Episode 162 | Steve Jimenez | Military Millionaire

00:00 - 05:00

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.

David:

What's up military millionaires! I'm your host, Dave Pere. I'm here with the one and only Alex Felice as always, but today we have my friend Steve Jimenez on the show. And Steve is a Marine Corps veteran recently awarded indoctrinated, introduced, inducted. There's the word into the Texas Hall of Fame for entrepreneurs.

He runs an awesome, awesome organization, a nonprofit hives for heroes, where we're gonna dig into what it does, but essentially it keeps vets from struggles with bees, which is really cool. And, well, Steve and I met at the governor's retreat in Park City three weeks ago. But we've been talking before because obviously, as soon as we join your buddies, I was like, Oh, you're a Marine. I'm a Marine, let's talk. And while we were there, I was really kind of overwhelmed by how passionate Steve was about this project. And it was just super cool. And so I was like, Yep, we're getting you on the podcast, because it's not real estate. It's different. It's cool. And you're not going to come on the show and just, like, pitch a bunch of crap, you're just going to talk and it's going to be awesome, and people are going to love it. And here we are.

Steve:

Yep! Which we gonna have a great time.

David:

I'm sure there's probably more to that intro than the fact that you're an entrepreneur and you sell honey but.

Steve:

Most importantly, I'm a freaking dad of three amazing kids.

David:

Oh, your service. Just got…

Alex:

Dude, you're walking away from the Wi Fi.

David:

Your service is wacky wacky.

Steve:

I was going to the bees, I was going to show you the bees. But then WiFi did not really want that to happen though.

David:

Oh, you show us honey, next time.

Steve:

Yeah!

Just got into the CBD side here in the Texas area. And I was sharing with you that one of my buddies who's a Navy corpsman was addicted to opioids. And any corpsman knows that it's readily accessible. And so he got off of that with CBD. And it basically saved his life. So now we have CBD honey at 1000 milligrams for four ounces, which is unheard of. I'm really excited about that because it actually serves the community in which we serve. As you know I'm very passionate about saving bees and saving vets.

David:

Yeah, so give us well I guess the five minute overview of Steve and your life and how did you get into so I know highs for hunting isn't your isn't your first venture to my remembrance so give us like the the quick backstory on what got you to where you are?

Steve:

Yeah, for sure.

So I grew up here in Houston, Texas, very like an overachieving type, played three sports, sang in choir all state, all sorts of stuff, right? I'm the guy that would sing the national anthem and then put on my mask and be the catcher right? That was kind of a cool experience.

Went to Texas A&M, graduated from there in 2006. So definitely a proud Aggie here in you know, college station is kind of God's country to us, right. And then what's the Marine Corps, so I had a good experience in the Marine Corps overall, deployed to the OEF course, came back, and my transition was not great. So very, very high achiever professionally, worked with Eaton Halliburton, did some amazing projects, met amazing people, and kind of elevated my level of professionalism, but my personal life was terrible.

So coming back was, you know, the loss of purpose. The distance in my relationship in my marriage, ended up transitioning into really a lot of drinking, a lot of anger, a lot of not really talking to anybody or being vulnerable. And it ended up in a divorce, right, so ended up getting divorced and and left Halliburton started a consulting company that we did very well and then started investing in single family homes and real estate here in the Houston area. And then again, hit another point because I wasn't really working on myself and hit a point where we closed down the company, diluted everything and hit another really, really hard spot until one of my friends invited me to mess with some bees, and it literally changed my life.

05:00 - 10:00

Alex:

He invited you to do what? To go mess with some bees?

Steve:

Yeah.

Like, hey, you should probably come out to this event. And I was like, bees, like, why would I ever like to go play with bees? Like, that's just ridiculous. And anyway, she invited me and I opened up these amazing creatures, you know, and just had the time of my life to be honest. And what really occurred was the adrenaline that I'd been seeking from, you know, being deployed, or, you know, I'm sure people can relate whether it's combat or high training. There's like this anxiety, but adrenaline that you're always kind of looking for when you get back. And I did it specifically like motorcycles, right? I would drive motorcycles really fast, really dangerous, really stupid. And when she had invited me to this, you know, you kind of get your gear. You're learning from somebody that knows what they're doing. So it's like a mentor mentee type environment. And then you're like seeing success.

So I equate it to like trusting yourself, your gear and your buddies in a high anxiety, high adrenaline activity, following an amazing process that was already predefined, and then buttoning that up for success and feeling that confidence again. And that's what changed my life.

Alex:

Yeah, what about the nature aspect? So a lot of the things that you said earlier really resonate with people right now. You know, they have maybe high entrepreneurial lives, they have high competency in life, but they have poor, you know, meaning in their relationships, all the crap, and then they, you know, they compensate with drugs and alcohol. Yeah, and a lot of that seems to be a lack of engaging with nature.

Steve:

That's a great observation.

One, I think it was kind of a question and observation, and I think it's, it's brilliant, right? So getting out into nature is getting out of yourself. You're seeing the beauty, that is what you know, whatever your beliefs are, whether it's higher power, God, whatever that looks like to you, Mother Nature, but it's bigger than yourself. So you're able to literally get out of yourself, be active and get off of the couch, you know, drinking a handle a day, a vodka, right? It's super, super important.

And as you start doing that, you start questioning, or at least I started questioning, why do these little things work so well? Like how do these little creatures have such an amazing impact on myself, you know, physiologically? How do they have such an impact on the environment? How do they actually work? And I started questioning these things. And it actually turned into how the organization has grown so quickly, because we grow like bees. And, you know, in two years, we've grown to about 2200 in the United States, 250 in Australia.

Alex:

2200 what?

Steve:

2200 veterans and mentors in the United States.

So we also have 250 veterans and first responders in Australia. And it just continues to grow. I was telling Dave that earlier that we closed nine refineries, Guggenheimer, the city of Laporte and the city of Deer Park yesterday for contracts to do removals and rescues have bees in those local areas. Now that ends up turning into jobs for veterans.

The things that we do are kind of weird. Weird in the sense that they traditionally are not done. And we've just continued to like, like, kind of lean into what nature does for the veteran. And then how that veteran can become more self- sufficient, more empowered, more confident through BGP.

Alex:

Yeah, I love all that.

The other thing you mentioned, was needing the adrenaline. This is a known necessity for young males, some older males too, literally countries go to war, to get rid of the stir crazy that they have within the populace.

Peace is peace and it can be violent after a while, so it's not good for humanity. So it's really interesting how you've been able to combine all these things, and use it in a very productive way. I love that.

Is it 506 C? It's a terrible decision?

Steve:

Yeah, 501C3.

You do partnerships with pretty much anybody. Whether it's a corporation, like Cisco Systems, Microsoft, FMC is one of our major, it just really turns into a family, when you're partnering for the right reasons and you're doing things in a really good way, like the return on investment is life. And it's fantastic because like the ERG’s, in the organizations in which we go to, which is an Employee Resource Group, they typically have veteran employee resource groups. About 90% of the fortune 500 companies have ERGs, one of which can be a veteran group.

10:00 - 15:00

Steve:

And so we go in, and we'll provide not only apiary management, but we'll put bees on their corporate properties, it’s fantastic. And then start doing events for them like honey bottling events, or box building events, or education pieces. And it really brings the companies closer together, they have activities that are super cool, that are a little bit unique. And we can span the entire United States.

