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Spencer Labunski: The Power of Teamwork in Extreme Sports · More Than Before

0:06
This is more than before with Nathan Cook.
0:11
Hey everyone, I am super excited for our guest today.
0:14
He is a competitive body flyer skydiver and he's also the
0:18
General Manager at ifly in New Jersey right now and he is
0:23
absolutely an awesome guy. Super excited to have him on the
0:26
show today, get to know a little bit more about his story, but
0:29
also kind of get to know the man behind the success.
0:33
I mean you've had quite a bit of success.
0:35
So welcome Spencer Libunski to the program.
0:38
Spencer, how you doing today? I'm doing great.
0:40
How are you Nathan? I'm doing awesome.
0:43
Hey brother, it is so good to have you on.
0:45
You know, it's funny. We worked together for a short
0:48
stint a number of years ago when I was going through a searching
0:52
moment of my life and I thought, man, I should I should go get a
0:55
part time job while I'm doing my own coaching thing.
0:58
And I thought, man, I I should, you know what I should do?
1:01
I should get a job working at something that would be fun.
1:03
And what did I do? I I.
1:06
Applied for a job at I Fly, which is an indoor skydiving
1:10
place. Spencer, I'm curious for you.
1:13
You've had a long laundry list of kind of extreme things that
1:18
you've done, and I want to know kind of growing up, what what
1:20
kind of got you into that 'cause I don't think you wake up one
1:23
morning. I mean, maybe as a boy, maybe
1:25
you woke up and you're. Like, you know what?
1:26
I want to jump off of really tall things as high as I can and
1:30
see if I survive. Like, where, where, where did
1:33
this come from, you know? Yeah, you know, my childhood, I,
1:39
we always spent time out in the woods and exploring the the
1:43
nature. I grew up in the middle of
1:45
nowhere in Illinois, basically surrounded by cornfields and we
1:51
had five, five acres. So I got, I got pretty much free
1:54
reign and I was able to go and you know experience just
1:59
outdoors and and and just messing around as a kid through
2:03
that I pushed some limits and my my father will definitely attest
2:07
to that. But, you know, I've always been
2:10
kind of drawn to doing things that not everybody does.
2:15
And when, you know, I got into the world of skydiving by when I
2:21
turned 18, I jumped off an airplane just like anybody can
2:24
when they turn 18, had a lot of fun and went off to college, and
2:29
I didn't have money to continue that.
2:31
And then about halfway through college, I got actually laid off
2:35
from one of my my summer job at a wastewater plant.
2:39
And you know, I was just looking around for a new job and the
2:42
company that I did my jump with relocating, massively expanding.
2:48
So I said, you know, they probably need some help.
2:50
So I shot him an e-mail, cold e-mail, and 48 hours later I was
2:54
hired. Saw everybody coming down on the
2:57
first day. Big smiles, some of the coolest
3:00
things ever. And I said I got to do that,
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gave them all my money, all my time, and pretty much worked for
3:06
free that entire summer. That's how I got into the
3:09
skydiving world. And through the skydiving world
3:12
I have met so many incredible people.
3:15
That has opened doors for opportunities, whether within
3:19
skydiving or different adrenaline sports.
3:23
Yeah, I, you know, I think it's really interesting that you
3:25
mentioned adrenaline sports because the types of people that
3:29
attract adrenaline sports are are really fascinating to me.
3:33
I I've surround myself a lot with free divers right now.
3:36
Free diving is one of one of the most dangerous sports from what
3:40
I've heard from people. Hopefully my wife is not
3:42
listening to this episode. Yeah, there's a lot more air
3:47
when you're coming down from the sky than there underneath the
3:49
water, right? Motion.
3:52
Scary man. I will say that the
3:57
transparency, the realness of people that you get to spend
4:01
time with in these environments, adrenaline rich environments is
4:05
is really quite fascinating. You know, over the years you've
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gotten to meet some pretty cool people.
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What what has been? Kind of your experience with
4:14
people in the extreme industry, like, do they seem more chill?
4:19
Are they more like that? I think typically when someone
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thinks of an extreme sport, they think of someone that's like so
4:27
high on octane and they're jumping like and they're ready
4:30
to go, right? And not to say that they aren't.
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But I don't think that, I don't think that categorizes the
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majority of people that are out there.
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No, that's that's a great bring up.
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And so you know going back to the like skydiving and even just
4:44
like I've done kite boarding and a few other paragliding,
4:48
parasailing, all that good stuff, it's it's a crazy mix of
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people. You know, I'm a I'm a single
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skydive. I, I have somebody who's a
4:58
lawyer, you know a prominent lawyer making well over 6
5:02
figures, maybe even 7 figures a year and you know we're jumping
5:06
with somebody who just scraped up enough money to get that one
5:09
jump today. It's a very interesting thing
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that, you know, these these sports really bring different
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people together for the love of that sport.
5:18
Just like with free diving, you know?
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I'm sure there's plenty of different personalities and
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whatnot and backgrounds that come come to do that, but what
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really brings everybody together is that sport and of itself.
5:31
When we're skydiving, there's no judgments about your life story,
5:35
about your whatever. Whatever's happening in your
5:37
life, it doesn't really matter. Because when we're falling out
5:40
of out of the sky for 45 seconds, we're focusing on each
5:43
other and the goals and the plans that we we we want to
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accomplish. I think it's fascinating you
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bring up the 45 second drop because isn't it true that?
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When you're in a situation like you have that high adrenaline,
5:56
you're not, you're not thinking about your mortgage payments.
