[00:00:00.260] - Brandon
What's up, amigo?
[00:00:01.020] - Chris
Oh, beat me to it.
[00:00:02.820] - Brandon
you just wanted to jump in there. Don't you dare.
[00:00:04.460] - Chris
Happy Monday. We don't normally have production days on Monday. No, we don't. This is a unique experience. Well, hey, first of all, before we dive in, we've got a really great show for you today. My voice is really basey this morning. Oh, yes. It's very sultry. It's pretty manly. For those of you that are brand new to the Head Heart Boots podcast, this is your very first introduction, or you've only heard a couple of episodes. Who are we? Well, Brandon and I co We founded Floodlight Consulting Group. We're a full service consulting company, a team of consultants that serve restoration companies all over the United States. This year, our clients will do almost a quarter billion dollars with the revenue, and we help them in a variety of ways. So there you go, floodlightgrp. Com. This show is all about the head, the heart, and the boots.
[00:00:51.540] - Brandon
That is, actually.
[00:00:52.720] - Chris
That's what we enjoy about the podcast, and we hear that from other folks, is that, yeah, we talk about business. We get tactical here and there. And we also talk about just the heart, what's going on between our ears as well. I think sometimes it's hard for us to tell what's in our heart and what's in our mind. Yeah, for sure. But I think this podcast we did with Clint Pulver. So this is actually podcast number three with Clint.
[00:01:13.830] - Brandon
Is it three?
[00:01:14.750] - Chris
Yeah. Yeah. We might. I'm pretty sure.
[00:01:17.530] - Brandon
At least two. I feel so honored, man, that he gives us that.
[00:01:20.630] - Chris
Hey, he's such a neat guy. We had a chance to meet and chat with him. Collective? Yeah. At the Core Collective or Collective by Core, yeah, in Austin Back in July this year. So a little bit earlier. Just a really cool dude. Or it was around that time, a little bit before that time, that I got turned on to another project that Clint's involved with called Finding Hill. We end up spending about half of our conversation talking about his passion for helicopters. It just turned into a really incredible story. I find myself coming out of this. It's Monday, just for context, it's Monday morning. Right now, it's 9:10 AM. We just spent over an hour with Clint, and what a tremendous way to start the week. Most of you or many of you will hear this on a Tuesday morning, first thing. Maybe if you're driving into the office, and I hope it brings you as much inspiration as it did Brandon and I. So dig in, cover a lot of different territory. We talk business, we talk mentorship, we talk company culture, we talk marriage, and we talk helicopters. It's sweet ride. It's great.
[00:02:28.920] - Chris
Get ready. Wow. How many of you have listened to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast? I can't tell you that react, how much that means to us. Welcome back to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast. I'm Chris.
[00:02:41.440] - Brandon
And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead. This new camera angle makes my arms look smaller than yours.
[00:02:50.940] - Chris
I'm noticing that and I really appreciate it. I thought you did that on purpose.
[00:02:54.200] - Brandon
No, I don't. I didn't, and I am not happy with it. Hey, all, thanks so much for listening to the show. Hey, if you're not already following, please do so and ultimately share, right? Like the coolest currency that we have in terms of supporting this is share it with a friend, share it with somebody, a colleague, a peer, one of your downline team members. Let them be able to take advantage of the information you're already leveraging in your favor. And finally, guys, if you hear a show that really moves you, that really moves the needle, will you please leave us a review? Those five-star reviews help us a ton.
[00:03:28.170] - Chris
Right on. And listen, if you're We're trying to grow your business, you might consider checking out Floodlight's business opportunity audit. It's free. We provided it no charge. It's actually what we use to assess new clients as they come in. It's a 110 point assessment for your business. And we've now decided to give access to the general public for it. So go and take our business opportunity audit at floodlightgrp. Com. It's going to help you identify the biggest gaps and opportunities in your business right now. And at the end, it'll assign you a health score to let you know exactly where your business stands right now. So go check it out, floodlightgrp. Com/audit, and take the Boa. It's a great way to get a pulse on your business.
[00:04:08.830] - Brandon
Well, my friend. Oh, boy. Have we been looking forward to catching up with you again?
[00:04:14.990] - Chris
Yeah, we had a... So last time we talked, we were in Austin at the Collective by Core.
[00:04:20.230] - Brandon
Crushed.
[00:04:21.020] - Chris
Yeah. Awesome, awesome keynote. And anybody who's obviously seen you. I always want to say perform because as somebody who also is into music, right? What you do is this mashup of masterclass and music performance meets on stage conversation. I don't really know how to describe it, but...
[00:04:42.050] - Clint
That's really good. That's really close. Yeah, It's definitely an experience.
[00:04:46.340] - Chris
That's for sure. Experience. There we go. That catches all of it.
[00:04:49.170] - Brandon
That's probably the safest way to put it.
[00:04:51.070] - Chris
Yeah. Well, listen, man, just before we got on, you were talking about how busy life is and so forth. One of the things that I think you're probably busy to some degree with is actually what I want to talk If you're okay, I thought we'd deviate a little bit from the normal script and maybe normal conversation around company culture and mentorship and some of the things that you've spent a lot of time on and instead focus on something relatively new in your life or newer. I'd really love to talk about Finding Hill and your passion for aviation. I wonder if you could just maybe open up a little bit of backstory. Then depending on time, maybe we'll circle back and we'll talk some culture stuff and mentorship and millennials and of that sort. But I'm really curious about this personal passion of yours. Let me maybe do a better job stage setting because Brandon was like, Yeah, okay. For me, the context of this is, I think so many of us get so hyper fixated on more and bigger and more and bigger in our work product. I think we see in all the work we do with owners and executives that a lot of times it can be completely unintentional.
