Episode 176 | Mike McCarthy | Military Millionaire

00:00 - 05:00

David:

What's up Military Millionaires! I'm your host, David Pere. And we are here with Alex Felice and the one and only Mike McCarthy, who is one of the founders of Go Abundance. And for those of you who don't know, Go Abundance is a mastermind for healthy, wealthy, successful men to really just help improve their life in every way. That has been a game changer for me. And it's just been really cool to be a part of. He also wrote the Miracle Morning for families as well as Tribal Millionaires. He's one of the biggest Keller Williams teams or regions in the world, they did over $25 billion in real estate sales in 2021, with 11,000 agents that he oversees. And I mean, it's just just a really cool guy, right? So I could read the bio, and it would, it would be kind of informal, but I got to meet him at Park City with one of our events and just a super cool guy.

So when Alex and I were talking a few weeks ago, we were like, hey, we'd love to do a show where we talk about, like not just wealth, but like contribution and giving back and, and legacy and the things that are important after the money problem is solved. Mike was the first person that I thought of, so this can be a lot of fun. And thanks for joining us, brother.

Intro:

Welcome to the Military Millionaire podcast where we teach service members, veterans and their families how to build wealth through personal finance, entrepreneurship, and real estate investing.

I'm your host, David Pere. And together with my co host, Alex Felice. We're here to be your No BS Guides along the most important mission, you'll ever embark on your finances.

Sponsor:

Hey, guys, if you're looking to take your investing, business, life, or just yourself to the next level, then I have something for you. The War Room Real Estate Military Mastermind group is a mastermind group that meets weekly in small groups of five to six people to help you hold yourself accountable and really experience that growth. But we also have a monthly guest speaker that we bring in. And we've had guest speakers that talk about mindfulness, taxes, or bringing in somebody to talk about marketing. We bring in very specific topics that will adhere to very broad any kind of real estate investing, or investing or entrepreneurship that you want to do, and will really help you out.

And we let you ask these speakers questions and get very personal with them. And then back to the small groups, weekly accountability for what you're trying to achieve. And just being surrounded by like minded people, and they say your network is your net worth. I know that's an overused phrase. But I recommend that you check it out.

So just shoot an email to wrmastermind@gmail.com. Once again, that's wrmastermind@gmail.com. And we'll send you some more information.

Mike:

Thanks, man! That was a great intro. I like that.

David:

That might be the only time that I've ever had someone say that, Alex, jumping into criticize.

Mike:

You went off script and you nailed it. Good job.

David:

Thank you.

Would you like to give? I mean, just a quick introduction to who Mike McCarthy is before we dig in?

Mike:

No, I mean, I think you nailed that. I mean, let's let's dig in.

David:

I like it sounds good.

Alex:

Mike, lots of people are trying to solve the money problem. I think that's very pressing in a lot of people's lives. And it's much harder to solve all the other problems in life, they're much more difficult.

But I think they're not talked about as much. And they're certainly more complex. But you've created a community around it. So can you expand on how to get messaging out for, for problems after money?

Mike:

Yeah, I mean, I think there are some problems that money solves no doubt, there are a lot of problems that money can't solve. So I think we have to consider the understanding of that, that there are things that come before money whether we've solved that problem yet or not, like you can't sacrifice your health or your relationships on your way to making money.

I think though once you have made money, let's skip to the intent of your actual question. Once you have made money, you know, you open up the ability to, number one have more problems, two, good problems to have lots of tax problems. I wish you my friend, as they say and you know, I think that's the you know, the other thing you gain those you gain, like you said a community or in my case a team so you now have more complex things coming at you. There are also opportunities and if you're able to solve those, then you get to keep growing wealth and you get to keep staying in that phase of life.

