Latest / Profitable Christian Business / Write the Book God Put on Your Heart (Even if You Feel Unqualified) with Joe Gaeta

Transcript

Write the Book God Put on Your Heart (Even if You Feel Unqualified) with Joe Gaeta · Profitable Christian Business

• 0:15
  Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Profit of Christian Business.
• 0:19
  I'm your host, Doug Greathouse, and I am overjoyed today to have my friend, Joe Gaida with me today.
• 0:26
  Joe and I have become friends.
• 0:28
  We've talked a few times.
• 0:29
  We have mutual friends and we connected that way.
• 0:32
  Today we're going to get into a few things.
• 0:34
  As always, this is a Profit of Christian Business podcast.
• 0:37
  Let's emphasize that word Christian.
• 0:39
  So we're going to talk a lot about faith.
• 0:40
  We're going to talk about Joe's journey through faith, through his business, and how he helps people uh
• 0:46
  take their story and put it into a book and get it out there to the masses.
• 0:49
  So without further ado, Joe, I'm gonna let you give yourself a little introduction other than what I just gave you.
• 0:56
  Well, then I'd be short and Hey everybody, and thanks Doug for having me.
• 1:00
  I do appreciate it.
• 1:01
  ah Again, as Doug said, my name is Joe Gata.
• 1:04
  ah Just very blessed.
• 1:06
  Father of four, married to my best friend Stacey, and we have eight grandkids.
• 1:12
  And a few years ago, Father God yanked me from corporate America and said, I got bigger plans.
• 1:19
  and I need you to follow my lead.
• 1:21
  I tell you Doug, that was one of the hardest things walking away from a very comfortable living, all the benefits that anyone could imagine.
• 1:30
  uh Great 401k, know, stock all of it.
• 1:34
  And it was as if God pulled the words off of my breath when I was on a Zoom call with my boss at the time.
• 1:44
  And uh without notice, without hesitation, the words came off.
• 1:49
  How about I give you my 30 day notice?
• 1:51
  And as those, couldn't even pull them back quick enough.
• 1:53
  So God had a plan for me since, you know, before my parents even met, as he has for you and for every listener.
• 2:02
  And sometimes it takes us a while to hone in on his voice and hear him.
• 2:07
  Wow, Joe.
• 2:09
  Why is it that so many times when a guest gives an introduction, I throw my questions out the window.
• 2:14
  I uh for the listeners and watchers out there, a lot of times I do this every time.
• 2:19
  Actually, I will send the guest uh a list of questions based on what I know about them and some research.
• 2:25
  ah But my whole intention is for this to be a conversation.
• 2:29
  And normally I send that road map of questions, but we always go off off road.
• 2:34
  um But Joe, I'm not even going to reference my questions that I had for you, because I have several things based on just what you said right there.
• 2:44
  Let's talk about obedience, right?
• 2:47
  To God.
• 2:47
  Let's throw that around a little bit because I feel like a lot of people will hear God's voice and they'll make an excuse.
• 2:56
  Well, that wasn't God's voice or uh that's not, they'll start to lean on their own understanding, right?
• 3:02
  Like that's a little, yeah.
• 3:08
  And they won't really listen to, they'll hear what God said, but they won't really listen and follow.
• 3:15
  because a lot of times he asks us to do things that are beyond our own comprehension.
• 3:19
  So I would love you to just elaborate a little bit more about just that time then when you left the job and any other times in your life where you felt like God was asking you to do
• 3:32
  something.
• 3:32
  ah
• 3:34
  he's had a field day with me.
• 3:36
  He has.
• 3:37
  And with my wife and I, you know, in that 40 years of marriage, we've we've owned and flipped over 20 houses.
• 3:44
  And, you know, people are friends.
• 3:47
  My son used to joke that are are we in a witness protection program?
• 3:52
  I'm like, why?
• 3:54
  He says, we're always moving.
• 3:55
  And I said, well, you know, it's your mom's fault.
• 3:57
  She gets the house decorated in such a way.
• 3:59
  And then we move on.
• 4:00
  My my wife and I were perfectly matched up by God.
• 4:04
  and what makes us tick and what makes us obedient and disobedient.
• 4:10
  There's times where we've gone against what probably was what God wanted for us.
• 4:16
  And I'll use the examples of corporate America, ah the concern of having, know, what's the income going to be?
• 4:24
  How much salary are they going to offer me?
• 4:27
  What kind of benefits?
• 4:28
  You you go down that road and you can go down that road for several years.
• 4:32
  It doesn't mean that God still isn't working in and through you.
• 4:36
  And he's done that through businesses my wife and I have owned together outside of flipping homes.
• 4:42
  We've owned a photography business within real estate.
• 4:45
  had, you know, 20-something photographers working for us all through the state of Florida.
• 4:50
  We owned a restaurant at one time.
• 4:53
  I've owned a consulting company within the real estate industry.
• 4:56
  We've done some dabbling of so many things.
• 4:59
  And the...
• 5:02
  part about that obedience is sometimes we're late to the party.
• 5:07
  God's already there waiting.
• 5:10
  He's there in all the high fives that are ready to come and he's there when he's ready to embrace you for when you absolutely face plant because you didn't listen or you weren't
• 5:23
  faithful.
• 5:25
  The obedience was on the back burner because in our mind, our timing was better.
• 5:31
  than his timing.
• 5:32
  And I think the biggest thing that I've learned, and I'm still learning it, hey, 61 with eight grandkids doesn't mean I haven't figured it out.
• 5:40
  I don't.
• 5:42
  I just know the recipe.
• 5:44
  I just don't follow it all the time.
• 5:46
  And it comes to that word being obedient.
