Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and you know that we have a military member on today because he is my first interview, the earliest time slot I had, so still a Marine at heart, as always. I didn't shave today, so you can tell that I'm no longer in the service.
But he looks like he got a nice clean shave going on, so. The difference between Marines and Navy members, I suppose. But, ladies and gentlemen, I am here with Mr. Richard Walsh. And, not only will his links be in the description below, but for this particular episode, there will also be a link to his interview on Refuge Freedom Stories.
Johnny T who hosts that show is like my adopted father, more so grandfather. Don't tell him I said that because he's old. But, you know, he's a great guy and I actually listened to that interview with Mr. Walsh because I follow the show. And just for those of you who want a more faith based episode with Mr.
Walsh and, you know, You know, his relationship with God and that advice, that link's going to be there for you because we're going to be in a bit of a different direction though. I'm sure Mr. Walsh and I would definitely talk about God and what he has done for us in our lives. But without further ado, Mr.
Walsh, would you tell us a little bit about yourself, including the big question, of course, when and why did you join the Marines? Awesome. Mr. Whiskey, thank you for having me on man. This is great. And it's okay if you're just Navy. Someone had to do it. No, it can't be Marines. Yeah. So let's, let's go back a bit.
So, got out of the Marine Corps in 87. So one in 83, 87, good experience, not a lot going on in the world per se, right? Not like the last 20 plus probably served. So a little bit different got out sort of working, you know, just had to get a job, I'm swinging a pickaxe. I'm digging trench down in Tucson.
Very exciting. 5 an hour, just killing it. A ton of dough trying to get the next Friday every week. But I got a side gig. On, on somebody asked me to do a side gig. It's like, Hey, I got all this granite. Can you shovel it, put it in the backyard? And I said, sure. And it's like 35 tons, you know? So I spent my last 85 bucks before payday to buy a shovel, shovel this thing, got it on the back on a Saturday, did it the beautiful thing.
He put a thousand bucks in my hand for doing that job. Right. And I'm thinking, well, dang, I did this yesterday for 50 bucks. So I'm like, I kind of, he, he decided my future. That guy decided my future. So from there on, I'm going to be a landscaper. I'm going to do that. Got into the custom water features became nationally recognized, scaled all that.
It was really great. Killed it, started doing steel sculpture and that became internationally recognized on that too, doing world class exhibits and oh, eight or nine came and kind of the economy really kind of crashed. And it kind of did. It took out my business. Okay. So I lost my business, my home. I had six little kids at the time four years and younger.
So it's a little bit challenging. And the reason it really collapsed was because there's a lot of things they didn't do in my business to make sure I could weather something like that. So I take total ownership on that. It really wasn't the economy per se. It's just exposed the final. Final weaknesses, right?
Finally, the house of cards came down. If you will had to reinvent myself. I wasn't going to do what I did. Started again scale the new business to businesses, started helping other entrepreneurs. They started asking me how I did it. So I kind of began mentoring and then that turned into coaching.
Then it turned into right. The best selling book called escape the owner prison. I did that and then continue the coaching program. And that is the really short version. Yeah, yeah, for sure. That kind of gets us there. It should give us something, something to run with. Yeah. Based on your, the episode I listened to you, I know there was a lot of strategy and tactics in there as well.
So what I, what I had to ask, because as I was reading through your bio, I started doing some math. And so this is a more personal question for you, Mr. Walsh, but six kids under the age of four years old. And I was trying to do the math and I was like, well, wait a minute. If you had six kids, each individually from the same woman, they would have to be six at the youngest.
So, are there twins? Are there step kids? I'm just curious because I was trying to do the math. Okay. I'll show you how the math works. Okay. So I'm married. I got married when I was 34. Okay. So a little late, not late for a Marine. That's 30 years late. Yeah. Or 20 years late. That's right. So I got married then five, you were married five years, you know, struggling, having kids, you know, my wife loves kids, one, lots of kids.
And that was a prerequisite before I got married. You know, I want children, lots of children. I go, I like children. It's okay. Anything to close the deal, you know, so we got, we got five years now. We're like, well, we're kind of struggling. Hey, let's go in the foster care program. Maybe we can get an infant.
Maybe we have an opportunity to adopt something like that, you know? So like, let's do that. So we took all the classes and did it, which is a lot, man, the foster care, you could, they put you through the ringer. You know, I mean, 40 hours of classes, you got to do a background checks, background checks, better than the core.
Like, I mean, it was like, it's like I was going for a super top secret clearance. So just have kids naturally. If you want to get away with whatever you need to get away with. Right. I'm like, wow, man. Like you, I forgot even did that. They're telling me stuff I did in my life. Like, I did that. Oh, yeah, I remember that.
You know, so what we just got to check. I'm like, holy cow. You know, so it was it was kind of wild. So like, okay, so now six months goes by after the classes and nothing's happening. Then we get a phone call. My wife calls me one day says, Hey, they're bringing a baby over be here in 45 minutes. You know, I'll get home.
So I came home and they knock on the door and literally little D'Angelo. They give us here's a baby and a little seat and a little blanket, a little bag of stuff and have a nice day. And Wow. I mean, literally it was like five minutes. Stork drop off. Yeah. I'm telling you. And so I'm like, Oh wow. That's really cool.
So that was neat. And then we did in vitro right away. My wife had a baby girl like nine months later. Okay. Well, we brought her home from the hospital and the phone rings and it's the agency D'Angelo, our first one just had a baby boy. He's like too much premature, but he's ready to go. I'm like, Oh. Cool.
We'll take them now. We got another baby, right? And then we do in vitro again, right away. My wife has twin boys. Okay. So now we got twin boys and then the phone rings again. The mother of the two had another, they had a baby girl, you know, and she, you know, she was pretty messed up in a lot of ways from drugs and crime and prostitution, all this stuff.
But she took these babies a turn, which is the greatest thing ever. So this little baby, you know, we'd take her. So now we have six and like three and a half years. Wow. Wow. Yeah, it's pretty wild. So you can imagine, yeah, what ensued from that point. It was interesting. Yeah, that's definitely a chaos, a beautiful story though.
Now, Mr. Walsh, one thing you talked about that I want to, you know, focus on here is when it comes to transitioning out of the military, a lot of military members get the realization that their specific skills for the military don't really transfer over in the military. I got a guy coming on to talk about how.
He was this awesome radio man on a submarine and then was not a radio man on a submarine in the civilian world. And I think Marines seem to have it the most difficult, if I'm being honest, based from talking to other members. A lot of, you know, Navy and Air Force, you get a lot more tech skills. A lot of Marines, especially frontline going out there, the skill set is a bit more limited.
Y'all have a lot of, y'all have better discipline and work ethic and all of that, but. As far as transferable skills, you know, you talked about you were swinging a pickaxe and moving a shovel around. Can you tell us a little bit about that transition and just kind of, was that a shock for you when you got out?
You thought you were just going to get job offers left and right, or how did it work for you? No, I didn't think I was going to get job offers left and right. What I thought was, What happens when you get in the Marine Corps and my son is in now, he's been in almost a year, right? He's an E3 now, so that's really cool, but awesome.
You, you get, you get to, you, you developed a way of living, right? You talk about discipline structure. I mean, there's a lot of that in the Marine Corps. Oh, yeah. Okay. Then you come out. And like the first person you tell, tell them what to do, they give you the big, you know, the big high five, if you will, right until you leave me alone.
You're like, you're like, I'm going to put you in the, you know, I'm going to put you in the dirt. Well, it's a very different world. So the transition really is adapting to civilian behavior. That was, that was more difficult than like, I was a stinger gunner. Okay. I shot down jets with a shoulder fired heat seeking intercept missile.
I knew there was going to be no call for that. So I'm like, okay, well that's okay. So I'm just going to work. But what I had, well, and I want to encourage guys too, if they're getting out in any branch, right. You have structure, you have discipline, you know, you can follow orders, which is important and you can probably give orders, right.