05:00 - 10:00

Mike:

But what matters beyond that is as you repeat that cycle of finding the right team, finding the right opportunity, lining it up. And then if you're a serial entrepreneur, and you can rinse and repeat and do this over and over again, or even an investor of some sort, and you've got your model. That's great. But you've got to look at how much is enough. So there's a problem that, you know, a lot of people, you know, hopefully we'll have to address in their lifetimes, but not a lot are in that place where how much is enough is not the issue. It's that they don't have enough and, and they want to work towards that. So you have to figure out though, when you start learning how to attract wealth, to understand when enough is enough, and then also, how do you make sure you don't burn your relationships, once you have wealth and have your family hate you or not want to spend time with you, or, worse yet, like not be able to carry forward a large legacy that you've developed or built. And a lot of entrepreneurs do it for the family, and they spend a lot of time away from the family and they turn around and find out that their heirs are ill equipped to handle the legacy that they've built.

So why did they build it so big, because in the end, they can't take it with them, was it for their family, if it's what ended up destroying their family, then they've got some big problems. And, you know, we just released a playbook that goes along with our miracle morning for parents and families book and it's got eight lessons in it that really are exercises that you take home, they're action based, you do them with the family and they help you to set goals structure, your values, come up with routines and and traditions that help the family thrive, and you start to collaborate.

And what that does is not only make your family more effective, in many different ways, whatever you define effectiveness for your family, but it truly helps the children in that family to see what leadership really looks like it's not something that Mom or Dad is doing outside of the house to go make ends meet that the kids don't get to see ever. So you bring that leadership home and you really build a legacy with the intangible things that you pass along, which are your family mission, your family values, you know, what type of character traits and things you define as successful and part of being a part of that family?

So that's my answer on like, the big question of, you know, what do we have to protect, and what's really important, you know, from my perspective, that's what I'm focused on making sure that my kids aren't a shirt sleeves in two to three generations, as they say, and actually, I read in a book recently, you know, there's this, there's an exact saying, in every culture for that same, same phenomenon of, you know, the second or third generation typically squander or are, aren't able to handle the capacity of legacies that are passed down to them, they, it ruins them in some way. So that's what you have to watch for when it comes to money, how much is enough? What's more important, it's your health, it's your time spent creating relationships, it's your time spent in community, whether that's your family, or a mastermind group or at church or in the military, wherever you might do community best, or where you find your people.

David:

Yeah, it's interesting, when you, you know, you hear the stories, right of like, the number of people who they build this empire, or that they're chasing this goal to get to enough. And in the process, their health suffers, the relationship suffers, their family suffers, their hobbies suffer there. It's like they get there, and then they're like, Oh, crap, now I gotta like, you know, I just heard on a podcast, Alex Hermoza. He said, When I was 20, I wanted to be a millionaire. And when I was a millionaire, I wanted to be, and, and it's kind of the same idea that like, Okay, well, what did you sacrifice to get here? Like, there's a way to do it. And it's, you know, it's interesting, because I almost wonder, as you're saying that about the two to three generations, if it's like a trauma that like the kid who got neglected, that creates a trauma that subconsciously sabotages their financial well being? Because their dad wasn't around or mom wasn’t around or whatever.

Mike:

Absolutely!

You're on itn man. There's no question that's what's happening. Yeah.

I didn't mean to cut you off. I was just excited by what you're saying. Because you're onto something with that for sure.

I mean, that's what it is. It's the trauma of, you know, not having the people around you that care about you. And that can come in the form of parents and it can come in the forum to have just who we surround ourselves with. And who are we who do we get there can be a positive impact to the peer pressure as well that we can harness which is part of why Go Abundance as a peer to peer mastermind group for successful entrepreneurs works so well is because people all are hungry for that. And we actually are a tribe for men and women as well. So we've got the women's tribe, too. I just wanted to throw that out there for all the ladies.

10:00 - 15:00

David:

Yeah, my bad. I always forget that part.

