165 – Your Wingman: Tom interviews Waldo Waldman

Episode 165 – Waldo Waldman
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey, everybody, it's Tom here with episode 165 of Screw the Commute podcast. Wow. We've got a great guest today. It's Lieutenant Colonel Rob Waldo Waldman. This guy has inspired people around the world and he's sacrificed his life to protect us. And I want to give a big salute to him before we even get started to thank him on behalf of all of us for keeping us safe. And we'll get to his introduction in a minute. All right, hope you didn't miss episode 164. Jim Feldman this guy cracks me up. He once bought sixty thousand cans of spaghetti sauce, the train car for five thousand bucks and resold the spaghetti and the train car for seventy five thousand dollars five days later. That's a good deal if you can get it. Also, he's kind of a stickler like I am about doing what you say you're going to do and being on time. All right. So I hope you didn't miss that. That was episode 164. So please tell your friends about this podcast. I know you know somebody these are wants to start a business or is in a business that is struggling and need some help. This is the place to be. Every Monday, I do an in-depth training session on something that's made me a fortune or saved me a fortune. And on on Wednesdays and Fridays, I interview great entrepreneurs like like Waldo here. So tell somebody about it, please. And our podcast app is in the iTunes store. You can go to screwthecommute.com/app and it does all kinds of cool stuff and we have instructions on how to use it. So grab that over at screwthecommute.com/app and they've got a big freebie for listening to the podcast. It's a twenty seven dollar e-book called How to Automate Your Business. And just one of the tips in this e-book has saved me over seven and a half million keystrokes and allowed me to handle one hundred fifty thousand subscribers and 40000 customers with one part time temp person. And the reason I don't know this might strike a chord with Waldo. The reason I started hiring people is because the accountant told me I was going to have to pay too many taxes because I had too much retained earnings. And in. I said, You mean I got to I got to pay more taxes because I've kept my nose clean? He said, yeah, that's the way it is. I said, well, I'd rather hire people than buy bombs. And I think Waldo has carried a few bombs in his planes over over the years, but glad they were available for him to keep us safe anyway. All right. So anyway, download that at screwthecommute.com/automatefree and you'll get that e-book and another special gift for you. Now, I'm looking for affiliates. We pay commissions anywhere. I mean, it could be as much as five thousand dollars or even more. I have a whole range of products from commissions starting at maybe 10, 12 dollars up to 5000 or more and everything in between. So if you like the things you hear here in and you know that I take care of people. If you're an affiliate and you want to make some extra income and have the people that you refer me to thank you. Then check with me at orders@antion.com. But just by stop by screwthecommute.com and you will find the contact information.

[00:04:02] All right. Let's get to the main event. Lieutenant Colonel Rob Waldo Waldman. He's a CSP. That's an accolade in the speaking industry. He's a CPAE. That's the highest award anybody can get in the speaking industry. And he's an MBA. He's called the wingman. He's a Hall of Fame leadership speaker, executive coach and author of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Never Fly Solo. He's a graduate of the Air Force Academy. And Waldo is a combat decorated fighter pilot and an expert in helping leaders and organizations accelerate performance in changing environments. His clients include Marriott, Hewlett Packard, American Express, the Denver Broncos and Verizon. And I got to tell you the tips that he has. I've seen him speak. I've seen the videos of him speak. And the crowds go wild. And not just because they're big companies. The stuff that he has for you will apply to anybody in business from small to large. So his Web site is yourwingman.com. So, Waldo, are you ready to screw. The commute. Hey, man. Boy, it's been a long time. I don't think I've talked to you for years, but I've been watching you all along the way. And you're just I mean, you're like a rocket, not an F-16.

[00:05:29] Well, we we do we do go way back, Tom. And I remember meeting you at the National Speakers Association when you've been a legacy member for so long and we built a relationship. You've helped me tremendously. And, you know, part of my never fly solo concept is reaching out to you and spending time with successful people who've been there, done that. Who dug the well can get you on the right flight plan. Despite the turbulence and you're one of those people, and I wouldn't be on this podcast if I didn't trust you and have a ton of respect.

[00:05:59] Well, I thank you so much. So. So tell everybody what you're doing now. I see you on big stages around the world and then we'll take you back a little bit to bring you up through how your how you made it where you are now.