• 5:49
  My word for this year, Doug, is surrender.
• 5:53
  And for 2025, as I started doing my journaling and get ready for the new year, I said, Father God, I want to surrender.
• 6:00
  everything to you.
• 6:02
  And every day in my morning prayers when I'm on my knees and I go to my knees every morning, I didn't used to, but this year I've made that a new habit that every day Father
• 6:12
  God gets my knees on a pillow.
• 6:14
  So if you're out there listening, you're like, I don't have the knees to kneel.
• 6:17
  Well, if you could use a pillow and that works, that's good too.
• 6:20
  And if you can't, well in your mind, go to Father God on your knees in prayer.
• 6:25
  But oh I just, it's like, it's all, it's all in.
• 6:29
  you ever been at a blackjack table where you're kind of like you're down to so many and yes, there is a time where I would just say I'm all in and that can either wreck you or it
• 6:42
  can really stretch you and Father God has stretched us in so many ways and so that obedience is just that and I'm not saying that I've always been on time with that.
• 6:57
  But I've learned that the more I read scripture and the more I get into that quiet time with him, the more I understand that that perfect timing is there for a reason.
• 7:08
  And he's like, take your foot off the gas, put your foot on the gas, put your foot on the brake, Joe.
• 7:13
  And so I'm starting to understand how valuable that wisdom is in my life.
• 7:21
  Wow.
• 7:21
  So as you were talking, I was taking mental notes.
• 7:25
  There's about four things that I want to follow up with.
• 7:28
  So hopefully I get to all four and I remember all four.
• 7:30
  um Let's first go to all in um because I've never played I've never played blackjack at a casino or anything like that.
• 7:39
  But um investing, investing, right?
• 7:42
  Sometimes you have to be all in in investing.
• 7:45
  And I'm sure you know that from the real estate side.
• 7:47
  Right.
• 7:48
  um
• 7:49
  So I much got that reference with some investments that uh I'm in.
• 7:54
  And I was like, well, either I'm all in or I'm not doing it.
• 7:58
  uh And God's hand all over it, like, God, uh I'm doing this, but I want your hand to be on it.
• 8:06
  And whatever outcome comes from it, uh I will either learn from it or I will prosper.
• 8:12
  uh So I guess I just wanted to make a statement about this.
• 8:19
  Secondly, uh restaurant.
• 8:21
  You owned, was an Italian restaurant.
• 8:24
  No, my parents owned an Italian restaurant for 38 years.
• 8:27
  ah I went a different direction.
• 8:29
  And when I say it was short lived, it was short lived.
• 8:32
  90 days into it, and after a great restaurant review in the local paper, ah it was called the 247 brunch cause because was at the address was 247.
• 8:41
  uh The largest building at that time was uh came in and fenced off all the parking and started building the largest building in downtown St.
• 8:50
  Petersburg.
• 8:51
  and met myself in many businesses went out because of the dust, the pounding, to build that foundation for that large of a building.
• 9:01
  Nobody wanted to be near ah that one block that we had, of course, chosen to be our little restaurant.
• 9:09
  Lost a lot of money, learned a lot, ah but that was just, it was another chapter in our lives.
• 9:15
  And I'm one of those that when I get my mind on something,
• 9:20
  you know, you and I were talking just before this call.
• 9:24
  Yesterday, I did a walk for my wife for Parkinson's and I walked 31 miles and 100 plus degrees.
• 9:34
  was hot.
• 9:36
  But I didn't train for it.
• 9:39
  I walked four miles five days a week, but I haven't been training 10, 15, 20 miles to walk a 30.
• 9:46
  In my mind and in my faith, I already believed and I
• 9:50
  visually walked myself to that finish line several weeks before I got to it.
• 9:56
  So I'm one of those that believes the Bible tells us it's very biblical, know, what the mind can conceive, you know, and to trust your mind because it's again, it's a part of
• 10:08
  God's perfect wiring in all of us.
• 10:12
  And I think so many times and myself included and probably everyone listening is
• 10:19
  The biggest challenge we all have in our businesses, especially Christians, because we have this tendency to beat ourselves up, is the six inches between our ears where it's all
• 10:30
  that self-talk.
• 10:32
  And we get imposter syndrome and we say things like, I'm not worthy of that.
• 10:36
  I shouldn't be on that podcast.
• 10:38
  I shouldn't write that book.
• 10:40
  I shouldn't open that business.
• 10:41
  And then all the because, because, because, because, and all of...
• 10:46
  And the evil one's having a heyday.
• 10:47
  He's just sitting back with his foot on a footstool with a cigar in his mouth laughing, saying, I really don't have to do anything here.
• 10:56
  This person's beaten the heck out of themselves on their own.
• 10:59
  And so many times we like to blame the evil one for uh our missteps or the uh lack of good things happening.
• 11:12
  But most of the time it's just, it's our mental uh
• 11:16
  Bashing that we do and so one of the things I really try to focus on I mean I have a vision board sitting here at my desk Vision board in the center of my vision board is
• 11:25
  Jesus Christ Beyond all of the stuff that I may want to acquire in this lifetime God's in control and if it's supposed to happen, it'll happen
• 11:36
  Yeah, wow.
• 11:37
  uh A couple things on that.
• 11:40
  So prayer life, how you talked about having uh this, God already knows how it's it's going to do and how you went into this walk for your wife, knowing that you were going to
• 11:53
  complete it, right?
• 11:54
  uh So how how does your I'm trying to best to phrase this question the best so I want to.
• 12:01
  How does your prayer life play into how your
• 12:06
  how you just go through life.
• 12:07
  Let's just phrase it like that.
