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Speaker 1: Pushkin Hey, Doctor Lorie Santos here with a special bonus

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Speaker 1: episode and something a little different. I was recently invited

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Speaker 1: on a podcast called The Unshakables to talk not about

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Speaker 1: happiness but resilience. The Unshakables podcast is created by Chase

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Speaker 1: for Business. It focuses on small business owners who face

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Speaker 1: crisis points and show the heart, humility, and hustle needed

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Speaker 1: to propel their companies forward. I joined Ben Walter, CEO

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Speaker 1: of Chase for Business and host of The Unshakables, to

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Speaker 1: explore the story of Benjamin Howe, who runs All Nation

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Speaker 1: Restoration in Austin, Texas. Benjamin's story is pretty incredible. He

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Speaker 1: not only bounced back from some serious business problems, he

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Speaker 1: also started life facing some truly tough situations. Benjamin was

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Speaker 1: born into a deeply repressive community, one in which he

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Speaker 1: felt unloved and unappreciated. Benjamin hated how he was treated,

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Speaker 1: and he rebelled against his family, which landed him in

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Speaker 1: trouble with the law, and that turned out to be

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Speaker 1: a blessing. Then, what I really loved in your story,

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Speaker 1: especially during the hardest times, is you told this tale

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Speaker 1: of how there was one person who really thought you

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Speaker 1: were smart, and you'd never been called smart before. I

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Speaker 1: just want you to reflect on that a little bit

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Speaker 1: about how that really changed your perception of yourself. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Sure, it came at a super impactful moment and from

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Speaker 2: somebody with a lot of authority.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: So, like when I ended up in the juvenile system,

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Speaker 2: I was actually in front of a judge. And it

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Speaker 2: was interesting because my dad was a bit of a

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Speaker 2: tyrant and he was really the one that consistently had

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Speaker 2: made me feel really insignificant, really stupid. But when I

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Speaker 2: was in that courtroom, my dad was in submission to

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Speaker 2: that judge. He could do nothing, he could say nothing,

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Speaker 2: And that was really cool for me just to watch

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Speaker 2: him have to sit down and be quiet and listen

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Speaker 2: to a judge. And so when that judge turned around

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Speaker 2: and said, hey, what's happened to Ben is not fair,

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Speaker 2: what's happened here is not right, and we've done italuation,

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Speaker 2: we've taken the time to actually get into his brain right.

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Speaker 2: And I think up to that point, I thought I

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Speaker 2: was not intelligent and that I was maybe dangerous or

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Speaker 2: something was wrong with me psychologically in some way, Like

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Speaker 2: those were the thoughts I had about myself my psychological

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Speaker 2: evaluation took twelve and a half hours. Of course, for me,

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Speaker 2: it was trying to prove that I was smart, right,

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Speaker 2: I was trying to prove that I could answer the

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Speaker 2: questions and solve the puzzles and all of those things.

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Speaker 2: And when the judge heard that that's what the judge said,

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Speaker 2: he like, it was like, what's happened to Benjamin is

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Speaker 2: complete travesty. And so to have that judge that didn't

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Speaker 2: know me to actually stand up for me and say, no, no, you.

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Speaker 2: We're not looking at a hard and criminal that's made

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Speaker 2: a decision to be a bad person. We're looking at

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Speaker 2: a kid And because in my mind I wasn't a

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Speaker 2: kid man, it changed my life.

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Speaker 1: If that's what's your appetite, then here's a chance to

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Speaker 1: listen to all of Benjamin's incredible story of resilience on

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Speaker 1: the Unshakables.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to the Unshakables from Chase for Business and Ruby

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Speaker 3: Studio from iHeartMedia. I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business.

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Speaker 3: On the Unshakables, we're sharing the daring moments of small

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Speaker 3: business owners facing their crisis points and telling the stories

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Speaker 3: of how they got through it. Today, we have a

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Speaker 3: story of overcoming overwhelming adversity and a guest who somehow

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Speaker 3: stayed optimistic through it all. His mindset is fascinating. I

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Speaker 3: wanted an expert's opinion to really dig into this, so

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Speaker 3: I brought in a special co pilot for today's episode.

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Speaker 3: She's a psychologist, the host of the hit podcast The

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Speaker 3: Happiness Lab, and also the professor of Psychology and the

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Speaker 3: Good Life, which is the most popular class in Yale's history.

