WEBVTT
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This will give you just kind of a glimpse of my day.
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I met with Caroline at nine for, for Caroline's cookies, and I met with Jonathan Perry.
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You know who Jonathan Perry is?
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Oh yeah.
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I love Jonathan.
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I met with him at 11 and I've had that phone turned over all day intentionally.
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I wanna be intentional with my time, but if you're calling to meet with me, I wanna be intentional.
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And my business partner called my wife and he said, Hey, I'm just making sure everything's okay.
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There's a slew of texts he didn't answer.
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Mm-hmm.
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I personally called him.
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He didn't answer his phone.
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I think something's wrong.
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Have you talked to him today?
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She said he's fine.
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He's fine.
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So that just lets you know how readily accessible I am.
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So I'm flipping it over, so I can't see it either.
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It's been a great day.
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It's been an excellent day.
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Just off of that.
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Welcome to the Deal podcast.
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Uh, I'm, I'm so grateful for your time, but also you guys got to hear, we hit record, but he was talking about time.
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You know, the intentionality of time and, uh, he was so intentional about putting his phone not only off, but like upside down.
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Amen.
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So it doesn't distract.
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And as you guys are listening to this podcast, first of all, our mission and vision is to inspire the next generation of deal makers, right?
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We wanna encourage people and give hope, because, you know, if you're just looking at the news or social medias swiping and all that stuff, you get really afraid.
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And that could prevent a lot of people from taking the leap into entrepreneurship and investing.
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So we want to encourage and bring hope to the future deal makers.
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And then also, man, we love deals, right?
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Uh, the, the group here loves helping people sell their business and then go buy another one and then selling it.
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It's, it's such joy doing these kind of things.
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So with that, we're, we're bringing on Brandon, who.
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You, you referenced Jude as a security blanket and as a, uh, uh, gave you confidence, man.
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So let, let's start with this.
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Who are you and how do you know Jude?
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So, my name's Brandon Robinson, and I am an ordinary guy that God's allowed live a supernatural life.
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And he's in, you know, Jude, I don't have to tell you who Jude is, right?
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But Jude was my corporate attorney, um, beginning, I believe in 2011 or 2012.
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And God has put.
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The Judes in my life consistently.
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And at that phase of my life, Jude was as necessary as my business partner that said yes to carry me through the journey.
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Jude was the piece of the puzzle that God put in place to carry me to a place that I never dreamed or imagined, or envisioned with my earthly optics that we had the potential to go.
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And Jude's Jude's spiritual balance resonated well with me.
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We had, I think we had as many church conversations and I mean we, he, we took each other to church, right?
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Not the physical building'cause we are the church, right?
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And so I think we had as many spiritual conversations as we did business conversations, which gave so much more validity to the business conversations because he was somebody that instantly I gravitated to instantly.
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I had trust with instantly and.
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He also guy gave me somebody that could put guardrails up that said, Hey, Brandon, in your, in your immaturity in this phase, not a knock on where I was Truly, I was immature in the transactional business of selling a company.
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I knew nothing about that.
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Um, here's some things that I've seen.
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And so we, we made some, some provisions in there where we had some guardrails up against us.
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But I look back on my journey throughout life and there are certain key figures that are on your Mount Rushmore, right?
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Your own personal and so on.
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My personal Mount Rushmore is j David.
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If he called and said, Hey, BI need you to do this.
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I'm gonna figure out a way to do, hence being here at the podcast today, right?
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Um, much to the dismay of probably my company, but nonetheless, um, is, is worthy in every aspect of me to show up because he showed up for me in a time in my life where I needed somebody to show up and guide me, and God sent him and we forged a lifelong brotherhood transcended the bounds of business, or it wasn't transactional, you know, it was uniquely different.
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And so I'm looking around, I'm sitting in a building.
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And I looked at the tenant role and the tenant role, I'm assuming is about 25 to 30.
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Is that probably fair to say?
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Yeah, we're full up.
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Yeah.
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There's not a vacancy.
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Right.
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And from what I saw, and uh, and I just look at, at how God continues to bless and walk in lot step with Jude, that I'm sitting in a building that he owns on South College in a city that we grew up in.
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Right.
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That is, uh, the city I grew up in.
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That is, you know, the ability to own real estate and own real estate in a, in a significant portion of your city.
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And then, you know, to have tenants that fill that building, like, I'm just continuing to, I haven't seen Jude in how long?
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Oh gosh.
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It's been years.
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Years.
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But I just walked in and immediately I'm like, I'm amongst God's blessings of Jew.
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That you're continuing to do God's good work and your avenue.
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You, you, and with my relationship with Jude.
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He was the hands and feet of Christ when I needed somebody to be the hands and feet of Christ walking through my journey.
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And you see in this building, and this is a materialistic thing, we're not taking this with us, but you can tell that Jude's been rewarded in the fact that he stayed lockstep where he needed to be and that he's continuing to grow in God's will and direction and plan for his life.
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You know, and it's awesome.
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It's awesome to see you.
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I already told you that when I bear hugged you, when I saw you, it's great to see how, and this is probably just the tip of the iceberg, right?
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If we start talking about, Hey, what's God done in open doors for you?
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So it, anyway, it's, uh, Judah was more than security blanket.
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Jude was one of those Holy Spirit moments in your life.
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Where God is, is the palpable nature of your walk and your, your prayers and your desires.
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God reaches down and meets them in tangible fashion in the form of Jude David in my life.
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So.
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Say he's my security blanket is underselling what he truly did for me, and put me on a platform of what you see or what you'll hear about today too.
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Kind way, way too kind, and definitely undeserving of all that praise.
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But, but thank you Brandon.
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Uh, I, I still remember the day I met you.
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Um, you know, as a lawyer, you probably have five to 10 people come into your office every week, you know, trying to hire you.
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And, uh, I remember when you and your partners came in and, uh, I met with, you know, Hank and with you guys.
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And, uh, Hank was, you know, my senior partner and, uh, you know, I was, I was very wet behind the ears and, and a new lawyer at that point.
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And I mean, I thought it was a great conversation.
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But we walked out and Hank looked at me and he said, you know, I'm, I'm toward the end of my career, but you, you may not realize this.
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You are gonna be totally intertwined and connected with those guys for the rest of your life.
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Those are the kinds of guys that will always be successful in business, always doing the right thing, and you're gonna be intertwined with them for the rest of your life.
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And I'm so thankful that, that we've been intertwined.
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Yeah.
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Up until now.
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A hundred percent.
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And truer words hadn't been spoken like that is true.
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Like you, you, you, you become part of the DNA and so I could not see you in five years or, you know, our services or, or our services provided become different.
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Right.
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I could not see you in five years or seven years or 10 years.
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And if I see you, no matter what, it'd be like we saw each other yesterday.
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Right.
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It's a true relationship.
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It's different.
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And uh, Hank was right.
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Hank was a Hank.
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Hank is a wise man, wise beyond his years and, uh, I'm so grateful that he put.
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Us with you, uh, on that, on that transaction and that deal because it was a fun, you and I spent a lot of nights, late nights going through terminology and verbiage, and so it was a great time though.
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I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have changed anything and extremely grateful that you took me through that phase.
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Guys listening in, uh, we're sitting at the table and you know, Brandon and, and Jude had this, like, had this moment, right?
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And, and it's a cool moment between, uh, and you're gonna get to share your story of like what you were going through.
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'cause you mentioned a few times like he was the hand and feet of Christ and he walked you through a really tough time or.
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I we're gonna hear that story, but I, I want you, I want you all to pause after I say this and then go do something.
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I'm gonna challenge you fellow deal makers and, and future deal makers.
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Pause this and think in your head what mentors have been in your life, what people have been in your life that have changed the trajectory of your life, that have reached down and have given you a hand up.
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And I want you to pause this, and I want you to call them or text them if you're able to, and let them know how much you appreciate them.
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Because man, nobody is a, a one man show.
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Nobody is a, a manmade anything.
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It's all from the, the gratitude or the.
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Uh, generosity of others.
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So please do that and then plug back in.
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Man, I, I really want to encourage you to, and then, heck, if you wanna share those stories, you can, you know, text me 3 5 2 2 7 4 4500 if you want to share that kind of story or go the deal podcast.com.
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We want to hear those stories of the people in your life who have changed the trajectory of your life.
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Anyways, back to back to the show, Brandon.
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Um, man, you, that was so touching, man.
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Hearing, hearing that story.
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I don't know what Jude paid you to say that, but man, it was awesome.
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I think I paid Jude.
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I don't think he paid me.
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He paid me with one of the best transactions that overseeing an unbelievable transaction that I get asked a lot.
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Hey, can you come speak?
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And I'm like, well, what do you want?
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Do you want the business story?
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Do you want the financial story?
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Or, and you don't know the end of the story, which is awe inspiring.
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Um, and I'm saying I'm in for a treat today.
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You're in for a treat today, Jude.
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Um.
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Or do you want the spiritual story?
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Right?
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Because it's the greatest spiritual journey of my life.
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And those are all one story, Brandon.
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It is.
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Yeah.
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It they become one right?
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Synonymous.
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It's the greatest spiritual maturation.
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It's the greatest spiritual journey.
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It's the point where I realize that we serve a God that whispers not a God that yells, and it's up to us to stop and see God's presence around us and we pray for him to lead God and direct us.
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Yeah.
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Do we take the time to listen when he does.
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Right?
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Sure.
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And so anyway, it's a, it's, it, it is an unbelievable story.
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It is truly crazy.
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Well, I, I have to pinch myself.
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I think the most important thing that we're all asking ourselves here is, did you bring us any cookies?
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Uh, I will, most certainly.
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If you let me use my phone.
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You can't use it.
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It's on the phone upside.
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I would text them to have them delivered to you.
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If not, they'll be here tomorrow.
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Yeah.
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We're gonna get into cookies.
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We're gonna get into all sorts of things in the story, but kind of walk us through your testimony, man.
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Kind of share, uh, a little bit about this.
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Uh, and yeah, feel free to talk spiritual.
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Feel free to, how long do we have?
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Like, are you editing this and you're gonna compress it down to what you need it to be?
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How, when are you needing, I told them under no circumstances are they allowed to cut you off.
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Okay.
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All right.
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So let's go however long it takes.
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Yeah.
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That's how long talk at all get comfortable.
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Yeah, man.
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So I was raised and my mom's, this is a, this is a cool thing about my story, right?
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If I can do it, anybody can do it.
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I didn't do it.
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God opens some doors and allow me to walk through it.
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My mom's a nursery school teacher and my dad sells appliances.
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I'm not a trust fund baby.
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We were probably lower middle class.
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I didn't know, I didn't realize it growing up.
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My mom drove a car that I asked, could you drop me off at the end of the block and let me walk the rest of the way to school?
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Like if we don't have to drive in, you know?
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Um, as we got older, we got a little bit nicer cars, and so I was raised in a fantastic Christian home.
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Unbelievable.
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Like my mom and I, I can count on a number of times.
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On one hand, I Viv, I, the only time I ever remember is one time, probably eight years old, my mom and dad arguing.
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So I was raised in a home that didn't show me, I didn't have to heal from anything growing up.
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I was raised in a home that didn't have my, I had a, an addict in the family who I love dearly, who's since passed away, but.
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As a result of that, my mom and dad didn't expose me to anything, so there was never alcohol in my, I've never tasted alcohol, I've never tasted coffee, which I had a coffee.
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Um, I opened a coffee shop one time that failed miserably.
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I lost $1.36 million in 12 months.
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So maybe if I've never drank coffee, maybe I should have steered clear that one.
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Not too good.
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But, uh, not all stories are success stories.
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They're all learning though.
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Anyway, so I've never tasted coffee and I've never tasted alcohol in my life.
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I'm 51 years old now, and so I was raised in a home where it was real easy to do the right thing.
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High character, high integrity, unbelievable upbringing.
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You know, at the age of 19, I'm a sophomore in undergrad, I was getting a bachelor of science in nursing.
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I was gonna go on and do, uh, anesthesia and so I get a knock on my door and it was, it's amazing what you can discern from a knock.
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And it was an unfriendly knock.
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It's a Sunday evening, probably about seven or eight o'clock.
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Um.
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There's a, uh, there's a, a restroom off of the kitchen in the main living room that I was in.
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So I could hear the commotion, I could hear people coming in and, and somebody said, Hey, look, we're looking for Mike Robinson.
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And I said, oh, okay.
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That's my dad.
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My dad had an appliance rent to own store, so it wasn't uncommon.
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Somebody would steal a 13 inch TV or washer and dryer or something, and the police would come back and bring that back, right?
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And so I walk outta the bathroom and there's like, there's 10 or 12 people in my living room, and I'm like, man, they're all dressed the same too.
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Everybody's blacked out, you know?
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And so, uh, they look at my dad and they say, Hey, actually we're looking for Brandon, Michael Robinson.
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And I was like, Hmm, that's me.
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And so, uh, they said, Hey, Brandon.
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They said, look, we've, we've made two arrests tonight and the two people we arrested, uh, we've arrested them for steroids and, and look at all their notes and look at all their transactions.
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We think that.
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You're the steroid dealer in Lake Charles.
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And, um, and they said, so we're here to have a frank conversation with you.
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And, uh, I was like, okay, well I can remember my mom.
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And she was like, no, remember I told you I had a relative that was an addict in and outta jail.
00:14:20.309 --> 00:14:24.539
And, uh, and so turned his life around, was phenomenal, the latter part of his life.
00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:26.730
But anyway, so my mom was like, no, no, no.
00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:27.600
She was shaking her head no.
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.208
And in my mind it was slow motion of that head going back and forth.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:31.198
No, no, no.
00:14:31.318 --> 00:14:33.059
And my dad was like, no.
00:14:33.059 --> 00:14:33.839
He said, this is Brandon.
00:14:33.839 --> 00:14:36.419
He said, Brandon likes to work out, but I mean, he works out all the time.
00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:38.789
And, and so he's not on steroids.
00:14:38.789 --> 00:14:41.818
And so the guy looks at me and my mom and dad had just built their dream house.
00:14:41.818 --> 00:14:43.769
Remember in nursery school, teacher sell appliances.
00:14:43.769 --> 00:14:55.318
So, um, he, they said, they said, Hey, look, Brandon, um, either we're gonna have this conversation and you're gonna be, we know that you have steroids in this house, or we're gonna tear this house up to find them.
00:14:55.589 --> 00:14:56.129
And I said.
00:14:57.105 --> 00:14:58.455
Yeah, I said I do have 'em.
00:14:58.605 --> 00:15:01.904
And I remember at that point what Tiara rolled down my mom's face.
00:15:02.565 --> 00:15:06.644
And I thought to myself, I will never, ever disappoint her again like this.
00:15:06.644 --> 00:15:06.794
Right?
00:15:06.794 --> 00:15:09.615
I never, I hadn't disappointed her to that point in life.
00:15:09.764 --> 00:15:14.384
And so the guy said, Hey, look, we know Brandon, great kid.
00:15:14.414 --> 00:15:17.144
Like we know of him, he plays sports here and locally.
00:15:17.144 --> 00:15:18.014
We know who he is.
00:15:18.014 --> 00:15:19.995
And so they said, don't worry about it.
00:15:20.054 --> 00:15:22.634
Like good kid, this is gonna be okay.
00:15:22.634 --> 00:15:28.335
So we go to my bedroom and then a suit bag, unzip a suit, uh, unload the contents of that bag.
00:15:28.695 --> 00:15:34.274
And as the steroids begin to fall out, the same people that were assuring my parents of, don't worry, don't worry.
00:15:34.274 --> 00:15:37.004
He said, oh, you might wanna worry now.
00:15:37.004 --> 00:15:37.815
You might wanna worry.
00:15:38.565 --> 00:15:44.235
And so that night I got an all expense paid trip down to the local jail and they didn't handcuff me.
00:15:44.235 --> 00:15:54.524
And, and they did arrest me that night and they brought me in and I had some real frank conversations with some people that I knew in the city that were powerful people in the city, right?
00:15:55.485 --> 00:16:08.085
So, um, people looked at that event in my life and thought, well, that's defining right, because when I was growing up, if you had a high school dance or you had something, they were like, is Brandon going with y'all?
00:16:08.235 --> 00:16:09.855
Because at least we know you have a safe ride.
00:16:09.855 --> 00:16:12.615
You got a, a designated driver, you're in good company, right?
00:16:13.125 --> 00:16:24.164
And so as, as that process played out, thank God for Rick Bryant and Ronnie Rita, the DA, and the assistant da.
00:16:24.674 --> 00:16:26.174
'cause they brought me in and they said, Hey Brandon.
00:16:27.585 --> 00:16:28.245
What are you doing?
00:16:28.695 --> 00:16:30.764
And I said, I'm asking myself the same thing.
00:16:30.764 --> 00:16:33.375
Like, I don't, I don't want to be here right now.
00:16:33.465 --> 00:16:37.514
And they said, well, we're gonna give you an opportunity for this to, you'll never see this.
00:16:37.514 --> 00:16:39.884
This will never be on any record, never be on anywhere.
00:16:39.884 --> 00:16:40.695
This never happened.
00:16:41.294 --> 00:16:43.754
Um, they said, you'll have to complete this program.
00:16:43.934 --> 00:16:44.355
Right?
00:16:44.715 --> 00:16:48.495
And they said, but if you ever come back, we're putting you under the jail because you've had the opportunity.
00:16:48.495 --> 00:16:52.634
You shouldn't, you shouldn't, you should never transgress again against this.
00:16:52.634 --> 00:16:53.205
I said, okay.
00:16:53.745 --> 00:16:57.434
And so I went, that went down and, and fulfilled it.
00:16:57.495 --> 00:17:04.785
And I'll tell you a little bit later on, those people were sitting in one of the talks later in life and I looked out in tears, were rolling down their face.
00:17:04.845 --> 00:17:05.085
Hmm.
00:17:06.555 --> 00:17:14.924
Because somebody that they took a chance on, somebody that they took a risk on, proved to turn around and pay it back and pay it.
00:17:14.924 --> 00:17:16.575
And then not only pay it back, but pay it forward.
00:17:16.575 --> 00:17:16.934
Right.
00:17:17.594 --> 00:17:21.314
So that night when I got arrested, there were several people that got arrested.
00:17:21.314 --> 00:17:31.334
There were several friends of mine in that deal, and as I, as I age, by the time I was 28, 5 of my either friends or people that were with me on that night were dead.
00:17:32.084 --> 00:17:34.574
And so I realized that.
00:17:35.984 --> 00:17:41.984
God gave me the ability to navigate cliques or sex or whatever, like SECT sex.
00:17:41.984 --> 00:17:42.194
Right?
00:17:42.194 --> 00:17:42.315
Yeah.
00:17:42.315 --> 00:17:43.339
Well, thank you for clarifying that.
00:17:43.345 --> 00:17:49.605
Clarifying it to navigate those, uh, to be able to be a testimony.
00:17:49.845 --> 00:17:52.305
And not all the time in my life did I do that.
00:17:53.115 --> 00:18:00.194
Sometimes I let that part stay dormant for the sake of popularity or the sake of being accepted as a young kid, right?
00:18:00.194 --> 00:18:06.765
It's easy to do in high school and college, but that was kind of a sentinel event in my life where I was going to do it differently.
00:18:06.765 --> 00:18:16.515
God gave me a testimony, gave me a tongue, you know, to be able to speak and kind of, if I didn't speak about that, I was ramming God of the opportunity of what that testimony was, right?
00:18:16.515 --> 00:18:16.904
Mm-hmm.
00:18:17.595 --> 00:18:19.980
So, um, I met my.
00:18:21.003 --> 00:18:25.984
My wife at the age of 15, my, I lived in Lake Charles, born and raised in Lake Charles.
00:18:26.315 --> 00:18:27.994
Moved here my eighth, ninth, and 10th grade year.
00:18:27.994 --> 00:18:34.835
My 10th grade year, I met my wife, Amy, Amy Elkins, and went back to Lake Charles.
00:18:34.835 --> 00:18:36.154
Finished high school there at Barb.
00:18:36.154 --> 00:18:37.295
I was at Acadiana here.
00:18:37.805 --> 00:18:41.404
I undergrad at McNeese and then got married shortly thereafter.
00:18:41.464 --> 00:18:43.444
Moved over to, uh, Lafayette.
00:18:43.714 --> 00:18:45.003
I went to anesthesia school.
00:18:45.065 --> 00:18:51.724
I'm A-C-R-N-A and I did practice cardiovascular and spine based, uh, anesthesia, neuro based anesthesia.
00:18:52.355 --> 00:18:59.194
And so, um, as, as clarity came in life early on, right?
00:18:59.194 --> 00:19:00.125
I was a professional.
00:19:00.125 --> 00:19:01.444
We were doing well.
00:19:02.219 --> 00:19:06.869
I felt the urge to like go tell that story to people as people start passing away.
00:19:06.869 --> 00:19:12.479
To be able to go tell that story and then in my own life, to start to become sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
00:19:12.689 --> 00:19:17.099
Like to that small voice inside of you when it talks to you and speaks to you, that leads and guides you.
00:19:17.398 --> 00:19:20.309
That you take a second, like I told you earlier, right?
