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Against All Odds Podcast, The Less than 1% Chance with Maria Aponte
Maria highlights stories of people that have been the "less than 1% chance" and have come out of their situations thriving and seeing life as happening FOR them and not TO them! Inspiring and empowering stories that will show you that against all odds you can make it through anything!
Against All Odds Podcast, The Less than 1% Chance with Maria Aponte
Persevering Against All Odds: Jamie Tilke's Transformative Journey from Poverty to Success
What happens when you refuse to let your circumstances define you? Join me, Maria Aponte, as we explore the extraordinary journey of Jamie Tilke on "Against All Odds, the Less Than 1% Chance" podcast. Jamie's story is a powerful testament to grit and determination, rising from extreme poverty and a lack of education to becoming a decorated Special Forces soldier and a successful entrepreneur. Listen as he recounts how living in a car and selling gum in school led him to the military, where he served 24 years in elite units like the Ranger Battalion and Special Forces. Discover how these experiences laid the foundation for his transition into a thriving business career, turning self-doubt and imposter syndrome into a multimillion-dollar empire.
Ever felt stuck or complacent, unsure if you could make a significant change? Inspired by Jon Acuff's "Start," I share my personal journey of battling self-doubt to launch this podcast. Learn the crucial role of consistent action in unlocking your potential and the emotional challenges of balancing work and personal life. Hear heartfelt anecdotes about the importance of surrounding yourself with supportive people and taking bold steps, even if it means temporarily stepping back to move forward.
Parenting is no easy feat, especially through life's many stages. This episode dives into the complexities of guiding children through emotional challenges and the transformative power of accountable communication. We emphasize the value of honesty and open dialogue within the family. Hear how conscious parenting and acknowledging our mistakes prepare our children for life's complexities. Finally, we discuss the importance of therapy and community support in both personal and professional spheres, illustrating the profound impact of seeking help and collaboration. Join us for an episode filled with resilience, learning, and the courage to persevere against all odds.
Find Jamie on:
Instagram: @Visionmotion2024
Website: www.visioninmotion.co
Follow Maria on Facebook HERE
Follow Maria on Instagram HERE
Follow Maria on YouTube HERE
Welcome back to the Against All Odds the Less Than 1% Chance podcast with your host, Maria Aponte, where we will hear stories of incredible people thriving against all odds, and my hope is that we can all see how life is always happening for us, even when we are the Less Than 1% Chance.
Speaker 2:Hey, hey, welcome back to, Against All Odds, the Less Than 1% Chance podcast with your host, Maria Aponte. I am so excited for you guys to listen to this guest today. So Jamie grew up super poor, not educated lack of financial literacy. Became a special forces soldier and served for 24 years, transitioned into the entrepreneurial space and became a real estate investor. He also has a podcast, so we'll talk a little bit about that. I am so excited for you to meet Jamie Tilka.
Speaker 3:Welcome. Yeah, thank you so much for letting me come on. I saw your podcast and I was like I really want to be on there, so thank you for letting me come on and talk to your listeners.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited. We just chatted a little bit off camera and it was like instant, oh my gosh. I love this connection. This is great. So I think that you're in for such a good episode today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, twinsies. I don't know if you're familiar with what was that 70s cartoon? Oh, it was the twins with the purple. They wore purple, yes yes, yes.
Speaker 2:So yeah, we both love purple. That was something, and his brand colors have purple in it. I'm like all about it to hear a little bit of background of your story. How did you come to land in the entrepreneurial space and how did this podcast come about?
Speaker 3:Awesome. Thanks so much. Yeah, so I grew up in upstate New York, not too far away from Cooperstown, which is a baseball hall of fame and, as you've already mentioned, grew up really poor. Sometimes we didn't have a house, lived in a car, lived in a tent. That was quite the experience, but that definitely helped shape me into who I became. I think the biggest motivating factor there was my circumstances caused me to want to do what it took to not have that happen for my future. So graduated high school, didn't go to college because I thought I was going to be a rock star. Clearly that did not work out, but I did try. And then after that I ended up becoming an over the road truck driver, which is completely opposite of anything to do with music and after about two years of doing that I literally was just bored. And then I was watching Rambo and after the end of Rambo I'm like I'm gonna join the army and in fact my best friend texted me.
