[00:00:00.000] - Chris Nordyke
Wow. How many of you have listened to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast? I can't tell you that reaction, how much that means to us.
[00:00:07.540] - Chris Nordyke
Welcome back to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast.
[00:00:10.500] - Chris Nordyke
I'm Chris.
[00:00:11.220] - Brandon Reece
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.
[00:00:20.950] - Chris Nordyke
I'm noticing that, and I really appreciate it. I thought you did that on purpose.
[00:00:24.040] - Brandon Reece
No, I don't. I didn't, and I am not happy with it. What's happening?
[00:00:29.540] - Chris Nordyke
Yo, you beat me to it.
[00:00:30.910] - Brandon Reece
I know. I got to get more aggressive. Been too passive starting these shows, damn it.
[00:00:35.650] - Chris Nordyke
Bro, I got to say, we're getting ready to travel to Florida next week, Sunday, not next week. Yes, in a few days. Sunday morning, 5: 00. Are you going on the 5: 00 AM flight, too? Yeah, With me? Yeah.
[00:00:45.610] - Brandon Reece
We're all on the same Airbus. Yeah. Jeez. Yeah. That'll be a big week. We're going to knock out the refining of our annual planning. I'm giving ourselves a bunch of grace by saying refining. We're going to basically dig in and start our annual planning.
[00:00:57.780] - Chris Nordyke
We're going to ride a rough drive together.
[00:00:59.010] - Brandon Reece
We're going to do a V1. We should have started this three months ago, but that's what happens sometimes.
[00:01:04.220] - Chris Nordyke
It's so funny, on the sales budget and stuff, delivery date on that. I'm like, Well, we have our planning meeting Monday, Tuesday. So theoretically, that budget should be prepared by Monday, Tuesday. But is that real? Am I actually going to have it ready by Monday, Tuesday? Could you do that yesterday? That would be preferable. Oh, jeez.
[00:01:20.800] - Brandon Reece
It's been a busy year, man. It's been a busy year. As many of you know, starting in October, it just picked up some significant pace. You know what, though, man? I had a moment today where I felt like for 60 days, it's really been stressful. I felt like you and I were having a prior conversation. There was some momentum in the face of our businesses that wasn't going in the right direction. I felt like we just spent 60 days trying to stop whatever negative forward momentum there was in any pocket of the business. We finally have gotten to a place where I think the negative trends that That we're presenting themselves have slowed and maybe stopped. But we're not quite at that space where we're building a ton of positive momentum just yet. That'll wear you out. Not that anybody listening has any idea what we're talking about. I know. Because 2025 has been so awesome for everybody.
[00:02:17.920] - Chris Nordyke
I'm sure everybody else has just gotten richer and richer. That's right. But it was only us that had some headwinds. Yeah, well, you and I were just talking, I don't know, yesterday, the day before. We also haven't stopped to pause and really enjoy the winds. You and I, we had this thing, and I don't know if I've typically said it or you do, but we have these really stressful moments. We're dealing with a problem. This goes back all the way to where we first started Floodlight together, where I think I would quip and be like, Someday we're going to sit in a hot tub together and we'll be laughing about this. Every several months or whatever, we encounter some difficulty, and it's like, Dude, we'll get through this. Someday we'll be sitting in a hot tub laughing this. Then we rented this fancy house on the Northern Oregon Coast, this incredible hot tub that's literally like 40 feet from the ocean.
[00:03:08.430] - Brandon Reece
You're like getting oceans.
[00:03:09.600] - Chris Nordyke
You and I never had that hot tub moment to just reflect and enjoy the moment of five years ago, none of this was anything.
[00:03:19.760] - Brandon Reece
None of it. It's such a good point. Part of our conversation we had with our team this morning on the floodlight side is it was fun. We brought in some outside talent to do some training with us, and he's just an absolute hammer. I mean, he's just an unbelievably talented man, great leader, just absolutely impressive to get in front of a team of people to help them understand or learn some new concepts. Colin, right? Yeah. Yeah, nice. I mean, the first 10 minutes, I literally texted him.
[00:03:49.540] - Chris Nordyke
I was bummed I missed it, dude. I was getting my blood sucked out of my arm.
[00:03:52.240] - Brandon Reece
Bro, and you know what? It actually... You should definitely go back to the recording because the first 10 minutes is a master class from Colin. How you stage set, how you hold people accountable to where you're about to go. But do it in such a way that there was a little sarcasm in there. There was a little just... You'll see. You got to see it, but there was these two moments in the first few minutes of the exchange where he had done the whole, How is everybody? Let's get to know each other really quick. He did a really cool little icebreaker, which I thought was great. He asked us where we grew up and favorite movie. Anyways, it was just really fun. But then right after that, he locks us back in. He basically draws the line like, I I need you here. He tells this little story that rallies around the idea when you're not present. Then he's having fun, and then boom, he hits it, so I want you here. Anyways, he was great. Macaulin is great. He gave us a bunch of ton of really great content for self-sourcing, for lead generation.
[00:04:45.460] - Brandon Reece
Obviously, as consultants, we got to build our book of business, so it's super relevant for us, but it was relative to everybody. But I think what was really fun, again, it was a good reminder to have all the consultants on the call, to have Colin doing some really great teaching. He's outside of the organization, fresh voice, fresh perspective. It was just fun for a moment all of a sudden to go, wow, this is neat. I've got six, seven people in this call that are doing some training, and it just made me go back to where you were talking about. Look, there's a reality check, I think sometimes, that can be very difficult in business ownership. At least this is true for me, where these two things can be true at the same time. I mean, you and I have been talking about this so much, but one of them being like, our company is not where it needs to be. We made investments this year that didn't net the result we were anticipating. And yet, I am absolutely bullish and confident and excited about next. And those two things literally live in tension simultaneously, and they are both 100% true at the same time.