00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:22.500
We serve a God that whispers, not a guy that yells.
00:19:22.503 --> 00:19:22.844
Mm-hmm.
00:19:22.929 --> 00:19:32.279
And there's so many times in my day where the radio or the phone call or the whatever stands in the way of that still small voice and I just go right past it.
00:19:33.239 --> 00:19:42.750
So I've tried to, at that point, stop and kind of refocus and say, look, if I'm praying for that still small voice inside of me to lead, God direct me.
00:19:43.919 --> 00:19:52.619
And then God is gracious enough to do that, then it's up to me to kind of let that be my barometer, let that guide me where I'm going.
00:19:52.619 --> 00:19:52.949
Right?
00:19:53.009 --> 00:19:53.519
And so.
00:19:54.765 --> 00:19:59.984
At that point in my life through what the world would view as kind of a setback or a low point in your life.
00:19:59.984 --> 00:20:02.444
I look at it as probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.
00:20:02.684 --> 00:20:09.884
'cause it set me on a course where number one became in tune to spirituality and Holy Spirit, different in my life.
00:20:10.365 --> 00:20:15.974
And, uh, number two, there's a definitive difference between why right and wrong.
00:20:16.335 --> 00:20:16.605
Sure.
00:20:16.904 --> 00:20:20.744
And the right path leads to the right ending the wrong path leads to the wrong ending.
00:20:20.744 --> 00:20:28.305
And we're a series, we're one degree of compromise before we're 180 degrees in the opposite direction of where we thought we should be.
00:20:28.305 --> 00:20:28.664
Right.
00:20:29.204 --> 00:20:35.505
And so, I'm so thankful for the event that the world would tell you is your black eye.
00:20:35.684 --> 00:20:36.734
It's not my black eye.
00:20:37.154 --> 00:20:44.775
It was defining moment that kind of set me on, that allowed me eventually to meet up with Jude and, and, and be able to kind of experience those experiences.
00:20:45.224 --> 00:20:47.535
I had an unbelievable career and anesthesia.
00:20:47.535 --> 00:20:51.345
Like I, it was, it went, I tell everybody this story, I'm like, you know.
00:20:52.034 --> 00:20:56.625
A year into it, the the guys come to me and they're like, Hey, we want you to run this group.
00:20:56.714 --> 00:20:57.825
We want you to be the chief.
00:20:57.825 --> 00:20:59.023
And I, and they were like, okay.
00:20:59.023 --> 00:21:01.365
And I was 20, I think 26 years old.
00:21:01.904 --> 00:21:05.534
I think the next youngest chief in the city was like in his forties.
00:21:05.954 --> 00:21:08.263
And I was like, but y'all don't get this wrong.
00:21:08.325 --> 00:21:09.585
I didn't do anything great.
00:21:09.825 --> 00:21:11.263
It was between me and the janitor.
00:21:11.263 --> 00:21:13.964
And I only knew a little bit more about anesthesia than the janitor.
00:21:14.144 --> 00:21:18.134
So they decided, Hey, look, in a very narrow margin, you won Brandon.
00:21:18.194 --> 00:21:19.544
You're gonna be the Jeep here, right?
00:21:19.605 --> 00:21:20.474
And so I got.
00:21:20.865 --> 00:21:33.105
I, my, my physicians with anesthesiology and paying consultants in this city, um, you know, were unbelievable in opening their arms and letting me sit at a table that I probably shouldn't have said at.
00:21:33.105 --> 00:21:35.805
I was a non-voting member of their board.
00:21:36.045 --> 00:21:37.365
I'd go to their board meetings.
00:21:37.605 --> 00:21:39.585
I was there for the first five to 15 minutes.
00:21:39.585 --> 00:21:43.785
It's amazing what somebody can learn in the first five to 15 minutes of a meeting.
00:21:44.265 --> 00:21:52.694
It's amazing the confidence you can get from sitting at that table, right, where you're kind of, you truly don't belong, but they allow you to be there, right?
00:21:52.934 --> 00:21:56.414
And so Scott Gamble was.
00:21:56.834 --> 00:21:58.574
Kind of my mentor coming out.
00:21:58.605 --> 00:22:08.564
He put his arm around me and, uh, Sanji, Genia, John Martin, Matt Mitchell, uh, Marcus Sarla, um, Reggie Wan, you know, John Martin.
00:22:08.564 --> 00:22:12.704
Those guys were unbelievable guys to treat me the way they treated me.
00:22:13.154 --> 00:22:25.634
And, uh, I was fortunate enough as that career unfolded practicing cardiovascular anesthesia mainly I was fortunate enough to go be able to speak all over the country on how we did medicine here.
00:22:26.023 --> 00:22:34.273
And my confidence grew because at the table, as I set at my, my input was valued.
00:22:34.934 --> 00:22:43.125
And when we would have conversations on case manage, whatever that input was heated, and they say, Hey, look, maybe we should do it like that, right?
00:22:43.634 --> 00:22:44.625
They had great input.
00:22:44.625 --> 00:22:51.674
They, they were the, they turned the light switch on for me in the, in the, in terms of knowledge of how we did what we did, right?
00:22:52.334 --> 00:22:52.875
So.
00:22:54.105 --> 00:23:09.253
Their, your career and your lifespan is a series of stepping stones where somebody believed in you to let somebody like you do something that you're doing now because somebody like they believed in you.
00:23:09.704 --> 00:23:12.375
Otherwise you may not have had that confidence to walk through it.
00:23:12.375 --> 00:23:12.763
Right.
00:23:13.125 --> 00:23:28.034
So I tell my guys specifically back at the, at the anesthesiologist and pain consultants, I tell them guys like, you believed in a guy like me that let a guy like me live a life like this that maybe I wouldn't have been able to 'cause you were my superior.
00:23:28.034 --> 00:23:30.523
You were the, you were the guys that I respected, right?
00:23:30.584 --> 00:23:33.584
You were the guys who were the authority and you.
00:23:33.984 --> 00:23:36.115
You willingly lent that.
00:23:36.115 --> 00:23:37.345
And let me borrow that.
00:23:37.434 --> 00:23:45.444
In those arenas, that allowed me to have conversations with people in a way, like I'm talking about downtown Manhattan, Chicago, Detroit.
00:23:45.444 --> 00:23:47.394
Like we were, we were there, right?
00:23:47.394 --> 00:23:52.464
I mean we, we were, and you let me sit and have conversations in rooms that I became very comfortable in.
00:23:52.464 --> 00:23:58.674
That was a necessary step in the business and the entrepreneurship and to sit at those tables.
00:23:58.704 --> 00:24:02.634
'cause those tables, the risk reward just gets bigger, right?
00:24:03.294 --> 00:24:07.554
Your ability and how you show up at that table determines if you're gonna stay at that table.
00:24:08.214 --> 00:24:11.334
And so those guys, early on in medicine.
00:24:12.134 --> 00:24:21.523
Giving me that opportunity set me on a platform to where I was very comfortable sitting, just like I'm sitting at this table amongst friends today.
00:24:21.914 --> 00:24:27.644
Every table I sit at has this kind of look and feel, and the conversation always flows like this.
00:24:27.914 --> 00:24:29.294
It's not a difficult thing to do.
00:24:29.294 --> 00:24:29.654
Right.
00:24:29.954 --> 00:24:32.414
So I'm thankful for that early part of my career.
00:24:33.013 --> 00:24:38.084
Also, medicine teaches you specifically anesthesia at the head of that table.
00:24:38.444 --> 00:24:43.694
If everything's falling out around, falling down around you, you cannot fall down.
00:24:43.694 --> 00:24:44.984
Mm-hmm.
00:24:45.074 --> 00:24:46.753
You are the captain of that ship.
00:24:47.324 --> 00:24:51.134
Every eye is turned and looking at you when it goes south.
00:24:51.134 --> 00:24:55.484
And when it goes south, it's not like, oh, we lost money, or the deal didn't go through.
00:24:55.574 --> 00:24:55.814
What?
00:24:55.814 --> 00:25:02.744
It's your grandmother, or it's your grandfather, or it's your daughter, or it's your son or your husband or your, it's real.
00:25:03.419 --> 00:25:08.444
The, the weight of that responsibility is uniquely different than anything else.
00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:09.398
And so.
00:25:11.174 --> 00:25:28.544
Not a lot of people take this springboard into business, but it's a wonderful springboard into business that when all of the planning falls down around you, everybody's looking back at you, it's vitally important that you control and maintain the environment of the room and you don't decompensate with them.
00:25:29.115 --> 00:25:40.875
So the training in medicine translated unbelievably to that of business and has shown time after time and proven to be a well learned, uh, characteristic.
00:25:41.654 --> 00:25:42.464
You're captivating.
00:25:42.585 --> 00:25:44.714
I love, I love, uh, hearing your story.
00:25:44.714 --> 00:25:53.115
And this is really just part one of, probably there's gonna, you know, we're gonna see more, um, stepping stones mm-hmm.
00:25:53.355 --> 00:26:05.714
Along your journey, but sitting at the head of a patient and you, you, you know, you, you, you see things go bad and you have to throw in an airway or, you know, you're looking for, you know, I, I was a, I was a medic, so I sat at the, at the head.
00:26:05.714 --> 00:26:06.555
Gimme something baby.
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:06.910
Yeah, bro.
00:26:06.910 --> 00:26:08.150
I, I, you fam right there, baby.
00:26:08.204 --> 00:26:12.285
I've seen a little put a lot of patients, you know, uh, in your room before.
00:26:12.375 --> 00:26:12.494
Mm-hmm.
00:26:12.795 --> 00:26:18.704
But the, when you know, you're sitting at the head, you, you've got doctors and very smart people and things go wrong.
00:26:18.734 --> 00:26:18.825
Mm-hmm.
00:26:19.065 --> 00:26:19.184
Right.
00:26:19.184 --> 00:26:20.174
And they all look at you.
00:26:20.595 --> 00:26:20.954
Amen.
00:26:21.404 --> 00:26:26.474
You don't have the, you know, they, there might be surgeons who've been in school for 15, 20 years.
00:26:26.474 --> 00:26:26.805
Yeah, absolutely.
00:26:26.805 --> 00:26:27.765
And now they look at you.
00:26:27.825 --> 00:26:28.005
Yes.
00:26:28.005 --> 00:26:29.595
Get the airway, get the breathing, get, you know.
00:26:29.865 --> 00:26:30.285
Yes.
00:26:30.285 --> 00:26:30.914
Start pumping.
00:26:30.914 --> 00:26:31.375
Right, right.
00:26:32.525 --> 00:26:39.454
How do you maintain that calmness, that peace when the people who are the most degreed, right?
00:26:39.454 --> 00:26:44.285
The people the most experienced now look at you and they're like, get this life back online.
00:26:44.285 --> 00:26:44.375
Yeah.
00:26:44.404 --> 00:26:45.005
How do you do that?
00:26:45.035 --> 00:26:48.365
So I wasn't the terminal level of knowledge in the room, I think is what you're saying.
00:26:48.365 --> 00:26:48.575
Right.
00:26:48.575 --> 00:26:48.585
Exactly.
00:26:48.634 --> 00:26:55.144
I mean, you got a surgeon that's been some of those residencies, you know, they, they're in school until they're 34 and 35.
00:26:55.144 --> 00:26:55.444
Right?
00:26:55.450 --> 00:26:55.680
Right.
00:26:55.984 --> 00:27:02.164
So there's a terminal level of knowledge in the room, but there's a terminal level of experience in that situation.
00:27:02.285 --> 00:27:04.355
And so in that situation, that's where we were.
00:27:04.505 --> 00:27:06.545
That's who, that's the space we occupied, right?
00:27:06.545 --> 00:27:06.664
Mm-hmm.
00:27:07.325 --> 00:27:13.535
Um, just like with you and being a medic, like if you don't intervene quick enough, you're the terminal level of experience.
00:27:13.535 --> 00:27:13.865
Mm-hmm.
00:27:13.871 --> 00:27:15.454
Even coming into the er, right?
00:27:15.454 --> 00:27:15.515
Yeah.
00:27:15.605 --> 00:27:17.315
Of in the field.
00:27:17.615 --> 00:27:19.865
You're, you're, you are a first responder.
00:27:20.134 --> 00:27:21.815
Bring in if you don't do that job right.
00:27:22.513 --> 00:27:24.074
We don't, none of us get to do our job.
00:27:24.105 --> 00:27:24.434
Right.
00:27:24.439 --> 00:27:24.638
Right.
00:27:24.974 --> 00:27:35.204
So in that room, not being the terminal level of knowledge, but being, having that vast experience, you get to earn the trust of that room one experience at a time.
00:27:35.714 --> 00:27:35.834
Mm-hmm.
00:27:36.345 --> 00:27:41.174
And so every experience, medicine or business, right, they translate.
00:27:41.865 --> 00:27:43.454
Every experience is an opportunity.
00:27:44.684 --> 00:27:47.924
The thing I tell everybody, I had students, I, I had a rotation there.
00:27:47.924 --> 00:27:55.394
Students would come through us, residents would come through us, and I'd say, don't ever cheat yourself out of the opportunity to learn a test.
00:27:55.394 --> 00:27:57.044
Is nothing more somebody is.
00:27:57.404 --> 00:28:12.044
I would tell my, I'd tell my staff I'd be, Hey, look, you have a grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a husband, a father, a wife, a brother, a sister, an aunt and uncle that are dependent on your 100% a, b, a game today.
00:28:12.375 --> 00:28:13.724
Don't bring me anything less than that.
00:28:14.174 --> 00:28:15.434
You can't have an off day here.
00:28:16.484 --> 00:28:21.074
There's a bunch of people depending on you having, and the, and the, the, the risks are too great, right?
00:28:21.734 --> 00:28:35.534
And so taking every opportunity when you're given something to learn in school and the prep, like nowadays, I don't know what it's like, 'cause I didn't grow up in this, you know, in this remote world and online world and proctored.
00:28:35.773 --> 00:28:36.523
I didn't do any of that.
00:28:36.824 --> 00:28:41.594
I had to show up with a pencil or a pen and tell you what I knew or what I didn't know.
00:28:41.594 --> 00:28:44.234
And it was very, so I didn't get to take tests online.
00:28:44.234 --> 00:28:48.404
And that I'm, I'm so glad that we're transitioning to a day and age where you can do that.
00:28:48.404 --> 00:28:52.664
But don't ever rob yourself of the opportunity, it seems to me, I may be wrong.
00:28:52.904 --> 00:28:56.263
It seems to me like there's more opportunity to cheat yourself.
00:28:56.263 --> 00:29:02.174
I have an opportunity right now to truly learn as opposed to do well on an exam or do well on a paper.
00:29:02.834 --> 00:29:04.334
I refuse to use chat GPT.
00:29:04.334 --> 00:29:07.516
Now somebody's gonna be like, well, you're a moron because you should be using chat GPT.
00:29:08.503 --> 00:29:20.054
In writing, I refuse to rob myself of the ability to sound and put on paper and articulate what I want, punctuate it correctly, and send it right, because I'm, I'm cheating myself at that opportunity.
00:29:20.054 --> 00:29:25.574
Now, I may give myself an hour back in my day if I did it right, but it's the opportunity to learn.
00:29:25.574 --> 00:29:27.674
Don't ever cheat yourself on the opportunity to learn.
00:29:27.884 --> 00:29:37.454
So when your opportunity comes up and when that, you are perfectly equipped to stand in that batter's box and swing away and earn the, the, the, um.
00:29:38.128 --> 00:29:40.440
Respect of the peers in your room.
00:29:40.740 --> 00:29:43.378
One positive experience at a time, right?
00:29:43.470 --> 00:29:45.419
You're gonna have negative, negative experiences.
00:29:45.659 --> 00:29:46.950
Sometimes it's unavoidable.
00:29:47.490 --> 00:29:51.089
Your character's defined in how you walk through those negative experiences.
00:29:51.299 --> 00:29:52.289
How do you treat the room?
00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:53.398
How did you control the room?
00:29:53.549 --> 00:29:55.079
How did you treat everybody in there with you?
00:29:55.138 --> 00:29:55.500
Right?
00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:12.029
So not being the terminal level of knowledge, um, you sit in there with an expertise that's different than anybody in the room in that situation, thereby you're inferred the terminal level of knowledge like David before he goes in and takes down a giant.
00:30:12.929 --> 00:30:15.029
I took down a bear, took down a lion, right?
00:30:15.029 --> 00:30:19.888
He, he, he was practicing in the, in the field with the sheep for a long time.
00:30:19.919 --> 00:30:20.309
Yes.
00:30:20.398 --> 00:30:22.710
Waiting for his at bat, practicing.
00:30:22.710 --> 00:30:22.799
Yes.
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:24.539
Practicing with a sling every day.
00:30:24.539 --> 00:30:24.929
Right.
00:30:25.230 --> 00:30:26.819
Then he gets a, a call from the king.
00:30:27.824 --> 00:30:28.753
Things are going bad.
00:30:29.294 --> 00:30:30.074
Here you go, kid.
00:30:30.134 --> 00:30:30.494
Right?
00:30:30.854 --> 00:30:35.534
Um, so you had a moment in your life where someone goes, here you go, kid.
00:30:35.954 --> 00:30:36.494
Right.
00:30:36.615 --> 00:30:38.324
The David that you're at bat.
00:30:38.773 --> 00:30:39.013
Right.
00:30:39.013 --> 00:30:42.344
And you, you credit a lot of the people ahead of you, which is amazing.
00:30:42.349 --> 00:30:44.144
I I really love that about you.
00:30:44.564 --> 00:30:49.094
Uh, sitting at a table I didn't deserve, took a chance on me, put my, their arm around me.
00:30:49.094 --> 00:30:53.084
A lot of the, your success, you credit to other people, right?
00:30:53.503 --> 00:31:05.773
Um, in that story, you know, talk to us about being the guy worthy of that or, and or not feeling worthy of that.
00:31:06.523 --> 00:31:06.944
Yeah.
00:31:07.304 --> 00:31:07.994
That's interesting.
00:31:08.115 --> 00:31:14.894
Um, remind me of, of something that I just got back from called training Day, not worthy of that training day.
00:31:14.954 --> 00:31:16.154
Just remind me of that later on.
00:31:16.273 --> 00:31:16.544
Okay.
00:31:16.664 --> 00:31:20.234
Um, so by that time in my life, I'd kind of really.
00:31:21.650 --> 00:31:29.865
I, I think spiritually, God had had me to a point where I knew that I wasn't a guy worthy of anything, that I just showed up every day and I prayed for God.
00:31:30.434 --> 00:31:33.734
I prayed to be the hands and feet of Christ in that room.
00:31:33.944 --> 00:31:44.234
And I prayed that God would deliver me in situations that maybe weren't normal and that God would allow me the opportunities to be in situations that also weren't normal.
00:31:44.234 --> 00:31:44.924
I wasn't scared.
00:31:45.105 --> 00:31:47.954
You can't be scared of the situation 'cause you'll avoid it.
00:31:47.954 --> 00:31:51.164
And I think Satan uses fear to keep you away from God's blessing.
00:31:51.494 --> 00:31:51.884
Right?
00:31:52.095 --> 00:31:55.035
So I didn't wish away the, the bad situations.
00:31:55.569 --> 00:32:00.253
I, I, I accepted getting to go into those arenas, right?
00:32:00.315 --> 00:32:09.075
And so, and then I was real quick in that arena to deflect whether we had a good outcome, you know, especially if we had a good outcome.
