[00:00:00.100] - Chris Nordyke
Wow. How many of you have listened to the Head, Heart Boots podcast?
[00:00:04.600] - Chris Nordyke
I can't tell you that reaction, how much that means to us.
[00:00:07.800] - Chris Nordyke
Welcome back to the Head, Heart Boots podcast. I'm Chris.
[00:00:11.420] - Brandon Reece
And I'm Brandon.
[00:00:12.530] - Brandon Reece
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.
[00:00:21.130] - Chris Nordyke
I'm noticing that and I really appreciate it. I thought you did that on purpose.
[00:00:24.080] - Brandon Reece
No, I, I don't.
[00:00:25.770] - Brandon Reece
I didn't. And I, I am not happy with it.
[00:00:28.410] - Brandon Reece
Well, my friend, Yeah. You know, now that we're fully visual, people will know when we batch record because I am in the same shirt I was in last time.
[00:00:37.640] - Chris Nordyke
Could have swapped the shirt. We brought a bunch of extra ones.
[00:00:39.360] - Brandon Reece
That's right.
[00:00:40.060] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:00:40.280] - Brandon Reece
Today's content day, isn't it?
[00:00:41.800] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:00:42.580] - Brandon Reece
Okay, my friend, I want to go somewhere, man. This has been a big deal for me and it's always been something that you and I talk about every so many months. I think it comes up, but I wanted to— so discipline. I want to talk about discipline a little bit. And I think where I would like to go, I'm going to try to stage set this a little bit, just what the last month's looked for me, like, for me as I'm preparing for hunting season.
[00:01:03.840] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:01:04.640] - Brandon Reece
And just kind of use that as a stage for, I think, just mental framework.
[00:01:10.430] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah. Conversation about it. Yeah.
[00:01:11.630] - Brandon Reece
Yeah. I'm just trying to be more loyal to this kind of perspective. So anyways, okay. So here's the deal. For the first time, probably in a long time, I've been really more excited about hunting season than I ever have been. And the reason that is actually is because my son, has decided to get into archery with me. And I did archery when I was really little for like 5 minutes, then did nothing related to hunting because of personal story, family life, all the things. Got into it as a younger man, got into it, did the rifle scene for a while, had some success on that front. Took a big long break because honestly my kids were not in at all. My son specifically just was not into harming animals. Bless his little heart. As we got older, I finally wanted to return to a hobby. And a real close friend of mine's always been big into the outdoors. He and I have been friends, I think Jen and I were calculating roughly 21 years or something now. So shout out to you, Olin. I'm excited for a couple more weeks, brother. But he and I decided to— or I decided to get into archery, and he and I partnered on that.
[00:02:15.910] - Brandon Reece
Now we've been every year since prioritizing doing a big elk trip in September. And so I've been preparing for that.
[00:02:22.970] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:02:23.370] - Brandon Reece
Well, as the years have gone on, he and I have gotten more convicted and more strategic. And, and the reason is is because we're getting hungrier to have a successful hunt.
[00:02:33.130] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:02:33.530] - Brandon Reece
So for those of you that have been lifetime hunters and have killed everything that you've ever put your hands on, hey, cool to you. I will just be openly transparent that this will be my 4th year in a row, and I'm hoping that the elk gods will provide, right?
[00:02:47.010] - Chris Nordyke
Did you go buy a chest freezer?
[00:02:48.280] - Brandon Reece
Oh yeah, we've got that on lockdown. We're ready. So as the years have progressed, everything even outside of the season has gotten more intentional. We're doing more talk and prep. We're sighting things on our onX app more aggressively. This year though, like, I've really taken my prep for hunting and really archery in general— let's just say the value of the hobby. I want to maximize the time that I'm spending in the hobby experiencing what I want. So instead of being frustrated, instead of thinking of it secondhand or at last minute and getting the results of a last-minute commitment—
[00:03:27.040] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:03:27.440] - Brandon Reece
I just wanted to start my prep and my season prep a lot earlier, and it's been Really rewarding. So here's what it's looked like for me.
[00:03:33.520] - Chris Nordyke
Cam Haynes, I think, right, bro? 20 miles a day.
[00:03:36.080] - Brandon Reece
So Cam Haynes, his whole thing is lift, run, shoot.
[00:03:38.820] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, right.
[00:03:39.230] - Brandon Reece
Well, you can't hold a candle to any standard or level of discipline he holds. So I'm just like, hey, can I do some version of that throughout the week?
[00:03:45.640] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:03:45.890] - Brandon Reece
So I think his is by morning, right?