[00:05:47.100] - Chris Nordyke
Well, and it's also just interesting, too, the longer you're in business, the more you start to identify the trends in your business. Yet again, we had our Q4, we onboarded more new clients than in any other time this year. I think that was true last year as well. It's like for some reason, I think people just generally have business coaching, consulting, whatever on their brain as they start to plan for the upcoming year. They got big ideas and not sure necessarily the how to do it. But yeah, man, it's been an intense year. What would you say?
[00:06:17.920] - Brandon Reece
I can't even believe, bro, what is it? The fourth of December? I know. I feel like you and I were in this room recording a Here comes 2025 episode, and now we're in this room and I'm going, It's the fourth of December. What the hell happened?
[00:06:34.140] - Chris Nordyke
Well, a lot of things happened. It's crazy. Well, a lot of things happened this year. I mean, one, you and I started dividing and conquering. We started traveling. That's right. Individually. I mean, you and I, I think we only had three or four combined trips this year.
[00:06:45.150] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, I think so.
[00:06:47.120] - Chris Nordyke
Super rare. Last 60 days. I think in the last 60 days, I had 15 days of travel, maybe 20. That's been the pace for you all year, really. Dude, we've traveled more this year. Collectively, we've traveled more this year than any previous year in my whole life, for sure. But yeah, we're not turning this into a year in review, are we?
[00:07:08.120] - Brandon Reece
No, I don't. We're going to save everybody from that.
[00:07:10.820] - Chris Nordyke
Is there anything that you've been... I mean, with this added intensity and expenditure, are there any personal rhythms or tools or things that you've been trying to leverage to gain some control or to restabilize, you said, in these last couple of months?
[00:07:26.140] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, I'm really hating you for asking me that question right now because you know we're committed to honesty.
[00:07:33.260] - Chris Nordyke
Well, I'm in it, too.
[00:07:34.360] - Brandon Reece
I got to tell you the truth, not what I want people to hear. Listen, dude, I am absolutely getting my ass kicked right now. Here's what happened, and this might be relatable to some people. Our restaurant team, many people know, is based in Florida. You and I are right here in the smack dab, middle of Oregon. Floodlight HQ, downtown Corvallis, Oregon. You couldn't get farther away, time zone, weather, all the things. What's been happening is our team over at FP, they grind. They work their butts off. I'm trying to be super guarded about not doing a ton of communication with the online team members after 5: 00 or 6: 00 PM their time. Yeah, of course. Which is three us over here. Now, granted between you and Steve and Wayne, we end up going all night long. But I'm trying to be cognizant of that. I had this really bright idea because I'm an early riser. If I'm not up by 4: 00 AM, it is very weird and rare and abnormal, and it's not even an alarm clock most of the time. But my point is, I'm thinking, Oh, you I'm an early riser.
[00:08:31.380] - Brandon Reece
This will be great. Why don't I lock in on this 6: 00 to 3: 00 rhythm where I'm available all in, all the things. Then what I'll do is I'll take a break, I'll go work out, and then I'll have a couple more hours in the evening. I'm going to putz and take care of some things and then dig in and have dinner and spend time with my wife. Well, the problem is between both teams, there's so much going on that everyone is trying to aggressively make-It never stops. Movement on that literally it starts at 4 AM and it's not stopping. I'm not getting out of here at 3: 00 to go work out. It never does. It's just a nonstop. And so literally now, dude, I worked out with you more when we traveled last time than I have since I've been home. I'm struggling to get back into the gym. When I was wrestling with my calendar, I'm like, Dude, do I go back to the AM and just figure it out? I think I'm going to have to, which means I may end up having to get into the gym at 4: 30 AM because I'm not stopping at 3: 00 for a break.
[00:09:29.640] - Brandon Reece
It's It's not happening.
[00:09:30.600] - Chris Nordyke
I've been messing with the same thing. I've just accepted, dude, that I don't think I'm going to be able to pick one and stick to it. I have some days. There's some evidence. I know you have that. So Monday morning, I had a 5: 00 AM call with the sales team because, well, I don't want to have a call with them in the middle of the sales day. We preach, protect the golden hours. I don't want to hold a call at seven o'clock, my time, and they're still in the office at 10: 00. Yeah, that sucks. So 5: 00 AM, you start things out. There's no room for the gym prior to I need an hour. Oh, I need...
[00:10:01.760] - Brandon Reece
Yeah. Well, no matter what I do, I've got at least a half hour of driving each way. If I come from here, it's 50 minutes.
[00:10:08.090] - Chris Nordyke
Dude, you got to build out that home gym, bro.
[00:10:10.340] - Brandon Reece
I know, but you know what? I had it, and mine is pretty solid. But the problem is motivation I get in. I get into the gym with those young studs, dude, and I'm like, no, you're not.
[00:10:19.600] - Chris Nordyke
It's all the motivation.
[00:10:20.540] - Brandon Reece
But I got some work to do there.
[00:10:22.370] - Chris Nordyke
I've just landed on some mornings. Flow with it. It's 5 AM to 6 AM. Some mornings or some days it's 4: 00 to 5: 00 in the afternoon or it's five to six and dinner and whatever.