[00:06:09] Well, the majority what I do is mostly leadership and peak performance, keynotes and seminars to major companies. You heard some of them. I've also worked with Dell recently and Honda. Been to Australia, speak in Saudi Arabia all over the world. And I talk about what it means to build trust, not just with the men and women who work with you and for you, but most importantly, with yourself. This is an entrepreneurial podcast. The people that are listening every single day must get up be the flight lead and the commander of their aircraft, their life, their business, their relationships. And so if you don't trust that wingman or wingmam staring back at you, when you put on your flight suit every morning, you've got a problem. And I think a lot of people worry too much about teamwork before working about working on that inner wing man. So I do that. I do a lot of executive and entrepreneurial coaching as well. I just started out a few years ago Tom and that that's my passion, helping people break the barriers and make things happen.

[00:07:12] A little later, we're going to offer everybody a really great. What do you call it?

[00:07:18] It's an ACE program it's a video series on peak performance and commitment.

[00:07:24] Yeah. Well, we'll get to that later. But here's one thing, Waldo. I know that you've had no trouble at all in your entire life. Your gold spoon in your mouth, guy. Right. So getting in that cockpit was just a piece of cake for you, right?

[00:07:38] Yeah. Yeah. Well, for those I don't know. I overcame a massive fear of heights when I was younger. I developed the passion to fly. My dad was a mechanic and took me to the airport. And I smell jet fuel. And I was like, I have to do this. I was fortunate to do well in high school. Got accepted to the Air Force Academy, which is it's a tough thing to do. And my parents helped me stay committed. They were my wingman. Right. And freshman year at the Air Force Academy, they they told us you have to complete swim class. And in order to complete it and in order to graduate the academy and have any chance of being a pilot, you had to jump off this 33 foot high diving board with a thirty five pound pack on your back. So needless to say, you know, my my passion had to be greater than the fear and that passion that drive that love of the future, the end goal where you try to go, what are the wings that you want to pinned to your chest that will drive you to jump off diving boards, face your fears and obviously take the actions necessary. And then as we talked about before, Tom, three years in my flying career, I almost died in a scuba diving accident and developed this latent claustrophobia that I never thought I had. And then for the next eight years, my 11 year flying career, every time I strapped into the jet to fly, I had to deal with anxiety and panic attacks and breaking through the fears. Right.

[00:09:07] My goodness. It's not like it's a 747 where you're walking around to the bathroom either. I mean, the thing is tight.

[00:09:14] Absolutely crazy. It's crazy. You can imagine a seven or eight hour night mission on a in a tiny little F 16, like this tiny little coffin and what it would do to you. So, you know, I I broke through that. I really spent a lot of my time meditating, reading books, talking to my friends, working on my health and fitness. My mindset every time to get in that cockpit and do my jobs and be responsible. Responsible. Key phrase that's missing in the world today, because I don't think it's all about motivation and feeling good. It drives me freaking crazy Tom and if you're listening to this. If it doesn't feel good, sometimes your entrepreneurship, sometimes your relationship, being a parent, sacrificing is going to suck and you've got to sit in there and make things happen. And so I was responsible for my wings that I earned on my chest, the Air Force Academy, my commitment I need. And most importantly and this is really critical to the folks that I was flying with, the folks that I was flying with, the men and women who went up on those missions with me every single day. The people who I was saving, who were being raped and pillaged in Kosovo, et cetera. When you realize who is depending on you and I want you to think about this, if you're listen in your car and you're listening to this podcast, write down who needs you to succeed, who needs you to be responsible for facing your fears and to go out there and kick some butt. And when you focus on that. And when you focus on what you love and who you love and the meaning behind the mission, that will will be the Y before you fly. That'll give you the courage to go out there and face your panic attacks, whatever they may be. And Lord knows we all have and in our health and fitness and business for all. Look at the stock market the last couple of days. You know, there's volatility and there's instability. And welcome. Welcome to the world. That's just the way it is.

