Life updates and cutting through the noise

Just a really raw and unedited update on life and what we’ve been up to lately.  More to come soon! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Alright, I started a recording and then I got interrupted, which is rude. So um I'm gonna try this again. I'm sitting in my car waiting for Stan to come um meet me at the rental car place. He had a job today, so we ha I dropped him off this morning. He picked up a car, went and got his client, drove them around all day, took them and did some security stuff, and now he is on his way back with the rental car to turn it in. And then we'll go home. And he loves this stuff, so I love that he loves this stuff. Um we've had some interesting things happen in the last few years, a couple years, I guess, two years almost to the day. And I I don't know, I felt like catching everyone up on where I've been and what I've been doing. So um just for the record, I still am in the financial world, I still do uh meetings with my clients, a lot more Zoom meetings because I can do those from anywhere. Um but we travel a lot, which is amazing to me. So it turns out that you know you can leave your house and you can travel, and it doesn't actually cost as much as people think if you just do it right. So um I met Stan a couple of years ago, wasn't really intending to meet someone, but we met and hit it off. I wasn't really his type, he wasn't really necessarily my type, but somehow we just are made for each other. So sometimes when you're not looking and you're you're you have a picture in your head, just get rid of all that, you know. You just just go into things with an open mind, and a lot of times you'll meet the right person when you're not even really looking. So um, I don't know, I can't even I was listening to a song today, and it was just one of those that every single word was the right word to describe our relationship and that person, and it just it even made me cry um every time. I don't know why that song makes me cry every time because it's a good song, it's a happy song, it's it's a good happy cry, but um, and that just you know made me think of all the different things that we've done in the last couple years. We started a business together. Um, I already had my business. He already had a business prior to meeting me that um was he stepped away from, I guess we'll put it that way. So I think I was the encouragement to him starting a new business because you know, I'm I'm the type of person that when someone tries to take you down, like you don't let them win. And that I just I said, nope, you're not gonna do that. You know, you're you've done this before, you can do it again. So we did it, and it's it's going very well. I stepped back a tiny bit from pursuing new clients and my financial business so that I could help him um and grow our financial, I mean our security business, because you know, sometimes you have to take a look at what's in front of you and you have to go for the one that is going to make the most progress in the let least amount of time, I guess is the way to put it. So, you know, I kind of helped all in with that while I was also doing, you know, managing my clients, and and I just wasn't doing all of the extra, extra, believe me, extra things um that I had been doing. And and to be honest, I was doing a lot of things before that were taking up a lot of my time that were really not giving me any kind of a return on the investment of that time. So I just had to look at at that too. Um, but the security business is it's it's really interesting. Um, definitely not like anything else out there, I don't think. I mean, it has its similarities, but um I've gotten some cool opportunities from being involved in the business. And um, you know, like who would have thought I would find myself in an elevator with Elton John a couple months ago? Um you could ask me 20 minutes before that, and I would have said, nah, but that's how our life goes these days. Um we wind up getting in these, and I wouldn't say situations in a bad way, we wind up getting in these situations though, um, that are a little like far-fetched for the normal person, but um interesting to say the least. So, you know, I just I felt like I wanted to catch everyone up. I'm doing really well. We are doing really well. We haven't gotten married yet. We we both posted changed our status on Facebook because that's where it matters, right? And and so we both changed our status to married, even though we're not technically married yet. We've been engaged for over a year. Uh, we got engaged in Montana on Flathead Lake on May 1st of 2025, and the plan was to get married this May, but with everything that we had going on, it just didn't quite happen, and it's okay because I mean it's honestly just a piece of paper at this point. Um, we live like we're married, everything like we're not going, no one, neither one of us is going anywhere anytime soon. So um we have big plans. We're we're starting to make some big plans for the future, uh, what we want to do. We've kind of always agreed that we're not super tied to Arizona. Uh, my daughter moved from Arizona to San Diego last year, and my son lives with us, but he's really not tied to Arizona either. So I think he, you know, he's open to our plans. Um, Stan has some land in Montana that we want to do something with, and um I probably say um a lot, but I'm not gonna edit this, so just hang in there. But we we went up there and visited. We definitely are taking steps to do something with that land, which is honestly going to result in another business. But I think once, and I'm sure anybody who's an entrepreneur or has that kind of a mentality um will say that once you start one business, another business is not that far-fetched. I've had many businesses. It's the key is like the more you learn, the more successful you get. And once you have one, transferring that um success isn't extremely hard. It's just finding the right people to be involved with and then understanding the different um rules and all the stuff that goes with the the new business because it's a totally different industry, but I think that we we both have exactly like we're on the same page with everything, so that's kind of cool. Um, I will