5:59
You're not thinking about the fight that you had with your
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spouse the other day. You know you're not.
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You're not thinking about the the day-to-day things that we're
6:07
going through. Everything checked out.
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You know, I'd be curious and you can speak to this here in a
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second, but I'd be curious of when that moment takes place.
6:17
Like, is it? Is it when you're getting in the
6:19
plane and all of a sudden you realize that it's real, that
6:23
you're taking off the runway? Obviously you're you're more
6:25
seasoned than most people, but when is it that you're no longer
6:30
thinking about the general aspects of life and you actually
6:34
just start being in the moment? But then also I'm curious.
6:39
What kind of takeaways from your jumps have you gained over the
6:44
years? Because it truly is a moment
6:45
where you are just there and that the maybe the first time
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someone gets down, they're just like, Oh my gosh, I made it.
6:51
I'm not dead. I love life and they're kissing
6:53
the ground, right? There's that extreme to the
6:56
extreme of someone that goes. Man, I just realized and maybe I
7:00
had a a problem that I just solved because of this last jump
7:03
because it just cleared my mind. So I wonder if you speak into a
7:06
little bit about that. But what, at what point does
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that happen for you? And what are some of those
7:12
takeaways that you've gained over the years by going through
7:15
the process of a jump? The moment that, that, that
7:20
freedom and that clarity happens, I would say is like as
7:24
soon as your foot leaves the airplane, you know, on the right
7:28
up and everything. Yeah, yeah.
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But on the right up, you know, it's roughly about 20 minutes to
7:34
get to to the altitude that we jump from.
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Usually, it does give you a little bit of time to think.
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And that's actually when I, you know, I really do reflect on why
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am I doing this, What the heck am I doing?
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I'm about to Chuck myself out of a perfectly good airplane.
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And then as soon as I leave that airplane, it's like, oh, duh,
7:54
This is why, you know, So yeah, so I would say as soon as I jump
7:59
out, that is my pure focus, to have fun in free fall and then
8:04
get safely back on the ground. Nothing else matters.
8:07
All the work problems, they all fade away.
8:10
And that's one of the things that really drew me to skydiving
8:12
as well is just that, yeah, you can take that break from from
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life and and just really enjoy nature, really enjoy the people
8:21
that you're around and you know, potentially accomplish a goal.
8:25
And then to your second question, some of the things
8:28
I've learned, first and foremost, it's a team sport.
8:34
This is, you know, your success is reliant on other people, your
8:38
safety is reliant on other people.
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And we all have to have trust within each other that we all
8:44
know what we're doing and what we're capable of doing and
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getting that trust together and just realizing that it is 100%
8:53
A-Team sport. Whether you're jumping with one
8:56
person or you know, on my world record, we had up to 95 people
9:00
in the air at the same time. That's been one of my biggest
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takes, takeaways and honestly everything in life is a team
9:08
sport. You need some sort of support
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system to to help you guide you and and move forwards.
9:15
I I think a lot of people don't see life as a team sport, right?
9:20
We we live in a culture nowadays that tells us, well, it's all
9:23
about you. You got to pull up your, you
9:24
know, your boots from your own bootstraps.
9:26
You make it happen yourself. Don't rely on anyone.
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You can't trust anyone. And the reality is the older we
9:32
get, the more we realize how untrue that is.
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That the need that we not only have for other people but we we
9:40
truly desire it in our lives and and in a world where we feel so
9:44
disconnected from other people, it's so important to feel and be
9:48
a part of something, to be part of a team.
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And I love how you say that, that you know this, this.
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Whenever you go out on a jump, whether you're the person that's
9:56
taking someone or whether you're the pilot or whether you're the
9:59
the Shoot Packer, because if I remember correctly, you started
10:02
your job as the Shoot Packer, right?
10:04
Yeah, that was my primary job for about two years, yeah.
10:08
And you're a member of the team. And you know, I'm, I'm curious,
10:14
you know, when you started doing that, I love that you got into
10:18
this as the Shoot Packer, which I think I'm I'm not.
10:22
I'm not so keen on all the aspects of skydiving, but I'm
10:26
guessing the Shoot Packer is exactly what it sounds like.
10:28
You're packing the shoots right, and everyone relies on you.
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Really, their life depends on you.
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Packing the shoot like that is the most important aspect.
10:39
Like, yeah, the plane will get you up there, yeah, the other
10:42
person that's attached to you, But you want to make sure that
10:46
your shoots actually going to open to its fullest
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capabilities, right? What were some of the lessons
10:53
you learned starting from such a Hubble position, even though
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it's integral part of the process, but moving from that
11:01
which we would maybe think that that's like the lowest on the
11:03
totem pole, all the way up to being an instructor where you're
11:07
taking people's out of the plane.
11:11
What were some of the lessons along the way of gradually?
11:15
Getting to that point, because I think a lot of people today
11:17
think overnight success, right? What can I do today?
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Like, I want to get my certification and I want to be
11:22
able to go take my friends out skydiving tomorrow.
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Like, yeah, sounds like a great idea, but in reality, probably
11:30
not a great idea. What was that process like for
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you as you were starting from the beginning and building
11:37
yourself up to that point of being an instructor?
11:39
A lot of it is money and time, right?
11:42
So you know to to become a a skydiving tandem instructor you
11:48
have to have a minimum of 500 jumps and then you can go into
11:52
your course and and start going through the course.
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But one of the lessons I definitely learned along the way
12:00
was to use your resources. Every single person that that
12:04
worked at the Drop zone had something valuable to give me.
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They did probably didn't know what it was.
