Episode 1 - Real Talk About Starting a Business (No BS, No Lambos)

Two entrepreneurs who've been grinding for 15+ years cut through the social media BS to tell you what starting a business is REALLY like. No purple Lambos, no "make $8K/month" promises – just honest talk about the hard work, the real rewards, and why entrepreneurship might be the closest thing to adventure in modern life. What we cover:

• Why entrepreneurship is uncertain, not risky (and why that matters)
• The real rewards beyond money: time, freedom, and control
• Why the "easy button" mentality will kill your business
• How kindness and relationships beat ruthless tactics every time
• The emotional side of being your own boss
• Learning to say no (and when to hit the gas)

Parker and Jacob have started multiple businesses, made plenty of mistakes, and learned what actually works. If you're tired of hustle culture and want real advice from people who've actually done it, this is for you.

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Transcript

Introduction and Episode Kickoff

All right. Okay. All right. Is there any editing? No. How about that? How about, no, no editing. Uh, we can do some light editing. 

The Reality of Entrepreneurship

Uh, just thinking about like getting started, episode number one right here, Parker and Jacob, the real talk. Real shit. Like what it's like to really be an entrepreneur. Like what it's like to really start a business.

Personal Anecdotes and Experiences

Like, so, all right, you and I, a year or so ago had this idea to create a course on how to start a business and it's, it's the zero to one for brand new entrepreneurs. It's very tactical. It's very practical. But we did it with a couple things that we thought were important. One, there's a lot of personal anecdotes from our experience over the last, whatever, 15, 20 years of, of being self-employed ourselves, of having several businesses.

But it's also coming [00:01:00] from this bent of like, um, man, fuck all this, like, you know, hyperbolic, social media crap that we see about earning $8,000 a month and $800,000 a month and $8 million a month, and like. All these like ugly purple Lambos and these big ugly watches and like, we have just been able to do this for a very long time.

Yeah, it'd be great to make a ton of money, but like, it's also it's more than that. Like being an entrepreneur is not just about like getting like hyper wealthy. It's like there's something else about it. And so. That's the stuff I think that people want to hear about. I think that's the stuff that, that we wanna talk about.

It's what we always find ourselves talking about. 

Debunking the Easy Button Myth

I think all the Lambo stuff and the passive income stuff and all that, that it feels like the easy button, right? Everybody wants an easy button. That's right. How do I make mailbox money? How do I jet sit around the world while working two hours a day?

Right. And feel like you can trace it all the way back to four hour work week, like probably, which is a great book, but started this whole culture of like. I mean, I think that the ugly [00:02:00] truth of it is it's fucking hard. Yeah. And it's, there isn't an easy button 99.9% of the time. And the 0.1% you're hearing about are the exception.

That's right. And the reward is the hard part. 

The True Rewards of Entrepreneurship

So like, why we wanted to make this course and why we wanted to talk about this, I feel like is because we've grinded it out, been successful. We're not, we, I don't think we've had, uh, massive exits or anything that you would Right. But like. We've made a living, both of us.

Um, we've made a good, good livings thus far and controlled our time. Yeah. Controlled our life and thus controlled our happiness. Yeah. I think that's the thing for me is like, I. Why entrepreneurship, if it is risky and hard is because you can control your, all the dials in your life, right? So when we made the more tactical stuff about like how to start a business, how to market, how to name it, what you should do first, what your mindset should be, I think all that just serves the like, why in the first place do you want to do this?

Which is that, you have [00:03:00] to like, the reward is complete control and figuring out how you're wired so that you can be happy. Yeah. Like, I mean, money is a part of it. 'cause money is freedom in our society and freedom, at least for me, is happiness or it's a big component of that. Yeah. You know, like it's funny, before we started recording, my kids were in here and I took them to the gym this morning. And I love taking them to the gym, uh, because I can really, like, they get, anytime they're around something, they get curious about it. They're like trying to explain to them like it's never ending. It's the process.

