1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000
Tell me about your vision.

2
00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,240
You know, my vision when it comes to how I kind of run things both in my life and

3
00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:12,760
then in business is I look at the framework of stewardship as sort of the lens

4
00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:13,920
through which I run things.

5
00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:15,240
So what does stewardship mean?

6
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:15,560
Right.

7
00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:20,340
Well, in my way of definition and my way of thinking, and I've discovered that's

8
00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:22,520
one of those words, it means a lot of different things to a lot of different

9
00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:22,880
people.

10
00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:25,160
So I actually ask people a lot, what does it mean to you?

11
00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,920
But for me, it's that idea of that there are things that are bigger than me.

12
00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,400
There are things that I've been blessed with that I've been given that my job is

13
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:35,280
not to own them.

14
00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:36,840
My job is not to hold on to them.

15
00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:42,280
My job is not to control them, but rather my job is to take care of them and use

16
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:46,880
them in a way that helps not just me, not just my family, but helps all of those

17
00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,480
people around me, all of those folks that come into my circle.

18
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,080
And it could be as little as, you know, holding the door open for somebody at

19
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:54,680
the store.

20
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:59,760
It could be as big as working with them as a coach and trying to help them, you

21
00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,640
know, really figure out what they need to do and how they need to do it.

22
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,520
So it needs to happen in all of those moments of my life, from the

23
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:07,840
smallest to the largest.

24
00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:09,880
Absolutely.

25
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,800
And I see behind you, it looks like you've got a book inspired living.

26
00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:14,760
Talk to me about that.

27
00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:15,680
Yeah.

28
00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,960
So that, my joke is this book took me 35 years to write because a lot of the

29
00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:23,520
stuff in it as things that, you know, I've been struggling with or beat my head

30
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,720
against or worked with other people in over 30 plus years.

31
00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:32,480
But the idea behind the book was kind of taking those three areas of stewardship,

32
00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,840
which usually people will talk about that in terms of time, talent and

33
00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:36,720
treasures, right?

34
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,240
Money, then our day-to-day time.

35
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,400
And then talent, of course, is kind of that big bucket of everything else, right?

36
00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:47,560
All the things, our attitude or our leadership, all of those sorts of, of

37
00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:48,720
those are communication.

38
00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:53,480
And so when I looked at those three areas and said, okay, how can I crystallize

39
00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:59,000
what I do with folks, how I do it, and bring it down into something that is a

40
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:05,280
framework or a system that people could apply so that you can get better in the

41
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,080
areas of time, the areas of talent and the areas of treasures.

42
00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:14,760
And that's sort of what came out and got crystallized in the way of the book so

43
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,440
that you could take these things.

44
00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,720
And not necessarily completely master them in one day, but by applying that

45
00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,880
framework and that system over time, get better and better and better and better

46
00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,480
until you get to a point where you're really using it and doing it well.

47
00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:31,800
Yeah, absolutely.

48
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,360
And I see that you recently published this book.

49
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:35,560
So congratulations.

50
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,080
July 2nd of 2024.

51
00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:39,880
Yeah, exactly.

52
00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,360
What's that process been like, the publishing process?

53
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,920
I know a lot of leaders listening in are looking at doing the same thing and it's

54
00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:49,800
a, it's a very intense labor of love.

55
00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,920
So the first trick that I'll tell everybody is I did not write this book.

56
00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:55,000
I spoke this book.

57
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,440
And I tell people that because I hate writing and a lot of people out there

58
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,520
that are like, I have a book in me, but I just don't want to sit down and write it.

59
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:05,320
Well, I spoke this book.

60
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,920
So in my case, I have a podcast, it's called the inspired stewardship podcast.

61
00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:15,480
And I started talking through these ideas on the podcast, began to kind of

62
00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,680
crystallize them and get them formed.

63
00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,880
And then when I sat down to write the book, instead of sitting down and

64
00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,280
writing a bunch of stuff, I literally went back to those old podcast episodes

65
00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,640
and started pulling them out, pulling them together and kind of trying to

66
00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:29,240
create an outline, create a framework.

67
00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:30,520
I worked with a coach.

68
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:32,000
I worked with somebody that helped me.

69
00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:32,680
I'm a coach.

70
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:33,560
I believe in coaching.

71
00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,240
I believe in when you're not an expert in an area, you go find somebody who is,

72
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:38,960
and you work with them.

73
00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:39,760
I worked with a coach.

74
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,200
He helped me kind of pull all of those disparate pieces together, put them

75
00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,240
into something that actually made sense.

76
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:47,200
Identify gaps.

77
00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,320
You know, okay, you're missing something here.

78
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:49,840
Okay, great.

79
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,440
Let's go create it and fill in those gaps.