Alex:

Yeah, I think about this holistic approach to life, sort of, like, what people do, or I see it often is, they try to compartmentalize their life. And they're like, Well, I'm making money in business. And, but they're like, personal relationships, or their, you know, other things in their life are falling apart. And I always think of the analogy of like, trying to, like, put a fire into a closet. And I'm like, Dude, that thing's gonna get out. That's not going to stay in stores, just because you put the door closed in the closet like you can't. You have to, you have to sort of think of these more, like you said, family community, these things that are outside of justice, very narrow scope of making money, otherwise, you end up making the money hurts the other things in a net, maybe not net total loss or total worse, but it's not as it's a big sacrifice and unnecessary sacrifice, I think.

Mike:

Yeah, for sure, Alex.

I think you're right, I think we try to focus on where we're succeeding and not look at the areas that are falling apart. And there are seasons for that too where I can't tell you that I haven't at times while I was building my businesses early on, that I didn't let my health go a little too far, you know, where I wasn't exercising, and I did gain a bunch of weight. And, you know, I think the the idea here is that you catch it and you find a new habit you can build into your life that still keeps you healthy, still keeps you spending time with your family, or keeps you doing whatever the thing is you need to do that you probably think you don't have time for but the reality is, it just boils down to time blocking whatever that thing is, and doing the math on it. And then all of a sudden, you're like, Alright, I have a half hour here an hour here, I can, you know, make it work. You know, I've and you guys know this better than anything, if you're a dual career, which, you know, many in the military are, you know, you've you've got to learn how to balance that type of stuff.

And, you know, I saw that firsthand, you know, my main executive in my real estate business, John, I mean, he was a state trooper, and had a real estate team. And you know, you guys should get him on. He's, he's awesome. He wrote a book called Leaving Six Figures. And, you know, he left his pension a couple years before it was up to come and work full time real estate, but he'd already built an empire in real estate, by the time he did that.

So you've got to learn, you tend to focus on those areas where you do well. And, you know, the good thing about John and the people that I admire most is that they're able to keep their family life as the priority still, while they're doing all that. John's not letting his health go. He's in fit, awesome shape, I am as well. And then you know, we've both focused on our families, and so does our whole team.

You know, there's other great leaders that are on our team and it trickles down to them. It's an ethos that you take care of yourself, you take care of your family, and we take care of each other in each other's families. And then after that, you know, then you get the work done.

You know, we have high goals, it's not like we're, we're slacking on the things that we're doing either, but you gotta balance both life's really a balance. So there's a season for getting your hustle on and maybe letting some things go for a moment, because you really need to get something set up. But you gotta come back to your ground and keep some things going. And you can't just disconnect from family especially.

David:

Yeah, I think that's one of the things I love most about Go Abundance.

You know, when I joined, I thought it was the, you know, it was the wealth building aspect and the network and all of that. And I mean, that's definitely there. You know, when I first joined Nigel lives and in the same town, I do, he and I went to lunch. And within two weeks of that lunch, the two connections that he made for me made 10 times what the cost of Go Abundance is, you know, so that part is there. But the part that's been game changer for me was the vulnerabilities at Park City, like some of the conversations that we had, you know, the talking to people about purpose and contribution and health and all of the other aspects and pillars of abundance that that I, I don't want to say I had neglected I mean my health is definitely not where it should be. But I don't know that they were completely neglected but they didn't keep pace with the wealth building and it's been huge to have people call me out on that. And so aren't working that way. So it's been good.

15:00 - 20:00

Alex:

Yeah, watching David from the outside, actually, Dave and I are pretty close. We talk regularly, and we've been friends for a long time, and watching him join Go Abundance from the outside, and then watching the way that he has invested in his family over the last six months. Tremendous, tremendous, tremendous difference. And it's very exciting for me to see, I don't know if he notices it as much, he does it. And then I see the difference in him, like kind of after the fact so the conversations that we have are much different and much healthier.