[00:05:56.920] - Chris
It's just like, well, we did X last year. We got to do this year, and we make our plans, we do our thing, and we're just nose down. I think we forget to actually enjoy what we're in now. I think many of us go years and years and even decades with no personal passions or hobbies or interests that we're cultivating. I think in many ways, there's this ineffable value. It's hard to describe the value of those things sometimes, but you know it when you feel it.
[00:06:28.570] - Brandon
You don't stop dreaming. You're just working.
[00:06:30.440] - Chris
Yeah, you lose the dream. I think there's a value to dreaming and having other things in our lives besides work products that has real value to our work and to all the other things in our life, too. Anyways, within that context, I would love to hear more about this passion for you because it seems like a really driving force in your life.
[00:06:52.610] - Clint
Well, I think it ties in perfectly with what you're trying to... The direction you're trying to head because in business, especially as an entrepreneur, if you're a business owner, a CEO, a leader, there's always that tendency to scale. I got to scale. Scalability. We're scaling, we're scaling, we're scaling. One thing that I did in my entrepreneurial journey that changed everything for me was Kelly and I, my wife and I, we got really specific on what does it look like in our world to reach true fulfillment, to where you feel like you just were fulfilled. Sure, we could have more. Sure, we could always scale, but it's enough. When is enough? Enough. For the last probably, I'd say maybe three, 2-3 years, we've been just working within that fulfill. It's been the sweetest experience of my life to take off the pressure to really say, Okay, this is enough. And to be happy with that allows you to, I think, live, not just continually exist. And a lot of people exist, right? We're constantly chasing the next number, the The next margin, the next opportunity, the next thing, which, again, if that helps to bring more fulfillment into your life, cool.
[00:08:06.960] - Clint
But how can you be so specific on what that fulfillment looks like? And then when you get there, that's something that nobody really teaches leaders. What happens when you actually get there?
[00:08:16.390] - Brandon
Yeah. How do you see it and recognize it? Because it seems like sometimes you just blast right past an opportunity to enjoy it for a moment. We don't even give ourselves the ability to do so.
[00:08:27.250] - Clint
There is always going to be a a bigger mountain to climb. Always. There always will be. And so what mountain is big enough for you? What mountain is beautiful enough for you? What does that mountain look like? And when you reach the top, dude, take a minute and take in the view. Live there for a little while. Enjoy that and come to terms with that. That's okay. We need to tell that lesson more often because we teach people on how to get there. We don't teach people on what to do when you actually get there. That's where I see a lot of burnt-out, unhappy be unfulfilled leaders and entrepreneurs that, I don't know, dude, they're always chasing. At the end of the day, life is short. I really do. I think at the end of your life, I don't care what any of us do in this life. None of us are getting out alive. At the end of a life, you're going to be surrounded by two things. You're going to be surrounded by the do it, did it, done it, or you're going to be surrounded by the would it, should it, could it.
[00:09:21.650] - Clint
That relevance of significance, not just success, but significance to say this is where true joy was felt. Because, dude, at the end of your life, there's going to be maybe a few other eyes looking into your eyes, and it's probably your kiddos, your spouse, your partner. Like, dude, and that's it. That's it. The legacy that you lived where you truly... Again, it's not about being the best in the world. It's about being the best for the world. I hope that maybe helps to set a little bit of context in what we're about to talk about and really what brought about this journey of Finding Hill and everything that we're going to talk about.
[00:09:54.840] - Chris
I love that. Before you dive into that, though, if you're willing, share a little bit of specifically what that narrative has looked like with you and your wife, because I think we also don't talk about this enough. I think most of us don't even really ever learn how to be married, let alone how to be married well. One of us never We had great... We might have grown up in a good household and blah, blah, blah, but we never... Nobody ever really mentored us in how to be married well. I know that's certainly been true of me and my wife. Set a little bit of context for what this conversation looked like between you two to define what is fulfilled, how do we know when we're there, and then these last two or three years that you've described. Can you give a little bit more context for those of us that are trying to be better married?
[00:10:41.960] - Clint
Yeah. There's a quote by Zig Zigla that talks about how you can either be a wandering generality or you can be a meaningful specific. We have found better alignment, better congruency, better communication, love, connection, all the things in a marriage when we are striving to be as specific as we possibly can. My wife and I, Kelly and I, since literally the day we were married, we've had a vision board. It's a big deal in our lives. Every New Year's Eve, instead of going out and partying and celebrating the New Year, we have Kelly and I and two other couples that we love that are dear friends of ours. We get together at my house, we get pizza, we hang out all the snacks, the candy, but we bring all the cardboard, all the ideas, and we go to work and we design the main goals for that year. It's It's usually in different areas. We've got there's physical goals, athletic goals, health goals. That's one section. Then there's the spiritual side of our goals for our family, things that we wanted to help teach our kiddos, things we're doing in our church callings and responsibilities.
[00:11:46.000] - Clint
Then there's career goals. Then there's family goals. Maybe we put a trip in there. We put a specific financial goal. There's these different sections. Then what we do is each goal has just a picture. It's a beautiful, It's a beautiful thing. I'll have to send you guys a picture of it. But it just sits in our bedroom, and every morning when I wake up, that's the first thing I see. It's also the last thing I see every time I go to bed, and we focus on it. How do you keep the main thing, the main thing? Kelly and I, at the very beginning of every year, we align ourselves on what we're striving to do. And then we create the plan on how to do that. As crazy as it sounds, dude, weekly planning has been the greatest thing that we do. Every Sunday night, we did it last night, we sit down and before Where we go to bed, we plan out the whole week. Where are you at? What are you doing? What do you need? How can I help you? Okay, cool, Clint, you're on tour. You're in these towns, these towns.