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Speaker 3: I'm thrilled to welcome to the Unshakables today, doctor Laurie Santos. Laurie,

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Speaker 3: thank you for joining us today.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me on the show.

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Speaker 3: Today's episode centers on themes of grit, resilience, and optimism

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Speaker 3: in the face of obstacles, and Laurie is the perfect

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Speaker 3: person to help us explore that.

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Speaker 1: I think there's two big inputs you want to build

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Speaker 1: up if you want to become more resilient in business

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Speaker 1: and in life. I think the first one is your mindset.

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Speaker 1: The second thing, though, is I think you want to

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Speaker 1: build up social support.

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Speaker 3: Both of which play a critical role in Benjamin's story.

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Speaker 3: So let's get to it. On today's episode, All Nation

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Speaker 3: restoration from Austin, Texas. Today, we're doing something a little

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Speaker 3: bit different, which is to start with Benjamin How's upbringing.

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Speaker 3: This is a business show, so we usually focus on business,

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Speaker 3: but in this case, Benjamin's childhood is in many ways

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Speaker 3: the foundation of his business.

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Speaker 2: I was born into basically a conservative group. It's not

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Speaker 2: a nominational Christian, super strict religious group. They would say,

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Speaker 2: if you're to asked, and they would talk about the

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Speaker 2: education system and being homeschooled. The three fact is those organizations,

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Speaker 2: in my opinion, they operate by controlling the narrative, and

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Speaker 2: so the real goal is no educ I didn't buy

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Speaker 2: really the narrative, and I saw too many conflicts of

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Speaker 2: sort of interest in the belief system. Leaving was very

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Speaker 2: difficult for anybody. It takes a lot of bravery to leave,

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Speaker 2: or it takes a method of sabotage. They had the

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Speaker 2: systems to deal with the typical rebellion, and I took

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Speaker 2: it definitely a step further where it was radical rebellion.

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Speaker 2: It was I don't care one bit if I'm dead

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Speaker 2: or alive. I'm going to make your life hell no

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Speaker 2: matter what. When they realized it couldn't take me anywhere.

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Speaker 2: They couldn't do anything. I was out of control. Is

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Speaker 2: when they said, yeah, we got to ship him off.

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Speaker 3: One night, Benjamin was out with his friends when they

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Speaker 3: got pulled over. He tried to run, He was caught, detained,

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Speaker 3: and taken to juvenile detention. Benjamin was fifteen at the time.

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Speaker 2: When I went too JUVI. You know, I probably would

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Speaker 2: stayed there for a couple of days, Max, but I

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Speaker 2: wouldn't go home.

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Speaker 3: He wouldn't leave. His dad didn't want him to come home.

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Speaker 3: It was a stalemate.

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Speaker 2: We were in this stand off, which resulted in like

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Speaker 2: a three month juvenile stay for me, which was not fun.

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Speaker 2: Through that process of going to juvenile attention and stuff,

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Speaker 2: I started to see people that actually really cared, just

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Speaker 2: like the general public. And there was a judge involved

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Speaker 2: in my case in the juvenile court, and he just

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Speaker 2: really puts a neck out on the line and had

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Speaker 2: my back. And the Judge's like, no, I'm not going

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Speaker 2: to take him and put him in a prison where

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Speaker 2: he learns to be a criminal. Right, he's smart. And

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Speaker 2: it was the first time in my life somebody ever

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Speaker 2: called me smart. He said, I'm goss send you this

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Speaker 2: boys home. He's not going to be fun. It's gonna

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Speaker 2: be hard. He said, you make a year commitment, you

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Speaker 2: go there, and when you're out, I'll file the paperwork

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Speaker 2: to emancipate you.

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Speaker 3: How old are you at this point?

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Speaker 2: I turned sixteen in the boys program in Houston.

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Speaker 3: The program had a deal where once the boys matriculated,

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Speaker 3: they would buy them a one way bus ticket to

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Speaker 3: anywhere in Texas.

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Speaker 2: I had told him I want to go to Brian

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Speaker 2: College station, and they looked it up and they're like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's a bus that leaves here at like six in

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Speaker 2: the evening headed to Brian. And I was like, no,

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Speaker 2: because I'll get off the bus and it'll be dark,

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Speaker 2: right and I don't know anybody there.

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Speaker 3: But there was a bus leaving for Austin forty five

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Speaker 3: minutes later. Benjamin got on.

