Category: Business

Today Is My Momz B-Day – It’s A Holiday!!!

I’m so excited she made it to another year. My excitement is completely selfish, LOL. She made it another year so I have more time to talk to her on the phone, text her, and make it down south to see her (I don’t do this enough at all!). I still get to see her smile, hear her voice, make her proud, buy her a house, and pay off her car.

This is a woman who raised a man. To be more accurate this is a woman who raised four great men and two truly amazing women! That’s why she is so special to me. People see my hustle, my motivation, and positive vibe and wonder how I could ever be this way.

I get compliments all the time for doing things that are normal to me but others feel are noteworthy. I always humbly thank them for noticing and simply say, “I get it from my momma”. I am who I am because she is who she is!

They say he’s too confident.

She did that!

They say but he’s very humble.

She did that!

They say he demands respect.

She did that!

They say but he’s so respectful.

She did that!

They say he is too serious.

She did that!

They say but he likes to smile.

She did that!

They say he’s a One Man Army.

She did that!

They say he’s either with you or against you.

She did that!

They say he doesn’t mine saying no.

She did that!

They say but he always gives back.

She did that!

They say he thinks he’s a Leader.

She did that!

They say but no one out works him.

She did that!

They say but he gives you his everything when you are on the team.

She did that!

This list could go on for ever but the summary is I am who I am because the Woman that it took to make me into the Man I am is exactly who I was blessed with. I’m so happy for this B-Day and I pray for so many more.

Love you Momz!

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Persistence + Focused Effort = Success

I thought I would share a Monday Motivation post… …What you see in these pictures apply in fitness, health, business, or any other goal. The pictures show three recent dates but those who know me would tell you this work started way back in 2016.

From 2016 up to recently this year, when I mentioned that I worked out, the person who didn’t know me would think I was lying. In fairness to them, I didn’t exactly represent the results of the hours I was putting in so why should they believe me. I constantly reminded myself I was doing this for myself 1st and my family 2nd not for others to believe that I was working.

I honestly faced road block after road block, obstacle after obstacle, injury after injury, and many months in a row without losing a single pound on several different occasions. I stayed at it and I stuck to the plan…

How does that apply to business or your other goals? Its simple, most failure is not the result of the inability to complete an impossible task. Rather, it’s the result of the inability to continue when things don’t go as planned, or the lack of willingness to continue when it takes more time than expected.

In business it’s the decision to make call 213 after you’ve heard “No” 212 times. In health it’s sticking to the healthy eating habits when you’ve been eating right for six months and your blood work is still not in the best range. In fitness it’s sticking to the workout routine when the six pack doesn’t come in three months. In any goal you have its continuing to push forward when your initial efforts don’t end with the intended result.

Life is teaching me that almost anything is obtainable with persistance and focused effort.

Persistence and Focused Effort have served me well in fitness, health, and business so I thought I would pass the word…

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Do You!!!

The summary of the message below is Do What Makes You Happy! I mean that ishh.

You can try as hard as you can for as long as you are alive and you still will NEVER satisfy everyone

So the 1st person of your Satisfaction List should be yourself… …

The only difference between the two pictures in this post is the smaller version decided to put his family, his health, and his happiness first.

The bigger guy was giving time all over the place to A LOT people. At least 90% of those stopped associating with him as soon as he stopped giving them his time, experience, and expertise…

Which of these two do you think is the happiest? Of course, the smaller one! That’s why I say do you!

My message is not for everybody. My message is to the overlooked, the underestimated, the doubted, the UNDERDOGS. I’ve been all those my whole life BUT Never Once Excepted It or Acted Like It…

Mindset really is EVERYTHING! You Can Reach Your Goals! Think You Can’t? Hit me up and watch I change your mind!

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Do The Work!!

If you truly want something you must be prepared and willing to consistently show up and Do The Work!

Then, do the work again. Then when you are tired, do the work again, Then when you are just about to give up, do the work again. Then when you feel like you have nothing left, do the work again!