You know how to lead at some level. Yes. The beauty of the military. And you understand that, right? You understand, you understand rank, you understand a chain of command. So you have a really good understanding how things should operate. Now I'm not saying the military does everything perfect, right?
There's, we could spend a whole show on that, but I'm just saying that like that coming out for me and I just had like, well, I'm just going to work. Cause I know how to work and have the discipline to show up. And again, I'm an early riser. I'm still today. I'm 4 a. m. riser every day. That's why I'm here early.
But so my transition was just, what am I going to do? Cause you don't know, and that is a problem for a lot of guys, but I will encourage you the best thing to do. I'm swinging a pick. Okay. Not the greatest thing. I'm working at a bar at night as a doorman. Okay, so I'm doing multiple jobs trying to make something happen until I could figure things out.
So I encourage guys that you got to work. It doesn't matter what you do because the idle, the idleness, that's, what's going to kill you because you're going to sit in your own, you're going to stew in your own. What can I do? What am I going to do? But there's a ton of opportunity out there, even more so now because 20 years or more.
20 years of war and everyone's helping. And there's a lot of recruitment. There's guys who specifically spend time in that and they help guys. I do it as well. So there's opportunity if you can find the right place. Now, back in the day, eighties, there's no internet. There's no anything getting connected to anyone.
I had to like meet people, like give me a job, you know, like it was literally like knocking on doors and stuff to get, now it's just a search. You can find things. So as, as hard as it may seem, it's really easier. Yeah. It really, I mean, you have opportunity, like a world full, literally a world full at your fingertips.
So you can find something, but definitely just get to work. Do not spend any time sitting around on stewing and like, where am I going? Just go do something. Then a door, other doors will open. Yeah, you know, it's actually interesting what you said there because nowadays they actually reach out to you, you know They're actually looking for military candidates and they reach out to you on LinkedIn or indeed or wherever, you know So it's interesting how it's flip flopped from you know future employees needing the employers to employers needing And I actually had an episode about that.
Y'all can check it out leading with values in the workplace. And one of the things we discussed is how with the internet and remote work specifically blossoming after COVID, how employers are now more than ever having to be more lenient with employees because of how many opportunities there are for remote work and how much more.
You know, attractive remote workers to a lot of people. One thing you mentioned is work ethic and you have to work for it. And, you know, I, I had someone on my show say, well, you know, it's not that military members have better work ethic. It's just that they're used to a more harsh work environment. And so by comparison, You know, the civilian environment is easier.
You know, it's like the military is you're training with a weighted vest on and then you take it off in the civilian world. So an interesting concept. But like you said, you had that discipline that structure that work ethic and you talk about people getting out and Being idle. And I think I can understand that mindset because I think a lot of people, they get out of the service and they're like, all right, time to take a break.
I just got done doing all these orders and doing this and that. And I do think it's good to have a little rest period, but just like with any schooling or any work you know, you don't want to exceed a year, which really, I don't think you should even take a year, you know, they call it the gap year, but you mentioned idleness and then there's that famous quote idle mind is the devil's workshop.
It really is. Yeah. Now I know a lot of veterans who, you know, people who recently get out of the military, they get this grand idea. We're going to start a business, you know, we're going to be a veteran owned business. And so everyone's going to shop there because it's owned by veterans and we're going to blow up on the internet and we're going to sell a bunch of t shirts or whatever it is, you know.
Now, Mr. Walsh, you help entrepreneurs and people start businesses. So what advice would you give all these, you know, young active duty guys and gals who are getting out thinking they're going to just. instantly start a business and it's going to be, be huge. There are a lot of benefits available for veterans to help them starting a business, but they're only as good as you taking advantage of them and putting them into play properly.
So you can, you tell us how they can sharpen their spears, so to speak. Yeah. So, I, I kind of work with startups. I help them a lot. I, I, I'm limited what I can do with startups, but I love them and better than to come out and do a business. There's a lot of people that do it now. Here's the difference. The only difference between a veteran and a civilian starting a business is there isn't any Difference.
Okay, you're all gonna have the same issues, right? Yeah, I'm gonna try to get capitalized You're gonna try to create a product or a service and get it to market Yeah, everyone wants to be black rifle coffee, right? Everyone wants that. Okay, they want to be TRX Okay, they want those guys like these guys but and I'm not gonna say they're anomalies But you don't know the story and what they went through.
Everyone's, you know, today, most people only see success. That's what they see. They, they don't, they don't see the five years, the 10 years. Of trying to get things done, you know, the road to get where you all of a sudden people know you or you become a household name. Like we get to these guys, right? Like that isn't overnight.
Okay. That's struggling. If you sat down with those guys and talked, you'd be like, you probably wouldn't even want to start a business. Yeah, it can be, it can be rough, but there is a path to go. And it really comes down to coaching. Some, I didn't have when I started because there wasn't any very, very few.
There's mentors, real high end stuff you couldn't afford as a startup. So you need to find people who have been there because you're going to go through a lot of steps from ideation, right? Oh, I have an idea. Well, that's great. Let me see the napkin, you know, that you wrote your idea on, you know, like that's literally where it starts and that's okay, there's nothing wrong with that, but now, okay, let's now next step, next step, next, and I take people through this.
Right. I just did a lunch and learn the other day, same thing, one hour. And it's like, almost like fire hosing, right? It's a lot of information. Like this, you got a lot to get done just to, just to try to sell. But I think what happens is a lot of people, they go the what would be the word, a little too structured.
Like they go and they like get some college. We'll tell them what to, Oh, you need accounting. You need this and this, all this stuff. that will demoralize you like no one's business. It's all stuff that doesn't matter when you're starting. It matters. Okay. But it's also stuff you can hire out. It's not, it's, you can't, you got to focus on getting your product off the launchpad and you got to sell.
Like, you got to get this and people have to, you got to go see if people can actually care about what you have, they'll give you money for it. And as I tell them, not friends and family, they don't count, but this is a good idea or a bad idea because they're completely biased and they're not going to help you at all.
And they'll probably discourage you. You have to go out to complete strangers and sell your product or service. No matter how well it's developed. Do not just, I call it ignorance on fire. You need to just think like, it doesn't matter. You got an idea. You got a mower, you're going to cut grass. You have a product you're going to build online.
Whatever that is, you want to sell t shirts, whatever that is, see if anyone will give you money for it. Because you know what the difference between a professional and an amateur is? A pro gets paid. Okay. And the amateur doesn't. So become a pro. Make some money. That's where you have to be. That, that's how you truly decide if your, if your product or service is valuable.
Are people giving you money for it? Right? So, but if you go the wrong direction and you're going for this education and I'm not going to like beat up education, we're just saying they haven't done it. They teach it. And what they're going to teach is things that are structured and this, and that's not entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is. ignorance on fire. It's running hard, making it, creating it, making all kinds of mistakes, probably losing some money, right? There's, you got to get scars. You got to get beat up. You got to get punched in the face. It's just, that's why I can't on a high end coach startups because they haven't been punched in the face.
They can't value what I offer. Right. Yeah. Now as a boxer, I've been punched in the face a lot. And I get all artificial parts of my face, right? So I've taken those scars, you know, work it. So what I would encourage them for is to take the idea and create the process. Like what does this actually look like?
And we do help them. I actually have a. Startup coaching is called startup coaching call. com. It's for startups. It's a weekly live coaching call where they can get on, listen and ask questions and get things answered. It'll move them forward really, really quickly. It's a, and I, I just came up with this recently because I just felt bad for startups.
Like I work with all these businesses and help them, you know, but I can't help them, but I have to do something because I want to compress time for them to help them kind of minimize those mistakes. You know, like you can, you can leapfrog a lot of stuff. If you're talking to the right people, they can save you a lot of time and money, you know, and bad decisions and making bad decisions.