So you're dealing with the same organization, and the same culture, and not just dealing with, you know, one offs, rescues and removals also, and the craziest thing about and y'all love this about real estate, is that it becomes a tax write off, right, so now you're over here either getting agriculture exemption for properties, or you're literally just writing it off on taxes as your charitable donation while still serving your community and allowing the bees to serve and pollinate and grow in those local areas, bettering your community every day.

It's amazing.

David:

Well, and you're providing jobs to veterans.

Steve:

Exactly.

David:

And, like the mental health aspect, right, because it gives them something to deal with every day.

Steve:

It's not just jobs to veterans, it looks like it. But what it really is, is purpose to veterans, relationships in their areas that are healthy relationships, a low stress job, right, that you're out in nature, Alex, as you were talking about, you're out in nature, you're providing a service to others, which means you're giving back to your community. And so our goal is to have 100 veterans hired by the end of the year. And these are stretch goals, right? What is that big, hairy, audacious goal, right?

So, you know, we want to be in that area, we're 100 veterans to per state, you know, is like, full time doing this and loving their life, they're becoming healthier, you know, brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers, because they're doing something that is low stress provides an actual value into the community, and they're getting compensated for it.

Alex:

Dude, this hits on so many of the things that I've been not to make it about me, but I've been talking about so many of these things recently, where I find entrepreneurship to be so pigeon holed, into, you know, money as success, and they leave out purpose and meaning. And they leave out all these, like, they don't address a lot of cultural deficiencies that we have. One that you know, you're touching on a lot of them. So, I don't know, it's making me really want to join abundance.

David:

This was actually, we're not even recording, this is just a pitch. This is an intervention.

Steve:

This is great. And prior to that, this is why I felt in alignment with it. Because prior to that, we did five pillars, we didn't call them pillars, we called them just five areas. But if spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, and oh gosh, physical, if the Fed didn't say physical, sorry, physical, spiritual, financial, and mental. So those were the five areas in which we focus, and I would have veterans live with me in my home, actually in the garage apartment. And they were either jobless or homeless, and we would get them back on their feet. But we should focus on those five areas, you have to be balanced, right? You can make all the money in the world, but be a miserable human being, right, just just complete garbage. And we don't want that from productive members of society. And those were the things that I struggled with, which is why we can go and attack them in a healthy way. And make things better on a continuous level.

When you've experienced as much crap, or trauma or whatever, like, I think it was General Madison who said you should be a better father, a better husband, a better human being from the traumatic experiences in which you've had and that's contrary to cultural belief. It's usually oh my gosh, you've gone through a lot. Yes, you can act that way. And it should be the opposite. And we hold each other accountable in being healthy, productive human beings and good brothers and sisters to each other.

Alex:

Yeah, well, we call each other in this country.

Yeah, like everybody carries around a diagnosis like it's an excuse rather than like you said something to be able to use to help somebody else.

Steve:

I've never heard that before diagnosis as an excuse. I like that. I'll probably trademark that.

Alex:

No, I'm not going to do all the paperwork just pay me.

David:

You heard of here first guys, Alex now employed by every time, Steve says.

Alex:

I'm good at ripping off little whips like that.

15:00 - 20:00

Alex:

How can I donate to you? Can I do that?

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely. So we have hivesforheroes.com. All our information is on there, there's a Donate button there. You can look us up on Instagram and Facebook, if you want to see the credibility and the things that we're actually doing, like, go look at, like it, share it, you know, make it, make it fun. This is more of a movement than anything else. I mean, we're literally changing the way people see things.

We have created the largest network in the world of beekeepers in two years. Like this is a fundamental change in this environment. And it's amazing. There's so many smiles all over the place. But hivesforheroes.com has the links on there, you can go to Instagram, and it's on the link tree that's on there. And you can donate directly there. Or just, you know, PayPal, like at hivesforheroes, everything, our marketing and branding is on such a level that I am impressed and had nothing to do with it. You know me. I mean, we've had amazing talent come through. And you can do at hivesforheroes on literally every platform, and boom, it'll pop up.

Alex:

One of the things that I want to do this year, I raise capital for big deals, and I had this goal where every time I asked when I raise capital for deals, I'm gonna ask somebody for an additional 1%. And I'm going to give to that charity. So I figure this year we're going to raise like $10 million dollars. If I can raise an additional one or half a percent. That'll be a big win. Can I give a lot?

Steve:

Oh, absolutely. I would like that personally, though, to go, like email to email and checks because of the processing fees. Because obviously we know that we don't need to make PayPal more money.

Alex:

Yeah, no, no, I'm not gonna send you. I'm not gonna send you more than probably $500 to PayPal.

David:

Man, I'm thinking out loud as Alex is talking about this side of things. One of the things that Climb Capital is very heavy. In fact, probably their main thing going forward is RV parks, which is kind of cool because RV parks I would imagine could host a beehive.

Steve:

They could absolutely be.

David:

Like who knows?

Alex:

Well, you and Jeremy are going bro's now so we can have that conversation.

David:

Oh yeah, Jeremy Hans, you would recognize the face, we definitely had some libations in Park City.

Steve:

There were some moments there.

David:

We kept shutting down the place because they were like, we're gonna close at nine tonight. You guys go away.

Steve:

You're not.

David:

So now? Extra George Washington.

Yeah. Let's paint the picture.

Alex:

George Washington is a $1 bill.

David:

Oh my bad.

I assume that was the joke and I was like, All right.

Steve:

Well, yeah, here with this. You know, just sign this with your Herbie Hancock's. I love quoting old movies by the way, it's like my favorite thing, just like being so, because Chris Farley is one of my favorite, you know, Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey and all the stuff that I grew up with. And I still remember all their lines, right, like Ace Ventura. But anyway, totally off.

Alex:

You're really splitting our demo right now.

David:

All right, all right.

So I am Dave, the struggling veteran out of the Marine Corps. Paint the picture for me? What this looks like for me, how do I get involved? What am I? Like, as though I don't as I haven't already had this conversation with you, because I didn't know what I was doing and asked you all these questions. So like, what is rescuing involved? What am I? I don't know anything about bees.

Steve:

Yeah. And you're actually the perfect candidate.

So what we've done is our staff has made it super, super simple to be able to get involved. The first thing that you do is go to Hivesforheroes.com and you'd file, not file, gosh, you know, Secretary of State, but anyway, you know, on the application for either a newbie or mentor.

So in your case, you would go to the newbie one, you don't know anything about bees, all good. To go to the newbie one you fill out that application, it's going to go in our database. What we're going to do on the administrative side, is connect you with a mentor that's hopefully within 30 miles of you, right?

So within 30 miles of you, this gives you an opportunity to lower your cost of entry. So the barrier of entry is super low. We're gonna ask you to purchase your suit, and your gloves, but not before you talk to your mentor. They might have them available, they might not, you might want a different piece of gear depending on you.

You will meet with that mentor, and they will take you into their yard, which means you're not going to have the burden and responsibility of the lives of the bees on you for the first year. This is highly highly important because you are going to increase your proficiency super fast within that first year. But if you did it on your own, you'd probably kill them. Or they'd abscond, they'd go away.

20:00 - 25:00

Steve:

What that's going to do is actually bring a lot of doubt into you. You're going to say, as I did in my backyard when my first hive died, was Damn, I can't even do this, right? I was in a very depressed standpoint back then, right? So it's like, I can't even do this. Why? Why do I exist? Why am I even here? So we want to eliminate that we want to connect you to somebody that knows what they're doing. And then in that second year, when those hives split, you'll be gifted from your mentor, that split hive or nuke or swarm that you have earned, super important to understand that that you have earned that through the work in which you put in with that mentor. And you're also at the same time remembering creating a relationship that you didn't have before, which is fantastic in your community.