12:11
Some of them did the seasoned vets and whatnot.
12:14
But somewhere along the line with through our interactions
12:18
and everything, almost every single person that worked in the
12:22
industry gave me some little nugget of information that that
12:26
eventually pushed me forward. And then beyond that, it was,
12:30
you know, just setting goals and making sure I hit those and
12:33
follow through on them. You know, I know I have to get
12:36
500 jobs, Okay. Well, let's start there.
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Let's get all the way up to 500 and get through all my licenses
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and everything. So I am the best prepared for
12:48
this course to become an instructor.
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Then I get the course going and then read all your papers and
12:54
all that kind of stuff. So and you can do half of that
12:57
before you even get to the course.
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So you know just setting those milestone goals along the way to
13:02
to hit the the bigger goal at the end really helped.
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And then yeah use your resources talk to people What what did you
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struggle with? How can I not struggle with
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that, you know, So that that has been one of my my biggest
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takeaways with my teachings over the years.
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It's kind of coming back to this idea of Teamworks.
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I love what you said about resources, that most people
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don't even understand their resources.
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Like you go to someone and you have to know the resources that
13:32
you're asking for because sometimes the person may have
13:35
them, but they don't actually view them as a resource.
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Like most people who come to me, I wouldn't say that my ability
13:41
can to communicate and connect is a resource to me because it
13:44
comes naturally. But to be able to communicate
13:47
that and help other people out with their communication is
13:50
something that I do very often. Now I see that it's a resource
13:53
because I've had enough people come to me and say, hey, this is
13:56
you're really good at this, this is a resource.
13:58
Same thing for you, your ability to.
14:02
Understand teams and bring teams together.
14:06
You mentioned earlier about a world record that you were a
14:10
part of. I want you to talk a little bit
14:11
about that because I don't think we meet a lot of people that set
14:14
world records. Tell us a little bit about what
14:18
that world record was. But I think what's really
14:20
interesting about this world record is that it requires a
14:25
lot, a lot of planning, a lot of teamwork and a lot of trust.
14:31
Because you have to trust every single person that's a part of
14:35
of this particular process. So tell tell us a little bit
14:38
about what the world record was, how important teamwork was in
14:42
terms of getting to that point of breaking that record.
14:45
The world record is the world head up vertical formation is
14:52
how it's titled. So we were in an orientation as
14:55
if you were sitting in the chair.
14:57
We call it sit flying or head up flying.
15:00
We there is ultimately 72 of us that were able to complete the
15:05
formation and set the new world record.
15:08
Previously it was 55 people leading up to that jump, man,
15:12
yeah, like you said, there's a lot that went into it.
15:15
On my personal side, I had to go to a training camp, so I had to
15:20
fly from San Antonio to Phoenix over Thanksgiving weekend, spend
15:24
about $2000 to to be a part of these jumps and really start to
15:30
like get into these bigger, bigger, bigger formations.
15:33
Luckily I got what we kind of consider a golden ticket.
15:36
I was already approved to be on the the world record team after
15:39
that training camp. So I was able to to come back in
15:43
April and we were attempting to go for 100.
15:47
But we had to slim it down just because we were running out of
15:50
time and it was actually went into it and so much.
15:53
But before every single jump we would what we call dirt dive.
15:58
So we're we are setting up in the landing area.
16:02
We have 5 different airplanes, everybody's in their own little
16:05
airplane. And then we would all walk out
16:07
as if we were flying and come together and see that sight
16:11
picture, see what's what the angle actually is, you know,
16:15
shout out any reminders and and whatnot, and then practice when
16:20
it was time to get away from each other so we could safely
16:23
open our parachutes as well. So we did that every single time
16:27
we jumped and we spent about 30 minutes every single time.
16:31
How many times did you actually go through that process of the
16:33
practice for that? I want to I I believe we got it
16:38
on Jump #12. So it wasn't, it wasn't like 2
16:43
jumps and you got it right. No, not at all.
16:46
Not at all. The week that we that we were
16:51
attempting this world record, we, you know, it was like the
16:54
one week in Arizona that it was cloudy.
16:58
And we do have to follow visual flight rules.
17:00
So if it's cloudy, we're not allowed to jump through clouds.
17:04
So we we had some weather challenges and whatnot, but
17:07
ultimately we had about two days total to get all these jumps in.
17:12
So we started at about 6:00 AM, went all the way till sundown
17:16
and we started, I believe with 92 people on the jump.
17:22
And we noticed that, you know a few people weren't weren't
17:25
making the cut. So we we asked them to sit down.
17:28
And one of the unique things with these these world records
17:32
is you have to plan everything and everything has to come
17:35
together exactly like what you put it on paper.
17:38
Where I was, I had to be there. I couldn't just trade places
17:41
with somebody else if they they were closer or whatever it might
17:44
be so. So that was one thing.
17:47
To it then very much so. And it it's very confusing
17:51
because especially the head up record you actually upside down
17:55
till you get to the formation then you have to flip over and
17:58
so your slight picture completely changes as you as you
18:02
flip to to the head up orientation.
18:04
But yeah, so then we we whittled it down and then we noticed that
18:11
today's the last day tomorrow's going to be a weather day and we
18:15
got pretty much two more shots at this.
18:18
We were very, very close on the 2nd to final shot and we were
18:22
landing. I was the, I was typically the
18:24
last person to land. I was actually the lowest jump
18:27
experience on that. On that record I only had like
18:30
470 jumps and I'm holding out to people that have like 20,000.