[00:03:47.640] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:48.180] - Brandon Reece
So what I'm trying to do consistently is get several days of shooting every week, several days of weighted rucking or some kind of cardio, mainly hill or running.
[00:03:58.460] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:03:58.840] - Brandon Reece
And then getting some good resistance training in. Well, what's happened in that is that because my son started to get into the hobby with me, well, then we have these text banters. Hey, got 60 arrows downrange today. Hey, went and I had a 3-inch group at 60 yards today. So, so there's this fun dialogue that's now happening between me, Alex, and Olin, my friend, in our prep, right? So Olin's kicking me his 6 o'clock picture of him on the treadmill. Like, we're just kind of holding each other accountable. Well, here's what's happening.
[00:04:28.440] - Chris Nordyke
Some positive peer pressure.
[00:04:29.770] - Brandon Reece
Positive peer pressure, and I'm doing more of it even when I don't want to.
[00:04:34.980] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:04:35.640] - Brandon Reece
And so what I'm realizing, and for some of our hardcore discipline guys, they're going to be like, yeah, duh, dude. Okay. But what I'm recognizing is that the more times I do something, even though I don't feel like it, not only am I instantly rewarded by the effort of doing the thing that mentally I didn't want to do, What's actually starting to happen too is I'm recognizing the value of what I'm receiving in exchange for the effort. I'm going to try to put this into words. What I'm saying is, is that in the past, I've tended to look at discipline as checking the box no matter what. And that was the spirit. Do hard stuff, get the box checked regardless of how you feel. Nothing wrong with that. It got me here.
[00:05:23.810] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:05:24.130] - Brandon Reece
But what I'm actually starting to move into, and I think that in general, bro, this is a theme at midlife for me, is that the spirit of had a version that was effective for me when I was younger. But the spirit of these same things is beginning to shift, and then it's changing the reward that I'm receiving. So here's what I mean by this. In the past, it would have been, dude, don't be a wuss, check the box. Like, that's what discipline is. You check the box.
[00:05:52.210] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:05:52.830] - Brandon Reece
Now it's like, you know what though? I love having a 3-inch shot group at 60 yards. The feeling of going out on the range, and it might not be every round, right? But that round I have when my son is 2 lanes over and I get to walk out to my target and show that 3 or 4 of the 5 arrows I just fired are within 3 inches of each other at 60 yards. The reward of that and sharing that with my son and the challenge and the high fives and the emotional exchange, that's the spirit of the discipline. Does that make sense?
[00:06:30.620] - Chris Nordyke
Well, I think so.
[00:06:31.210] - Chris Nordyke
What I hear you saying is your standard of discipline has started to shift, whereas it began— and all discipline is a good thing, but it began with checking a box. I'm going to freaking get to the gym 3 times a week. I'm just going to do it whether I feel like it or not. And now what I hear you saying is you're starting in this whole hunting sort of workup, you're recognizing that for you now, it's not good enough to just show up.
[00:06:55.330] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:06:55.820] - Chris Nordyke
There's a level of intensity or engagement you're aiming for.
[00:07:00.060] - Brandon Reece
Yes.
[00:07:00.620] - Chris Nordyke
In that discipline.
[00:07:01.660] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:07:01.760] - Chris Nordyke
So you can produce a particular outcome.
[00:07:04.650] - Brandon Reece
That's it.
[00:07:05.190] - Chris Nordyke
You know what I was thinking about when you said this? I've had a very long, as you know, a very longstanding commitment to getting to the gym.
[00:07:11.940] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:07:12.500] - Chris Nordyke
Some weeks it's 3 times, some weeks it's 4 or 5. But it's like I've just been determined I always work out 3 days a week at least, you know? And that was that minimum thing. Lately, I've been a little bit disappointed in myself because I really want to have more stronger, more muscular legs. I think most guys will relate to this. We all love to make fun of each other like, hey bro, skipping leg day, huh?
[00:07:36.940] - Brandon Reece
Dude, I have the worst bird legs ever.
[00:07:39.090] - Chris Nordyke
But, but I never had really like big muscular legs ever, but I now, like, I realize how good I feel when I get a really great leg pump. And when I have those days, it's like some of these disciplines carry their own reward. Like the way you feel when you commit to that discipline makes you want to keep doing the discipline. But I think what you're tapping into is like this other level of what I hear you saying is you're kind of counting the cost.
[00:08:08.070] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:08:08.470] - Chris Nordyke
Like, okay. If I want, if I want to fill my freezer this year, like there's a level of endurance and strength I'm going to have to bring to this. When I would otherwise just like tell Olin, hey, let's just set up camp, bro. Looks like the day's done. It's, you're trying to prepare for this headspace of let's go another hour.