And then in that third year, we asked you to mentor, so be this be that person for somebody else, and mentor, the next one coming up. We're into our third year, and we have our first mentors that were newbies. It is so freakin cool. They're super excited. They're still involved. It's amazing.

So essentially, all you do is go to the website, sign up, we do everything else and you show up.

David:

Seems pretty simple. And I will say you and I talked last week because I ran it called yellow blue because I was riding along with a friend who was trying to tell me I should get a beehive. And he said the exact same thing. He killed his first hive and felt terrible so and from what I understand, having talked to a few people or heard a few people talk about this over the last couple of weeks. Killing your first hive is almost a rite of passage. If you do it on your own, it seems to be a very common thing.

Steve:

It's very common, and it's unfortunately extremely emotional. And if you're not in the right state to actually get that. I mean, think about getting, this is not by any means the exact metaphor, but thinking about getting a dog and then killing it. Like that's unheard of, right. Like that's ridiculous.

David:

Not to mention here in the podcast, but I've done that.

Steve:

Oh, gosh.

David:

Yeah, it's not good.

Steve:

Not good.

So that's like, that's the emotional experience in which you would do by yourself, probably in a state in which you are looking for relationships.

So we've set it up very smartly. The mentor network is the most amazing people that I've seen in my life. I went to Alabama and spoke at the state beekeeping conference, we had 38 unmatched newbies, guess what happened that freaking day 38 of them were matched. They stepped up and you know, we will be in the same thing happened Georgia State beekeeping here in Texas was fantastic, super supportive. We'll be in Nevada next week, on the 23rd for their state beekeeping conference, there will be guests there. And I'll speak in front of the keynote speaker, and just let people know that we exist, right? We're there to get more mentors into the organization. Because I'd rather have a mentor, wait for a newbie than a newbie, wait on a mentor, right? It just makes logical sense.

So we'll be in Nevada on the 23rd 24th. And then we'll be in. Let's see, March 5, is Nebraska, Nebraska, which is massively cool. This has turned in from an idea from Kevin who just was like, Hey, I'd like to do an event that turned into probably 20 or 30 sponsors and donors from all over the country that are big name brands. And then literal beekeeping celebrities like Bob Benny and Ian Stettler, and Cayman Reynolds and, like, amazing, amazing people that are like giving of their time and their talents and their heart to like, support the organization. And we're just so so grateful.

And then may 21, we'll be in San Diego for the first world bee Day in the United States, which I can't be more happy and thrilled to be there. So we just have events kind of all over the place. But we're so decentralized, that all that matters in our organization is really one hive, one newbie and one mentor. That's what we do well, everything else is overhead. Everything else is just trying to figure out how to do that really well.

David:

If you can't tell Steve is absolutely not passionate about this at all. You can't get them going and it's just like oh my gosh bees! I have myself fairly convinced I'm getting in the hive soon.

25:00 - 30:00

Alex:

To me it's very interesting.

Your passion obviously sells this but I think you know, I'm listening to you. It seems obvious and other people are gonna listen to this show and they're gonna, it's gonna seem obvious. But I really do think that you're not talk, you're talking about something that we don't talk about on this show very often. I'm the one of my socials who really talks about a lot, which is like purpose and meaning. And it's not, it's hard to put an ROI on that. And it's hard to put a value ROI on that, but the return right, the quality of life is actually way more than anything money could bother, could come near. It's far more valuable than money. But it's really hard, I think, to sell that, especially in a headline, or a quick pitch or a blog post or, you know, it's just I find it to be hard to sell that. And so I think people don't do it that much. But, you know, listening to you, it sounds obvious, but it's really, it doesn't happen that much. So I find it to be a very, I don't even know if I have a question so much. It's just a very interesting insight to, like I said, listen to Steve, you're like this is this is obviously something he's passionate about. And I and it, I'm getting hyped, and I want to participate. But generally, the things that people want to sell like you're selling this are profitable ventures.

Steve:

Yeah, and beekeeping can be profitable, but it's only going to be profitable at scale. And so we get to do that as a collaborative. So we're basically a massive collaborative that gets to support each other, right?

So think about, think about a world where somebody that has everything, knowledge, resources, experience, expertise, freely gives that to somebody that has nothing in that area, they become friends. And quite often, from what we've seen, this isn't data driven, this is just my heart. And what I see with my eyes is that they become business partners, they support each other without conflict. And they end up maybe starting another company, or they do our memorial hive lots where it is a community shared lot and they start doing things together.

One of our newbies last year, went from zero hives, to being mentored by one individual, to then mentoring to others, to then one of the other ones mentoring three, while he was doing removals in rescue serving the community, and started his own hive or his own honey company, and has 64 hives all in a year.

David:

And by the way, honey is a fairly profitable venture, like those hives, like 64 hives, like there's some pretty solid passive income that can come from that. I mean, you know, it's not entirely passive. But I mean, it's not like you're the one flying the bees around.
Steve:

And it's cool, because it's hyperlocal, right? Like you get to be in your community serving your community. That is so cool. See, we take the administrative, we're not trying to do your business, we're actually we're trying to encourage you to be self-sufficient, right? We want you to be outdoors, we want you to have a better relationship with your spouse, we want you to have a better relationship with your kids to be active. We say get out of the bar and into the VR, right? That to us is what's important. So when you talk about measuring ROI, our ROI is connections, who's connected to each other, it's really hard to put a price tag on it, I can, I can tell you, it's about 1000 per year per veteran in order to do this, guess what? I don't care. Like let's go make $10 million, fantastic. But guess where that's going, that's going to connections, that's going to purpose, that's going to relationships, that's going to increase the bee population so we can have a healthier planet. So we may start influencing policy and get herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides out of these local areas which are commonly used, which shouldn't be used which kill our bees. Those are the things that matter to us.

So, you know, when it comes to dollars, we'll use dollars as resources. If you have a truck, and you want to give us a truck, we don't need the dollars to buy a truck. Awesome. You see what I'm saying?

Alex:

I don't want to sound like I'm advocating for the dollar. I'm advocating for the same thing you are. I'm saying it's a harder sell than you make it sound because you're so, you're just gushing the passion. And so like for you, it sounds easy on people listening, it might sound it might sound easy, but it's not very common. Which means I know it's not that easy, because a lot of people agree with you. And you know, and I agree with you where it's like there's a lot more value in life beyond money. A lot more, most of it. The overwhelming majority of it comes from like you said connections, nature, meaning purpose. But to you when you say it like this, right? It sounds obvious, but the fact that I don't think people are selling it, you know, purpose that often I've just, it's a very interesting insight and it's funny that you don't notice I don't think because you're just you are gushing, which I love. It's a compliment. It's a total complement.

30:00 - 35:00

Steve:

Well, definitely need to, like think that you were talking only about the dollar. I just wanted to make sure that we are kind of on the same page like, yeah, I love all the nature. I love that that is the thing. I love that David's like..

David:

Shoot, I should get a hive!

Steve:

Hell yeah, you should, right like, these are things that should be normalized. And I think that's kind of where you're going with this. This should be a normal conversation.

Having bees on a rooftop in downtown Houston should be normal. Like, why is it not? We can support that right? Why is it not normal for a corporate entity and I was talking about techniques, FMC and Guggenheimer, which are amazing partners, they have these in their mission statements, but when they found us, they're like, holy crap. Like y'all really do it. Like, this is like, you actually do all the things that are on our Mission Board, right? And we're like, you know, yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. And they're like, Oh, crap, this is going to be good.