You go, because exercise makes you less tired. They don't understand that. They think they just wanna rest. I'm like, well, I get that, but like body and motion stays in motion. Use her to lose it. And it's kind of the same thing. With the, with, I feel like with my entrepreneurial journey or whatever you wanna call it, is like building it and seeing things grow and succeed and fail and put hard work into it is like, that's just as the reason why, as the outcome.

Yeah. [00:04:00] Much like the exercise. Yeah, absolutely. There, there's a couple of great points that I, I wanna like double down on that you mentioned. 

Balancing Risk and Uncertainty

One is that I think is interesting is, is, you know, you, you used the word risky and, uh, somebody my mentor Perry Clayban pointed out the difference in, in risk and uncertainty and which I thought was actually really helpful for me.

He teaches a, a course at, at the D school at Stanford called launchpad, and it's working with entrepreneurs to launch a. A new product or a service. And one of the things that he talks about is, is the difference between risk and uncertainty. Everything is risky nowadays, right? There is no job in the world that is secure, like it was maybe for our parents, right?

There's very little loyalty between employers and employees and uh, and so everything is technically risky. You could get laid off at any time because there's very little loyalty. I think the thing about entrepreneurship is it's uncertain. It's not necessarily risky. We just don't know what's gonna happen.

We don't know if we're gonna make it, if this [00:05:00] product will sell, if this service will sell. It's just uncertain. And that's a different thing. And it also doesn't have the same connotation that like risk does. And so, yeah, when I think about, like you and I both have had maybe hundreds of conversations at this point with people who are interested in being an entrepreneur and starting their own business, and they're like, man, I'm scared walking away from this steady paycheck.

You know, like. Uh, like, man, this feels risky. I was like, no more risky than continuing to work for Google or Facebook or any other, you know, tech firm that could lay you off and probably will lay you off at any given moment. Yeah. I also think we need to reevaluate or reexamine what the word risk means.

To me, contentment is risky. You've got a finite amount of time on earth, let's call it 80 years if you're lucky. Mm-hmm. 60 of those years is probably work life of some kind. Uh, if you realize at a young age that you like, I don't know how to describe it, if you realize at a young age that there's [00:06:00] something else out there that's not just a normal beaten path Yeah.

And you want that, yeah. You can kind of figure it out early on. Maybe you wanna be a rock star, maybe you wanna be an artist, or maybe you wanna, it's just there's a, as a seed that people get as a probably a teenager denying that your entire life is the riskiest thing. Yeah. 'cause yeah. You can get a steady paycheck, uh, with annual raises and your benefits.

And that's, and maybe you're responsible for more than just you, your family. Like I completely understand it. There's no judgment. But if you have that little inner voice that wants to do more mm-hmm. Wants to do something else. Wants to take your shot. Yeah. Try out for the team kind of thing. And you never do it.

Yeah. Way riskier to me than trying, what's the worst thing that happened? You fail. Okay, go get a job. What? Yeah. I mean, I. It's easier said than done, and I know I'm sort of like broad stroking it, but I've always felt that it's way riskier to not take the chances than it is to take the chances.

Totally. Yeah. Deathbed regrets kind of thing. Yeah. Like you went, like, go back to the conversation. You and I [00:07:00] had the, one of the first times we ever sat down like. If you're in a car, do you wanna be in the driver's seat or do you wanna be in the passenger seat? Right. You're still gonna go. Yeah. And if you're in the passenger seat, you can take in the view, but if you're in the driver's seat, you can pick where you go.

Yeah. How fast you go. Is it, how you go? I have to be in, I can't see the driver's seat and not get in it. I'm just, that's, and I think there are people who don't feel that way, and that's totally fine. Yeah. But if you are one of those people. Then I think there's never been a better time, of course, with technology and to try something.

Right. You could try anything so easy. Yeah. We're currently recording this on some piece of software that transcripts it for us, puts it on the internet and it's painless, right? We would've been recording this 10 years ago. We would've needed a studio set up, right? So I mean, there's.

There's always been no excuse if you're, if you want to really go after something, but now there, there's a lot less. There's never been an easier time. Never been an easier time, right? I don't think so. And, and maybe, and maybe that'll continue in that direction and we'll look back. 10 years from now we'll say, God, it's even easier.