So, did I answer the question? Yeah, for sure. You know, yeah, no, I think you hit on a lot of good points. The the main message being there's a now more than ever, there are so many resources coaches of all kinds. Like you said, they didn't really have that. And now they've got, you can find a coach for pretty much any aspect.
I know there are, there are dating coaches, life coaches, podcast coaches, business coaches. There's a lot more affordable options. A lot of, you know, and a lot of different experiences and different coaches who had just maybe have something that's more aligned with your business compared to in the past.
It was, I mean, not one coach fits all, all people, you know? So that's about finding who you connect with. And also just like there's so many podcasts out there giving out great information about businesses and, and everything like that. Now, Mr. Walsh, what I want to kind of go back to is 2008, 2009, you talked about kind of losing everything due to.
You know, America's great economy just doing what it does, which is randomly or not so randomly just going down for quite a while. I know earlier you mentioned you were working for 5 an hour. I was like, I couldn't buy groceries off of that. Let alone pay, pay rent nowadays. Rent is like two grand for a single bedroom.
So yeah, for the economy. But that being said, you talked about losing everything. So kind of just. What you went through when that happened and and what really helped get you out of that dark mirey pit Yeah, so for me my business was everything it was my identity, right? That's really if I wasn't that I wasn't Rick Rock.
I was I didn't exist I always had the shirt on, I always had the hat on, trucks are wrapped, cars are wrapped, everything is, it's all about me. It truly was like me winning, getting the next award, building the great stuff. No one can do what I do. It was all this just inflamed ego. I wouldn't call it arrogance, but I would call it, I was ego driven.
you know, it was all about just satisfying someone. And I, I realized this, actually learned this on a, being a guest on a podcast . I gave this, like, you think I would've figured this out a long time ago, but I, I'm like a words of affirmation guy, right? That's the love language Amer quote, you know? Okay.
And I realized like, you know, that's why I did everything I did was to do the next great thing so people could tell me I'm great. Mm. That literally was like, what drove me. Yeah. And I out, I, I outdid everybody. Even if it meant losing money, like it was all about just that pad on the back, you know, so driving and getting recognized and being on this committee and the mayor of Chicago and our hand picks me and does this stuff and keep going.
And now I've, I build a world class exhibit and they did a documentary on me. I'm like all this stuff, right? All about me. Everything was about me. So everything was driven in the identity. And when 08, 08, 09 came and it was November 5th of 2008, day after the election, I lost a half a million dollars in a day, people just canceling.
I'm like, Oh, Oh, that, Ooh, it just, it just kept going off that cliff. I'm like, there's no way we're going to make it. I mean, I'm a luxury item. Obviously people don't have to have a water feature in their backyard and no one was spending money then. Yeah. I mean, it just, just constricted. Like it was like the Anaconda.
I mean, it was just and there was nothing and I'm like, wow, and I'm trying to live through and it really makes you think, right? You're going, okay, six small children, wife, a home, I'm going to lose my home, you know, because other dumb things I did. So I'm losing the home. Don't have a, I'm like, wow. And I'm laying there in bed one day and I really had the epiphany.
Of I started thinking about my kids and I'm like, wow, I come home at night, whatever it is, five o'clock, seven o'clock, whatever. I'm working these long hours. They run, they attack you. I mean, the little kids, they love you, right? They just want to be with you. They do all that stuff. Great. One day I'm leaving, driving down the driveway out in my truck.
One of my sons has chased me down the driveway crying. You know, and I'm looking at this in the rear view mirror as they get even smaller because I'm going to work, right? I have a business. I have to do this. It's all about me. And and I started realizing, there's just laying there going, you know, if I stay on this path where business is first, it's everything, sacrifice everything, everything for business.
My kids are going to grow up and they're going to have failed marriages, broken relationships. They might be good at business. Everything else in their life is going to be trashed because they only know what they see. Okay. The example is fathers especially is more is caught than taught. That's the same, right?
So you can tell your kids all the right things, but if you aren't congruent, if you aren't doing it, they'll only do what they see. Right. And that might be at 30 years old. Yeah. Things get tight. Everything else, they're going to do what dad did. You know, it might, they might start that business. They might run it that way.
They'll keep coming to me for advice and I'll be giving them the wrong advice. You know, I'll be just telling them how to succeed in business. So for me, that was, I got out of bed and I went and I shut down the business. When the office to Washington, we're done today. So my guys at the yard, I can start my guys.
And I'm like, we're wrapping this up. This week will be finished by Friday. These guys have been with me over 10 years. Same guys that were like family, but I couldn't do it. I'm like, that was the moment that just changed everything. You know, I literally burned all my uniforms, my record. I realized my identity was that I had video, like on the bonfire.
Throwing the brand new shirts on the fire. I'm burning all the clothes. I'm like, I sold all my equipment. I haven't welded. I haven't built a water feature since then. Okay. I'm, I didn't know what I was going to do, but I wasn't going to do that because that lure that what that had done to me, you know, and everyone's got like vices and stuff like that.
Right. I didn't have like anything except business. That was my vice, you know, that was my mistress, if you will. Right. I'm drawn to that and do this. And same thing with spending money. Like I'm not gambling. I'm not doing this. I don't even want sports. Right. I like to buy equipment. Okay. Ooh, skid steer. I'm going to, that's 150, 000.
I'll pay cash. Oh, and build this. Right. So I like stuff like that. So that way, and that was, to me, that was investing in myself and my business. You could, you can justify anything, right? , so did I need to spend $55,000 on a skid steer, or could I have rented it for the season for a thousand a month and then had an extra $45,000 to invest?
Yeah, I probably could have gone that way. Well, nope, I got cash. I'm paying cash. I had a lot of cash, you know, so it was just money. I, 'cause I just, I got paid a ton of money for what I did so I could generate income. But then again, then it's all taken away from you and now you're at the bottom. You know?
And for me, like w. With God. It's like, he does a lot of good work when you're at the bottom. Yeah. He just lets you kind of keep digging that hole, you know, eventually you're going to hit something you can't dig through and sure enough, you know, so I had to really look at it and the difficulty was, what do you do?
Right. Where do you go? I can't live here. So I changed States, you know, we moved and kind of got a place, started over, didn't know what I was going to do, had no clue. Right. So I'm just saying, well, what would I like to do? You know, that's kind of where I started. So this is kind of like, if you talk about the veterans to getting out, you should think like, well, what would I like to do?
Right. Like if I could actually choose and like, what would I like to do? It doesn't mean you're going to be able to do it right then. Oh yeah. You can start a path. It can be on the side where you're doing that crappy job, swinging a pick or whatever, right. But you can have, you can have the dream and start working towards that in the other time.
Right. So I did that. I go, I want to train people. Yeah. I'm a fitness guy, you know, I train guys, I get them going military. I do all this stuff. I'm like, I'm a boxer, I'm a black belt. I do all this cool stuff. So I'll get back to training. I mean, I got a personal trainer certification, like 93. I was one of the first people like when they came out with them, you know?
So I built programs and I did all this stuff. So I just went to an anytime fitness. And like, and they had like, they didn't, they had a program like subs that worked there, you know, like a little subcontractor thing, but they didn't have one of that one. So I came in, I'll do it. And I, I blew it up. Like in any time next, you know, I'm trainer of the year.
Okay. Awesome. I'm like, Oh, cool. So you know what that means to an entrepreneur. I got to go open a gym who loves words of affirmation. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So I'm going to, I'm going to go open my own gym. So I did bootcamp style training created like a a body weight. It was all body weight basically.
And I created like a belt system progression. So you like test it out in phases, you know, and get better and better. So I created this whole thing. I was really great at that. So yeah, that's kind of what, that was the first thing from the, just doing something You know, again, I wasn't making a ton of money as a, as a personal trainer.
