Rise From The Ashes
"Burnout to Brilliance: Great CEOs, No Burnout"
Leadership is tough. Burnout makes it tougher.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Rise From The Ashes is the ultimate podcast for visionary CEOs and executives who refuse to let burnout rob them of their brilliance, legacy, and impact.
Hosted by Baz Porter, this show isn’t just about surviving leadership it’s about transforming it. Each week, we delve deep into the art and science of thriving at the top, combining actionable strategies, spiritual alignment, and raw truths that reignite your purpose and optimize your energy.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- Bold Frameworks: Learn the exact steps to conquer decision fatigue, streamline your mental energy, and reclaim control of your leadership.
- Spiritual Awakenings: Explore the intersection of purpose, alignment, and success to lead with clarity and connection.
- Transformational Insights: Hear unfiltered stories and practical wisdom from world-class leaders who’ve turned their burnout into brilliance.
This isn’t just a podcast it’s a revolution for leaders ready to rise, inspire, and leave a legacy that outlasts them.
Rise From The Ashes
Unveiling Potential: Exploring John Hulen's F6 Secrets of Relationships
Picture this: A man, once on the brink of despair through divorce, uses that adversity as fuel to transform his life, becoming a beacon of personal growth and success. Fascinated? My guest for this episode, John Hulen, is that man. Join us as we dissect the complex anatomy of failure and how it can be a catalyst for our growth. John redefines the concept of failure, hailing it as an inevitable stepping stone toward becoming the best version of yourself.
Have you ever thought about how spirituality connects with leadership? John unpacks this intricate relationship, as he sees spirituality as an energy layer within us that can be harnessed to achieve what seems impossible. Listen closely as he shares profound insights into business psychology and introduces the transformative four stages and habits that can unmask our constraints. You'll hear about his journey and his admiration for Craig Groschel, a leader who significantly impacted his development.
Navigating relationships amidst life-altering events can be a minefield, and divorce is no exception. John opens up about his personal experience with divorce, how it reshaped his perspective on relationships, and its impact on his plans. Together, we delve into the F6 Secrets of Relationships - a concept that forms the backbone of John's book, and how it can bring about a sea change in our approach to relationships. From his plans for his book series to his aspirations to travel, John's story is a testament to the fact that it's not about how many times you fall but how many times you get back up. So tune in and prepare to be inspired, enlightened, and perhaps even transformed.
Colorado’s best business coach, Baz Porter, has a new mindset strategy mentoring service to help you unlock new heights of growth, prosperity, happiness, and success. Book your first meeting with the coaching visionary at https://www.ramsbybaz.com/
Friends, as our time together comes to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude. Thank you for joining me on this bold journey of self-discovery and leadership. My mission is to help you rise from burnout to brilliance, because Great CEOs deserve No Burnout.
If this episode struck a chord with you, please share it with someone who could use its message. Together, we can spark a revolution in leadership, one conversation at a time.
I’d love to hear from you whether it’s your biggest aspirations, your toughest challenges, or the lessons you’re uncovering. My door is always open, physically in Boulder or digitally at www.ramsbybaz.com.
Ready to take things deeper?
If you’re tired of confusion and craving clarity on your path to purpose, let’s work together.
Visit my site and schedule a coaching session to discover how the RAMS framework transforms results, breaks limits, and builds legacies.
This is Baz Porter, signing off with immense gratitude. Stay bold, stay true, and remember you always have a partner in your corner who knows the weight you carry and the greatness you’re capable of.
Until next time, keep rising.
Good day wherever you are. Welcome back to another episode of Rice from the Ashes podcast. I'm your host, Baz Porter, and, as always, it's a privilege to be here with you and your time is valuable. My guest today is a phenomenal human being and I am really excited to have him on and let him share his experiences in entrepreneurship with you. His aim is to satisfy your need and hunger for success. His name is John and, without further ado, would you please introduce yourself to the world, John.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Hey everyone, my name is John Huland. I am so excited to be here today to be able to talk with you a little bit about the things I've learned on my journey toward success and overcoming the feelings in my life and businesses.