Speaker 3:He goes dude, he's text my wife and tell her why you joined the army, because she doesn't believe me. And so I sent her this one minute and 44 second video clip from the scene of Rambo, where Colonel Troutman walks into the tent because they're trying to figure out. I forget the other guy's name. I know his real name is gene and he's whatever word possessed god in heaven to create a man like rambo. And then the guy walks in. He goes god didn't create rambo, I did. And anyway, there's this little monologue after that where you don't want to seem to accept the fact that you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare. I saw that and the testosterone started flowing. I was like, damn, I gotta do, I got to do that.
Speaker 2:That's something I got to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'll speed up the timeline because I'm going off on all these various digressions. Yeah, so I did that. I served for 24 years. I went in the Ranger Battalion, which is an elite special operations light infantry unit, and then from there, volunteered to learn Chinese. After I did that, I went into Special Forces, green Paret, and served the remainder of my career there, predominantly in and around Asia. So that was super exciting. And then, as far as your question is, how did I get into entrepreneurship? It's funny because I recall, even at a very young age, because of my circumstances, I would buy gum or get gum from the supermarket and then I would upcharge it, and I would do it in school because the kids didn't have access to it or their parents didn't allow them, whatever the reason was. I'm buying it for 25 cents a pack and I'm selling each piece for 25 cents, right?
Speaker 1:I used to do that with glow pumps, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I'm getting like a 400% return on my investment. I'm like this is freaking awesome. Matter of fact, I brought home 40 bucks one day and my mom literally goes where did you get that money from? I'm like mom, I sold bubblegum. She's like, no, you didn't. I was like, yes, I did so. Clearly I had had the bug back then, but I didn't really understand it.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious. I didn't even think I used to do that with Blow Pops. We would buy the big packet Sam's.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I would sell them until I got caught and was told that I couldn't do that at school.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but that's because I think again, your mind's flowing but we're just not thinking about it in that particular way and maybe didn't have mentorship. But yeah, I had, towards the end of my military career I was working overseas and I was just doing some more work where we work with other government agencies, and I had this moment where I was riding on a wave of having done some successful stuff for the organization and I just had this epiphany one day where I told my wife I was like why am I not building a multimillion dollar empire? And I was like I think it's because I underestimated my circumstances. I feel like because I'm sure you're aware of the phrase that people say imposter syndrome, and so I feel like maybe I wasn't adequate enough, I wasn't educated enough, I wasn't in the right circles, this and that. But I just had that moment where I was sitting there and I was like no, I am. And so I told my wife I said we're going to get out of the army, we're going to become, become real estate investors, and at that time we were six figures in debt. And I'm very transparent about the numbers, even though it's embarrassing, because I want other people to understand it's unlikely that your circumstances are terribly worse than that.
Speaker 3:We were $127,000 in credit card debt. That did not include my house nor my car. We had $5 in the bank and I told my wife we're going to get out and she was just like this dude is batshit crazy man. But she knows that I have a great work ethic and I'm relentless in my pursuit. And story is super deep in and of itself. So I'm just going to give you the cliff note version, which was asked a ton of people, everybody's love, your energy, love your enthusiasm. Vision's great. It's not going to work. I'm like it is going to work.
Speaker 3:And then, finally, I flew out to California to my best friend since we were nine years old and I told him the concept and I said, listen, I'll split everything with you, 50-50. I just I need your money. I'll do 100% of the work. And so he did. And then we built a small boutique hotel, rented out to traveling military people and then from there, bought another 12 and then flipped some houses and bought another nine and bought an office building and it just grew. So in 36 months I went from six figures in debt to a multimillion dollar portfolio.
Speaker 3:And again, I'm sharing that, not because I'm bragging, but because I want people that are listening to this show to know your circumstances should not impede you from proceeding on your goals and aspirations. You just need to put yourself in the right circles, get yourself in and around the right people, right. As Jim Rohn says, you are the total sum of the five people you hang out with the most right, and if that circle isn't cheerleading for you and if they ain't rooting for you, then you need to find a new circle.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, anyway, I could go on and on and on. I won't, but I'll hand it back over to you. In summary, that's when the entrepreneurship started really in like full full swing. So 2020, when I exited the military, and we've been doing it since then.
Speaker 2:So four years then.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, that is incredible.
Speaker 1:Thank you that is it?