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Speaker 2: I didn't have a plan. I don't know if there's

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Speaker 2: any way humanly possible to describe really the feeling and

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Speaker 2: the fear and the excitement, the mix of adrenaline and emotion.

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Speaker 2: But I haven't felt it since. We'll put it that way.

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Speaker 2: I've had plenty of things happen in my life since

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Speaker 2: have been very scary or very exciting, but nothing that

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Speaker 2: really hits that point. I tried to calm down that

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Speaker 2: it was starting to get towards the evening, I realized

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Speaker 2: that I needed some form of transportation, and I found

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Speaker 2: a bicycle that was not being intended to at the moment,

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Speaker 2: and I took it because I needed it. And then

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Speaker 2: I started realizing that I really needed is somebody I knew.

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Speaker 2: I had to have connection, because if you don't know

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Speaker 2: anybody right, you're kind of completely screwed.

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Speaker 3: What happened next is a story for another day, but

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Speaker 3: here's the gist. Benjamin needed to find someone, anyone to

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Speaker 3: throw him a lifeline. Remember this is a six year

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Speaker 3: old kid with no money and no family, so he

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Speaker 3: biked around looking for anyone he knew, and finding no one,

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Speaker 3: he rode twenty two miles to round Rock, Texas, mainly

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Speaker 3: on the Highway access road. Unsurprisingly, the police pulled him

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Speaker 3: over for biking on the highway and escorted him to

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Speaker 3: a local hotel, where a young woman working reception took

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Speaker 3: pity on him. She let him crash in an empty

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Speaker 3: room for the night. We're going to pick our story

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Speaker 3: back up the next morning, Benjamin was out of the

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Speaker 3: room bright and early, and there were only a few

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Speaker 3: other folks in the hotel parking lot, including one guy

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Speaker 3: named Sean.

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Speaker 2: A guy probably in his fifties or so. He was

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Speaker 2: sitting on the tailgate of his pickup truck. I finally

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Speaker 2: got the courage to go up to him and I said, hey,

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Speaker 2: quick questions, are chivity work I can do? He said, well,

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Speaker 2: what do you know how to do? And I said,

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Speaker 2: whatever you tell me to do. I need to work.

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Speaker 2: And he'said, well, I got a couple errands, I got

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Speaker 2: a run first thing in the morning here and I'll

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Speaker 2: think about it and stuff. So he drove away about

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Speaker 2: thirty minutes, maybe an hour later, he showed back up.

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Speaker 2: He had a house in Round Rock. I went to

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Speaker 2: the house and helped him out. I cleaned his shed

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Speaker 2: and changed a tire on a vehicle and just the typical.

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Speaker 2: And he's like, I need to know who you are

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Speaker 2: and what's going on.

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Speaker 3: And so he told him the whole story.

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Speaker 2: Now you gotta been I told him the whole story.

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Speaker 2: It's funny because I told him the whole story. He

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Speaker 2: listened and he said, okay, I'll tell you what. Don't

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Speaker 2: ever tell anybody that story again. He's like, well, I

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Speaker 2: don't want to make you feel weird or wherever, but you're

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Speaker 2: welcome to stay with me. He had a four voye

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Speaker 2: and was married and stuff, and.

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Speaker 3: He invited you into his home.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he did, and I accepted it.

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Speaker 3: I want to pause a second here. This moment is extraordinary. Again.

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Speaker 3: This is a sixteen year old kid with a bike

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Speaker 3: and no education approaching a business owner just looking for

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Speaker 3: a lifeline. The courage it takes to do that is staggering,

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Speaker 3: and Sean was kind enough to hear him out and

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Speaker 3: give him the bridge he needed to start this new life.

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Speaker 3: This stuff doesn't just happen every day, but I've seen

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Speaker 3: time and time again that small business owners show up

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Speaker 3: for their communities, especially in time of need. If anything,

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Speaker 3: I hope this inspires all of us to look around

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Speaker 3: our own communities and take a chance on someone who

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Speaker 3: may desperately need it. So you moved in with him,

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Speaker 3: you went to work for him. Yes, so tell me

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Speaker 3: about the business. What was his business?

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Speaker 2: Water? Fire, mold and crimes and cleanup. Those were the

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Speaker 2: main pieces of what he did.