Speaker 1:Do you see them as failings or do you see them as another stepping stone, John?
Speaker 2:Oh, I, absolutely, as failings I do. First of all, let me differentiate, because I think far too many people equate failing with failure, and in my eyes those are two very different things. Quick little definitions. Number one failing. I tried something new. I didn't do it right. I have an opportunity to learn, that's failing. Failure, on the other hand, is all those other things, but I'm choosing to stay stuck. The coach in me comes out and says OK, if somebody is failing, I can help that person. That means they're willing to learn from what they went through. Somebody who is a failure, who is choosing to stay stuck, which means they refuse to learn from what they've done I can't help that person. So the long winded answer to your very short question was absolutely, and I think those are essential for anybody in life and in business. We have to fail in order to grow and to get better.
Speaker 1:I love that distinction and you're very acute about the language that you listen to when you hear failure or failing. So that distinction is very good and it's some valuable information there for people. Some of our listeners are fascinated by stories of overcoming adversity. Is there a time in your career life that you've never been or faced a significant challenge that you ultimately overcame into success, and would you be able to share that with our listeners?
Speaker 2:Yes and yes. So the biggest one would be my divorce. My divorce happened April 1st and, as I've said many times before, I was the fool that day, Absolutely. And folks, let me just tell you now I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It is soul crushing in so many ways. But what I will also tell you is that the worst thing in my life actually was the seed to become the greatest thing in my life.
Speaker 2:This is what I mean Because of my divorce. It forced me to take a hard look at myself, to look at all of my relationships, and what was the common denominator in all my relationships? It was me. And how was I failing in those? And so, as I worked through that, now understand in all this there's therapy involved with this. There's lots of things that I did to work through that. I read more books that I can care to count on the subject. I talked with numerous people just about different ways that I could work on to make me better, because I knew if I got better, all of my relationships will get better. And let me tell you why.
Speaker 2:I think this is also important in business, and this is a fundamental thing for me. It is to my core. I believe this If you want your business and I don't care if you own the business or you work for somebody else, doesn't matter If you want it to be the absolute best it can be it starts at home, because how things are going at home is exactly how they're going to go in your business or the business you work for, because you carry that stuff with you everywhere. And if you don't have the skills to be able to work through your interpersonal conflicts you're going to have them in business, and I don't care if you're a Forbes 100 company and you're the top echelon CEO.
Speaker 2:I promise you your company will do better when you get better at those relationships. That's just an aside, but it's an important aside. I think that's because it greatly impacts everything I do now the relationships that I have with people. Honestly and you, we talked about it beforehand I happen to have a podcast as well and there are so many people that have been on the show that I never would have met had this horrible thing happen and, honestly, one of the reasons I started my podcast was because of my divorce. So it's just so folks know, my podcast is called Relationships and Revenue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, please share.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the goal of the podcast initially was to help two groups that I care very much about men and entrepreneurs, because I'm both. The interesting thing that's happened in the podcast has been going since May of 2020 is that over half my audience is women, and so, about not quite two years ago, I made the decision that I was going to make it less directly about men and just about what can help people in general, and I also made a decision best that I thought was really important, and that was I wanted to bring people on. Now, it's not exclusively interview I do solo episodes as well but for the folks that I brought on, I wanted to bring on people that I want to learn from, because the way I look at it is, if I feel like I'm learning from those folks, I guarantee you anybody else who's listening or watching will learn something. So that's just an approach that I take with my podcast. But back to the reason for the podcast is because of my divorce, because I felt like I had been through so much and I went through so much. It goes back to another thing that's very fundamental to me and that's this best.