00:32:09.750 --> 00:32:17.250
That I was thankful and I gave all thanks praises and the hunter, glory to God that he allowed us to study the way we had studied in training.00:32:17.579 --> 00:32:23.190
So that when we caught, when it was caught upon, that we were able to use it in that situation and that the result came out.00:32:23.190 --> 00:32:26.460
So to say, be the man worthy.00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:33.089
I'm not worthy, but I am thankful that God uses me as a vehicle and a vessel.00:32:33.269 --> 00:32:39.029
I can't stand the word, I can't multita word, self-made, um, my own.00:32:39.089 --> 00:32:39.990
None of that, bro.00:32:40.109 --> 00:32:40.829
I ain't none of that.00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:46.859
I'm a guy, an ordinary guy that God li let allowed to live a supernatural life.00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:47.250
Right?00:32:47.250 --> 00:32:52.109
And I am fully aware of that and I pray and like I hope nobody text and be like.00:32:53.023 --> 00:32:54.013
That's not true.00:32:54.105 --> 00:33:01.845
I was with him on the, I pray that I have that if somebody's listening to this and knows me, that your comments are flooded with, Hey, that's exactly who he is, right?00:33:01.845 --> 00:33:10.784
So I deflected in those situations that I was not worthy, but God provided and therefore the room, none of us were worthy.00:33:10.815 --> 00:33:16.454
But God provided a way and it was uniquely different and it was accepted differently in those rooms.00:33:16.454 --> 00:33:18.914
So it was easy for me to stand in that spot.00:33:18.944 --> 00:33:20.714
'cause I knew I wasn't going in there alone.00:33:21.075 --> 00:33:26.444
I knew I was going there with God on my side, and I relish the opportunity for God to show up.00:33:27.329 --> 00:33:28.378
I can testify to it.00:33:29.009 --> 00:33:32.009
My gosh, man, every word you're speaking is, is the truth.00:33:32.609 --> 00:33:43.440
Uh, I witnessed you so many times having the opportunity to take glory for yourself and giving it to other people and giving it to the Lord or to take more for yourself in business dealings.00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:45.690
And it was always putting other people first.00:33:46.529 --> 00:33:50.190
And man, that's, that's what's drawn me back to my friendship with you over and over again.00:33:50.490 --> 00:33:54.960
I appreciate that, that that is, uh, that is my, that is my goal in life.00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:59.878
You're gonna hear my testimony that kind of come full circle and it's amazing.00:34:00.269 --> 00:34:01.170
Well lead on, man.00:34:01.170 --> 00:34:01.799
I'd love to hear it.00:34:02.490 --> 00:34:03.900
So medicine was medicine, right?00:34:03.900 --> 00:34:04.740
I'm coming home one day.00:34:04.740 --> 00:34:06.420
I'm at Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital.00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:07.529
It's a hospital I love.00:34:07.589 --> 00:34:09.420
I think, you know, they do everything so great.00:34:09.420 --> 00:34:11.219
Part Plate Surgical hospital here in Lafayette.00:34:11.219 --> 00:34:15.784
Another one that they kinda set the benchmark on how we're supposed to do medicine and, um.00:34:16.844 --> 00:34:20.773
I'm driving home and there's a purple and gold gym on ambassador.00:34:21.105 --> 00:34:23.625
Uh, the, the accent colors are purple and gold.00:34:23.625 --> 00:34:27.733
And so I think, man, who from LSU is building a gym in Lafayette?00:34:27.733 --> 00:34:29.474
I mean, do they not know Red Lorell?00:34:29.565 --> 00:34:31.125
I mean, did they not know he was here?00:34:31.693 --> 00:34:34.003
This is, this is the mecca of Jim.00:34:34.304 --> 00:34:38.713
They're Red Lorell's has been rated number one in the world per capita at several different times.00:34:38.713 --> 00:34:40.273
I mean, it's an unbelievable deal.00:34:40.273 --> 00:34:43.094
There's 33 competitive gyms in this market.00:34:43.094 --> 00:34:44.954
Like, I wouldn't be opening a gym in this market.00:34:45.554 --> 00:34:57.375
So I tell, when I tell this story, divine intervention, like Carry Underwood, owes me some sort of royalty for Jesus to take the will 'cause Jesus took my will and turned it into that parking lot, right?00:34:57.673 --> 00:35:03.523
And so I go into that parking lot and um, I pull up and I ask the guy, I said, Hey man, who from LSU is opening this gym?00:35:03.974 --> 00:35:05.054
And he's like, LSU.00:35:05.054 --> 00:35:05.744
He said, man, this is.00:35:06.525 --> 00:35:08.173
So that's not even the right purple number one.00:35:08.173 --> 00:35:14.264
I said I was gonna wait until we were a little bit further along in our relationship before I told you you missed the purple, but yeah, you're right.00:35:14.264 --> 00:35:15.284
It's not the right purple.00:35:15.585 --> 00:35:16.724
And, uh, he said, no man.00:35:16.724 --> 00:35:17.954
He said, this is Planet Fitness.00:35:17.954 --> 00:35:20.324
He said, we're out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.00:35:20.565 --> 00:35:22.875
And he said, uh, this has nothing to do with LSU.00:35:23.565 --> 00:35:24.253
I said, oh, okay.00:35:24.914 --> 00:35:26.355
Um, rolling up my window.00:35:26.355 --> 00:35:27.284
He said, no, no, hold on, hold on.00:35:27.375 --> 00:35:27.884
And I said, what?00:35:27.884 --> 00:35:33.704
And he said, uh, man, he said, uh, either you're in medicine or you like to wear pajamas to work, right?00:35:33.704 --> 00:35:35.085
I mean, 'cause you're in scrubs.00:35:35.085 --> 00:35:36.253
And I said, yeah, yeah.00:35:36.315 --> 00:35:37.454
So they're yeah.00:35:37.454 --> 00:35:39.914
Synonymous like, you know, lightning truck.00:35:39.914 --> 00:35:40.784
I got to do 'em both.00:35:40.784 --> 00:35:44.355
And so I said, um, you know, I said, uh, and he, he said, can I get your number?00:35:44.894 --> 00:35:45.525
And I was like.00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:47.309
I said, man, I'm at fat.00:35:47.579 --> 00:35:49.409
I was as fat in as I am right now.00:35:49.409 --> 00:35:50.849
Like, bro, I'm not joining your gym, man.00:35:51.269 --> 00:35:53.789
Like, don't call me and be like, Hey, the special's about to go.00:35:53.789 --> 00:35:55.048
This is your chance to be a new one.00:35:55.259 --> 00:35:55.949
Better you?00:35:55.949 --> 00:35:56.940
Like, I'm not doing that.00:35:56.940 --> 00:35:58.619
No, I'm not giving you my number.00:35:58.949 --> 00:36:00.028
And, uh, he said, no, no, no.00:36:00.028 --> 00:36:02.818
He said like, obviously you know the city.00:36:02.940 --> 00:36:03.960
He said, I'm from Canada.00:36:04.380 --> 00:36:05.789
Like, I don't know where to eat.00:36:05.849 --> 00:36:07.619
I don't know what your culture's like down here.00:36:07.739 --> 00:36:09.028
I don't know where to go have fun.00:36:09.028 --> 00:36:10.139
Like, I don't know anything.00:36:10.380 --> 00:36:12.329
Like, you look like an honest guy.00:36:12.358 --> 00:36:13.108
Can I have your number?00:36:13.500 --> 00:36:14.369
I said, absolutely.00:36:14.369 --> 00:36:19.349
You know, one thing you'll find about Louisiana specifically, Lafayette we're voted the happiest place on earth multiple times.00:36:19.349 --> 00:36:19.679
Right?00:36:19.889 --> 00:36:25.559
So if you're talking about eating or you know, us being friendly, bro, you, you have come to the right spot.00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:28.108
I'll tell you wherever you go, I'll tell you wherever you need to go.00:36:28.170 --> 00:36:39.000
And so he took my number and for the next three months he re this was November of, uh, uh, 2011.00:36:39.269 --> 00:36:39.539
Hmm.00:36:39.750 --> 00:36:47.985
2010. And for the next three months, he relentlessly pursues me and he's like, man, you have got to own a Planet Fitness.00:36:48.014 --> 00:36:53.684
And I said, Hey, if you wanna stymie, if you don't hear anything, isn't else in this podcast, hear this.00:36:54.074 --> 00:37:01.034
If you wanna stymie an entrepreneur, let them become a professional because you become very comfortable.00:37:01.545 --> 00:37:04.605
You're gonna make good money, your kids are gonna go to good schools.00:37:05.144 --> 00:37:14.204
If you do the American Dream and do your 401k and save some money, by the time you're 55 or 65, you're gonna have a nice little nest egg.00:37:14.414 --> 00:37:16.634
You're gonna retire and you're gonna take great vacations.00:37:16.994 --> 00:37:19.755
And that's great if that's what you want.00:37:19.755 --> 00:37:20.114
Right.00:37:20.175 --> 00:37:20.925
That's awesome.00:37:20.954 --> 00:37:23.864
There's, I'm glad that's out there, but.00:37:24.735 --> 00:37:26.594
I told him, I said, you know, I need a Planet Fitness.00:37:26.594 --> 00:37:27.795
Like I need a hole in my head.00:37:27.945 --> 00:37:29.744
I don't need this, I don't want this.00:37:30.284 --> 00:37:31.965
And he said, I'm telling you, you need to do it.00:37:31.965 --> 00:37:33.344
You need to do it, you need to do it.00:37:33.344 --> 00:37:34.335
And I was like, mm-hmm.00:37:34.844 --> 00:37:42.465
So three months later, or two months later, I call Brandon Hargraves, a, an associate, a business, a friend of mine growing up.00:37:42.885 --> 00:37:43.545
And I called Brandon.00:37:43.545 --> 00:37:44.144
I said, Hey, man.00:37:44.144 --> 00:37:46.755
I said, you want to grab my hand and jump off a cliff?00:37:46.755 --> 00:37:50.505
And I said, we're either gonna be wildly successful or we're going bankrupt.00:37:50.505 --> 00:37:52.695
The good news is we'll know in about six months.00:37:53.235 --> 00:37:55.485
And he's like, he didn't hesitate.00:37:55.605 --> 00:37:57.735
He was like, I'm in, let's do it.00:37:58.275 --> 00:37:59.085
And I said.00:37:59.820 --> 00:38:01.349
No thought or any.00:38:01.349 --> 00:38:02.309
He said, let's do it.00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:03.329
He said, I wanna go into Business League.00:38:03.329 --> 00:38:03.869
Let's do it.00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:06.150
Um, about a month and a half.00:38:06.150 --> 00:38:07.139
This was in January.00:38:07.139 --> 00:38:13.320
About a month and a half later we're at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and we're buying our very first Planet Fitness location.00:38:13.380 --> 00:38:13.769
Right?00:38:14.369 --> 00:38:18.210
And so I asked him, I said, uh, how much does, what does it cost like to pay for a Planet Fitness?00:38:18.210 --> 00:38:19.050
Like, what's the overhead?00:38:19.380 --> 00:38:21.630
And like, oh, not bad, it's like a hundred thousand a month.00:38:21.630 --> 00:38:23.610
I'm like, I want to choke on my tongue.00:38:23.820 --> 00:38:25.289
I instantly get nauseated.00:38:25.289 --> 00:38:26.099
I'm like, what?00:38:26.315 --> 00:38:31.769
I mean, I can't go put more people to sleep or cut grass to make ends of me, like my feet are dangling.00:38:32.070 --> 00:38:37.079
But I think that was the point and that point in my life, I think God wanted my feet dangling with no safety net.00:38:37.380 --> 00:38:39.570
Like I'm all out on faith here, right?00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.119
If this doesn't work, it doesn't work.00:38:42.420 --> 00:38:43.019
And so.00:38:43.605 --> 00:38:48.704
The first person before I talked to Brandon, I talked to my wife Amy, and I asked her, I said, Hey, look, are you good with this?00:38:48.704 --> 00:38:51.583
I said, how much do we had just built our dream home.00:38:52.063 --> 00:38:54.523
I was like, how much do you love this house?00:38:54.644 --> 00:38:56.083
And she was like, I love it.00:38:56.083 --> 00:39:02.894
I said, there's some nice apartments in Lafayette and if this doesn't work, we could go to, what do you think?00:39:02.894 --> 00:39:04.304
Are you willing to take this chance?00:39:04.753 --> 00:39:07.514
'cause your, your spouse is your very first business partner, right?00:39:08.023 --> 00:39:11.264
And so she was like, uh, I said, are you willing to take this?00:39:11.264 --> 00:39:14.684
Because there'll be opportune, there'll be times where you have to be mom and dad.00:39:15.134 --> 00:39:17.923
There'll be times where you're my balance and say, Hey, look, you're too much.00:39:18.625 --> 00:39:22.105
Of business or you're too much of medicine home back in and come back here.00:39:22.105 --> 00:39:22.463
Right?00:39:22.525 --> 00:39:23.693
And so she said no.00:39:23.693 --> 00:39:24.923
She said, I'm willing to do it.00:39:24.923 --> 00:39:25.284
Let's do it.00:39:25.344 --> 00:39:26.125
Let's take a look at it.00:39:26.125 --> 00:39:28.644
So we go and we buy our first Planet Fitness.00:39:28.673 --> 00:39:36.295
It was a, it was comical, um, trying to get our first space because the people were like, we were standing in the middle of a deal with a real estate agent.00:39:36.295 --> 00:39:37.494
He's like, who, who are y'all?00:39:37.585 --> 00:39:37.855
Right?00:39:37.855 --> 00:39:42.114
We're a couple guys from Lafayette, you know, Colin Sier was with us as well.00:39:42.414 --> 00:39:47.094
And so, uh, they, we were sitting, there we're like three guys from Lafayette, right?00:39:47.815 --> 00:39:49.045
And he was like, yeah.00:39:49.045 --> 00:39:56.574
He said, uh, this company Weingart and a billion dollar reit, uh, real Estate Investment Trust, uh, this company's used to dealing with like Nordstrom and Academy.00:39:56.574 --> 00:39:59.005
Not, uh, three guys from Lafayette.00:39:59.005 --> 00:40:01.795
Like, I'm sorry, but you're, none of this is impressive.00:40:01.795 --> 00:40:04.110
And I was like, boy, whatcha talking about Take the wind outta yourselves, you know?00:40:04.114 --> 00:40:06.264
He said, let me go show y'all somewhere where.00:40:07.065 --> 00:40:14.894
Maybe you can get, and he brings us to this like dilapidated, like there's no way the, the ceilings are 10 feet tall, like, you're not doing this.00:40:15.434 --> 00:40:18.704
And so he's like, this is more, this is more what you wanna look for.00:40:19.215 --> 00:40:23.894
And so I walked for about a minute and I looked at him, I said, Hey, you know something?00:40:24.315 --> 00:40:24.824
And he said, yeah.00:40:24.824 --> 00:40:27.945
And this guy knew my parents and had gone to church with my parents and spirit.00:40:27.945 --> 00:40:29.594
I said, Hey, you wanna know something?00:40:29.594 --> 00:40:29.985
I said, yeah.00:40:29.985 --> 00:40:31.934
I said, my god's big enough.00:40:32.684 --> 00:40:38.684
That if that building that you said, I had no business being in that they didn't want to deal with us 'cause we weren't Nordstrom or Academy.00:40:39.045 --> 00:40:43.574
My God's big enough that he even wants me there and ain't nothing you can do or your opinion is gonna keep me from it.00:40:43.815 --> 00:40:47.235
So I'm walking out of this building'cause this ain't the building for me.00:40:47.594 --> 00:40:49.695
And I said, and I'm gonna put my bet on that.00:40:49.695 --> 00:40:52.755
But if God doesn't want me in that building, I don't wanna be in that building either.00:40:53.054 --> 00:40:57.945
I wanna be exactly where God wants me, but I want you to know if he wants us there, we're gonna be there.00:40:58.574 --> 00:41:01.244
And so it was tumultuous with this company.00:41:01.275 --> 00:41:01.364
Right.00:41:02.454 --> 00:41:09.114
Uh, we had Adam Bluestein and I don't know if you remember Adam's name or not, but he came up in our conversation in the cell.00:41:09.474 --> 00:41:14.364
Adam Bluestein was a young up and coming guy that worked at Weingarten that believed in us.00:41:14.364 --> 00:41:16.884
You need people to believe in you along the way.00:41:16.884 --> 00:41:18.744
You need people that believe your in your story.00:41:19.164 --> 00:41:29.844
So I tell Adam what we're after, I'm negotiating with Adam and it takes about six or seven months for Weingarten to get comfortable with us as a tenant.00:41:29.934 --> 00:41:37.583
And in that six or seven month, a blood bank comes in and wants the space and they say, Hey, sorry.00:41:37.974 --> 00:41:39.114
We've done all this work.00:41:39.925 --> 00:41:43.195
Their, their balance sheet's better than your balance sheet.00:41:43.195 --> 00:41:44.934
They look better on paper than you look on paper.00:41:45.204 --> 00:41:46.045
We're going with them.00:41:46.494 --> 00:41:47.545
And I was like, okay.00:41:47.755 --> 00:41:49.014
I said, I'm gonna tell you the same thing.00:41:49.014 --> 00:41:54.744
I told that real estate agent, if God wants us in your building, ain't nothing you can do that's gonna keep us outta here.00:41:54.835 --> 00:41:58.525
And Adam Bluestein was like, Hey, yeah, okay, thanks, but no thanks.00:41:59.065 --> 00:42:10.884
And three months later he calls me, he said, Hey Brandon, they hired a new C-O-C-E-O and the CEO kind of wants to put his hands on what's going on in their company or at a national, uh, blood bank.00:42:11.034 --> 00:42:17.634
And he said, um, he's put a moratorium on everything for the next six to eight months and we can't wait that long.00:42:18.384 --> 00:42:22.795
He said, if you want to come back to this space, you can have it.00:42:23.364 --> 00:42:25.195
So I said, we want to come back into it.00:42:25.255 --> 00:42:25.585
And I said.00:42:26.414 --> 00:42:27.585
There's something I haven't told you.00:42:27.884 --> 00:42:32.864
He said, well, I said I need a million dollars to build this out 'cause I don't have the money to build it.00:42:34.125 --> 00:42:36.014
He's like, what, Brandon?00:42:36.014 --> 00:42:36.795
What in the world?00:42:36.795 --> 00:42:37.934
I said, look, let's be honest.00:42:38.414 --> 00:42:41.804
If I'd have told you that from the beginning, would we even be having this conversation?00:42:41.983 --> 00:42:43.244
He said, no.00:42:43.514 --> 00:42:45.733
He said, Brandon, there's no way they're not gonna do it.00:42:45.795 --> 00:42:49.065
I said, well, the only thing they do is say no.00:42:49.335 --> 00:42:50.503
I mean, let's just try.00:42:50.923 --> 00:42:52.454
And so he came back and said, Hey, they didn't do it.00:42:52.454 --> 00:42:54.315
He said, but I can't believe this.00:42:54.824 --> 00:42:59.023
And you know if you study numerology or you look at numbers or whatever, right?00:42:59.173 --> 00:42:59.474
Yeah.00:43:00.045 --> 00:43:02.625
He said, we'll give you $777,000.00:43:03.434 --> 00:43:05.384
And so God's perfect number seven, right?00:43:05.534 --> 00:43:05.594
Woo.00:43:06.074 --> 00:43:07.815
God slapped you across the face with it, dude.00:43:07.815 --> 00:43:08.864
He is like telling me, right?00:43:08.864 --> 00:43:11.384
And I was like, I'll take it to me.00:43:11.565 --> 00:43:11.864
You know?00:43:11.864 --> 00:43:12.644
I mean, it didn't matter.00:43:12.644 --> 00:43:13.545
I was like, I'll take it.00:43:13.545 --> 00:43:14.804
I'll take it, I'll take it, I'll take it.00:43:15.403 --> 00:43:19.034
So in he said, okay, well let's do the deal.00:43:19.039 --> 00:43:24.105
He, so he took us almost a year to get the space, and I felt like I deserved another degree.00:43:24.105 --> 00:43:28.784
It was like a, it was a test of intestinal fortitude to go through that deal, right?00:43:28.994 --> 00:43:31.605
And so we end up inking that deal.00:43:31.664 --> 00:43:32.923
We get everything signed.00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:42.449
I am going around the state at that time with a pastor from Lake Charles, Tony Bork at Waters Edge, and we're telling the story of my five friends that were deceased.00:43:42.630 --> 00:43:50.820
I'm, I'm going to high schools and colleges as kind of like what I feel God's put on my heart to say, Hey, look, here's what you know, I, I tell'em, I have these friends.00:43:50.820 --> 00:43:55.650
These friends were exceptional athletically, academically great kids.00:43:55.650 --> 00:43:58.559