Too many expect instant success and are not physically or mentally repaired when the rest doesn’t immediately show up.

Your

Success is on the other side of you consistantly showing up and doing the work!

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My Three P’s to Success!

Hello to whoever is currently reading this!!

Let’s get to it! I sat down to write a few encouraging words because I had a young guy approach me in the gym today. He has been coming to the gym for a little over a year and we are often in there at the same time. Today he walked up to me and was like man, how do you do it? I asked what he meant. He explained that he has been watching me come to the gym for over a year and I kill it every single day. He admitted that he remembered seeing me a year ago in the gym and didn’t have bad wishes for me but at the same time really didn’t expect to see me in the gym a year later. He added it was not like I wasn’t killing it back then, but he felt like I was just getting started and it would some how slow down or come to a complete stop. He asked again, how do you do it?

I said three words. PERSEVERE * PERSIST * PROCEED
I added that every now and then I need a little more help and I would add in a little quote from Young Jeezy, “Trust Ya Process”.

NOTE:  Definitions of these words. (Courtesy of https://www.merriam-webster.com)

  1. PERSEVERE “To persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counter-influences, opposition, or discouragement.”
  2. PERSIST “To remain unchanged or fixed in a specified character, condition, or position.”
  3. PROCEED “To continue after a pause or interruption.”

He looked a little surprised but didn’t ask what PERSEVERE * PERSIST * PROCEED meant but I shared more details anyway. I explained that from the beginning of this journey I understood it was just that, a journey. Mindset is everything!

If I had of started this journey this trying to get fit over night the discouragement of not reacting my goals would have eventually taken its toll on me and I would have likely quit. From the beginning, my game plan was to simply proceed. No matter the obstacles and setbacks persist and persevere. Believe me, there were so many obstacles and setbacks.

Those obstacles and setbacks included a lower back injury, shoulder injuries, multiple knee issues/injuries, sleeping less than 3 hours a night, work/life not permitting me to hit the gym the way I planned it, and many more. I just kept going, understanding that results won’t come over night and they won’t come if I stop. In that same sense, I understood results would not show over night, but they would show if I proceeded.

I’m really doing nothing special. These health improvements you’ re seeing are the results of nearly two years of Preserving, being Persistence, and Proceeding. I am no where near my goal, but I find joy in seeing how far I have come.

If I can add one thing that may help someone else, it would be to understand that the goal you are working towards is a journey. Success takes time. Don’t set your happiness only in the end result. That can make for a lot of misery as there will be times when the path will get tough and seem unbearable. Find ways to enjoy the journey (the process itself) and you are more likely to make it to the final destination.

As often as necessary whisper three words to yourself. PERSEVERE * PERSIST * PROCEED Better yet, scream them to the roof tops! Next; Do Just That!

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Now or Next!

Now or Next? I know what you’re thinking. You are saying to yourself, it’s it Now or Never? 😉

Sure, that’s how the saying goes. Recently I’ve found great results in occasionally reminding myself that for me it’s Now or Next.

First, I don’t want you to think that when I say Now or Next I’m implying Now or Never is wrong. That is not the case at all. That saying has been around for many years. It’s a manta that holds so much power when its use is necessary. Its helped many people through some very tough times. Truthfully, even I’ve used it a few times in the past.

Now or Never is that mantra that comes to mind when someone feels:
– My back is against the wall;
– I’m at the end of my rope;
– This is the end of the road;
– It’s me against the World;
– This is my last shot; or
– I’m at my wit’s end.

I wouldn’t dare suggest this manta is not effective. I’m simply sharing a mindset switch that has brought me tremendous success in health, weight loss, and business over the past 12 months.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been in situations where I needed to whisper to myself that the time is Now or Never. That alone triggered a response and understanding within myself that it was time to turn on the tunnel vision, forget everything else that needed to be completed, ignore everything going on around me, and focus all my efforts and energy on the task at hand. I did just that! Many times it worked. I knocked out whatever it was that I was working on with an even better result than expected or anticipated.