I did. Okay. But then, and then the gym now back in business. So that was kind of the transition and that went into a contracting business roofing, setting windows, and I built and scaled that. And then again, started helping people. So that big transition from 0 8 0 9. It was challenging, but I have kind of a thing in my brain where I I'm the eternal optimist.
Like stuff does not, I don't suffer from depression. I don't, I think it's called a neural normal. I think I interviewed a guy about suicide and I'm talking like these thoughts have never been to me. Well, he goes, you're neural normal. Okay. That's interesting. Yeah. So it's like, there's a, I can't, I don't know.
It's gonna, I'm not like, I just like, can't be defeated. Do you know what I mean? I don't know how to explain it. Immune to pain, almost. Doesn't mean you don't get hurt, you're just immune to pain. Yeah, I think I realized in a lot of this, a lot of talking about this stuff on different shows and everything I'm like, wow, I really embrace suffering.
I really embrace it. I think it's like it's part of who I am. You know, that ability to suffer every day in the gym when I work out, I mean, I'm battling an opponent, crushing that thing. It's not a heavy bag, it's an opponent. And I treat it like that. And and I just have this mentality that, you know, just put myself through stuff.
I don't know. It's odd. Can you help me? Yeah. Well, you know, I want to go back to You're talking about making water features and steel sculpting, and we didn't really address that, so you're talking about this business that you lost, and can we actually talk about what the business was, especially since it played such an important role in your identity, which I think is very relatable to the military as well, and actually for me you know, I'm still working on, I got out of the military, did some blue collar stuff, was like Why did I get out of the military just to do 12 hour rotating blue collar stuff?
Like, you know, it wasn't swinging a pickaxe necessarily, but it was pipe wrench. So, you know, paid more than 5 an hour though. It was like 22 an hour. So better. That being said afterward, I became Mr. Whiskey with the whole, you know, podcasting and stuff. And it's like, when I wasn't Mr. Whiskey I was no one.
So your story was actually very relatable to me in that. And I've, you know, Demerge my business and personal life, but also merge them as well in a way that both have value. You know, not placing all my value in my work, but that being said, you talked about water features, expensive luxury items and steel sculpting.
So what exactly are you making for your clients or you were at that time? What were you making? So when you say a water feature, like that was my thing. So it's, I had a fancy name, architectural water environments. But what's no one knew what that was. So it wasn't super great. Oh yeah. You're an architectural water environment engineer.
All that, all that. So, yeah, so I started doing water features. So I started actually making artificial stone. Like you see at the zoos. Okay. Climbing all stuff. I started doing that and like putting water on that. I'm like, Oh, that's really cool. Like, you know, concrete and everything else, super labor intense.
Right. So it's just way, I'm like, yeah, this, I can't scale this. You know, there's two, it's too slow, too much work and it's not real. So I'm also about, I'm high quality. I'm a super high quality guy. When I mean the best, I mean, no one can touch the look of it, the functionality of it. Nothing like I bit of perfectionism in you.
I, I a little bit. Yeah, I get that a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. But the, I know we'll talk about the art too and how it fixed that , but so I really would, I start building that and a small water feature and a waterfall. Oh, people love the sound. It looks beautiful. I'll make a little bigger one. Don't get the next one.
I started now, I started researching boulders, different rocks, started bringing stuff in from around the world, around the country. Like truckloads, right? I go through, at one point I was doing about 1500 tons a year of boulders. Wow. That's a lot of rock, you know, and these are specialty rocks. This isn't like, Some ugly round granite boulder.
These are stuff. This is trap rock from Missouri. This is a picture right from Utah. I'm bringing something all over the place. I'm really creating this stuff. So my goal was to, when I'm finished with my water feature, which is in the backyard, right? Yeah. It looks like it was there before the house. That's the goal.
Like someone saw this beautiful water feature and put their house by it. Cause it's so cool. That was my goal. Right. And is what I achieved. I mean, so regardless of what I charged and I ended up charging a lot, every single customer, not one customer over a thousand water features I built ever said, they paid too much.
They all said, you need to charge more, you know, no matter what the price was. I mean, that was the outcome I wanted, right? That's and talk about where's the affirmation. Those are words of affirmation to me. It's like, I will just, I'm just going to knock everyone out. You're going to have this thing. And, and what happened with that as is growing and building.
Okay. I'm the artist. I'm doing a lot of the placement, the rock placement, and we have. I'm doing also, so also I'm a, I'm a builder, right? Meaning that I like to scale a business and build businesses. Yeah. So at the same time, everyone's doing all this stuff by hand. Guys are hand digging these ponds. Now, you know, I'm a, I'm a guy with a pickaxe could throw it eight hours a day.
Right. But I'm like, you know, this doesn't work either. So I got mini excavators that we could get into the backyard, you know, 40 inches wide, our digging, now we're digging the pond in an hour, you know, all the guys are taking all day, Right. Now I'm placing large boulders, 2, 000 pound boulders, 3, 000, I'm bringing that and putting it in.
I'm doing that. I'm putting 150 tons of boulders in one feature in like a day. It takes other companies 30 days to do the same thing. So I decided, well, we were going to be the special forces of pond building. I got three guys. I got three guys. We go in with the right equipment and we create magic and what we can do in one or two days.
I had a client. I built a thing on an Island. I brought in 170 ton crane to swing a 28, 000 pound grade all out onto this Island. Okay. That's on this trigger Lake so we could build a waterfall, which we did in like half a day, place all the boys swarm off there, swung them to the next Island because the series of islands, I made steel bridges.
Okay, the drive out onto them that become foot bridges to did a series of three and we're just clicking. It was 30, 000 to build a road to the back for the crane because we had to, you know, put in six inch stone and just that's, that's the crazy that I am. I'm going to do what no one else can do. You know, and remember the owner, big hitters, of course, right?
There's some, he's looking, we're looking at the beautiful water feature, you know, off this thing, he's having all this other landscaping done by another company. And he goes, I got to tell you, like, you made this look like a weekend project. What you did here, this was, and these guys, they spent four hours talking to me, what flower they're going to plant.
We're, we're all about getting it done. He goes, this is, and he wanted to, he was a cool guy, but yeah, we did some pretty amazing stuff. But just that, that, that was my attitude, right? Building water features. Like I will do what no one else can do. They wouldn't even attempt it and I'll pull it off. I did another one.
I almost like reverse physics. I did stuff that like finest things ever. I'm like, I can do that. And I build this stuff. And so it was a real motivator, right? You can kind of get how, I just wanted people to say, say, I can't do it. Just tell me this can't be done. And like, turn me loose and get your checkbook out.
But it's going to cost you, but, but they have one of a kind. I had a guy the other day called me and I built his water feature. 17 years ago, he goes, I, I'm glad I could get ahold. He found me cause I had my site up for picture and stuff. Still, you know, and he goes, I think our thing's leaking a little bit after like 18 years, can you come out and fix it?
I'm like, I don't do this anymore. I said, you know, here, let's do this. Let's do FaceTime. I'll tell you exactly where's Lincoln. Cause I had an idea. I think it's just one of the waterfalls. Honey goes, yeah, a piece of cake. Go out there with the, we're going to Facebook this or FaceTime this thing. I do. I see right there.
Lift that up. Okay. Find the line and take those rocks out there. Pull that up. You're good to go. Oh, wow. Yeah, no problem, man. Best luck to you. I like fix it over the phone. You know, so thank, we didn't have that technology back then either. So it's just, but, but to me there, you talk like it took 18 years till something went wrong.
Like, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Try to do that. Okay. Most people in the industry and they, when they became popular, their stuff was leaking like next day. Okay. So, I mean, like most people I would give seminars trying to teach people to do it properly just so they don't ruin the industry. But yeah, I get it. So that was water Features, man, and it, and I started adding sculpture to that.