So to me just from the outside looking in, I'm like, okay, that's a much more valuable investment time because David's great at business, he's gonna be fine. And it's good to see like you said, it's easy to lean into the things you're good at and sort of like compartmentalize the things you're bad at. But you know, the debt always comes due for the things that you put off and the health, family, these things are just not worth neglecting. So it's really interesting to see what you're saying, but then I see the evidence in him.

Mike:

Oh, that's awesome, man.

Great, great job and wait for a way to call out your friend or call up your friend and partner here, that's great.

David:

Yeah, I'm gonna have to go read ego as the enemy again, I appreciate that.

Alex:

Well, I spend the vast majority of my time dumping on David so you know, a couple of unpredictable compliments here and there.

Mike:

As good friends need to.

David:

So okay, so you've obviously achieved financial freedom and now you're focusing more on the legacy and the handbook and giving back with your family.

You know, what are some other ways that the legacy and contribution has kind of manifested or what are some other struggles that you're like personally trying to work on right now? Some focus points.

Mike:

Yeah. Well, you know, one other thing that I've done that's pretty interesting that I'd love to just share because it's just, it's a cool story. And also, you know, we hope to continue to give back and you know, it's just a cool thing with there's a guy named Nick Santana so you may have heard of him and he's a part of Go Abundance as well and has been a speaker for us many times, but he was born with Heart Syndrome. And so he only has one arm, no legs and missing an arm. And then he has one arm with one finger on it the arm and he's able to drive and he's a motivational speaker and we had him come speak to some Keller Williams gigs and then Go Abundance and the family division go abundance, his family abundance, we had him come for all of those and we got to thinking about our winter go abundance mastermind event and how cool it is that we all get to go ski and snowboard and then, you know, hang out afterwards. So I was talking to him and not even thinking, I'm like, You're gonna love it. We go skiing and snowboarding and I'm like, Oh, wait, do you do you ski Do you snowboard, and he's like, I don't really like to ski. And you know, I've tried it and didn't really like it. You know, I wish I could snowboard though because I'm a skateboarder. I'd love that.

And so we actually had the son of one of my team members, Michelle McBride, her son, Jacob McBride got on the phone and cold called all summer long snowboard companies. So we found a company that would build this snowboard for Nick, and we had an idea of like, maybe he could be strapped into the snowboard with a racing harness and just ride right on the snowboard. And we found a company to build it and the person they had built that for us, we became such good friends with we actually started a nonprofit with Jacob called Calder, Michelle, who works with me and her husband, Jocelyn McBride. And we're now doing a couple builds a year of this device for people that don't have legs, it works best for somebody who's just above the knee amputee double.

And so it's a select market, but there's enough people out there that fit that model. And so it's theprojectroar.org is the name of the charity, and I'm on the board and one of the co founders and, you know, it's just something that we're letting Danny the snowboard maker and Jacob who just graduated high school kind of run with and they're all excited about, you know, the opportunities and the nonprofit and, you know, I think they're going to do a great job with it giving back in that way.

20:00 - 25:00

Mike:

And I think you know, it's sometimes we think about service and we think about it being servitude like I got to go do manual labor and pick up trash on the highway or, you know, it's got I have to suffer if it's really giving back I think the best way to look at contribution and you know, above all else, I think, health, wealth, relationships, legacy, everything we've talked about, like, I could argue that maybe giving back is quite possibly one of the most important things. I mean, you have to secure your own oxygen mask, and you've got to have enough energy to give. But as soon as you do, I think if you can be generous, above all else, I think that is something that truly serves.

And the way to be generous is to be somebody who maybe isn't feeling obligated to do something, but they're really called to it, maybe it's a passion of yours.

So in this scenario, we're able to take, you know, my passion for snowboarding and Danny's passion for building snowboards and, and building things and Jacobs passion for nonprofit and giving back and also prosthetics and wanting to go to school to learn how to surf, and that whole industry, you combine all of that and all of a sudden, you've got something that's really gonna make a difference for the people that have done this build.