Speaker 2:I don't believe our pain is for us. Our pain is actually for others. But we have to be willing to work through the pain and not numb it, pretend it's not there or somehow try to circumvent it. We actually got to do the hard work. We got to work through it to get to the other side, because on the other side of pain is purpose. That's where it is, that is the nugget, that is the gold, the titanium, whatever it is in your mind. That is the thing, the thing, the riches to grab for. That is it. But you got to work for it to get there. It's not just going to present itself to you.
Speaker 1:And I completely agree. You said something there twice. You have to be willing and you have to choose. Many people and I know you know this, john have a problem or they have a challenge, but they're not necessarily willing to choose the pain to overcome, to face what it is to jump in the ice bath, to go for the five mile run, whatever it is, in order to receive the result at the end of it. What deciding factor was it for you in the divorce situation? You went enough. This is all on me. I have to step up to the plate. What was that challenge?
Speaker 1:like for you.
Speaker 2:Quite honestly, when I knew it was coming, I had actually started, a little bit prior to that, working on it, but when I knew it's like the final nail was in the coffin and it was like this is irreparable, at this point I thought you know what, if I want to even think of having a chance at a meaningful relationship beyond this sometime in the future, I wouldn't think about like the next day or anything. I thought that sometime way in the future. There's some stuff I got to work on I have to and I also realized that there were things that I was doing in other relationships that I had that weren't the best they could be. And as I started to work on me, those other relationships started to slowly improve and the people who are closest to you are the ones who notice the changes and eventually my kids started to notice.
Speaker 1:That's the goal there is when your kids start to go. It's kind of gone over there Changing. That's unusual and that's what must be so rewarding for you to even acknowledge that looking back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. That's not why I did it, but it is gratifying. And the funny thing is that there's some other folks who knew me prior to the divorce that hadn't seen me in a while Like every one of them in the last few years that have reconnected in some way. It's like something different about you. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something different about you. I'm like, yeah, okay, I'm glad you're noticing there's something different. Now, if you want to have a conversation about what that, is happy to do that. If you don't, that's fine too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. So, after you reassessing yourself and starting over and building another relationship with the most important person of all, which is yourself, was there any habits or rituals you started to adopt in your life that really spurred that growth forward for you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely yes, one, and I won't necessarily do these in chronological order, they're just the order they're coming to me right now. One habit that I have that has been immensely helpful is gratitude, but it's actually it's doing. There's two parts to it. It's physically saying it out loud, the actual words, saying three people first, and then three things for whom and for which I am grateful, and then writing those down. The reason that I say them out loud is because I feel like I need to hear me say the words first. It's a way that the truth comes back to me as reverberating back to me, and so I can hear it, and then, when I write it down, I use another part of my brain to help etch it in there, creating those new neural pathways that sort of I mean to neuroscience.
Speaker 1:So it's a little hobby. I'm the lowest one get it.
Speaker 2:That's one. Gratitude is one of them. Another one something as simple as reading. Not that I wasn't a reader prior to this, but it became much more of a focus and I either physically read or listen to books with frequency. It's really important. There are certain podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis that I really enjoy. The first one is Read to Lead by Jeff Brown, an amazing podcast host. Jeff is, as you might imagine based on the title, all of his guests are authors Phenomenal. Another one I listen to is it's a leadership podcast by Craig Rochelle.
Speaker 1:It's a phenomenal podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, If you want to know about leadership man, that's the guy. Seriously, the guy runs an organization of about 800 employees but close to 20, maybe 25,000 volunteers. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to leadership, so I pay attention to what he has to say. Those are some of the things that I do, that I've learned some things that have helped me grow. Now there's other things as well. Focusing on my health has been very important, and when I say health, there's four aspects to it for me, that make up health.
Speaker 2:So for me, there is mental health, emotional health, which are not the same Physical health and spiritual health, those four so which would you prioritize would be your most impactful one?
Speaker 1:Would you help guide someone to prioritize first out of them four?