Speaker 2:just it blows my mind and I love it Because, again, one of the things that I always say and that I truly believe in, and I think it was Tony Robbins that said it first, but I also have a mindset coach that sees Tony as his mentor and is in his masterminds and everything, and he even says it all the time and I think, because I heard it so much from him, it's been ingrained in me and I feel it to the core of my being, that life is always happening for you and not to you. And you took life happening and gave it a purpose and you were so relentless in the pursuit of no, this is my dream and I'm going to make it happen. And I thought just, I get like goosebumps and it just fuels all my energy. I just I love it. I think that it's really easy to stay in the victimhood of your circumstances.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I and I've been there, done that. I've been there, done that and that's why I know it's so easy, easy. That's where we stay in the land of average. And I'm rereading this is like an older book by john acoff start and he talks about your pursuit of the land of awesome and how you basically took what usually takes somebody know in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s and shrunk that.
Speaker 3:No, look, this is the analogy that I use with my wife all the time. I said we're taking off on the runway, you need 160 miles an hour in order to get this aircraft off the ground. We're at 140 miles an hour. There's 300 feet of runway left. All the buzzards are going off saying pull up. That's in a reference to my age I'm 52 this year and I told my wife I go, we have to, we have a minimum amount of time and we got to get this thing going. So, all chips on black seven. Right, it's all in plan. Yeah, let's do this shit.
Speaker 3:So it's funny because, specifically with relation, I mean you shared a bunch of stuff with me too about a lot of your trials that you've been through, and it's a reoccurring theme for people that they're going to. You know you have to stand back up and you have to keep going. At the end of the day, that's what it's easy to say, but it's not easy to do, and I think that people get complacent. I think that they're comfortable. Right, I'm making $20 an hour. I'm making 40 grand a year, 50 grand a year, 100 grand a year. Okay, they have to ask themselves what do they really want? Is it fulfilling If you hate your effing job every single day and you wake up? Is that good? I would rather make 80 grand and love what I'm doing than make 120 grand and hate my life every day.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, grand and love what I'm doing than make 120 grand and hate my life every day.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes and so yes, I agree, yeah, yeah, and I said this to you before we started. The thing that I say to people is are you willing to take two steps backwards, to go three steps?
Speaker 3:forward Think about that Because many people, their immediate response is yes, and I'm like I hear you, but I don't think that that's true, and I'm going to tell you why. Because if it's not tangible, if you can't touch it, breathe it, feel it, smell it, then instantly you're doubting yourself. All of the shit that's coming into your head like can I really find those type of deals? Can I get these people connected? Can I get these resources? Whatever your situation is and that's where it goes back to being in and around the right people Whatever your situation is, and that's where it goes back to being in and around the right people right, you need people that are going to cheer you. The bottom line is I know it sounds super cliche, because we all heard it when we were kids you can be anything you want. You can be the president of the United States, it's true.
Speaker 3:The question is are you willing to put in the effort and potentially, as I tell my kids all the time, are you willing to take on delayed gratification because everything that we're doing right now is not? We almost got divorced twice. Yeah, because during my military time and this was a revelation that I had a quite unemotional one. To be honest with you is I told her I said I was gone 90% of the time, but when I was home I was a hundred percent present. Now I'm home 100% of the time but I'm only 10% present.
Speaker 3:Emotionally, mentally, I'm so engaged in the success and pursuit of what I'm doing that I'm sacrificing a ton of time, and so I've had to pull back and rebalance that right, because that's not healthy either. It physically put me in the hospital because I was overworking myself and obviously stressing the relationship and the children and all that stuff. So I'm not saying to do that either. I'm saying there needs to be a medium. But most importantly, what I'm saying is you have to take action, that's what I tell you if you take no action, then expect no, then no different change in your outcome, your circumstances.
Speaker 3:It's just not to happen.
Speaker 2:I had been thinking and talking about making a podcast for four years and it was like this, like you said, this imposter syndrome, who am I? Who will even listen? All the things that go through your head and my dad passed away October 2022. But in June excuse me, yeah, june of 2022, before that he was declining and I took a weekend retreat up in the Pacific Northwest and I have a friend she's a healer and a certified therapist, like all the things right. She was staying off of the Columbia River, so we literally it was just like meditations and it was nature and it was amazing. And in that, in one of the sessions that I did with her, it came up that I was going to have a podcast and that it was going to be called against all odds. And thankfully she recorded them because I remember it vaguely, because I was like in this meditative state and I remember it vaguely, and I had to go back and listen to the recording and I was like that's it.