[00:10:34.200] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, it's definitely been extremely challenging. I think that most leaders... I was starting to get a grip on floodlight in terms of time spend, where, how to leverage that, get consistent. I knew there would be... We didn't sit around in a dark room somewhere and act as if partnering with our team and FP was going to be breezy. But and, you always get a little bit more of an awakening than you anticipate in your planning. I I think what I definitely am a little overwhelmed by now is just the reorganization of priorities and targeting because there's so much vision. We could do this, we want to move faster here, and then, oh, and floodlight has all these things that we want to accomplish. I just now more than ever, and again, you know this, you talk about it before you do it, but now more than ever, I'm having to reorient a little bit back around targeting and priorities. I was on... I had a really great chat with Mark Davis this week, earlier this week. I love that dude, first off. But talk about a guy that's had to figure out how to prioritize.
[00:11:35.660] - Brandon Reece
He runs this massive commercially-based disaster restoration firm, Signal. He owns and runs the pure and clean franchise, which just hit 500 plus locations. I mean, crazy. Bunkers. It was just fun to talk to him and just hear him talk about how clear he ended up having to get about what he's going to be good at and what he's going to own and all the things that he just determined that in order for him and his teams to be successful, that he needs to hire and delegate. What's challenging, I think, for a lot of entrepreneurs is, and depending on where you're at in the development of your companies, something like what Mark Davis does isn't available to me. Not the full version, whatever it looks like for him.
[00:12:18.990] - Chris Nordyke
Specializing out all these roles.
[00:12:20.560] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, exactly. I don't have the funding to fill in every air gap. Takes a lot of scale. Yeah, a lot of scale. Most of the people that listen to our show, they don't have all resource. They can literally just buy every position they need to. But it's just a good reminder, though, to see and hear what it looks like at scale so that you understand every step, every gain you can make, is just you getting a little bit closer to that version of what you end up having to do if you're going to be successful at scale across more than one major platform. In my mind, I know I can do it, but I'm seeing what it looks like to land, and I'm assessing that against my current spot. You've seen the delta?
[00:12:59.300] - Chris Nordyke
You're just like, Oh, shit.
[00:13:00.910] - Brandon Reece
I'm like, Hmm, we got some work to do. Just like everybody that listens, we have our own personal work to do, and we're going to continue to lean in. But you know what, man? I told my wife this last night, I'm more tired than I've ever fucking been in my life, and yet I'm borderline happier than I've ever been in my life. Claire, her episode is going to come out pretty soon. She talked about how her personality, it's like she's like that- Border collie. Yeah, that border collie that will get themselves in trouble. They'll eat the furniture if they don't have something to do, if they're not working, they've got a mission and something in front of them. I am like that. I'm like that more sometimes than even I think my subconscious wants me to think. I'm in that space where, dude, there ain't no furniture chewing right now. I barely have time to talk and use the bathroom, and I'm happy. I like it. It's weird.
[00:13:47.960] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, I relate to that. I think maybe I have a little more golden retriever in me. Because I totally get what you're saying. The newness, the adventure, the challenge is It's really good. It's good. It's just fundamentally, I relate to what you're saying for sure. I realized one of my best friends, I haven't hung out with him in six weeks. I used to see him a couple of times a week, one to two times a week. It's just so happened. His business, the company he works with, he's a pharma guy, just went public about six weeks ago as well. So there. So his... Oh, yeah. He's trying to max out his options and do all the For sure. And so his career and his businesses have just gone crazy as well. But I feel the weight of that. It's like we've talked a lot about this. My friendships... Well, it's like Claire said, actually, in this episode, we just finished, there is something important about that balance. It's like, I think a lot of us are really oriented towards achieving, creating, building. We can... There's always a plethora of excuses of why right now I don't have time, to I don't have space for all the quality time with my family or with my friends that I need to, and that's just the way it is.
[00:15:06.330] - Chris Nordyke
Totally get that. I think most owners feel the tension of that. I feel it. I miss my friends a little bit.
[00:15:12.600] - Brandon Reece
This is where your and I's differences really show up, right? Again, it's not good, bad, right, wrong. It's just this is where it shows up, where, and you know this, I spent most of this year invited to your cuss and discuss on Wednesdays. You've still never come. I've literally never gone. Here's the sad part. I've now met almost every single individual that's part of it, and I like all of them. But I found a million excuses why I couldn't do it. Now I'm in a position where legitimately, I know you guys are having trouble making the cuss and discuss.
[00:15:42.800] - Chris Nordyke
You missed the window, bro.
[00:15:43.770] - Brandon Reece
I missed the window, and I'm like, Okay, but this is where we're different a little bit. Those aren't the parts I'm missing. The parts I'm missing is the moments right now where I don't feel the pressure of if you're not accomplishing something very specific in this minute, you're probably getting farther behind. That's the part that's a little overwhelming for me. I miss when it was just floodlight, having way more bandwidth for that free space, I'm going to call it, right?
[00:16:11.400] - Chris Nordyke
Dude, I did that.
[00:16:12.100] - Brandon Reece
That's the harder part for me.
[00:16:13.370] - Chris Nordyke
I did that on Saturday. Oh, It was really hard for me, too. Yeah. So Saturday, and I've also... I started to get hit with this sickness over the weekend. I'm on the meant. I'm better. Which is so much better now. Yesterday, I was absolutely a joke. But as a business owner, you don't get to fucking call in sick. It's just not... I think every owner listening to this, and probably even most senior leaders, are like, Call in sick? I mean, I might work from home, but it's like taking a day off because you're sick. It's just not something that most people do. But On Saturday, my wife was out of town for something. Both of my boys were in Mexico on a church thing, building houses. My 20-year-old is doing whatever she's doing, and I literally had nothing planned. I started out my day Basically, I made breakfast for myself by myself, listening to a podcast on my headphones, moving around the kitchen, making breakfast. Then I turned on the sauna, and I gave it an hour to heat up. Then I went out there. At first, I built a fire on the deck, which is right outside of my sauna.