Yeah. The tools available to us [00:08:00] all now are, are unbelievable. The ability to go through like umpteen rounds of trial and error, you know, it is like, it's unbelievable. Like it's just we didn't have a lot of these tools even, probably same for you, but like my first like couple of technical startups, like, you know, one of the very first things I ever tried to do was mail order coffee, whole bean coffee.

And this was before Starbucks is telling how old I am, but like, this is a, you know, a long time ago. And I was literally, you know, mailing it to people, handwriting labels. We didn't have computers, we didn't have anything to like, crank out mass labels or anything like that. And and so yeah, the tools available now, like I would just hop on.

Probably Shopify and open up a store or you know, whatever, have everything drop shipped. It would be like, it'd be a completely different world. Right. And there And you have access to all the information known to mankind, right. On your phone. Yeah. Not only are the tools available to spin up a business in a day, you can pop on YouTube and have someone will show you how to do it.

Yeah. And so step by step. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think [00:09:00] what the reason that I know that. I won't speak for both of us, but I'm pretty sure we're aligned on this. Like entrepreneurship or business or whatever you wanna call it, has like been a, a, a massive factor in what I'm able to do with my life and my time.

That's the main thing. Yeah. Now how you do it when you build a big company or, or your just, uh, services for hire one person or whatever, like that's neither, that's to each person's rights desire, but like. You can completely, you know, if you need money to navigate the society you're in and you want to navigate it, say buy things, travel, move about, there's, you can do it on your own terms if you just try.

Yeah. All right. So is is all right. So that's like the risk and uncertainty piece, but now we're moving into like this, like kind of the whys, right? Like the why do we do it? And you just said something I thought was really cool. 

The Importance of Flexibility

And as I walked into this office a minute ago your boys were here, you know, hanging out summertime, and and you get to be here with them.

Like, there's so [00:10:00] much more like flexibility in your life. And even though it may feel like, oh man, having my kids here, it's like, it's kind of a time crunch and, hands offs and things like that. And we get to be with our, you know, you get to be with your kids. It's like, and you're a guy that doesn't miss events that they go to.

I know this about you and you never have. Yeah, I, I. Both my wife and I picked them up from school, you know, when they're in school. Yeah. Like we it, I have thought about that a lot because they're growing up around both myself and my wife have have businesses. And we have crazy hours sometimes, and sometimes we have downtime.

Like they're seeing all this flexibility. They don't know what it's like to see mom and dad go to work at eight o'clock and come home at five o'clock and they're unaccessible and that's just the way it is because they have bosses and. And that's how I grew up. Yeah. And you know, as a latchkey kid in the eighties and nineties, and that's, that was totally fine.

But like you didn't, you could call mom and dad at work, but they weren't coming home. Right. Unless it was an emergency. Yep. They weren't like, so having a completely different context for that is, I'm, I'm happy they get to see it. Yeah. And I think that, I also think it works as an adult. Like, [00:11:00] I didn't realize what you could do with entrepreneurship until I was around one.

I mean, I real, I abstractly realized like, oh yeah, you can start your own thing and you could get rich and you could do whatever. Like, that sounds fun. Until I was around someone who just ran a business that made enough money to fuel their life and they were having fun doing it. And I was like, oh, yeah.

Why am I bartending? Yeah. And then, yeah. Yeah. My, my first, uh, I think back when I was 18 or 19, I moved, I graduated high school, barely. Barely and moved out to, uh, Colorado Springs in hopes of like becoming a professional rock climber. And um, but I worked at this deli called Lin's Deli.

It's still there. It's owned by a totally different group of people, but it was a little like tiny college deli, right? Mostly it was like right on the edge of Colorado College and it served college kids, you know, and it was like a deli sandwiches and soups and whatnot. And I worked there for, I dunno, maybe a year and a half or something like that.

But. Dan and Amy were the people that started that deli. They were graduates from that college. They started that [00:12:00] deli together and then they ran it and they owned it. And then, you know, we were doing all the cooking and the serving, all the kids were right, like we were kind of, you know, making the place hum each in every day.