So when we talk about who we are, I think it's, I think it's just extremely important for everybody in the organization to understand, we save these and save vets. That's the bottom line. If it doesn't go to that, it doesn't belong in our organization. The other thing is the Healthy Transition from service through purpose, and relationships. That's our mission, right there.

So we have our slogan, we have our mission, right? And we're only going to do things and we empower people purposely, we want you to get involved. And you can be as creative as you want, as long as it's legal, moral and ethical. And if you have to ask yourself, if it is, it's not. So we're a very simple organization. And I think that's why we've resonated with a lot of people. And we're able to scale on the way that we have.

David:

Yeah, it's, it's crazy, because, like, when you're in the service, right? You're like, oh, yeah, I know, everybody else struggled with transition, that's not going to be me. I had even convinced myself that like, because I had this brand and I had a purpose behind this brand. I was gonna be golden. And I mean, Alex knows me better than most you can tell I have. It has not been as smooth as I thought. Now, I think it's been a lot smoother than it would have been. Had I not had something you know, like a purpose that I was pushing for day in, day out, whatever that kept me you know, but man, that every veteran I talked to who's gotten out has struggled with the fact that your identity was military, it's gone. You are serving something greater than yourself, you don't anymore. And then you like you get out of the military and your like, not what it's like it hurts. It's not an easy thing to come back from.

So like, as we're talking about, like the dollar signs great, but the purpose and driven like, have you read the book Wild at Heart?

Man, I love that book. It's all very similarly to this, like you need adventure and nature. And like there's this like, calling to be more and now I just love everything about this. This is exactly why we want to have you on the show.

Steve:

Well, it's great. Like, you know, like Ron Rays, the guy that I was talking about up in Indiana, who's done just such an amazing job RK theory is his new company, right? And his mentor is Bill Wren, we're not only a military organization, a lot of our mentors are civilians, and they want to give back, which is fantastic. Because it provides a healthy transition, of course, through assimilation, and not just isolating yourself in the military community and doing the same crap that you were doing the entire time, right? Which turns into, hey, I don't really feel that good. Let's meet at the bar. Let's drive home drunk, let's get a DUI, you know, that ends up happening, right? Can we kind of set ourselves up for failure in that case?

But digging deeper and going back to the root, right, we want to go back to suicide prevention, right? Real suicide prevention, real activity, which means, you know, us getting onto here this spring on the Fort Hood, we're the largest military institutions in the country, which has the word training Battalion on there, right.

And then we have Camp Atterbury, another one that happened in Indiana with Ron Ray. So like Charles is taking over kind of day to day operations for the organization and he's a retired colonel, this guy is amazing. He loves people. He never leaves somebody behind. That's who he is. That's where that goes.

Ron is just so high energy. And he's like, they just let me put bees on Camp Atterbury, great, but they're not letting you put bees in Camp Atterbury. They're letting hives for heroes, right? We always have to make sure that the institution is higher than self. And so as we continue to move towards that direction, by no means was he being selfish, he was just excited, right? And so we just always have to keep that forward of the organization as much larger than any individual but the individual what makes the organization and when we're starting to get into active duty basis, there's a reason for it. Active duty members have PTSD as well, right? They're just not out yet. So when they come back, there's a high level of domestic abuse, a high level of alcoholism, a high level of drug usage, etc. Let's catch it before they get out. And then have a community and a safety net in when you PCS, are you home a record movie or whatever? Now you have hives there with your buddies that you might not have even known yet they can help you through that transition, right? It's a, it's a longer thought process than just bees and vets. It's how do we actually prevent something? And how do we make the world a better place?

35:00 - 40:00

Alex:

Yeah, and I'm on your website right now. It's really easy to engage with this. So anybody who, you know, it's easy to just be curious and go make some clicks and kind of, kind of get this, it seems like it's easy to get this process started, which I love, which is the point.

Steve:

Yeah, there's like, like, right on the homepage, it's like, you know, join or donate, right? Like, there's really only two options in the organization. I guess you could partner too. But typically, those are higher level conversations. And like I said, we have like a process for that we'll go we'll go through and, you know, we want to train your staff, we want it to be an experience for the organizations that are doing this. So you know, with corporates, for example, we'll go in and do a honey bottling event after you extract the honey, if you want to bring enough suits or you can buy the suits or whatever that looks like. So the people on your staff can come in and go, this is so cool. Like we have, the Guggenheimer guys did it yesterday, and they were in immediately. So technique FMC was our initial client. And then Guggenheim was like done, national done. When you know, when can you be in Google? Like, it was like, because they experienced it, it changed their perspective. And they got to see what bees do, how they react, and how that impacts the organizational culture, right? If you can care more, man, that makes for a really good organization.

David:

What's the stretch goal? How big can you get?

Steve:

It's continuously moved, I think we talked previously, you know, go bro stuff, and, you know, that was like, a million dollars. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, will we ever make it to a million dollars? And, you know, let's build a retreat. That's like, conex boxes everywhere. So we like to feel comfortable.

And now, you know, 90 to 95% connection rate, right? We don't concern ourselves about numbers, like how many people are in New York, because literally, this whole organization is built for one person. If that changes that person's life, we have succeeded, period. So then we just scale it, right? It's a very simple thing. So we don't concern ourselves with the number of people in the organization. And kind of a storefront, that was kind of their..

Things have shifted to knowing we will have a storefront by the end of the year. So people can experience that in the city of Houston and come from wherever they want to in order to do so they can do honey tasting, they can cut their own comb, they can, you know, buy products and merchandise from there and experience that with their families, we have a high net worth individual come in, and did it with him. It was him and his two daughters. And he's like I can't even pay for this is the best thing in the world, right? Like, you have been able to give us something that we could not get for ourselves. The guy's a high, very high net worth individual, he can buy anything he wants, it was the experience that mattered.

Next thing is like $10 million, so that we can start funding. I mean, by the time you get to the payments which we want to do for 100 veterans, you're only talking about 7 million or so. So 10 million is really not that much money. And then a national retreat where people can come from all over the country, learn beekeeping in a safe, comfortable environment. That's really high end.

I want veterans to walk into there and say, Wow, this is for me. That's the experience. That's the feeling that we want. Instead of freaking doing everything we did in the Marine Corps, which was all let's do the best with what we got. Like, I'm over that. And then you know, that's still that 95% connection rate. That's the most important thing we do. Everything in this organization is about connecting, matching people. That's literally our only function. We just do other ancillary things to fund it.

David:

And for the record while we're talking about there's just so people don't get the wrong idea. Like we're talking millions of dollars. Steve doesn't make any money from this. Like Steve is not taking a paycheck. This is a charitable organization. So this is not like Steve is making $10 million. This is like the company generating this revenue to reinvest it into helping servicemembers and vets.

Steve:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Thank you for clarifying that because that's 100% accurate.

40:00 - 45:00

Alex:

I got goosebumps, bro. This is hyping me up.

David:

I told you Steve is the shit.

Alex:

This is the best guest you've ever had, you've ever picked.

David:

I agree cuz I had you on..

Alex:

Yeah, I'm a low bar.