And so far, Nick is a snowboarder that can shred. I mean, this guy can go snowboarding now. And this is a new freedom that we unleashed.

So Nick is also you know, anytime he gives a speech or does anything, business wise, he says that he donates, you know, 5% of that to project roar, and he's behind what we're doing. And we just did another build for Konya assessor who's a young lady who got out there. And this is not easy to learn, you know, it's something that there's no instructors, for all these people that are adaptive instructors, they don't know what to tell them, they've never written this thing before, they just kind of guess. And everybody's just like, I don't know, try this, try that. But it's a fun and creative thing. But it's also serving and it's in alignment with my passion. So that's really cool.

And then to add in the piece of family and legacy my kids get to watch, not me, just sit back and make money or do real estate deals or whatever, they get to see that I'm putting my time and energy into serving, and they get to be a part of that service and go skiing with our athletes and get to see this all unfold. So you know, in the vein of contribution, I mean, that's something I'm really proud of. And I hope that that charity takes off and serves a lot of people and does a lot of good. And one of the areas that we want to serve as wounded veterans, because we know that action sports and the community that surrounds it is something that could really lift up some of our wounded heroes and help them to realize that they can still do hard shit, and they can still serve a great purpose. So you know, we love that. And we see that as a natural evolution.

Right now we're getting people that already skateboard, and we know they can do it, the real tests gonna be when we get someone out there. And I think someone who has a military mindset, it's the type of person that can still have the grit to get that to learn something like that out there.

Alex:

We love that. That's great.

I think, you know, talking about being charitable, once you have that oxygen mask on, it's something that, you know, I started to do some more charity this year, I've been watching a lot of other people do, it's very, it's very inspirational. And as somebody without kids, it's something I want to start doing a lot more of, definitely don't feel like I do enough. So it's good. It's very good to hear somebody explain how fulfilling and rewarding it is. Because I want to, you know, be a valuable citizen.

David:

It's interesting.

There's this perception, and I'll actually call it a misperception that wealthy people are greedy, don't get me wrong, there are bad apples out there, I'm sure. It's been my personal experience that the more I get around people who are, you know, well off, or whatever, who have had enough. Like, they have almost always been the most generous group of people that I interact with.

And from little things, two big things. I mean, there's just, one of my favorite examples actually came out of Park City. So one of the things when I was like, these are the kinds of people that like, this is the moment that I realized, like, this is the kind of people I want to be around like really, was we did broomball which for those of you who don't know is ice hockey, but with tennis shoes.

Yeah, it's amazing. Bunch of dudes hitting each other on the ice and sliding all over the place and busting their ass. It's great.

But right before we started, Pat Heibon was like, hey, what if we all throw $100 down on the game, which was, you know, of course, that meant that we lost immediately because he was on our team. So that's just the way things work.

25:00 - 30:00

So everybody threw $100 down. And at the end, the winning team was, you know, takes the pot. Cool. Well, we had two guys who worked at the ice rink and they were the referees or the umpires, or whatever you call them. And they facilitated everything. And they were awesome. And at the end of the time we spent there, we all handed in our money and paid and whatever, and the winning team didn't even think about it. They also contributed $100, and then handed all the money to the referees and said, Thanks for your time. And like that little gesture, I was like, that's so cool. Like, not only did they win, and not take the money, but they also left their own contributions in there, just to say thank you. And like that, like those kinds of things. So it's this interesting perspective, the oxygen mask thing, because a lot of people think like, it's being greedy, but it's like, how can you how can you truly give, if you don't have the resources to either donate financially, or be able to take time off to give, because if you're, you know, if you're working 60 hours a week, trying to make ends meet, you're not gonna be able to volunteer locally or so it opens a lot of doors.