[00:11:12] That's for sure. And I want to take a. A quote from your book, Never Fly Solo. By the way, folks, a massive bestseller. You want to get a copy of that as soon as possible. A quote from the book and I want to get your opinion on something says, I will advance the throttle of my life to full power and work my tail off. Now, that came directly from your book and that's what you've done in your life. But what worries me and I want to get your opinion on it is that the upcoming generations seem to me that they're hitting the thrust reversers rather than the throttle. And I'm afraid that they can't handle pressure, that, you know, everything's been made so easy for them and they get the participation trophies just for barely showing up, you know. So I want to get your opinion on the up and coming generation, what they need to do so that we have a solid and they can succeed.

[00:12:12] An important, important point, Tom. And, you know, for folks who are listening, there is a lot of chaos going on in the world today. You know, people shooting folks from Walmarts, a lot of young people are anxious. Suicide rate is at its highest. We've got instability and volatility in the world. And there's a lot of depression and weakness and some of it is rightly so. There's a lot of lost souls out there. And a lot of them are those young kids who may not have a wingman, a mentor, a coach, a tough parent who's pushing them to be responsible, to be accountable. Because, look, at the end of the day, sometimes we can't do it on our own. That's why I wrote the book Never Fly Solo. Sometimes a guy like you, Tom, sometimes a buddy, a peer, somebody at work, a coach that you pay for, you invest in will push you to realize some of the weaknesses that you may be blind of, some things that you may not be aware of. They've got your back. They're seeing your blind spots, and we'll push you to to dig deep and find out what it takes to work and win. And I think a lot of these folks are lost because they haven't been put through the crucible enough. You see, I have a saying Tom and listeners pain leads to peace. I told you before I worked out. Tom, I hate working out sometimes when anybody who's listening knows that when you you sweat. I know, Tom, you've you know what it's like to lose weight and get fit. I know you've struggled with it and you've been you've been on on your path. And I love that about you. I've loved watching your evolution because you realized that that inner wingman, your fitness, your mindset, your health will reveal itself in your business and your relationships and your in your confidence. And so if you don't go through those crucibles in the fire, the pain, the sweat, the pounding of steel and your muscles and and go through those failures in life which build character and humility, then you're not given the opportunity to to grow and build resilience, because life, like I mentioned before, will sometimes suck. You mentioned Tom. You know, you are you an experienced pilot. You made a mistake going on and you're on a mission on your aircraft as a civilian and you've made a mistake. You forgot to double open that fuel tank and make sure that the wing tank was full and you had an emergency and had to land the aircraft. You got lucky. You made a mistake, but you learned from it. You struggled from it. You embarrassed to living heck out of yourself.

[00:14:50] A fire truck was following me in.

[00:14:52] Yeah. You know, and lucky you're here if your family and friends had enough to go to your funeral. And so you were fortunate in that sense.

[00:14:59] And I was able to pass that lesson on to others, just like your passing it on to people around the world.

[00:15:06] Hundred hundred percent. You see, you bring up a great point, because it's a lot of times we'll struggle for ourselves and our business. I've got an eight and a half year old at home. I'm 51 years old. I got married late. A lot of the struggles that I do and perhaps for the folks listening, the struggles, the pains, the miseries and crucibles and anxiety, panic attacks that you're having when you're stepping into your jet to fly you're F 16 mission as an entrepreneur. Those lessons, the scars of character and humility can be passed down to your kids, to the people that you're coaching and mentoring who need you and your lessons and struggles to help them elevate them as they did with their with their issues and lives. And that's the gift that I want you to get tapped in on. And I think that's what really pushes me at the end of the day. I believe. We commit more for others than we do for ourselves. And when you find something that you love, some body, some human being, a cause that you love and know you're passionate about veterans so am I Tom, I've got the Wingman Foundation. When you're focused on that, the anxiety, the panic attacks, the missiles are as much of a factor as the target, the target. Last quote before I let you ask the next question. Survivors focus on threats. Winners focus on targets. Survivors focus on competitors. Your panic attacks, your competitors trying to steal market share or drag you down. Winners focus on the customers, your clients. When you focused on who you're serving not worried about the competition, not worried about the threat, you're locked on that heading set to the true north of who you're serving and the meaning. Nothing can stop you. It'll suck sometimes. But you will hit that target and grow and win.