18:33
It's awesome. When they when they when they
18:38
say rioting on the coattails of giants like you, I remember I
18:42
wasn't even on the ground yet and I could hear over the
18:44
loudspeaker. You guys, we have 20 minutes
18:47
until we have to be in the airplanes.
18:48
We get one more shot at this and then we actually finally did it
18:52
on that final shot and then it was a big party at the end of
18:55
the night. This is that formation right
18:58
here, right. Yes Sir.
18:59
Yeah that is that is our 72 way head up formation over Eloy, AZ.
19:05
It's kind of Arizona. You being able to do something
19:07
like this, it's pretty spectacular because I think most
19:10
people getting out of the plane, like, I mean, yeah, the first
19:13
time you're kind of freaked out, but to have the precision to be
19:16
able to do something like this, to have so many people coming
19:19
together. And to have a common goal and to
19:23
reach that common goal is pretty spectacular.
19:25
I think you mentioned some really cool things, the amount
19:27
of Labor and work that went into it, the amount of time it took
19:31
to go into it, but then also the fact that things didn't go
19:35
according to plan, right? All of a sudden you got you have
19:39
clouds and you can't, you can't actually jump.
19:42
Because, you know, it's literally restricted to be able
19:46
to do that and there's good reason for that, right?
19:48
Yes. Yeah, definitely.
19:49
You don't want to come through to cloud and then have an
19:52
airplane right there, Yeah. And just my luck, that's
19:55
probably would be what happened. So I find it really fascinating
20:00
because your life really has been a huge teamwork piece and I
20:04
want to talk a little bit more about teamwork where you
20:06
currently are right now here in a second, but.
20:09
I'm curious, has teamwork always kind of been one of those things
20:11
for you in your life that you've always naturally brought in
20:14
people, brought people together around you, Like when you were
20:18
when you were back home and you guys were, you know, going out
20:21
in the woods and doing things that maybe got you in trouble.
20:24
And you said, I love how you said, yeah, I I pushed my
20:28
limits. I was, I wanted to ask, did you
20:30
actually find those limits? And maybe a couple things, maybe
20:33
trees. Definitely, definitely a few
20:37
times. But were you a lone wolf growing
20:39
up or did you always have this sense of like community, of
20:42
bringing people around you? A little bit of both.
20:46
I, you know, like I said, I grew up all in the country, so I
20:49
didn't have a lot of friends that actually lived anywhere
20:51
near me a few miles down the road at best.
20:55
And so, yeah, I was a little bit of a loner, but I was in.
20:59
I was in Boy Scouts throughout my entire childhood, and I did
21:04
reach the rank of Eagle Scout. And I I definitely realized I
21:08
was. More of a leader and and
21:10
somebody that you know if nobody's taking charge I'm going
21:13
to be the guy that does it and let's get this whatever it is
21:16
done or let's make a decision and and move forwards together
21:20
and I'll you know I'll support you and back you and I'm going
21:24
to help you too. Yeah, it's a little bit of both.
21:27
But I would definitely say, you know, I've always been drawn a
21:29
little bit more to leadership. I like to think of myself as an
21:32
introvert until I get to, until I clock in at work and then and
21:36
then for some reason that just comes out of me and I I love it.
21:39
What's really interesting is skydiving is a thing, indoor
21:45
skydiving kind of a thing. But body flying man, that is
21:50
something absolutely spectacular and really cool to watch.
21:53
How did you not necessarily make the transition, but how did you
21:56
get into the body flying world? Like what?
22:00
What was the draw for you? Going from high, jumping out of
22:03
a plane to going into a wind tunnel and being blown at, you
22:07
know, hundreds of miles an hour so that so you can learn how to
22:11
actually use your body in a way to fly.
22:13
I got into ifly through one of my resources, talking to people
22:17
around the drop zone, somebody that went and worked actually, I
22:22
believe you know him, Timmy Hunkler, he we we were skydiving
22:27
together and then he started working for ifly and he brought
22:30
me in. But what really drew me to the
22:33
the job itself is. Giving that experience of flight
22:38
and giving that that freedom of flight and delivering the dream
22:41
of flight. Everybody has had a dream where
22:44
they've woken up and they've been able to fly in their
22:46
dreams. We can make that a reality and
22:49
that that really drew me in. And then once I started actually
22:53
taking people and teaching people, seeing those light bulb
22:56
moments when everything just kind of falls into place, they
22:59
finally understand the skill, whatever we've been working on.
23:03
And they can do it repetitively fast, no problem and we can move
23:08
on to the the next thing. So you know, just seeing that
23:11
those light bulb moments really kind of kept me around.
23:14
I would say you went from instructor and then you slowly
23:17
moved your way up into general manager where you are right now.
23:20
My journey started in 2014 in Chicago.
23:26
I started out as an instructor pretty quickly, rose through the
23:29
instructor ranks, and then started becoming a instructor
23:33
trainer. So I'm teaching the other
23:36
instructors, moved over to San Antonio, kept kept going up the
23:39
instructor side, moved to Phoenix, kept going up the
23:42
instructor side, and then I actually had a back injury that,
23:48
you know, it was very, very, very slow to recover.
23:51
That was the the time that I had to.
23:55
Kind of looked myself in the mirror and figure out what was
23:57
next for me. I still enjoyed the company.
24:00
I still enjoyed everything that we did fully stand behind the
24:04
product. So I went to my boss and you
24:07
know kind of laid it out to them and said I can't physically do
24:10
this but I want to be a part of the team But they found some
24:13
some room for me and and I'm more management role and then
24:17
the rest is kind of history. I started working my way up,
24:20
moved up to Portland. Worked with you.