80
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,720
And then as far as working with the publisher, I was very fortunate in that

81
00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,680
the coach that I worked with has a standing relationship with a publisher

82
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:02,320
in the form of Morgan James.

83
00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,160
And so he was able to get me, you know, kind of in front of them.

84
00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,120
And they looked at the manuscript and they said, absolutely, this is

85
00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:10,840
something that's right in our wheelhouse.

86
00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:11,800
We'd love to publish it.

87
00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,680
And so I said, you know, sat down and got the publishing deal.

88
00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,880
And I'll tell you from getting the idea of the book to the book

89
00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:21,680
actually appearing in stores.

90
00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,120
It was for me, it was about 24 months.

91
00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:29,160
So it was almost two years from, you know, Hey, I'm ready to write a book to.

92
00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:33,960
I've got a book in my hand, you know, is about a 24 month process.

93
00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:34,920
Right.

94
00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:36,240
Very good.

95
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,280
So you mentioned the publisher.

96
00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:38,160
Who's the coach?

97
00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,360
So the coach is a gentleman by the name of Nick Pavlidis.

98
00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:42,920
He's a friend of mine.

99
00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:46,840
Honestly, how I met him in the first place was he was a guest on my podcast.

100
00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,600
I tell everybody that my podcast is my book because I interviewed

101
00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:52,400
people for my book.

102
00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:52,880
Guess what?

103
00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,520
Every single one of those was somebody I had on my podcast, the

104
00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,320
gentleman, Dan Miller, who did the forward.

105
00:04:58,320 --> 00:04:59,760
He's always been a virtual mentor.

106
00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:01,200
He was a guest on my podcast.

107
00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,720
That's how I was able to reach out to him and say, Hey, would you be willing

108
00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,160
to do the forward, you know, everything in my book from the content.

109
00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,760
To the connections to the network really, in my case, came out of the podcast.

110
00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:14,240
That's fantastic.

111
00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:18,920
That's amazing to see the overlap and to hear the story portrayed

112
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,440
in such a concise and precise way.

113
00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:25,520
Let's talk about the goal.

114
00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,680
What's your goal for being on the show and for, you know, in relation to your

115
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,280
book as well, let's look at both of those.

116
00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:34,480
I don't want to box you in.

117
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:35,680
I'm excited about it.

118
00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,720
Cause again, there's a lot of people getting into the podcast world right now.

119
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,960
There's a lot of people getting into the publishing world and we're seeing more

120
00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,720
and more people step up and rise as leaders at different levels.

121
00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,800
So what are your goals?

122
00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,240
I'm sure they align with some of what other people are up to.

123
00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,760
Well, a lot of it for me is that kind of what I just was talking about where all

124
00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,800
of this stuff came out of the connectors I made through the podcast.

125
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,600
What I've found over the years, and I think this is alignment with my vision

126
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:10,320
of stewardship is the more I make connections and actually lift other people

127
00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,680
up, the more I get lifted up.

128
00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:18,880
And so when I come on a show, when I make any sort of connection, my first

129
00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:24,720
question is sort of not, not what's in it for me, but rather what can I do to serve

130
00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:25,880
the people that are listening?

131
00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:27,440
What can I do to serve the host?

132
00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,640
What can I do to serve the audience?

133
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:31,800
What can I do to serve those other things?

134
00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:33,000
And here's the truth.

135
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,720
Obviously, I still think about what's in it for me.

136
00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:41,200
I'd love for folks to pick up the book and get something out of it and give me

137
00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:42,960
feedback and say, wow, this was important.

138
00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:47,560
I'd love to find clients that are interested in working with me as a coach.

139
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:49,160
I'd love to find listeners for my shows.

140
00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:50,760
All of those things are part of it.

141
00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:51,680
They are goals.

142
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,400
I'm not going to lie and say they're not, and they're important.

143
00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,960
But for me, those goals have to be secondary to the primary goal of serving

144
00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:00,160
other folks.

145
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:05,000
And what's funny is if you focus really hard on that part, you sort of naturally

146
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,800
get the other part because people that connect with me, they're like, oh, I'd

147
00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:09,680
like to check out the book.

148
00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,400
Then they go pick up the book as opposed to me coming in and going, buy my book.

149
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,600
And you'll get everything you want.

150
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:18,360
Just buy my book.

151
00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,000
You'll suddenly be a celebrity and successful and lose 50 pounds.

152
00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:22,680
It doesn't work that way.

153
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:24,080
Thank you for being here today.

154
00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,560
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

155
00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:31,480
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.

156
00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,200
This is going to get more and more fun.

157
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,040
We'll have more and more engagement as well.

158
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,120
We'll invite people to participate in the show.

159
00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,480
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.

160
00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:57,080
Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.