share more about that soon to come because uh we are really excited. So we just got back last week from being on the road for about a month and a half. Uh I never traveled before. If you know my history, I worked at the post office. I was a mail carrier for 23 years, started there when I was 19, did that uh up till 2021. I got to a point where I felt like there wasn't much advancement opportunity in in the way that I would have hoped for. Uh, I really liked, I liked my job uh back then. I liked it. I liked being able to go in, sort the mail, get it ready, take it out on the route, deliver the mail, deal. I I liked my customers. I tried to do the best job I could, and I I think I did a really good job. Um I just the the issue was the fact that I had been, I had my own route. It was a regular is what they call it. I had done that for so long that I was at the top of the pay scale, and there's it's a union, there's a contract, you have step increases every so often, and I was literally at the top. There it's a it's a 12-step program with three extra steps at the beginning, and so I was at step 12, and I had been at step 12 for years, and I had 17 years left until I could retire, I believe, because I needed to be 57, and I was around 40-ish. So I was thinking, can I do this for another 17 years and never really get a raise other than cost of living increases? I don't really want to. I'd really like to actually make enough money. And then I also saw the writing on the wall because for most businesses, their goal is to get more work out of you, out of the employee for less pay. They're trying to cut costs, all while they're trying to also make more money, have more revenue. Um, and and so it's it's like this big balancing act that everyone's doing. And it's the government. I just, you know, I what can I say? That's I think that's all I have to say about that one. But, you know, they're gonna try to get more and more and more from you for less and less money. And so I just thought, you know, I I need to get out of here and I need to have control over my income. So I left there in 2021 after having spent a few years getting my licensing and studying and understanding everything about the financial world, not everything, obviously, but a lot about personal finance. And then, you know, I made the transition probably a little too soon, but I was also dealing with some chronic pain situations. Um, I had I I developed some uh plantar fasciitis in my foot, which then moved into my other foot. So I basically had my both feet were absolutely just in so much pain every day. I could barely walk, and I couldn't get time off enough to actually heal that. So it just was a it was a chronic thing for two years. I tried every single thing that you could try, everything on the internet, everything that everyone said roll your foot on an ice bottle, on a bottle of ice water, roll your foot on a tennis ball, get these shoes, get these orthotics, go get a uh what's that called? A cortisone shot. I did the cortisone shot twice in one foot. And honestly, like nothing ever really helped at all. And so I just I couldn't handle it anymore. And I started planning my, I don't know if you call it an escape. Um, I I jokingly refer to it as an escape. Um, but I I did. I I started planning it, and you know, maybe I left a little too soon before I was ready, but I just couldn't I couldn't do it anymore. And I was I was actually starting, I liked the job, but I hated the environment, if that's a good way of putting it. I liked my coworkers just fine, but I had gotten to a point where I would go to work and I would put my headphones in and I wouldn't talk to anyone and I would stay out of all the business and and I would keep to myself because I didn't want to hear the gossip, I didn't want to hear all the stuff that was going wrong with everybody on their routes, and I just didn't it was a toxic, toxic environment, and I just was trying to like avoid that as much as possible. And so anyway, I I left and I gotta say a few months, several months after I left there, I met someone um that was her name's Kara. Um, and if you want the information, I can definitely give it to you. She's amazing. Uh she's actually a trained, she's trained as a um personal trainer, but I wound up going to her for one reason or another. I can't even remember. We met somehow, and if I found out she had a a place and she is very into women's health, and she said, You need to come in and let me, you know, actually take a look at you and I'll help you with your feet. So I go in there and she lays me out on this table and she looks at my feet and she's like, Oh, well, it's because your knees go this way and your shins are weak and you need to do this. She gave me three exercises to do, and my plantar fascitis was gone in it in two weeks, and that was in 2021, probably around the end of September of 2021, and I have never had an issue since. I can run, I can work out, I can go hiking, I can do anything I want, and I can wear any shoes I want, and I never have an issue. And we have walked all up and down the Las Vegas strip, and let me tell you, doesn't matter what shoes I wear, I'm fine. So she's a miracle worker. Um, anybody that has any issues with their feet, I always send them to her. Her name's Cara, and she's in Mesa, Arizona. So, anyway, um, back to I guess all the other stuff. You know, I just I wanted to do an update, and um, I can walk. I can walk again. We have a new business, we are traveling a lot. We did about 30 trips to Vegas last year, just mostly because of the security industry, everything that revolves around there. Uh, we partner with a couple of other companies up there, and um, I've gotten to do some really cool things. I got to go to Formula One last year and be in the paddock building, which is where they do the pits. I got to be at the Paramount Plus suite. Got to talk to people like Jeremy Renner, and um, I mean, he actually like we had a conversation that was really cool. And uh Allie Larder, I talked to her, her kids were there, they were adorable. And um there was a bunch of other people, big names, people you would definitely recognize if you saw them. Um, every single one of them was just perfectly pleasant, and you know, it's it's very interesting