They were the kids that your parents pushed you to be friends with, right?00:43:59.548 --> 00:44:03.119
And so I go tell their story and so I told him what was going on.00:44:03.119 --> 00:44:10.739
He said, man, I got a guy in my church that actually built my church, he and his brother, and they're letting me lease it and then they're gonna sell it to me.00:44:10.739 --> 00:44:11.730
He said, you ought to talk to him.00:44:12.028 --> 00:44:12.570
I said, okay.00:44:12.929 --> 00:44:14.429
He said, why don't you come to church on Sunday?00:44:14.429 --> 00:44:14.880
He'll be there.00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:15.778
So I went to church on Sunday.00:44:15.778 --> 00:44:17.429
Back at the church, I meet Jeff Bau.00:44:18.059 --> 00:44:20.880
My who at that point I didn't know from Adam.00:44:21.059 --> 00:44:22.079
He and his wife carry.00:44:23.219 --> 00:44:26.940
Walked to the back of the church and I said, Hey bro, I said, uh, I want you to build my Planet Fitness.00:44:26.940 --> 00:44:28.650
And he said, oh yeah, I'd be more than happy to give you a bid.00:44:28.650 --> 00:44:31.079
And I said, no, no, no, no bid no bid.00:44:31.559 --> 00:44:38.219
Like if God puts you right here, you know, you're building this thing like God's open some miraculous doors right here, you're another one.00:44:38.219 --> 00:44:39.570
Like, I didn't know who was gonna be the gc.00:44:39.570 --> 00:44:42.210
And I said, I have $777,000.00:44:42.210 --> 00:44:44.940
I'm, I'm a, I'm a terrible poker player at this point.00:44:44.969 --> 00:44:46.860
'cause I'm revealing my hand to you what I have.00:44:47.369 --> 00:44:50.070
Can we build a 22,000 square foot space for that?00:44:50.489 --> 00:44:53.340
And he, he said, yeah, I'll do it.00:44:53.429 --> 00:44:53.849
I can do it.00:44:53.909 --> 00:44:54.510
We'll do it.00:44:54.989 --> 00:44:57.809
So that yes was a big yes.00:44:57.869 --> 00:45:06.420
'cause Jeff became my brother at that moment and has now become my business partner in everything we've ever done from that moment.00:45:06.420 --> 00:45:06.809
Right.00:45:07.469 --> 00:45:16.440
So we open our first Planet Fitness, there's a picture somewhere floating around of all my business partners with these, uh, Brandon and Colin with these huge smiles on their face.00:45:16.500 --> 00:45:18.150
And I kind of have a look and I'm like.00:45:19.650 --> 00:45:21.630
And everybody's like, why do you look like that?00:45:21.630 --> 00:45:26.010
And I was like, well, because I said, they're cutting the ribbon and all, all caught up in the festivities.00:45:26.010 --> 00:45:27.690
And I said, I, I leaned over in, total them.00:45:28.019 --> 00:45:29.639
As soon as I was done, I was like, don't smile too big.00:45:29.639 --> 00:45:31.079
We're 90 days away from bankruptcy.00:45:31.320 --> 00:45:32.250
That's all the money we have.00:45:32.280 --> 00:45:35.429
Like, if this goes bad, it goes terribly bad, right?00:45:36.570 --> 00:45:40.559
That business, uh, eight days after opening, we go cashflow positive.00:45:41.280 --> 00:45:45.809
Uh, it was the longest it ever took us to go cashflow positive with a Planet Fitness.00:45:46.380 --> 00:45:47.670
So, um.00:45:48.255 --> 00:46:10.730
30 days after opening, we turned the financials in to Wineguard and the company that took me a year to be able to get into their space and them to buy in, called me on a conference call and they said, Hey, Brandon, wherever you want to go, if we have a building in that city, same deal that we just gave you on a on a square footage wise, we'll take you out.00:46:11.315 --> 00:46:12.650
You just tell us where you want to go.00:46:13.159 --> 00:46:15.500
And so I thought, well, we probably are onto something here.00:46:15.500 --> 00:46:15.800
Right?00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:17.809
God's opened a pretty amazing door right here.00:46:18.079 --> 00:46:23.960
I was practicing medicine, I was still doing anesthesia, and we we're letting these Planet Fitness, letting this Planet Fitness go.00:46:24.349 --> 00:46:26.539
Planet Fitness had a meteoric rise in Lake Charles.00:46:26.539 --> 00:46:27.380
It was unbelievable.00:46:28.610 --> 00:46:30.889
Um, they then said, Hey, you can buy.00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:34.760
They would only let me buy one location 'cause that's all my financials could handle.00:46:34.760 --> 00:46:36.139
We were all in on it, right?00:46:36.619 --> 00:46:38.690
And, um, that one location did well.00:46:38.690 --> 00:46:42.619
And then they said, I went back to 'em and they said, Hey, we'll sell you an additional five.00:46:42.650 --> 00:46:44.239
And I said, okay, I'll buy those additional five.00:46:44.809 --> 00:46:46.190
And so we opened them up.00:46:46.190 --> 00:46:50.150
And just same kind of story as Lake Charles.00:46:50.150 --> 00:46:55.760
Lake Charles was different in the sense that its rise was, its ascent was very fast.00:46:55.789 --> 00:46:58.099
But nonetheless, all the rest of 'em were doing it too.00:46:58.099 --> 00:46:58.309
Right.00:46:59.190 --> 00:47:06.840
2016, I get called from a guy in who, who's my franchisee counterpart in Texas, and he says, Hey man, he said, I wanna do something.00:47:06.840 --> 00:47:07.530
This is crazy.00:47:07.530 --> 00:47:07.860
I said, what?00:47:07.860 --> 00:47:10.800
He said, I wanna become the largest fitness franchisee in the country.00:47:11.460 --> 00:47:12.119
And I said, okay.00:47:12.510 --> 00:47:25.289
And he said, uh, so in order to do what, we need a bolt on about four or five franchisees to come together, do a merger and acquisition, and we'll take this company out.00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:30.150
And so he said, uh, I need you to help me build that deal.00:47:30.150 --> 00:47:33.480
He said, you, if you, I have the financing part of it.00:47:34.110 --> 00:47:40.349
If you go out and run this out as far as bolting on the franchisees, I think we can make this happen.00:47:40.349 --> 00:47:45.989
So may the calls nine or 10 months later, Jude walks us through.00:47:45.989 --> 00:47:48.780
My introduction to Jude is in this transaction, right?00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:51.480
Multiple contracts going back and forth.00:47:51.809 --> 00:47:53.219
We're looking at, are we gonna do this?00:47:53.219 --> 00:47:54.389
Are we not gonna do this?00:47:55.469 --> 00:48:00.119
The, that gentleman when he called me, there was two people, Trey, uh, Trey Owen and Larry Meyer.00:48:00.929 --> 00:48:05.128
A year previous to that, we walked through, are we going to do this or not?00:48:05.278 --> 00:48:05.639
Right?00:48:06.659 --> 00:48:11.579
And Trey says, um, Larry says, Hey, I need, I wanna meet you face to face.00:48:11.639 --> 00:48:12.210
And I said, okay.00:48:12.628 --> 00:48:15.778
And he said, I want you to fly out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and I want you to come meet me.00:48:15.838 --> 00:48:16.378
I was, all right.00:48:16.739 --> 00:48:25.079
So we had gone, we had recently gone through a negotiation with a, a guy that had a, approaching a billion dollar company in North Louisiana.00:48:25.318 --> 00:48:27.599
Eddie Comb, who we are extremely grateful.00:48:27.599 --> 00:48:29.278
Like he invested in us.00:48:29.278 --> 00:48:30.418
He spoke truth into us.00:48:30.418 --> 00:48:32.369
The guy was an unbelievable guy.00:48:32.548 --> 00:48:34.829
He owns, uh, newbie baby products.00:48:35.128 --> 00:48:37.019
Just a, a g of a man, right?00:48:37.739 --> 00:48:42.719
And so we had just finished that negotiation and I used to pride myself on.00:48:43.139 --> 00:48:48.449
Two or three in the morning, I'd send an email out and I'd let you know that while you were sleeping, I was working.00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:48.778
Yeah.00:48:48.778 --> 00:48:49.289
Good morning.00:48:49.289 --> 00:48:49.920
Good morning.00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:50.579
Here I am.00:48:50.579 --> 00:48:50.909
Right?00:48:51.000 --> 00:48:51.059
Yeah.00:48:51.329 --> 00:48:56.639
Well, Eddie was probably at the time, in his late fifties, early sixties.00:48:57.329 --> 00:49:06.360
If I sent it at two or three, at 2 0 3 or 3 0 3, I was getting a reply from Eddie and I was like, man, so my business partners were watching this, right?00:49:06.360 --> 00:49:10.230
Because we, this is the negotiation, myself and Eddie, are we gonna negotiate these things?00:49:10.528 --> 00:49:12.119
The negotiation was beautiful.00:49:12.210 --> 00:49:18.420
We, we landed a part where we were both happy when we walked, when we finished it, we gained the respect of Eddie.00:49:18.420 --> 00:49:19.920
He gained the respect of us, right?00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:22.710
And so we had a, it was a great time, maturation.00:49:23.070 --> 00:49:27.869
Fast forward, now somebody's looking at buying our businesses, and so they fly us out.00:49:28.664 --> 00:49:31.934
That morning I wake up and it is cloaked on me as if a wet blanket.00:49:31.965 --> 00:49:32.355
Right?00:49:32.594 --> 00:49:38.414
If, if I put a blanket on you, it's one thing if I wet that blanket, it's heavy, it's draping, there's no escape from it.00:49:38.985 --> 00:49:42.735
Uh, as a wet blanket's cloaked on me, it's like, do not get on that plane.00:49:42.764 --> 00:49:46.394
Like, I've never, I've never felt that way about something.00:49:46.394 --> 00:49:46.454
Yeah.00:49:46.460 --> 00:49:46.619
Right.00:49:46.730 --> 00:49:47.019
Yeah.00:49:47.025 --> 00:49:48.014
It's all over me.00:49:48.434 --> 00:49:51.704
And so I get up and I'm like, get out of bed.00:49:51.704 --> 00:49:52.664
And I'm like, this is crazy.00:49:52.664 --> 00:49:55.094
'cause I'm gonna, all I'm gonna do is crawl right back into bed.00:49:55.094 --> 00:49:55.934
Like, this is dumb.00:49:56.355 --> 00:49:57.554
I'm not getting on that plane.00:49:57.824 --> 00:49:59.025
So I go through the steps.00:49:59.030 --> 00:50:02.025
I, I call Jeff Bau, who then becomes my business partner, right?00:50:02.264 --> 00:50:04.664
And I'm like, uh, Jeff, I'm like, call him.00:50:04.784 --> 00:50:06.494
No answer Goes to voicemail.00:50:07.005 --> 00:50:10.125
So I said, well, I'm gonna continue to go through the steps until I can get Jeff.00:50:10.425 --> 00:50:18.554
'cause he's driving in an hour away and I can turn him back, go to go in the bathroom, brush my teeth and get dressed.00:50:18.554 --> 00:50:19.425
And I'm like, this is Ames.00:50:19.485 --> 00:50:22.934
AM's gonna think I'm crazy when I crawl right back in this bed.00:50:22.934 --> 00:50:23.204
Right?00:50:24.014 --> 00:50:24.614
And so.00:50:25.530 --> 00:50:26.219
Call Jeff again.00:50:26.280 --> 00:50:26.940
No answer.00:50:28.259 --> 00:50:29.099
I kiss Amy.00:50:29.190 --> 00:50:30.210
I'm walked out the door.00:50:30.210 --> 00:50:32.400
I get in my car, call Amy.00:50:32.400 --> 00:50:34.230
It's early in the morning.00:50:34.230 --> 00:50:36.659
We have an early morning flight, I think a 6:00 AM flight.00:50:36.659 --> 00:50:41.280
I Lafayette get in the car and I'm driving there, call Jeff no answer.00:50:41.280 --> 00:50:42.599
And I'm like, golly, where's Jeff?00:50:42.599 --> 00:50:43.349
You know I need Jeff.00:50:44.159 --> 00:50:47.670
And so we're talking about numbers 707 7,000, right?00:50:47.815 --> 00:50:48.105
Yeah.00:50:48.110 --> 00:50:48.389
Yeah.00:50:48.480 --> 00:50:58.170
So I have a Ford truck with a big display on there and the phone rings And the phone rings at four forty four in the morning, right?00:50:58.170 --> 00:51:06.599
44 AM The time is displayed across my deal and when I get to heaven, God's probably gonna say, Hey look man, that wasn't really me.00:51:06.630 --> 00:51:10.289
It was gas or whatever, you know, like I wasn't, but.00:51:10.860 --> 00:51:17.068
In this time of my life, I'd look at a clock and it was 1 11 2 22 3 33 4 44.00:51:17.429 --> 00:51:20.099
It was always the same sequence of numbers.00:51:20.099 --> 00:51:20.460
Right?00:51:20.519 --> 00:51:30.028
And I would tell myself, because I would, when you, when you open that first Planet Fitness, right, I was Jeremiah 29 11 and Isaiah 40 31, right?00:51:30.269 --> 00:51:31.440
For I know the plans I have for you.00:51:31.440 --> 00:51:34.588
Declare as the Lord plans give you hope in the future, plans to prosper you and not harm you.00:51:34.588 --> 00:51:37.199
Jeremiah 29 11, Isaiah forty thirty one.00:51:37.500 --> 00:51:40.170
Those who call upon the name of the Lord, they will mount up and soar.00:51:40.409 --> 00:51:43.380
It doesn't say we'll walk or we're crippled or we're gingerly.00:51:43.588 --> 00:51:45.750
It says you'll soar with wings like eagles.00:51:46.139 --> 00:51:48.150
So that's, you'll walk and not get tired.00:51:48.150 --> 00:51:51.150
You'll right, you'll, you'll fight and not grow weary.00:51:51.150 --> 00:51:52.409
You'll walk and not get tired.00:51:52.409 --> 00:51:53.548
You'll run and not grow weary.00:51:53.548 --> 00:51:54.480
You're exactly right.00:51:54.480 --> 00:51:54.539
Yeah.00:51:54.719 --> 00:51:55.079
Amen.00:51:55.139 --> 00:51:59.639
I, I said those verses out loud, five to seven days a week.00:52:00.568 --> 00:52:02.250
'cause that was all I can hang on to.00:52:02.429 --> 00:52:08.309
I was like, if I believe the Bible cover to cover, the words written in the Bible are God's promises to me, this is me.00:52:08.309 --> 00:52:08.730
Right?00:52:09.298 --> 00:52:09.809
So.00:52:10.679 --> 00:52:18.780
I would, I would see those times on the clock and in my, so I'd say those are my God winks, that God's just telling me, Hey Brandon, I got it all in control.00:52:18.780 --> 00:52:19.079
Right?00:52:19.860 --> 00:52:22.889
So three times I've called Jeff, he doesn't answer.00:52:22.889 --> 00:52:23.909
We're on our way to the airport.00:52:23.909 --> 00:52:27.420
We're flying a jack hole, and he calls me back.00:52:27.420 --> 00:52:28.500
It's 4 44.00:52:28.710 --> 00:52:36.630
And instantly, when I saw 4, 4 44, when I'm telling you like the, the weight was on me the whole way until then, don't get on the plane.00:52:36.840 --> 00:52:37.739
Don't get on the plane.00:52:37.920 --> 00:52:38.820
Don't get on the plane.00:52:39.239 --> 00:52:50.159
When I saw 4 44 when I grew up, I went to a church in Lake Charles, and they had this lady, her name was Sandy Patty, who would sing like this, you know, it was like just traditional, you know.00:52:52.364 --> 00:52:56.144
Classical what you would think of as church music, right?00:52:56.175 --> 00:52:56.385
Yeah.00:52:56.565 --> 00:53:01.275
And she sang a song and the lyrics were, God's got it in control.00:53:01.275 --> 00:53:02.715
God's got it all in control.00:53:03.105 --> 00:53:15.014
It took me longer to tell you that than it took for me to think that at 4 44 in the morning when that phone rang, the song didn't come in my head, but those words came in my head and instantly I had this spirit of peace like that.00:53:15.135 --> 00:53:18.284
That heavy wet blanket feeling cloaked on me was gone.00:53:18.795 --> 00:53:20.594
And so I answered the phone.00:53:20.594 --> 00:53:21.164
I said, Hey.00:53:21.195 --> 00:53:23.715
And Jeff's like, Hey man, I'm sorry, my phone's on side.00:53:23.715 --> 00:53:24.764
I didn't even know you were calling.00:53:25.034 --> 00:53:26.925
I was like, look, I'm just calling to make sure you're on your way.00:53:26.925 --> 00:53:28.034
I was making sure nothing happened.00:53:28.335 --> 00:53:28.519
He said, no.00:53:28.519 --> 00:53:29.775
I said, I'll meet you at the airport.00:53:30.014 --> 00:53:30.704
And he said, okay.00:53:31.304 --> 00:53:34.394
So hang up, get to the airport, load in, they lock the door.00:53:34.454 --> 00:53:35.594
We start to taxi out.00:53:36.344 --> 00:53:38.985
I said, God's put it on my heart to tell you something.00:53:39.164 --> 00:53:39.974
And he said, what's that?00:53:40.034 --> 00:53:42.074
And I said, here's how my morning went.00:53:42.494 --> 00:53:43.755
And I tell him about my morning.00:53:43.755 --> 00:53:47.039
Well, he'd been, he'd been my business partner long enough now to know, right.00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:51.088
He is like, so dude, he has this, he turns white, white.00:53:51.088 --> 00:53:53.608
And he's like, Hey, do we need to get off this plane?00:53:54.389 --> 00:53:54.838
I'm like, no, no.00:53:54.844 --> 00:54:00.298
He said, dude, if you felt that way, he said, look, I'll tell him I'm having chest pain.00:54:00.539 --> 00:54:02.068
Like I said, dude, we're already taxing out.00:54:02.068 --> 00:54:02.969
They're not stopping a plane.00:54:03.088 --> 00:54:03.719
Hey, we're going.00:54:03.989 --> 00:54:04.259
He's I'll.00:54:04.259 --> 00:54:05.099
Tell him I'm having chest pain.00:54:05.130 --> 00:54:05.849
We can get off of here.00:54:05.849 --> 00:54:08.099
He said, I'm telling you, do we need to get off this plane?00:54:08.489 --> 00:54:09.778
And I said, uh, no.00:54:09.838 --> 00:54:11.369
I said, I have a spirit of peace.00:54:11.369 --> 00:54:13.980
Like it's unbelievable how I feel right now.00:54:14.699 --> 00:54:16.829
And so he says, all right, man.00:54:16.829 --> 00:54:26.460
So he sits down and he's sitting at the window seat and I'm sitting in the aisle seat and he leans over, like with a big grin on his face and he said, Hey, he said, um, tell me your plan.00:54:27.449 --> 00:54:29.039
And I said, I don't have a plan.00:54:29.548 --> 00:54:30.000
And he's like.00:54:30.735 --> 00:54:31.605
You do have a plan.00:54:31.695 --> 00:54:33.074
He said like, are you not telling me?00:54:33.344 --> 00:54:37.034
So when I see the plan unfold, I'll be like, oh, that was an awesome plan.00:54:37.034 --> 00:54:37.965
You don't wanna ruin it.00:54:38.175 --> 00:54:39.164
Just tell me the plan.00:54:39.494 --> 00:54:40.574
I said, no, I don't have a plan.00:54:40.574 --> 00:54:41.235
I'm serious.00:54:41.355 --> 00:54:44.385
And he said, Brandon, we're going with the golden goose.00:54:44.385 --> 00:54:50.864
We had six locations this time we're going with our golden goose to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and you're telling me you don't have a plan.00:54:50.925 --> 00:54:54.135
I said, well, I do have a plan, but I don't know if you're gonna like my plan.00:54:54.284 --> 00:54:54.735
And he said, what's that?00:54:54.735 --> 00:54:59.414
I said, if God meets us in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, it will be undeniable.00:55:00.405 --> 00:55:01.184
We will know.00:55:01.184 --> 00:55:02.235
And we're selling the company.00:55:02.534 --> 00:55:05.954
And if God doesn't meet us, that will be undeniable and we're coming home.00:55:06.074 --> 00:55:06.974
It's that simple.00:55:07.155 --> 00:55:09.644
I've wasted no energy or effort in the plan.00:55:09.855 --> 00:55:11.175
I'm putting all my faith in.00:55:11.505 --> 00:55:15.824
If God has a plan and he's guiding us through this, he's gonna guide us through this point too.00:55:16.425 --> 00:55:19.094
And he said, Jeff's a Christian Guy.00:55:19.094 --> 00:55:19.605
You know, he is like.00:55:21.358 --> 00:55:23.068
You put a lot of faith in Jesus right there, bro.00:55:23.068 --> 00:55:26.068
He said, I mean, I wouldn't say, I'm not saying I wouldn't do it, but like, this is our deal.00:55:26.068 --> 00:55:28.739
I I would like it if you had another plan, right?00:55:29.878 --> 00:55:33.509
And so he sits down and he is like, do you have a plan, a different plan than that?00:55:33.509 --> 00:55:35.489
And I was like, no, that is the plan.00:55:36.028 --> 00:55:37.798
And he was like, all right.00:55:38.338 --> 00:55:42.239
So I disappointed him in that, in that interaction, right?00:55:42.989 --> 00:55:43.980
Get to Jackson Hole.00:55:44.369 --> 00:55:46.918
We meet, I meet Larry Meyer for the first time.00:55:46.918 --> 00:55:49.469