Speaker 2:Go out of the health ones. Wow, that is a really good question. I wish I could give a standard answer, but I feel like I can't. And here's why, and part of it is the coach in me I would need to know the person, you know the person's story, in order to be able to how to best guide that person, because obviously that's the most that I can do at that point. I can point them in the right direction, but I can't make the person do anything I can suggest. But overall, for most people that I meet, it's that they are closely linked. Although they are not the same, the emotional side and the spiritual side are, they're very closely linked, and so I would say if someone is unsure about where to start, please reach out. I'm more than happy to help. But if you want to try it on your own first which I get I totally understand that I would dig into either one or both of those as a place to start.
Speaker 1:May I just clarify something there as well, Please. You said spirituality For those people who are listening and of the mindset of oh, that's who.
Speaker 2:Not for me, it isn't.
Speaker 1:No, but many people who are branching out into entrepreneurship, coaching, authorship, these. That word spirituality is like oh shit, he practices like witchcraft and other things and he sits around. No, spirituality is. Foundation is the acknowledgement of our components, of energy in the layers of them, and that's it. And it's having a faith based belief within yourself that the impossible becomes possible. That spirituality, in a nutshell, without going to in depth and complicated. So what you've just described there, john, is amazing because the emotional health is a combination of the spirituality, whereas if we're not emotionally sound, how the hell is your business supposed to be Emotionally? Exactly, if you're not mentally sound, why isn't your business working?
Speaker 1:Someone once told me business is 80% psychology and energy and only 10% systems and management. The other 10% is to do with your own focus on what the result is. Now I studied that person in very much in depth and for the people I've interviewed, people yourself, everybody's saying the same thing just in a different way. But there is a turning point in a business where you recognize that isn't working because it's something internally with me and what you've just described. Then, with the four stages, with the habits, you can uncover what that is by delving deep within yourself. So I love that distinction. Is there anybody you've actually modeled, because people say you copy people, you do this and you do this, do it like me. Is there anybody you've aspired to, look up to and go man, I want to be that guy.
Speaker 2:That's a great question, maybe in some aspects not. I wouldn't say holistically no, but there are certain things I have. I happen to mention him earlier from one of the podcasts I listened to Craig Groschel. He's an amazing leader and man. If I could be half the leader that guy is.
Speaker 1:But you already are.
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate that, thank you.
Speaker 1:That's true, and may I explain why, please? You have the knowledge that's just the case of recognizing that, believing in yourself and implementing what you already know to be true and creating that pathway right now.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that and that is something that I work on. That's one of the things that is important to me, both as a leader and as a man, is to know that there are I don't have it all figured out Every person that I encounter I can learn something from. That has been a huge life lesson for me. I wished I had learned that as a teenager. Honest of goodness, I wished I'd learned that I was so arrogant when I was younger and I thought honestly, I thought most people I encountered had nothing to teach me, and it's funny when I've mentioned that to my kids before they bring up somebody that they let's just say people that they don't respect. Because, yeah, but what about this person? I don't really respect that person. What could I learn from that person?
Speaker 2:I'm like, quite easily, there's usually reasons that they don't respect them. So I'm like, okay, tell me what it is that you don't respect about that person, and they would tell me something. I said you learned something. I was like what are you talking about? I learned something. You learned what not to do. That's still learning, and that is when that finally getting grained in me. Baz, oh, my gosh, it was like I had scales on my eyes that fell off and I could see for the first time. Truly, it was like wow. So for me, anybody encounter like if someone's super famous or whatever, I don't get that wowed by it and then someone who maybe has lesser stature, I don't think less of them. With every person I meet it's like you know what I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet the person. What can I learn? What can I give to that person? Just for the chance to get to know him or her.