[00:17:16.200] - Chris Nordyke
I built a fire. Then I went in the sauna, and I got out of the sauna after 30 minutes. I sat in front of the fire, and I kept sitting in front of the fire.
[00:17:22.760] - Brandon Reece
This does sound pretty nice.
[00:17:24.310] - Chris Nordyke
Then I took a shower and I rinsed off the sauna sweat. Then I went for a walk with the dog, but I took the long route. That had to hit reset. Well, it did. It was a yes and like, halfway through the day, I was still feeling this nagging pressure. You should be doing something. Oh, yeah. You should be doing something. Then my buddy Ali called me. This is the pharma guy. Works for an incredible company, by the way, called Billion to One. They just went public, and it's an incredible business. He's in Nashville today. He's in DC tomorrow. He was in Hawaii for a conference a week and a half ago. He's just all over the place. But I called him on Saturday, and he was still in Hawaii. I'm like, Dude, do you ever have a hard time just relaxing, doing nothing? He said, Oh, my God. Yeah, I feel so guilty. I'm like, I feel guilt, too. He said, But why the hell do we do any of this if we can't sometimes just be? What is the freaking point? I thought, Yeah, dude, that is- There's a lot of truth to that.
[00:18:22.860] - Chris Nordyke
That is so right. It is so easy for me to just be perpetually in building mode, even With regard to my family, it's like scheduling out all our time, doing stuff. It's like I realized in that moment, how much of our family activity together this year has been around doing stuff. I versus just being. Last year, we had a lot more of this. We had a lot more of sitting on the back deck together, staring at the fire, just with the Bluetooth boom box sitting on the ground next to us, listening to some tunes, bringing some snacks out, drinking it, waking up in the morning on Saturday, and just having coffee together for the first couple hours. I realized, boy, that has not been as frequent.
[00:19:11.890] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, you and Kare's ability to do that.
[00:19:14.100] - Chris Nordyke
I think, too, if I'm really honest, even with all the extra demands on us right now, I think in some ways it's just laziness that I haven't created space for that. It's just like I get to 4: 00 or five o'clock on a lot of days or six o'clock or whatever the day looks like, and I'm just so mentally spent from all the context shifting. You know what I mean? Between the two businesses, but also just the areas of the businesses that we're working on and all the things like me switching between sales and team management, whatever. I thought a lot of times I just check out. It's like by the time I go home, I just check out. But check out not in the best way. I'm like, I mean, through my phone. Yeah, I go longer breaks on the toilet. It's like I heard John, there's this guy, Dr. I think his name is John Delaney. He works for Ramsey. Do you ever watch his stuff? He's a marriage and family therapist guy. I don't think so. Anyway, he's really good. But he talks about this. He posted a meme and he was like, Man, you're not fool anybody with your 40 minutes bathroom breaks.
[00:20:15.920] - Chris Nordyke
It doesn't take anybody 40 minutes to take a leak or go poop. Everybody knows you. Let's be serious. If it takes you that long to go poop, you probably need to eat more fiber. We all know what you're doing.
[00:20:25.580] - Brandon Reece
You need a doctor on call.
[00:20:26.800] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, we know you're all doomscrolling. I'm like, Are you a business that's under 5 million in sales, and you're just now getting ready to try and scale your company up and hit some of those targets you've always wanted to hit, but now you've got to build a sales team?
[00:20:40.260] - Chris Nordyke
Or maybe you just hired your first sales rep, but you don't really know how to manage them. How do you manage, lead, train, develop a sales rep? Floodlight has a solution for you now. So we can actually assign your sales rep a turnkey VP of sales that will help them create a sales blueprint, their own personal sales plan for your market. They'll have weekly one-on-ones with that sales rep to coach, mentor them, hold them accountable to the plan. And they'll also have a monthly owners meeting where they'll meet with you or your general manager and review the progress of that sales rep, their plan to actual results, what performance improvement they're working on with them. Also let them know, Hey, you might, they're doing really well. Maybe we should think of hiring a second sales rep. They're going to have that one-to-one advice for you as an owner or senior leader on the team as well. How great would that be to have a bolt-on sales manager for your one sales rep, and it's only 2,500 bucks a month. If you're interested in talking more about that, reach out. Let's grab some time and let's talk shop.
[00:21:36.600] - Chris Nordyke
Our floodlight clients this last year in 2024 generated over $250 million in revenue, supported by, advised by an industry expert who's owned and operated a business just like you. So take action. Don't kick the can down the road. Start with our business health and value assessment, and let's unlock the next chapter of your success story.
[00:21:57.440] - Brandon Reece
You know one thing I've noticed along those same lines. There's two things I'm wrestling with a little bit right now. These are completely unrelated. So one is I find myself when I'm starting to get into that space where I'm outpacing my ability to refuel, I do find that the free moments are not free moments, the type where you recover well.
[00:22:18.030] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, I'm not using them well.
[00:22:19.000] - Brandon Reece
No, I end up doing what you're talking about, the doomscrolling. It's the distraction. You know what I mean? It's the Janna put on landman because I don't want to try to have another the conversation right now. I can't. I'm just so spent that it's not a healthy break.