[00:17:04] Yeah. And I implore parents out there to really try to instill this in your children as young as possible in their formative years. Because, you know, you said you were 51. You have an eight year old. Well, my dad was 50 when he heard me. And you remember Johnny Cash? All right. He had a song called A Boy named Sue. You remember that one? It was a song about he named the kid Sue because he was an old drunk cowboy figured he wouldn't be there to help his child grow up. So my dad only went to second grade, but he was 50 when he had me. And so he told me when I was just a baby, he would put pillows in front of me and put my toys on the other side to teach me how to overcome obstacles. And to this day, I'm totally unstoppable. You tell me I can't do something. You better get out of the way as I blow by doing it. So the younger that you can get to these these kids and make them tough. I know you said you're not you don't have to to be crazy about it. But you've got you can't just give them everything because when they hit the real world, man, it's like with one of these missiles that's being shot at you.

[00:18:17] And isn't that the entrepreneurial spirit? Isn't that capitalism in its purest form, the fact that you wake up every day with pillows and panic attacks and obstacles in front of you and on the opposite side of that fear, on the opposite side of that obstacle is, is the candy is the growth is the freedom.

[00:18:37] That's what you call the target, right.

[00:18:38] That's the target. Right. And it's and it's the legacy and it's the dream home and it's the charity that you support. And it's the life lessons that you can share with your kids and the folks that you're mentoring. It's all those things you see when you it's you have to be selflessly selfish. You've got to be focused on yourself and be selfless in the fact that you're going to be contributing to others and you've got to be going through those obstacles that parents need to do it. Let the kids fail. Let them suffer. Go through the pain. And then you. You have to let your peers, your fellow employees suffer and you've got to be willing to let yourself suffer. Do something that's going to make you suffer and be compassionate every single day. That's going to push you to grow. Listen to the podcast like you're committed to right now. Start the diet, do the workout, read the books, get the coaching, start a new meditation practice, do do do something different. And that's another point Tom is the doing, not the philosophy. The philosophizing not the BS that's out there. But do. Execute. You know, the world rewards your actions, not your attitude. At the end of the day, they reward your performance, not your philosophy.

[00:19:53] When you act like this, you just have an unbridled confidence. I mean, you walk taller or you you know, people are drawn to you. They want to be like you because you can't hide it when you're excelling all the time. No, they will be the people that try to tear you down. But they go by the wayside very easily or much easier when you know you're doing the right thing for yourself and your family and everybody around you.

[00:20:21] And your customers and prospects will know it, too. They'll overcome the you delayed product shipment or whatever it is that you do, they'll overcome and be more accepting of some of the mistakes that you're going to make because there's something about you, the energy, the confidence to trust that wingman. Right. Doesn't mean you're not going to mess up a wing man going to mess up all the time, that your teammates are going to mess up your clients, your partners are gonna mess up. But when they know that you're gonna do whatever it takes to fix it, to grow, they have, then they're going to have more confidence in you. It's going to bleed through in unspoken words many times, it's just going to feel that energy. I believe that. I believe it. A hundred percent. And you attract what you put out there as well.

[00:21:07] That's for sure. Now. So let's let's push you a little bit here. What was the. Give us a real feel for the time when you were the most scared and you still went did the job.

[00:21:20] Goodness. Well, it wasn't necessarily being shot at in combat because that happened several times. One of my Nissans out for surfaced and this was launched on me, watched the bombs explode. There were two and then five or 10 minutes later, another two. So, so pretty, pretty anxiety provoking, as you can imagine. But let me tell you the toughest part. Of every one of my missions was the night before going to bed saying to myself, man, I got that six and a half hour night mission over Serbia tomorrow. The missiles weren't the factor. To me, it was being strapped into that tiny little cockpit. And then imagine walking out to the jet at three two one in the morning pitch black. Knowing that you've got this mission ahead of you. Knowing that there's gonna be some threats. Knowing that you've got three or six or eight other aircraft dependent on you to do your job.

[00:22:17] What altitude were you over Serbia.

[00:22:19] So so anywhere from 15 to 25000 feet.

[00:22:24] And how high can the surface to air missiles go.

[00:22:25] So they could go out and get you. They are good, 20, 30 thousand feet now it can get even higher. But if I tell you, I have to kill you. Right.