But, you know, they kind of stopped in and like saw things over and made sure food got ordered and payroll got done. And then they would go out and do other things. And they were like, uh, Dan was doing real estate and Amy made jewelry on the side and like. You know, they had all these, like other interests going on, and man, they were like driving all ratty pickups and they were broke and they were busy all the time and kind of running ragged all the time.

And, but it looked so exciting to me. You know, like there was like, I don't know what it was about that, that they were just like, they weren't sitting in a cubicle. They weren't, like my mom was a teacher, so she went to school and taught every day and, and like, they weren't having to like sit static in this one place all day, every day.

And. That was the thing that really appealed to like my, I don't know, like, I don't know if it's like a DD or desire to explore. I don't know what it is, but like that got me at an early age. I think desire to explore is a great way to put it. I've, you know, it sounds sort of hyperbolic, [00:13:00] but like I.

I think if I, if it was like the year was 1650, I would wanna be an explorer, right? Like, I would get on the boat and go you're probably gonna die. Maybe you'll see some new land. Maybe you'll find gold. Yeah. Who knows what's over the horizon. They literally did not know. Yeah. I think it would call to me.

I really do. I, I, I don't, I know. Yeah. You know? My buddy has this joke about like, every guy wants to know how they would've performed in World War ii. It's like built into your DNA and like I, I think it's the same kind of mentality. Like I have no desire to have been in World War ii this, but like something about like, there's an epic journey calling you, you answer it.

Yeah. Anything can happen. The odds are you might get hurt or not come back, but the odds are you might have an adventure of a lifetime and like, what are we here for in the first place? Yeah. So when you grow up and you're. Fortunate enough that you're, you're not going to war or you're not sailing a ship over the horizon, but you have a, you know, you, you're navigating the con, confine, the confines of like our modern life.

Yeah. The closest thing to adventure feels like entrepreneurship. Yeah. It's what are you gonna [00:14:00] go risk build? See what's over the horizon? Maybe you'll get hurt, maybe, yeah. But why not try? Yeah. Or you can stay on shore and that's fine too, but if you're standing at the shore looking at the sea, then I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't.

If you don't get in the boat. Yeah I mean, you certainly make me think of the I'm gonna screw it up, but like the old saying, right? Like, boats weren't made to sit in the harbor, something like that, right? Sure. Yeah. It's like, yeah. Yeah. I, I, I know of it, but I can't, I can't remember. Yeah. It's something along those lines.

Yeah. I, I, I think it's like if you're listening to this or you, or your, you know, your algorithm or whatever you look at online or is filled with these kind of things. There's probably something to be like, to explore deep in yourself of like, yeah. What's the, what's the modern equivalent of an, of exploring and can you do that and also provide for yourself and your family?

Right? Like, I don't think it could be anything better. Yeah. Currently. Well, I, I mean, to that point, [00:15:00] like, I mean, if, if we go back in time. 

Historical Context and Modern Entrepreneurship

Most humans were, were technically entrepreneurs or, or small business like, I mean, especially in a more agrarian age, right? Like when, everybody just had a farm and they produced stuff on their farm and then they sold it to the marketplace, right?

Well, yeah, and like the kind of nine to five work life that we, I mean, you and I have talked about this in the past that we know is not very old, no industrial age is not old at all. Industrial. If you really wanted to stretch it, you'd say like maybe 1890 or something. Right. But like, so you're, what?

You're talking 120 years of this sort of we're all on the same watch, we all go to work at the same time. We all have lunch at the same time. We all come home at the same time and then we have family time and then we go to sleep and then we do it again. And then over the years, we got weekends and things like that.

Yeah. And vacation time and all this. That's not that old. No. You know, human beings, we've been around tens of thousands of years here, so like there's a lot of programming that's like. Not that. Yeah. So I think maybe that's the seed of being like, that's not, I don't like that. Yeah. I don't, I don't [00:16:00] like it either.

That's fine. If you do like it and you, some people thrive on stability and I, I am jealous. Yeah, I do not. So I think, um, all of the how-tos that we've discussed in starting Block, or that you can find anywhere on the internet are just there to serve the. The othering you feel? Yeah.