• 12:10
  Well, the best way to answer that is I can't do life without my prayer life.
• 12:18
  I mean, for any of you that may not have a prayer life right now, or maybe it's kind of once in a while where it's a 911 phone call to God now and then where you're just like, I
• 12:30
  need to call on God.
• 12:32
  ah What you can't see up in this cabinet next to me is 15 years of writing to Father God every morning.
• 12:39
  journaling.
• 12:40
  And that's when he's, you know, a few years ago when he says, I want you to write a journal from a layman's point of view.
• 12:47
  And so much of what God laid on my heart is right there in the open on my book.
• 12:53
  So here's my book, Average Joe, The Journey Home, 365 day journal.
• 12:59
  God said, I want you to write a book from a layman's point of view, because Joe, you're not a theologian.
• 13:06
  you're not what we would call a church leader.
• 13:08
  You're a Christ leader.
• 13:10
  You love talking to people about Christ, but you're not a church leader or anything like that.
• 13:15
  So it's the very first thing I have on the back of my book is it says, a layman's 365 day journey with Christ.
• 13:22
  I'm not a theologian or expert by any means.
• 13:24
  So I was basically transcribing what God was telling me onto the book so that, hey God, it's out there.
• 13:30
  I'm not this.
• 13:32
  Again, when I was starting to write Average Joe, I printed off what I thought the front of the book would look like, the title of the book, and I looked at it every day.
• 13:43
  And I was able to accomplish that task of writing that book and since written a second book.
• 13:50
  And so two books published in a 12 month time from a guy that uh when I was in Catholic school, no longer Catholic, I got a lot of family and friends that are still Catholic, but
• 14:00
  the nuns.
• 14:01
  when I was in grade school would come and yank me out of class twice a week to come be in a special class because little Joey couldn't write or spell very well.
• 14:13
  And so if anyone would have told me that little boy, you're going to write a book one day, I think the entire uh church staff would have laughed as well.
• 14:24
  But never underestimate what God has uh for any of us.
• 14:28
  And that's what he did with most of our Bible.
• 14:31
  uh heroes.
• 14:33
  Noah is in his hundreds of years old when he says, you're going to build an ark.
• 14:39
  And every person he chose, Abraham
• 15:03
  and his wife Sarah, or Abram and Sarai at the time before he changed their names, he had a mission for people that are older than anyone even lives anymore.
• 15:13
  So when we think our time is up and we're done in the
• 15:17
  there isn't anything new to learn or there isn't any more risk to take and I'm just going to settle into this thing called life in a job, which stands for just over broke.
• 15:28
  ah Or we, or we settle into safe.
• 15:33
  That's not what God designed for you, you, uh, didn't design it for me.
• 15:38
  Safe is the opposite of, of faith.
• 15:40
  ah it faith is I'm out there and when we worry that's even
• 15:46
  more so as a Christian, that's a uh around pretty much as a hypocrite, an atheist, a walking atheist, saying we believe in God but we give up on him after our first prayer is
• 15:59
  not answered.
• 16:00
  Oh man, that's that's so powerful.
• 16:03
  Like I'm sure that hit in the gut of quite a few people listening and the whole 911 call.
• 16:10
  I'm Italian, uh so we have a tendency to wound people with our words, but I mean in a loving way.
• 16:18
  exactly, a gentle, not necessarily a gentle push, but hey, wake up.
• 16:23
  um And you should just...
• 16:28
  So let me ask you this too, um because I heard a lot in there about all through the Bible, you've mentioned it, God calls unequipped people, right?
• 16:39
  Who think they're unequipped, right?
• 16:41
  And he equips them along the way, right?
• 16:43
  So I know a lot of people out there listening right now,
• 16:46
  or feel have that imposter syndrome, right?
• 16:49
  They don't believe in who God has made them out, who is who, they don't believe in their kingship, daughtership, right?
• 16:58
  That they have this purpose and they have trouble following it because they have this self doubt.
• 17:04
  They don't believe in, uh again, what God has promised them.
• 17:07
  So just kind of speak on that a little bit more.
• 17:10
  in all truthfulness for anyone listening, myself included, Doug included, anyone podcasting right now on faith, they all have imposter syndrome at some level.
• 17:29
  It's, believe, one of the ways that the evil one tries to attack us.
• 17:33
  And what he does is he puts the seed there and then
• 17:38
  that six inches I was talking about earlier takes over and then he just sits back and watches.
• 17:44
  He doesn't have to work overtime on most Christian owners of businesses because we do a good job with that on our own.
• 17:54
  I've always said that when I wake up in the morning, Doug, I want the devil to out loud say, damn it, he woke up again.
• 18:03
  I really want him to be frustrated.
• 18:05
  And when I die,
• 18:06
  I want all of heaven to rejoice and I want all of hell to rejoice that I'm no longer a thorn in their side.
• 18:13
  If I've done that, if I leave this earth and hell's not ticked off, then I wasn't doing enough to further the kingdom of God.
• 18:23
  Yeah.
• 18:24
  So I love to give practical tips around faith around business around all those types of things on the show.
• 18:31
  So I think what would be really helpful is if we could talk about some practical tips to not have self not have that imposter syndrome, right?
• 18:41
  That self doubt.
• 18:42
  oh I have some thoughts, but I'd love to hear what you have to say first.
• 18:47
  My first go-to, and if you were sitting next to me and I grab you and I'm like, listen to your brother Joe, listen to me.
• 18:56
  I wish that years and years ago.
• 18:58
  And so about last 15 years, I've really worked on being better at memorizing scripture.
• 19:05
  There is no guru, a Tony Robbins, a Jim Rohn.