There were also times where I did not get the desired result. I went all in. I turned on the tunnel vision, forgot everything else that needed to be completed, ignored everything going on around me, and I focused all my efforts and energy on the task at hand. Still the result was failure. Failure was fine. Failure was not my concern. My concern was that I noticed in those situations where all my efforts did not work, I was not able to restart or even continue the project.

I had all that time, money, and effort put into something and I couldn’t even figure a way to use what I had gained from the failure to launch that particular idea or project again. However, this didn’t hold me back from starting new things. In the meantime, I was able to start other tasks and complete them. After a while another situation would pop up that was a Now or Never scenario, I would go through the process again and many of those scenarios ended in success while some still ended in failure. Those failures still sat on the self.

I grew frustrated that I was not able to restart those tasks. I was like, I have about 5 things I have now put time, money, and effort into and they are sitting on the self and I can’t even start. I grew to a level of frustration where even thinking about thinking of a way to restart was irritating. I must have said something to myself like “On To the Next”, or “What’s Next”, or simply “Next”. I’m really not sure what it was, I just know NEXT was in the saying. That Next stuck.

I went back through all the things that were sitting on the self. I relived them at the beginning of their Now or Never phase. I walked myself through each time I turned on the tunnel vision, forgot everything else that needed to be completed , ignored everything going on around me, and I focused all my efforts and energy on the task at hand. I relived the failure at the end and I really think I may have been about to say Now or Never and some how Now or Next came out.

I won’t tell you that the sun instantly starting shining bright, or that beautiful flowers started blowing in the wind, or even that colorful birds were chirping like in the movies or story books. What I can tell you is that almost instantly, I felt a mind shift. Almost like to say to myself, oh wait! You mean to tell me it was not Now or Never, it was really Now or Next? You mean, this project is not junked? You mean I can start it again? The questions were being asked in my head but I answered out loud with a big HellZ Yea!

To speed up this story and not hold you much longer… …Let me just say, everything that had been on the self was completed by the end of 2018. I thought there were about 5 things on the self but there were actually 8 and all were completed. One of the biggest things on the self was my weight loss goals. I had been battling to lose weight since 2013 (tried everything out there) but ended 2018 with the weight loss of 63 pounds (working on another 40 lbs. now).

Through out 2018 and at least 3 times so far in 2019 I ran into situations that were considered Now or Never in the past. I employed the Now or Next strategy instead. Multiple times, the result did not end with meeting the intended outcome. Each time scenario that ended in failure I was able to start back up; a couple times took more than one restart. Nevertheless, by the end of 2018 they were completed. So far in 2019, I am 2 for 3 in completing the Now or Next tasks that I have faced. You can bet that last one will be accomplished pretty soon!

What works for you? Is it Now or Never – or – Now or Next?

… … …

I typically try to keep these fairly short as I know few people have the time or patience to read long text these days. This one ran a little longer since the backstory was necessary. I hope you were able to get something out of this. Feel free to share your thoughts. I would love to hear how the Now or Next mindset works if you give it a shot.

HT3Stacks…

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Time: What is your worth?

I had a fun conversation about life with a young teen yesterday. At some point in that conversation we talked about what its like to run my own company. He seemed pretty intrigued. I could see his eyes light up, I could tell thoughts were racing in his head, I even noticed that little smirk when he finally had his next question.

He looked at me, with a very serious face, and asked “Since owning your own company what have you learned that has helped you in life outside the business”? I looked back at him, impressed with his question selection but at the same time thinking WOW that’s a helluva question from such a young guy. I really had to think on this one. So much so, that I said lets come back to that one. We talked for about 10 more minutes and then he circled back to his question. He wanted to know if I had an answer yet. To be honest, I was caught up in our previous 10 minutes of conversation and didn’t even think to give his original question much more attention.