[00:22:36.400] - Chris Nordyke
It's not a healthy break. I don't know how to say it. No, no, no. Well, okay, do you ever do this? I found myself, God, when was this? Maybe this was Sunday, maybe it was even Monday evening, I forget. I came home and I just needed to rest. What I really needed to do was I usually do dinner. My wife and I probably split it 50/50. What I should have done was make dinner, put in the oven so it's warm. I probably should have just literally I set my phone on the charger and laid down on our couch and just laid there. Probably, stared at the ceiling, taking a nap, listened to an album, put a Black Keyes album on, whatever. But I didn't. You know what's funny is my head went to, I I'll be doing something. And so what did I start doing? I started zoom scrolling through podcasts, looking for a podcast so I should learn something. Oh, yes. I'm going through all the usual suspects, MF CEO and Diary of a CEO. I'm like, but none of it. You're so funny. It's just so true. But none of it is like, because I just need to rest.
[00:23:32.200] - Chris Nordyke
But I'm fighting against my need to rest. Like, I should be doing something productive. And then after that doesn't work for a while, then, oh, maybe I just need to entertain myself. And so then I'm going to my YouTube channels and I'm going into Paramount. Like, is there another episode of Landman? It's hard for me to get out of that frenetic brain.
[00:23:48.910] - Brandon Reece
You know what I want to do? This is interesting. This context shifting. You mentioned that, and I actually want to hang in this pocket for a minute because I think that is what's crushing me right now. I realized, and it's making me really want to slow down and audit the business. I'm predominantly talking about FP right now just because it's the most chaotic because it's restoration and it's significantly larger.
[00:24:13.320] - Chris Nordyke
It's big and people all over It's a place.
[00:24:16.800] - Brandon Reece
I think the reason I want to hang in this pocket is because I think it's super applicable to almost all leaders. When as a consulting firm, for instance, we're working with all these different kinds of clients, different size, scope of businesses, and then, of course, our own operation, sometimes we are blown away by how we can't make progress. Even though we're talking about very smart people, people that care a lot, they're putting in obscene hours. There's not very many owners or leaders in restoration or single trade environments where people aren't working 10, 12 plus hour days. I don't witness it, maybe somebody does. Efforts being put in. I know you and I, I know what I'm fucking working right now, and it ain't no goddamn 10 hours. It's a lot more. It's just always, yeah. Excuse the French, I got a little emotional. But this context shifting, what I'm realizing is how draining it is. Now I'm going, okay, wait a minute. How many of my people in their own level, not comparing to me or somebody else, in their space, their role inside our companies, how worn out are they getting from the context shifting versus the work?
[00:25:24.540] - Brandon Reece
Dude, I'm struggling right now because I don't have a clear answer yet. Again, because of all One of the different whining that we've just done so far is, I'm also having a tough time slowing down to create enough space to just sit in that thought and analyze and just think. What is the problem? I don't know about other companies, but I'm just going to walk through some examples of what's causing the context shift. We have Slack channels inside our company. We have five locations, and we have lots of different service lines. You've got everything from MIT teams in a specific market talking on Slack. You've got an Ops channel talking to OMS on the Slack. You've got sales conversations that are happening. Again, in this zone, you also have five of these things happening in five different locations and markets. That's one space. In order for me to really stay up to speed and be present, it's It's really impossible. In my particular seat right now, that's not where I should be anyways. I don't belong in Slack channels all day. That's not my role, but it's a company I care about deeply. Obviously, there's things happening in those channels that relate to giving me insight and ideas of red flags and concerns, blah, blah, blah.
[00:26:35.520] - Brandon Reece
Anyways, I'm thinking to myself like, I would like to be more in, in Slack. There's that. Then we've got these email chains that cover the gamut from insurance to HR to operations in two different companies. Then on top of that, that's all happening with five different locations and five different locations. All these things. Then I'm realizing when I look at my calendar in a A single week, we're doing things like recording shows, which means we then walk in, we're now this emcee, we're interviewing a guest, we need to understand that guest, we need to be present and aware during that recording time. Thank you, Hunter. Thank you, Hunter. She makes all that physically possible. Then I might get into an email about consulting, and then I get into an email that's sales-oriented for floodlight, and then I get into a conversation that's sales-oriented for FP. What makes that hard is not the concepts, it's not the work ethic or workload, it's not even focused sometimes. We're starting to get pretty damn good at understanding how do we keep the right thing in front of us. It's the constant context shift of consultant, owner, entrepreneur, sales-oriented data Management.
[00:27:46.240] - Chris Nordyke
Ceo, counselor.
[00:27:47.420] - Brandon Reece
Ceo, counselor. It's like, it is so crazy. And so part of me is going, okay, now I have a new level of motivation to try to zoom out to 30,000 feet and look how our businesses are governed and say, is there any way that we can reduce the context shifting for our personnel? Because if it's this exhausting for me, there's no doubt it's having a negative impact on my people, or at least it's doing something to create less than optimal results. There's that. I'm trying to create context. That's happening. Now I'm like, I've got this new fervor of, one, we've got to adopt more AI into our organizations because that's one way you start to get rid of context shift is let the robots the dumb shit and stop making your people shift from talking to a client to now they're doing data entry to now they're over here sending this email. We're lunging into that priority. But then there's this, and then, of course, I want to audit and I want to see, is there a way for systems and process for us to reduce that contact shifting? All that's going on. But then over here, I've got all three of my closest friends now, business partners, fellow operators.