David:

Nah, man. I mean, I think it was the first night in Park City, Steve and I were just sitting on a bar stool over a beer talking. And this man was so there was like a frickin crowd of people around talking about bees. Like, I don't know anything about bees. But this is amazing. It was like a three hour conversation. Holy crap the like he used to because he just gushing, I guess is the word but you know, radiates just passion about and it's about something that it's cool. Because like you said, you've got a mentor and a mentee, and they're going to work together and they're going to better the community. And like, at no point in this organization, you don't go man. I'm gonna buy a beehive to make a whole bunch of money, like it's all about service.

So everybody is super willing to help and, and be open to each other. And you're helping the community. And you know, I mean, it's just cool. And bees, the more I learned about bees, the more cool too.

Alex:

I got two kinds of off the wall questions.

One, where's my damn honey? David's Honey, I didn't get any honey.

David:

I didn't get any honey yet.

Alex:

Okay, well, I'll make sure you get my address too. This is about me.

Steve:

I totally should have done that. These are things like as a young organization, the foundations are still like, Okay, how do we standardize that? I mean, y'all know systems and processes, right? This is how you scale organizations. And so being two years old, it's been, you know, a handful of people. And we purposely want others to not have to do a lot, right. We just want you to be a beekeeper. Enjoy it. Have fun with a new friend. Like at the end of the day, that's what we do.

So on the admin side, we're like, okay, how do we make that into a process, which this now becomes another process, right? It's like, hey, when you're invited onto a podcast, send these people, honey.

Alex:

Yeah, I could have been eating it.

The second question I have is probably really closely tied to this whole, to your whole organization is, when you guys were in Park City, it sounds like all the veterans sort of gravitated towards each other. And that's what happened when we were in New Orleans for Bigger Pockets. It was, you know, everybody hanging out. And then by the end of the night, it was the five veterans closing on the bar.

I can give you a lot of reasons that I think that why do you think that happens?

Steve:

David, do you want me to do?

David:

All you, you first, and then I'll just disagree. And

Steve:

So I would say, shared hardships are my first thing.

Community happens in pain oftentimes, if you ever see traumas or hurricanes or things of that nature, like Houston came together so amazingly, after Harvey and I just think like, when you share something like that, that you are reliant, in a lot of cases on other people, there's a joke that goes around with like, you know, guys are sitting in a bar, you have Air Force, Navy, you know, everybody's talking crap about each other civilian walks up and says the same thing. You're like, Ah, you don't say that to my brother. It just is, like, when you experience those types of things, even if it's just training, by the way, you don't have to deploy, you don't have to be a special forces, you don't have to, like, you know, be an operator and like, you know, kill Osama Bin Laden, right? Like, you just signed the dotted line. And that's enough, right? You are willing to put your life on the line to lead your family to leave your home, in order to serve something bigger than yourself and trusting the guy or girl to the left and right to you. That's a big fucking deal.

So at the end of the day, I think, you know, when you experience things like that, it just happens. I want to know where you've been, I want to know what you've done. I want to see what we have additionally, in common. Like we're both Marines, but we've had very different military experiences. And that's okay. Because we all know what it's like to go through that, you earned it right. And with you know, any other branch, we're always gonna joke, right? Army. Oh, you know, they'll say something like, oh, you straight leg that's pretty cool. Freakin, you know, fodder, you know, or whatever. You know, it's fun.

Alex:

Hey, I'm offended by that remark.

Steve:

But it's so much fun, right? Like you used to call the Navy taxi drivers. Now they're Uber drivers. The best Global Uber and you know, it's pretty cool. But they're all at the end of the day, our brothers and sisters.

45:00 - 50:00

David:

Yeah, I think that's a pretty,I mean, some of the closest when I think back through 13 years of active duty, the closest I've ever been with a platoon, was the platoon that like, I mean, depending on who you talk to you right that the real answer is the platoon that I got hazed the most. You know, it is the platoon, where we suffered the most hardship, the most intense training, and went through the most crap together, that still to this day, and that was your two in the Marine Corps is the closest I've ever been with a group of people while in the military. And I longed for that the rest of the time I was in and it was still awesome. But I think the shared hardship, like the experience of having been through boot camp, or a deployment or, or just freaking eat memories for 40 days, like pooping in a bag. I think some of that, yeah, I like that. It's like, it's the same reason the football team is close, because they got the crap beat out of each other together for a couple months.

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question, though.

Alex:

Yeah, well, think about it, you know, every time we go to these conferences, it ends up being it happens every time and I you know, your answer is probably the same as my answer shared trauma and shared values. And, you know, you have a unique life experience that people don't understand. And so you seek out somebody to, you know, understand your background a little better.

And so, yeah, military, it's like, okay, we all kind of got the gist of, you know, that was a giant pain in the ass. We all went through it, we, we can all complain about it together, you know, that kind of thing.

David:

The other thing too is you can be yourself. Like, I never know if something I'm going to say is going to be taken, you know, the right way, the wrong way or whatever, when I'm around a group of people who weren't in the military, but if I'm in the military, it's like, even if I say the most, like, off the wall thing, or messed up thing or whatever, like, people are gonna laugh, but nobody's gonna be like, bothered enough to like, not talk to you again. Like, it's, I don't know, it's like I can literally just say do and be whatever. And it's not necessarily a judgment free zone, but it's a whole lot more judgment free than when I'm roaming around in Missouri.

Alex:

Military definitely has thicker skin, but I will say this for those that don't know, David as well as I do, because we've been friends for a long time now, a lot of conferences and a lot of hanging out in person. He says some stuff that makes me cringe you know, he's definitely got to hang out with the army folk, the military Folk.

David:

I’m not safe for public consumption.

Steve:

America and freedom and shit.

David:

That's why I built a brand where I can say the fuck word on podcasts.

Steve:

Break glass only in case of emergency.

David:

Oh, man.

Steve:

Yeah, I mean, I'm really excited about what y'all do, and the viewership that y'all have grown and all the information that goes out. And it gives people the opportunity to see different perspectives, and then create their own identity. And I think that's super powerful.

We do hives for heroes where I don't care who your mentor is, you're gonna learn from so many other people as well. We have a facebook group page that we support each other, similar to y'all right facebook group page, and you're like, hey, I have a question. Hey, here's some unsolicited advice, but it's like, Hey, we're here to support each other, we're here to, you know, become better people. And that's pretty, pretty amazing. But you get to create your identity and beekeeping. That's super important. It's super powerful to have your personal experience and not necessarily have to follow the leader, but see the guides that have gone before you and say, Oh, I kind of like that, oh, I don't really like that. I really like that. Because oftentimes, especially in the military, or independence, or individuality is stripped. So we kind of have to like to get that back.

Alex:

Yeah, the decentralized kind of process or structure really makes it appealing where you're like, you're part of something bigger than you, but it's not all consuming. You still get to be you.

Steve:

Yep, yep.

And, you know, we started out in group settings, you know, it just doesn't work. You know, people think that it's going to be more efficient if a beekeeper is training like 10 people, for example. The problem is a loud guy like me, is going to take all the attention, ask all the questions. And, and then the quiet person is literally going to quietly walk away. And it's not no fault of their own. It's no fault of mine. It's who we are. But the attention isn't there and that's what you were seeking. And then that's how it could fail. So what we do very well, again, is keep to that one, like peer to peer, mentor, like, advisory type role, but friend, right, they don't know, the mentors don't know everything, they're not like, you know, have a crown on their head and like walk around and say, you know, I am the end all be all, it's like, hey, come check out what I do if you like it cool if you don't, that's cool too. But we're going to do this together this year.