• 19:11
  Go down the list of all the people in history in the last 50 years.
• 19:16
  even an Earl Nightingale from my parents time of life, there is no gurus out there that are going to give you the perfect foundation of the Word of God.
• 19:27
  So my first brotherly advice is get into the Word of God.
• 19:32
  That's my first advice.
• 19:34
  Then work on memorization of scriptures that when you read them you're like, oh that was pretty good.
• 19:43
  Memorize it.
• 19:44
  Because if you can go back and remember a song from the 60s and 70s and you know the words verbatim, there can't be the excuse, I'm not good at memorization.
• 19:55
  And I've heard other people within the faith say, I mean, if you can remember Mary had a little lamb, you can remember Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who
• 20:08
  strengthens me.
• 20:10
  Go a few verses before that, Philippians 4.67, it says,
• 20:13
  Do not be anxious about anything, but with prayer, with petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will
• 20:26
  guard your hearts in Christ Jesus.
• 20:28
  Now I didn't know those, I would say 15 years ago, I didn't know those verses, but I wrote them down and I put them here.
• 20:39
  I keep one by my desk as a reminder.
• 20:43
  So Doug, I would have this frame, my wife gave me this frame, and in there is Philippians 4, 6, and 7, and this was next to my sink in my bathroom, and every time I brushed my
• 20:55
  teeth, morning and night, I would memorize Philippians 4, 13.
• 21:03
  So going back to Philippians 4, 13, I can do all things to Christ strengthens me.
• 21:10
  Well, that means we can memorize his work.
• 21:13
  My biggest advice as number one, write it down, get in the Word, two, memorize the Word.
• 21:24
  I'm not asking you to memorize the whole Bible.
• 21:26
  I'm asking you to memorize the things that are going to help you each day recall those scriptures and be the best version of yourself.
• 21:37
  Yeah.
• 21:38
  The only thing I would add, I agree with everything you just said, is prayer.
• 21:42
  Going back to the prayer thing.
• 21:43
  Pray daily.
• 21:45
  It's it's without ceasing.
• 21:47
  And if you feel like you're like I had a uh friend the other day, who could recite a lot of the Bible.
• 21:55
  He's basically admitted to me he had no prayer life.
• 21:57
  uh So I said, Well, I probably opposite.
• 22:02
  Um, I don't know as much Bible as you but my prayer life is
• 22:06
  on fire, right?
• 22:08
  And he struggled with saying, you I pray and it just feels like I'm wasting time.
• 22:15
  I say you pray until you hear his voice.
• 22:18
  You pray until you pray, keep praying, keep praying.
• 22:22
  Because that's the way, you know?
• 22:25
  And with that, piggyback on that, pray without ceasing and waiting to hear his voice.
• 22:33
  Sometimes I think as humans, and I think you alluded to it in the beginning, we're not sure if that was our voice or God's voice.
• 22:42
  And I can tell you in the beginning when I got this book in my head, I thought it was me.
• 22:51
  I was like,
• 22:53
  you're a schmuck, Joe, you're not gonna write a book.
• 22:57
  And immediately, what did I do?
• 23:00
  But I have a printed book sitting next to me that there's Bible classes that are using my book of people I don't know that tells me that was God.
• 23:11
  And I don't care if 10 books are sold or 100,000 books are sold.
• 23:16
  What I care about is that God wanted that book to get in front of a particular person's eyes.
• 23:23
  to help them in their walk in faith.
• 23:26
  Mission accomplished.
• 23:28
  Yeah, man, I love that.
• 23:29
  Yeah, so often there are times, and I'm sure a lot of people will resonate with it, the people that are listening and do pray.
• 23:36
  ah Some people feel like they're talking to God every day, but there are probably also people listening that feel like they are seasons, like where they are praying and they're
• 23:46
  not hearing God's voice, right?
• 23:48
  uh But again, I say to them, go back to obedience.
• 23:53
  Pray until you hear his voice, right?
• 23:57
  Yeah, and I would back up one more important step for all of you.
• 24:03
  So this is what I do.
• 24:04
  You can copy it and run with it.
• 24:08
  I don't care if you profess it to be yours, but this is what I do before I roll out of bed each morning.
• 24:15
  I put on the armor of God, go to go to Ephesians chapter six.
• 24:20
  I think it's 11 through 17, just depending on how far you go.
• 24:24
  But it's truly, truly putting on the armor of God.
• 24:26
  And I said, Father God, ah give me the belt of truth.
• 24:30
  Give me the breastplate of righteousness.
• 24:32
  Give me the helmet of salvation.
• 24:34
  Give me the uh armor of faith, ah the shield of faith.
• 24:38
  Give me the sword of the spirit and give me the shoes fitted, the feet fitted with the gospel.
• 24:46
  Armor me up, Father, because as soon as I get out of this bed, the world's gonna tap.
• 24:51
  So that's the first thing I do.
• 24:53
  I created my own mission statement in life.
• 24:55
  So my mission statement is to positively impact and influence others by my words, my actions, my prayers.
• 25:00
  And my backup to that one is make God smile.
• 25:03
  So I have those two mission statements.
• 25:06
  Before you get out of bed, before you start to scroll on your phone and look at, know, who mentioned anything on Facebook or social media or what's on the news and, you know, any of
• 25:16
  that.
• 25:16
  That's putting something before God.
• 25:18
  So start with God.
• 25:20
  And then when I go from there, ah I roll out of bed and that's when I get to my knees.
• 25:25
  And then I do my morning time with Father God.
• 25:28
  He doesn't want a long prayer.
• 25:32
  If it's long that day, so be it.
• 25:34
  But he already knows in advance of your our needs.