Mike:

It's definitely challenging, no doubt, when you're in that situation where you don't, you're not necessarily in an abundant space, let's call it that. And I think the reason I give it that name is so people can understand that if they truly want to attract wealth, they have to try to step outside of that mindset, even though they might be going through it. And it's super tough to not know where maybe you can pay all your bills in a given month, and you know, maybe you're struggling to make ends meet. And I think that what you can do though is adopt that idea of generosity, like Are you are you willing to help in any way you can, it's might be hold a door for somebody it might be, you know, there are there are those ways that you can live with a generous spirit and you don't necessarily have to give up the time or energy and I think if you can do that, and then you start to get a little bit ahead in different ways because I think that tends to happen. You know, it's not. I don't think it's the law of attraction, I think it's how the world works. It's I think that people that are giving a lot they they reap what they sow and that tends to come back to them and you know, unfortunately that energy works both in a light way and a dark way people can feed the beast and do it for the wrong reasons but they're taking action they're making something happened you know, if you do it for the light reasons and the reasons of serving and for good, I think you get an extra wind in your sail and you catch a lucky break here or there and I think things have start to happen for you. And they they always have been happening for you by the way even the most challenging things we've ever been for been through and you know, people have gone through unspeakable things and yet they can find that there's a strength that's developed in them that's to be respected and appreciated and that if they can let go the shame or guilt that comes along with that or the pain then they've got a strength that is probably unbeatable, you know that they can really take into the world and use that strength to build something amazing whether that's a family or business, wealth what you know, whatever it might be legacy so big stuff.

David:

I can't tell if he's on the way to unmute himself or not. So it sounds kind of like almost like a time for me to plug a Viktor Frankl Man's Search for meaning. Have it read there, like you're talking about, you know, having the right mentality when you're in tough situations. That's immediately what popped up. And obviously not the exact same situation but man, there's a lot of gut checks in that book.

So as we're talking through legacy and contribution and everything. You know, how did you? Here's an interesting one, I guess, how did you when you first kind of got to this point? How did you figure out where you wanted that energy or time to go?

So one of the things that I've struggled with is, you know, I'm kind of at a point where like, my, my charitable contributions are a lot of times like, oh, I have a friend who's got this thing and I want to help them with the thing. And so you know, donate here or do a foundation somebody started or, but there was a charity that I was donating to for a while. And, you know, they just weren't, they weren't operating the way that, you know, I had thought they were operating. So I ended up kind of pulling ties. And I've kind of struggled with wrestling with like, Okay, well, now where do I like trying to find? So I've been thinking about maybe just finding some local endeavors to support but I don't know, I don't know if that's just a me struggle that like trying to find the right niche to give back to other than, you know, coaching sports here and there and, and maybe some Cub Scouts stuff but curious if that's a common thought or if you've run into that issue before? Or if so, if you have any, any thoughts?

30:00 - 35:00

Mike:

Well, I mean, in anything you do, whether it's investing or to nonprofit, I mean, if you're putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak, and you're supporting something with your dollars, like, I think you have to have a certain expectation of, you know, how that's handled, and, you know, it has to line up with your values. And I think, you know, I think there's a wide range of values on our planet, that's a kind of way of putting it, you know, and I think that when you find people that are aligned in with your values, then magic can happen. And I think that, when you are trying to align with people and there's no value alignment, then it's just a disaster, you know, you've got to focus on the values. And then you've got to get really good at finding that people who not only are on the same mission and have an exciting idea, because those are easy to come by everybody's got an exciting idea when you ask enough people and go through enough pitches, but what you have to do is find the people that are your kind of people and make sure that you start off there, because life's too short to be doing with business with people you don't really love anyways, it's hard to love people who don't share a lot of, you know, a couple of your key values. So you've got to learn how to do that.