[00:22:33] So, so, so. And then you had triple A. There was a ton of threats out there. So look, your training. Your training will develop confidence and allow you to have to develop the courage to take off. Right. A lot of people focus on the attitude mindset. And it is important it'll get you in the jet. Help you to take off. But many times I just focus back on the training. I've done it a thousand one times over the friendly skies of South Carolina, Korea, wherever I was stationed, I had my wingman. I knew the procedures and processes. So a fundamental part of building courage is being prepared. The biggest, you know, scaredy cats in business and in baseball or combat were the ones who weren't prepared. Didn't know the technology. Didn't know the procedures. You want to be a good entrepreneur. You want to be a good business person. Know the rules, know what you need to do to pick up the phone, dealing with objections, know how to run a business, know the process is key way of developing competence. But. It's those exterior things, as we've obviously been discussing, the fears, those doubts that on that all kind of really shoot you down. So when I when I went on these missions, Tom. I reinforced myself on the training. I looked down on the wing over my wing line and looked at those men and women that I was flying with my wingman. They were going to have my back. I had their back. It did help dissipate that fear, knowing that I wasn't going to go out there on my own. And when you're out there struggling in your business and your life, a marriage problem, a business problem, you're not meeting, meeting payroll. You've got to take a loan out the economy fumbles or you lose your biggest client. You have to feel confident that you've got a man, a woman who you can call. Who you can hire, who can inspire you, coach you, give you that confidence, your wingman and building those relationships is the key. And that's the fundamental aspect of my business right now and what I believe in and the time to build those relationships listeners. Is not when the panic is rearing its ugly head and right before you're going to get on that combat mission or the struggle happens, it's when you're on the ground. When the missiles are incoming. When you're at peace and not desperate. So pick up the phone. Volunteer join associations like Tom and I have done. Lend your wings, build those relationships. Elizabeth Dole, when she was head of the Red Cross, had an awesome quote. She said, I didn't wait for the rivers to flood. Before I built relationships, do it now, don't wait till you're struggling because many people, you know Tom, they're struggling. They call out Mayday and they don't have anybody there. They didn't take the time to give their wings away to to help and inspire and be a service wing man to others. So do it now. Build that reputation capital. I guarantee you'll never have that struggle. And so so your preparation, your courage, knowing that you have your teammates there and then finally just realizing that you have once again, that sense of responsibility. That others need you, that there is growth and an opportunity and learning and inspiration on the opposite side of that fear. You know, the best feeling Tom and listeners is that I had when I landed from those missions. Five, six, seven, eight hours taxiing in, get ready to go get breakfast or grab a beer. Knowing that I did it. I didn't quit. I faced my freakin fears and kicked ass.

[00:26:33] That's what I love. I want the younger generation to feel that you've gotta push through a lot of crap to get to that feeling, but it is so, so worth it. It's Amazing. You got a freebie for everybody, right?

[00:26:51] Yeah. So might. So if you like what you heard and want to kind of drink more of that kool aid and start getting your mindset right. Number one, I want to offer my New York Times best seller Never Fly Solo as a free download. It's an audio download. And I give it to everybody. I'm sure you got thousands of folks that listen to this. If you go to yourwingman.com/nfs go to that page and then put your name and email address. You'll get a link to download the book and you can connect with me on social media there. And then you'll also be and then if you also want to get my video series. A five video series on our commitment to peak performance, some of the things we discussed about then if you take out your cell phone and text the word wingman to 44222. Put your email address in. You'll get the link to the audio book. You'll get those videos. You'll get a chance to connect with me as well. And we'll be good to go. That's the best way to do it.

[00:28:01] Oh, well, that's way to do it. Yeah, we'll have all of that in the show notes for everybody so that you've got to take advantage of this. Like I said, I've seen this guy speak and I've seen his videos of just massive crowds. And it's not just when he's speaking afterwards there's a buzz that you just don't see. And I've been I've been on three thousand stages and you just don't see this kind of reaction to people. He's really the real deal. We've got to take a brief break for a little sponsor message. Then we come back, we'll ask Waldo, what's the typical day look like for him now and also see if he ever actually had a job. Well, we'll see if he ever had to go for a paycheck one of these days.