This time I said let me think for a second. I thought for a bit, than it hit me. Time! Time, that’s what I learned. I blurted my answer out like I was the teen and he was the business owner who I was trying to impress. My answer wasn’t then end of that question though. He wanted more. How has time helped you, he asked.

I explained, running this company I’ve learned what my time is worth and to value its use. He said, oh cool so now you understand time is money. I let him know that’s not quite what I meant. I wanted him to understand I agree with that ” time is money” phrase but what I’ve learned is more than that.

I let him know I’ve become very selective on what I do with my time inside and outside the company. I went in detail to explain, you know me as this guy who runs his own Occupational Health & Safety and DOT Training and Compliance consulting company. I also own and run another company where I manage and train professional fighters. I currently have a fighter who just fought this last weekend and his now 2 – 0 with 2 KOs. I expect to add two more fighters to the team later this year. I’m married and my wife and I, both with busy schedules as she is a Registered Nurse, try to make time for each other several times through out the month. I’m a dad with two kids still living at home. They are both in school, they both play sports, and they both kinda “demand” their daddy time.

Let’s add in last year I made a commitment to get much healthier. That includes sleep, diet, and lots of workouts. I’m also determined to work with teens and young adults such as yourself to use my life experience and influence to assist in helping mode this World’s next Leaders and Role Models.

Now let’s go back to time. I asked him, with that much on my plate, what can’t I afford to do? He looked at me slightly confused but like he had an answer. I encouraged him to blurt it out. He said, you can’t afford to fail. I smile and said that’s very true but not exactly what I was looking for. I told him, I couldn’t afford to waste time. He smiled back like I get it. I get it!

I went a little further and explained, I’m not saying I don’t explore new things, try to have fun, or just sit and do nothing at times. I’m saying, I’ve learned to be very selective on what I give my time and energy to. I’m getting better at understanding things that are worth my time investment outside of work and those that are night.

To me, time is an investment. We can’t get time back but I’d like to get a return on my investment. This in many cases is not money in return. The return could be my own happiness, making someone’s day, the smile on a kids face from getting to meet one of my fighters, etc.

We all use the phrase “time is money”. The difference between the two is you can get more money if you waste it but that wasted time you will never get back. So if you can take anything from my babbling, your time is yours. Make sure you are the one in charge of what you spend it on.

Better yet, try to “spend” time it less and “invest” it more.

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Motivation is Important but Discipline is Key!

Just finished a nice conversation with a kid who follows both my IG pages. Won’t bore you with the details. 😉 Summary of the convo: He was going on about how much I am doing, always busy, never sleep, getting stuff done, blah blah blah. Then he said, I wished I had your motivation. Of course, I smiled and admired the complement.

Afterward, I explained my accomplishments are really a collection of the efforts I put out when I’m NOT motivated. Truth is, many days I don’t have the motivation, I don’t have the energy, and I’m telling myself do it tomorrow. On those days I fight! I fight that mindset, I fight that urge, I fight that spirit and I get ish done.

The times I feel this way the only person who knows it is my wife, almost 18 years together so can’t hide nothing from her; she knows better when I say I’m good. 😂 To everyone else it looks like i love it. Most days i do love it. Some days i don’t. Each day, my feelings, love or hate, are not relevant to the goal so I push forward… …

Lesson 1: If you only hustle when you feel good or it feels right you won’t accomplish much.

Lesson 2: Success comes from doing what you don’t like just like you love it!

It takes Discipline to do this! We all can show up for the necessary work when it is all smiles. The people who show up when it’s tough, late night, long hours, or said to be impossible are the ones who do great things.

Be Great!!

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Safety First! 🤣😂🤣😂

I hit the gym for lunch yesterday to get a workout instead of stuffing my face as I normally do at lunch time. I got a nice workout in and a good sweat going considering I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked since it was just a quick one for lunch. I wanted to get a little more sweat, so I decided to sit in the sauna for 10 minutes before showering, changing, and heading back to work.