[00:08:28.820] - Brandon Reece
That's it. One more, right? Yep. That's it. Here's, so again, it's like I, whole person, we talk about hobbies and all the things, but dude, this is leveling up the way I'm even thinking about Floodlight. this year. And even the way that I'm thinking about Head Heart and Boots, like people don't— sometimes I feel weird about talking about Head Heart and Boots because I think that people don't necessarily recognize how hard it is to do what you and I are doing right now.
[00:08:55.480] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:08:55.700] - Brandon Reece
Like on the surface, it's, it's kind of like, it reminds me of BDs in our industry, which natively is disaster restoration, like business development reps get this kind of thing, this title where it's like you just go out and you glad-hand, you do lunches, you do golf trips. Like, wouldn't it be nice? Right? But if you're honest with yourself and you're a predominantly operationally minded person, you go do that then. Like, if it's so easy, yeah, shut your mouth, go jump in the car and be the first person breaking the ice with people you do not know and set your personal reputation at risk to try to get them to say yes to you and your business. You do it. Yeah, right. If it's all easy and it's gumdrops, then go do it.
[00:09:38.350] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:09:38.670] - Brandon Reece
But well, you're not going to because people are afraid of it, just like they're afraid of public speaking. So my point in that— probably got red-faced because I'm a little— I get fucking irritated— is people think this is easy and it's not. And you and I do it for a purpose. The reward for you and I to run Head, Heart, and Boots and to engage more in it is that we believe that people aren't having enough of the right kinds of conversations. And we're all desperate inside our guts to understand that people are fighting with the same bullshit that we are.
[00:10:08.970] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:10:09.550] - Brandon Reece
And people often will look at that and not understand the business value of it. Well, I have lots of strategic reasons why we do this show for the business, of course, but that's not even the point. The point is we do this because we want to have an opportunity to hear from somebody when we have a conversation that moves them in a certain way, that they get to say, dude, we had several posts this week that went out.
[00:10:31.740] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:10:32.090] - Brandon Reece
Where people were honest in their response and says, I'm Dude, I'm dying a little bit inside every time I attempt to try to have that kind of relationship with my father because I keep getting rejected. Like, that's why we do this.
[00:10:43.880] - Chris Nordyke
I saw that.
[00:10:44.450] - Brandon Reece
So for any of you that have misunderstood, like, just for the sake of clarity, right? Like, we do this for that. Okay. All right. I'm coming back to planet Earth here. I think what I'm recognizing in our business is that there is this level of really identifying with certainty. What do you want to experience? Okay. And so if I go back to the hunting thing, I want the chemical exhilaration of, in a tribal, very difficult way, to stalk, to find, to chase, and then test my skills against nature. And I want the emotional reward. Men cry when they kill elk, guys. It's like, It's no different than the end of a physical sport. Sometimes the emotion that comes out turns— it looks like crying. It's this weird emotional state. It's because you've been humping for miles and miles and miles and having all these moments of where you thought you were close and it wasn't there. It wasn't yet. It wasn't the time. And then finally this exchange happens where all your work pays off and there's this chemical response to the fact that you did something that man was designed to do. the very beginning of creation, and you take from nature to provide for you and yours.
[00:12:11.100] - Brandon Reece
Okay? I want that. Okay? I want to feel it inside my guts. I don't want to know it. I want to feel it. And I'm putting in the work right now to give me the highest opportunity to feel that in my guts and to share that moment with my son and share that moment with one of my closest friends. That's why I'm doing discipline.
[00:12:34.100] - Chris Nordyke
I think you just sold some more people on elk hunting.
[00:12:37.220] - Brandon Reece
So then in my mind, I'm like, okay, what do I want from Floodlight? What do I want from my experience with Head, Heart, and Boots? And what discipline will I be required to trade in order to experience that thing firsthand? And the reason I wanted to talk about this is— and I don't want it to turn into another exercise conversation. What I want to kind of wrestle with is that, dude, I can't tell you how many times as a consultant I've been in conversations with other business owners and we're talking about the same fucking problem week after week after week after month after year. And the reason that happens is because someone's willing to come onto the call And verbalize what they want, what they think they should have, what they compared to the guy at the bar and think they're just as good and just as smart. So why aren't they experiencing the same thing in their business? And 99% of the time, it boils down to an unwillingness to execute the discipline, the hard decision, the action that is required in order for them to experience the thing that they believe they deserve, that they would like to experience.
