of it's just taking calls. Sometimes it's putting out fires. Sometimes it's connecting with the attorney. I kept connecting about a new business. So I have multiple businesses now about eight, I think I'm on now working on number nine. So number startups, I have two private equity businesses. I have three AI companies working on the fourth. I have a sports franchise. I knew about that. So that Orioles, Orioles bottom? Yeah. Yeah. Baltimore minority share owner. I load a little piece. Yeah, it is. Wow. And all right. So being able to focus in and it sounds like commitment. Like once you make a decision, commit to it and see it end to end. And Joseph, I want to add this too. You got to have a team. It's not on me. Like those championships, it was, yeah, I got all the awards and accolades, but I had a great staff of anywhere from six to eight assistant coaches. I had great parents. So I got to give them their props. And in the companies, I got great CEOs. I got great business partners. I have great leaders that I'm associated with. I have an amazing team of people that I love and that love me. And that's one thing I lead with is love. And I tell people that they think is kooky or crazy. I'm like, no, we love each other. I tell them it's nothing wrong with a man saying to another man, I love you, brother. We do that in our company. That's one thing that makes us different than anyone out there. We tell our brothers in the business and even the women in the business, we love you. You're awesome. We appreciate you. People know it and they feel it. When our people hurt, I hurt with them. When they're joyful, I'm joyful with them. When they're celebrating a win. an anniversary, like one of my team members celebrating his 30th anniversary in Hong Kong with his wife, I'm celebrating with them. Okay. I think people have gotten too caught up in business worrying about numbers and bottom line and revenues and cutting costs. You've got real people that are your consumers that you need to be in love with and also people that work with you and for you that you got to be in love with. Don't forget the love in the business. Don't forget. There are real people with hearts and souls and cares and thoughts and concerns that are in your organizations. Yeah, that's amazing. One thing I've been reflecting on, what you mentioned brought this up in my mind recently, reflecting on is Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how it impacts our decision making and what we focus on. I'm trying to connect that to, you've mentioned that you had a chip on your shoulder decently late at the beginning of your career after college, after high school. Did you, was there a certain, like looking through Mezzos, hiring your needs, a certain point in your life where you hit, like you could pay your utilities at this point, or you had X amount of dollars in the bank, or you had a certain job where that chip on your shoulder maybe turned into something else or just dropped off? I'm gonna tell you, it started to change two years into the insurance business. I was the first person in my family to make over $100,000 a year. So in 1994, I made 124,000, finished in the top 10. a company called American Income Life out of Waco, Texas. But it wasn't and I had a big ship, bought the Corvette, got the condo, the nice Italian clothes. was the man. Man, you thought I was just it, man. I was just cocky for myself. I was in multiple magazines. It wasn't until you and I'm getting serious with it right now. this moment, I was in the house making a presentation on right off of Lake Lingen a family. They kept saying no, because there was rumors are going to be laid off. And American Income Mike had a layoff waiver feature. If they ever got laid off, we pay the free. So that was the finally way I got them to say yes. And then I told them they should add child policies to the policy. And they said no originally with my good sales experience and sales skills, I talked them into it. Three months later, they signed a policy, took it in. I'm already count my money. I'm going to make five, 600 bucks, whatever it was back then. Three months later, a guy by the name of Terry Thompson from Walkersville called me up. was the president of the union said there was a death on Lake Lingenor. I said, out of here. goes, what do you need? I said, what do need me to do? Can you give a donation? Okay. What do you need? goes, he named the, there was three kids that drowned. One of them was a big kid that was at the house, a 12 year old kid that passed away. And that was the moment I got my wake up call about why I was doing what I was doing. That was my first death claim. It wasn't 60, 70, 80 or 90 year old, which you would expect. It was a 12 year old kid that died on Lake Lingenor and I had to help process a death claim. They got about 20, 30,000. I can't remember the right, I think it was $25,000. You know what, that helped that client and that those parents paid the funeral, paid some bills. And by the way, they got laid off during those three months. And it reminded me then, what I'm doing does make a real difference. It's not about the money anymore. It's not about the commissions anymore. It's about, this product really does work. And a 12 year old kid lost his life. And thank God I was in that house where that family wouldn't even have enough to pay for a burial. So I