As I was sitting in the sauna one of the guys in there, an older gentleman, must have noticed how short my workout was as he looked at me and said, that wasn’t long enough was it. It was a question kind of but more of a statement in the sense that we both knew 35 minutes in there was better than nothing, but I could definitely stand to stay a little longer. I smiled and politely explained that I was just getting one in on my lunch break but needed to get back to work as I have some deadlines to meet on a few policies I’m developing.

He then asked what kind of work I did for a living. I explained that I work with companies to keep their employees safe and maintain safety compliance. He looked at me and said Ohhhh an OSHA man, huh. I said I consider myself a man for the people. In the slight darkest of the sauna room, you could see a clear grin show up on this face. He didn’t say anything for maybe 2 seconds; it seemed more like 2 minutes, as it was a complete break in the conversation. I closed my eyes, leaned my head back on the wall, settling in for the next few minutes of quiet sweat in the sauna.

Out of nowhere, a guy who was not in the conversation yelled out Safety First! My eyes opened, I looked up, the older fella who I was talking to earlier was looking right at me. Without saying a word, the two of us busted out laughing! The look on the “Safety First” guy’s face was like what is so funny. We could not stop laughing to even answer the questions his face was asking.

Finally, the laughing stopped but we were both still smiling. When I could calm down enough to speak, I said, ok your turn, what do you do? He was an Equipment Operator for a construction company. He has been doing that for over 30 years. As he rattled off his experience, I listened and smiled as I put two and two together on his earlier comment of calling me an “OSHA Man”. He smiled as well, likely thinking back to my comment of “Man for the People”. So, we both smelled a little BS in the room but respected it the same without even mentioning it, LOL…

Meanwhile, the “Safety First” guy is still looking at us like what was so freaking funny about my statement. We still didn’t answer his silent questions. Instead I said, tell me Old School, he smiled as if to admire the new name he just received from a stranger in the sauna room, what does Safety First actually mean in the real World?

His response was quick; he didn’t have to think or hesitate one bit. As he would explain, Safety First means safety first as long as we can get the job done on time and under budget. Safety is always first when things go the way they are put down on paper. The catch is they never do, and everyone seems to forget that safety first chant when its crunch time.

He would further explain, that in his over 30 years of experience he has been through Safety Trainings, New Hire Orientations, heard speeches from Site Safety Guys, Safety Directors, Senior Management, CEOs, and Company Owners. Most of them meant that safety was first or felt that was the truth. He added, I will just say this. We have a saying in the field when people say Safety First, we say yea, the First to Go! He said, you have to keep yourself safe regardless of the company’s stance because their’s may change and you are the one who has to live with the consequences.

The face of “Safety First” guy obviously changed at this point. He did not say a word, he continued to listen. The look on his face seemed like he was waiting for my response. There was none. At least no verbally. There was just another smile on my face.

A little smile to suggest that I knew just where the older gentleman was speaking from. He wasn’t speaking from hatred toward safety just from his experience of what happens with safety when the project budget is tight, the company needs to make cuts because of the budget or cutting overhead cost, or when work must get done but safety equipment is not on-site. There was no reason to argue against his point. After all, how could his observation of his own real-life experience be wrong?

I made it out the sauna, showered up, and headed back to work. Naturally, that conversation was on my mind as I drove. I thought, if I should have said something to persuade the older gentleman that not all companies are like that. Well, he has already heard that from a long list of people that he named so that wouldn’t help. Could I give him some examples of what I have done to keep safety as a core value for companies I have worked with. I thought, I am sure I won’t be the first to try such a tactic with him and he likely knew the people who tried this approach before. Why listen to some stranger in a sauna room talking about all the crap he did in the past? No one wants to hear a list of so called accomplishments. Plus, he was spot on in saying you are the one who has to make sure you are safe.

They want to see action!

That perception will always be alive until workers’ experiences of safety with companies change. No conversation, speech, lecture, training, or written program will change a perception on safety. Only Action; they’ve heard it all and seen quite a bit as well.

They want to see action! Stay Safe Out there…

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