I talked to him for a bunch of times on the phone.00:55:49.769 --> 00:55:51.088
Treo, and I had known Trey.00:55:51.418 --> 00:55:56.548
And, um, we're at a hotel there in Jackson Hole, and we kinda walk down a set of steps.00:55:56.548 --> 00:55:59.039
There's a round table and a dimly lit area.00:55:59.338 --> 00:56:00.989
It's old, there's old chairs around it.00:56:01.199 --> 00:56:01.739
We sit down.00:56:01.739 --> 00:56:03.148
It's the most awkward conversation.00:56:03.148 --> 00:56:06.059
I'm not, I don't, I don't do awkward conversations, right?00:56:06.059 --> 00:56:08.369
I'm a warm, inviting, open.00:56:08.369 --> 00:56:09.750
I mean, this is an easy thing for me.00:56:10.108 --> 00:56:10.483
And so.00:56:11.818 --> 00:56:12.628
It was so awkward.00:56:12.628 --> 00:56:14.519
And I was like, yeah, God ain't meeting us here, bro.00:56:14.548 --> 00:56:16.048
Like we could honestly just end it.00:56:16.588 --> 00:56:18.809
And uh, Larry says, Hey, look, we're not eating here.00:56:18.809 --> 00:56:20.188
We're eating at Snake River Grill.00:56:20.548 --> 00:56:21.599
He said, you're gonna love the food.00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:22.199
I said, okay.00:56:22.199 --> 00:56:23.188
And I was thinking, great.00:56:23.579 --> 00:56:25.889
I gotta, I have to endure more of this, right?00:56:26.309 --> 00:56:32.668
We get into a suburban, we drive off, he takes us up there, we sit down at the table, A for top.00:56:33.059 --> 00:56:37.139
I'm sitting across from Larry, Jeff's sitting across from Trey, and Larry looks at me.00:56:37.139 --> 00:56:38.429
He says, Hey, Brandon, what kind of guy are you?00:56:38.429 --> 00:56:42.028
I was like, what kind of guy am I?00:56:42.028 --> 00:56:42.744
What kind of question is that?00:56:42.809 --> 00:56:43.318
What kind of, yeah.00:56:43.318 --> 00:56:44.699
I'm like, what do you mean?00:56:44.699 --> 00:56:49.679
Like, you want me to tell you I enjoy long walks in the park and strolling through fields of sunflower.00:56:49.679 --> 00:56:50.730
I mean, what are we doing here?00:56:51.568 --> 00:56:53.159
And he's like, no, man.00:56:53.159 --> 00:56:54.389
Like what kind of guy are you?00:56:55.244 --> 00:56:57.945
And so I've described what I'm gonna tell you.00:56:57.945 --> 00:57:01.724
I've described this to other people and I said, you really wanna know what kind of guy I am?00:57:01.934 --> 00:57:08.715
And he said, I said, I'm the kind of guy that when I die, I hope that my funeral can't be held at a church or a funeral home.00:57:09.074 --> 00:57:17.715
I said, in the city that I live in, I said, I pray that they have to hold my funeral and the Cajun dome and that people come from all over and say, you know what?00:57:18.224 --> 00:57:22.994
That guy was the hands and feet of Christ in my life at a point where I didn't know it, but let me tell you.00:57:22.994 --> 00:57:24.375
And I said, and no one's sad.00:57:25.335 --> 00:57:26.625
Everybody's excited.00:57:26.985 --> 00:57:34.664
They know that I moved on to a better place and they know that my testimony on Earth did exactly what God had called me to do.00:57:35.054 --> 00:57:39.914
I said, how's that for what kind of to before I could finish this guy like breaks.00:57:40.739 --> 00:57:48.389
He's like, and if you know anything about negotiating, I'm thinking, I got this.00:57:48.480 --> 00:57:52.860
I mean, if you are crying like this right now, game point, bro.00:57:52.920 --> 00:57:53.909
This is over.00:57:53.909 --> 00:57:54.179
Right?00:57:54.179 --> 00:57:54.239
Yeah.00:57:54.239 --> 00:57:55.230
Checkmate we're done.00:57:55.230 --> 00:58:02.664
Like this is, and so the waiter comes by, Larry's kind of a mainstay there in Jackson Hole where they know who he is, right?00:58:02.664 --> 00:58:02.675
Yeah.00:58:03.300 --> 00:58:04.320
He lives up on the hill.00:58:04.320 --> 00:58:06.119
He wouldn't stand in the hotel area where we were.00:58:06.599 --> 00:58:08.610
And um, the guy puts his hand on it.00:58:08.610 --> 00:58:11.190
So he says, Mr. Meyer, are you okay?00:58:11.880 --> 00:58:20.130
And he said, I am, I, he kind of, you know, and so I just kind of wait for him to compose himself, you know?00:58:20.849 --> 00:58:25.139
And, uh, so he looks at me, he said, Hey, did you Google me?00:58:26.130 --> 00:58:27.239
I said, did I Google you?00:58:28.110 --> 00:58:29.969
He, yeah, I said, no.00:58:31.380 --> 00:58:32.309
And so he said, okay.00:58:32.849 --> 00:58:34.199
He said, I'm gonna give you another chance.00:58:34.860 --> 00:58:35.849
Did you Google me?00:58:36.809 --> 00:58:37.469
And I said.00:58:37.860 --> 00:58:43.829
If you knew how little I prepared to be here, you would be disappointed I didn't Google you.00:58:44.940 --> 00:58:46.590
And so he kind of starts crying again.00:58:47.340 --> 00:58:49.110
So I said, Hey look, I'm gonna go to the restroom.00:58:49.349 --> 00:58:50.219
You can compose yourself.00:58:50.219 --> 00:58:51.119
Like I'll come back.00:58:51.449 --> 00:58:52.769
I'm thinking this is going nowhere fast.00:58:52.769 --> 00:58:55.949
This is the weirdest thing I right, is the weirdest, like, yeah, I hope the food's good.00:58:56.340 --> 00:59:04.559
And so I go to the bathroom, get in the bathroom, I'm using a urinal and I hear Jackson Hole.00:59:04.559 --> 00:59:07.079
The Snake River Grill is an old establishment, right?00:59:07.829 --> 00:59:12.150
Octagon, one inch octagon tile on the floor, black and white, like you can imagine.00:59:12.150 --> 00:59:14.460
You can see the setting old antique faucets.00:59:14.730 --> 00:59:17.579
The door has the, the skeleton key in it.00:59:18.090 --> 00:59:21.119
So crack and the lock gets locked.00:59:21.929 --> 00:59:23.130
So I look over my shoulder.00:59:23.969 --> 00:59:27.449
This, I looked over my right shoulder and it's Larry, he's in the bathroom with me.00:59:28.048 --> 00:59:30.119
And he said, Hey, I'm gonna ask you one more time.00:59:30.809 --> 00:59:31.920
Not in front of those guys.00:59:31.920 --> 00:59:32.820
Did you Google me?00:59:33.599 --> 00:59:34.764
I said I didn't Google you, ma'am.00:59:36.014 --> 00:59:37.635
And, uh, but please unlock the door.00:59:37.780 --> 00:59:37.860
Yeah.00:59:38.295 --> 00:59:44.054
Oh, he, he knew I was unlocking that door, so I wash my hands.00:59:44.264 --> 00:59:45.344
I go back to the table.00:59:45.405 --> 00:59:48.974
Larry goes to the restroom and uh, he comes and sits back down.00:59:48.974 --> 00:59:49.304
He said, Hey.00:59:49.304 --> 00:59:51.465
He said, Brandon, he said, I've had a lot.00:59:51.465 --> 00:59:56.414
He said, I trade two to $400 million of distressed real estate assets and economic downturns.00:59:57.375 --> 00:59:59.655
He said, I've had a lot of people sit in that chair across from me.00:59:59.744 --> 01:00:01.934
He said, I've asked a lot of people, what kind of person are you?01:00:02.085 --> 01:00:06.014
He said, I have never had a person gimme an answer like you just gave me.01:00:06.614 --> 01:00:10.065
And he said, uh, my dad's name is Paul Meyer.01:00:10.784 --> 01:00:14.324
And he said, my dad was John Maxwell before John Maxwell.01:00:15.195 --> 01:00:17.804
And he said, my dad did business in 57 countries.01:00:19.005 --> 01:00:23.715
And he said he was a Christian leadership motivational guy.01:00:25.005 --> 01:00:28.695
He said, um, my dad, when he turned.01:00:29.159 --> 01:00:35.670
80 years old, made $80 million a million dollars for every year of his age.01:00:35.820 --> 01:00:40.170
He said he was iconic in that field.01:00:40.860 --> 01:00:46.079
And he said, when my dad died, he said we couldn't hold his funeral in a church or a funeral home.01:00:46.469 --> 01:00:50.760
He said, but we held his funeral on the Paul Meyer Arena on the campus of Baylor University.01:00:51.420 --> 01:00:53.190
And he said, people came for hours.01:00:54.329 --> 01:00:57.329
And they talked about my dad being the hands and feet of Christ in their life.01:00:58.860 --> 01:01:05.159
And he said, you describe my father's funeral to a t and you don't know me.01:01:06.329 --> 01:01:14.699
So he stops again and his eyes well up with tears, and he said, Hey, man, Azi said, thanks for letting my dad come visit me tonight.01:01:15.360 --> 01:01:16.320
How special, bro?01:01:16.500 --> 01:01:18.300
He said, you gave me one last time.01:01:19.320 --> 01:01:24.449
And so he said, if you're that type of a person.01:01:25.875 --> 01:01:27.434
Tell me about your spirituality.01:01:27.465 --> 01:01:28.784
I said, well, now we're getting somewhere.01:01:29.594 --> 01:01:36.614
I said, well, these, these two rings are 1999 and $20, so don't try to steal 'em.01:01:37.514 --> 01:01:40.335
Don't covet, don't covet your neighbor's property.01:01:40.335 --> 01:01:42.764
Don't covet my, my wedding ring and my other ring.01:01:43.184 --> 01:01:47.653
And this one is Jeremiah 29 11, and this is Isaiah 41, 31.01:01:47.655 --> 01:01:49.094
The, the verses are inscribed.01:01:49.815 --> 01:01:53.985
And so I tell him, I said, Hey, well, I said, I've recited these verses a lot of time, right?01:01:54.135 --> 01:01:59.144
And so Jeremiah 29 11, Isaiah 40 31, he said, well there of your life verses you should be able to recite 'em.01:01:59.414 --> 01:02:00.405
So tell me what they say.01:02:01.094 --> 01:02:05.175
For I know the plans I have you to declare as the Lord plans to give you hope in a future pre not harm you.01:02:06.074 --> 01:02:09.405
And those who call on the name of the Lord, they'll mount up and soar with wings like eagles.01:02:09.405 --> 01:02:10.394
They'll run and not grow weary.01:02:10.394 --> 01:02:11.355
They'll walk and not faint.01:02:11.954 --> 01:02:12.614
He said, that's right.01:02:13.005 --> 01:02:14.175
He starts crying again.01:02:14.715 --> 01:02:15.795
And I'm like, man.01:02:17.114 --> 01:02:18.164
I make grown man cry.01:02:18.193 --> 01:02:25.333
He reaches around he, he had this like Larry, if you listen to this, forgive me, he had a cheesy leather jacket that he had worn with him to dinner.01:02:25.454 --> 01:02:37.213
And he's fumbling around in his cheesy leather jacket and he grabs a book and he pulls his book out and he said it was called Faith, family, and Fortune, written by Pop, written by Paul Meyer.01:02:37.574 --> 01:02:44.384
The Forward, I believe, was written by President Ford, but maybe President Eisenhower, I'm not sure.01:02:44.474 --> 01:02:49.483
One of them wrote his forward in it and he handed me the book and he said, open that book.01:02:50.173 --> 01:02:55.273
And so we go through it and he cites Isaiah 40 31 and Jeremiah 29 11 in the book.01:02:55.963 --> 01:02:57.704
And he said, dude, this is unbelievable.01:02:57.884 --> 01:03:06.704
So at this time I'm thinking, I look over Jeff and Trey hadn't said a word, and Trey's just like stunned, right?01:03:07.693 --> 01:03:11.324
And I look at Jeff and he is white.01:03:11.954 --> 01:03:14.594
He has his, uh, elbows on the table.01:03:15.224 --> 01:03:16.184
I guess his mom didn't teach him.01:03:16.184 --> 01:03:17.264
Don't put your elbows on your table.01:03:17.264 --> 01:03:17.864
I'm sorry, Jeff.01:03:18.224 --> 01:03:22.005
And, uh, and he had goosebumps all down his forearms.01:03:22.394 --> 01:03:23.775
What do you call those in Louisiana?01:03:23.780 --> 01:03:24.300
The free zone.01:03:24.400 --> 01:03:24.940
The free zone.01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:25.340
The free zone.01:03:25.340 --> 01:03:25.500
Okay.01:03:25.500 --> 01:03:25.980
The free zone.01:03:26.655 --> 01:03:29.144
So hey, goosebumps all on his arm.01:03:29.144 --> 01:03:32.264
And so we had three hours of conversation after that.01:03:32.264 --> 01:03:33.195
That was effortless.01:03:33.195 --> 01:03:35.385
Just like you and I just like, we're sitting in here today, right?01:03:35.565 --> 01:03:36.344
God showed up.01:03:36.735 --> 01:03:37.574
God showed up, bro.01:03:38.204 --> 01:03:38.835
God showed up.01:03:39.764 --> 01:03:48.614
So we are just talking about life and we get back in that suburban Trey's sitting in front of me.01:03:48.614 --> 01:03:49.784
Larry's sitting in the driver's seat.01:03:50.295 --> 01:03:52.065
My, I'm sitting behind Trey on the passenger side.01:03:52.065 --> 01:03:53.114
Jeff's sitting behind Larry.01:03:53.625 --> 01:03:54.704
And, um.01:03:55.094 --> 01:03:58.483
As we, I'm sorry, Larry's sitting in front of me, Trey's driving the vehicle.01:03:59.085 --> 01:04:10.034
As we get out, I open the door and get out and Larry almost falls out of the vehicle, the window's down, and he comes out and he reaches out and grabs me and he's like, uh, he says, Hey, I gotta talk to you.01:04:10.394 --> 01:04:12.014
He said, I said, yeah, what you got?01:04:12.014 --> 01:04:14.355
He pulled my arm back and I said, yeah, what you got?01:04:14.355 --> 01:04:19.003
And he said, we spent the whole night and we never talked about the company or selling the company.01:04:19.574 --> 01:04:24.554
And, and somebody sitting in this room can attest to everything.01:04:24.554 --> 01:04:25.963
I'm gonna tell you this point forward.01:04:26.443 --> 01:04:28.994
He said, um, we never talked about selling the company.01:04:28.994 --> 01:04:30.193
I said, oh, I'm selling my company to you.01:04:31.605 --> 01:04:34.514
And he said, you don't even know what I'm, you don't even know what I'm offering.01:04:35.054 --> 01:04:35.864
I said, it doesn't matter.01:04:36.585 --> 01:04:37.815
I said, I'm selling my company to you.01:04:37.903 --> 01:04:45.284
I said, the same guy that brought me here wouldn't bring me here and let you take advantage or do something disadvantageous to me.01:04:45.673 --> 01:04:53.835
So against the advice of anybody telling you to go through with a sell of a company, I'm boldly standing on my faith and telling me, God showed up here.01:04:53.983 --> 01:04:55.003
That's what I was counting on.01:04:55.034 --> 01:04:56.085
I'm selling you my company.01:04:56.534 --> 01:05:01.514
And he kind of shakes his head and he's like, I don't think I've ever met anybody like you.01:05:01.693 --> 01:05:02.275
Yeah, yeah.01:05:02.503 --> 01:05:02.923
Right.01:05:03.403 --> 01:05:05.565
He said, can you, when are you flying out tomorrow?01:05:05.565 --> 01:05:06.644
I said, I don't, I forgot what time.01:05:06.644 --> 01:05:08.204
He said, can you come up to the mount?01:05:08.204 --> 01:05:10.125
Can you come up to meet me in, I need to talk to you.01:05:10.605 --> 01:05:11.355
I said, yeah, sure.01:05:11.443 --> 01:05:12.585
So they drive away.01:05:13.273 --> 01:05:16.364
Uh, Jeff is, I turn around, I'm like, where's Jeff?01:05:16.364 --> 01:05:20.173
And I hear somebody wailing like the wailing wall, right in Israel.01:05:20.264 --> 01:05:25.574
He's wailing and I look around, he's on his knees and his, his hands are around his face.01:05:26.625 --> 01:05:28.965
It's like a flagstone decor there.01:05:29.445 --> 01:05:31.994
He's on the phone with his wife and he says, Hey.01:05:31.994 --> 01:05:32.474
He said, care.01:05:32.474 --> 01:05:35.864
He said, I'm so glad Brandon told me in the plane.01:05:35.864 --> 01:05:38.625
'cause if he had told me tonight, I'd thought he was just embellishing the story.01:05:38.985 --> 01:05:44.954
And he said, but I had God show up and meet us in a way that I never had God show up and meet us.01:05:45.284 --> 01:05:47.264
I'd tell he said, I felt God differently tonight.01:05:47.775 --> 01:05:48.764
I felt God.01:05:49.335 --> 01:05:51.405
And he said, he told me that was his plan.01:05:51.405 --> 01:05:52.184
He said, I told him he was.01:05:52.304 --> 01:05:53.264
I thought he was crazy.01:05:53.414 --> 01:05:54.105
That was his plan.01:05:54.164 --> 01:05:56.715
And he just told the guy, we're selling the company.01:05:56.715 --> 01:06:01.454
He doesn't know anything about what the company, what it's even, he doesn't know the valuation.01:06:01.514 --> 01:06:02.534
He didn't know the multiple.01:06:02.534 --> 01:06:03.434
He doesn't know anything about it.01:06:03.434 --> 01:06:04.394
Even he doesn't know anything.01:06:04.485 --> 01:06:05.355
He's just selling the company.01:06:06.045 --> 01:06:09.344
And so I said, Hey, we are selling that company.01:06:09.914 --> 01:06:11.355
And so the next morning get up and meet with Larry.01:06:11.355 --> 01:06:14.954
And Larry said, Hey look, I need somebody like you in my court.01:06:15.135 --> 01:06:16.605
I need somebody like you with me.01:06:17.144 --> 01:06:18.614
He said like, I need you.01:06:19.125 --> 01:06:21.344
And he said, I want to do this.01:06:21.780 --> 01:06:24.329
Build out, you're the first domino to fall.01:06:24.570 --> 01:06:28.230
I wanna do this, build out with you, and you help us do this.01:06:28.230 --> 01:06:28.679
We need you.01:06:28.679 --> 01:06:30.030
I said, oh, absolutely.01:06:30.389 --> 01:06:32.639
So he said, do you want to know what I'm giving you for a company?01:06:32.639 --> 01:06:33.599
I said, it doesn't really matter.01:06:34.559 --> 01:06:36.300
Like I wanna be in the center of God's will.01:06:36.840 --> 01:06:39.329
And so I know it's gonna be okay.01:06:40.019 --> 01:06:42.510
No doubt he was acting against the advice of counsel.01:06:42.900 --> 01:06:58.440
No doubt Jude would, had a, had a stroke, had, and at this point, I think we had engaged Jude already at the possibility there's no, and, and I can tell you a thousand out of a thousand times, you should not do that.01:06:58.500 --> 01:06:58.860
Right?01:06:58.949 --> 01:06:59.429
Yeah, you shouldn't.01:07:00.960 --> 01:07:09.039
In that moment in my life, I was so God driven and I just felt the President of the Holy Spirit.01:07:09.039 --> 01:07:11.250
It truly, it was my ability to step out on faith.01:07:11.250 --> 01:07:11.550
Right?01:07:11.550 --> 01:07:11.610
Yeah.01:07:11.760 --> 01:07:12.329
And so.01:07:14.940 --> 01:07:16.949
Jude would even, Jude hated this even more.01:07:17.519 --> 01:07:19.679
But I mean, we're being honest, right?01:07:19.679 --> 01:07:20.460
We gotta tell the story.01:07:20.670 --> 01:07:23.460
'cause I'm robbing God a testimony if I don't tell the story.01:07:24.000 --> 01:07:27.298
So I get a 96 page document that has not been reviewed.01:07:27.480 --> 01:07:28.409
Jude had not reviewed it.01:07:28.739 --> 01:07:30.179
He may not even actually know this.01:07:30.599 --> 01:07:31.289
He will know it today.01:07:31.289 --> 01:07:32.940
Confessions the deal.01:07:32.940 --> 01:07:32.960
Confessions, right?01:07:32.960 --> 01:07:35.219
The Deal scout profession or the deal podcast confessions.01:07:35.219 --> 01:07:47.639
So Larry goes home and he mar he mail, he emails me the document and I flip to the last page, I sign it and send it back.01:07:49.019 --> 01:07:53.608
It was in my email for seven minutes, 96 pages.01:07:53.670 --> 01:07:57.690
And then I send it to Jude and say, can you review this, Jude, can you review this document?01:07:57.690 --> 01:07:57.989
Right?01:07:58.409 --> 01:07:58.710
Yeah.01:07:59.878 --> 01:08:03.809
And Jude's like, I shouldn't have asked him to come on this podcasting and stuff like that.01:08:03.809 --> 01:08:08.250
But this is, this is not, I am not advising anybody to do this.01:08:08.250 --> 01:08:09.358
I just want to tell you.01:08:10.275 --> 01:08:14.085
How much God showed up in my life at this time.01:08:14.085 --> 01:08:14.505
Right?01:08:14.894 --> 01:08:17.414
How necessary these sequence of events were.01:08:19.064 --> 01:08:24.885
Larry calls me and says, Hey are, do you have somebody check your email?01:08:25.064 --> 01:08:25.484
I'm like, no.01:08:25.484 --> 01:08:25.994
I checked it.01:08:27.074 --> 01:08:31.184
Do you know that they signed the contract that I just emailed to them to buy that?01:08:31.244 --> 01:08:31.694
I said, yeah.01:08:32.385 --> 01:08:37.664
He said, Brandon, I said, did I tell you if God showed up, we were selling our company?01:08:38.055 --> 01:08:38.755
He said, yeah.01:08:38.755 --> 01:08:40.034