So I'm like, you know what, I could use like a really cool sculpture, like natural 'cause I wanted the weld. So I taught myself how to weld. I started doing all the sculpture stuff and I'm making like cantilevered, walk under waterfalls, had a Navy pier and people bought him a guy. I put in for a guy. He had a train, like, you know, the trains you ride on, like he parks his big tennis court.
And he has a train. He put in the goals around it. Well, he saw this walk on the waterfall and he wanted the train to go underneath it. Yeah. So poof, we did that. Right. And I've got that. So he's going to walk on a waterfall and you're riding on the train is super cool. So yeah, we did, we did a lot of fun stuff and just super creative because that was my outlet, right?
I am a creative person. And then the steel sculpture led into steel sculpture, water feature led into, you know, people seeing this stuff together because no one could picture it. You know, no, no one understood how the two can be combined, right? And I did that. So yeah, it was fun and you actually answered another one of my questions in there, which was going to be, are there any, is there anywhere we can get pictures of this stuff just to see what you're talking about?
He said, you have a site still up with all your, your prior features. Yeah, you can go to rickrock. net. It's r i k r o c k. net. And there's a few hundred pictures on there. You can see stuff, but yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, I'll definitely add that to the description so people can check that out because I can picture what you're talking about.
I've seen some of these probably not to the scale of what you're doing. I've seen some small little features in some shore towns and such, like you said, it's a luxury item, but it sounds amazing. And then I want to go back to, you talked about opening up your own gym, starting quote unquote a bootcamp for fitness with different phases.
Did you draw inspiration from your time in the Marines from Marine bootcamp? How did you set up this fitness program? Yeah. So I've been training and I get, and I was really in the bodyweight stuff since about 09 really started getting into that big time, kind of getting myself back super fit. Cause.
Stressful business can make you forget about your health, you know, and also I'm getting three meals from a window every day, you know, and it's not, I'm not a good life. So I started that I'm like, okay, and I have all this experience and all the training and all the stuff I've done. So, yeah, I'm like, well, let's do this.
Let's create bootcamp style training. Let's do 35 minute workouts. So I want people to come in for 35 minutes. I'm going to crush them. You know, they won't be able to work 36 minutes, okay, five minutes are going to be done because that's who I am, right? So I brought that in. I'm so well, let's start. And I started just designing programs for every day.
Like, here's what we'll do. And I said, layout. I took the, the military thing. I said, let's make little four person squats. So we have a team, everyone who comes in, you got 20 people or 25, whatever it is, okay. Everyone teams up with guys in their similar fitness level, right? So they can have a team and a squad.
Everyone's working out at the same time, doing the same thing, but now you're actually competing. So I wanted to build, but I wanted them to test out kind of like the belt system in martial arts, but I wanted to develop these fitness skills, you know, whether it was walking lunges and pull ups and all the cool stuff.
Right. So I built that like, okay, this should take you about a year and a half to get through, to be a, you know, a phase four guy and all this stuff, and it's super difficult. So that was kind of the, the catalyst for it. How do I do this? Now I did learn something like everyone doesn't want to kill themselves.
Yeah. So you're, you're looking cream of the crop kind of stuff, right? So you're not going to get them coming in, being pushed. And I literally had a three foot riding crop, you know, like for horses. Yeah. I walk with that as high trained. I'm slapping my leg. I'm slapping the mat. I'm slapping their butt. If their butts up in the form is bad, right?
I mean, I'm a nut job, right? But it's cool. But we're just a little negative reinforcement because that's the Marine Corps way. So we use that and people loved it. But what I didn't realize was. And again, this is just a business point. I'm like, I only want people who want to train, right. Train hard and push 40 people, 50 people, 60 people.
But I didn't, I wasn't realizing at the time. So, so into what I was doing and so happy that everyone was doing seven classes a day and I got trainers and. All this stuff. And we get, we're blouse boots, man, black boots, black cargo pants, man, a black anvil work shirt. And we were, we're the whole name out of do it.
It was, you came in and it's basically an empty gym with pull up bars, suspension trainers, carpet mats, but you come and you go. Pain. I sense pain. Okay. Something, something terrible is going to happen because there's that you don't see machines. You don't see Barbara. It's like sandbags. That's all you're going to see, right?
Like inner tube sandbags that we're doing over that. So, but I didn't really, I, I, from, from a business standpoint, think of a big NFL football game, right? You got maybe a hundred players down on the field, total benches, everything. And how many people are in the stance? 50, 000, 80, 000, right? Do they want to play football?
No, they don't want to play football. They want to watch football. Well, that should be your mentality in the gym business. So if you got a lot of hardworking out people, people just want to want to be around that because the energy is amazing. Right. So I built it so that they could work at their level, right?
It's not like you fail. You just can't do as many pushups. You just can't do as many pull ups. You can't do this, you know, the whole thing. You're like, you do what you can do. And that's how we built it. So it was real effective that way, but I didn't encourage those people to come to my gym, you know what I mean?
Cause the gym model, the gym model is as many people as you can and pray that 80 percent never show up. That's the standard gym model. They, they bank on it because you couldn't fit all the cars in a parking lot. Yeah. Right. So literally valleys did that decades ago, but that's, Hey, some memberships like crazy.
Everyone's got good intentions. Planet fitness, 10 bucks a month, you're never going to cancel because you're going to go to the gym and it's only 10 a month. So you'll pay that 10 bucks forever and never work out ever. You know? So that's kind of the model and mindset. I didn't want to do that. Cause I'm also charging a lot of money to be in it, but I should have, right?
So I had to learn that balance that like, let these people in, you know, they, they want to be around like high achievers who doesn't want to be around high achievers. Well, people who don't want to achieve high, maybe, but yeah, so, so it was, so it was awesome. It was really cool. And I wanted to, you know, and I just had a really good time with that really learned how to let my trainers train.
So I developed the programs. Here's what they are and they can all do. I really have was able for me to remove myself from the business. That was my first step of realizing if, if, if my wife called me, cause we're homeschooling these six kids now, right? So we've got all that going. They're going to start all that.
Yeah. That's a lot. If she needs me to come home, I don't want to tell her I'll see you at 7 p. m. I'm like, well, I'll be there in 15 minutes because I'm 15 minutes away. And I'm going to go home. So that was a big, one of those things. Like, I didn't want to be a stay at home dad. I love business. I want to do that.
But if my wife needs me, I want to be able to be there for her. Right. That's, that's the life. That's the margin I wanted to create. I want to have time margin in my life. So, that, that'll enable me to do that. All I will say is if 80 percent of the Planet Fitness members are staying home, I need like 90, 95 percent to stay home because every time I go, there's too many people in my way.
I don't, I'm if I ever get to the point financially where I can make an at home gym, it will be done because I just, I, I like my privacy. I don't like other people. I've always been that way. That's why I love running, cross country running, because Sure. You ca you pass the occasional person and so howdy, how you doing?
You know? But for the most part, you're alone until the, to the finish line. You are the, you're the, you're the fitness introvert. I, I am. And you know what? I just. It's worked out where every time at the gym and I'm about to get off the machine, someone comes over and they're like, can I get some reps in?
And then it's like, Oh, I'm about to get off. But then they think that I'm only getting off. Cause they came over. They always time it where it's just like this awkward moment of they feel like they're pushing me off the machine and I'm trying to leave the machine, but they're trying to get me to stay on, you know, Let me give you a cool little story that happened last week.
For sure. So I worked a heavy bag, right? So I'm doing, I do three minute rounds with a minute rest. Then I'll do about 10. Okay. And Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, I hit the bag. Okay. And I'm skilled. Okay. And I've kept my skills sharp. Every punch is as hard as I can throw it. Okay. And I'm rocking saying that I've been doing it for years, right?