Speaker 1:I love that concept and people who are starting out in their entrepreneurial journey often think that it's all about the money and state of stature and driving a lot of money down standing on like a boulevard flashy watches. I've been down that road and I, like you, was very arrogant and self-centered and a complete ass basically for a period of time. But then what happened to you? You switched it. Something clicked inside you and went that's not who I am. And there's an old saying that you become who you aspire to be and you become who you hang around with the most. So bear in mind and be mindful of who you are, who's in your company, and if they're not resonating with you, don't bear in, because you're doing yourself a disservice by hanging out with. People are holding, truly holding you back, and that's another common theme in leadership lessons. What's been the most inspiring leadership lesson you've learned from one of the people you've interviewed or one of the people you've followed on a podcast or even reading?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:How long is the?
Speaker 2:show. Oh goodness, if I have to keep it to one.
Speaker 1:Name a few, please.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll tell you the first one that came to my mind. I interviewed Mike Menazer, called me I signed.
Speaker 2:Nasty Mike is a retired Tussar Admiral from the US Navy and he wrote a book very recently on leadership and one of the things that we had during our discussion. One of the things he talked about was removing barriers, and of course, I wanted to know more about what he meant by that, and so I asked him it's like okay, when you say removing barriers, what do you mean? He goes, I always viewed my job as, no matter how many people I was leading, I didn't necessarily try to be he didn't necessarily try to be buddy with everybody, but he's look, I let people know where we were headed and I said here's the job at hand. I want you to do it. He said now, sometimes they struggled. He said that was okay.
Speaker 2:I wanted them to struggle because after I let them struggle for a while, I would come back to them and say how can I help you? What's blocking your path that I can remove for you? See, if it's something they could remove for themselves, he wanted them to do it, but if he was the only one who could remove it, he's okay. What's in your way that only I can remove? That was huge for me. It just when he shared that with me. It's like you know what that, that way of leading it, can impact every relationship you have.
Speaker 2:Yeah the first two that came to my mind were your most significant relationship at home and your relationship with your kids. Honestly, I wish I started implementing that much earlier with my kids. Now my kids are practically grown now. Yeah, what does that mean? I can't still do it, but what do you do?
Speaker 1:kids follow in your footsteps or do they do separate and do they have separate lives?
Speaker 2:They have separate lives. Yeah, nobody really follows in dad's footsteps. Truthfully, I'm the only one in my family who is an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's surprising. Not that I haven't tried, it's just my oldest. It's not in him at all. My other two have dabbled in it when they were much younger and so occasionally it happens, but nothing that's I've seen long term yet. That could change.
Speaker 1:I think it will, because the way the world's going at the moment, especially in the States, and people are waking up to the fact that jobs and the payment structure are to keep them trapped into that corporate area of I've got that security for me, but once you redefine that and that police system, when you actually things unlock, at a dramatic rate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you become off service to people and off service to the world. It's different mindset and that's partly why I truly believe that entrepreneurs are going to change the world and the structure of the world because of the mindset and resilience that they actually have, and it's people like yourself, and then you passing this information on to others, that are going to be that catalyst. So your podcast is so valuable for so many people, so I'm glad you do that. Is there anything in your past that has really left a mark on you? Today, when you show up in a coaching role for somebody, that that couple of incidents as you go, I remember being that person. I know from the answer from you just to give a smile on your face then yeah, that happens a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hate to go back to the the story from earlier, but really my divorce and what an impact it had on me.
Speaker 2:I can't understate it or undersell it yeah it's, it was so monumental, and the way I describe it to people sometimes is like this it's like you're on a train and if you, if you're in the United States, there's a really cool trip you can take, if you ever decide to do it. Actually on a train going from one coast to the other. You go through all different kinds of climates when you're doing it and it's all different kinds of terrain and it's beautiful, takes a really long time, but it's very pretty well. Imagine if you're taking one and you're on it and well, it's a train, it's not like it's going slow, it's going fast and you know at a certain point there is a huge gorge coming up. But you also know there's a bridge on that gorge and you they've been running trains there for many years, so you have every confidence in the world that the bridge is just fine. But what you don't know is that over the years that bridge has not been maintained and it has been crumbling from within. And you're on this fast moving train and you see the gorge coming up. It's a little ways off. You still see the structure of the bridge, but what you don't know is it's just a shell and by the time you get there, you go over the top and you start to crash and it explodes.