to see, to see people, and and especially when they don't have a bunch of people around them that are like all starstruck. I mean, there were definitely people looking for Beyonce and Jay-Z who I really don't care too much about that were in the suite next to where I was at, and you know, there were people out there waiting and watching and trying to get a glimpse, and it's like eh. I mean, there's some people I just I don't but I like the down-to-earth people. I like the people who, you know, there was this one guy, very sweet. Um, he's in a new movie that just came out. I wanna say, I will have to find the name of it. Um, he came up, introduced himself. His name's I want to say Tyrell, Tyrone, I think Tyrell. Um, just the sweetest kid. And you know, just completely like hey, he didn't talk about really who he was or whatever. He just introduced himself, shook his hand. That was very cool. And you know, it's it's just nice to to see people like that. And then, you know, I we got to go on a cruise last year. We went on a cruise to Belize, and we got, you know, our company got paid for that for to go on a cruise. That was really cool. Um, and you know, I'm just we're we're doing some really interesting things. It's fun. I don't get to post about a lot of it. There's a lot of non-disclosure agreements that get signed when people are our clients. Um, mostly because of it's the time like they don't want their information getting out after the fact, it's usually not that big of a deal. We also don't take pictures with the people that we see, so there's no proof. But you know, I know that I met these people, and I also know that, you know, especially when you're not like asking for selfies, there's just this different level of connection with people. Um, so that's that's really kind of cool. So, anyway, um, I think Stan was with a guy who owns a big uh cruise company today. So, anyway, that's interesting. Like, can I get a free cruise out of that one? Um, but no, I'm just kidding. Anyway, uh, I've said anyway about 15 times. Um, I do want to do more little different, I'm just gonna talk and talk about whatever's on my mind. And I would like to have some people give some feedback about different things that they've been seeing or hearing or noticing in conversation because there's a lot of just noise out there, and I notice that there's so much noise, and when I think one of the things, because my podcast is called Next Level Awareness, I think one of the things I want to talk about is how to get through all the noise and just kind of get back to yourself because I did that the last couple of years. Obviously, I went through a divorce and I met someone new, and I had to sell my house and move and start a new business, and all of this is a lot of work, and it's a lot of change, but in the middle of all of that, I kind of stopped posting on Facebook. I stopped even looking at Facebook for quite a while. I mean, I probably got down to where I maybe would spend five minutes or less a day. And Stan is on there. Um he he does post things and he does tag me a lot. And so that's kind of how you know some people were allowed to stay in my life and stay connected because I even shut down a lot of who had access to me for a while, um, just because of privacy and and some other issues that I'll talk about later. But you know, that's I think sometimes you have to do that, you almost have to do a reset, and it felt really good to have uh just the quiet. I just really missed uh the quiet. And I I think I have a little bit of that whole ADHD thing, but I think it's all technology driven. So I notice that when I'm spending more time on social media and when I'm spending more time with technology, uh the more I do it, the more I seem to have going on, the more distracted I am, the more I'm just all over the place, and I can't seem to focus on one thing. And so I I just think that everybody needs a reset once in a while. And I I got that, and it's been the best. And I think I'm kind of ready to tiptoe back in. Um but I think you also once you start tiptoeing back in, you have to have you gotta set up yourself some I don't know, limits. Um, you have to be disciplined and you can't just let it take over your life. And the ha like seriously the happiest I ever was, what was honestly, this is gonna sound really bad, but it was kind of like not caring about what other people are doing. And so when I need to know something, I will go out and look something up. Like if I need something, if I have a question, I'll go YouTube it, I'll go look for a video of it on YouTube, but I try not to get too attached to the different people that I'm watching because I honestly it's just a lot of noise, and you know, everybody's out there trying to sell their stuff, trying to make their money, and honestly, for this podcast, I don't even think I need to make any money. I don't need to make money at it, I don't need I don't need to promote other companies, I don't need to sell ads, I don't need to sell stuff on Amazon, I'm not gonna have an Amazon store with links unless someone specifically asks for something. I'll share a link with you all day long. But I'm probably not even gonna talk about products or things that help me out because I just don't feel like being a salesperson. Um, I know that I'm pretty good at it. I used to sell all kinds of Pampered Chef stuff just because I would cook when people would come over and they would constantly ask, where I got that, where did you get that? Where did you get that? It looks so easy to use, it looks so nice, it's so fun. I and you know, it's just it's it's just stuff. It's just clutter and stuff, and it clutters up your life. So I think that I want to start doing this, and it's mostly just gonna be my point of view and having conversations and trying to help people get back to like cutting out the noise and then figuring out who you are again and what you want and then how to reach those goals because I think that there's so much noise out there, it's helping, it's it's actually preventing most people from actually reaching a lot of their goals because it it's just there's just so much. So anyway, that was long enough for this time. Join me next time when I ramble some more. That's next level awareness.