24:23
Made it to GM before 2020 hit and then went back to Phoenix,
24:27
then over here in Jersey as the GM.
24:32
You've had quite a few setbacks throughout your career,
24:37
throughout different aspects of life, right?
24:40
You talk about, you know, setbacks in the air.
24:43
You talk about setbacks of your back injury.
24:46
I'm sure they were probably setbacks when you were growing
24:48
up. What's a challenge that you've
24:50
had in your life? What was your response to it and
24:53
how did you grow through that challenge in your life?
24:57
That's a great question. I got my whole notepad over here
25:02
of challenges just from today. One of my challenges was this
25:10
actually last year. I was the GM of ifly Phoenix.
25:16
I applied for a promotion into regional director twice last
25:20
year. Both times I was, I was passed
25:23
on and you know, I was definitely defeated.
25:27
Definitely the first round, the person that got it 100%
25:31
reasonable respected, that was like the only person I would
25:34
have respected from the day one. But the second round they
25:38
actually decided to go a different route.
25:40
So, but still I was defeated and I I made that note and whether
25:47
it was, you know, I had a a talk with one of my HR people and
25:51
then. Shortly after that talk, they
25:55
presented New Jersey to me and I said, you're going to Take Me
26:00
Out of Scottsdale, AZ and put me in New Jersey.
26:03
I don't think so. You've been watching Jersey
26:08
Shores, have you like Jersey Shore out of?
26:11
Jersey, yeah. And and you know, I, you know, I
26:15
grew up in Chicago, so. I'm over the winters.
26:18
I'm. I've done that.
26:19
It's fun. I don't it's not for me.
26:22
But they they really presented it as a as a true opportunity to
26:27
continue to my growth. They laid it all out.
26:30
This is what we're thinking. You know as your next step.
26:35
If you want to do that, you need to learn from this person and
26:38
they live over on the East Coast.
26:39
So you need to go work with them.
26:41
I, you know, obviously the the, the money there was a there was
26:45
a money factor to it too. They were able to get to the the
26:49
magic number that was in my head and and make it happen.
26:52
So that was that was one of the challenges and then here we go
26:57
again we're uprooting our life for I fly again and moving
27:01
across the country. Luckily I've had my my wife has
27:03
been very very very supportive throughout my entire career and
27:08
we were we were able to make the move and and everything's pretty
27:11
much on track for that. That development piece that was
27:15
promised to me, teamwork thing really keeps coming up.
27:18
It's in my head as we're talking but you know there's there's
27:21
this team aspect that you have in your life and I would, I
27:24
would imagine that probably one of your most relied upon team
27:28
members is your wife right. Because you guys have been
27:30
together coming up here on seven years, right.
27:32
You said work and the transitioning from one place to
27:38
the next. You know, the constant, Oh my
27:40
gosh, are we doing this again, like and there's always, there's
27:43
always this feeling of like there's a sacrifice to get to
27:46
the next thing, right. In order to get to that next
27:49
thing in your life. You always have to sacrifice
27:50
something, whether that's comforts of where you are,
27:53
whether that's a paycheck or fill in the blank, there's
27:56
always some kind of sacrifice in order to get to that next
27:59
echelon. How have you and your wife
28:02
navigated these waters for so long?
28:04
Because it's it's it's very rare that you find someone who's been
28:08
married for almost 7 years and they've worked their problems
28:13
out. They've they they've decided to
28:15
continue moving in the same direction.
28:18
Especially when I'm. I would imagine that maybe your
28:20
wife isn't like the huge skydiver that you are.
28:24
Maybe she is. But you probably have
28:27
differences of hobbies and and things that you guys like and so
28:31
how how has that played a huge role in your development over
28:35
the years of of kind of understanding who you are but
28:39
then also this role that you have that you play as your as
28:42
her husband? I mean, there's been a lot that
28:45
that not only both of us have sacrificed, but it definitely
28:49
hurt. It's.
28:52
You know, she she's uprooted her life and you know, new friends,
28:56
new jobs, new everything for me and to to follow my career and
29:01
keep pushing forwards with mine. And now we're getting to the
29:05
point that in her career we have to make these decisions a little
29:10
bit more carefully. She's been able to to work her
29:13
way up a bit. She works for Whole Foods now
29:16
and she has opportunities in front of her.
29:20
So now we got to sit down and you know weigh them out which
29:23
one is going to be better for us as a, as a as a family to to be
29:29
able to move forward in the best light.
29:31
So yeah, there's there's been plenty of challenges and and
29:35
sacrifices that have had to be made.
29:38
But I I would say, you know one of the biggest things that that
29:41
my wife and I have been very successful about is just
29:44
talking. We check in almost every single
29:46
day. As soon as we get paid, we look
29:48
at each other. What bills do you got paid?
29:50
I got paid this, this and this, you know.
29:52
OK, well, hey, one of the things that we did when we first got
29:56
married, we dumped all of our money into one account.
29:58
We only have one account for both of us.
30:00
That's it. So that forced us to communicate
30:04
about money, which is, I'd probably say, 50% of
30:08
relationship issues for marriage be huge and and whatnot.
30:12
So we. Yeah, that.
30:13
We have to talk. That forces us to talk 3456
30:17
times a week about that one thing.
30:20
And that translates into pretty much everything else that we do,
30:23
because you need money, time and money to do everything right.
30:27
So. Through that we find our common
30:30
goals and our common desires and if you want to go take a class
30:34
to better yourself, I'm fully supportive.