• 25:37
  He already knows he's already in the storm.
• 25:39
  As I said earlier, he's already there waiting.
• 25:42
  And he's already there in the rejoicing waiting.
• 25:45
  He just wants us to come and he wants us to push it all to the foot of the cross and say, it's yours, That's all he wants.
• 25:53
  And he wants us to love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength and with all of our mind.
• 26:00
  And he says, that's the most important command.
• 26:04
  And then follows it up and then love your neighbor as yourself.
• 26:07
  And I think that's where a lot of us as Christians, all of us, and non-Christians get, that's the one that screws everyone up is,
• 26:15
  I don't want to love that person.
• 26:17
  Yeah, expect the most difficult one is that you love your enemies, right?
• 26:22
  We don't want to love those people that have hurt us or are out to hurt us.
• 26:27
  That is that is a very tough one.
• 26:30
  And we have we have to pray for those people, I think most of all.
• 26:35
  And the other thing that I want to bring up, uh maybe the last thing about prayer.
• 26:38
  Well, who knows?
• 26:39
  God's in control uh is wisdom.
• 26:42
  There is.
• 26:43
  God has a promise to us.
• 26:44
  Like if we feel like we are struggling and we don't know what to do, God has promised us wisdom.
• 26:50
  All we have to do is ask for it.
• 26:52
  So, uh and just a quick reference, there's a song out right now and I can't name the name of the song, but in reference to what you said about memorizing scripture, in the song it
• 27:03
  says, my grandmother told me to write scripture on my heart so I will be able to access it when it's needed, right?
• 27:09
  So I think that is very poignant if.
• 27:12
  That's.
• 27:13
  a good reason to memorize scripture because there may be a time when you're going to have to pull that and maybe it's to help yourself or maybe it's to help someone else.
• 27:21
  Right.
• 27:21
  So talk about a practical step of why you should memorize scripture.
• 27:26
  Yeah, and going back to what you said earlier, you said that you kind of fall in the category of praying more, ah or maybe throughout the day.
• 27:37
  That's really your will house.
• 27:40
  That's where you kind of feel good about your prayer life with Father God, which is awesome.
• 27:47
  Don't think for a moment that God isn't high-flying you constantly saying, I love it when this guy comes to me in prayer.
• 27:54
  The fact that you haven't put your flag in the camp of memorizing scripture doesn't diminish what you're doing over here in prayer.
• 28:02
  just means that that really hasn't been exposed to you.
• 28:05
  ah And maybe it's just one of those things that's part of your maze of this life.
• 28:11
  You're still fairly young, I think.
• 28:13
  So that season may come sooner than you realize to where you just take one scripture a day, you write it down, and daily you do that scripture.
• 28:23
  And you pick something simple.
• 28:25
  Here's one of the ways I think is a good way to memorize something is, and I wrote this in my book, take the day and month of your birth and go throughout all of Old Testament and
• 28:37
  New Testament.
• 28:38
  So I think everyone knows that Psalms 323 is a pretty popular verse.
• 28:44
  Well, that is my birthday.
• 28:48
  If your birthday is 119, go find all the scripture throughout
• 28:53
  the Old and New Testament, that's 119 or 425 or whatever your birth date is, and you'll be surprised.
• 29:00
  One of them might, I've heard that verse before.
• 29:03
  Well then guess what?
• 29:03
  Now you've got the numbers memorized because you can't forget your birthday.
• 29:07
  Or maybe it's your anniversary.
• 29:08
  Or maybe it's the anniversary of the day your mom or dad died or maybe a family member.
• 29:13
  And that date is always with you.
• 29:16
  You know, my dad's favorite number was 333.
• 29:19
  His license plate was Russ 333.
• 29:23
  And one of the scriptures that I go to now, and of course it's in the book as well, is how much that number shows up in all of my siblings' life.
• 29:32
  My life, every morning, the other day, again, 3.33 in the a.m., I woke up, I grabbed my phone, it's 3.33 a.m.
• 29:40
  Well Psalm 33,3 is such a great verse to memorize.
• 29:46
  it's God's calling card to us, it's God calling on us.
• 29:50
  And I'm going show you
• 29:51
  wonderful things that you have not seen, you did not know about.
• 29:55
  So I think that if you start tying scripture to doing things that are a little bit more fun and are relatable to you, you might find yourself memorizing better.
• 30:05
  Yeah, yeah.
• 30:07
  I love that.
• 30:07
  I love that.
• 30:08
  um I got so lost in what you're saying.
• 30:11
  I lost my next question.
• 30:12
  um Let's let's transition just for a minute to what you do as far as helping people write their story.
• 30:21
  A lot of people feel let's address it this way.
• 30:26
  I don't have a story to tell because I think you alluded to that a little bit ago.
• 30:30
  oh What would you say to people that feel like they don't have a story to tell?
• 30:35
  Well, a book for a business owner and or just anyone is so many different things.
• 30:44
  A book for a business owner could become their new business card.
• 30:48
  Maybe it's about how they built their business and how their faith grounded them.
• 30:53
  96 times in the Bible it says to stand firm and 365 times in the Bible it says do not fear.
• 31:01
  One for every single day of the year.
• 31:03
  And maybe that CEO
• 31:05
  that leader, that executive, that entrepreneur doesn't necessarily have this, I've got this great, great book I want to write.
• 31:12
  A of people may not have that, but what they may have is something that tells the story about how they ah started this idea of leaving corporate America to start their business.
• 31:25
  And what called to them uh to that?
• 31:28
  What fear did they, as you alluded to earlier, what fear did they have to jump over what that hurdle looked like?