I said, God showed up, bro.01:08:40.064 --> 01:08:40.934
I'm selling my company.01:08:41.475 --> 01:08:42.914
I know this is where God wants me.01:08:43.635 --> 01:08:46.630
He said, you didn't even, there's no way you read 96 pounds.01:08:46.630 --> 01:08:47.229
I said, no, I didn't.01:08:47.470 --> 01:08:50.085
I said, I sent it to Jude and there's some pitfall.01:08:50.085 --> 01:08:56.534
He's gonna call me back and I'll call you kicking and screaming, but I want to put my faith where my mouth is and show you.01:08:57.194 --> 01:08:57.944
You have it in your email.01:08:57.944 --> 01:08:58.574
I said, where are you?01:08:58.904 --> 01:09:00.555
He said, man, I'm in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.01:09:00.914 --> 01:09:01.664
I said, what are you doing?01:09:01.934 --> 01:09:05.684
He said, I'm pitching the Planet Fitness deal.01:09:06.045 --> 01:09:07.364
He's like, I have to come to corporate.01:09:07.364 --> 01:09:08.625
It's part of their franchise agreement.01:09:08.774 --> 01:09:10.125
I have to go tell them what's going on.01:09:10.125 --> 01:09:10.694
I said, okay.01:09:11.114 --> 01:09:12.375
And he said, man, will you pray for me?01:09:12.375 --> 01:09:13.215
I said, yeah, absolutely.01:09:14.534 --> 01:09:20.744
So he goes, and he goes in there and he sits down and he lays it out and they say, absolutely not.01:09:21.104 --> 01:09:22.154
We've looked at you.01:09:22.364 --> 01:09:24.465
You're not gonna be a Planet Fitness franchisee.01:09:24.795 --> 01:09:29.385
We're not authorizing any type of transaction whatsoever that you're not doing it.01:09:29.385 --> 01:09:30.164
So shut it down.01:09:31.095 --> 01:09:41.984
And he says, well, in your franchise agreement, you state if an, if you have, if a franchisee has a bonafide offer and they accept it, you have the right of first refusal.01:09:42.015 --> 01:09:43.814
But if you refuse it, it can go through.01:09:43.814 --> 01:09:46.125
They say, yeah, but you don't have a bonafide offer.01:09:46.604 --> 01:09:50.324
And he said, I not only have a bonafide offer, I've a signed contract.01:09:50.684 --> 01:09:51.434
And they said, with who?01:09:52.034 --> 01:09:55.545
And they, he said, with Brandon Robinson, they said, there's no way Brandon did that.01:09:56.144 --> 01:09:57.914
And he said, I'll show it to you.01:09:57.914 --> 01:09:58.635
It's in my email.01:09:59.609 --> 01:10:07.829
He pulls his email up and he shows it to him, and he said the tone in the room totally changed and they were like, I can't believe this.01:10:07.829 --> 01:10:09.659
I, this is all you're gonna do.01:10:09.810 --> 01:10:22.170
Well, in that email I told him that my, the guy that I was talking to about being the business partner that John Landry had his, was going to do the same deal, and so he said.01:10:22.664 --> 01:10:24.944
He said, well wait, John Landry's on here as well.01:10:25.635 --> 01:10:28.574
And John Landry grew up in Lafayette, lives in Biloxi, Mississippi.01:10:28.694 --> 01:10:29.864
Unbelievable God, right?01:10:29.864 --> 01:10:31.604
Un unbelievable God.01:10:31.604 --> 01:10:35.475
God was showing off when he gave me John Landry as a business partner with this endeavor.01:10:35.505 --> 01:10:47.954
And so, um, Dave and Sharon Lam, as well as Greg Henson, all of those people, it was the un it was an unbelievable collection of Christian individuals like I've never seen before, owning a business.01:10:47.954 --> 01:10:55.305
Kind of like we had more discussions on, Hey, what did that devotion you think you meant than we ever had about, Hey, why is the number that way or whatever, right?01:10:55.755 --> 01:10:59.774
So fast rewind back to where he was and he said, I do have that.01:10:59.774 --> 01:11:01.484
And they said, that's as far as you can go.01:11:02.175 --> 01:11:03.614
You can't go any further than that.01:11:03.614 --> 01:11:05.835
And he said, are y'all refusing the right to buy it?01:11:06.375 --> 01:11:07.305
And they said, we are.01:11:07.574 --> 01:11:11.295
We're gonna refuse the right you, you can do John and Brandon, but nothing else.01:11:12.494 --> 01:11:18.989
And so had I not I. Still advised, sign that document, send it back.01:11:19.319 --> 01:11:22.319
He would not have had the documentation and it would've never gone anywhere.01:11:22.739 --> 01:11:27.479
He would've left there with his tail between his legs and United P Partners would've never happened.01:11:28.229 --> 01:11:43.739
So they allow us to go forward and they allow Planet Fitness royalty and Dave and Sharon Lany to come on with us, and they allow Greg Henson, who does business on a global level with, he had Heartland Tanning was the name of his company to come in with us.01:11:44.250 --> 01:11:47.189
And so we put 58 Planet Fitnesses together.01:11:47.520 --> 01:11:50.640
We closed at Jude's office with Goldman Sachs.01:11:51.090 --> 01:11:56.729
Jude went through and looked, thankfully Jude had some stuff that he wanted to tweak and they tweaked it, right.01:11:56.729 --> 01:12:03.270
They were okay with, they were so elated that the avenue presented itself for this to go forward.01:12:03.630 --> 01:12:07.739
They allowed us to tweak some things in there and put it, you know, on the right path.01:12:07.739 --> 01:12:12.119
So like I said, don't sign a document, just send it back in my life.01:12:12.125 --> 01:12:12.194
It.01:12:12.885 --> 01:12:17.654
It was, it, it proved to be beneficial for what would happen, everything that would happen next.01:12:17.654 --> 01:12:17.984
Right.01:12:18.824 --> 01:12:18.975
Yeah.01:12:18.975 --> 01:12:21.614
This isn't prescriptive of what other people should do.01:12:21.614 --> 01:12:22.154
Not at all.01:12:22.154 --> 01:12:24.795
This is descriptive of follow the Lord's plan.01:12:24.824 --> 01:12:25.154
Yes.01:12:25.154 --> 01:12:26.204
In his leading.01:12:26.925 --> 01:12:27.404
Yes.01:12:27.765 --> 01:12:32.805
I think, I think that's a good differentiation and the, I think the attorney is going to, oh, Jesus the former.01:12:32.805 --> 01:12:34.935
He's like, Jude was like, what are you doing, Brandon?01:12:34.994 --> 01:12:37.215
But, but Jew got to live this experience with us.01:12:37.274 --> 01:12:37.604
Yeah.01:12:37.604 --> 01:12:40.875
And I mean, God is the ultimate, right?01:12:40.875 --> 01:12:40.965
Sure.01:12:41.024 --> 01:12:42.854
He's the end all, be all the alpha and Omega.01:12:43.064 --> 01:12:43.364
Yeah.01:12:43.364 --> 01:12:52.335
And so whether it's medicine, whether it's law, whatever it is, if God has that plan for your life and it's, that is going to be what that is going to be.01:12:52.335 --> 01:12:52.904
So Sure.01:12:52.965 --> 01:12:57.284
I had a faith that was just on next level at that point in my life.01:12:57.314 --> 01:12:57.675
Yeah.01:12:57.765 --> 01:12:58.395
And so.01:12:59.685 --> 01:13:03.015
When we closed that day, Jude, do you remember how many people were on that call?01:13:03.015 --> 01:13:03.135
A lot.01:13:03.704 --> 01:13:04.814
There were 85.01:13:04.814 --> 01:13:05.475
It was a lot.01:13:05.475 --> 01:13:07.545
There were, it was the largest closure.01:13:07.550 --> 01:13:08.210
This was before Zoom.01:13:08.414 --> 01:13:09.345
This was, that was before Zoom.01:13:09.345 --> 01:13:10.274
Old school conference calls.01:13:10.274 --> 01:13:12.104
We were all around the table with a conference call.01:13:12.314 --> 01:13:15.465
You heard so many beep, beep, ding, ding, ding.01:13:15.734 --> 01:13:17.475
And then we all had to do the roll call.01:13:17.744 --> 01:13:20.564
I think there were 85 people on the call that takes five minutes.01:13:20.625 --> 01:13:21.704
Oh, it was unbelievable.01:13:21.765 --> 01:13:23.654
And you had to do it to get off of it as well.01:13:24.074 --> 01:13:28.395
And so the transaction goes down, the deal goes down.01:13:28.574 --> 01:13:34.845
We have that day, we have 58 fitness locations, planet Fitness locations across the country.01:13:35.595 --> 01:13:37.335
I think we had a runway for like 300.01:13:38.055 --> 01:13:39.524
But I, I, that may be wrong.01:13:39.524 --> 01:13:41.114
So if somebody says, Brandon, that's wrong.01:13:41.145 --> 01:13:41.805
Okay, that's wrong.01:13:41.864 --> 01:13:42.225
I'll take it.01:13:42.225 --> 01:13:42.524
It's wrong.01:13:42.975 --> 01:13:48.345
Um, but we became the largest fitness franchisee in the country at that point.01:13:48.555 --> 01:13:49.604
That was your friend's dream.01:13:50.234 --> 01:13:52.125
That was the fr That was Trey's dream.01:13:52.395 --> 01:13:54.954
Trey said, you know, I kind of wanna put this together and build this out and.01:13:56.010 --> 01:13:57.270
He had the financial side of it.01:13:57.270 --> 01:13:58.350
He said, can you go build it out?01:13:58.350 --> 01:13:58.949
And we, I did.01:13:58.949 --> 01:14:05.640
I walked out John and then Dave and Sharon, they, Trey and Larry brought Greg Henson, but they sent Greg to myself.01:14:05.760 --> 01:14:10.020
And then we started talking to Greg, and then Greg got comfortable around the idea.01:14:10.439 --> 01:14:11.970
These people were superior.01:14:11.970 --> 01:14:13.979
I mean, they were just unbelievable operator.01:14:13.979 --> 01:14:16.350
All of those people, unbelievable people.01:14:16.500 --> 01:14:26.130
And so that business, uh, organization and set up with my fellow franchisee partners was unbelievable.01:14:26.369 --> 01:14:31.109
It was probably the highlight to that point of my career, right?01:14:31.109 --> 01:14:40.500
I mean, it was like just such a great experience, godly people walking through to, to a soul direction, everybody pulling the rope.01:14:40.529 --> 01:14:46.710
It was just the, the harmony and synergism that existed in that group was amazing.01:14:47.864 --> 01:14:51.854
So, you know how when people come in here with performers and they're pitching you and they're saying, Hey, here is what we think we can do.01:14:51.854 --> 01:14:53.414
This is pie in the sky.01:14:53.414 --> 01:14:57.854
Like no one calls it, you know, it's, it's, uh, good, better, best.01:14:57.854 --> 01:15:02.595
'cause no one wants to say it sucked or didn't work, or average or exceeds all expectations.01:15:02.654 --> 01:15:04.305
I've never seen a bad projection.01:15:04.454 --> 01:15:05.055
Not one.01:15:05.564 --> 01:15:08.265
Everybody walks in with the most beautiful projection you've ever seen.01:15:08.265 --> 01:15:09.885
Oh, it looks so good on paper, right?01:15:10.694 --> 01:15:11.444
We were no different.01:15:11.505 --> 01:15:11.835
Right?01:15:12.074 --> 01:15:15.734
We had good, better, best at, at United PF Partners at that time.01:15:15.944 --> 01:15:20.595
They've had to change their name to United Fitness Partners, but the original was United PF Partners.01:15:21.824 --> 01:15:27.435
So we, we had that same performance and on that performa there was good, better, best, right?01:15:27.734 --> 01:15:30.524
And it was a six year plan that we had.01:15:30.524 --> 01:15:33.585
And so when people come and tell me about performance now I say, Hey, do it.01:15:33.614 --> 01:15:37.395
Divide the revenue by three or divide the earnings by three.01:15:37.574 --> 01:15:38.864
Multiply the time by three.01:15:39.465 --> 01:15:40.694
If you're happy, do it.01:15:40.725 --> 01:15:42.015
If you're not happy, don't do it.01:15:42.074 --> 01:15:45.494
'cause you're never gonna make what you think you're gonna make and it's gonna take three times as long.01:15:45.704 --> 01:15:48.314
So if you can afford to be out your money, go ahead and do it right.01:15:49.545 --> 01:15:53.895
We hit all the metrics on the best metrics, the pie in the sky metrics.01:15:54.015 --> 01:15:56.819
In two years it was unbelievable.01:15:57.015 --> 01:16:02.984
We had a almost a hundred, I think, I think close to 180 locations in that time span.01:16:03.194 --> 01:16:05.595
And so they were like, Hey.01:16:06.659 --> 01:16:08.069
People are wanting to buy us.01:16:08.069 --> 01:16:08.904
And we're like, huh?01:16:09.015 --> 01:16:10.289
Like, we're just getting started.01:16:10.289 --> 01:16:10.829
Like, what?01:16:11.010 --> 01:16:14.159
And so we had meetings and we kind of agreed upon it.01:16:14.189 --> 01:16:25.050
United PF Partners had decided after year one that they kind of put the ex, we had a franchisee, um, ownership contingent in that deal.01:16:25.229 --> 01:16:26.039
We were the minority.01:16:26.340 --> 01:16:30.210
We had a minority position in the global deal, but nonetheless, we were still attached.01:16:30.210 --> 01:16:35.489
Well, they kind of put us on the shelf and, and they started bringing in people, different people to run the organization.01:16:35.489 --> 01:16:35.729
Right.01:16:36.824 --> 01:16:38.625
Good, bad, or indifferent, that's what they decided to do.01:16:38.864 --> 01:16:44.173
And so we had meetings and, and, and Trey would kind of let us know what was happening and what they were doing.01:16:44.173 --> 01:16:47.864
And so at that point they decided, you know, Hey look, it's probably good to do an exit.01:16:47.984 --> 01:16:50.713
And they say, Hey, we're gonna exit on December 30th.01:16:50.713 --> 01:16:52.184
And I was like, December 30th.01:16:52.423 --> 01:16:53.085
Why?01:16:53.264 --> 01:16:54.764
This is insanity, right?01:16:54.795 --> 01:16:57.704
I mean like, how about January 3rd?01:16:57.704 --> 01:17:00.045
Like, let's keep the money before we have to pay taxes on it.01:17:00.045 --> 01:17:00.404
Right?01:17:00.914 --> 01:17:01.844
And they're like, uh.01:17:02.144 --> 01:17:02.505
No.01:17:02.505 --> 01:17:09.194
And so I developed a coup with my, with my original franchisee partners, John, Dave, and Sharon and Greg.01:17:09.255 --> 01:17:11.505
And we were like, we don't wanna do this.01:17:11.564 --> 01:17:14.204
And they quickly told us, Hey, first of all, you're powerless.01:17:14.324 --> 01:17:16.634
Second of all, it doesn't matter what you want.01:17:16.634 --> 01:17:21.614
It benefits the company that's acquiring us more than it benefits you not to sell.01:17:21.914 --> 01:17:24.824
You're closing on December 30th, so get, get used to it.01:17:25.335 --> 01:17:30.255
So we close that transaction on December 30th, everything goes in.01:17:30.375 --> 01:17:39.164
And January 10th, 11th, 12th, somewhere in that timeframe, this country starts to talk about the word COVID.01:17:41.085 --> 01:17:44.324
Timing, bro, divine intervention.01:17:44.324 --> 01:17:46.335
We sold for a historic sale on Wall Street.01:17:46.335 --> 01:17:47.894
We sold for a 12 x multiple.01:17:48.375 --> 01:17:55.574
And the conditions of the sale, I think are supposed to stay confidential, but neither say it was handsome, right?01:17:55.604 --> 01:17:56.444
The exit was handsome.01:17:56.444 --> 01:17:56.804
Sure.01:17:57.734 --> 01:17:59.114
And so, um.01:18:00.524 --> 01:18:06.764
I had friends that had deals set up to close January 15th, and those deals were aborted.01:18:08.085 --> 01:18:12.494
And so I thought to my, I said, God, don't ever listen to me if I'm praying.01:18:12.734 --> 01:18:15.524
'cause I didn't want to close, like literally, I didn't want to close.01:18:15.524 --> 01:18:17.414
I, there was no desire to close.01:18:17.894 --> 01:18:30.375
And, and God's sense of humor in the COVID pandemic, all the taxes got pushed anyway, so we get to, we had to, we were allowed to keep the money through as if we had sold it the following year.01:18:30.375 --> 01:18:31.994
Not really, not quite that long.01:18:31.994 --> 01:18:32.923
But nonetheless, right?01:18:32.923 --> 01:18:35.744
It wasn't, three months later, four months later, were paying taxes.01:18:36.255 --> 01:18:39.854
And so it was an unbelievable exit.01:18:40.484 --> 01:18:43.994
Uh, it, it was mind boggling that.01:18:44.474 --> 01:18:52.784
Pie in the sky numbers were actually hit in that kind of timeframe and everybody there were like, Hey look, you know, it was definitely a godsend that it was that way.01:18:53.474 --> 01:19:06.764
In doing that, in, in doing Planet Fitness and us kind of doing that, we started Planet Construction, which Jeff Bau, the guy that I met in the back of the church, I said, Hey look, why don't we start construction company and we start building out Planet Fitness locations?01:19:06.764 --> 01:19:10.064
Like we have a lot to build out this new company.01:19:10.064 --> 01:19:11.385
You know the jam, you know how to do it.01:19:11.444 --> 01:19:12.314
We know what to do.01:19:12.314 --> 01:19:13.154
Like, let's do this.01:19:13.154 --> 01:19:13.484
Right?01:19:13.784 --> 01:19:14.744
He said, okay.01:19:14.804 --> 01:19:17.175
It was literally a phone call just like that.01:19:18.885 --> 01:19:29.354
So that company that started just like haphazardly as a result of need is now licensed in, I think 45 states, either licensed or reciprocity.01:19:30.045 --> 01:19:36.644
Uh, we became pilots so that we could go fly and check job sites and we build all over the country now.01:19:36.644 --> 01:19:38.925
And what is a bonafide.01:19:39.854 --> 01:19:42.944
Company that's, you know, out there doing work.01:19:42.944 --> 01:19:47.145
I told you I was in North Carolina, South Carolina just yesterday looking at job sites, right?01:19:47.385 --> 01:19:47.805
Coming back.01:19:47.805 --> 01:19:52.784
We're building from Washington, the state of Washington and Oregon right now, all the way down to Miami.01:19:53.475 --> 01:20:11.864
So, um, God allowed a tentacle to come off that really and truly is how I try to be mindful of invested monies and investment real estate to kinda leave that at bay and be, and I provide for my family based on my job that I have now, planning construction, right?01:20:12.045 --> 01:20:13.545
That's what puts food on the table.01:20:13.545 --> 01:20:15.765
That's what does what it's supposed to do.01:20:15.885 --> 01:20:26.265
And so God gave us the ability to continue in that aspect based off of that transaction as well, so unbelievable.01:20:27.375 --> 01:20:35.774
As I went on, I said, man, I wanna take annually, I wanna take X number of dollars and developing the next up and coming entrepreneur.01:20:35.774 --> 01:20:41.774
Like who, who, who out there has all the tools but doesn't have the financial resources.01:20:41.774 --> 01:20:45.255
Maybe now the person I found the family had the financial resources.01:20:45.255 --> 01:20:46.604
They didn't need me whatsoever.01:20:46.784 --> 01:20:59.414
But nonetheless, um, I wanted to invest and give them my experience in business and my, you know, what those were Is that it was this, this superior level of knowledge for bus?01:20:59.414 --> 01:21:08.324
No, but I had gone through some things and I knew to have Jude on retainer and I knew to have the CPAs there with you and I knew to meet with those guys.01:21:08.324 --> 01:21:08.654
Right.01:21:08.654 --> 01:21:12.404
You know, very often to make sure the health and judge the health of the business.01:21:12.404 --> 01:21:12.479
And so.01:21:13.710 --> 01:21:15.689
I stumbled upon, or she stumbled upon me.01:21:15.689 --> 01:21:16.920
Caroline Merriman, right?01:21:16.920 --> 01:21:23.639
Caroline comes to my house in 2021 is like, Hey look, you know, I can either sell cookies or I can go to school, but I can't do both.01:21:24.239 --> 01:21:29.909
And I said, well, I said, you know, people go to school to grab the tiger by the tail, you have your tiger by the tail.01:21:29.909 --> 01:21:38.128
I would never give anybody else this advice but you, I'm gonna tell you, quit school because they're not gonna move you L.01:21:38.250 --> 01:21:39.659
They're not gonna move LSU.01:21:40.109 --> 01:21:43.048
You have a business plan that looks like it could work.01:21:43.409 --> 01:21:45.599
The oldest person I graduated with was 65.01:21:45.599 --> 01:21:46.798
You can always go back.01:21:48.239 --> 01:21:50.548
Let's get you a brick and mortar shop and let's see if it'll work.01:21:50.548 --> 01:21:54.329