[00:28:45] So anyway, folks, back around the year 2000, I kind of turned the Internet marketing world on its head. Guys at my level were charging 50 or 100 grand up front to teach you all the nuts and bolts of Internet marketing. And I thought, man, that's just too much for small business people. It's puts them at risk. And a lot of these people were rip offs anyway and wouldn't really come through and teach. So. So I kind of turned everything and made them mad by charging a relatively small entry fee and then taking a percentage of profits up to a cap. So you're not stuck with me forever. So the cap is fifty thousand bucks, though, for me to get my fifty thousand. You've got to make two hundred thousand. So people people love this in seventeen hundred students later over 20 some years, it's still going strong. So if you if you want your hand held and have an online business, you can have a lifestyle business. This is the place to go. You can check out the details at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com. You also get a retreat weekend and immersion weekend at the Greater Internet Marketing Retreat Center where I'm broadcasting from right now, where it's a small group and you actually live in this estate home with me for an immersion weekend. Plus, you get a scholarship to the only licensed, dedicated Internet marketing school in the country. The distance learning school. And you can either use it yourself or gift it to somebody. And we just had a guy join about four months ago, my mentor program. He gifted the school to his daughter. Within one month, she was making eleven hundred dollars on the side. Two months later, she was making two to three grand. And now she's quitting your job because she's still got four or five months left in schools. So, this is very powerful. Nuts and bolts stuff. And I'd love to see you here at the retreat center and love to help you with your online business. Check it out at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com.

[00:30:53] All right. Let's get back to the main event. Rob Waldo Waldman, the wing man, is here with us. And so, Rob, nowadays, what's a typical day look like for you today?

[00:31:04] For example, I got up before my wife at my son still hasn't started school yet. So I kind of get up and kind of set the house in order and make the coffee. I feed the dog, the cat. I do a little apple cider vinegar drink. I'm kind of set things in motion. It's quiet. Nobody's around. So, a lot of times. So it depends on when I get to that. I'm not the best to get in the bed before 11 30, 12:00. So I like at least six and a half hours sleep. So I'll get up between anywhere between six and seven. If I go to bed at 11:00, I'm up at five thirty six, six fifteen. And that's I just like spending time with my wife at night. She stays up late. So we spend time together. But I I get up. I do my little, little household stuff now she's taking care of the chores towards in the morning for my son getting ready for school. I spend some time with him. I want to be around. I want my son to see me run. I travel a lot, so unfortunately I'm not home that much. I wanted to see me. We chat, we hang out. I get help with getting him ready as well. So now I have my apple cider vinegar in the morning and sometimes some other herbs, etc. Just to get my mind going, you got to have a good glass of cold water, kickstart your body, lubricates the joints. And so that's important for me to just get that that my body moving.

[00:32:30] How do you take the vinegar? It's capsule?

[00:32:33] So it's that all natural raw vinegar. There's a certain brand. Bragg's. So I think that's important. And you know, as I'm getting. All right, you've got to kickstart your body. Be cognizant about what you put in your body. And then what I'll do is I'll read a meditate, a meditation, a philosophy, something spiritual. I love Ernest Holmes, Science of the Mind, by the way. I love that it's spiritual based. I very much believe in God. I'm not a religious person, but I believe in the energy of the universe. At least there's a reason behind things and that your mindset, your energy attracts those, you know, the typical law of attraction. And so I set my mind right. I want to feed myself with positive, enlightening, good, joyful, blissful, insightful things, not the negativity. I grew up, by the way, with an extremely negative family. A lot of a lot of suffering in my family. All, you know, just a lot of challenging folks listening. Sometimes you got to overcome those demons. I struggle with that sometimes because I just grew up in that type of context. So that's one of the things that got me into the F 16. Got me into the personal development world because I'm cognizant of some of the negative things that can go in my brain. So we've got to fight them. We've got to fight him with our health and fitness and our relationships and our mindset. So I do that. And then I meditated this morning for 20 minutes. I've been developing this practice of meditating, stilling my mind, making it, putting it at ease, just relaxing and just, you know, letting that energy and frequency of my body just level out. I'm not going to get to the philosophy behind it but it's been very, very important. OK, then four times a week I work out I believe it's important to sweat every day, if you can, at least four days a week. I worked out before we started this podcast. I want my blood to start flowing. I want my body to stretch. I want my muscles to grow. I want to build resilience and go a little bit through that pain, because the byproduct of that is beyond fitness and beyond flexibility. It's my mindset and my ability to craft new ideas and have energy. So that's what I do. And then I'm sipping a green smoothie that my beautiful wife was kind enough to make for me. I got on this discipline around a year ago. She's my wing mate. Exactly. So. Yeah. So she's the best and she partners with me. She's fortunate that she doesn't have to work. She takes care of certain things in the house and our son that I can't do and allows me to go out and be the entrepreneur that I need to be to fulfill that need that most of us who are listening have to grow and prosper and kick some butt and build a business so that we can have freedoms and give to charities and go on wonderful vacations and reap the blessings that we have every day. So those are some of the things that I do. I'm I like to read as much as I can, although I don't read enough. I like to listen to podcasts. That, though, don't we didn't enough. But if I can do those fundamental things and set the vector to my day, by the way, one of my videos on my ACE program, my video series is Setting the Vector of Your Day. And I talk about this important for you to be disciplined, not be distracted with the e-mails, with the phone calls, with the crap going on in your head. Do those disciplines feed your brain, feed your body with the proper fuels of performance and then you're off and running and you can reach new heights as a fighter pilot of your aircraft.