Speaker 2:So last year, at a mindset conference with my mindset coach it was his first live event and he, like, at the beginning of the weekend, he was like your goal this weekend is to take action on a goal that you've had that you've been afraid to take action on. And I was like there's this podcast thing that's lingering in my mind, it's been on my heart because I again I feel like I have a story to tell and I feel like others have stories that they've beaten these odds. And that weekend I signed up for a platform called Buzzsprout and is what I use to upload my podcast on, and that was like my big action on it. And then we had to put a deadline of like when this was going to actually happen, and I said, okay, by June 1st I'll put my podcast out there.
Speaker 2:And it was, I want to say, may 29th, may 30th, that I actually launched it last year. So I did it in two weeks. I created the artwork for it, I created the intro, the outro, like everything, and I was like, okay, let me just record my first one. And I did. And I was like, oh my God, why did I wait so long?
Speaker 2:Because, this feels so right and that first season it was solo episodes. It was interviewing friends that I know have gone through really difficult things because I didn't know any better, but I was still taking action on this dream. And then I'm about to launch a season two and this is what we're recording now and it's just it's so exhilarating because even my boyfriends that it's like less than I don't know. It was like 4%, 3% of people that start a podcast get past episode eight or some crazy number like 10.
Speaker 2:Okay, so it's so the odds. And so he he was like what episode are you on now? And I was like season one had 36 episodes. And he was like Look at that. You've already surpassed and I'm like yeah.
Speaker 3:No, that's amazing. Congratulations. You should be super proud, honestly, and listening to you I don't know if this specifically aligns with you know the podcast, but I feel like it's relevant to this conversation. I'm sure that you've heard this before, but it's something that I'm shouting from the mountaintops consistently over the past month and that is people are like how did you do it? What's the cheat code? The cheat code is consistency period, taking action. That's the cheat code to success.
Speaker 3:First step obviously you got to do something. You cannot sit there, I said on another podcast of my own. I told somebody. I said my wife used to walk in the room and I would be watching Biggest Loser. No bullshit. I'd literally have a half a gallon of Reese's peanut butter ice cream with some gummy bears on the side, maybe some Ruffles, sour cream and chips and Mountain Dew and probably a bucket of cotton candy. And she's like are you serious? What are you doing? And then you're sitting here crying.
Speaker 3:I'm like I feel love for these people. Yeah, anyway, I love the fact that you did it and then you were exhilarated, right, is it scary? Yes, it is, but there's massive rewards on the other side and let me just say one more being injected into cultures like that gave me such an appreciation for both extremes of really nice crap and really really bad crap and saying I come back here and just have a great appreciation for every opportunity for a warm bed, for a hot meal, for all of these things. And so what I'm saying to you and your listeners right now is one thing that I'm loving about the podcast is I would not be sitting here talking to you today if I wasn't doing it. So now I just met you and we already shared some stories. I loved hearing your story. It was super cool. I feel like I could sit there and meet up with you and have teas and crumpet and we could kick it for another two hours and oh my.
Speaker 2:God easily.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that would not have happened. So, if you didn't take that leap of faith, if I didn't take that leap of faith back to the point of your podcast, against All Odds, right, whatever your circumstances is to anybody listening to your show. If you have no money, if you don't have a place to stay, if you lost a relationship, if you lost your job, it's not the end. You just have to. Yes, take a moment and pause, right.
Speaker 2:Feel the things. Feel the things, because you need to be able to process.
Speaker 3:But don't perpetuate it, right? Go back into the victimhood mentality, right? Because, like even I used to jump out of airplanes and there's a couple of times that I hit the ground super hard where, like I questioned, did I break something? And I would sit there for a few seconds. First, give thanks that I'm still alive. But the second thing is OK, let me catch my breath. All right, let's get up, let's start moving, or I could just sit there and lay there until somebody came to get me, and I think that a lot of people do that in various circumstances in your life, especially when it gets super emotional and I think that's where it's just super, super important.