[00:12:38.710] - Clint
We're arranging babysidders. Awesome. Okay, we've got this event that's coming up. I'm going to go fly the helicopter on this. It's Just communication. How do we be meaningfully specific in what we're trying to do? So then we're on the same page. And do things still get crazy? All the time. But I think that sets us up for success, and that's created alignment to where We have two people pulling in a similar direction. That creates, I don't know, I think better results, at least for us.
[00:13:07.090] - Brandon
Are you guys both pretty naturally wired for that, or is there one of you that needed a little bit more tugging into that behavior or that discipline than the other?
[00:13:16.150] - Clint
Yeah, I was doing all of this before we got married. Kelly did this, but not to the level and the intensity and the specificity that I've approached it at. I think helping her to learn how to do this a little bit better has been something that's from me to some extent. But also I'm really fortunate because Kelly comes from a performing background. I'm a touring musician or touring speaker. I'm gone, I'm on the road. She gets that. She gets that lifestyle, which is a massive blessing. Not every individual spouse or partner in my industry has that luxury. They don't get it. They're like, I don't get why you're gone three days a week. That's not okay for me. I need you home at five o'clock every day. I need you to to shut work off. An entrepreneurial lifestyle versus a W2, 9:00 to 5:00 working for the weekends. There's a difference in mentality there. The first day, the day I quit my job was the first day that Kelly and I went on our first date. I was in the medical field, had the W2, had the 9:00 to 5:00, the benefits, the works. I quit my job, and I declared to the world that I was going to be a professional speaker.
[00:14:28.340] - Clint
I also, later that afternoon, went on my first date with Kelly, and she's like, What do you do for a living? I was like, Nothing. She was like, Awesome. This is great.
[00:14:35.670] - Brandon
This guy's really good.
[00:14:37.190] - Clint
But I told her, I was like, I want to be a speaker. She wasn't like, Oh, that's super sketchy. She was like, Oh, Okay, cool. Awesome. She's like, I have a few people that do that. She was in that performing world. You follow the dream and you sell everything and you move to LA and you just see what happens. I was really fortunate that she literally has been with me since day of this journey, and I could not have done it without her. Man, she's the backbone of everything that's taking place. You see me on stage, but I'm on stage and I'm able to do what I'm able to do because Kelly's amazing.
[00:15:14.200] - Brandon
You got that partner in crime. That's me. Totally. I love that. I'm glad you asked that question. I was like, dude, I don't want to skip beyond that.
[00:15:21.780] - Chris
Just one other thing before, and I'm just so fascinated by this life you have. I think there's so many parallels with the owners and leaders and people that listen to the show is everybody's a little bit different in terms of what brings energy to them. I'm curious. I was actually, unbeknownst to you, I think, I was really tightly observing you during your keto this last time. Yeah. I'm just really fascinated with people that do what you do and how you manage your energy, because what you do is so dependent on you being fully present. You can tell when somebody is not dialed in and your work and a lot of the value you bring is really dependent on you being fully alive in that moment.
[00:16:03.730] - Clint
Yes.
[00:16:04.320] - Chris
I'm curious for you, how do you steward that? Because I think a lot of owners really struggle with how to manage their energy. They know when they're off and they can feel the consequences of being off. But again, like nobody mentors us in marriage, nobody really teaches us how to do these things in leadership. How do you manage that energy, maybe practically and also spiritually mentally, emotionally?
[00:16:31.880] - Clint
Yeah. The foundation is always rooted in passion and the drive for significance in my life. I have to love it. It has to be something that I innately would enjoy doing. I love to drum. I love to take people on a ride. I love to inspire. The thought of somebody else living differently because of something I may have said or done, like, sparks me the roof. I love that. It's rooted first and foremost in passion. I think a lot of people are in a job that they're not passionate about. They're in condition that they're not passionate about. That's the first problem, right? We don't have that, then the rest of it can be really difficult. The other through line that I root myself in and that everything that I do is pulling from. I learned this quickly in the Undercover research that every person is always asking the question, let me know when it gets to the part about me. So my energy level, how I communicate, what I do, my whole goal in this podcast is to get to the part about the people that are listening. It's to get to the part about you guys, too.
[00:17:30.110] - Clint
It's your podcast. I got to blow it up for you guys. But ultimately, I'm blowing it up for the listener that's driving to work on a Friday morning listening to this going, okay, this was worth my time. And that charges me up. That gives me a desire to add value to an individual where they go, This was worth it. And I want to come back. I want to keep doing this. I want more of this. And I love that. I love that feeling. And again, my book's called I Love It Here. How do we create organizations that people never never want to leave? How do you build a relationship that your partner never wants to leave because they like themselves best when they're with you? How do we create better school? I'm so charged on that idea. When I'm on stage, that's the foundation is how I bring in a story and I get quieter because all I'm trying to do is I'm trying to get to the part about you to where you might listen a little bit more and you might buy in and you might go, Man, I was so impacted. I'm going to live different.
[00:18:28.510] - Clint
And that is the to everything.