• 31:35
  to have this leap of faith and say, Father God, okay, I hear you, and I wanna be used up in this lifetime.
• 31:44
  Well, that is the second book, and my second book is, ah it's for you, God is Calling.
• 31:50
  You how this book came about was I was creating a PowerPoint for the people I was going to be helping to write a book and publish it in 90 days, and this was one of the slides that
• 32:03
  I created.
• 32:04
  a shell of a phone, put God is calling, and you can either choose to decline or accept.
• 32:11
  And it was a few months later after I created that slide, I said, that's the name of the second book.
• 32:17
  And so the subtitle, It's For You, is Answering God's Call to Your True Purpose.
• 32:21
  This could be my business card now.
• 32:24
  I don't have to hand out a business card.
• 32:25
  can say, here you go.
• 32:28
  If you want to know about me and how I built my business.
• 32:31
  and understand what makes us tick at ABC Company or whatever, this becomes what I would say is not just a business card, it's your legacy in business.
• 32:41
  And it can be as we call on our side of the business, Doug, a lead magnet to where if you wanted to start advertising and using that book as a way to win new clients or win a
• 32:53
  better prospect to work for you, your book is that calling card.
• 32:58
  So I believe that everyone does have a book
• 33:00
  in them of some sort and it may not be figured out but that I think that's one of the things I feel God has gifted me with to do in my life and I can help draw that out as
• 33:13
  someone else.
• 33:14
  And I want to be really careful because today is the first of August 2025 and the reason I say that for someone that's listening to this two years, three years from now or maybe
• 33:25
  even tomorrow, I'm in the midst of building this
• 33:29
  what I think is uh a rocket that's ready to go to the moon.
• 33:35
  uh Publish90.com is my website.
• 33:40
  And I can't get to heaven disappointing God.
• 33:44
  My whole goal is to help people write and publish this book from a faith-based perspective.
• 33:54
  Now at first my tagline was I help Christians
• 33:58
  write and publish their first book in 90 days.
• 34:01
  And I was like, God, that's not really what you want, is it?
• 34:03
  And he's like, no, I want you to be a messenger of all.
• 34:09
  And, but I want you to do it from a Christ point of view, a scripture point of view.
• 34:14
  So we are, we just totally did this whole revamp and we're getting ready to relaunch here in a few weeks.
• 34:21
  Cause we were doing just like most other businesses, we're tuning and testing, tweaking and seeing what works.
• 34:27
  And so, you know, the invitations out there, I want to help as many people as possible.
• 34:32
  And it comes down to helping you get your story transcribed.
• 34:37
  That's all done through a Zoom call where we record it.
• 34:41
  I ask all the right questions in there.
• 34:43
  I help you formulate what that book looks like.
• 34:46
  And yes, you can write it in 90 days.
• 34:47
  This last book I wrote in, I think I wrote it in six days, and that's 25,000 words.
• 34:54
  So there's more books in me.
• 34:56
  But right now the mission is to help you get your book out of you from a man that has a heart for Christ I have no desire to hurt anybody.
• 35:06
  Oh, I know the biggest fear out there is I don't want to invest in someone that's gonna hurt me Well, I that's not my MO you got to invest in people you trust that's already been
• 35:16
  there and I just want to take you through the path that I just came through not just once but twice in the last 12 months
• 35:23
  Wow.
• 35:25
  So I'm going to probably ask you to repeat that website later because I still have some more other questions to ask you.
• 35:31
  So we're going to tell everyone how to work with you in just a little bit, how to find out more about exactly what you do.
• 35:38
  But I'm going to continue to tag on what you just said, though, and the value of a book versus a business card versus many other things.
• 35:47
  am, I think you know this about me, I'm a relationship builder.
• 35:52
  I truly believe I do a lot in the marketing space with all this technology that's coming out of us that we do a lot in the automation space.
• 36:00
  Don't get me wrong that there is a plate.
• 36:04
  You're still got to build that know like entrusted.
• 36:06
  It's hard to do that with a robot.
• 36:08
  Right.
• 36:10
  So I a book as a business or as business card or just a value lead like here there's some tips in this book that
• 36:20
  either the story might resonate with you or the strategies that I share in this book, I feel like they're gonna help you.
• 36:26
  Always talk about leading with value, right?
• 36:28
  A business card doesn't lead with value.
• 36:30
  All it has is your name and your phone number on it, right?
• 36:32
  Where a uh book is such a...
• 36:37
  And if you can afford to it away for free, you can give it away for free because it's likely to lead to business.
• 36:44
  So I just wanted to say, I love what you're doing because I believe in the whole concept.
• 36:50
  Well, I know there's a lot of people out there that the typical, ah I call it the D-force, where distraction ah comes into mind.
• 37:01
  And they allow all of this nonsense, we all do it, to say, well, I'm too busy, I'm running a business.
• 37:12
  After I leave work, I'm picking up the kids from soccer or I'm taking them to...
• 37:17
  uh from there to ballet.
• 37:18
  My wife is at yoga.
• 37:20
  uh After that, I'm going to go play a round of golf or I'm going to go play pickleball.
• 37:25
  And I meet with my accountant.
• 37:27
  It's like, yeah, that sounds pretty overwhelming.
• 37:32
  The way I did it was I said to my wife, this is a year and a half ago.
• 37:37
  I said, honey, God's leaning on me to write this book.
• 37:41
  So tomorrow morning, I'm going to start the book.
• 37:43
  And to do that, I need to wake up an hour earlier.
• 37:47
  I won't be watching TV with you.
• 37:48
  We're not going to be watching Netflix together.
• 37:50
  You're to be binge watching a lot of stuff without me because in the evening I'm going to.