[00:28:54.480] - Brandon Reece
I love and respect you guys so much that I don't want to be the guy that's not on. When you've got You got guys like Steve and you got guys like Wayne and guys like you that are in the trenches helping do and build and grow. It's like when there's a conversation at 8: 00 AM or 8: 00 PM, I almost don't care what it's about. It's like, well, these are my friends, these are my battle buddies. These are my operation partners. What is it about? What are they doing? I got to contribute. It's just this weird dichotomy almost where I want to, as a good leader, create better spacing, create a more realistic, marathon-oriented operating system inside our businesses. I'm torn because I know I need that for myself. But then, man, I love yaking it up. I love problem solving. I love thinking about, yesterday we had this problem, and by 8: 00 PM the next day through conversation and skill set and movement, that problem is going away. You know what I mean? I love that so much that it's hard for me to slow down long enough to address the thing I know is healthier for me.
[00:29:55.040] - Brandon Reece
It's that border call in you. It is.
[00:29:56.680] - Chris Nordyke
I feel that. It's a bit of a tangent. Going from down low into superficial. But I have been... There's two things I've been doing that I feel like have been helping me a little bit in focus because I feel like attention is constantly being redirected or pulled. Yeah. Just constantly. It's like part of what we're describing. Yeah, for sure. There is always something going on in one of the businesses or with a client or just all over the place or at home or whatever that is pulling my attention away. It's particularly I would self-identify as somebody who, since we're in the age of identifying the attributes that make us who we are, I'm an ADD guy. I've always been one of those ADD dudes. I think all of us have ADD. I think that's a product of, I don't know, all the hormones in our food or chemical. I don't know what it is, but I think we all have the problem. But something I've been experimenting with is fasting. I told you about this. Yeah, you did. So you can't fast every day, obviously. But I've been fasting 24 hours once a week. And this week I got sick, and so it But I found that to be really, really helpful.
[00:31:04.340] - Chris Nordyke
I've done it for three weeks now. The other thing that some people listening to this podcast will be like, Well, yeah, dude, seriously, you're just figuring this out? I started experimenting with nicotine. I noticed. I've got these little nic. This show is not sponsored by Nic Nac Naturals. Yeah. But so here's my thing- Or are we sponsoring nicotine? No, we're not. We're not a pro-tobacco podcast. It's not tobacco, obviously. Listener warning. It's funny. I never, ever was exposed to really any substances or chemicals when I was growing up. I never got into nicotine. In fact, my very few experience with nicotine usually ended up with me lying on the floor, either next to a pile of puke or feeling like I was going to create one, whether it was cigarettes or a... There was probably... Yeah, it was probably like, yes. Oh, yeah, you had one of those.
[00:31:50.540] - Brandon Reece
I have several stories.
[00:31:51.540] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah. Company party at the Lake, and I'm puking my guts out in an innertube, paddling away from the rest of the...
[00:31:59.480] - Brandon Reece
And If I recall right, you lost a really expensive pair of sunglasses. Yes, I did.
[00:32:04.280] - Chris Nordyke
Yes, I did, in fact, at the bottom of that lake. I loved those glasses. Anyway, I've had a mixed relationship with nicotine. But we were at our... First of all, I borrowed my sister's Nik Vape on a family vacation. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is what everybody raves about. I get it.
[00:32:21.390] - Brandon Reece
You're starting to pick it up.
[00:32:22.830] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, because I found it was very focusing. Really? In a particular way, yes. The problem with nicotine in my experience, my limited experience now is it's very short-acting. After that experience with my sister's vape, which was the best, vaping nicotine is the best. I love it. I see why everybody has one in their hand now. But of course, I think we're all becoming aware of it's not the greatest thing for your health, for your lungs. But anyway, so I got these. I started with some gum. Then the first time I took gum, it was a three milligram piece of gum, and I found myself on the floor again in a public restroom, laying regretting my life. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was terrible. Full body sweat, sweating through my clothes. Terrible. Finally, anyway, I've been- Dude, okay, one question for you.
[00:33:09.050] - Brandon Reece
Why do you keep trying so hard?
[00:33:11.050] - Chris Nordyke
Well, because I keep hearing from professionals like Alex Hormozy, who doses nicotine every single day when he starts his work session. Basically, every other entrepreneur I respect uses Nic vapes, or most of them are moving away from vapes to pouches or lozenges. But it's like, I think everybody listening, most thought leaders and business leaders are on nicotine.
[00:33:34.200] - Brandon Reece
Most of them. Oh, really? I don't know these things. I'm in the dark. Oh, yeah, bro. I'm in the nicotine dark.
[00:33:38.800] - Chris Nordyke
I mean, Tucker Carlson has his own nicotine pouches.
[00:33:41.880] - Brandon Reece
You're kidding me.
[00:33:42.720] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, dude. Anyway, I'm not advocating for any of this. Obviously, every one of us, I think, knows how highly addictive nicotine is, but it's a really powerful newtropic. And I found that. And so today, I break these little three milligram tabs in half. Okay. And it's just about... Right, what do we have? Is that a calendar reminder?
[00:33:59.480] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, that's My calendar reminder just popped up that I'm supposed to be in the gym right now.
[00:34:03.220] - Chris Nordyke
Meanwhile, I've already made this whole episode about nicotine, 40% of the conversation. Anyway, but I just want to say that because I used to be very anti-nicotine and also had a negative experience every time I tried it. But I have been finding this to be very useful when I need to hunker down and do linear work. Really? I don't ever have, and maybe some other people relate to this.
[00:34:24.880] - Brandon Reece
Just get you laser focus.