50:00 - 55:00

Alex:

There are a lot of people in our culture right now that are suffering in silence, I talked to a lot of them, I actually make try most of my content these days is geared towards this problem, where people are, you know, their egos are getting there, they're getting isolated by social media, and they don't realize it because it feels social. You know, it's sort of harder to make friends after 25. Especially if you're military, you probably moved, you don't live where you grew up. So you're in like a, you don't have the social structure that you ingrained in the place that you live, like you would if you grew up there. And so people get isolated. And, you know, there's lots of egos involved. And it's just hard to go out there and say, I'm gonna go, I guess, make friends and make a friend. And so I love that this is one on one, because you can go and you can say, hey, I'm gonna go do this thing. And I'll get, hey, maybe that person isn't going to be my best friend, but man, you got a good shot, because now you have everything that really meaningful relationships require, which is like, you know, an aspect of community purpose. And, you know, I usually use the term like traditions, but you need to have an activity to do together. And so this is like a really good shot for people who are. And I know many of them, actually. And they are suffering in silence. And they think they're the only ones and they feel isolated and alone in our culture. And a lot of it is for a lot of the reasons that we're talking about. And this is a really appealing way for you to go on the internet. You know, find somebody local, and say, look, I don't know about bees and maybe I don't care. But maybe I do. I mean, maybe this is cool. I mean, let me go see. And so I really encourage anybody who is having this problem that I call it loneliness, isolation, they might not always feel that way or that might not be the way you describe it. But there's a lot of people who are having this problem of loss of meaning, loss of community, loss of deep, meaningful connections. And this seems like a really good way to solve a lot of those problems with one email. And so I just, I really want to encourage anybody who is having this problem to check this out.

Steve:

Yeah, you just, you just hit a lot. Like that was like some deep stuff right there as well. But you hit a lot.

We are in a canceled culture, right? You can say the wrong thing one time, and all of a sudden, like, you're like, Well, I didn't even mean it that way. The context is key as well, right?

Or the suffering, silence is a really big thing, because you consider it weakness, and that nobody else is doing it, just like you'd said. So the true strength comes out when you do reach out. And you know, you send that text or you get on that on, you know, on Hives for Heroes, or you get on any support network that's really there. I'm not talking about bullshit. You know, because one of the other things that I learned from that movie, the Social Dilemma, which I highly encourage people to watch, is that we're the most connected yet the most disconnected we've ever been. And that is a tough statement to like, really breathe in all the access in the world, all the information in the world, yet, you know, you're you feel alone.

So, like you said, another human to human contact, a way to truly connect with not only somebody else, which is fine, but really connect with yourself. And connecting with nature is hugely important.

Alex:

Yeah, the internet is fake. And everybody's lying. And it feels social. And you know what, this is why I've actually done very well on the internet, because I sort of treated it as theatrics. But the key component of the internet is that I go off and I meet all these people that I make friends with, I meet them in person. And then the internet then becomes something where it's like, yeah, it's fake when you're online, but then when you meet somebody in real life, now it's real.

And so if you only have the one component, though, if you only have the internet, you only see somebody's highlight reel.

Steve:

That's correct.

Alex:

And then you're like, Oh, I'm not doing as good as them. And I don't actually, you know, they're not going to tell you online, they're like, Yeah, but you know, I hate my wife, or my kids hate me or I feel terribly alone as well. Or it's a flat out lie whatever the case, right? There's lots of stuff going on behind the scenes. And even the people with best intentions who aren't lying or lying by omission by accident, because you can't share everything and nobody wants you to hear you go online and tell your woes anyway. So it's a really interesting little dynamic. And then I actually just wrote a whole big piece about this, you know, there's no, there's no church. People don't go to church that much anymore. So there's no like, I mean, I'm not religious fella, but there's no community, there's no dedicated community anymore. So it's just really easy to get isolated. Really easy to get isolated.

55:00 - 1:00:00

Steve:

Yeah, with The Canceled Culture, it's only a matter of time till you're canceled as well, right? So the same person is trying to cancel people eventually, is the one that gets canceled, which I just think is ironic and hilarious. But you're right on that church aspect, the connection pieces that are there, because that's again, I think you said earlier shared values. So whether it's church or anything else in which you're involved in, it's the value piece that you can connect to and with, for a larger piece. And as humans, we strive and value for relationships, we want connection, we're not isolated creatures. So man, you're dropping some wisdom here. I love it.

Alex:

Yeah, I'm not actually that good at real estate. I read a lot of philosophy. The Canceled Culture, though, you know, what's interesting about Canceled Culture is, it's very hard to do it in person, it's really easy to do it online. Like, like, nobody who hangs out with me in person is gonna cancel me they're like, Okay, I was like, I can look at you and apologize.

On the internet, things get taken, you know, they just stuff gets run with and so I don't know what's gonna happen with the Internet. It's a new phenomenon. I'm not gonna happen with it, but I have a tendency to feel like it's gonna drive people to more local relationships. And so I think you're, you're definitely out of the game on that.

Steve:

I agree with that.

Have you ever texted someone and you're like, Have a good day. And they're like, Oh, that was rude. Here, like, what? I just said, Have a good day. And they're like, Yeah, but you said like, oh, have a good day.

David:

I have gotten into so much trouble with my wife over the years. She answers a question, and I'm like, wait, what's wrong? And she's like, what do you mean? Like, I said, I would go to dinner like you said, sure. Like, and it's like, yeah, that means I'll go to dinner. I'm like, Oh, well, that's not you know. Yeah. Oh, my God.

Steve:

That wasn't very exciting. I'll tell you that.

David:

Literally like last weekend. I was like, it didn't seem like you really wanted to go though. And she's like, I do. And I'm like, Oh, and this is like me being a total like, whiny girl. But I'm like, it's like, I took the text. And it was like, out. So yeah, it's funny you say that.

Alex:

I actually have some really good advice for this. And I've been able to mostly solve this problem for you guys. Are you ready? I'm rude to everybody most of the time. And then nobody ever has to worry about where I'm coming from. You know, most of the time when I texted me the blue I'm like, What's up? What's up idiot? Or, Hey, how are you doing ugly? And so we really, really, really ripped that right off.

Steve:

That's so funny.

Yeah, it's one of those just weird things. Text is like the worst form of communication yet we do it all the time. Like, everything can be misconstrued. Anything can, you know, have like, essentially, when I read a text, what I've learned for myself is I'm reading in the tone in which I'm feeling, right?

So if you say, Sure, and I'm in a good mood, I think sure exclamation point with a smiley face. But if I'm not in a great place, I'm thinking Sure. Like dot dot, dot, little emoji that does like the hands up and a middle finger. Like, it kind of really depends on the emotion in which I'm experiencing, which is actually called projection. But anyway, you're like, thinking of how you are feeling which is kind of unfair, but we do it all the time.

Alex:

I actually love text.

I like voice the least, phone calls. Like if you try to, I'm never gonna pick up the phone. I like video for the exact same reason you're saying now it's like I can. I can. You know, you say something that sounds like it's pissing me off. But you're laughing like, alright, we're cool. Like, I can read your body language.

Steve:

Yeah, on my side, I'm not a phone person, either. I'm the one in person, like boom, like number one top notch no matter what right?

Secondary would be probably that video piece. Tertiary would be text. And my voice is really my last one. I think that and maybe y'all are familiar with this. We talk so much already in our livings, in our, in our normal, everyday experiences, but I'm just kind of tired. And that doesn't have anything to do with the person on the other end of the phone. I just, you know, that's the only kind of me time that I would have and now it's kind of getting taken up. And I'd rather just shoot a quick text and say, No, I'm feeling great. Don't worry about it.