[00:13:56.790] - Chris Nordyke
This makes me think of— I was just recently reading an audit, one of our client audits from one of our consultants, giving the overview of where their customer relationships are at and progress and all that. And there's this one client, it was a client that I placed. I met a guy, I can't remember exactly where I met him through, to be honest, but this guy's owned a company for 4 or 5 years, desperately struggles to sort of hold together all the financial operations of the business, collections, timing of payables, the field work. Struggling in his market to recruit talent, really just struggling on all fronts. But the biggest bottleneck that he's struggling with is his inability to create space and time for him to work on those things. And so I had a very frank conversation. We were setting it up. I said, look, this is going to demand that you carve out a minimum of 4 or 5 hours a week to work on the business. And I just, I talked him through what that was going to look like. And ultimately, we onboarded him as a client and he's trying. But I think one aspect of discipline that is necessary is courage, because usually there's an element of, I am going to have to induce some short-term pain.
[00:15:14.020] - Chris Nordyke
Mm-hmm.
[00:15:15.120] - Chris Nordyke
There's like the fear of missing out. Like for him, one of the big things is, and he almost flippantly, I know it's coming from his ego, but I've talked to him a couple of He's like, well, do you want me to switch off my jobs? And I know there's just a little hint of sarcasm.
[00:15:29.180] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:15:29.730] - Chris Nordyke
He's like, hey, well, do I need to shut off my AdWords or my LSA ads? Or do we just need to start turning away work?
[00:15:36.600] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:15:36.940] - Chris Nordyke
Kind of like he's looking for me to say, well, no, of course not. Yeah. But I think the reality is when we're trying to make a fundamental change in our life, part of discipline is the courage of I'm going to have to stop or reduce Or turn away from good things for a period of time to take hold of the better thing.
[00:15:59.620] - Brandon Reece
Amen.
[00:16:00.090] - Chris Nordyke
You know, and that's just, I think probably every business owner, certainly service company can under—
[00:16:04.670] - Chris Nordyke
relate to that.
[00:16:05.860] - Brandon Reece
Well, dude, here's the reality, right? Like this is for you and I like consulting firms, unless you're like these crazy large platform companies, right? Like most of us are not big organizations.
[00:16:18.610] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, we're not sending in a band of MBA consultants.
[00:16:21.450] - Brandon Reece
No, we are a small business. So for our average listener, that's somewhere between a couple million and $20 million a year. Like, we live your vibe. Like, we get it.
[00:16:29.670] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:16:30.150] - Brandon Reece
You and I decided that we would say no to a little over $500,000 in income to ensure that I worked on the business. So in context, okay, for us being a sub-$5 million company, I'm just going to put it out there. Okay, that's a big fucking deal. Yeah. And so, but you and I talked very seriously about what has to be done in the business in order for us to go and experience the thing that you and I want to experience and that we're committed to. We understood that we would have to say no to $5,000,000, $6,000,000, $6,500,000 in income or revenue so that I didn't carry a client book.
[00:17:09.640] - Chris Nordyke
So that, again, with the intention of, we knew that to get where we wanted to go, We had to build a team.
[00:17:15.440] - Brandon Reece
That's it.
[00:17:16.160] - Chris Nordyke
And you cannot in most— now, of course, we all go through seasons where we're like, you're juggling all of it. Yep. But at some point, you have to pull the trigger and say, okay, we're done juggling this. We're dedicating ourselves to that.
[00:17:27.550] - Brandon Reece
Dude, it's a sacrifice. So that's discipline.
[00:17:29.880] - Chris Nordyke
There's no question.
[00:17:30.680] - Brandon Reece
That's it. It's like, this is like, I think it's so easy for you and I to talk about like, well, we go to the gym and we eat, you know, carnivore. Yes. But those are just like, I think sometimes the way that you and I think about that is like, That's a baby step towards doing these other difficult discipline-requiring things.
[00:17:49.780] - Chris Nordyke
Like, in some ways, the physical stuff is the low-hanging fruit.
[00:17:52.690] - Brandon Reece
It's like the doorway. Yeah, I think it's a gateway drug.
[00:17:55.250] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:17:55.580] - Brandon Reece
Like, and I think a lot of people talk that way.
[00:17:58.060] - Chris Nordyke
Sure.
[00:17:58.470] - Brandon Reece
I think sometimes we dumb it down and we kind of make jokes about it, especially if you're a person that doesn't have any physical fitness in your life. Like, you definitely dumb it down because you feel convicted, if we're just honest. Yeah, you don't like how you feel about it.
[00:18:10.290] - Chris Nordyke
Sure.