tell that story because that gave me the wake up call and that edge and that cockiness and ego. I didn't care about the magazine. It all was gone because Within a year from that time, I lost my little brother in a tragic accident in the military, a freak accident. And it gave me even a more of a hit in the mouth. He was just 24 years old and a proud of his life. He was actually all state Maryland football was got a full ride to college and you know, and he was out just like that serving our country. He was in the air force serving our country over in England and died in a freak accident by was on duty. And so I gave me a dish punch in the mouth and saying, Hey, you're here for a short period of time. Make as much difference as you can. I tell all your leaders that are listening, all your entrepreneurs, you're here for a reason. God has you here for a reason. You might not understand it now, but one day you will. You're here to serve others. Even Albert Einstein said this. He was a devout atheist, but he did say this. Someone asked him, a journalist asked him, what is the purpose of mankind? He says, that's obvious to serve one another. You're here to serve others. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. And that's horrible. Sorry for your loss and in that story that you had to experience with the kid. So it sounds like that back to my first question when we started finding the intersection between profit and purpose or impact and income. And it sounds like this is a turning point in that for you. How can people that maybe haven't experienced something like that? some experience in their lives or how could they go about trying to find that middle ground? Because a lot of times people are just in their W2 jobs or even just working in general and it's really hard for them to connect what they're doing in their day job to more meaning in their life. And I think you being in the insurance industry, I feel like there's a mix of opinions on the industry. I've had an amazing experience with it, but you've been able to reframe it and I think that is probably part of the... A huge part of the reason about why you've been so successful in sales is to be able to connect these stories and experiences you've had in the conversations you're having with you and current clients and all the reps that you oversee. However you coaching maybe your company and other people that are maybe in their job and it's really hard for them to get up in the morning at connecting what they're doing or maybe even stuff outside. Maybe their job is a feel for what they do outside, but just having more meaning in life. I've been there. I've waited tables. I bartended, worked a carry out. And I remember one guy when I was working at Libertories, he said this in Baltimore, he says, work that job, like you're truly making a difference. Be a specialist at what you do. I don't care if you're mopping the floor today, mop that floor better than anybody because it's setting an example. It's setting a standard. Because what he was equated to, and this is what I tell young people when asked that same question, I'm in a quote dead end job. No, you're not. You want to frame it that way you are, you're making a difference because you're being prepared for something greater. So if you don't give excellence to that job you got now, when the bigger opportunity comes, you won't be ready. So since I was younger and I learned it from that gentleman, he's a very successful Italian guy drove a Ferrari was just Mr. Man. He was the role model back then for me. He says, do every job to be the best, be the Michael Jordan mopping floors of Mopping down that board or working to carry out be the best because God is preparing you for a greater destiny But if you can't master this quote dead-end job you call that's by the way, it's a gift from God You know me people love your job You know might be would love to be working at Starbucks or working at Rite Aid or working at wherever you think is a dead-end There's people around the world trying to come here dying dying to get here that take that job That's a blessing to somebody else. So if you start thinking about what you have now as a blessing, you'll be blessed for more. So I tell people, that's a great question you asked. I get that question a lot. Work that job like it's a multi-million dollar job because one day, will prepare you for making multi-millions of dollars per year. Yeah. That reminds me of the how you do anything is how you do everything quote as well. Amen. Amen. Hey, practice like the way you want to play. Yeah. Right? You've heard that you played sports. Yes. If you're going to screw around and practice and take it easy and practice, you came to watch my practices teams around the countries to come watch me practice. Coaches, I got to see what you do. There's no way this team is dominating. Seriously, we were going to score 50 to 60 points. They'd watch me in practice and every single one of the coaches, hundreds of them across the countries to fly in to see my team practice. He goes, you practice better than I've ever seen. You do more in one day and my kids do all week. There's no standing around. There's no negativity. It's hustle, hustle for two hours. I said, that's the way they're going to play. So when you get that opportunity, when you're ready for it, God's going to put you in that