[00:34:26.290] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah. If I have meetings, that's a great day for me every time. If I have a day full of meetings, I might be tired at the end of the day, but in terms of focus, it's like that's not hard for me. If I need to talk or be a part of a conversation, generally speaking, I can get in the pocket more or less, especially if I'm directly engaged in that meeting, I have a role in it. It's the data entry, analysis, email reading, clearing out my inbox, that stuff that I tend to struggle with the most. And nicotine, I find, is very, very helpful in me settling down and doing single task work.
[00:35:00.350] - Brandon Reece
Yeah. I just saw a post, I think, from Hormozy where he's silenced. He puts in-Puts his cans on. Yeah, noise blocker headphones. Sits in a dark room. It's a tiny room. I think he literally has a closet in his house.
[00:35:14.590] - Chris Nordyke
There's nothing else in it.
[00:35:15.500] - Brandon Reece
There's nothing else in it. He throws in a pouch and goes to work.
[00:35:18.980] - Chris Nordyke
I'm a fan. I'm also a a health nut. Everybody knows that. I'm very cautious about how I use it. I'm limiting myself to, one, I will not buy myself a Nickbabe, but I have started using it socially. I find I even when I'm with a friend and they happen to have one, I'm like, Hey, can I have some? I'll, once or twice a week, perhaps, maybe on vacation, like the Canadians. All Canadians smoke, by the way. They smoke on vacations. Do you know that? Did all of you know that? Non-canadians? Yeah. Just ask Mike. Good people, bad people, every Canadian smokes on vacation. Good people and bad people. It's not just the roughians. It's not the rough... It's like everybody. But anyway, so... But I have some rules, right? I won't buy vapes. I won't buy cigarettes. I don't I don't borrow vapes. I don't borrow cigarettes.
[00:36:02.060] - Brandon Reece
It's hard to give those back.
[00:36:03.060] - Chris Nordyke
But I will take these little nicotine tablets at work, and I find it helps.
[00:36:07.620] - Brandon Reece
That's crazy. I did notice that when we first started recording today, I sat down and noticed you had that. It was like, oh, look at... I've had two halves today. Look at guy, guy over here. It was amazing. Yeah, that's not... I haven't jumped in on that. I'm just trying to keep the intake, the food intake, the right kind.
[00:36:21.100] - Chris Nordyke
I don't feel like you're being holy about it. No, it's okay.
[00:36:23.330] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, no. I don't feel that judgment. Yeah, I hope you don't feel the judgment that I'm feeling. I mean, I- Sorry.
[00:36:28.790] - Chris Nordyke
You definitely haven't been a joiner. I've socially tried to pass you the vape. It feels good.
[00:36:32.780] - Brandon Reece
It's nice. No, I can't do it. You know why? Because I'm afraid of getting... Here's the thing, dude. I chewed for eight years.
[00:36:37.690] - Chris Nordyke
Oh, it's a military thing.
[00:36:38.750] - Brandon Reece
That was the absolute worst thing ever in my life to try to stop. It was absolutely miserable.
[00:36:44.840] - Chris Nordyke
I'm trying to avoid that.
[00:36:46.100] - Brandon Reece
I just am like, I'm on eggshells when it comes to that stuff.
[00:36:50.070] - Chris Nordyke
But I'm using it as a tool.
[00:36:51.370] - Brandon Reece
That's right. It's a tool, a tool only. What was the direction?
[00:36:55.480] - Chris Nordyke
Well, I just think we've been reflecting on whatever. The last 60 days, we've bought a business, we have continued to grow our other business. We've done all the things. It's like, how are we coping? I have been going in the sauna a lot more, too. Oh, you have?
[00:37:09.760] - Brandon Reece
Yeah. No, it's been a challenging two months. I don't see the challenge reducing in the next 2-3 months. I think we're going to have a pretty heavy lift in front of us next year in general. But I am really confident that in the next six months, we will begin to see some healthier patterns that I'm less concerned will prevent us from us from finding a little bit more balanced.
[00:37:31.980] - Chris Nordyke
I think you should...
[00:37:32.840] - Brandon Reece
Certainly overwhelming.
[00:37:33.710] - Chris Nordyke
I think you should make a renewed commitment to coming and hanging out with my friends and I and prioritize some outside friendships in your life. Yes.
[00:37:41.420] - Brandon Reece
Because you've done such a good job with it recently. You know what? Where I am finding a little bit, I think healthy engagement actually is my wife and I, because now she has some dual roles as well now, and so her workload increased substantially as well. Man, I'll tell you what, one of the things that I've seen really healthy happening between my wife and I that I just think has been great is because we know how insane things are right now, there's a lot of proactivity happening on both sides of, Hey, what do you think? Wednesday, Thursday, we do this thing. What are you thinking about dinner? It's not the when are you going to be home or can you do this? It's more of this partnering. Hey, things are insane right now, so let's just be proactive and talk about the latter end of this week. Let's just identify upfront, what can we do to maybe create a little space? Or it's going to be a rough week, but hey, do you think Thursday night we can block out two hours? Just giving each other some grace right now, that has actually been super helpful in this particular phase.
[00:38:47.570] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, that's cute, dude. We still haven't been out to the woods, though.
[00:38:50.820] - Brandon Reece
No, we had not even.
[00:38:52.030] - Chris Nordyke
You and I were pretty motivated to go have some time in the woods together, but still hasn't happened. So good for you. I couldn't even join my- Good for you with Janna, though, on dinner.