[00:18:10.610] - Brandon Reece
Right. So that aside, right, when you watch people that are disciplined enough to take care of themselves, normally that's a sign that was the gateway drug that got them into making other disciplines a priority and making other sacrifices in order for them to experience the kinds of things that they want to experience. And here's— I can't help but go here. Your example is awesome. Like, this is one I think all of us as business owners or leaders can experience. What kind of discipline is required by somebody to level up the way they lead people? And how many times do we get inside organizations and the law of the lid is slapping them around like a freaking professional boxer because they're unwilling to do hard things to change the way they lead people?
[00:19:00.480] - Chris Nordyke
Okay.
[00:19:01.570] - Brandon Reece
I'm a testament to this in my own personal journey where I was Dr. Angry. I had one fucking gear, and that was I was pissed. Or happy, depending on how you showed up that day.
[00:19:11.600] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:19:12.000] - Brandon Reece
And we've— you and I have had so many conversations about this, and in a lot of ways, for lack of a better way to describe it, you were the guy that helped me get out of that tunnel. Okay, well, now I have a lot more tools in the toolkit, and I can drive teams in a different way than a lot of leaders can. I'm not saying that I'm some ultimate— I've arrived. I'm not saying that.
[00:19:29.760] - Chris Nordyke
You have more options.
[00:19:30.650] - Brandon Reece
I got more options in the toolkit, dude. I'm not trying to do everything with a fucking hammer. I've got a lot of F-bombs this one, Jana. You might have to engineer some of this, bro.
[00:19:40.450] - Chris Nordyke
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? Or maybe you just hired your first sales rep, but you don't really know how to manage them. Like, 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 owner's 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 kind of performance improvement they're working on with them. Also let them know, hey, we 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.
[00:20:34.050] - Chris Nordyke
How great would that be to have a bolt-on sales manager for your one sales rep, and it's only $2,500 a month? If you're interested in talking more about that, reach out. Let's grab some time and let's talk shop. 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.
[00:21:08.640] - Brandon Reece
I think we all have places in time where we experience something versus understanding something. And when you do, you become aggressive in wanting to get other people to experience it because it's so different to experience something than it is to understand or to, to get the idea or to share the view of something. And I think that that's why I'm kind of so charged about this, is that there's a reward in giving your son a high five on a fucking archery range.
[00:21:42.080] - Chris Nordyke
Oh, I'll bet.
[00:21:42.810] - Brandon Reece
It's different, bro. Like, it's in your guts. Like, not everybody's gonna have that opportunity. And it's not the thing. That's not the point. Like, the point is not the sport or the topic or whatever. It's I'm experiencing things in my gut that I have not had the opportunity to experience physically before. People have talked about it. I've seen it on TV. I've watched the YouTube guy. I've listened to the guru that knows all his shit. But when you feel it and you go, this is obtainable.
[00:22:09.600] - Chris Nordyke
When it's now yours.
[00:22:10.640] - Brandon Reece
It's mine. Like this, like I'm just God. I'm just a Joe Blow. Yeah. I'm the average guy from Corvallis that is no different, better, grander, born with any better skill set or had any hand-me-down or awesome— I'm just a guy. Yeah. And I'm experiencing stuff that people want so bad to have.
[00:22:30.680] - Chris Nordyke
Like when you put an arrow downrange and it lands in the bullseye, there was a lot that led up.
[00:22:37.510] - Brandon Reece
A lot.
[00:22:38.280] - Chris Nordyke
To making that happen.
[00:22:40.300] - Brandon Reece
Lots.
[00:22:40.930] - Chris Nordyke
And I think it's almost like there's a proportional relationship in life to those things. Like The bigger the satisfaction, the more discipline and courage and repetition and drive and determination and long-suffering went into experiencing that moment.
[00:23:02.680] - Brandon Reece
Man, I think it's a whole iceberg theory.
[00:23:05.070] - Chris Nordyke
Oh my God. Right. Yeah. The whole iceberg. It's this moment that the people that are in it, it holds so much. Yeah. It's why people cry. It's why it's just like the emotions just spill over. I think another thing too, when I'm listening to you talk, man, is— and we've mentioned this before— it's helpful for me to reconnect these dots. I wish we could just learn things once, man, and then just like upgrade the wiring on our, you know, motherboard. Oh, just be like, okay, now, now I always approach every situation with this wiring.
[00:23:36.360] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, one and done.
[00:23:37.240] - Chris Nordyke
But like, I think in this topic of discipline, integrity is a big part of it, you know? Like congruence is another word. I watched a video earlier this year and I got all hot on congruence. Yeah. Like, this is so the thing. But one of the things I've—
[00:23:50.960] - Brandon Reece
it's not external. No, no, no.