[00:18:31.170] - Brandon
I hear you say that, and I think it's so inspirational. I'm just thinking through some of the last several conversations I've had with leaders that I really respect, but they're tired. They started their business with the same thing. They understood that it would create freedom for them and their families. They understood that they were creating a platform that potentially created opportunity for many people, their employees. We all know that humans are difficult. You get a group of humans inside the of the box, if you will, or the playground of a business or a formal entity. We're trying to appease. We're trying to create universal momentum. We're trying to all come under this flag and this banner of, Hey, if we all pull together, we're going to have a really awesome opportunity. Then it's just like there's this reality check sometimes that we get faced with that it's hard to keep that perspective. It's hard to remain motivated. I know it's no different for you. You have a ridiculous schedule and travel No matter how much people are in to travel, after a while, it breaks you down. It is wreaking attacks. How do you get back in the zone?
[00:19:40.170] - Brandon
How do we tell our listeners that they started their business for the right reason? They are just inundated in the grind right now, and they're having a tough time creating a new set of inspirations to get back out on the surface, to start paddling in an intentional direction. What do you do to pull yourself back out of those places? Yeah. Do they not happen to you, I guess? Maybe that's a better-No, it happens.
[00:20:04.080] - Clint
Trust me. It happens. I'm burnt out even right now in the extent of travel. You bring up travel, and I'm tired. I've been torrent for, God, almost two months. I have specific responsibilities at home. I have specific responsibilities in my church. I'll red-eye home to do church on Sunday, and I do all of that. Then I red-eye out. Do the only times during the week, at times where I get to see my kiddos, is when they come up on the stand with me and I get to hold them and sit with them, and then I send them back to mom and I'm gone on an airplane. That's it. It is hard. And that's taxing, too. It's taxing on a marriage. Even Kelly and I, we had a conversation last week. No more commitments. No more commitments. We're done. Because I can. I talk about working within your fulfill, being truly fulfilled. But once you're fulfilled, there's lots of opportunities that come up in that fulfill. I've said this before. I think you guys maybe remember the talk. If you're facing in the right direction, all you have to do is keep walking. Most people, though, they forget what the direction is.
[00:21:12.130] - Clint
We're walking, we're busy, but we're not truly aligned with the reason why we started, the reason that we're trying to do what we do. Everybody, all these companies will say, We focus on our people, right? It's all about our people. But then you look at their day to day and what they're really doing, dude, it's all about product. It's all about customer service. It's all about making sure that we bring in revenue faster and quicker. It's like, dude, you're not doing anything for your people. But that's what you profess on your website. That's what you preach all these conferences. And he's like, but your people aren't feeling that in any way. And so I come back It's you, again, the power of a to-don't list, man. I use that in my life. Instead of making the to-dos, I make a to-don't list every week of the things that I am going to stop doing so that I can say yes to the things that actually really matter, that matter to the direction that me and my family, my business, my life really wants to move. It's the to don'ts, dude. The simplicity of doing less is where we find the ultimate sophistication and significance.
[00:22:13.470] - Clint
That's Da Vinci, right? Da Vinci said, Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. How can you simplify your life? How can you bring in other people to help? We brought in... I'm just talking family, right? Because we're in that when talking about that. We brought in someone to help clean the house. We've got a babysitter crew that's amazing that when I'm on tour, they come in and they let Kelly get out for a few nights. Kelly's a performer, too. I want her to be in shows. She's way more talented than I am, way more talented. She deserves to be on stages, too. How do we collaborate? I got to say no to a few things so that I can say yes to her. We got to bring in support. We've got to, okay, we could put extra money to this, but we actually need to put it towards this and this because That's going to give us more time. I think this is really important. There's something to be said for financial affluence in your life. There's also something to be said for time affluence. How do we have more of it? I think that's a big problem with so many leaders is they just don't have time.
[00:23:16.370] - Clint
They don't have time. We got to bring a currency back to the importance of creating more time in our lives that lowers stress, that increases connection, and ultimately allows you to be more present and purposeful in your leadership.
[00:23:30.970] - Brandon
Man, I think there is actually a ton that you just said there that I hope people sit in a little bit. I mean, Chris and I were just talking about this last week. I recently was able to get away for a while for a hunting trip, and we were just talking about. You just rethink things because you're so present in the moment. You're just taking all these things in that you've been surrounded by multiple times before. But it's just like you're so distracted with the the actions, the commitments that the journey becomes so lame. I don't know, but it just becomes like you're not enjoying anything in your travel from A to Z. There's just this reminding, I think we need to give ourselves of this is a long trip. If you're not enjoying the journey, you're literally going to give up what you're going to spend the vast majority of your life doing. It's the journey, like the landing, the top of the mountain that you're referencing. For many of us, that could come way down the line. I don't want to be miserable between A and Z, knowing it could be a 10, 20-year adventure that we're engaged in.
[00:24:42.860] - Brandon
I think part of what I'm hearing you say, at least for me, is I've got to be very clear about what I want, and I have to be looking for those experiential goal posts along the way that are reminding me, Hey, you're actually right now living what you want. You have these things around you. You to have the ability to lean in into recognizing these things and enjoying the trip a lot more. Because if I don't, man, I am so focused on Z, I just miss the entire experience. And then I get there and I'm like, Well, that was fun. Let's go to the next goal post. It's out. The next lift, the next volume, whatever it is. I'm perpetually a little miserable because I'm always chasing the thing I'm going to be happy about once I get there. I hear you boycotting that with your... You're committed to not allowing that to happen, essentially.