Speaker 2:That's what happened in my life, because I thought everything was okay when it wasn't, and when I found out it wasn't, it was too late. That's the kind of thing that I take into some of my coaching. I speak about it as well, but so I notice things that I never used to notice. So I can tell, for instance and it's really, once you know what to look for, it's really not hard to tell I Can tell in other guys lives when their marriages are falling apart, even though they don't know it. I can see it. I see it so far away and I have impromptu coaching sessions with frequency with guys. Hey man, the way you're speaking to your wife.
Speaker 2:Man, that's not a good thing You're headed down a path. I promise you don't want to be on, and I always give them the same advice that my attorney gave me it is cheaper to keep her.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Honest to goodness, it's very pragmatic. I understand that it doesn't sound very loving, it's not, but if that's where you have to start, that's where you have to start.
Speaker 1:So equally, sometimes the truth isn't. Should have coated it isn't there with fairies, and nice to hear. But it's the truth and it is important that people recognize that and I'm happy now, very happily married. I'm blessed to be with a person that I am with how long?
Speaker 1:Just over four years. Good for you. I Won't go into my story right now, but it was a chance meeting and then we spent four days together before I went to Australia for three months Longest, a very long relationship and then she flew me back to the States Wow, because I was traveling helping people. He'll do what I'm doing now, but just for free. That's another story I'd like to show you another time. But and then it wasn't planned but she is the reason I am still here and still alive. Mm-hmm, the hundred percent, and I say it's anybody. So I get what you mean and I know and I have an inner standing of what you speak to.
Speaker 1:Hmm about the. The partner you're personally with doesn't matter. It's male, female, whatever you identify as in this day and age is that's up to you. But if you treat people with the same respect as they treat you and you value that time, you show it Exubit, respect it. So I understand completely what that is. And no relations perfect, but it's not such thing.
Speaker 1:And people say, oh, we're perfect. No, there's no fifth thing. But if you identify, you're able to have a safe space to talk about these things. Whatever the situation where it is, I'm very comfortable speaking about to my wife about anything and I do mean anything good because we have that trust and that respect for each other and I expect Foot from the same behavior from her. I like her to share things with me and if she doesn't, sometimes, and I know why, but I wait and I see and I wait for the right moment. So it really was going on.
Speaker 1:And when they say fine, they're not fine. When they say fine, put your helmet on, yep, and then ask a higher level question. It's not being about a coach with what you're other half. It's about having a safe space and I love that definition, what you just went through there, john. It is so important to share that and Be able to step into that, that awkward space sometimes, because it is all good but it's the right thing to do. And so if you listen to this and you're going through relationship challenges and you think I need some advice, please reach out to John.
Speaker 2:It's about happy to help in whatever way I can, and I tell people this all the time best. I've been doing this my entire career.
Speaker 2:The amount of money that I have turned down is astronomical, because Either I wasn't a fit for them or they weren't a fit for me, but I never leave people there no what I do is if and I can usually tell pretty early on in the conversation if it's not a fit I'll just say look, I don't think that we're gonna be a fit for one another. However, here's One or two names of people I know that I think might be better fit for you. Reach out to them, but I will also reach out to them to try and prime the pump so that there's a little bit of something happening between the two of you before you ever interact. And Every time I do that, they come back to me and thank me for doing that, every time because it's not about me Now. I've had opportunities past. I Could have taken the money and that's all it would have been.
Speaker 2:That's the problem, mm-hmm, and I can't live with myself. If that's what it's about. If I'm not helping people, then I'm part of the problem. I don't want to be part of the problem. I want to be help with the solution. That's what I want to do. My job is to serve people. That's it. That's my job.