[00:23:52.550] - Chris Nordyke
It's all internal. It's all internal.
[00:23:54.320] - Brandon Reece
It doesn't matter what other people see.
[00:23:55.930] - Chris Nordyke
It's an internal state that other people experience the byproduct of. So it's like integrity is one of those things where it's 100% internal. I am the only person that knows if I am anchored in integrity at any given moment, because I can always verbally lie, kind of obfuscate, kind of shimmy around, and people may or may not notice in the moment.
[00:24:18.300] - Brandon Reece
Yep.
[00:24:18.720] - Chris Nordyke
Right? That there's some incongruity between what I'm saying and what I'm actually doing.
[00:24:22.510] - Chris Nordyke
Yep.
[00:24:23.150] - Chris Nordyke
But I know, and I think something that's powerful that I've started to experience, but I want more of, is there's a deep, deep confidence and courage when I know I am completely and utterly aligned in my action and what I'm saying to myself or what I'm saying to others. And that people do see and recognize and feel. It's something I've just started to watch for with people I admire. I'm always just watching people and listening to people through that lens of, okay, wow, I'm really impressed with that person. What is it about them that I'm so impressed with? And even some of these high performers, like these influencers online, you get little like clues to this, things that they just say in passing. They're not posing. They're not promoting. Yeah. But there's just these things that they'll say that shine a little bit of a light of like, ooh, they're the real deal. Like they're really living this out.
[00:25:15.830] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:25:16.240] - Chris Nordyke
They've paid a price for this.
[00:25:18.170] - Brandon Reece
Yep.
[00:25:19.190] - Chris Nordyke
But, but this issue of integrity, like all of us say we want things, you know, we all say, I want to be this kind of person. I want to have this kind of business. I want to grow the business to this point. I want to have this kind of marriage like we talked about in a previous episode we just recorded. But I think most of the time we don't count the cost. We don't count the cost for what that is actually going to demand from us. And so then we end up filling that gap with pretending. And it's like pretending will get you a long way in our culture. Yes, people, most people are pretending, myself included sometimes, right? Like, me too. But it just seems to me like part of discipline is like with archery. At the end of the day, you may get a little bit lucky based on natural talent. There's some of that, there's no doubt. But it requires complete and utter integrity.
[00:26:08.760] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:26:09.100] - Chris Nordyke
It isn't just about, you know, throwing some arrows downrange. It's like if your goal is the elk and maybe an elk every season, right? There's a lot of discipline, rigor, attention to detail, fine-tuning. Like, there's a level of discipline that's more than just showing up and putting arrows downrange. That's right. And you're the only one that's ever going to know if you did those things.
[00:26:32.860] - Brandon Reece
You know what's interesting about it too?
[00:26:34.380] - Chris Nordyke
And because you could totally bullshit people.
[00:26:36.150] - Brandon Reece
You totally can. From the outside, you start lives.
[00:26:38.400] - Chris Nordyke
You use Facebook Lives. Hey, I'm up at 5 AM doing my arrows. Yeah. But nobody else sees all the other stuff.
[00:26:45.470] - Brandon Reece
Here's the other thing, just to piggyback on what you're saying, is it's, I think, just like this being applied to a business scenario, leadership scenario, relationship scenario, and Jana can attest, and my family can attest to this, it goes way beyond even the small disciplines that I'm choosing. I had to speak openly with my family and my wife, like, I want to make this a priority. Because you're getting some element of permission, whether it be the spend. Like, dude, this shit ain't free. Yeah, bows are expensive. Yeah, my son hit me up, he's like, Dad, your bow's worth more than my car. Like, it's a commitment financially.
[00:27:21.000] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:27:21.240] - Brandon Reece
It's a commitment with time. It means I'm going to be gone in the woods for nearly 10 days. My family has to understand what that means. It means I have to make decisions around my business. My business partner needs to understand what that means because this ain't sat phone, bro. Like, Yeah, there ain't no reception where I'm going.
[00:27:36.300] - Chris Nordyke
Right, right. We're not doing some standing Zoom calls.
[00:27:38.400] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, like, it's encompassing. It is a lot of commitment to say, I'm gonna do this thing and do it well. And I think that just piggybacks on what you're saying, is that all too often people want the reward because they believe they're worthy, deserve it. And I'm not even combating that. It's just like you said, but have they taken a true inventory of what it will require. And man, dude, I feel like that you and I have been doing this in spades in so many different levels, like to include decisions with outside businesses. Yeah, there's a lot of things I want that Floodlight ain't producing for me right now.