[00:25:32.140] - Clint
Yeah. So many of the moments that we think are going to bring the ultimate happiness in our lives are sometimes so fleeting. You get the shiny car, you get the promotion, you get the... The shine wears off. At the end of the day, you're stuck in this... You're still left with your character. You're still left with your heart. You're still left with your little kiddos and the family, the people that... Because sometimes we drag people through the mud to get these things. I remember when I got my Emmy Award, and I remember after that moment, it was really cool. It was a cool accolade, an amazing thing. We had worked our tails off. It had been... But I remember after that moment, literally two days after that, I was like, Man, I'm so glad that I didn't sell my soul for this. Like a piece of metal. A lot of people do that. We're chasing this thing like top, top, fortune, 500, top, accolade, top place. I love that quote where it says, Fame, if you win, it comes and goes in a minute.
[00:26:32.170] - Chris
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[00:27:17.790] - Brandon
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[00:28:10.080] - Chris
That's great. Cnr magazine, we're friends with all the folks at CNR. Michelle and her team, they do a great job of keeping their ear to the ground and reporting all the important information from our industry. You want to stay up on all the M&A activity and what the latest best practices are for selling your company successfully. She's got that. Great articles about all the four quadrants of our business. Cnr is constantly pushing out great material and leveraging great writers and subject matter experts in our industry. It is the water-cooler of our industry. So if you're not subscribed, go to cnrmagazine. Com. Follow them on LinkedIn. Follow Michelle on LinkedIn. Trust us, if you're trying to stay on top of everything happening in the industry, your best destination is cnrmagazine. Com.
[00:28:54.870] - Brandon
You guys, many of you have already heard about Actionable Insights and the training and the expertise that they bring to the industry. But how many of you are already leveraging the Actionable Insights profile for Xactimate? That's the game changer. It's essentially an AI tool that's walking alongside of you as you write your estimate, bringing things to your attention that should be added, that could be considered. All of them, items that increase our profitability, increase the effectiveness and the consistency of that scope. And it can do anything from helping a new team member assimilate as some estimating best practices. And it also helps the grizzled vets add back that few % that we've just forgot over time. So actionableinsights, getinsights. Org/ floodlight, and take a look at what the actionable Insight's Xactimate profile could be doing for you and your team.
[00:29:50.400] - Clint
To realize that the high is like the mountain peaks. That's why I'm so big on like, Hey, once you're there, settle in. Settle in and be okay with like, It is enough. What is enough for you? And to be able to strive for that. But once you're there, work in that fulfillment. That's a beautiful place to be because then it's not always chasing the little highs, the little... It's more consistent joy. That's what I'm saying. How do we create more consistent joy?
[00:30:17.960] - Brandon
That's good. One of the things I was thinking about as you say that piece around enjoying what you have and what satisfaction looks like. You clearly, I think people can hear it in your winning Emmies, the travel time, you are not short on drive. I think sometimes people, and at least I'm voicing me, is I have a tendency that I feel like if I give myself the chance to enjoy, if I let, in quotes, satisfaction creep in, that ultimately I'm giving up on what's possible or what I'm capable of or what I could potentially do. I think a lot of that just comes from that driver personality and a lot of entrepreneurs and business leaders. We have some version of this. You have some version of this. How do you keep that in check? What is that balance or the markers for you where you're satisfied, yet you're not giving in or giving up or rolling over? You know what I mean?
[00:31:17.450] - Clint
There's been some major quotes in my life. I'm a big quote guy. Quotes have always moved me. I'm going to share a couple of quotes. First one is the quote by Oscar Wild, where he said, To live is the rarest thing in the world. For most people merely exist. To really live. Most people just exist in this world. That was a marker in my life where I said, Okay, what is it that would allow me to feel like at the end of a life, I really lived? So vision board helps with that. Then I have a bucket list. Bucket list really helps with that to go, All right, these are the things that I'm really intentional in living. There's also a quote by Mark Twain where he said, There's two important days in a person's life. The day they're born and then the day they figure out why. They were born, it's pretty cool. Now the day you figure out why you were born, why are you here? The day I really figured that out was the day I started living, and that was the day that I quit my job to pursue speaking. Finding that is key.
[00:32:18.600] - Clint
There's the ability to live, which is, I would almost call that more of passion to some extent, where it's fulfilling you. At the end of the day, you go like, I lived, I had a good time, I had fun, I experience things, I travel, I gave back. It's about you. Where I think on why you're here and your calling, that is heavily focused on purpose. That is doing something bigger than you. That is who you are benefiting the world. I'm boiling this down to three categories: passion, purpose, and then the ability to provide. I call them the three P's.
[00:32:53.690] - Brandon
Oh, interesting. Okay.
[00:32:55.420] - Clint
Then there's a monetary side of this, dude. I don't care who you are. If you want to live as a responsible human being, money is a part of the equation. I know a lot of people that are full of passion doing what they love, but they're stressed out in their minds because they can't pay their bills. I would love to just go and be a photographer and take pictures in Africa, but I got a family of five kids and I can't do that. So there's a balance, right? What is it that you're innately passionate about that's going to allow you to live? What is it that you're put on this Earth to do to better the world? Then third, what is the financial amount that would allow you to have enough that is sufficient for you? I don't think people ask themselves that question enough. There's studies that show after a certain X amount of dollar value, The rest is just mental. What are your basic needs? What is it that would allow you to just not live in paycheck to paycheck? You could take the kids on a vacation. You could... What does that look like?