Speaker 1:That's why I love people like you and having people like you on the show, because I said to you earlier, this isn't about me, it isn't about Getting famous or rich. I've been down that road. It didn't serve me and what I found on my own journey is the more value you provide for somebody else impartially, the better you feel inside, the better you feel outside, or the better things happen for you on the outside, people, things gravitate towards you and that transition into failure doesn't exist because you have that choice like going back earlier. You have that perceived negative choice or perceived positive choice. It is a perception, it's a belief, it's a status of where you are. Could you share a setback that you've had, other than the divorce, but in your career that you've gone? I refuse to believe that to be true. I point blank refuse that in my life. And where did you go to overcome it? If you've had a setback like that?
Speaker 2:Okay, believe it or not, the one I'm gonna share actually becomes the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. So this would have been in 2000. I had left a job to go with this. This is dating myself. I understand that If anyone remembers the dotcom boom that happened. I went to a company that was a part of that and they were hiring people left and right, paying them ridiculous sums of money, that sort of thing, and I didn't find out until after I got fired, which I did. I found out that this company, their whole purpose for being, was to get people use them and then fire them. That's why they existed.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that at the time. I didn't know that till later, but I'd never been fired before, so that was really hard for me, and at that point my son was not even six months old. My oldest wasn't even six months old. At that point my then wife was still at home and it was. I didn't wanna go home. I was devastating and I was embarrassed. I was so embarrassed.
Speaker 1:Was it shame you were going through at the time, or was it just?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely I was yeah, cause I felt like I had I let her down. I felt like I let my son down, I let myself down. Geez, I couldn't tell my mom for a while.
Speaker 2:I was so embarrassed but and I stumbled my way into entrepreneurship and that's a separate kind of story. But the bottom line is, if that had never happened, I would never. I would not be where I am today. I would not have made that choice. I wouldn't have. I was forced into it. But I'm so glad that I was, because it changed my life forever. And I'm not gonna say I'll never go back into the corporate world, but I have a very hard time imagining a scenario where I would. Now I've had opportunities over the last 20 plus years to do that. Typically it's with recruiters coming to me and every time they come to me I don't even care what the job is, honestly, we get around to the money part and they said what's it gonna take? And I'll tell them. I tell them exactly what it'll take. So if you want me back into corporate work, this is what it's gonna take. And they laugh every time cause I see a ridiculous amount of money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've done the same thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they laugh and I'm like, okay, I'm glad we both had fun today, cause it doesn't make me mad and I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, I'm just saying that's how important my life is and the way it is right now, yeah, so I will turn the number that I shared with I can't say the company, for obvious reasons Sure, sure.
Speaker 1:So I was asked about two years ago to go to a company, a very well known organization, for a leadership senior position and they said what would it take? And I said it would take $4 million, plus bonuses and eight weeks paid holiday. And they said can we? So this isn't a negotiation. I'm telling you yeah, and they were like so this meeting has been fun and I hope you have an amazing time when you find the person you need. But that is my offer and it's non-negotiable.
Speaker 1:You can stack things on top of it but that is the bare minimum that I will go for. Yeah, it was just silence and it's the best music I've ever heard, cause they knew like there was no comeback from that. Yeah, but, as you just said, it's acknowledging your own standard of who you are and then layering on top of that what you're actually worth, and you can't put a price on your value, because time is the biggest and most valuable commodity ever, and if someone can think they can pay for that, let them pay for it.
Speaker 1:But it's going to be very expensive.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:Looking forward, john, and from where you are right now, you're very successful. You've got a very good podcast and, I believe, very successful podcast. You mentioned earlier you're going to be an author next year, which am I sharing what that's going to look like for you?
Speaker 2:Sure and, believe it or not, we've hit on some of the themes of the book already.