Speaker 3:You've got to have somebody that you can turn to, or a group of people that are going to hold you accountable, that are going to help lift you up and not bring you down. That doesn't mean that you can't be brutally honest with somebody. I tell my kids all the time I'm like it's not what you say, it's how you say it. You say to me, dad, you're fucked up. I'm like, okay, I have a problem with that delivery, with how you said that. Yeah, but if you came to me and you said, listen, dad, I heard what you said, if you would allow me to, I'd like to express to you why I don't think that's okay. I'm probably going to listen to what you have to say and I may even concede at the end of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my gosh, we have a lot of similarities that it just blows my mind. I am super honest with my kids. I have 15 and 15, 18 and 20. And moment that, before they leave my car, I'm like, okay, don't do stupid shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah don't do stupid shit. It's in language that they will understand, that they will relate to just don't do stupid shit. If you have to think about the fact that, am I going to get in trouble with that, right there, right there. To think about the fact that, am I going to get in trouble with that right there, right there, that's the start of doing the stupid shit. However, I'm very, very open with them and I want them to be very open with me. How they tell me things is huge and, as you said that I'm like, yes, me too.
Speaker 2:I've gone through a lot with my kids. My oldest daughter was diagnosed bipolar at age 12, which was, I think, way too early to be diagnosed in my opinion, but it was a really rough start to her teenage years, really really rough, and I was doing it on my own and it was a lot and it took a lot out of me to be able to then not be able to give that to the other two little younger ones and they went through it a lot. So I have always been very honest and I always want them to be like mom, this is not working. Or my son had a problem with the teacher, the way that the teacher said something to him and I think he called. He said something that was just a little out of line, like it was definitely crossing the line of it should be also mutual respect. And so my son came home and he was so mad he's 18 now, but he was so mad and I was like all right, this is what we're going to do.
Speaker 2:You are going to write an email and you're going to copy this amazing person called your mom on it and you're going to say dear Mr Soans, I just needed to reach out to you and let you know that the way that you spoke to me in class today and embarrassed me in front of the class, I did not appreciate. And just to highlight the situation and to just respectfully say I didn't like the way that you treated me and I need you to know. And I said that's two things that you're doing there. Number one, you're copying me, so there's an adult attached to it that can vouch for you. And number two, it's now in writing and it's done respectfully, so if anything happens in the future, you have that proof. So when you talk to me respectfully and let me know the situation of any problem like we can have a full-on conversation, but if you come into the car and were like mom, I can't believe that this asshole yeah whoa.
Speaker 2:You don't talk about a teacher that way, because you don't know what they're going through. They're adults you need to respect. Like I would have taken it completely different. Instead, he came to me as mom, like I can't believe Mr So-and-so did this and I was like what happened? And it's that same approach and I can give you the tools. And now, every time they have any issues, did you send an email? Did you? Did you send an email? Were you nice in the email? Did you copy me on it? Because I didn't see an email come through.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's whatever we prepare them for life. But yeah, it's the way they approach things and I completely agree.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my daughter had a similar situation. I like the email thing. I didn't think of that. I had her go back in there and address it. But anyway, I'm 100% with you on the fact of, specifically, I'm referring to my 11-year-old daughter and she's so emotionally intelligent and, yes, she's my child, so I'm biased, but I've studied it a lot.
Speaker 3:And I told my wife, I go, I'm telling you she's at another level, man. Even when she was seven, I believe, and my sister passed the way that she came into the room and just she understood the atmosphere. She was, as we like to say, in the military, she was situationally aware. And it was blowing my mind yeah.
Speaker 2:Is she your youngest?
Speaker 3:She is, my oldest is 30. Whoa, yeah, and how many do you have? Total five, so we have a blended marriage. Um, I had three, she had one, we got married and then we have the youngest together got it um, we had a six. Unfortunately we lost him or whatever, so that was tough sorry, yeah, so sorry.
Speaker 2:And so I don't know if it's like this younger child thing, cause my youngest is that way and I'll go into a therapy session with her, cause I believe that everybody needs therapy.
Speaker 2:That's just my very personal opinion, cause it's done wonders for me and it's made me understand not to be upset with the different parts of me that come out like anger is super important and it protects you, it knows your value and that's why you're angry and so things like that. So I really truly believe in therapy and so we go to a therapy session. I remember going to a therapy session with my oldest, which is 20 now but still not emotionally the same level as my youngest, my 15 year old, and I'm just and I look at her and it's the same therapist, and I look at the therapist and I'm like this is such a different type of session, much different type of session. Is it the youngest child that just has already gone through so much with the other two that meet, or the other kids that maybe they just know different? I don't know, but it blows my mind the difference in, like how she can read the room what's the age separation, though?