David:

I actually I've been doing a lot of and I'm sorry, I've been getting myself muted for the last while I've got the worst tickets in the world. So hopefully they leave me alone for a minute. I do a lot more like voice messages.

So instead of like if I'm trying to convey something that is like, you know, hey, here's some feedback or something meaningful. I will make a voice like an audio text so that it doesn't get misconstrued, which is kind of a weird one though, because it's like, well, it's super efficient for me to do that. If someone sends me an audio back, I'm like, oh, that's like, I'll listen to that when I'm doing nothing. It's like, it's so much easier to read. So it's weird. Like I only do it. If it's like, Man, this might get misconstrued. Let me say it.

1:00:00 - 1:05:00

Steve:

I also use a lot of gifs. A lot of gifs, I can have full conversations in gifs and memes.

Alex:

I hate that so much. Wow!

Steve:

Yeah, I'm like here's another Chris Farley coming out.

Alex:

I find this all fascinating, just the way that people communicate differently. And then also you had mentioned, you know, burnout with conversation, I think, you know, I'm a hyper off the charts extrovert, I get energy from people. And if I probably spent 22 hours in a day with people and I had two hours of downtime, I could do that long, I could do that, I could sustain that. Like, I could be around people for the vast majority of my time. And I understand that that's not everybody. And so that's also the risk you run when you communicate with this, like 24 hour a day communication window, you're gonna hit somebody and they're like, I just, I don't want people right now. And you know, me, I'm like, 6am, I'm texting you. And at 1am, I'm texting you.

Steve:

Well, there's like some really cool assessments like disc is a really cool one that if you know, disc, you can read others very quickly. It's different from Myers Briggs. It's pretty complicated. It's just, it's super quick. You take like the top two, that you're kind of feeling. You're like, okay, cool. And if I know it, well, I can now treat you better, right, I can honor you as a person by understanding a little bit more about you at a quick level.

The other thing that I really liked, so that's a disc piece. The other thing that I really like is the five love languages. And that's really, really cool for like spouses and people that are close and intimate. It can still be used for friend friendships. But it's really cool to understand that their love languages like I have quality time and physical touch. That's who I am. So if you give me a gift, I will like, almost like be like, Why did you do that? If I wanted a gift, I could afford it. I'll go buy it, right. But like my mom, for example, she sees a gift as I was thinking of you. And this is, you know, at that time, and this is what I thought and here's this or like acts of service, she loves cooking. That's how she shows her love. But if we're not, you know, talking about that, then I'm like, Oh, God, I got all this crap. And she's like, Yeah, he doesn't even care, right. And that's a mother son relationship. But it's the same thing with you know, like a spouse, right? Somebody is doing the dishes, and the other one doesn't care. And you're like, Man, look how good I did. I did the dishes. I did it for you. That was so cool. They're like, Yeah, but you spend no time with me.

Alex:

My girlfriend's love language is that she likes receiving gifts. And I'm awful at it. Because I'm looking. I'm like, I don't care about gifts. Oh, and like compliments. What is it?

David:

Words of affirmation, that’s one of mine.

Alex:

Yeah, give me a compliment. I'm like, stop wasting your breath. I don't want to hear it. Stop sucking up. I don't want to hear that. But so with Kate, all I gotta do is I give her Ooh, you know what, like, I just bought this little mini camera and so I'll give her pictures of us.

Steve:

Oh, nice!

Alex:

And dude, she melts.

Steve:

That's great.

Alex:

And I'm like, but if I didn't know that right? I'm like, Okay, it's not my strong suit. But I can like do, I can lean into it so I love that you said that.

Steve:

Yeah, it's not what the gift is, it's the intent behind the gift and that's where some of these get a little misconstrued by the way David you are beautiful.
Alex:

We know Steve's a liar now.

David:

Doesn't matter, it's better than saying sure.

Steve:

It's like physical touch right people think it's just sex that has nothing to do with it on on the on the way it's described. It's like you know you can touch somebody on the shoulder and what they're actually thinking is wow they see me right I am seen that is powerful like the gift like you said that doesn't cost anything, you're not going and buying you know like my, I'm adopted my birth mother's garbage and so she got me like a toolbox to like make up for the 26 years she wasn't around like screw you. I can afford a toolbox and you can't make up for last time again. Quality time physical touch and you want to buy me something to make up for it. That's ridiculous.

Alex:

Yeah, but if you'd like the gift then it would have worked.

I'm making a joke, sorry.

Steve:

Damn, this is really a nice toolbox. All those things have meaning, man. Those are super important to like not misconstrue people get into therapy, and they become therapists. You're like, whoa, like calm down, just because your therapist said that or you saw it on Tik Tok one time, like you're not a therapist, like, calm down.

1:05:00 - 1:10:00

Alex:

So I don't know, disc that well, I know the Myers Briggs pretty well. And I messed up my friend Shelby. I call it pseudoscience. It is kind of pseudoscience.

Yeah, the other one I like is Big Five. Have you looked into that one much?

Steve:

I don't know the Big Five. I'll look at that one.

Yeah because it's really social science and behavior, right? So when you look at behavioral trends, like, I've hired a lot of people, right? I'm sure y'all have as well. And apparently a lot of the people on these calls. But we hire a behavior base. I really don't care what your past is. I don't care what super special skill you have. Because I know that if you're a good person, and you can walk into an area with energy and an open mind, we can train you in anything. You can't train somebody to be a good person, right? If you're not, you're just screwed. But I can train anything, if you're willing. And you know, at Halliburton, I used to say, just show up on time and give a shit. We'll take care of everything else.

Alex:

This was a Ray Dalio’s first book principles was the idea where it's like just create an organization where you put people into the job that it requires that personality type for and so it's like, if you got a big picture person, don't put them into a menial, you know, oriented job. I like all those things. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Steve:

No, you're good. I just said, I'm never going to be an accountant. Like, it's not gonna happen.

Alex:

Yeah, I'm a big picture visionary. And I did bank underwriting for a long time. And I liked what I learned. But I also, you know, had to hulk out on my co-workers every once in a while and have a shit for it.

Steve:

Yeah, bring up a good point, right, you're in a position, look at it as an opportunity to learn. And then you can lead, right? If you don't learn something, there's no way that you can lead it. Pretend like I'm like a guy that's never bee kept ever. Yet you grow an organization? Like what? That doesn't even make any sense, right? It's kind of like that operator, you know, it's Cashflow Quadrant, right? It's like going through the SBI, right, you learned as an employee, now you're self employed, you have the same business scenario, you're specialized in that business, and then you become the owner of that business. So you've stepped out massively, and then you invest in those businesses, right.

So at least you can walk in and some people like this, some people don't, but at least you could walk in and go like, Okay, now this makes sense. You're doing the right things. I'm not being cheated, right. But I mean, I think Cashflow Quadrant is like a sick book, right? Like that's something that can literally walk you through how to become wealthy. Without a whole lot of noise. I think it's a pretty straightforward book. You know, that that turned me on whenever I went from Rich Dad Poor Dad to Cashflow Quadrant thought it was amazing. And if you haven't got the cashflow 101 game, it's actually really, really good. And it teaches you the mindset of being a janitor and being a millionaire. How you can do that, by whatever salary it is in which you bring by investing in yourself.

David:

Yeah, it's a fun game. I actually have a cash flow game for kids. And I'm going to play it tonight for the first time with my five year old.

Steve:

That is awesome! It took me. I don't know if it took you this long, but it took me like six hours to get through it the first time, not the kids.