[00:28:13.990] - Chris Nordyke
Sure. Yeah.
[00:28:14.810] - Brandon Reece
But I want what Floodlight can do and be. Yeah. The way it's going to serve people, the way it's going to serve our families. We see that and we have a vision for it and we are literally willing to do whatever is required to do that. Well, and I think that's my point here.
[00:28:32.920] - Chris Nordyke
You do bring up a really good point, man. I mean, there's a lot of, there's a lot of blue-collar owners that are listening to us that I had a conversation with one at a conference just a couple weeks ago, and they were talking about these big numbers. You know, I want to get to, you know, $50 million with an X EBITDA, you know, and get this multiple when I go to sell. And whenever people start talking to me about that stuff, I say the first question out of my mouth is, why? Because I think too often we hear these big numbers. It's like, well, just of course, of course you'd want to have a scale.
[00:29:04.120] - Brandon Reece
Who doesn't want a $50 million exit?
[00:29:06.510] - Chris Nordyke
Exactly right. I always ask that because I'm curious, like, what is it actually driving them? And 9 times out of 10, they can't tell me, which I find really interesting. Not weird, not bad, but just interesting is that I think a lot of it tends to be ego. I think sometimes we have a generic number that for whatever reason we think will just cover this other thing in our life that we're always accounting for. Maybe it's parents who never gave us the affirmation, never told us, you know, I don't know. Yeah, we all have our shit.
[00:29:37.320] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, your peer group.
[00:29:38.540] - Chris Nordyke
But the next question I ask when they give me an answer is like, well, have you considered what that's going to require of you to get that thing? And have you really assessed whether it's worth it? Do you know what you're going to have to give up in order to get This other thing. You and I've had to contend with that, with all the different business ventures that we've looked at, been involved in, all that kind of stuff is, is this equation of is it worth it? The why behind it. I think oftentimes we chase shiny objects that just seem 100% good without taking into account what it's going to take. And not what it's going to take, like what I'm gonna have to put in, but what it's going to take away.
[00:30:16.750] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, that's key. Because I think it's real easy to buy into the grind. Oh, yeah. You know, perspective. Well, it just means you need to work harder, you need to sacrifice more, you need to be less of a wuss, you need to put in more hours. Okay. Yes, that could be what is required. But what you're saying, ultimately what I'm hearing is, is the dollars or that outcome, whatever it is—
[00:30:38.260] - Chris Nordyke
Status. Yeah, things.
[00:30:39.940] - Brandon Reece
Is that worth the sacrifice? Because dude, there's a reality. I just did a post about this in our front yard. We have this awesome plant that when you look at it right now, it looks like it's from the tropics. It's amazing. Well, when we first moved there, it was this scraggly-ass, ugly-looking thing because all the bamboo that was sitting in front of it was absorbing all the nutrients around it. And one day we just decided, Jana's like, I know that plant can look rad. I think we should just bite the bullet and bet on it. And we did. And we gutted out all this ornamental crap. Like a year and a half later, man, it just takes over.
[00:31:12.810] - Chris Nordyke
Oh, it's, it's crazy.
[00:31:14.340] - Brandon Reece
A year and a half later, this thing is literally, it's the thing that you look at when you sit on our deck, on our chairs in front of our little fire pit. Like you're looking at this amazing plant that will throw flowers for 2 months. It's amazing. We had to bet on it and we had to make sacrifices to get that experience. So I get it. Like, I do understand. But I think what you're saying is you have to evaluate the rooting out and the sacrifices you have to make, and it may not be worth it. And what I've determined is like, I'm not trading Floodlight for my family, dude.
[00:31:44.530] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:31:44.940] - Brandon Reece
I'm not gonna be the guy that works 20 hours a day, calls it a season, And 10 years later, you're doing the same shit. Your marriage sucks. It's emotionless. You have no relationship with your children. You have no friends. You have no emotional or socio or religious perspective or value whatsoever. Like, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do that, man. Like, we've made these jokes before. Like, at the end of the run, your cars, your fucking boats, your retirement account ain't going to be in the room with you. My dad died alone. He pursued anything and everything his little material heart thought it could get and what he valued. He never valued the relationship with his partners, never valued the relationship with his friends and his family. He died with a person he paid to be there. Not gonna do it. Yeah, not gonna do that shit, dude.
[00:32:37.730] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:32:38.210] - Brandon Reece
It ain't worth it. So in this discipline conversation, this is not about working out more. And certainly don't hear me say grind more, work harder. Could be the thing. Yes. Count the cost first. Evaluate what you want.