That you, you want to do something, you wanna do something different, and you're willing to take the risk and put in the effort and the work. Yeah. Alright, so this, this, yeah. This brings up a good point. Like, this is the thing I I wanted to ask you about today. Which is, we created So Starting Block, which we think is a great course, and it, I think is like super practical in helping people get from zero to one.

So it's, you know. Tax IDs and, and bank accounts and software and all of these things, these kind of very practical things to get up and running, to hopefully start generating revenue with whatever your product or your service is very quickly. And the way that you can do that with very little to no money, very little time, all that.

So that's super cool. 

Emotional Side of Being an Entrepreneur

But like, the thing that I've been more interested in, in lately is like [00:17:00] the emotional side, the soft side of, of being an entrepreneur. So you said early on, like it's hard as shit like, and it is hard. It's you know, it's hard to start a business. It's hard to run a business, but if you're called to do it, you don't really have a choice.

So, like, whatever, get comfortable with it get comfortable with the discomfort. But I'm curious, like, what are the things that you think are, have helped you be successful, that have helped you be able to be your own boss for such a long time? Like behavior, soft skills, like attitudes, I don't know.

Mindsets, like what it, like shit like that. I think learning from mistakes is key. Yeah. 

Discovering Personal and Professional Growth

And I mean that in a sense of like, I've done things, I've went to work for people, or I've built things in a way that I just felt like I, because the opportunity was there, and then realize it's not like you, you get to know yourself more along the way.

Right. Yeah. I think it's like, I'm about to be 42. I, I've probably worked for myself in some capacity mixed with working for other people since I was [00:18:00] 25. You just get to know what, what fuels you, what you hate, what like you think you might like. But actually, if you really dissect it, it's, it's gonna make you miserable.

The Importance of Listening to Your Inner Voice

And you have to listen to that inner voice. And I, I don't think it just comes with experience. Yeah. It's hard to, it's hard to set out and know exactly my worst one was building up a company where I was, I needed to be there from like eight to seven every day. And everyone depended on me.

And, I wasn't doing any of the creative stuff that I really thrive on. I was doing all administrative management, which I'd never done before. But on the surface, I had this cool company with this brand and everybody kinda liked it, but on the behind the surface, I was miserable. Yeah. Stressed only worried about the bottom line.

How are we gonna do this? And I. It was when that blew up. I, that was the thing that'd be like, all right, don't do that again. Because you'll get the opportunity to do it again. Yeah. You get a lot of opportunities the more you stay in this game. Yeah. Like people will give you money, people will partner with you.

Learning to Say No and Self-Discovery

But you have to learn to say no to those. I think that's, I guess the answer is like, learning to say no learning about yourself. Those are hard, soft, [00:19:00] hard, soft skills. Those are skills that, um. Don't come easy. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, it's funny, like I, I feel like I, I've talked to a lot of clients about this, you know, this the power of saying no, the power of like not getting into something that you're not a good fit for.

And at the same time, I don't, I like, I think you have to make that mistake. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, I don't think that I think you have to learn that from the mistake. I don't know that you can. I mean, I hope that people get to make it proactively without having to do the same dumb shit that I've done.

But at the same time, I'm like, man, it feels like everybody's just got their own path and we all have to learn shit the hard way. That's probably like more about life than it is just about business too. You, I feel like you get more in tune with your gut. You have to listen to your gut. And I also think if you're successful at this, even whether it's wildly successful or just like you've provided a living for yourself, whatever, right.

Um, you've got some kind of inner navigation, some kind of gut that you should, that maybe other people don't have that you need to listen to. Yeah. Like for [00:20:00] example, right now, like I'm in pretty big growth mindset. Yep. What I'm up to and I'm like, you know, a business advice person who might look at my life and go, you need to slow down and, you know, build some reserves up and do whatever, but like.

I am currently following my gut. I'm like, I think it's time to go big or go home. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm putting reinvesting. I'm, I'm, I'm thinking bigger. I'm adding people. I'm like thinking, am I taking on more overhead? I just feel it. Yeah. I could be wrong and that'll be fine. Right. You know, I will pivot.