David:

I'm hoping the kids are not as complex.

Steve:

We even put apples. And it was like, Oh my God. Now. It's like, it's like Monopoly, right? It's like three hours. And you learn a lot. And I do it with new friends that we either get into business with or are in business and stuff like that. And like, have you seen this? And that will be, you know, the charcuterie night with and they're like, oh, man, I actually learned something. And we were productive with our time.

David:

Yeah, yeah, people definitely hate on Robert for writing a book to sell an expensive ass board game. But that board game is fun. Yeah, so like, I could care less. I'm willing to pay the 150-200 bucks, whatever it is for this outrageously plat place board game that is educational, but it's a good time.

Steve:

Yeah. Books like that. Like I have my whole books list. Another one is like the Richest Man in Babylon. Like, if you haven't read that, like that is a really, really good book to understand like, what's important, right? Basically, at the end of the day, it's like 10% savings, pay yourself first 20% of debt until you no longer have any debt, then you're putting that to the savings so now it becomes 30% and never live over 70% of your expenses.

Alex:

10 years ago, I was a broke idiot with no money, bad habits and no understanding, like very little understanding of money. And I read that book, and it just was like books or like, right time, right place. You know, it's a very simple book. And I remember thinking like oh, spend less than you earn. Who knew? That's so profound!

1:10:00 - 1:15:00

David:

It was one of the first five books I read, five or 10.

Alex:

Yeah, it's really foundational. It's really simple. It’s designed to be written for it's like, oh, yeah, these people from 1800 years ago, if they can understand it, then you can understand it. And that was really a foundational one in its simplicity.

Steve:

I love it.

I mean, because we obviously work with veterans all the time. I'm like, you know, read these few things. I mean, even when we were doing real estate, and like, guys, and girls would want advice. I just give them Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And if they read it, I'd talk to him if they didn't, I wouldn't. Like if you're not going to invest yourself, like, why am I going to invest in you? And that's not trying to be rude. But we only have so much time in the day. And like, you're not going to put effort in? I can't, it's not that I won't.

David:

I will help you all day, but I will not do it for you.

Steve:

Yep.

Yeah, you can't care about somebody's success or future more than they care about it. And if those two books, you can clean those two books off and like, like a long afternoon, it's not like a big ask, you know, you're asking for six hours, maybe eight hours of learning.

David:

I ordered the hardcopy of Richest Man in Babylon because, you know, like Alex, I'm trying to build out my ego library where the books that I really got something behind. I'm like, Ooh, I need to buy the physical copy too. So that I can showcase, I've read that it's, which is a weird thing. But I think a library is kind of the one thing egos. And nonetheless, I ordered the physical copy. And it shows up. And I'm like, this is the flimsiest book on my shelf. It's like 30 pages. I was like, why is this thing so powerful? It's so it doesn't, you know, I couldn't find it on the bookshelf right now, if I was looking for it.

Steve:

That's a good, that's a good thing to bring up to you. Because there's some other thing that I saw recently, which was don't trust anybody that their TV is larger than their bookshelf.

David:

I could get behind that, for sure.

Books are a powerful thing.

Alright, Steve. Ah, I feel like we could talk all afternoon. However, I have another friend coming on the podcast for about 10 minutes.

I thought I was your friend. So I'm now disappointed.

Alex:

We can be friends

David's technically not my friend. So I'm open.

Steve:

Nevermind. I'm good.

I got Alex now. Thank you.

David:

Oh, hey, look, Steve, if you want to do that to yourself, You go right ahead.

Steve:

I think that's what everybody's going for.

David:

Thank you so much for joining us on the show today. This has been, it's been a ton of fun. It's always a pleasure talking to you. I love the organization Hives for Heroes. I love what you guys are doing. I love that everyone I've talked to about bees recently has been all about it. I think you're really onto something, I think you know, you're really onto something and you're changing lives. And I you know, it's just I hope that anyone listening to this doesn't just credit the level of passion. I mean, I spoke to you a number of times in Park City. And like just the amount of energy and passion that you have behind helping veterans with mental health and suicidal ideations and all these things is I mean, it's powerful. So it's really cool. And I appreciate you coming on this show to share it with us and share it with the audience.

So we mentioned Hives for Heroes is the best place to look, if you want to be a mentor or you want to join or you want to donate. Is that also the best place to reach out to you? Or is there somewhere else that we should point people?

Steve:

Yeah, absolutely.

Our support email is always available and watch that support at hivesforheroes.com. And yeah, we're a family organization, everything that we do is based around, you know, obviously the bees and the vets. But that means that we have huge hearts. And when we're talking to people, families always welcome you know, actually encouraged to strengthen the family unit, which eventually strengthens the community. And so anything that you need, reach out any questions, any concerns, you want to talk to our CPAs we'll hand them right over to you. We are a very open organization because we want to make sure that our integrity level is at a level that is so high that you never question and that is our goal on any kind of books or dollars or things like that. But at the end of the day, we're here to say bees and save vets

David:

I love it. That's powerful, man. That's cool.

Alex:

Dude, this has been an unbelievable show. I'm so hyped up.

You know, it reminds me of like, you know, both what you're saying and what you're doing. It's the importance of really curating a social group that feels you know, the life you want to have. So yeah, I'm really motivated right now.

Steve:

Great point.

I love that, build a life in which you want.

Alex:

Yeah, well, it starts with who you surround yourself with. You're going to become who you hang out with.

1:15:00 - 1:17:40

Steve:

Absolutely, yeah, hang out with very, very high. I always go to the integrity piece first man, I never want to have to question if you're looking at the face and you know lying to me like that's pretty much a non starter. And then after that is like, what did your heart look like? Have you ever asked your friends like that? Like, dude as your heart today? It's pretty, it's a different question than how're you doing today? You might get some responses that surprise you.

Alex:

My girlfriend wakes up every about three days a week out of the blue. I'll wake up and I'll begin the shower. And like, what do you think are the three things you're thankful for today? You can't say anything you said last, you know, month. It's a really interesting little exercise because she writes them down. Oh, no. And I have to do it. So it's really interesting.

This is great, dude.

Steve:

Man. It was great meeting you, Alex. Man, we hadn't talked before. So this was all kind of new. And I'm sure you're like, man, who is this guy gonna be and but at the, like I said, at the end of the day, we're here to support and you know, if y'all need anything, you know, reach out, we're gonna gladly share this. I'm not that great at social media, we're gonna, like get somebody that can do better than this. So, you know, but this will be shared.

Alex:

We're gonna, we're gonna run into each other one of these days because I have a very unique way of shoving my life into other people's lives. I have this theory. I'm like, you can basically be friends with anybody in the world, whether they like it or not, if you just stick around long enough. So I'm very much like, you know, it's hard to get rid of me. So now we're friends. It's gonna be really annoying a little while, then you get used to it, then you'll like it.

David:

Stockholm Syndrome.

I actually it's by design that you hadn't met Alex yet, because I'm always like, I should probably hide this guy until we're already recording, then it's too late.

Steve:

Shen it's too late.

David:

That's our marketing strategy. Alex, I sucker him in and then you stick it to him.

Steve:

Well, this has been an absolute pleasure. I had a great time. This was completely conversational and unplanned, which is perfect. And, you know, you just kind of got to see your hearts too. And it's pretty amazing to be affiliated with you guys. And just, you know, even just this conversation. So thank you all for everything that you do for the military community and the families that are present and willing to invest in themselves, and it's definitely paying off. So thank you guys for everything that you do as well.

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.