Speaker 1:Amazing Good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the title of the book is the F6 Secrets, that's F as in Frank the F6 Secrets of Relationships Identifying ways to recharge, restore and rescue deep connections. It goes back to something I mentioned earlier and that is if you want to be great in business, it starts at home. And what can we do as men to get better in our relationships? It deals with six key areas in a man's life and these happen to be in alphabetical order their faith, fashion, fitness, food, friendship and fun. Those six key areas. So those are like sections of the book and then they're divided, obviously into chapters and that sort of thing. And I get into that more in the book. But in just in case anybody wonders, the F6 that actually comes from somewhere.
Speaker 2:I live smack dab in the middle of the United States. I live in a town called Overland Park, kansas, which is a suburb of Kansas City. But if I say to anyone who's not familiar with where I live I say Overland Park, kansas, immediately they think Western Kansas, flat, nothing, that's not. It's not like that. Where I live there's trees and hills and all kinds of stuff where I live. So anyhow, we don't get them a lot, but we do occasionally get tornadoes.
Speaker 2:Tornadoes are rated on an F scale. Typically it's F1 to F5. The higher the number, the more the destruction. There is, however, a very rare F6. The F6 tornado is not measured in terms of destruction. Most of us when we see footage of a tornado houses torn apart, cars turned sideways, that sort of thing it's not like that with an F6. An F6 picks houses up, including the foundation, removes trees and flattens hills. So, however wide it is, there's a path that it comes through and there's nothing left, as if nothing ever existed in there. That's what it's like in a man's life, when anyone or all of those six areas are out of whack. It's that devastating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice.
Speaker 2:And that's what I talk about in the book.
Speaker 1:I completely, I can have a visualization of that and I think this is gonna help a lot of this books and it'll help a lot of people. Quick question for you Are you planning on turning it into an audible book as well? Would it be available on? Yes.
Speaker 2:I am gonna have an audio version of the book and it will launch approximately two months after. Okay, I'm gonna have a secondary, or a We'll just call it a second launch of the book, but it will be for the audio book.
Speaker 1:I would love to have you as a returning guest, if you will.
Speaker 2:Great.
Speaker 1:Football, that book specifically, so you can.
Speaker 2:Yes, please.
Speaker 1:You get the physical copy and show it to people and all that and actually probably read your chapter if you're willing to do so. Absolutely my final question is other than the book, looking forward to your future, where do you see yourself, or where do you aspire to be in a couple of years time?
Speaker 2:Great question. One of the things that I want to do more of is to is to travel both for leisure and for work and kind of pair those up, if that makes sense. Yes, one of the businesses that I have keeps me here most of the time, and so I'm working toward that goal because I want to be able to, to move about as I need to, to go to conferences, to be speakers at things, and in order to do that, there'll be other business things I need to do while I'm at those locations. So that's part of what I want to be able to do. And, by the way, there are more books coming, by the way, so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2:The F six secrets of relationships is the first in. Actually in the series I'm going to do one on. There'll be one on leadership as well. Do one on entrepreneurship, so there's at least going to be at least three in the series that I know of right now. Let's see. In addition to that, what's coincide, what will coincide with the launch of the book is going to be my first mastermind. I'm actually going to have two of them available. One will be men only and the other one will be for anyone who wants to be in that, because there are different dynamics when you have a single sex group versus mixed. Yeah, no.
Speaker 1:I get that. I would love, when they're available to, to have you as a guest again and promote them for you, sweet, on my show. So thank you very much, you bet. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank our guests today. John, you've been amazing and I really want to honor your time and honor your service to other people. So, in that note, if you are listening to this, please share this message. Please Give someone else an opportunity to hear this voice. It's not about the show, it's about the content in it and inspiring other people's lives. For myself, thank you very much, john. I want to thank you again for showing up for our audience today.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was my pleasure and I want to thank each and every one of you for tuning in today because, as Baz mentioned earlier, you have given us your most precious resource and that's your time, because we know it's not renewable and you can't get it back. So thank you for investing that time. It means the world to me.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much, john. For myself, until next time we see each other again. Thank you very much. Be safe, be well and remember, live with purpose and inspire with legacy.