Speaker 3:what's the age separation?
Speaker 2:so my oldest is 20 she just turned 20 and this one is 15 and a half. She'll be 16. So five years-ish.
Speaker 3:I'm listening to your story and then also thinking about my own. I had my first one when I was 20. I had our 12-year-old when I was 40. Yeah, I said I tell my kids. I was like, look, yeah, I'm more stable. She gets a different lifestyle. I have way more learned skills. I've traveled the world, but you guys got me at my full peak energy like shucking and jiving, running, playing, throwing you around in the bouncy house. I still can to some extent right, but not the same as I was when I was 20. When I was 20, I was still a kid myself right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I definitely think you're a product of your environment as well, and so I would say that may be part of the reason why your daughter's like that Aside from, obviously, we're also talking about male versus female and stuff. But anyway, a lot of these life lessons that you've gone through and all these things that you shared with me, before that you've had to traverse yourself as parents. That's before that you've had to traverse yourself as parents. That's what we want, right. We want to say, hey, don't do that. Unfortunately, as a and I don't remember who said it, but I read it in a psychology book this old German dude said too soon, old, too late, smart, right, because most of us are not going to learn from somebody else. Saying, hey, don't touch that, because it's super hot, it's once they get burned, and they're like oh shit, I touched that. And you're like yeah, I know, I told you that. 16 times.
Speaker 2:No shit, sherlock yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that and I tell them all the time you guys didn't come with a manual and the way that I needed to parent you and you you are all different. My ex-boyfriend that was in their life for about six years, or directly in their life, for about six years. He was there a little bit after as well, but he passed away in 2018 at 35 years old with a massive heart attack. It was just one of those freak things he worked out. It was this condition that he didn't know he had, and so forth, and stress didn't help. It was this condition that he didn't know he had, and so forth, and stress didn't help.
Speaker 3:But having to tell each one of them.
Speaker 2:It was a vastly different reaction and still to this day, my oldest, which was really super close to him. She had no emotion. How am I supposed to understand that no emotion? She was like she kind of like closed in, bottled it all up, and no emotion. My son cried. However, his way of coping is remembering. Do you remember the time when daddy asked the one?
Speaker 3:do you?
Speaker 2:remember the time when and my little one like it like I had she was standing up when I told her and she like crippled down to her feet, like it was just it was her and I had very similar reactions but it was like devastating and so and we all have different ways of remembering him and all it's just so crazy. There's no manual that tells you this is how you should parent this person and this one's the way, this is how this one goes. And but I have become a more conscious parent, I've become more aware of maybe that reaction is not a good one and I'm very good if, for example, no sleep that night or whatever, and you're just not in the same headspace as normal and I'm too snippy, and more so that I can also teach them that
Speaker 2:it's OK that you're you don't have to be perfect and that you can apologize for the things that you do sometimes, because we don't always go with that intention right. So my intention wasn't to snap at you. My intention was to tell you this and I'm sorry that I did snap. That wasn't my intention. I apologize. However, this is what I wanted to say and it just it's. I've had situations that I had with my oldest daughter and my youngest daughter and it was such a difference of how I responded and it was such a different response from them. So I I love that we get to evolve and that's what we get to show our kids that there's no manual and I say that all the time. There's no manual. You didn't come with a book that came to tell me how to parent you. So I'm doing the best that I can.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, 100%. I know you said that you had a period of time where you were a single mom too, and I did too. There was about three, three plus years that I was a single dad and I was still active duty, which is insane.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Because every time that I would deploy, then I would have to try to rally yeah, yeah. So anyway, that's crazy, do you?
Speaker 3:where do you live now? North Carolina. We live in North Carolina.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're East coast like me, yeah, and so you still have a hotel.
Speaker 3:Yep, yep, we're still running it. In fact, we just had our. We have a weekly meeting with our staff. That helps run it, yeah.
Speaker 2:I used to be in the hotel industry and I love hotels.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. I didn't meet you before you started this, or I would have tried to convince you to come work for us.