Start over. Do something else. I don't know. Yeah. Shrink it back down. But I think much like we talked about risk being missed opportunities or not listening to yourself and being trapped. There's also like when to say no. That's probably up there as number one, but number two is also like when to put the foot on the, on the gas.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. I've been thinking a lot the stuff I made a short, like a video about this a couple days ago, but like the things that seem to have [00:21:00] benefited me, uh, I mean like we all have natural skills, right? Like I'm, uh. Like, I'm a decent communicator. I think that's probably, you know, one of my more like natural skills is like, I can be fairly charismatic and, and talk to people very comfortably, and they can tell that I'm comfortable, then they're comfortable.

Like it's, that's the thing that happens. And so everybody's got their own like, you know, like skillset that is probably fairly natural and innate. 

The Power of Kindness and Compassion

But I think the thing one of, or some of the things that have gotten me the furthest lately I've been saying like, are like kindness. Compassion and generosity, and which I know like that has nothing to do. Like you can't do that online. Like there's no form to fill out for these things. But like they are things that you can practice, uh, that I think help you go a long way. 

Building Meaningful Relationships

Building great relationships is one of the best things that you can do as an entrepreneur, right?

Like, 'cause that's your network, that's your referral network. That's people that you will call on. Uh, that could eventually be your customer or your client one day. Yeah. Um, you are in, real estate is like nothing but a relationship business, [00:22:00] right? Like, it's, it's uh, not a ton of transactions per customer, right?

Like you might get, if you get a repeat customers, maybe they come back three or four times, you know, and, and their lifetime, right? If they buy three or four houses. So the relationship is like the primary thing, right? Like we a hundred percent gotta learn to be kind and. I'll just say this before I forget 'cause I, I forgot on the video, but like, it's like kindness, compassion, and generosity to others and to ourselves.

That's the thing that like has taken me the longest to learn is being kind to myself when I screw something up, when I make the inevitable mistake or failure or whatever, like having some kindness and some compassion towards myself and not beating myself up, which is like, can be an mo and it's, you know, super fucking unproductive to, to beat yourself up.

It reminds me of that expression, like, if you wanna go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Like, if you wanna build yourself up and burn bridges, go for it. You can build a business, you can piss everyone off. You can be ruthless, but you can set fire to the path behind you. And so who cares who else comes [00:23:00] along?

I mean, there are people who, that's their mindset. Yeah. I mean, but if you're gonna live one life, I don't know if that's a legacy anybody really wants. Yeah. And so you can, the opposite would be you can build community. You can take people with you, you can help people and they help you. You can go further.

Yeah. And you can rely on them. And they can rely on you. And at the end of the day you can turn around and be like, look what we've all accomplished. Yeah. It's much better, right? It's, yeah. More fun. Yeah. Better legacy, better experience, better impact on your, on your community. Than just being like off, I'm just gonna come hell or high water succeed and I don't care who gets stepped on.

Yeah, this is all right. 

The Circuit of Giving and Receiving

So this is a more of a weird Parker philosophy that I'm picking up late in life, but like, I feel like everything is, like, everything is a circuit. And so like, um, you know, early on, especially when we're in our twenties, we're selfish and kind of self-centered and we're like, I want this, I need that.

And always thinking about what I need and what I want. Versus thinking about other people, but what I think what I'm learning late in life maybe, [00:24:00] is that everything is like a circuit. So if I give kindness, if I give compassion, if I give generosity, right, then I am able to receive kindness.

I'm able to receive compassion and generosity from others. Same thing, I think is true with love, right? Like. For people that are like walking around looking for love. It's like, fuck man. Have you tried to give it yet? Like be, you know, be generous with your love and then watch it come back. Versus like walking around with your hand out, waiting to get it.

I don't know. I don't know. Does that connect with you at all? This idea of like, things are like a circuit to Yes, it does. Yeah. I like that analogy. And I think also it goes, like, it reminds me of the thought of, uh, you attract what you're putting out. Right? Yeah. That's good. Yeah. If you.