position once you're ready. And if you're not willing to practice good practice the way you want to play, when it's time to play, you're going to fail. So keep that in mind. You have some kiddos. I have a three and a four year old daughter. want to be, as you mentioned, before the father that you didn't have to them. How are you, now that you're financially, fiscally in a much better position, how are you thinking about creating adversity for your kids? Obviously not the adversity you experience, but adversity itself for steel to sharpen steel, for them to be able to have, whether it's the chip on their shoulder or whether it's just the ability to stick to something for long periods of time. and just be successful and independent and a contributor to the world. What are you thinking about? So my advice is this. Yes, my kids went to the best schools, best private schools, had the best of everything. I wanted to give them what I didn't have, but I spoil them. It's one thing to love your kids, another thing to spoil them. I made sure at every opportunity, especially if there was a homeless person, I showed them what it meant to give. I give the guy money or go buy him a sandwich. At Catholic Mass at the end, there was a pour box. All my kids got money since they were little to put in the pour box to understand. So I helped them understand how far we've come. And I told them the truth about where I came from. And my kids dealt with adversity. Just spending time, I could have made a phone call or paid the money to help them through something. But each and every one of my kids, for example, my oldest son, Antonio, didn't get into West Point his first shot because he had a broken hand and didn't know it. Even though he passed all the physical exams, he passed everything. He said, the x-ray says you have a broken hand, you have to go get surgery. So guess what? He even, he had tears in his eye when my wife, Katherine, I sat with him in his bedroom. He said, dad, I'm gonna try again. And he did. And he almost quit trying. He went to VMI instead, showed his commitment to our country. Second time around, he had to reapply and he got in and actually was a number ranked recruit, the number one ranked district of that the DC Maryland is the number one district. He was number one. That was a blessing from God. His adversity of not getting in turned into be a huge blessing down the road. Now he's he's a pilot. He flies Blackhawk helicopters. And my my middle child, Jeremy, went through adversity. He didn't get the school of his first choice, but he got into an even better school and got a scholarship. So he wanted to go to Villanova. That didn't work out. We wanted to go to a Catholic school. He ended up going to Kelly School of Business. and got a scholarship. Isn't that amazing? And now he's getting ready to graduate in two weeks and he's got a job already at Deutsche Bank, his dream job, but he had to overcome that adversity of getting rejected. So our kids have been taught and our daughter Jasmine went through some adversities and a lot as a teenager, as a young girl during COVID. So our kids have already been conditioned to adversity. We didn't spoil them through adversity. We allowed the adversity. helped them and coached them through it. And I think that's why it's so important for your kids to play sports, because it teaches them the value of overcoming defeat, overcoming pain, frustration, anger, being benched, having to work your way to get that starting position again. So those are things that I did with our kids, my wife and I did, to help our kids be the great men and women they are today. Thanks for that advice. My kids have a few years ahead of them, but yeah, this is going to be very helpful. Impact and legacy. What's the next chapter that's been written or that you're writing for yourself? I am working on a book. I don't have the name yet, but it is working on. Yeah, it's taken a long time to write it I have so much to pour into it, but I want to make sure it's done the right way. But I'm going tell you this, Joe, to answer that question, my wife and I had a saying when we first started the company together. We wanted to be a shining light in a dark market. There's a lot of negativity. There's a lot of challenge. You said something earlier about a lot of people are coming back to the faith. There's more people becoming Catholic than ever. Matter of fact, my son, Antonio, his serious girlfriend, he sponsored her to becoming Catholic. I think that's amazing, totally amazing. And I think there is a revival. This is spiritual revival. And I want to be part of paying forward something excellent, something good to be that shining light and amongst all the nonsense, the politics and the evil that's in the water. Who ever thought, Joseph, I don't want to get into politics and but there's some things that are going on in politics. Who ever thought that in the 70s and 80s we'd be debating about if a man or woman should use what restroom or men could play. It's crazy, it's craziness. It's there's a sickness in this world that's being perpetuated by certain politicians. Like I said, I want to get in the politics of sick world we're in. It's crazy what's going on. And yet sad to these young kids not only being abused by their own mom and dad, but they're being abused by the system. Like I've never seen before. And it's, that's