• 37:54
  So I wrote two and a half hours in the morning.
• 37:57
  So by seven 30 I was, I had a lot written and by seven 30 in the evening or excuse me, seven in the evening, I do another two and a half hours writing.
• 38:07
  So every day I was getting five hours in and that cadence that discipline
• 38:16
  is going back to, what time are you going to bed and what time are you waking up?
• 38:20
  So I go to bed 9.30.
• 38:22
  I'm up at five.
• 38:24
  A lot of times I'm up a little earlier, like 4.30, and then I can't go back to sleep.
• 38:27
  So I just get up.
• 38:28
  But I put myself into that habit.
• 38:31
  So if you want to be something more than what you are, whether it's writing a book or opening a business, you know, being the best at doing pickleball or golf or anything.
• 38:43
  You want to get that six pack stomach or whatever.
• 38:47
  You got to put in the time.
• 38:48
  I think that is such an important piece of all of this for everyone listening.
• 38:55
  It's the time you put into it.
• 38:57
  You neglect it.
• 38:58
  It's like watching muscle atrophy.
• 39:00
  Go sit on the couch.
• 39:02
  Go see how long spending two weeks in a gym will fall apart on you by sitting on a couch for two weeks after that.
• 39:09
  Not going to do much for you.
• 39:11
  Yeah, we run a call called the Goal Getting Lab.
• 39:15
  And it's all about that time blocking.
• 39:17
  And sometimes you have to sacrifice some other things in order to get done the things that need to get done.
• 39:22
  ah So we talk about that.
• 39:24
  And energy management, right?
• 39:26
  You talked about getting up first thing.
• 39:27
  That's a success habit.
• 39:28
  We talk about success habits.
• 39:30
  So that's a success habit.
• 39:30
  Getting up earlier, uh getting like, you're a model of all things we talk about.
• 39:38
  getting it like from a Christian perspective, getting in the word, putting on the armor of God.
• 39:41
  Like the things that are most important, do those first, right?
• 39:46
  ah But yeah, so thanks for sharing that.
• 39:50
  in my mind, Doug, I believe it's a it's part of tithing.
• 39:55
  God wants our first fruits and our time is that type of time.
• 40:01
  And he should get that first.
• 40:03
  And I believe that everything else will fall into place.
• 40:06
  I'm not sitting in here in a mess.
• 40:09
  And I got a, you know, fun wallpaper.
• 40:11
  I'm not sitting in a mansion with a truck full of money sitting in the bank and
• 40:17
  my life has been perfect.
• 40:19
  No, it's been, it's been hell at times.
• 40:23
  And you know that from my wife beat cancer and then what's the next thing that comes along during COVID when everyone else getting sick with COVID, she's diagnosed with Parkinson's
• 40:33
  disease.
• 40:34
  And it's like storms just because you're doing better habits and praying better and more efficiently and not just constantly going to God saying, Hey, here's my wish list.
• 40:46
  ah life is still going to happen.
• 40:48
  In fact, I believe that the evil one attacks us even stronger the closer we get to God.
• 40:54
  So don't get in your mind that, well, if I become a Christian and I start to follow Christ and I start to pray, things are going to get easier.
• 41:04
  I would just tell you, ah they get more interesting.
• 41:10
  Yeah, if I could say they do get easier from one standpoint is that you have like often want to talk about is the people that are lost that don't have Jesus to lean on, right?
• 41:23
  When we go through those storms, that's not easy if you're lost.
• 41:27
  It's a lot easier when you're a Christian to have a faith that knowing that this life isn't the end, right?
• 41:35
  That we, God has something waiting for us on the other side that is beyond our imagination.
• 41:40
  uh So in that sense, so in that sense, it's easier.
• 41:45
  I um often use the term joy in the struggle, right?
• 41:50
  Because joy isn't necessarily happiness.
• 41:52
  Joy is just a piece that you can have, even though you're going through the storm.
• 41:56
  uh So again, thank you.
• 41:59
  Thank you for sharing that piece, uh I want to kind of go back a little bit further in the conversation.
• 42:08
  about anxiety.
• 42:09
  Oh, actually, let me do this.
• 42:10
  I'm all over the place with this interview, but that's fine.
• 42:12
  God's leading it.
• 42:13
  oh The other thing I was going to say about publishing a book is stewardship.
• 42:20
  We were talking about this the other day in one of my calls.
• 42:25
  And God, we talked about wisdom, right?
• 42:28
  God has given us wisdom.
• 42:29
  We prayed for wisdom.
• 42:30
  He's granted to us.
• 42:32
  It could be part of your stewardship.
• 42:35
  in order to pass that wisdom along other than just to yourself or to your immediate family, right?
• 42:42
  Stewardship may mean I'm going to take this wisdom that God has allowed me to have, put it in a book so that I can share it with many people, right?
• 42:51
  Would you say that might be true?
• 42:54
  Yeah, I I just finished working through the playbook for my business.
• 43:01
  It's complete.
• 43:02
  It's with the formatters and editors to get it all ready to go.
• 43:07
  And in that, prayer, my wish for anyone that wants to write a book, and it's not just a book.
• 43:14
  So yes, I help people write a book, but I've been married 40 years.
• 43:18
  I can help you on how to manage uh a beautiful relationship with
• 43:23
  Christ as the center, raised kids, got grandkids, open businesses.
• 43:28
  The book is just a segment of my life and season right now.
• 43:32
  But I give this image I want people to get.
• 43:36
  Imagine yourself, you've just made it to heaven and Christ and his father are there to greet you.
• 43:46
  All the angels are singing and applauding, you've made it.
• 43:49
  Family members are everywhere.