[00:36:30] Did you ever have a job?

[00:36:32] Of course. Yes. So, you know, after the military, obviously, that was a job. I was active duty for 11 years and then a reserve for 13. So I went to business school, got my MBA, and I had a passion for business. I didn't want to fly for the airlines like a lot of my buddies did. He left the military dozing for dollar as one of them calls it. And so I got a job with Israeli technology company, with a headquarters in the US and in Israel, and it was on jet fighter simulators, technology and the Defense Department are selling to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. It was it was I loved, loved, loved it. And I was still in my space of aviation and technology, which I love. But after 9/11 hit, they closed the U.S. office. And then I went and did merger and acquisition consulting sales. And they were the CEO of an M and A company that my twin brother was working for. You still still does today, 20 plus years. And so I cold called commission only major Fortune 1000 companies who went through major acquisitions. And I learned about selling to the C suite and creating value and dealing with objections and doing presentations and scheduling my day in emails and contracts and the etiquette and protocols and getting on a plane to visit people and shaking their hands and looking them eye to eye and heart to heart. And so I started killing it, making 10 to 30 K a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. As entrepreneurs, we never know how income is going to be. And then. And that was my twin brother who trained me and that I still work at them a little bit on the side doing that. And then I got the bug of speaking. I started speaking about my claustrophobia and my combat to local groups and got that bug and one thing led to the next. And then I weaned my way from sales and in that sense and then started my business. Joined the National Speakers Association. Met people like you and Dottie Walters. So and then here I am now. I do very well in my business. I want a seven figure business and I love what I do. But I also realize that yesterday's success. Won't necessarily guarantee today's that I've got to evolve and become more and more relevant with my content, with my Internet marketing, like you do with my value proposition, with all the things that I do. Because we've got grow. Gotta pull the weeds. Gotta keep replanting. And that's what life's all about. And that's the gift of entrepreneurship. It's a struggle sometimes, but it's also a gift. And that's what I want to leave people with today to think about the gift that there's a sacrifice. And being an entrepreneur and dealing with the stuff that we need to deal with. But when you do it and you stay in that cockpit, build great relationships, provide value, meet great people like Tom, invest. That's when you sit back in your aircraft and sip a sip of that tequila or hot chocolate.

[00:39:44] And you're in first class too.

[00:39:46] Thank you, my friend.

[00:39:47] All right. So thanks so much for. Boy, I know this is one of the most inspiring episodes we've ever had. I would have expected no less. Thanks so much for sharing with us. And everybody, check out the show notes and go grab it. Do the text thing, too. What do you get when you text?

[00:40:05] You'll get the never fly solo audiobook download plus you'll subscribe to my five video series. And then if they go to Waldo Waldman, just Google Waldo Waldman I'm all over social media LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. That's a good way to connect there as well.

[00:40:18] Awesome. Great. Great, man. So thanks so much. And you promise to come back and talk to us again.

[00:40:24] 100 percent Tom.

[00:40:24] All right, everybody. We'll catch y'all on the next episode.

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