part of my mission and my wife's mission and what I'm about. I don't care about being PC. I'm going to be professional. I'm going to be diplomatic about it, but I want to be different than what these kids are being shown in social media on TV. You see these women prancing their bodies around just in a total vile way. got young men out there that don't have any direction. And I think we need good men and women leaders out there to show these young people the way they should live, the way they should carry themselves, the way they should speak. It's like this kid Mendoza. What a class act. And you're seeing more and more of young men like that. What an amazing role model. So I want to be that kind of role model. to these young people, to show them, yes, you can become very wealthy and successful, and you can do it in honest, and you can do it a decent way, and you can do it like the name of our company, with integrity. Yeah. And if you could crack the code about what allows us to have conversations and not just spit comments through, I guess, behind the scenes Twitter feeds and anonymous posts. That's another puzzle we gotta figure out, just being able to talk. Joseph, I might tell you what's going on. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I'm sorry, No, no, no. It's your show. I'm sorry. No, no, that's yeah. But I'm going to tell you this, Joseph, your listeners need to hear this. I hope you don't edit this out. It's all by design, by the way. This they're polarizing people by design. If you go back in the way countries were conquered, going all the way back to the colonial times, like, for example, Britain, they conquered a country of India with 700 guys conquered India with over several million people. They divided the people. had the Muslims hate the Buddhists, the Buddhists hate the Christians, the Christians hate the Jews. And then they divide the company in half. They created Pakistan and India and boom, they had them fight each other for years. While the powers that be control what's going on. And that's a whole trick that goes back hundreds of years. And they're doing that now. They're creating blue states against red states, Republicans against Democrats. And you can see it online. These people fighting nonsense. it's fun, but the politicians are doing it by design because if you're worried about fighting each other because they're in different states or different beliefs or whatever, you can't really see what they're really doing. And look at all the fraud, Elon Musk uncovered. Look at all the stuff. And notice how that was all hushed up. The stuff that was going on in Minnesota and the stuff that was going on in Massachusetts, stuff that was because these politicians want to keep us fighting. so they can do their deeds behind the scenes. That's really what's going on. So I want to see a stop to hate. Love your brother, love your sister, love each other. We could overcome what's really going on together because together we're united. And it does say on the Constitution, it's headlined, we the people. Keep that in mind. We the people. Not me, not he, not she, not they. It's us. It takes all of us. Somehow we are well past the time we have allotted for this. But that's usually the case here, Tony. Thank you so much. enjoyed it. Yeah. Is there anything you want to leave us with before we wrap up or maybe that we didn't hit on? Just keep God first. God has a plan for you. Even though you we talked earlier about you may not happy where you are. God has a plan for keep him first, work your butt off or whatever you're doing and stay ultra focused and just make a difference in other people's lives. Watch what you, I'm tell you this before we let you let it go, Joseph. I have a phrase I use on my, my, my speeches. Whatever you're thinking about and allowing in the here through your ears or through your eyes, okay? Whatever you're allowing in here, whatever you're thinking about and whatever you speak about that's going on in here, you're actually bringing about. If you want to create a destiny of wealth and success and making a difference, watch what's going on in here. and watch what's coming out here. You'd be amazed how your life would be transformed miraculously and people look at you, wow, how did you do that? So I just wanted to leave that. And if your team wants to get in touch with me, anybody that wants to reach out, they can DM me on my Instagram account, THU Tony Holland, T-O-N-Y-H-O-L-L-A-N-D, the Tony Holland, DM me. I actually call people. People are like, I can't believe you called, you answered my texts. I'm like, yeah. I'm a real person. don't hand you off to a marketer or someone else. And if you're interested in a career in my company, I'm always looking for good people. We're always in good people with the right heart, the right spirit and what to make a difference in people's lives. And thank you, Joseph, for allowing me to share my friend. It was awesome. It was a privilege and an honor. Likewise, Tony. Thank you so much for your time and all the insights and conversation. It's really refreshing to be able to talk about these topics and dive deep into them. So thank you so much. We'll share all the notes and all the links. you so people could find you afterwards. otherwise, enjoy your night. Thank you so much. sir. God bless you. Thank you, Joseph. Appreciate you. Thanks.