• 43:52
  And remember it's biblical and it tells us this.
• 43:56
  All of us are going to be held account for every good, bad, stupid thing we did in our lives.
• 44:02
  All the good, the bad, good, bad and ugly.
• 44:04
  But what if God, when they're done hugging you and saying welcome home and he starts that accountability, the first thing off is his lips is one, thank you for accepting my son as
• 44:15
  your Lord and savior.
• 44:18
  But two, Joe.
• 44:20
  I know you were leaning against me not to write a book, but thank you for listening to me.
• 44:29
  Thank you for writing the book because I want to show you something.
• 44:32
  And I try to take the reader on this visual right now, Doug.
• 44:35
  Imagine God and Christ both side by side with you in the center looking down on earth and every stream of light that's coming from earth represents
• 44:46
  the podcast that you have done that you've left as a legacy on YouTube with messages that are changing lives for Christ.
• 44:54
  Your book is in the hands of a 15 year old girl that is reading about your struggle.
• 45:00
  That was a horrific ordeal that you went through, but you shared how you, how you beat the demons and you took Christ on and locked arms with him and all these beams of light are
• 45:12
  coming up from earth from every way that you left your footprint.
• 45:17
  That's what I want to help people do.
• 45:19
  I want them to be locked arms with the Father God, His Son, looking down with beams of light of every image from podcasting to writing, for the good deeds they did, not for
• 45:34
  God's approval, but the righteous heart that they did it with.
• 45:37
  So that's what I want to help people
• 45:40
  Wow.
• 45:40
  So on that note, oh I think that is a beautiful picture.
• 45:45
  How can people find out more about you and what you do and how you can help them do that?
• 45:49
  That's a great question.
• 45:51
  we have a uh website that's published90.com, published90.com.
• 45:58
  You can find just about everything you need to know about me.
• 46:01
  Also, you can order my books from that site.
• 46:06
  And you can also book an appointment with me.
• 46:08
  I don't bite, and I don't care to bite you.
• 46:11
  I just want to get to know you and spend 30 minutes with me to see if I'm the person you would like to
• 46:18
  uh join forces with to get your book written.
• 46:22
  And that's what I'm here for.
• 46:24
  That's the season of my life.
• 46:27
  God's watching me closely and how I handle all of you with care.
• 46:32
  And you can also go to LinkedIn.
• 46:33
  can go to, again, my spelling of my name and I know that Doug will have this, but it's Joe and my last name is Gaeta, G-A-E-T-A.
• 46:42
  Go on Facebook, find me, find me on LinkedIn, friend me and...
• 46:47
  And let's see where it goes from there.
• 46:48
  Also make sure you do uh set a time with me if you want on published 90.
• 46:54
  Because if you sit there and say, I'm not the one, that's you, that's not God.
• 46:58
  Yeah, so we're going to put all those links below that Joe mentioned, social links, publish90.com.
• 47:05
  They're all going to be in the show notes or somewhere very close to watching this video.
• 47:08
  They might be in the YouTube description.
• 47:10
  oh If you're listening to this on Spotify or somewhere else, it'll be in the show notes.
• 47:14
  So you could just go there, schedule some time with Even if you think you don't have or know the story you want to tell, Joe can help pull that story out of you.
• 47:26
  oh
• 47:27
  Write the book that you are meant to write um and get that out there.
• 47:31
  um Leave your legacy.
• 47:34
  Leave those beams of light, as Joe mentioned, coming up so that when you're in heaven, God can tell you good job.
• 47:43
  um So thank you so much, Joe.
• 47:47
  I ask one last question because usually every guest is like, didn't ask me this question, because obviously I don't think I asked one question from the things I sent you.
• 47:56
  Doug didn't ask me this question, I really want to answer that, or I just have this on my heart right now and I want to share it.
• 48:01
  So my last question to you is, do you have any departing words of wisdom for the audience?
• 48:07
  If I were sitting with you right now, let's say I'm gonna bring you here to Tampa Bay for a moment and I live just a mile within the Gulf of America and take you out on the beach.
• 48:20
  And we're sitting there and we're looking at the water, we're looking at the birds, we hear the water lapping over.
• 48:27
  And it's very close to a vision I had one day with Jesus and he was on that beach.
• 48:35
  He turns around and he looks at me because I'm following behind him and I'm trying to catch him and he turns around and he says, what is it that you want?
• 48:43
  And that's my first question for you is what is it that you want?
• 48:47
  And then he turned around and he kept walking up the beach a little more.
• 48:50
  And then he started this slow jog and now he's making me chase him.
• 48:53
  And I hear him laughing.
• 48:55
  He's giggling.
• 48:56
  I'm like, why is he laughing?
• 48:58
  And he turns around and he looks at me and he says, everything that you have ever wanted is right here.
• 49:05
  And that's what Christ wants you to know.
• 49:08
  Everything that you have ever wanted that's in the finishing touches of what God wired you for is in the person of Jesus Christ.
• 49:19
  And he say, come rest with me.
• 49:22
  Come, come grab my hand.
• 49:24
  Quit trying to fight this fight on your own.
• 49:28
  Quit trying to write a book, build a business, raise your kids.
• 49:32
  Um,
• 49:33
  Be an employee, be a friend, a spouse, a sibling, all of the things you're trying to do with frustration.
• 49:43
  Let me, come rest with me.
• 49:45
  And so that I would leave with everyone is go get Jesus.
• 49:50
  Amen.
• 49:51
  Thank you.
• 49:52
  Thank you, Joe.
• 49:53
  And until next time, everyone, keep moving forward.
• 49:57
  Thanks,
• 49:58
  Alright.