And, you know, that could be one of the greatest skills that you can master in life, if you want to go far, because that's going to be your ability to find a great partner, your ability to find a great career, your ability to fight great business partners, your ability to navigate the relationships you have with your children with your own parents, you know, you've got to go through life with other people. So I think it's good to understand how you set boundaries, so that you don't have to align with the people that don't share your values. And sometimes it's families. So that's a delicate boundary of setting that and maybe you just don't the boundaries, you don't let them trigger you or you don't let them get you riled up. Maybe that's it, and you just take what they say with a grain of salt or, you know, maybe it's just a boundary of what you're willing to accept or how you show up to invitations that are offered to you, because it's great to be invited. But if you say yes to everything, then you know, what does that say about what you value, you don't you don't value your time, and maybe you're not clear on what you do value because you're saying yes to everything. And I think we've got to figure that out.

So, you know, it's discernment, we get good at making these choices, the more we make them. And so, you know, above all else, you have to make decisions. Keep taking action, because I think that's the thing is my, you know, my consistent action will be your imperfect plan every day of the week. There's no question.

I've watched so many people that you think, man, I don't know if this guy even has what it takes to do this. You're like, there you know, in many ways I probably have come across unremarkable people when they first meet you and you're unassuming and you're humble. Maybe you don't carry the same type of swagger that someone else might that they think is what success looks like, and you surprise those people but that's fun. I like that, I like being underestimated. And then coming through in a big way you know, that's better than people having huge expectations of you and then they're let down when they see your actual results. I'll take the ladder any day of the week, but it draws the conclusion that we have to have compassion.

So David in your analysis it's you just have compassion that they were doing the best they could do their values didn't align it is what it is who are we to judge how they came around what they valued. I didn't grow up in their shoes or where they're from or have the same parents is is them and a lot of that it really plays a role in who you become in a way that I don't know that we're able to admit and for you then it's it's the idea of now how do you find the people that If you could help serve or help, you know, do things with and I think that's you just have an open heart and open eyes and you go into the world and when the right thing opens up for you, you'll know it's the right thing. And other than that, you just have to be open, and then it'll show up hopefully.

35:00 - 40:00

Alex:

I think finding your right people is such a, it's not a super easy task to do. And it's really easy to get complacent with people that you may already know, and just try to make them the right people for you. And make them you know, expect their hope, you know, spend a lifetime hoping they're going to change. But I think finding the right people makes life so much easier and more pleasant and more productive. And thank goodness for the internet, because it's never been easier to do such a thing. I can only imagine, say 50 or 100 years ago, you're like, Oh, well, I have the people that are in my, you know, social circle, and that's gonna be hard to change. And now you have access to 7.7 billion people. So finding the right, you know, 150 for you is sort of not only possible, but not that hard.

Mike:

Yeah, certainly easier than it's ever been right to look up a group or find people with similar hobbies, or you know, there's a Facebook group or a meet up for anything you could dream of. And then, yeah, it's cool.

There's mastermind groups, there's communities non you know, all of these things you can be a part of, it's almost overwhelming to some degree, you gotta be careful again, to pick and choose and digest the places you are and go deep with them and build the relationships you can and then move on, right?

Alex:

Yeah, if you say yes to everything, it's like, you're not saying, it's the thing you say no to that, sort of make you more who you are, like, anybody can say yes to everything, that's when you're like, No, that's, I know, what I don't want, is really when you start to feel like hone in on what you're like who you are as an individual. And then and also like, what you're, then you start to be picky about who you'll accept. And that solidifies. You know, your people finding your community.

Mike:

Yeah, I heard somebody say in a training I was in recently, and we need to know what we stand for. But more importantly, and in addition, as we've got to know what we stand against, and like, that can be a good way of really getting to the heart of like, because what you're willing to stand for, to me, is getting to the core of your values. But what am I going to stand against gets into it in a way that's a different kind of energy. You know, it's like, alright, this is serious, like, you know, it's how we're wired to seek, I think more clearly what's wrong and what's broken than we are, what's, what's right, and where the, where the things are, are good to go, which is, you know, our human nature to search for the problem and fix it. But if everything looks like a nail to a hammer, it's gonna start hammering things that aren't nails.