[00:33:56.230] - Clint
Because a lot of times the motive is money. Is the ability to to build that house, to have that car, to provide a lifestyle for your kiddos that they have a better life than you do. What does that look like? Is it 200,000 a year? Is it 3 million a year? Really, what does that look like? And when you get there, again, you're constantly evaluating, you're constantly tweaking. But to have a baseline, create that baseline. I just don't think a lot of people do that. They don't take enough time, and that was the last quote, is more people need to dream, they need to dream more while they're awake. When's the last time you actually took the time to dream? To just think of what if and what could be. To create a bucket list. Give yourself a little permission to dream and to design and chip away at it. And little by little, over time, a little becomes a lot. You're living in a specific way. I think it's needed. Passion, purpose, and the ability to provide. Those three P's.
[00:34:53.410] - Brandon
Love that, dude.
[00:34:54.240] - Chris
Okay, I want to make sure we have time to talk about Finding Hill. We got to transition. This is so good, man. Where did How does that begin? Take us all the way back with the CliffsNotes origin story, and then bring us up to speed to comment on where you're at. And I think, too, if you're willing to share, where's this going? Where do you see this evolving? Is it something that's going to take over what Clint is really focused on in Clint speaking, or is this just a hobby side project passion thing?
[00:35:23.510] - Clint
I've tried to boil down a lot of... I talk about those three P's. Helicopters, aviation, definitely. Definitely a massive passion. Music, drumming, definitely a passion. My faith, massive passion. Being a dad and a good husband, massively a passion. Those are like those big categories for me. And before, really, any of those, it was always helicopters. From the time I was maybe three, four, five years old, that was it. That was my first love. If you were to ask me, what did you innately just want to be around? It was never the drums. It was helicopters. Dude, there was something the ability for a machine and the power and the sound and the blades, and it could just lift off like a magic carpet and hover. You could go anywhere. It was the ultimate freedom and the sound, like the jet fuel. I went to my first air show, and I'll never forget the guy that gave me my first helicopter ride, and I was hooked. I was just in. It was something that... They say it's in your blood. It's in my blood. I come from a few aviators in my family. My grandpa was big into aviation.
[00:36:33.130] - Clint
I have an uncle that's a pilot, and I just said, that's it. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to fly for the University of Utah Airmed and go and save people. I wanted to be a lifelight helicopter pilot and save lives with doing what I love. That was it. I graduated high school with my pilot's license. I went fixed wing first, so I flew airplanes. Then I went and served a two-year mission for my church. I came back. I'm now 21, and the goal is to go to go right into flight school. At 21, you have to renew your driver's license. I went into the DMV. I went through the whole thing, handed the paperwork. I put my head in this black box. I start reading off the letters for the vision check. I can't read the letters. All I see are six little black dots. The lady is like, Read the letters. I'm like, I can't see the letters. She goes, You just have to push harder. I'm pushing. Nothing's changing. She comes from around the counter, pushes me out of the way, puts her head in the black box, and she reads out loud, CK E-L-F-W-Z-Y-N.
[00:37:33.020] - Clint
She looks at me and she goes, Kid, can you read? I was like, Ma'am, yes, I can read. She said, Then, Honey, I think you're blind. You have a vision problem. I remember just the reaction of my face in that moment. I looked at her and I said, I drove here today. She said, You're not driving back. She took a red stamp and she pushed it on my paperwork and it read denied. Now I'm under house arrest at the DMV. I called my mom. I am like, I have no idea what's happening. My mom picks me up. Long story short, I end up at the Moran Eye Center with one of the top leading authorities in a rare and degenerative eye disease known as karyotoconus. As a young 21-year-old kid, my eyes were as bad as an 87-year-old's. Karyotoconus, it's a degenerative disease, so it thins out your corneus till eventually you go blind. We talk about passion and purpose and being meaningful. I know what it feels like to have a dream. I know what it feels like to have that dream taken from you. I think that's forced me in my life to cherish dreams, to cherish living, because you don't really realize how important that is until you can't achieve it anymore, until that's gone from you.
[00:38:44.400] - Clint
I He got there in that room with that doctor and he said, You'll never fly. He said, You've got until age 31, 32 until you go blind.
[00:38:52.200] - Brandon
Oh, wow.
[00:38:53.570] - Clint
Then he asked. He asked the question, so many of us were asked when we were younger, what do you want to do when you grow up? What's your I said with tears in my eyes, I was like, Doc, I was like, Nobody wants to fly more than me. I just want to fly. He got close to me and he said, It's not going to happen ever. At that time, coronial transplants were the only thing that they could really do to save my eyesight. The failure rate on those transplants was extremely high. The goal was, we're going to wait this out. The disease is going to progressively get worse. Your eyesight is going to get worse. And hopefully, by the time before you get to critical zone where we start really losing repairable and correctable site, we will do the transplant. But hopefully, something else comes out technology-wise, medical advancement-wise, that prevents us from having to do that. I'll never forget, I had graduated college. I ended up going to college. I was never going to go to college. I worked in the medical field. I chased the money. My dad was in the medical field.
[00:39:57.580] - Clint
I became an orthopedic specialist. Went to five years of training to do that. It was so miserable. I was making crazy great money. I was in Utah. I had the nine to 5:00, the benefits, all of it. High competitive job, working in an amazing industry with an amazing organization. But in college, I was shared those quotes that I shared with you, quote by Oscar Wilde, To live is the rarest thing. Two important days in a person's life. I had been taught what it meant to really live a purposeful and meaningful life, and I wasn't doing Every day it was rinse and repeat. Every day it was work until Friday. I sat down with three of my buddies one day in frustration, total burnout, and I said, There has to be more. What if you could find a job? That's where the three P's come from. That allowed you to Do what you love, had a sense of purpose, and allowed you to provide in a way that was sufficient for you. Passion, purpose, and provide. Both my buddies, they're college grads. They said, I don't think that's going to happen, dude. Look at most jobs.