30:36
I'm going to take that $400.00 for my class and I'm going to go
30:41
skydive or whatever it might be, you know, so, So yeah, it's
30:46
just, you know, communication has been hands down the biggest,
30:50
biggest thing that we we've been successful at over the last 7-9
30:55
years. If you comment stating my wife
30:58
and I were marriage coaches, and it's funny because one of the
31:00
most difficult topics for any relationship is money and the
31:05
the staggering statistic of how many people go into marriage and
31:09
they never combine their funds, They always keep their funds in
31:12
separate accounts. Yeah, you know that maybe maybe
31:16
that's just me being, you know, archaic and like, oh, we're just
31:19
going to throw our money up in one place.
31:20
And I want to know how much we have so that I know that we're
31:23
not going to be drowning at the end of the month.
31:25
Right. Yeah.
31:26
But there is, there is something about this that it is a huge
31:31
conflict when we start talking about money.
31:34
But for you guys to start right off the bat with the money
31:39
conversation is huge. And I think I think a lot of
31:42
couples don't actually do that. They don't you know they they
31:45
put the the topics that they don't really want to talk about
31:48
that they know it might cause an argument or maybe you know some
31:51
some abrasion in the relationship.
31:53
They want to put it off to the side.
31:54
When in actuality and and and correct me if I'm wrong, would
31:57
you say that those talks that you've had maybe some of the
32:01
more abrasive ones, some of the ones that get a little bit more
32:03
heated. Would you say that after those
32:06
talks, after you've mended things and work through things,
32:09
you guys are stronger than when you were, than if you hadn't to
32:13
communicate? 100%, without a doubt.
32:15
Without a doubt. I mean, yeah, if you choose to
32:18
not to, to talk about it like it's not going to go away.
32:22
It's going to continue to fester and become even more of a
32:24
problem. My wife had a student loan that
32:29
never really found her until like five years later.
32:36
So they were speaking student loans, Yeah.
32:39
Yeah, she didn't really know about it.
32:41
And there was a, you know, all the addresses and phone numbers
32:45
were all wrong and all that kind of stuff.
32:46
So there was some some serious financial issues that we had to
32:50
take care of surrounding that. It put us in a not so great
32:55
financial place. But you know, we we had to do it
33:00
and if we were to just continue to ignore it and forget about or
33:05
just you know, have those small little conversations but never
33:08
actually solve the problem, I mean we'd probably still be
33:11
dealing with it today. You have to hit those problems
33:14
head on and and definitely became stronger as a as a
33:18
couple. Where do you think that
33:20
communication piece came from? Because I you both obviously
33:26
have the desire to work and to communicate together.
33:29
But I'm curious from your side of things, where did you learn
33:32
that ability to have those tough conversations, to actually have
33:35
the conversations that need to be had?
33:37
Because what I find really interesting, you know, I'm, I'm
33:40
lucky that I've had the opportunity to know you and see
33:42
you in difficult situations where you you do cut out the BS,
33:46
you go straight and you say, hey look, here's what's happening.
33:49
You know, I'm not, I'm not going to hide things from you, but
33:51
here's what's going on and we got to come to a solution.
33:53
So let's work together to make this work out for everyone here.
33:56
And that's always kind of in your heart whenever I've seen
33:59
you for as long as I've known you and that doesn't, that's not
34:03
a common thing for people to do. Most people today, they they run
34:07
in the opposite direction of anything that is conflict.
34:10
So I'm curious, where do you feel like that came from in
34:13
terms of this idea to be able to be open to communicating about
34:18
conflict in your life? No, I would, I would definitely
34:20
say that, you know. A lot of it and even with the
34:24
like combining all of our money and everything came out with my
34:27
my parents divorce, they got divorced when I was about 10
34:30
years old. So I was just young enough to
34:32
not really understand what was going on.
34:34
But over the years, you know, with going to my father and my
34:38
mother, it's for advice for life or marriage or whatever it might
34:41
be. You know, I kind of learned the
34:44
reasons that led up to the divorce.
34:47
You know that was that was something that.
34:49
I 100% wanted to avoid and communication was like one of
34:54
the easiest ways to avoid 90% of those issues.
34:58
So, you know, so that was, that was probably where I got most of
35:03
it. Truthfully, how old would you
35:05
say you were when you started having those conversations with
35:07
your folks? You know some of the the lesser
35:11
ones of just like why did you guys get divorced and was there
35:15
any? Any other reason kind of thing.
35:17
Those were probably like later in my my teens, but now
35:23
nowadays, you know my, my father and my mother speak completely
35:27
open about it. So I would probably say about 5
35:31
maybe 10 years ago is when I got like the full story and and I
35:37
still see you know the issues that that they had.
35:39
I can still see those in each individual, but now I can
35:43
actually spot them and like, oh, that's what they.
35:46
We're talking about OK, so I mean you've you've grown a lot
35:50
even since the time that I've known you.
35:52
We always talk about doing things.
35:54
We always talk about achievement.
35:55
We always try. We we talk about success in life
35:59
and and money and and and those are all really good things,
36:01
right? We we need money in order to
36:03
make the world turn to solve problems.
36:06
Success helps us to open doors. But I think at the end of the
36:11
day, one of the most important things that we can do is to
36:15
define who it is that we want to be.
36:17
Who do we want to be in our life?
36:19
And I find that most people don't actually spend a lot of
36:22
time asking themselves this question of well, who do I want
36:25
to be in this situation? You know, in in the, in the
36:28
difficult times where you're having an argument with your
36:30
spouse and you say, well, you know what I chose a long time
36:33
ago that I'm going to talk with my wife and we're going to work
36:37
through these things. Even if we talk each other to
36:40
death, then we'll be free. Right.