Speaker 2:I was on the wholesale side of it, so I contracted hotels to sell the allotment to the wholesale travel market.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I was. That was a different previous life but I was damn good at what I did and made a lot of hotels, damn good money to. My location was South Florida and I have I still have amazing relationships from that and it wasn't a pretty awesome career. And it was a pretty awesome career and it was like 20, I think it was like 23 to 30, 33, 34.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the vision for it came about because during the latter part of my military career I not only traveled an immense amount, but a lot of times I would end up staying in hotels, and overseas. Typically, you can stay in the really nice hotels because the rates are not the same.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I was living in the Ritz Carlton for six months. I had three butlers. It was ridiculous but I said to myself I'm like dang, why can't we provide upscale accommodations like this for military people? Because a lot of times the military they may have to use the lodging, the hotels on base and their subpar. I'm not going to name the installation, but there's one that it's so raggedy and so I can't even believe that they're still operating this thing. And yeah, they can stay outside too. But you got stuff like the La Quinta or you got the Super 8 or what.
Speaker 2:Which is not fun.
Speaker 3:No, and also the confinement of the space, right. So it's 200 square feet, 225 square feet with a chair in a corner, like I had to have my son come stay with me one time and I literally had to blow up the air mattress on the floor and then put it down every morning just to walk around the room. It was insane. So my concept was I'm going to buy small apartments, I'm going to make them upscale Italian porcelain tiles, soft closed drawers, italian leather, bose, soundbars, like we pimp these things out to the nine and I said but I'm going to charge them less than what the government requires them to spend so that they can have a sweet place to stay in. And so that was the whole concept.
Speaker 1:And I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because, as a traveling military guy, when you're away from home it sucks already as it is, but then when you have less than ideal living circumstances, so it really sucks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it just helps out man. It just helps processing it and also makes it a little bit more enjoyable. And in some circumstances where somebody might be in a school for a month or six weeks, if their family's not terribly far, they could be like, hey, why don't you come visit me for a week? And there's enough room that they can spread out. Again, it's not a 225 square foot hotel. So, yes, we still have it. That's what we're running. And then, like I mentioned to you before, similar to you, I've recently just started some coaching and speaking.
Speaker 2:I love it. So give us a little bit about that. I want to hear about the podcast because obviously that's, like now, my newest passion project, so I love it. So give us some context about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I had. My epiphany was January of this past year, because I had built so many businesses and was running them in parallel, as I already alluded to earlier. I was running myself ragged. My learning lesson from that for anybody listening is that I don't care how smart you are or what your work ethic is. The bottom line is you have to have other people to help you row those boats, because it's not sustainable. We literally I had launched six companies virtually within a six to 12 month period of time. It was silly, anyway. So my wife was like what do you want to do? What makes you happy? And I told her I genuinely get excited about helping somebody else put their vision into fruition, because that's what I'm good at. Somebody else put their vision into fruition because that's what I'm good at.
Speaker 3:I'm a visionary. I can see the steps that other people can't, and the analogy I like to use a lot of times is a hoarder's house. Somebody goes in there and they don't know where to start. I'm like I'll help you clear the pathway and show you where things can go, and then you can keep going from there. So that's it. And I had a bunch of people that reached out to me that were like hey man, I going from there, so that's it. And I had a bunch of people that reached out to me that were like hey man, I see you've had some success and stuff Like I want to open this coffee shop or I want to start this pressure washing business or I want to become a real estate agent, whatever the thing is that they want to become. So, yeah, I just had people reach out to me that were like, can you help me get started? And that's.
Speaker 3:I woke up at 3am in the morning. It became very clear to me. I was like I want to help other people figure out what their pathway looks like. Because, back to one of our earlier comments that we discussed, it's like why are more people not doing this? And I think the harsh reality it may sound insensitive, but the vast majority of people are never going to pursue it. And if they do pursue it, they're going to hit one or two obstacles and they're going to turn around because it's too stressful.