[00:40:58.660] - Clint
Most people aren't fulfilled. It just is what it is, man. I just said, That can't be. He goes, What you're asking for is so rare. It triggered that quote by Oscar Wild. I love this movie called We Bought a Zoo. Have you guys seen this movie? Oh. It's so good. Go watch it. We Bought a zoo. It's an entrepreneurial movie that just is so moving. There's a quote in that movie. The through line of that movie is the power of 20 seconds of insane courage. If you can just muster up just 20 seconds of insane courage to do things that are really hard in your life. It's amazing what you can accomplish. I remember I mustered up 20 seconds of insane courage on the day that I met Kelly, and I walked into my boss's office and I said, I have to quit. The day that I quit my job was the day I started living, and it was in pursuit of this new endeavor. That's when I became a professional speaker. We started the Undercover Millennial program. I wrote the book, I incorporated the drumming into my presentation, and here we are today. But five years after college, they came out with a new procedure that wasn't FDA-approved called cross-linking.
[00:42:11.940] - Clint
I was one of the first human trials to have that procedure done. They called me up, they said, Clint, you can get on the list. We'll do the procedure on your right eye, and then six months later, we'll do the procedure on your left eye. I was number 48, and I'll never forget. I just started to cry. I was like, yes, I'm I'll do... It doesn't get to that, or I'm going to go blind. At that time, it was barely legal enough to drive. It worked. It's called cross-linking. It worked beautifully. It stopped the progression of the disease. However, I still couldn't see well enough to be able to fly. Fast forward to two years ago. We're now two years later into where I am today. I was in a routine eye exam with a doctor, and he's looking at my medical papers because I have to go in often. With karytoconus. My eyes are always changing. The shape being the coning, I had gas permeable lenses. They'd always pop out. It was just miserable. He's looking at the fit, looking at the shape, and he goes, Why are you not in scleral lenses? I'm like, What are you talking about?
[00:43:15.260] - Clint
He goes, Dude, it's a brand new lens that's changing the game for people with your eye disease. Then I looked at him and I said, Listen, I've been through this a lot, and I've taught to many people and I've taught to many doctors and I've gone fit after fit. I've tried hundreds of contact lenses. I said, I'm good. I said, It's a decent fit right now. He goes, No, no, no. He said, You don't understand. He started explaining the technology, what it was. Finally, he talked me into it. I'm like, Fine. I have nothing else to lose. We went through about four months of fit after fit with the Scleral design. I'll never forget that day in that room, and he puts the final fit in. He says, What's better, one or two? I said, He goes, Okay, what's better, two or three? I said two. He goes, Read the line. I said C-K-L-F-G-Z-Y-N. He pushes the thinking back and he goes, You just read the 2020 line.
[00:44:14.260] - Brandon
Nice.
[00:44:15.420] - Clint
I start crying again. I'm getting emotional in my old age. I remember the first thought. The first thought in my mind is, I can fly. I can fly. This Now is real. Two weeks after that moment, I bought my first helicopter, the HX-50, built by Hill. It's a brand new helicopter that's being built in the UK. It came out in 2020. It's been in stealth mode for 20 years. There was all of these Facebook ads, all of this buzz when it announced. I remember looking back in 2020, couldn't fly. My eyes were horrible. But I said, Man, If I could ever do it, if it ever worked for me, that would be the helicopter that I would buy. Man, I learned really quickly that sometimes in our lives, sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fit together. It has been a testament that I'm now in a position and I look at the orchestration of a God that I believe in, and that's a big part of my life as you've been able to maybe catch on to. But there's an orchestration that I needed to do other things. Again, there is a purpose There is a reason why I'm here, and there is something that I'm supposed to be doing.
[00:45:33.970] - Clint
But sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fit together. I'm now in a position and I look back if I really would have been a helicopter pilot. I don't know if I'd ever be in a financial position or ability to own my own helicopter. Or what does that lifestyle look like? Could I have been killed doing that? Would I have ever met Kelly? It's easy to sometimes look back and to go, okay, you can see how it all came together. But now moving forward, it has been It's amazing to see the orchestration and the pieces that have fallen into place. We have now created a YouTube series called Finding Hill, that from the day I found out that I could fly to currently what we are doing and how the world of aviation and coming back into flying helicopters has changed everything for me. Yes, I'm still speaking. Yes, I'm still playing the drums. But this is now another puzzle piece in that fulfill that we're working within. If you get a chance to watch the series, it's not just about helicopters. It's about truly living. It's about finding that passion. It's about being alive and dreaming more while you're awake.
[00:46:44.010] - Clint
What's the childlike wonder? The things that you used to think about as a kid, how do we bring that back? You asked, what are you doing now and where is this going? We just started a foundation called Dream Machines. When I was in high school, It was this old farmer that in his barn, he had this old dusty ultra light. An ultra light is like a little death trap in the sky. It has a hanglider wing. It's got a little piston engine, like a snowmobile engine. You just strap your thing to this and you fly. They would use it for crop dusting. They'd use it to tow hangliders up. It was this crazy farmer. I remember me and my buddies, we were like, We will do whatever it takes to work on your farm and to pay this off. It was so old. It was so dusty. He was like, Yeah, I don't use it anymore. He's like, I'll sell it to you. We worked our tails off on the farm and we bought this little dumb ultra light and we outfitted it and we cleaned it. We put this cardboard cowling. And me and my buddies, we called it the dream machine.