Want like-minded people to work with you or you're looking for a partner who has these characteristics that you're hoping, you know, you need to display those. Yeah. People are gravitate towards no one, you're not like, you'll the love thing. You're not gonna find love by being frustrated and [00:25:00] grumpy.

You know, no one, no one wants to, that's eternal. Yeah. No one wants to hang out with that. Right. Yeah. And so I think if you were to. If you were to think, zoom out and think about that in general with your relationships, whether it be work or friends or partner or kids or like Yeah, I mean, compassion and, and like being fun and like those are people who wanna work with people like that.

Yeah. Yeah. Be cool to be around. Yeah. Don't be a dick. Right. I mean Yeah. It sounds so basic, right? And I have to remind myself of this. Yeah. Like, I mean, I, I get, and I, I have days where I'm like frustrated with everything. Yeah. But you have to figure out a way to step back from that and go, what's the point?

Yeah. You, I, none of this matters if I'm miserable. Right. Or making people miserable. Man, this is a great, a super short story as I was talking to a buddy on the way over here. And he's doing a mix of things. He's doing a little bit of real estate. He is driving Uber. He is trying to like launch some other things.

He, he's a, a fitness trainer for some people, so he's got a, a few irons in the fire. But one of the things he said, he's like, so forever, he is like, I used to drive Uber, like with my earphones in like, I would just have, you know, I'd be [00:26:00] like listening to music, not talking to the people in the back of the car.

And he is like, and then one day I'm just like, I'm gonna try to engage and like see what happens. And he is, you know, pretty introverted guy, clearly. He's like, but I'm just gonna like take the earplug, you know, the earbuds out and like, talk to my customers. And so he started doing that. He is like, not surprisingly, all my tips started to go way up, and so yeah, same thing, right? Like you start to give and you can certainly receive in that same way. 

Unexpected Connections and Opportunities

I'll give you a similar story along the lines of, like, you, you can't, you don't know what can happen if you're not open to it, right? That's right. I got in an Uber a month ago or so now, and normally I grab my phone, I.

I'm just like, I take that opportunity riding in the back to catch up on whatever. 'cause a lot of times I'm driving around and I'm not on my phone. I did that and then this guy was jamming some like, really like almost reggae, like African, like beat like rhythmic music. Yeah. And I, I made a comment or something and he's from Nigeria and we started talking, how'd you get here?

Whatever. And I was, and I [00:27:00] said like, oh man, this music makes me wanna be on a boat. He goes, oh, you know, like, I forgot what he called it, but I was like, yeah, I know ELA Coie. And he freaked out. Did he really? Because Ela Coie iss a musician from Africa. That's like, not sure. No, not a lot of people know. I was like, yes, I know Fa La Kie.

I like Femi Semi Kie, his kid. Yeah, I know that genre of music. I'm a super nerd about soul music. We ended up in the rest of this, like talking about music, he's talking about how he would go see fellow Cudi and he was a kid down the street in the eighties. Oh wow. Like we just had this very common experience because we had a, an interest in this one thing.

Yeah. He's from Nigeria. I'm from Tennessee, you know? Right. And we're sitting there talking about it, and it's an Uber ride. I still remember and like, you know, and I could have not had that conversation. Yeah. And it like. If you're, yeah, if you like, pull your eyes up and pay attention, like, yeah. There's a lot of cool things that can happen, whether it's a memorable conversation or a life changing business opportunity because you paid attention to where you work.

Totally. You tip him well. Yeah, of course. Yeah. See, it is good, right? Yeah. It's funny how that works. 

Reflecting on Career Choices and Resilience

All right, dude, like we're running up on time [00:28:00] here. I feel like we could talk about, like this side of things. I, I really wanted to get into like resilience and the importance of resilience, but we'll save that for like.

Episode two. So, I do have a, like a parting question for you though. Like, oh, okay. This is, if you had to take a job, if like all your entrepreneurial pursuits like were hitting the brick wall and you're like, fuck man, I gotta take a job to provide for my family. Where would you go right now? Yeah. Like right now.

I know. Really? Oh man, I don't, construction. Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of there. I like maybe, yeah. I mean, I don't, I am, I'm terrible. Uh, I have no talent construction wise in my two hands, but I worked around it enough that I could, I could be of value to someone else's company. Yeah. If I needed to be.