[00:32:52.020] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:32:52.480] - Brandon Reece
And understand it not because of an over-romanticized version of it that someone told you about. Understand what you're working for in your guts. What's the experience that you want to have emotionally and physically when you get the thing that you're seeking? Analyze what you will have to give up in order to get it. Then determine that you're going to do those things even when you don't want to. And it produces amazing results, man. Amazing results.
[00:33:18.730] - Chris Nordyke
I'm hearing a couple of things. One, yeah, you locked in on something you wanted, this archery thing. Something spurred it. You know, I think Cam Haynes at least had a role in it. Oh yeah, I remember you got all hot and bothered on him. And it's hard not to when you watch some of his stuff, especially his early stuff.
[00:33:33.570] - Brandon Reece
90-pound bow, bro. Come on.
[00:33:35.240] - Chris Nordyke
But I think so often we're living out of what other people expect of us or what we how we want to look in front of other people. And I think because of that, we struggle to get there. We struggle to put the disciplines in place to achieve that because it's not our dream.
[00:33:53.350] - Brandon Reece
Yeah.
[00:33:53.850] - Chris Nordyke
I'm living out of somebody else's dream or expectation. And I've found in small and bigger ways, the more I've started to orient around, okay, I want to not give as many fucks about what other people think of me and instead focus on what kind of person do I want to be? What kind of experience do I want to have? What kind of life do I want to have with my wife and my children? and my friends? What sort of owner/leader do I want to be experienced as? What kind of person do I really want to be? Then when I adopt disciplines to help me achieve that, it's still not easy, but it's easier for me to pull the trigger on those disciplines because it's my dream.
[00:34:35.000] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah.
[00:34:35.580] - Chris Nordyke
It's my determination. It's anchored in, this is the kind of— if I say I want to be this kind of person, what does this kind of person do?
[00:34:43.420] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, yeah. You know, it is yours.
[00:34:45.260] - Chris Nordyke
Yes. And it's so much weaker when I'm moving from a place of, I think I need to be this in order to be valuable, or, no, I need to be special in these people's eyes. No, it's like when I'm anchored in this place of what kind of person do I want to be, then it's like that James Clear thing. Then you're simply connecting, okay, what are the behaviors that that kind of person does?
[00:35:06.900] - Brandon Reece
What will it require?
[00:35:08.020] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah, yeah. And then I can really just manage the integrity of, I don't feel like getting up and doing leg day today. Yeah, but I keep saying I want I want to be a guy that has strong muscular legs. Yeah. So what the hell am I gonna do?
[00:35:19.020] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, you're gonna get up and do leg day.
[00:35:20.610] - Chris Nordyke
I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna do those freaking Bulgarian split squats. Gosh damn it.
[00:35:25.750] - Brandon Reece
I love it. Oh boy, let's crash the plane, guys. I hope that those of you that listen to the show more than one time understand we're never talking at anybody. Like, this is, this is us just sharing very transparently, like, our own battles, our own journeys, our own fall downs, our own get-ups. And every time we're talking about this stuff, I hope you guys understand and hear that it's because we're just in the midst of doing the same crap you guys are.
[00:35:49.840] - Chris Nordyke
Mm-hmm.
[00:35:50.620] - Brandon Reece
And this is just us saying out loud what we feel like we're experiencing. Hopefully it's helpful. And if it is, let us know, man. Like, you know, HHB, I think people are going to start to understand that Chris and I are going to put a lot more time and energy into the show. It's missional for us. It's special to us. We need your support to do that, though. If we don't get the likes, if we don't get the shares, if people don't follow the show, it's difficult for us to prioritize it. And you guys understand why, like your businesses are going to require of you certain things. And if you can't get them, it's tough to move that business. You guys are the way that we move the business. So if you get anything out of the shows and sharing time with us, let us know, follow, share it with people, man, please, because we want to do nothing more than do a lot more of this.
[00:36:31.500] - Chris Nordyke
Yeah. And if you haven't already, like we, I think we may have mentioned either in a previous recording is we've got over 200 of our shows now live on YouTube and we're going to, we're committed to getting whole catalog up there and future episodes up there. So if you haven't already subscribed on YouTube, do that.
[00:36:45.100] - Brandon Reece
Yeah, please.
[00:36:45.690] - Chris Nordyke
If you're on YouTube, subscribe. Of course, who's not on YouTube, right? We all have Gmail accounts. So yeah, anyway, all right, till next time.
[00:36:53.540] - Brandon Reece
Later. All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart, and Boots.
[00:37:00.040] - Chris Nordyke
And if you're enjoying the show or 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.