And I said, now go home and tell your parents I told you to quit college and let's see how that works out.01:21:54.329 --> 01:21:54.628
Right?01:21:54.628 --> 01:22:00.689
So sure enough, 30 minutes later, my phone rings her dad and Joe Mar. He is like, Brandon, did you seriously tell her to quit school?01:22:00.779 --> 01:22:01.559
And I said, I did.01:22:01.798 --> 01:22:03.359
And here's the reasons why, right?01:22:04.349 --> 01:22:07.649
He said, well, look, I want you to do a couple things for me.01:22:07.649 --> 01:22:08.849
I want you to put up guard rails.01:22:08.849 --> 01:22:10.409
I want you to be your business mentor.01:22:10.798 --> 01:22:13.319
I want your construction company to build this thing out.01:22:13.529 --> 01:22:15.119
I want you to oversee this business.01:22:15.119 --> 01:22:16.679
He gave me this list of things, right?01:22:17.039 --> 01:22:17.279
Yeah.01:22:17.279 --> 01:22:22.529
And so, all of which you would expect every anniversary of Caroline's cookies.01:22:23.039 --> 01:22:25.109
I apologize to them for failing them.01:22:25.739 --> 01:22:30.329
I've learned more from that 19-year-old at then, that then 19-year-old.01:22:31.484 --> 01:22:33.555
Girl than she's ever learned from me.01:22:33.914 --> 01:22:38.954
She taught me that my pursuit of perfection wasn't what her pursuit of perfection was.01:22:39.345 --> 01:22:46.574
She taught me that my engagement to customers wasn't as good as her engagement to customers were.01:22:46.574 --> 01:22:49.005
She taught me that my marketing ways were antiquated.01:22:49.425 --> 01:22:53.774
You no longer own billboards and radio and tv.01:22:54.255 --> 01:22:55.604
It's in the palm of your hand.01:22:55.604 --> 01:22:58.845
It's with a swipe, or that's where you own that space.01:22:58.845 --> 01:23:08.444
You didn't need a watch to tell time with Caroline because if she made a post that she had whatever flavor left in 15 minutes, that store was full.01:23:08.685 --> 01:23:10.005
People were in there doing it, right?01:23:10.274 --> 01:23:10.755
So.01:23:11.414 --> 01:23:15.914
Everything that Jim thought he was getting in me, I ended up getting to see in Caroline.01:23:15.914 --> 01:23:18.975
So Caroline's cookies now has been in existence for four plus years.01:23:19.335 --> 01:23:20.595
We're going on our fifth year.01:23:20.774 --> 01:23:23.354
My daughter and Caroline Faith Robinson.01:23:23.354 --> 01:23:30.284
Now Faith Abraham and Caroline Merriman were best friends growing up and those two run Caroline's cookies.01:23:30.284 --> 01:23:33.824
And the absolute best thing I can do is stay out of their way.01:23:34.875 --> 01:23:38.625
Because they're unbelievable forces in the business world.01:23:38.625 --> 01:23:47.534
It's one thing, and you guys know this, it's one thing to be successful, it's another thing to have a front row seat and watch your children have the opportunity to be successful.01:23:47.534 --> 01:23:47.805
Right.01:23:47.805 --> 01:23:54.164
And Caroline's not my, not my blood, you know, and DNA daughter, but she wasn't my house all the time.01:23:54.164 --> 01:23:55.725
And my daughter was at her house all the time.01:23:55.725 --> 01:23:57.404
So I got to see her grow up.01:23:57.404 --> 01:24:01.935
So in a fatherly role, I'm getting to watch she and my daughter Faith do this.01:24:01.935 --> 01:24:02.324
Right?01:24:02.444 --> 01:24:03.975
And they're doing an amazing job.01:24:03.975 --> 01:24:17.114
So the city of Lafayette or, and now Baton Rouge, uh, LSU, now if they have any recruiting event, they make sure Caroline's cookies are there 'cause they want Louisiana home-based, you know, homegrown, uh, product there.01:24:17.114 --> 01:24:20.024
So it's been an unbelievable journey.01:24:21.555 --> 01:24:38.354
Starting out in medicine, running through Planet Fitness, we became, we, and, and I don't know that this has been verified or not, but we were told we were the largest fitness franchisee in the world at 180 locations in that short amount of time that we turned around and flipped that, you know, and sold it.01:24:38.444 --> 01:24:52.125
So those type of, uh, let God opening those doors and letting us walk through those doors and have those experiences to watch God use the tentacle of what was a phone call?01:24:52.125 --> 01:24:53.744
Do you wanna start a construction company?01:24:54.164 --> 01:25:00.824
And to grow into what it's grown into on a national stage, to watch Caroline's cookies here locally do it as well.01:25:00.824 --> 01:25:09.404
You know, it's been an an awe-inspiring journey that my, my number one overarching thing is God's optics.01:25:10.604 --> 01:25:12.885
So much bigger than our earthly optics.01:25:13.425 --> 01:25:16.095
I never saw this in my future.01:25:16.095 --> 01:25:18.465
I never saw where I am now.01:25:18.465 --> 01:25:19.484
I own Urban Air.01:25:19.484 --> 01:25:23.954
I have a, which is a family entertainment, uh, space there in Lake Charles.01:25:24.255 --> 01:25:26.114
I have a runway to build another four of those.01:25:26.114 --> 01:25:27.524
But now we're building urban air.01:25:27.524 --> 01:25:29.595
We build club for fitness, we go Planet Fitness.01:25:30.074 --> 01:25:32.595
Um, we built a couple of equipment share.01:25:32.954 --> 01:25:34.005
Uh, we built five below.01:25:34.005 --> 01:25:35.925
We built Berlin and Coke Factory.01:25:36.375 --> 01:25:44.925
Uh, we're soon to go into a deal and build a very well known, uh, quick service restaurant and global, you know, deal.01:25:44.925 --> 01:25:54.465
So to sit here and think that, I always thought when I went to the hospital every day and I was in an or.01:25:54.884 --> 01:25:58.484
I love the respect and the nobleness of that profession.01:25:58.484 --> 01:26:01.604
I'm so glad my friends that are there go do that.01:26:01.634 --> 01:26:03.585
'cause we need good people to take care of us.01:26:03.585 --> 01:26:03.944
Right?01:26:04.574 --> 01:26:10.844
But I always thought going to that building every day in that room, that I had more to give this world than I was given.01:26:11.444 --> 01:26:17.713
And I felt like I really wanted to tap my resources as to what, you know, what God had available for me.01:26:17.713 --> 01:26:23.114
I wanted to, I wanted to honor God with my work and satiate why he put me on this earth.01:26:23.564 --> 01:26:30.284
And I'm so glad that he gave me the faith to walk through those doors, to walk into this life.01:26:30.314 --> 01:26:36.734
'cause never in my wildest dreams, what I've been the architect to draw out how this life unfolded.01:26:37.994 --> 01:26:42.074
Two things, training day, not worthy of you told me to remind you.01:26:42.824 --> 01:26:44.295
Yeah, go for it.01:26:45.194 --> 01:26:54.810
So there's a. There's, there's multiple days of experiences that I'd have to tell you like that there, there are multiple podcasts of what God's allowed me to do as a result of the, the businesses, right?01:26:55.619 --> 01:27:00.300
One of the things is, I was in a con conference one time, John Gordon, are you familiar with John Gordon?01:27:00.930 --> 01:27:02.699
John Gordon is like John Maxwell, right?01:27:02.699 --> 01:27:03.600
In that arena.01:27:03.689 --> 01:27:07.050
Um, um, power of positive Thinking.01:27:07.050 --> 01:27:08.159
The guy is dynamic.01:27:08.189 --> 01:27:08.760
Unbelievable.01:27:08.760 --> 01:27:10.260
If you don't know who he is, go look him up.01:27:10.560 --> 01:27:11.670
I love John Gordon.01:27:11.970 --> 01:27:14.760
I'm sitting at a table with 1200 people in the room.01:27:15.029 --> 01:27:19.979
John Gor, uh, uh, o uh, is it Pearl Osmond, the Mentalist?01:27:21.420 --> 01:27:22.739
You have you Pearl Osmond?01:27:22.739 --> 01:27:23.399
He's been on a lot.01:27:23.399 --> 01:27:25.529
I've seen the, the videos He's on, the guy's unbelievable.01:27:25.529 --> 01:27:28.829
He comes on first and then John Gordon comes on next, right?01:27:28.829 --> 01:27:28.890
Wow.01:27:28.949 --> 01:27:29.279
Yeah.01:27:30.000 --> 01:27:32.520
I'm sitting at a table and somebody says, Hey, look, you know, we have a mutual friend.01:27:33.090 --> 01:27:34.829
You and I have a mutual friend with John Gordon.01:27:34.829 --> 01:27:35.340
I said, no, who?01:27:35.399 --> 01:27:36.869
And he tells me who it is, right?01:27:37.409 --> 01:27:38.130
And I said, okay.01:27:38.579 --> 01:27:39.779
And so, um.01:27:40.514 --> 01:27:44.713
Next day I'm leaving, my phone rings and the guy says, Hey, Brandon.01:27:44.713 --> 01:27:45.074
I said, yes.01:27:45.074 --> 01:27:45.974
Hey, this is John Gordon.01:27:45.974 --> 01:27:52.454
I said, John Gordon, that like, I just got out, you just did this conference.01:27:52.454 --> 01:27:53.384
And he is like, yeah.01:27:53.894 --> 01:28:00.644
He said, man, I understand we have a, a common friend, Phil Nico out of, you know, Covington, Mandeville area, and Louisiana.01:28:00.644 --> 01:28:01.963
I said, yeah, absolutely.01:28:02.234 --> 01:28:03.284
He said, Hey, I'm calling you, man.01:28:03.284 --> 01:28:04.244
I wanna invite you somewhere.01:28:04.244 --> 01:28:04.604
I said, what's that?01:28:04.604 --> 01:28:05.923
He said, I wanna invite you to training day.01:28:06.524 --> 01:28:07.423
I said, training day.01:28:08.173 --> 01:28:09.764
Okay, where is that?01:28:09.974 --> 01:28:13.094
He says, in Jacksonville, Florida, you know, he said, I want you to come out here.01:28:13.514 --> 01:28:16.064
And he said, uh, I said, okay.01:28:16.213 --> 01:28:22.003
A absolutely, you know, I mean, number one, thanks so much for calling, uh, number two, I'll definitely look at it.01:28:22.003 --> 01:28:22.184
Right?01:28:22.184 --> 01:28:22.484
Hung up.01:28:22.484 --> 01:28:25.034
I did not want to go like, I mean, you know how it is.01:28:25.034 --> 01:28:26.833
That's a, an unbelievable offer.01:28:27.614 --> 01:28:28.994
John was fantastic.01:28:28.994 --> 01:28:31.014
Like, I, I should have wanted to go, but.01:28:32.054 --> 01:28:34.213
I was just B that point in my life was busy.01:28:34.213 --> 01:28:34.634
Busy bro, right?01:28:34.664 --> 01:28:34.963
Yeah.01:28:35.114 --> 01:28:37.814
Satan will allow busy to rob you of God's blessing, right?01:28:37.814 --> 01:28:37.904
Mm-hmm.01:28:38.144 --> 01:28:41.054
If you busy, the world tells you it's a good thing, but not always a good thing.01:28:41.713 --> 01:28:46.724
And so it comes down to the Sunday night before we're supposed to be there, I believe, on a Thursday.01:28:47.085 --> 01:28:48.194
And I'm like, vacillating.01:28:48.194 --> 01:28:49.664
And I'm like, Hmm, maybe not.01:28:49.664 --> 01:28:50.744
Maybe Phil.01:28:50.744 --> 01:28:55.454
Nico's like, Hey, if you're gonna go, John wants you to come pick me up, so pick me up and let's go.01:28:55.454 --> 01:28:55.814
Right?01:28:56.564 --> 01:28:58.274
So I'm like, yeah.01:28:58.274 --> 01:29:00.734
So Sunny and I called him like, Hey look, I'm gonna go.01:29:00.884 --> 01:29:01.994
And he said, okay, go.01:29:02.054 --> 01:29:02.625
We're gonna come.01:29:03.194 --> 01:29:06.344
So we go pick him up, fly out to Jacksonville.01:29:06.344 --> 01:29:08.594
He is on the TPC golf course, right?01:29:09.134 --> 01:29:11.414
And I walk in, I don't know anything.01:29:11.414 --> 01:29:14.654
I don't really know about this same kind of research I had done with Larry.01:29:14.654 --> 01:29:15.554
I kind of done with this.01:29:16.094 --> 01:29:19.423
I just knew that I was invited and Phil was like, Hey man, I think you'll enjoy it.01:29:19.784 --> 01:29:22.213
So I get in, I get to the back of the room and I'm standing up.01:29:22.335 --> 01:29:24.944
We're 10 minutes late, they rerouted us flying in.01:29:26.189 --> 01:29:27.420
The room's cozy and quaint.01:29:27.449 --> 01:29:31.829
There's probably a hundred people, maybe a hundred, maybe 7,500 people in the room.01:29:31.979 --> 01:29:36.840
And I'm standing back by the drinks and the, it's, it is a small room, right?01:29:37.380 --> 01:29:44.130
I recognize the, I recognize the voice that's speaking, but there's a guy standing up in front of me, so I can't see the guy speaking.01:29:44.130 --> 01:29:49.979
So I stepped the guy and it's Dabo Sweeney, Dabo, John Gordon's interviewing Dabo Sweeney.01:29:50.760 --> 01:29:56.550
And so Dabo Iss telling experiences and kind of like, you know, things that have happened in his life have been transformational.01:29:57.210 --> 01:29:58.920
John's kind of doing an interview with him.01:29:59.069 --> 01:30:08.970
The guy that's standing in front of me, he, he, as he stands up and I don't see Dabo, he says, uh, Hey, I am, I forgot his first name, Gillum, I'm a.01:30:09.389 --> 01:30:15.719
Co-owner and, and I think he said co-owner and maybe a manager or manager or coach of the Savannah Bananas.01:30:16.259 --> 01:30:19.739
And, uh, and so I'm thinking, oh, my kids love the Savannah bananas.01:30:19.859 --> 01:30:20.069
Why?01:30:20.340 --> 01:30:25.859
That looked like it'd be, so he sits down, I lean on, I'm like, Hey, bro, like my kids love the bananas.01:30:25.859 --> 01:30:27.210
He said, man, bump my phone here, man.01:30:27.210 --> 01:30:27.840
Get my contact.01:30:27.840 --> 01:30:28.889
You ever in Savannah.01:30:28.889 --> 01:30:29.489
Let me know, man.01:30:29.489 --> 01:30:30.119
Come see these.01:30:30.149 --> 01:30:31.289
You know, come, come watch us.01:30:31.889 --> 01:30:32.460
And I said, okay.01:30:32.519 --> 01:30:35.039
So I stand back up and a gentleman walks in front of me.01:30:35.039 --> 01:30:38.399
I looked at the guy, I'm like, I know that guy, but how do I know that guy?01:30:38.819 --> 01:30:41.759
And so my business partner, Jeff, is a cowboy, right?01:30:41.759 --> 01:30:48.840
He succeeded at a high level, both state and national, and team roping and family of cowboys, right?01:30:48.840 --> 01:30:57.090
And so son and his brothers, he had a brother deceased, you know, died at a young age, but was a All American in everything, right?01:30:57.094 --> 01:30:57.659
That he did.01:30:57.659 --> 01:30:58.469
His name is Josh.01:30:58.949 --> 01:31:02.909
There's, and so I asked Jeff, who's my cowboy?01:31:02.939 --> 01:31:05.670
I'm like, Hey, you know, that is, and he's like, no.01:31:05.760 --> 01:31:07.770
Like, dude, that's Trent Dilfer.01:31:07.859 --> 01:31:11.489
I mean, he's like, won a Super Bowl, is a coach now.01:31:11.489 --> 01:31:12.930
Very involved with his daughters.01:31:12.930 --> 01:31:15.569
Like, I mean, he's like a, so Trent goes to sit down.01:31:15.569 --> 01:31:18.300
I'm kind of watching Trent, like, and Trent sit down.01:31:18.300 --> 01:31:20.609
I'm like, I, I'm like, do you know who that is?01:31:20.609 --> 01:31:21.149
And he's like, no.01:31:21.149 --> 01:31:22.619
Like, that's Herschel Walker.01:31:23.010 --> 01:31:26.010
Like, I mean, like, say that's like, I'm sorry, that's Eddie George.01:31:26.220 --> 01:31:26.939
That's Eddie George.01:31:26.939 --> 01:31:29.340
I was like, Eddie George is larger than life, right?01:31:30.090 --> 01:31:37.260
So I start panning the room and there's Matt Brown and there's Matt Rule, there's Sean McVay.01:31:37.560 --> 01:31:39.210
There's Kevin O'Donnell next to him.01:31:39.960 --> 01:31:46.920
The room is littered with these people that have succeeded at a high, that the world says has succeeded at a high level.01:31:47.520 --> 01:31:51.869
Dabo comes off and they said, Hey, we're gonna do a, we're gonna have some, we're gonna have.01:31:52.529 --> 01:31:58.529
Praise and worship song, and I'm looking, it's Matthew West is up there, strumming his guitar, like he's in person, right?01:31:58.529 --> 01:31:59.100
He's like singing.01:31:59.100 --> 01:32:00.659
I'm like, bro, what is this?01:32:00.689 --> 01:32:04.409
Like, first of all, I'm never missing training day again.01:32:04.409 --> 01:32:04.769
Right?01:32:05.189 --> 01:32:09.899
So I was in the room and I didn't know what, I didn't know what it was, you know?01:32:09.899 --> 01:32:17.010
And I kind of thought when I looked at the room, what anybody was like, oh, this is a motivational, Hey look, you grind when others aren't grinding.01:32:17.279 --> 01:32:18.809
You're awake when others are sleeping.01:32:18.809 --> 01:32:20.850
Like, you want to get here, you can get here, right?01:32:21.059 --> 01:32:21.840
No wrong.01:32:22.409 --> 01:32:23.729
Jay Glazer was there.01:32:23.729 --> 01:32:25.559
You know, the sideline reporter for the NFL.01:32:26.670 --> 01:32:31.500
All those guys got up and talked about the notworthy feeling.01:32:31.710 --> 01:32:32.069
Same.01:32:32.069 --> 01:32:33.840
Yeah, the imposter syndrome.01:32:33.869 --> 01:32:34.079
Yep.01:32:34.800 --> 01:32:38.010
Where they were at their lowest, where they were at their weakest.01:32:38.010 --> 01:32:42.239
Nobody talked about who they were or what they had done, but there was a like.01:32:43.109 --> 01:32:49.649
What was remarkable is when if you go into a room that's loaded up with speakers, they leave, they exit stage left and they're out.01:32:50.520 --> 01:32:56.489
They would get off the stage, roll right back in their seat, open their notebook, click their pen, and they were taking notes on the first.01:32:56.699 --> 01:32:57.720
No one left that day.01:32:58.739 --> 01:33:02.880
And so you talked about not worthy or imposter syndrome.01:33:03.270 --> 01:33:15.930
It's amazing how many of those people dealt with not worthy or imposter syndrome that motivated them to seek new and greater heights.01:33:16.784 --> 01:33:17.295
Success.01:33:17.295 --> 01:33:28.454
But it was refreshing to sit in a room of what the world tells your successful people and within 30 seconds they removed their celebrity status and you no longer thought they were famous.01:33:28.875 --> 01:33:31.154
You just thought I was talking to somebody like I'm talking to you.01:33:31.904 --> 01:33:34.484
And it was John Gordon has an unbelievability.01:33:34.484 --> 01:33:35.505
He is, he is.01:33:36.434 --> 01:33:42.824
He has been impactful in people's lives from a spiritual and a motivational standpoint, unlike any other.01:33:43.064 --> 01:33:50.534
And those people flock back in groves to come and tell of his impact in their lives, right?01:33:50.594 --> 01:33:53.175
How, how much of an impact he's been in their lives.01:33:53.175 --> 01:33:59.054
So when you talked about do you, did you feel like A, you were worthy, or B, you weren't worthy.01:33:59.505 --> 01:34:08.324
It was amazing the humility and and the not worthy avenue and what those people ended up ascending to as a result.01:34:08.324 --> 01:34:12.164
So training day, if you ever get the opportunity to go see John Gore, don't pass that up.01:34:12.170 --> 01:34:12.710
It's unbelievable.01:34:13.305 --> 01:34:15.074
I absolutely love that story.01:34:15.135 --> 01:34:15.914
I do too, man.01:34:15.944 --> 01:34:22.095
Although out outta this whole conversation, I'm, I'm so appreciative for the opportunity to hear your testimony and this whole conversation.01:34:22.694 --> 01:34:39.225
The thing that I loved the most is, you know, hearing your, your, the way you would follow God's call and, you know, knowing whenever you're in this professional world with everything that you need to succeed in life, but knowing God's calling you to more.01:34:39.435 --> 01:34:39.524
Mm-hmm.01:34:39.765 --> 01:34:41.625
Um, and I, I think there's so many people out there.01:34:41.625 --> 01:34:46.244
You know, one of our goals in this show is to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.01:34:46.244 --> 01:34:53.895
But, you know, in in particular, I hope your testimony speaks to those people that are in that role and they're comfortable.01:34:54.630 --> 01:34:56.250
The devil calls you to be comfortable.01:34:56.309 --> 01:34:56.789
Amen.01:34:57.779 --> 01:34:58.439
Amen.01:34:58.439 --> 01:35:01.109
And the Lord inspires you to step out and follow him.01:35:01.649 --> 01:35:12.659