[00:47:50.240] - Clint
Because for us as kids, in high school, dude, that was freedom. That was the ultimate... It gave us hope. It gave us something to dream about. It gave us something to chase. It brought us together. It was just adventure. It represented fun. And my mom never let me fly it. She was like, If you fly it, I will kill you before you... I will never let you do this. Before you die in this thing. She was so mad that I bought it. We ended up selling it. It helped fund Flight School. But I always just love the dream machine, man. Everybody needs one big inspiring dream. What's one big crazy inspiring dream in your life? And the dream machine was that. My dad My dad taught me growing up. He said, Clint, in life, it's so important that you learn, you earn, and you return. You learn, you're going to learn a lot. You're going to learn a lot in school. You're going to learn a lot in your relationships. You're going to learn a lot in the adventure that is life. It's important that you earn from that, right? You apply it. You earn a living.
[00:48:48.850] - Clint
You earn friendships. You create a dynamic where because of your value, the world gives to you. But then he said, It's really important that you return. Always remember where you came from. Always remember who gave you your start. Always remember to give back. How do you not just write a great story, but how do you help others to also write and live a better story? That's fulfillment. That's significance. I brought on my bucket list, and it's a big part of what I do in my life, and it was number 26. It was create a foundation for kids with disabilities that would give them the gift of flight. This year, we created the Dream Machines Foundation, and We partner with Make A Wish, Kids on the Move, Breaking Barriers. They're these entities that help kids that are blind, kids that have autism, kids that are down syndrome, kids that struggle with spina bifida, or just disabilities that are so hard. As someone who had a disability, and everybody has a disability, you have a disability, we all have disabilities, some are just a little bit more visible than others. The goal was to create the magic of flight in the lives of those that need it the most.
[00:50:00.760] - Clint
We get volunteer pilots. We fly in four different helicopters. We bring in Airmed, the universe, the Life Flight helicopter, the Utah Highway Patrol. They bring in their helicopters, and we create the ultimate Disneyland experience meets Top Gun. We give these kiddos and their families the gift of flight. We take them up in helicopters. We take them up in a turbo prop jets, aircraft that they would never have the opportunity to experience. It's been one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done in my life. The goal is to continue to pursue that. That's what's so fun about flying, is to create the moments in the lives of other people. It's fun to fly. It's magic to create that moment in the lives of other people.
[00:50:51.130] - Brandon
Yeah, I can imagine. We had somebody share their passion of flight with us, and they took us out on a trip where we flew over the Oregon out over the ocean. It was the look in his face, in my friend's face, that was able to fly the helicopter. It was really fun to watch how excited he got about our excitement. You could see it, right? Boiling out of him, right? It's like, just for a second, I can connect with what you're saying. I can't imagine doing it at the level that you're talking about where this is a life-changing experience. It must just be profound.
[00:51:25.430] - Clint
When you see these kiddos and you can just tell. Even, to be honest, the parents, man, these parents and what they go through and what they experience having a child that struggles on so many emotional, physical levels with these disabilities and the heaviness, the stress, the heartache, the pain that these people feel. When you put them in that cockpit, you put them in that helicopter and you start to spoil that engine up and those blades bite and you just lift off, dude, everything, all of that in their life completely disappears. For that, 15, 20 minutes in the air, they are completely encapsulated and embraced into a moment that is so magical. It's freedom. They become truly free. How do we create more of that in this world? For us in our lives, personally, in our families, in our communities, that's what this is about, I think. It's been a while, but it's been- That's been so epic.
[00:52:33.120] - Chris
I think you just created the perfect close. I don't know where to go from here, man. That was such a... It's such a beautiful story to hear about the direction you've pointed your life and the intentionality that you bring to it. Yeah, it's inspiring me, man, on this Monday morning. I'm like, All right, how do I embody more of that in my life and where I'm at right now? I think that's the invitation to all of you listening to this, right? Is how do we embody more of that intention and reflection? I love that, man. Thank you so much for taking me this morning. You're so welcome. That's so awesome.
[00:53:07.610] - Clint
I love you both. You have been two amazing advocates in my life, and nobody does this life right on their own. It's because of people like you. You guys have believed in me and have been an advocate and a support and a voice in what we're trying to do in this world. I'll never forget you for it. I appreciate you both so much, and it's an honor to be back on the podcast. Thank you for the good that you do.Thanks.
[00:53:31.280] - Brandon
Brother.yeah. I appreciate you, man, so much. Okay, dude. Well, guys, if you just went along for that ride in more than one way, I think there was something for all of us just to sit in a bit and reflect on and ask ourselves some really hard questions And then obviously, man, chase Clint down. Go find what he's doing. Watch what he does and how he lives. It just will continue to inspire you to take more action and an intent on building what you want versus just getting swept up in everything that's around.
[00:54:02.470] - Chris
And check out Finding Hill. Go Google it. I mean, truly, not only, man, is it inspiring, this people already got a flavor for, but it's- It's super cool. The cinematics are beautiful. It's just like it's absorbed The videos. So I highly recommend people check that out. Finding Hill. Easy to find on YouTube.
[00:54:21.130] - Brandon
Thanks for hanging with us, guys.Thanks again, Clint.Thanks again, Clint. We'll see you soon, brother.
[00:54:24.620] - Clint
You're welcome.
[00:54:26.900] - Brandon
All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart, and Boots.
[00:54:32.030] - Chris
And if you're enjoying the show, if you love this episode, please hit follow, formerly known as subscribe, write us a review, or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever. It all helps. Thanks for listening.