So I'm in there. So, but the Tuesday, Thursdays, I do 10 miles of shadow box. So it's all footwork and I'm throwing like three, 300, 350 punches around, but I'm moving, right? So I'm floating around. There's two bags I'm working. I get, I'll be hitting the bag. Not hard, right? Cause I got, I don't have wraps, anything.
I'm just bare knuckle and I'm working, working, working. I'm just moving and I'm lathered to my waist. Okay. With sweat. So I'm finishing the eighth round. So I got an air pod in. Timer's going right. And it gives me a 10 second warning when the rounds can be up. So I really unload last 30 seconds. So I'm doing that, getting done.
So this big dude walks up and he's like standing there. And then I and it's like standing, like literally like almost on top of me and I'm working the bag and the, the bell goes off, which he can't hear. Right. It's in my ear and I go, what's up? And he goes, dude, I mean, this is really cool. And he was, this is really distracting.
You know, I go, yeah. And he goes, so like, I mean, I can't even like, I go, you can't, what? You know, he goes, well, can you just take it down? Can you, can you be quiet? You make a lot of noise and stuff like that. I go, yeah, I'm not going to do that at all. And he's standing there looking at me. I go, he goes, what is this?
Your personal gym? I go, is it yours? And he's just, I go, dude, he goes, I'm like weeks, man, you've been doing this for weeks. I go, no, I've been a member here since 2016, brother, you've been here for weeks.
Okay. And, and guess what? You get the, you get the crown of the first person ever to say something to me about it. And all of these years I'm here at five 30 in the morning doing this. Right. So we kind of had a few other words. I, I really, A couple of deep breaths. I'm on your side. I'm on your side. So I'm like, dude, I'm going to finish.
I got some rope to do. So I got a couple of rounds of rope. I had to do, you know, I have to jump rope. So he went away and whatever, you know, the whole thing. I'm like, and I'm just going to go here. What a weak minded individual. Yeah. You were like six, three, you're like two 40, all this stuff. And you, you, yeah.
I'm interrupting your TV show on the treadmill, like really dude, like you're walking. Like once you go back with the ladies and do the elliptical, like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm looking at him going, you know, I like to chop down big trees. I will, I will. I'm just getting worked up, but yeah, you get that. So there's someone from a mindset, like you're distracted.
I wanted to tell him, here's how, here's how you do it. Think about your heart rate, focus on it. You're breathing. Put that treadmill up to 12. Okay. Go 10 miles now, right at an incline. Start pushing. Think and see how hard you're breathing, how hard you're working. Go make some progress. Don't come here and walk on the treadmill.
It's beautiful out. It's 75 degrees outside. It's sunny. It's six in the morning. Go outside and walk. What are you doing? You're watching TV, dude. I'm like, you know, it just tells you everything for me. I'm just, but I'm kind of, no, no, I agree. Well, the crazy part is out of everyone in the gym, a guy throwing 350 punches at, at, at the bag, that's the last guy I'm going to approach.
I'm like, that's the last guy I want to tell. He's being too loud. Yeah, dude. I, and I'm, yeah, I am working with sweat, throwing punches, throwing kicks. I'm like, that's the last guy I need to be interrupting you. And he's like, Oh, I mean, you're being all Jackie Chan and everything. I'm looking like, Oh, Oh no, you want to go there.
Dude, I'm going to do my rope because I'm going to, I'm going to lose my membership. Yeah, I like it here. You know, I had my buddy who's been on the show, we call him big red. He's he's in the military still. And he, he used to be a wrestler and, and his coach actually encouraged him to screen, to be loud because it boosted their morale.
And I remember he went to the military gym with me one time or whatever. And no yelling and you know, there's signs, no yelling, no throwing the weights. And he's like, We're the military. This should be like the one place in the gym you're allowed to scream. You're, you're, you're going crazy. And there's a lot of old vets at the Planet Fitnesses around here who they're always the loudest guys too.
But They're the most, they're the guys I wouldn't mess with, you know, they're, you know, they're in their forties and fifties and their arms are just, you know, massive and, and they're, they're working out lifting heavy weights. I'm like, I, you know, it's funny because there are a bunch of older guys, older, like sixties, seventies walking from us every morning.
They're there all the time. They watch me every day. They like, love it. Guys, there's the track goes when they walk, I'm in the corner and the, and the indoor track goes right. People just, they, I'm like wallpaper now. They're just used to it, but they love it. My, my kids would be there working out. Right. And they're like, damn, like people are videotaping you.
You know, I go, well, that's, that's their prerogative, you know, but they're like, that word of affirmation ego right there. I'm telling you, man, it's the energy. I need the energy. But, but they, they haven't seen people work out like that. Like I'm older. I'm like, I'm older. Right. But the same guy like me. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm 30. Yeah. That's me. But I'm like, To see someone work out like that can, I mean, every day, I mean, 10 rounds, I mean, one minute breaks, everything's by time, all the stuff I do, you know, then I go do all the core work and I'm doing core work that no one does. I'm like, so to me, I, you know, hopefully I'm inspiring people.
You know, the good news is no one talks to me except that goof. That's only go for me. I'll know guys. They'll say something if I'm down, you know, on the lobby or whatever, you'll say something, but we all get the head nod. Be good. They'll walk around, they'll see him. I get my, I get that, you know, they all know it.
Everything's cool, man. They like it. Like who doesn't want to be my friend? Well, this, this whole concept, this whole story you're giving us is great because it really shows that you can have two mindsets. You can be inspired from someone working hard or you can want to shut them down. You know, distracting.
You know, I can't say if he was, he was jealous at all. I can't speak for that, but like you're saying, you could, you know, He could have looked at that and been inspired. Like you said, he could have been like, I want to be like that guy, you know? And that's what I do. When I see people working out harder or more dynamic, it inspires me.
There's so much stagnation at the gym. Almost like you said, there's a lot of, and I don't want to bash on treadmill walkers, right? People start their journey somewhere and stuff, but you know, there, there's a lot of stagnation. You know, there's a lot of people were just, I, cause I see the same people every day.
And you know, I know me personally, you I've. Each time I go to the gym, I try to do a bit heavier and whether that's Day to day or week to week. And I've seen some people do the same thing. And then I've seen some people just stay at the same point. You know, so I think there's, there's inspiration to be had, you know, like I, when I see there's some guys I see, they run from machine to machine.
And some people are like, look at these guys. And I'm like, look at him go. He he's out there grinding. So I think it's, it's an important concept, you know, whether you take inspiration from the people working harder, if you want to shut them down. Yeah, I think people have to what people don't embrace is doing hard things like that's only where growth comes from.
You got to push yourself in virtually every day. So I'm there five days a week, sometimes six I'm trying to like, and people don't see my improvement necessarily. Right. Cause it always looks like I throw a lot of punches. But there's days and I'm like, man, I rocked that thing today, man. I threw a lot. I mean, everything, I never threw less than three punches at a time.
That's the goal. Right. And I stick to it three, four, five, six punch combinations, pivot, pivot, move that for three minutes. And I'm like, there's days from like, it just, and no one walking away from that. You know, like I just, you know, and I love it. And that is, I'm keyed up going to the gym. I'm like in the car, like, and I'm like, I'm ready to go now.
You got me pumped up for the job. I just, I'm doing this. It's like, man, you know, it's just, I realized I'm a little different, you know, but that whole, that that's who I am. Right. But you can pull that out of the working out. If you're just willing to come on, just elevate the treadmill, go up one, go up two, and just walk a little harder, pick up the pace.
So my son, right. It was in the Marine Corps now. So yeah, train him a lot. So he was a real good runner, right? Cross country did that. And half miler was his favorite. And he wanted to go. To the junior Olympics, like let's get them for 800. I'll train you. So I trained him, right? I'm a trainer. So I trained him, got him, got him to the junior Olympics, right.