[00:38:59.400] - Brandon Reece
I I couldn't even join my friend to help him pick out his new bow, which totally broke my heart because that's always fine. That's too bad, too. But no, it's a busy season for certain. I don't think that's untrue for most of the people that listen to our show, but I'm excited about it, dude. I like this grind. I don't want to grind the exact same way forever, but man, I like being productive. It feels good under my skin, and so I'm addicted to it. I don't know if I'll ever slow down too far. All right. Maybe when I'm dead. All right.
[00:39:30.260] - Chris Nordyke
Well, this golden retriever is ready to go hang out in the woods when you're ready. When the border collie has done enough work, we'll find some time to go out in the woods.
[00:39:39.050] - Brandon Reece
Oh, dude, random thought. Okay, random thought, actually. Maybe we can shut down the rabbit trail.
[00:39:43.600] - Chris Nordyke
I was going to talk about guns, too, Well, this one might get you fired up.
[00:39:47.140] - Brandon Reece
Now, I'm going out on a limb here. So Cameron Harold, do you remember that name? Of course. Wayne is part of his COO network. Cool group. Between Floodlight and FP, we that would be a good thing for Wayne to participate, and so we supported him in that, and I think it's awesome. Well, long and short of it, after you've been in that program for a while, they'll grab the associated CEOs and Cameron meets with everybody, and he's just like, Hey, let's talk about you for a minute. You're the other part of this relationship. Anyways, as part of that, Cameron was just... He'd ask us a series of questions, blah, blah. Then as he's commenting on some of the things that we're saying or experiencing, he had talked very intentionally about he's a huge supporter of, is it not ketamine? Is it ketamine?
[00:40:35.210] - Chris Nordyke
I don't know. It's psilocybin or ketamine therapy?
[00:40:38.300] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, ketamine therapy. Okay. I think is what he was referencing. Sure.
[00:40:42.040] - Chris Nordyke
I have friends who've done that.
[00:40:43.400] - Brandon Reece
Yeah. He was talking about, I want to say, and I'm sorry, Cameron, if I'm speaking out of term, but I want to say he is a believer in some of the experiences that he's had, but he was referencing all these hitters. I'm talking names of the names that have found that to be unbelievably powerful. Well, one of the people in the call, the CEO's in the call, is a company that that's what they do. They help support people.
[00:41:08.020] - Chris Nordyke
We have a clinic here in Corvallis. Yeah.
[00:41:09.400] - Brandon Reece
It does. They help people in this stuff. I was just blown away by... I guess I'm piggybacking on your whole nicotine thing.
[00:41:17.800] - Chris Nordyke
You're hearing the testimonials. Yeah. Holy shit.
[00:41:20.320] - Brandon Reece
It's of people that are way out in front of where I'm. You know what I mean? It tends to open up your mind a little bit when you're watching people participate in something that may have a stigma. You respect their output. Yeah, and you just... I mean, these people are hammers, and they're using this, and it's part of how they're keeping balance with the emotional demand of entrepreneurship and multi-company ownership, startup phases, going public. Remaining open-minded. Yeah, it helps them remain their creativity, some of their agility. It sounded like from my minimal limited perspective, there's almost like a dumping of emotional baggage that tends to load up over time. It's like these people have a ritual. Some of them are doing it a couple of times a year as this really healthy way to hit reset and then go back at it. Dude, I'm going to tell you, I'm starting to think very seriously about what would it look like to experiencing something like that where there's a lot more science now surrounding it, there's a lot more health and clinical engagement, and the environment is right. If there is a way for us as high producing leaders, high action-oriented people, to get in an emotional, mental reset where the tank actually goes all the way back down to E, that is powerful because I think part of my stress with what we're doing and part of what I was referring to in terms of the context shifting, it feels like the stress stress tank.
[00:42:46.180] - Brandon Reece
It just it rallies really quickly. Then the little thing I do on a single Saturday morning or one Thursday night with my wife, it never is enough. Isn't it enough to get it back to- No. You don't start Friday morning with E. You start Friday morning with a hair of tank left, and you blast that thing in the first 20 minutes of your day. The whole day, you're just overspilling with the stress and the pressure mentally and emotionally. It's a psychedelic. Yeah, it is.
[00:43:13.580] - Chris Nordyke
It's interesting because I have a friend who he did like 12 weeks at a clinic where he'd go in once a week and then have a...
[00:43:20.410] - Brandon Reece
We are going to get some folks on the show this year, by the way.
[00:43:22.900] - Chris Nordyke
We need to do a whole episode on this on this psychedelic medicine thing. I mean, it's not new. It's been 10 years of It's very fascinating. We got to do a whole show about it.
[00:43:33.140] - Brandon Reece
I don't want to shy away from talking about subjects like that. For some of our listeners, there'll be many where they're like, Yeah, dude.
[00:43:39.100] - Chris Nordyke
It's come up more and more in our work with clients, people asking about it, hearing about it. I hear more and more owner CEOs talking about psilocybin mushrooms, ketamine. There's couples. I've met more couples, too, that have received MDMA therapy with their spouses and their marriages. It's pretty... We're living in interesting times.
[00:44:02.470] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, man. That is something now coming after that show or that meeting with those guys. I'm like, We got to get some folks on the show this next year. Yeah, it'd be really cool. I know you've wanted to do that, too.
[00:44:12.800] - Chris Nordyke
It's fascinating. It really is. Yeah. Okay, everybody. Well, you want more fascinating stuff? Just we'll see you at the next show. That's right. Later. Bye.
[00:44:23.060] - Brandon Reece
All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart, and Boots.
[00:44:27.800] - Chris Nordyke
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.