David:

It's interesting. And I've seen this kind of repeat, I guess, for one, I appreciate you mentioning the values thing, the culture with hiring is, is huge. So I'll reevaluate some of that on how I'm evaluating those opportunities as well. But it's interesting, this like recurring theme that I've noticed over the last few years where, you know, as humans, obviously, we want to do something, if we're trying to change, we want to do this, or we want to do that, or we want to you know, it's almost, in almost every way, the, the don'ts are usually more powerful. So like, the thing that changed my scheduling the most this year was I created a not to do list, and said, I'm not going to work out for this time, I'm not gonna work on this day, I'm going to, I'm not going to do this, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not going to do this, you know, whatever. And I handed it to my assistant like, here's my don'ts. Don't do it, you know, block those. And that's freed up more time than any like me setting this and then of this that I could do, in almost like, every vein, like where you just mentioned, or, like health, you can eat all the broccoli in the world. But if you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, you know, that's gonna outweigh the broccoli. So maybe if you just don't do that one stupid thing, then even if you don't eat broccoli, you're gonna be in better shape, or sugar or, you know, it's interesting, because it seems so counterintuitive that like just setting things that are like, Hey, I'm gonna do less in this one specific area will actually move the needle forward farther in a lot of ways then all the things you are trying to spend energy.

Mike:

Yeah, that's powerful.

Alex:

Yeah, the Greeks called it via negativa. And it's like to take away, to live better through taking away and yeah, it's that idea where like, so much of our things that were that our lives are degrading is because of things that we're adding and if you just stop the Be self destructive behavior, your life will get a lot better.

40:00 - 43:00

David:

That's awesome.

Mike:

Amen to that! That's the truth.

David:

Well Mike I know, I want to be respectful of your time and make sure we get you out of here on time. I always like to ask if there is a book or resource or, you know, any kind of resource, I guess, really that has made a big impact on your life that you'd like to recommend to people?

Mike:

Yeah, wow.

I mean, a couple of things I would mention is, you know, we've got programs within Go Abundance, no matter where you're at, on your wealth building journey. So obviously, we're a high net worth group. But we also have several programs that are for anyone, at any part of their journey. So you can check out goabundance.com. For more information there, you know, we didn't get into it a whole lot. But there's a super awesome book, easy read Tribe of Millionaires, you can pick up a free copy, I think you just pay shipping at tribeofmillionaires.com. And there's actually like some resources on there that you can use to start setting goals, we've got a one sheet that is like a baseball card snapshot of your life, your goals, your health, your wealth, you're giving all on one sheet to sort of track and review. It's a very helpful resource.

And then the other thing I would say is, check out miraclemorning.com/pfplaybook, which stands for parents and families playbook. So miraclemorning.com/pfplaybook. And if you go there, you can download a couple of free exercises to do at home with your family. And if you like it, you know you can grab the playbook on Kindle or on Amazon, you can get a paperback copy sent to you. It's a nice eight and a half by 11. Has worksheets in it. And then a resource where you can download more worksheets and just great exercises to do at home with the family.

And if you have a group or an audience you'd like me to speak to about families and about our mission to help bring leadership into the home and build stronger legacies. I'd love to talk with anyone who's got families or people they want to impact at a deep level, I find that you know talking about kids and legacy and the things that really hit the heart are important and a great way to build culture. So if anybody's interested in that, you can email me at MikeMcCarthy@meme.com to inquire about booking.

So yeah, thanks for letting me share with you guys today. Great conversation and love what you all are up to.

David:

Thank you so much for joining us today, brother. This is always a pleasure.

Mike:

Yeah, good times. Thanks.

End:

Thank you for listening to another episode about my journey From Military to Millionaire. If you liked it, be sure to visit frommilitarytomillionaire.com/podcast to subscribe to future podcasts. While you're there. We'd love for you to rate the show. Give us a review on iTunes. Now get out there and take action.