For the 800, everything else did that accomplish that. And then he lets me know that I'm training them for all kinds of different stuff and getting fit. And we do workouts and he runs, we do everything. And then, and then when he let me know, he's going to, well, he was, he was going to join the Navy. Full, full transparency here.
Okay. So went and saw the Navy recruiter and we're talking, he wants to be a SEAL. Like doesn't everybody greatest, greatest recruiting tool for the Navy ever. Oh, Navy seal contract. Yeah. Cause that's going to happen, but they get them in right. And next thing you know, they're painting the ship on the outside.
Right. So he's like, I want to do that. You know, and he tells me he's getting this Eagle scout. He had an Eagle scout. Yeah. The Eagle scout ceremony. So we go to lunch with him and I on the card. It's like, dad, I got something I got to tell you. I'm like, Oh man, something's going to drop. Right. He goes, right.
I want, I want to go in. I want, I want to be a seal. I'm like, Oh, well, you know, do you know what that requires? Right? Yeah. I think, yeah. And he goes, I need you to train me. Only you can train me. Well, that's beautiful. Okay. I'm like, that's cool. Okay. Well, let's go talk to the recruiter. We'll do that. So he gets his Eagle and all this stuff, you know, and it's all cool.
And then we go talk to recruiter and he does his thing. And then, and then the COVID stuff was kind of going on and all that stuff too. He's like, well, I'm like, he goes, I'm not getting shot, man. I'm not getting any of that stuff. You know, so I'm like, okay, well, they're going to make it. So he's really upset now.
It's not going to happen. I mean, really, really upset, like not talking to anyone broke some furniture in his room. You know, he's angry. Okay. She's like, that's what he wanted to do. I didn't know this. My daughter told me, like, he's talking about this for a couple of years. Like we has like, he never mentioned it to me.
He's very quiet kid, you know? So. When we were coming out of the Navy recruiter, of course, the Marine, Marine Corps office up front. Right. So this guy stands out and there's a Sergeant. He's like, he's like, Hey, how are you doing? So I talked to him. Oh, Sergeant Vines. How you doing? And we're talking to him and he said, Hey man, if you ever want to talk, you know, so I got his card.
I'm like, listen, I'm not just cause I was a Marine. My son don't have to be a Marine. Whatever he wants to do, he's going to do. So after a couple of weeks of that stewing, he's like, dad, cause he, cause the Marines said, Hey, you know, we don't require that. You got a waiver. You get all the COVID stuff. And he goes.
I'm not done with this. Let's, let's go talk to the Marines. I'm like, okay. And guess who's now a Marine, right? So we started that thing. He does everything he does. He had to do so we homeschool, right? So standardized testing does not something we do. Yeah, right. So my kids aren't test takers. They're critical thinkers.
Hmm, and they're learners, right? They they're very smart, very well, well rounded everything else. So he does the ASVAB practice test and he gets like a 16. Right. It's really low. We could have an episode on just the ASVAB alone. It's not a, it is a very faulty, flawed test. There's good things about it and really bad things.
So, so Sergeant Vines, just awesome recruiter, right? And he's like, well, I'll do whatever you need to do, man. You want to come do a practice test every day. We'll get you, we'll get it up for you. So I said, yeah. And I'm also a big fan of coaching. So I'm going to give him a tutor. So we get a tutor a month later, 89.
Right. Nice. Okay. Cause he doesn't do standardized testing. So God, he got that all good. So now, now we guess like he's going to go in, we had about seven months before he's going in. Right. So he's going through the process. So we started training before we even talked to him. So we're doing three days for seven months straight.
Okay. 6 00 AM. We're in the gym doing conditioning, doing my body weight conditioning and stuff. Right. Yeah. Question of that half hour break to get home and he runs six to 10 miles of Hills. Okay. And then the in the afternoon, we're in the pool. He doesn't want to pull all the pulls. So I took all the, I took all the recon requirements for Navy or Marine Corps recon, 500 meters swim in the cammies.
Okay. All the underwater stuff. And every week we hit all their selection stuff so he could do it all. Going through bootcamp before he gets to bootcamp. Oh man, bootcamp, I go, bootcamp's gonna be recovery. We're doing three a days. I mean, I have an obstacle course at home. 20 foot rope climbs into the trees.
We're carrying giant logs. I get them carrying logs. Running with 35 pound med balls. Doing just endless 60 yard bear crawls. Right. So we do the whole thing and yeah, he goes and he's, you know, perfect, perfect PFT, the whole deal. So really cool. So he goes into boot and yeah, he's number one is piece of cake.
He's like, it was easy. That wasn't hard, you know, but, but now he's at MSG school. He's at Quantico and he's going to be probably shipping off to Africa and stuff, but really done well there. But that training, that discipline he has, he won't quit. So he also wanted the box before that. So I. I'm like, well, you tell your mother, I tried to get him to do jiu jitsu.
Let's do this. No, I got a box. I'm like, Oh, my wife's like, that's your influence. I'm like, I didn't tell him to box. I want him to do something else. So I didn't, I had nothing to do with this. Yeah, we're going to train. We're going to train. He started a box and do really well. Tough, unbelievably tough, you know, and he just, he's like 150 pounds.
You know, just rip, but he's just tough. So they did boxing. He did all that, right. And he did, then we trained all this stuff. So he's just kind of a stud and but he's been through it, man. So it's, it's pretty awesome to see, but that opportunity to train him. Again, taking my skills and everything else. I learned to be able to give it to my son.
All my kids kind of work out, you know, kind of all into this. Yeah, pretty much. And just to be able to do that for him to help him. Cause he wants to, he's going to go Marsoc. He wants to go Marsoc. That's his goal. So he's MSG, which is Marine security guard. So embassy guarding and hunting terrorists and all that stuff.
Two years in and a corporal, he can then apply for Marsoc. So his ultimate goal is to get to Marsoc and he'll do it. He's a big time goal achiever. So I'm excited to watch the path. It's been pretty cool. Well, and tying that into what we were talking about before with the gym. You know, about inspiration stuff.
I think also people are just too comfortable where they are, you know, I think, especially in the gym as a public place, you know, we joked that I was a gym introvert. I think a lot of people worry too much about their comfortability level and, and, you know, what other people think about them, you know, and I, I've definitely seen some people at the gym just doing their thing, and it's awesome, you know, I mean, they can say it's a no judgment zone, right, wherever you go in life, there's gonna be people who don't like you, and you could be, like Mr.
Walsh here, you could have that drive, you could be throwing all these punches, doing great stuff, and people are just gonna, there's always, look, you're always gonna have enemies, you're always gonna have someone who doesn't like you, right, I, I, I was thinking about this. I said, even if you're the nicest old lady, you pick the best food or whatever, one time on the road, and you're going to have an enemy.
I'm not saying old women can't drive. I'm just saying, no matter where you go, you're going to make an enemy. It, you know, it's just the inevitability of it. So I think just the, the, the takeaway would be train how you want to train, you know, respectfully, right. I'm not saying be disrespectful about it, right.
There, there is a level of. Is the distraction that you're causing necessary for your training, right? For example, with Mr. Walsh, what he's doing is perfectly fine. And there's more distracting things in the gym. You know, there are those guys who get the ropes and they're, you know, smacking the ropes. I do that too.
I already knew you did it. I already knew you were that guy. And I, I don't think we all knew that. I don't do like a round or two. I do 21, 32nd rounds, a 32nd break. Right. And I'm doing, I mean, yeah, people, and it's, It's loud. I mean, the ropes, I mean, I'm just, they're banging everything else, but I always found the no judgment zone.
Funny. I go, isn't that judging? How can you tell me not to do something? Isn't that judgment? So the whole concept, you know, the, I'm like, I think that's total judgment itself, but, but you're right. I think it, it all has to fit what you're doing. Right. If I'm riding the bicycle, I'm probably not going to be screaming.