You know, you were one of the people whenever I felt very comfortable in my law practice and I knew God was calling me tomor, you're, you're one of those people that I spoke to about it.01:35:13.134 --> 01:35:15.300
And, uh, and man, you inspired me.01:35:15.389 --> 01:35:17.069
Uh, what'd you say about yourself?01:35:17.099 --> 01:35:20.340
Um, God wanted you to be all in with no safety net.01:35:21.349 --> 01:35:24.134
And man, you, you've told me that so many times.01:35:24.194 --> 01:35:24.434
Yeah.01:35:24.824 --> 01:35:26.594
And, uh, and you inspired me.01:35:26.594 --> 01:35:30.494
You know, you were one of a handful of people that inspired me and, uh, tell you a quick story.01:35:30.494 --> 01:35:44.444
So, you know, I'm, I'm worried 'cause I'm, I'm thinking, okay, I wanna leave this comfort in this, this safe life and I want to go out and help people, sell companies and, uh, and I'm praying about 'em, Lord, you know, put the right people in my path.01:35:44.444 --> 01:35:44.923
Show me.01:35:45.399 --> 01:35:49.300
You know, I'm, I'm inspired by Brandon and a handful of other people that I'm talking to.01:35:50.020 --> 01:35:55.779
And, uh, Lord, you know, just make it clear, you know, don't, don't make this muddy.01:35:55.779 --> 01:35:57.670
Don't make it where I have to make a decision.01:35:57.670 --> 01:35:59.859
You just make it so clear that I need to do this.01:35:59.859 --> 01:36:08.590
And, um, I forget which one of the people I was talking to, but one of the guys said, you know, you ought to try this LinkedIn thing because I, I knew I had the skills to help people sell companies.01:36:08.590 --> 01:36:13.119
I knew how deals worked and whatever else, but I didn't know, like, could I get clients?01:36:13.119 --> 01:36:16.300
Like, how are you gonna go out into the world and find people who wanna sell their companies?01:36:16.300 --> 01:36:17.079
They don't talk about it.01:36:17.079 --> 01:36:18.579
Nobody talks about selling their company.01:36:18.579 --> 01:36:19.779
They're very secretive about it.01:36:20.439 --> 01:36:24.460
And, uh, one of the guys I talked to said, why don't you just try this LinkedIn thing?01:36:24.909 --> 01:36:29.170
I had never even looked at it before, but I, I, I said, okay, fine, I'll, I'll do it.01:36:29.229 --> 01:36:37.180
I get on there and I, I create an account and I make a little post first thing, like only thing I've ever put on the internet.01:36:37.600 --> 01:36:39.220
And, uh, and it says, you know, just.01:36:39.673 --> 01:36:43.034
Lawyer thinking about stepping out, helping people to sell their companies.01:36:43.454 --> 01:36:46.003
If you'd like to have a conversation, I'd love to talk to you.01:36:46.003 --> 01:36:48.375
I, I post it, I turn it off.01:36:48.375 --> 01:36:49.213
I don't even look at it again.01:36:49.213 --> 01:36:50.173
I don't know what's going on.01:36:50.804 --> 01:37:00.824
And once, you know, a couple days later, my phone rings and this guy calls me and he says, oh man, I've got a, you know, this mid-market business down in Florida and you know, I've been here for 20 years.01:37:00.824 --> 01:37:04.664
And we get to talk and he says, you know, I'm from New Orleans, but I went to LSU.01:37:05.234 --> 01:37:09.194
And uh, you know, we're just hitting it off about all things Louisiana.01:37:09.194 --> 01:37:14.384
And he's grown this great business, you know, a hundred employees down in Florida, just awesome company.01:37:14.384 --> 01:37:16.484
The exact kind of client I would want to have.01:37:17.054 --> 01:37:27.914
We hit it off for 45 minutes and he says, you know, I just, I can't describe it to you, but I just feel like God told me to call you and have you sell my company.01:37:29.054 --> 01:37:29.804
Thank you Jesus.01:37:30.014 --> 01:37:32.234
And it is like, what are you talking about?01:37:34.109 --> 01:37:35.699
What are you talking about?01:37:36.059 --> 01:37:37.409
And that was my inspiration moment.01:37:37.409 --> 01:37:40.079
That was God wanting me to jump without a safety net.01:37:40.739 --> 01:37:49.349
And you know, if you can speak to all those other people that are in, you know, that comfortable role, you know, the devil's calling you to be comfortable.01:37:49.979 --> 01:37:51.509
What can you say to those people?01:37:51.929 --> 01:37:54.329
Inspire them to be the next generation of entrepreneurs?01:37:54.509 --> 01:37:56.369
Yeah, I pray for the sensitivity of an ear.01:37:56.399 --> 01:37:59.609
If I called you today after this, I was like, Jude, what's up?01:37:59.639 --> 01:38:02.039
You'd be like, Hey Brandon, what's going on man?01:38:02.039 --> 01:38:02.489
What you got?01:38:02.639 --> 01:38:05.189
But if I called and said, Hey Jude, what's up?01:38:06.210 --> 01:38:07.079
You say, who is this?01:38:08.579 --> 01:38:08.939
Right?01:38:09.960 --> 01:38:18.298
So I'd pray for the sensitivity of an ear for those people on the fence or have an opportunity to do it, that when the whisper of God comes by, that they don't miss it.01:38:18.899 --> 01:38:21.298
'cause they didn't recognize the call, right.01:38:21.359 --> 01:38:22.769
That they would step out on faith.01:38:23.819 --> 01:38:25.710
The journey's unbelievable.01:38:25.859 --> 01:38:31.019
But boy, you talk about we get, we get in, we get handcuffed into comfort.01:38:31.679 --> 01:38:34.229
We get handcuffed into repetitive.01:38:35.099 --> 01:38:40.469
And what I would tell you is what are you robbing the world of?01:38:40.469 --> 01:38:44.548
Like, are you fulfilling God's purpose and desire for you on this earth?01:38:44.939 --> 01:38:47.399
Because if not, what are you robbing the world of?01:38:47.789 --> 01:38:53.548
If God put you on here to be so much more than you're doing now, don't be fearful of stepping out.01:38:54.029 --> 01:38:56.159
Don't hold back to me.01:38:56.159 --> 01:39:01.409
It's an abuse of your gift and talents to hold back and to rest in the comfort.01:39:01.559 --> 01:39:02.729
And I do agree with you.01:39:03.179 --> 01:39:08.729
I think Satan lives in comfort and conservative, right?01:39:09.449 --> 01:39:23.099
You can be conservative strategically and still kind of make those moves, but I often think of what would've happened if I didn't turn into that parking lot and what, what I have come to.01:39:23.789 --> 01:39:25.469
And I think you'll appreciate this.01:39:26.520 --> 01:39:31.050
I've come to the realization that some people cringe when I say this.01:39:31.770 --> 01:39:33.750
Money doesn't, doesn't really move me.01:39:34.739 --> 01:39:40.800
I wake up 30 or 31 days outta the month and forget I have money and I go to work at planning construction.01:39:41.130 --> 01:39:45.390
Like the hustle's real, and like, if we don't do it, it could be catastrophic.01:39:45.390 --> 01:39:45.840
Right?01:39:46.920 --> 01:40:04.529
And so, um, monetary success is important to an extent, but when I look back over my journey, I don't remember the amount of money that went into the account when those 85 people hung up at your office.01:40:04.920 --> 01:40:09.329
I don't remember the amount of money that went into the account in 2019.01:40:10.380 --> 01:40:10.979
I don't know.01:40:10.979 --> 01:40:12.060
I don't, I, I can't tell you.01:40:12.239 --> 01:40:14.520
I can tell you roundabout, but I don't know that exact number.01:40:15.090 --> 01:40:16.649
I can tell you exactly.01:40:18.210 --> 01:40:24.720
What the experiences and the relationships and the journey of owning those businesses.01:40:25.019 --> 01:40:36.869
I can tell you exactly what it was like when God made provision for so and so to pay their college loans off when God made provision for so-and-so to pay their house off or so and so to have a car.01:40:37.319 --> 01:40:53.399
So the experience, what you're robbing yourself of and the experiences that come as a result of you being in lockstep with God's will for your life if you get to go through them, you would never, ever, ever forego that opportunity.01:40:53.699 --> 01:41:02.699
What I've learned about myself is the journey is in the process and trying to get there, getting there is wonderful, right?01:41:03.090 --> 01:41:03.930
Unbelievable.01:41:04.500 --> 01:41:07.920
There's some generational comfort that happens when you get there.01:41:09.425 --> 01:41:12.479
When you look back, it won't dominate your memory.01:41:12.630 --> 01:41:19.529
Your memory's dominated by the journey and staying comfort, staying comfortable and sitting in your space.01:41:19.920 --> 01:41:25.260
You're robbing yourself and the world of those experiences and those experiences are life changing.01:41:25.470 --> 01:41:28.649
So I wouldn't sit in comfort.01:41:28.890 --> 01:41:35.310
I would always try to say, you know, God used me and guide me and direct me, and some people are exactly where God has 'em to be.01:41:35.609 --> 01:41:36.689
This isn't for everybody.01:41:36.689 --> 01:41:38.340
This lane isn't open for everybody.01:41:38.640 --> 01:41:41.640
But if you have the opportunity, don't dismiss it.01:41:41.640 --> 01:41:46.350
Just because you're sitting in the spot where you feel like you have it figured out.01:41:46.800 --> 01:41:51.329
Satan wants you to sit in the spot where you feel like you have it figured out because it's not yours to figure out.01:41:51.329 --> 01:41:55.289
Anyway, it was always, we're always a ve and a vessel of God.01:41:55.289 --> 01:41:55.590
So.01:41:56.009 --> 01:41:58.500
Yeah, self-reliance is the enemy of faith.01:41:58.500 --> 01:41:59.069
Amen.01:41:59.489 --> 01:42:07.048
And in case you forgot what the amount was, somewhere out there, there's a picture floating around of, uh, you in my office with a posterboard size check.01:42:07.048 --> 01:42:07.889
You are correct.01:42:07.889 --> 01:42:08.699
You are correct.01:42:09.000 --> 01:42:09.899
You are correct.01:42:10.920 --> 01:42:12.359
That, that was amazing.01:42:12.389 --> 01:42:17.189
You know, and I remember getting that, getting that check printed for that kind of picture, that moment, right?01:42:17.909 --> 01:42:20.039
And I thought it doesn't get any better than this.01:42:20.699 --> 01:42:26.069
Like now God has me wired where my best days are not behind me.01:42:27.164 --> 01:42:28.185
They're still in front of me.01:42:28.185 --> 01:42:28.604
Right.01:42:28.635 --> 01:42:42.104
The only people that will, the only way that I'll be robbed of those best days if I robb myself and I take myself out of that game or take myself out of that lane or take myself outta, and I don't believe God's given us provision number one solely for us.01:42:42.645 --> 01:42:45.194
I believe, to whom much is given, much is expected.01:42:45.284 --> 01:42:48.975
And so that money's, you know, and those proceeds aren't yours anyway.01:42:48.975 --> 01:42:51.465
You better go out there and be the hands and feet of Christ.01:42:51.975 --> 01:42:56.204
And, um, you don't give yourself nearly enough credit, Brandon, well, back then, yeah.01:42:56.204 --> 01:43:01.244
You may have been excited by the money and the transaction, but you never talked about what you were gonna do for yourself.01:43:01.515 --> 01:43:03.555
You talked about everybody else.01:43:03.555 --> 01:43:03.564
Yeah.01:43:03.564 --> 01:43:05.925
Who was getting a piece of that money and the way you were taking care of them.01:43:06.765 --> 01:43:07.215
Yeah.01:43:07.395 --> 01:43:08.265
You know what I did?01:43:09.479 --> 01:43:16.215
I, I had a Hummer that I put a new engine in and I bought, I hate the noise.01:43:16.305 --> 01:43:19.185
I have a shooting range at my house, and I hate the noise of the gun.01:43:19.545 --> 01:43:21.225
And I suppressed my guns.01:43:21.225 --> 01:43:21.944
And that's all I did.01:43:23.385 --> 01:43:23.534
Yeah.01:43:23.534 --> 01:43:25.604
With that first exit, I didn't.01:43:26.489 --> 01:43:31.529
My household still operates on the budget that my household did when I practiced anesthesia.01:43:32.399 --> 01:43:33.149
It's unchanged.01:43:33.809 --> 01:43:41.909
And, you know, I feel like a, a whole nother lesson in a podcast is, you know, do you practice top line revenues and go generate more top line revenues?01:43:41.909 --> 01:43:47.878
Or do you practice debt constraint and be conscientious, you know, of your overhead and what that looks like?01:43:47.878 --> 01:43:50.489
'cause both of them end up in cash flow for you.01:43:50.489 --> 01:43:50.849
Right.01:43:50.939 --> 01:43:58.409
And so God's wired me just not, I just, you know, and I don't know if that's disappointing or not disappointing.01:43:58.409 --> 01:43:59.399
I hope it's not disappointing.01:43:59.399 --> 01:44:11.099
But the monetary thing is a secondary, um, benefit of the spiritual journey of just following God's lead, putting faith into practice.01:44:11.548 --> 01:44:14.009
The ma like, we can't take any of that stuff with us anyway.01:44:14.009 --> 01:44:14.399
Right?01:44:14.609 --> 01:44:15.210
And so.01:44:16.425 --> 01:44:19.545
You know, I wanna leave my legacy on this earth while I'm still alive.01:44:19.814 --> 01:44:27.914
So I, I, I, I, I'm, I freely and I, we tell people, like, whenever God presents a situation, Hey, look, don't lay your head on your pillow.01:44:27.914 --> 01:44:29.414
And thank God for Brandon and Amy.01:44:30.135 --> 01:44:41.984
Thank God that in 2011 he let a guy like me drive up to a, a place where he had no business being, and that all he allowed me to do is be a custodian of these resources for you.01:44:42.224 --> 01:44:44.564
And you've given me the opportunity to be obedient.01:44:45.314 --> 01:44:48.914
So God's blessing you, and he is given me the opportunity to be obedient.01:44:48.914 --> 01:44:51.314
And that's truly the way I feel about it.01:44:51.314 --> 01:45:04.215
You know, it's, it's, uh, it's weird because I grew up thinking that money was, you know, that's where you wanted, you, you, that was your definition of success and why it is one of the variables.01:45:04.965 --> 01:45:09.494
The definition of success is far broader, broader than just money.01:45:10.484 --> 01:45:11.354
That's beautiful.01:45:11.444 --> 01:45:12.704
Josh, wrap us up, man.01:45:12.854 --> 01:45:15.135
That's a great, great conclusion.01:45:15.795 --> 01:45:17.144
A few things are gonna happen.01:45:18.375 --> 01:45:22.005
I'm a little, uh, discombobulated, right?01:45:22.664 --> 01:45:32.324
Um, I, I'll share with this, uh, you later, but we, one of the traditions, uh, of the DEAL podcast is we pass on questions from guests to guests.01:45:32.324 --> 01:45:37.515
And from the, our, our audience will reach out and they'll let us know some, uh, questions.01:45:37.515 --> 01:45:44.335
But this is from, uh, Ben Smith, president of, uh, market, president of Acadia Acadiana Bank, right?01:45:44.354 --> 01:45:45.135
Red River Bank.01:45:45.225 --> 01:45:46.274
Red River Bank.01:45:46.305 --> 01:45:46.574
Yep.01:45:46.875 --> 01:45:47.684
Sorry, I got that wrong.01:45:48.135 --> 01:45:54.434
Uh, what could you do in your daily life to make the community you live in better in the future?01:45:55.979 --> 01:45:58.170
Well, I think community involvement's big, right?01:45:58.170 --> 01:46:02.579
And we try to be in involved and, um, what I can do in my daily life Yeah.01:46:02.579 --> 01:46:05.399
Is be exactly who God's called Brandon Robinson to be.01:46:05.520 --> 01:46:05.819
Yeah.01:46:05.970 --> 01:46:08.520
And to walk that out as an example for everybody to see.01:46:09.659 --> 01:46:13.590
And that's the, that's the absolute best thing I can do to make my community better.01:46:13.649 --> 01:46:14.039
Right.01:46:14.489 --> 01:46:23.250
Um, to take the opportunities when you're asked to come do a podcast that you push pause on your day and you come do it because you just never know.01:46:23.250 --> 01:46:24.840
You don't, you never know who's listening.01:46:24.899 --> 01:46:26.489
You never know what this is.01:46:26.489 --> 01:46:29.250
You know who it's gonna touch, how it's gonna resonate.01:46:29.520 --> 01:46:30.689
You never know the single.01:46:31.125 --> 01:46:33.284
Phrase that you say you don't, you never know.01:46:33.289 --> 01:46:33.649
Mm-hmm.01:46:33.765 --> 01:46:42.734
But one thing I know is if you don't do it, then I'm robbing God of the opportunity of the testimony, which I think I'm called to, to give the testimony and, and the way it is.01:46:43.095 --> 01:46:44.204
And then it's up.01:46:44.234 --> 01:46:44.774
It's not up.01:46:44.835 --> 01:46:48.225
It's up to me to plant the seed, but it's not up to me to water that seed.01:46:48.225 --> 01:46:49.604
It's not up to me to harvest that seed.01:46:49.604 --> 01:46:54.645
It's not up to me to watch that seed grow, but it is up to me that if God gives me an opportunity to walk in here.01:46:54.645 --> 01:47:00.854
So I think being the best Christian version of Brandon Robinson that I can be, yeah.01:47:01.005 --> 01:47:05.414
Is the best thing I can do on a daily basis to give my community the best of me.01:47:06.255 --> 01:47:16.125
There's a strategic verse in the Bible on how to win, and it's in revelations and it says, they shall defeat the enemy by the blood of Jesus, the word of the, uh, in the word of their testimony.01:47:16.125 --> 01:47:17.925
And they should not fear their life into the death.01:47:17.925 --> 01:47:23.534
So sharing your testimony, man, is definitely put in a a w in, in the, in the camp.01:47:24.255 --> 01:47:26.685
Uh, you're gonna, we're gonna give you some gifts.01:47:26.864 --> 01:47:28.274
We're gonna get you to sign the deal wall.01:47:28.694 --> 01:47:35.654
You get to, uh, add a question to, uh, the, the next guest that's coming in, in negative one minute.01:47:36.164 --> 01:47:42.494
But, uh, one thing that I've never done before, but I'd like you to do is, uh, could you close this out in prayer?01:47:42.494 --> 01:47:45.135
Maybe pray for someone in the, uh, that might be listening in.01:47:45.255 --> 01:47:46.515
Would you be open to that?01:47:46.545 --> 01:47:47.414
Yeah, absolutely.01:47:47.414 --> 01:47:49.935
In fact, I thank you for the privilege of being able to do that.01:47:49.935 --> 01:47:50.180
So yeah, ma'am.01:47:51.444 --> 01:47:55.225
Father, we just thank you and praise you for the ability to come together and fellowship and speak about you.01:47:55.225 --> 01:47:55.765
Father God.01:47:55.765 --> 01:47:59.814
There's countries where this is not allowed and we realize it's a benefit of where we are.01:47:59.814 --> 01:48:01.885
Father God, we pray for your hedge of protection.01:48:02.274 --> 01:48:05.484
Father God, I pray that, um.01:48:05.890 --> 01:48:14.859
You have a, uh, the healing touch from my brother Andre Frank, father God, who maybe not be listening, father God, maybe listening to this later or maybe hear it later.01:48:14.859 --> 01:48:22.750
But if you have a prayer, if you've given me a prayer request and you're allowing me to say a name that I'm calling out, I'm calling Andre Frank out by name.01:48:22.750 --> 01:48:23.319
Father God.01:48:23.829 --> 01:48:35.920
Father, I pray for your wisdom in the season that we're in, to recognize where we are and to walk through it with the understanding that you're, you have equipped us, um, to perfectly walk through.01:48:35.920 --> 01:48:40.510
Father God, I pray for your guidance to have godly families and godly companies.01:48:40.510 --> 01:48:44.529
I pray that you rest bless these people, father God that are in this room.01:48:44.529 --> 01:48:46.840
Father God, you bless the people listening, father God.01:48:47.284 --> 01:49:02.255
That, um, you'll open their ears so that they will hear you Father God, and you'll touch them in a way that's undeniable and only that you can Father God, that they won't remember the names of the podcast hosts or the podcast guests, father God, that they'll remember your name, father God.01:49:02.255 --> 01:49:04.954
And there's only one way, and it's through you and Jesus.01:49:04.954 --> 01:49:06.364
Holy, precious name we pray.01:49:06.484 --> 01:49:06.604
Amen.01:49:07.729 --> 01:49:08.020
Amen.