36:42
Till till death do we talk. And for you, I'm curious, what
36:49
have what have been some of those decisions that you've made
36:53
in your life that you say, you know what this is who I want to
36:55
be. What are some of those non
36:57
negotiable things? If you say you know this is my
36:59
identity, this is who I am. I would definitely say one of
37:02
them would be somebody that is always, you know, I'm not quick
37:08
to say no, somebody that like if there's a problem, there's
37:13
always a solution to that problem, whatever it might be.
37:16
And then I I want to be the person that want, that wants to
37:20
say yes, right. Sometimes, you know, policies,
37:23
procedures. You name it, laws stop me from
37:27
doing that. But if somebody comes to me with
37:30
a problem, I want to be the one that helps them to solve it and
37:33
do it in the best way possible too.
37:36
Where, you know, yeah, sure, the walls are crumbling or down
37:39
around us, but hey man, it's OK. We're going to be all right.
37:42
We're going to get through this. We're going to figure it out.
37:44
Whatever the problem is, I we're going to make it right.
37:47
That's been one of my biggest thing, you know, especially when
37:50
I'm customer facing, but even with my my employees and.
37:54
My wife and my friends and everything, I want to be the one
37:57
that that helps you get to whatever it is that you need to
38:01
do, whether it's come in and fly, get to, you know, the train
38:05
on time, whatever it is, let me be the one that helps you.
38:08
What has been the hardest thing for you to say no to right?
38:12
Because I love that you say the yes.
38:15
And in order to say yes as many times as you're able to, there
38:20
always has to be a no somewhere along the way, right?
38:23
And so I'm curious what what for you has been maybe one of the
38:27
harder things that you've had to say in order for me to continue
38:31
to be in alignment with who I am, in order to continue to be
38:35
that person that says there is going to be a solution, I'm
38:38
going to walk with you in the solution.
38:39
You've had to say no to some things along the way.
38:42
What are some of the harder things that you've had to say no
38:46
to, but you're glad that you did?
38:50
Most people would say management but.
38:56
No, that's a that's a great question.
38:58
I mean man. So I I I did have an opportunity
39:03
to potentially go into more the sales side of our business where
39:09
they're doing direct sales and and B2B sales and and you know
39:14
hunting down leads and all that kind of stuff and.
39:17
That's definitely something I'm glad I said no to.
39:21
So you know that's it that sales and pure sales takes a certain
39:26
kind of person and you know I'm I I'll sell things until until
39:31
I'm blue in the face. But that level of sales and
39:35
aware you know, 95% of your paycheck is tied to it.
39:40
Yeah, I'm I'm glad I didn't do that.
39:43
And yeah, I saw myself more, more as a leader of a team and
39:47
I'm very glad I pursued that route rather than going into
39:52
the, the sales route. Would you say then, because you
39:54
said no to that, you were able to say yes to leadership then?
39:59
Oh 100%, yeah. If I if I would have committed
40:02
to sales like it would have been a completely different growth
40:06
and training and all that kind of stuff.
40:08
And actually during when COVID hit our company got rid of 90
40:14
ish percent of our sales force. So you know, I was, I was one of
40:19
the lucky ones that was a general manager and was able to
40:23
stay and stay with the company and continue to move forwards
40:25
with them and get them out of COVID and reopened.
40:29
One of the things that I think is interesting about your
40:33
stories, oh, is this ability to step out into kind of the
40:37
unknown, whether whether you're ready to do it or not.
40:41
And I love that, you know, on on your jump multiple jumps, but
40:46
specifically the world record, I recall you saying, well, you
40:51
know, I wasn't, I wasn't the most experienced, in fact, I was
40:54
the least experienced person there with, you know, with 400
40:57
jumps under my belt versus the next person with 20,000, right.
41:03
And and there's something to be said about being willing to jump
41:09
when you're not ready because a lot of people are waiting and
41:13
they're waiting and they're waiting, you know, getting into
41:18
maybe getting into an industry that maybe they're not 100%
41:22
certain about. That's not to say that you jump
41:24
blindly into things, right? There's a reason why you don't
41:27
jump into clouds. You got to be able to see what's
41:29
below. But there is something to be
41:32
said about taking chances, jumping in and making the most
41:38
of every single experience. Spencer What would you say to
41:42
the person who is currently in a stagnant place where they just
41:47
don't feel like they're happy and they feel like they should
41:51
make a jump and they're just not jumping because of fear?
41:55
You you deal with fear day in, day out, probably more than
42:01
probably any other person I know.
42:02
You deal with fearful people all the time.
42:05
How? How do you help people overcome
42:07
that fear and to make that first step to jump?
42:11
1st, for the people that are kind of on the edge thinking
42:15
about jumping, do it. Just do it.
42:18
It's awesome. But you know, I've I've always
42:23
been somebody that. Chases opportunities, right?
42:27
I want to try. I've always been inclined to try
42:30
new things, whether it be food or an experience or an activity.
42:35
Whatever it might be, I'm down to do it.
42:37
Let's go. And then?
42:40
Only once I tried. Then I can tell you if I
42:42
actually liked it or not, and if I want to continue to do it.
42:45
There's been plenty of things I've tried in my life that I
42:48
will. I'm good.
42:49
I'm not going to do that again. But then, you know, I've really
42:54
seen that it opens up your horizons and, you know, just
42:59
even just moving around the country with I fly.
43:03
That's always been a jump, you know, Like, you know, I'm really
43:07
comfortable back home in Chicago.