Yeah. I don't know that I, honestly, I have no answer because my, my, uh, gut immediately turned over that, like that. I just don't think I could do it. I, yeah. Unemployable your company was the best company I ever worked for, but it's still, I still, I [00:29:00] couldn't do that now, yeah. I couldn't either.

Clearly, I mean, I, it's I've gone too far. Yeah. You know, I don't, I don't know. I think I would have to scrape, uh, beg, borrow and steal to get back on my feet or something. Yeah. I don't know. Great question. What about you? It's, the joke is always that like I would go to Home Depot just, you know, like that's just something, just, you know, like, uh, a place where I could go and, and still be helpful to people, which is, you know, that's kind of like my love language or whatever.

So I would still get to kinda like do that. But I. I don't know, man. I'm getting old. I don't know if I could be on my feet on the concrete all day, every day. So, feels like it'd be hard on the body, but just something where you could check out and like hang out with people. Yeah, right. I mean, like, yeah, and still kind of like be in flow and just, hopefully it'd be like a bright spot in people's days.

I don't know if that would cover my bills, but I'm a pretty cheap date, but. I dunno. You know, it's interesting, and I'm just, this is, so just to jump back a little bit I don't often think about what I would do if I failed at everything and I had to do something. Yeah. I do often think about if I could go back, what's a thing I would love to have done that I just never [00:30:00] thought about doing until I was older.

I often think about Air Force Pilot. Oh, interesting. So, like one growing up there was no way I was getting into armed services. I was very anti that at that age. Yeah. And but the idea of flying jets and like, see again, it's sort of like the adventure, the explorer, the risk. I grew up with, like my mom brought home Adobe Photoshop when I was in eighth grade from her work, and I started playing with it, and then I started making stuff with Photoshop and then punk rock ha.

You know, and I could see people making magazines and putting out their own records. I. And so I used the framework that was around me, now that I look at it. Yeah. But if none of that framework was around me, I think I still would've had some urge to be like, what's over the horizon? And maybe that's why people do sign up for the Air Force.

Yeah. Or they do move to new cities. I just happened to be seeing people building. They weren't businesses, but they were like, they're art. They were putting out art. Yeah. Records, zines, putting on shows, getting people to come to the shows, taking pictures at the shows, putting those pictures on websites that we [00:31:00] all went through to look at the shows.

Right. I, you know, this little tiny ecosystem and I think it really dug itself into my, my veins. Yeah. And so to back to your question, I, I can't unsee it. I, I can't. I've. I'm long lost, so a long time ago. I know. I think about like all the places where that would like, that I have experience in, you know, if I went back into design or consulting or something like that and could probably make a fortune and just couldn't do it, you know, like I just, I just don't have it in me to, to do that for somebody else anymore.

So yeah, it's because as we both know, the fortune part is just a, like a side effect. That's right. It's not the. If you were just in it for that, you'd probably have one maybe. You know, or maybe I would. Yeah. Like it's, I would sure that's, that would be great to have, to be able to spend money anywhere I wanted or give it back or have complete freedom and never have to worry about it ever, ever, ever, ever again.

But it's not the only driving factor or I feel like I would've done it already. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. 

Final Thoughts and Community Engagement

Alright dude, we gotta wrap this one up. For those of you that listening, if you [00:32:00] are interested in our online course. So we've got this great course called Starting Block, and you can find it, how to Start your Business.

We're on Instagram too starting, it's called Starting Block course. Starting Block course. And then we're on, uh, YouTube too, so you can like, look on YouTube and find us there. Yeah, what else? Anything else? I'd say too, like the, I think the, a lot of what. Parker and I are interested in is, is finding like-minded people and That's right.

And exploring the idea of a bigger community and how this is affecting other people. So just actually just drop us a line. Yeah. Totally. Reach out. We would love to hear from you. We will totally write, we read everything. We reply to everything. So, if you're listening to this, you got questions, you got ideas, you just wanna jam on something let us know.

And, uh, we'll catch you on the next one.