Speaker 3:But there are people out there that I think do, but maybe they don't have the right circle right or they just need that little edge up right. One rung, two rungs on the ladder. So that's what Vision in Motion is the company that I started. It's about helping people turn their dreams into reality, and so because of that then I started the podcast Motion Matters, and I did it very similar to you. I wanted to talk to other people and hear their stories and I wanted to share those stories with other people in hopes that might help somebody say dang, if that dude was six figures in debt and built a multimillion dollar portfolio, why can't I? Or, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3:Yeah so that's what Motion Matters is about and, honestly, one of the things that I didn't realize but I just said it to you already is I've only recorded 10 episodes, but of my 10 episodes I've gotten to talk to 10 people that I would not have talked to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the coolest thing. I seriously feel like I've been saying this all week long. I'm like, oh my God, I feel like we were meant. I wholeheartedly believe in people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime, and I've had so many like just in this last week that I'm like, oh my God, you are supposed to be in my life. This is so cool and it just it's this energy that I really truly believe that, like you said, the people that you're most around, the people that you surround yourself with, is so important, because if you are the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room and I like I have these incredible mentors that I'm just like, oh goodness, this is amazing and, yes, do I have my team that I mentor, that I help Absolutely, but I then surround myself up with people that are even higher up and it's just, it is the coolest thing.
Speaker 2:Like when you're like, oh my God, I could totally just listen to you all day long. This is amazing.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, 100% amazing.
Speaker 2:So what limiting beliefs or like roadblocks that you have to overcome in order to get to where you are today?
Speaker 3:I think I touched on it earlier I've definitely never been I'm not risk adverse in my military terminology sticking with that. I tell people I'll, I jump out of the airplane without the shoot and then I figure out how I'm going to land. I'm not saying that's necessarily the most intelligent way to go about it. What I'm saying is, when I'm passionate about something, I'm going to go.
Speaker 3:I think the limiting belief I touched on earlier was again and honestly I don't think I realized this till recently I think subconsciously I always maybe didn't go after the massive things because I grew up poor or because I didn't go to college and I wasn't intelligent and it took the season of my life to do things. That really caused me this moment of reflection where I said, wait, I learned how to speak Chinese fluently. There was 20 people in that class and when we ended there was nine of us. Maybe I'm not stupid. Wait, I went from negative six figures in debt and built a multimillion dollar. Maybe I'm not. Maybe I do have business sense and strategy. So I'm saying collectively, I think the limiting belief was potentially that maybe my upbringing or my circumstances didn't shape me to potentially do great things, but knowing that I was capable of great things. It's really weird to explain.
Speaker 2:I get it completely. I definitely understand that, because if I would have let the everything that I went through in my life like keep hold of me, I wouldn't have this. I wouldn't like, I wouldn't have lost 40 pounds. I wouldn't have I may not have been alive right now. So it's this tenacity and persistence saved my life, the consistency that saved my life. My dad used to say when I was little that I was like the little tick on top of the tick that continuously bothers the tick that's already bothering the dog.
Speaker 2:You are persistent in your pursuit and I'm like okay, I didn't know what that meant in that moment, and that has literally been like what I do give me a dream. It doesn't matter how long it's taking me to be successful. I'm still here, I'm still consistent, I still love the fact that I wake up and I get to help people get healthy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. The one word that I love in English is perseverance. And that's why I tell people and I'll keep this brief because I know you got to close up, but it's. You can't see me, I'm six two. When I joined the service I was 145 pounds. That's ridiculous. You can see my rib cage and everybody's. There's no way in hell, dude, that you're ever going to work in special forces. It's just not going to happen. But I tell people, I'm like look, the reason why I made it is because I don't quit. That's it. There was dudes that could run two miles in 10 minutes and 30 seconds. They didn't make it. Why? It's a mental thing, and what I'm telling you is perseverance, to have your eyes set on the prize and be relentless in your pursuit and, I would say, on the way. You have to be adaptable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's never going to go the way that you think it's going to have to be focused on the goal, but fluid in the approach that you have to end up taking, because it might have to change often.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, yes yes.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, this was so amazing. I like I think we could. We'll do a part two on your podcast, but this definitely has to happen because I seriously feel like we can riff back and forth all day and it would be just such a great conversation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, thank you again. I really really greatly appreciate it. Can't wait to have you on my show. I want people to hear again, you know, if Maria went from that to where she is like how bad is my stuff Really?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's the definitely I we. It's so funny how we are very similar in our purpose of the podcast. So, I love that, so I will put all of your information in the show notes listeners. I hope you got so much out of today because I know that I did just having this conversation, but I'll put any way that you can connect with him on the show notes, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, jamie, and thank you for listening today. Peace out, guys. Love your life. Bye.