43:09
But San Antonio, I I guess let's, let's try it.
43:13
Let's see what happens. Yeah, I've always been something
43:14
that's just like, let's see what happens.
43:16
And then I love faking it until I make it.
43:19
If you could put on the suit and put a smile on your face, you're
43:23
halfway home. You know, it's the attitude that
43:26
you go into these these experiences or these jobs or
43:29
whatever it might be in your life that really, really, really
43:33
drives, drives it all together. It drives it home.
43:36
So you have to have the right attitude when you go into these
43:40
things, but try not to let anything stop you from from
43:45
trying those things. You know if it's time or money
43:50
if you are serious about this opportunity.
43:53
You're going to find a way to do it just like the the world
43:56
record. I mean, I probably put about
43:58
$7000 into it when it was all said and done between travel and
44:02
jumps and all that kind of stuff.
44:04
I didn't have that money, but I found it because I I had AI had
44:11
a an idea in my head that I wanted to accomplish and and I
44:15
figured out a way to make it work.
44:18
It's such a great lesson because a lot of people don't understand
44:21
it, that the resources don't come until you take the step
44:25
towards what it is that you want.
44:26
Nine times out of 10 in my life, I don't have the resources to
44:30
always take that next step, but when I do, the resources start
44:35
falling into place. That doesn't mean go take out,
44:37
you know, like a $30,000 loan to go crazy with something.
44:39
You have to have some prudence within this.
44:41
But there is something to be said about taking that step out,
44:45
and I love that you talk about that because it's true.
44:48
So many people don't step out and they they lack experience.
44:52
They lack experience in life because they're not willing to
44:55
try new things. Something as simple as going and
44:58
trying a new food. Like like it's surprising to me
45:02
how many people aren't willing to try something new and what
45:06
what it does. Whether you like it or not it
45:08
opens up your mind to newer experiences.
45:12
It's the it's the yes. And here is one more thing that
45:16
I and I've tried. Here's something, I may not like
45:18
it, but I I now know that I've, I've done it and I've tried it
45:22
and they'll find you'll find a lot of things that you actually
45:25
do love and like in your life. Before we wrap up here, Spencer,
45:29
there's one thing I do want to ask you because I love that you
45:32
talk about attitude and how important attitude is as you
45:34
show up through different experiences.
45:37
Most people, I would say all people, because they're human.
45:40
We have experiences in life that are challenging, that are
45:42
frustrating, that are hard. But you have this demeanor about
45:46
you where you're always light hearted, you're laughing, you're
45:52
happy. Maybe there's sometimes where
45:54
someone might catch you off every now and then because we
45:56
know we're we're, we're not perfect, but happiness being a
46:00
choice is a huge philosophy in your life.
46:03
Tell everyone here a little bit about how do you make happiness
46:06
a choice when the world seems to be falling down around you.
46:10
And I think that's happening a lot around us right now.
46:13
People or having a hard time paying rent or finding a job or,
46:17
you know, fill in the blank, People around us are just really
46:20
struggling in in areas of their life and they're having a hard
46:24
time with the situation, dealing with it and being positive,
46:28
being happy. How do you choose, How do you
46:32
make that choice to be happy in every circumstance?
46:36
Definitely. So first, I'm, I'm glad that
46:39
you've brought up that happiness is a choice.
46:42
That is something that I I I'd probably say once a month in my
46:47
team meeting, in our monthly team meeting, and then probably
46:52
several times a week with my employees when they're coming up
46:55
to me upset about whatever it might be.
46:58
And I just reminded them that happiness is a choice.
47:00
You have to choose to be happy if you focus on the negatives
47:04
like. That's all, That's all it's ever
47:07
going to be. That's that's going to be your
47:08
life. It's going to be negative.
47:09
It's going to be not fun. It's not going to be something
47:12
that you want to wake up and go to work and like, no, don't do
47:16
that. You got to, you got to find
47:18
those, those Silver Linings within the within, the problem,
47:22
the issue, whatever it might be in your life and and hone in on
47:26
those, celebrate them. Maybe write down a list of all
47:29
the negatives and figure out how to turn those into positives.
47:32
But there's been a lot of things that happened in my life that
47:34
has, you know, in the moment it has sucked and it was horrible.
47:39
It really, really was bad. But then, you know, 2-3 years
47:43
later, I remember about that and I reflect on it and wait, that
47:47
was actually a really good experience.
47:49
So there's a lot of bittersweet within life and.
47:53
Half the time you're not going to find that sweet part until
47:56
way further down the road. Don't wallow in the negativity.
47:59
If you need a day to to just take a break, let that happen.
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But start tomorrow with positivity, happiness and a
48:08
plan. Happiness, positivity and a
48:11
plan. And I love what you're saying.
48:13
I've heard it said a lot. You you find what you're looking
48:15
for. You know, if you're looking for
48:17
the negative stuff, you're going to find the negative stuff.
48:19
If you're looking for the happiness in life, if you're
48:21
looking for the positive stuff, you are 100% going to find it.
48:25
So Spencer, I really appreciate you jumping on today.
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Being able to share experiences from your life, who you are and
48:33
really who you show up as. If someone wanted to follow you,
48:35
Spencer, where should they? Where should they go to follow
48:38
you? Is that is that that Instagram?
48:40
Yeah, yeah, I'm on Instagram. My handle is Fly Spencer Fly.
48:47
I love that. And for all of you listening,
48:49
make sure to like, subscribe and share this episode with a friend
48:52
because I think it will be inspiring and truly make
48:55
someone's day and remind them to be happy, because happiness is a
48:59
choice.