Okay, but I'm going to be going hard. Yeah, I'm going to have music and I'm going to be peddling. I'll be sweating. There'll be some grunt. If it's me, there's going to be some grunts because going up a hill and putting in effort and that's what it takes for me. And you know, just like the breathing when I box, there's a way I breathe.
I exhale when I hit. So you hear the breathing too. So the whole thing is, you know, but I always like to say is unless there's an issue, then who wants to be my friend? That'll be everybody, right? When someone needs protecting. One guy, one, one kid asked me one time, he goes, are you like training for a fight?
Are you like, I go, no, just staying dangerous. And he's just like, Oh, I'll go. Yeah, well, we have to though. Right. I'm a dangerous gentleman. I have a lot of skills, but I have them under control. Well, I like to say my, my favorite quote is it's better to be a warrior in the garden than a gardener in war. You know, I think that quote is a perfect summary of what a man should be.
You know, so, but I was going to say there's actually a machine at planet fitness, it's like, it's a slot, it's an ab workout machine. And you, and you pull it up. With your abs, and it makes this very loud sliding noise. It's the loudest machine in there. And I remember, it's in the, the, the ab and the glutes room, right?
So it's always packed with women taking their videos and doing stuff. And they, at first it was like, every time I do it, everyone just turns and looks. And then some people get upset and I just look I'll do my ab workout. I've gotten to the point. I don't care like it's we're at a gym, you know, I'm not here to maintain the peace of quiet.
There's people reading on their Kindle and stuff and they're upset because they're trying to read. I'm like, look, You're at the gym. You're at the gym. You're at the gym. I'm dead serious. There was people just, there were guys who had brought their girlfriends or wives and their wives were just reading why the guy worked out.
The women weren't, it's not like they were reading between reps. I've seen some jack guys, they've got a book in one hand and reps another. That's pretty cool. But I'm not, look, if you want to read or watch a show or whatever, like, you know, you can do that at home. This is the gym. I came to dedicate my time to doing this, so.
And that's why I did the bootcamp style training. You have 35 minutes, you're not, you're not talking, you're not reading. There's none of that. Okay. It's hardcore. And then there's no shower. Get out, go home and change. Okay. We have one bathroom. You can use that. There's no showers. You come, you work out and they love it.
And they would all come five days a week, Monday through Friday, no weekends. And they get those killer 35 minute workouts and they got results. And it was just awesome. You know? So there's always a place. Okay. You know, so, and I love the energy of the gym. I have, I have heavy bag, speed bag, double end bag match, everything in the garage, I have the full gym battle ropes.
I got everything pull up bars. I have everything I can work at a home if I want. And I used to, but now I don't, because I want the energy. I want the experience to go there and have that. And, and for me, that's really good, but I also could train my kids at home. I could teach them the skills. They've all learned how to box, right?
They all can throw punches. You know, I said, you don't have to get in the ring, but if you can throw straight punches, You're going to beat 98 percent of all people, male or female, like, because no one's been punched in the face and your first shot lay a square in the nose. They're not going to know what happened.
You'll follow them with the right hand and a hook and it's good night, Irene. Just have the skills, have the confidence, but it, and I also tell them always, you never mess with anybody because you don't know what they know. We don't start anything, but we are serious finishers. Okay. I will put you, I will put you to sleep.
No, I agree with that. I think there's a lot of people who think just because a person is short or skinny or whatever, that they, they don't know how to fight. And I watch all these martial arts videos and stuff. And I, I never, I will never try to Guess someone's fighting power based on how they look because, you know, you never know what they know.
Like you said, I think that's a very important lesson. And I think a lot of big guys get this, this ego, you know, no one can take me down. And I've seen plenty of big guys get humbled, you know, it it's funny. I actually. Me and my buddy got into an argument with a guy on my ship because he was, you know, tall.
He was like 6'2 6'4 And he was like a big guy will always win, the heavier guy will always win. And we're, we're talking about UFC and all this other stuff and I'm like, listen, like, that's not how that works. You know, you never, never underestimate anyone. You're not gonna win when you can't walk.
When I take these out. Okay. Exactly. I don't just have one set of skills. Yeah. I had a guy back, back in the boxing days when they had the USFL way back, probably before you were born, but they had, you know, they tried to do that. So in I was in Scottsdale, Phoenix area. So the Cardinals at the time, big guy, big dude, Lyman came to one of the box and I'm like, Six, two.
And I was like 205 pounds, right? Super heavyweight. And he gets in, he goes, I want to learn the box and everything else. So my roommate and trainer, another Marine, both means both boxers, I was like, well, you can, you can, you can spar with Richard. You know, he goes, Oh, he's kind of small, isn't he? He goes, he'll be okay.
You know? So this guy gets between the ropes, you know, and we start out, you know, the first round is they go bananas. Just trying to not, he's swinging and can't lay a glove on people. I'm just slipping. I'm moving around. Right. Dance around. He can't. And, and now he's just sucking wind. Right. No gas. Okay.
This is a professional football player, but this is not professional football. This is so he goes, okay, thanks. And he's trying to get out of the ring. So Doug, my, my trainer, because I'm in, man, you got one more in you, man. Come on, let's stay here. And it's like, ding, ding. It's like, here we go. And he just came in.
He can barely keep his hands up. And I'm Pop. And then I, I'm, I'm like, I'm not going to knock him out. I'm going to stop him to the body. It goes so humiliating when you get stopped to the body, you know, get knocked out. That can be kind of cool if you're on the receiving end, right? I've been knocked out.
People are knocked out, right? But I'm just, I have an amazing left hook to the body and I can press that liver and it's, and I know it's, so don't think I'm a nut. I land that left hook to the body. You just hear this. And they take a step back and they look at you and also they go and they can't breathe.
It shuts everything down and you fall on the ground. You flop like a fish. Okay. For like 10 seconds, then you're perfectly fine. Okay. So I'll pop up and I'm working. We would get about two minutes in. I'm like, And that thing lands, you could hear it across the gym and everyone knows that sound, but he takes that stuff back, but there's this 275 pound guy like flopping on the floor and I'm like, Oh, good.
I just stepped out of the ring, went over and started hitting the bag. He never came back. He never came back. You know, but you just got to, you got to be careful, right? You got to, you got to, people know things, you know, you're going to try something new, just understand you're going to be awful at it in the beginning.
For sure. For sure. Now, Mr. Walsh, we're definitely going to have you back on for a military dedicated episode, AKA funny stories from your time in the Marines. I'm sure you've got a couple of those along with some serious discussion points for that. But Mr. Walsh, we'll wrap up this episode. And as we sign out here, what do you want to leave everyone with?
Do hard things. That's been our theme, I think here, man. Just, yeah, just gotta push yourself and push though doesn't mean you have to go kill yourself. Just know that. Do something different, man. Break up your day. Break up your life. Go get a challenge. I don't care if it's a 5K run, climb a mountain, do do something that's difficult, whether it's physical or even mental.
Yeah. If you haven't read a book in five years, read a book. That's gonna be a hard thing for you. Yeah, I'm not kidding. So it's not this isn't all about physical. This is about like mentally challenge yourself. Do the difficult things Figure some new stuff out man. I don't know. I think that's my that's my big takeaway.
I want to give people Just you can do a lot more than you're doing and a way a lot more than you think you could do. Just put yourself in the situation and you'll find out. For sure. And by doing so each day you will sharpen your spear, a nod to Sharpen the Spear Coaching by Richard Walsh. Again, links in description below so you can check out more of him.
But Mr. Walsh, I want to so much for coming on the show. It's been a much more humorous time than I had planned. And that's always a great thing. So I really appreciate everything you've shared with us today. Well, Mr. Whiskey, you are the man. You are a great host. I appreciate you brought the humor out.
I'm glad we get to have a good time and share some stories and hit some hot topics.