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Speaker 3: And you learn all about how to restore physical property. Right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's always this big question mark with education for me, like,

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Speaker 2: how am I going to be successful without the tools

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Speaker 2: of education, not being able to read and write, and like,

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Speaker 2: how am I going to be a benefit to this company?

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Speaker 2: And how am I going to be a benefit to

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Speaker 2: this guy's taking his chance on me and so coming

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Speaker 2: into his world and seeing that you could replace a

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Speaker 2: lot of the standard education with your willingness to learn

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Speaker 2: and your willingness to work.

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Speaker 3: You got it on the job education.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah, it was basically an apprenticeship. I got to

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Speaker 2: see the good, the bad, the ugly. I got to

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Speaker 2: see it in real time. He was a real support

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Speaker 2: to me, and he taught me that industry inside and out.

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Speaker 3: Shawn's restoration company was called a Best sounds like a

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Speaker 3: Yellow Pages play.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was one hundred percent.

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Speaker 3: I'm old enough to remember that.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, that's exactly what it was. And when you

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Speaker 2: could easily search stuff online on your phone, the Yellow

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Speaker 2: Pages overnight dried up and blew away.

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Speaker 3: Soon A Best went by the way of the Yellow Pages,

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Speaker 3: and Benjamin found himself once again out in the world

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Speaker 3: without a real plan. But this time he had connections,

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Speaker 3: employment history, a little bit of cash saved up, and

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Speaker 3: skills he could leverage. He went out looking for a job.

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Speaker 3: He got lots of interviews, but every time he went

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Speaker 3: in he was asked to fill out a job application.

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Speaker 2: I can't felt the paperwork, but I'm really good at

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Speaker 2: my job, Like, I will work really hard, I'll be

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Speaker 2: on time. And a guy looked at me and he's like, man,

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Speaker 2: if you can't fill out the paperwork, how are you

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Speaker 2: going to do your job?

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Speaker 3: Benjamin was stuck. Then Chris, an old coworker from a

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Speaker 3: best reached out.

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Speaker 2: He's like, hey, can I come work for you? And

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Speaker 2: I just literally start laughing. I don't know if it

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Speaker 2: was because I thought it was funnier because I was

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Speaker 2: on a complete panic myself, but I just cracked it laughing.

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Speaker 2: I think I was eighteen. And Chris is like, well, look, man,

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Speaker 2: if there's anybody that I think can do this, it's you.

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Speaker 3: So you decided to start the company or is that

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Speaker 3: too much of a stretch.

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Speaker 2: I would love this to be more of a hero story,

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Speaker 2: but really it was a lot of fear. I truly

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Speaker 2: did not believe I had what it took to run

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Speaker 2: a company.

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Speaker 3: You just needed income, so you gotta go.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And that was pretty much it.

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Speaker 3: Benjamin called Chris back. He still wasn't sure, but Chris was.

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Speaker 3: Chris was so sure that he offered to work for free.

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Speaker 2: I mean that was the offer. He's like, you can't

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Speaker 2: pass that up then, and I was like, yeah, you're right.

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Speaker 3: Benjamin quickly realized that starting a business takes capital, a

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Speaker 3: lot of capital, and he had much less money coming

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Speaker 3: in than he had before.

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Speaker 2: One of the lessons for me was if I was

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Speaker 2: going to start a company, I need to lower my expenses,

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Speaker 2: like big time.

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Speaker 3: How do you do that?

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Speaker 2: Well, one my girlfriend didn't like the reduction in income.

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Speaker 2: That problem resolved itself. She left.

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Speaker 3: That took care of it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, she left. And I realized that the idea

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Speaker 2: of faking it until you make it it wasn't gonna

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Speaker 2: work for me. Went on a mission to sell basically

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Speaker 2: everything that I had. I bought a camper and I

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Speaker 2: moved it too RV Park in East Austin, and Chris

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Speaker 2: moved in with me. So we lived in this little camper.

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Speaker 2: We split the rent in the camper, and we worked

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Speaker 2: our butts off.

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Speaker 3: Doctor Santos, what did you think of Benjamin's story?

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Speaker 1: I mean, what an incredible human and what an incredible story. Right.

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Speaker 1: It's amazing because it violates the intuitions that I think

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Speaker 1: we usually have about what makes for a successful business person.

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Speaker 1: A successful business person you get to NBA, or they

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Speaker 1: go to some fancy school, or they're the kind of

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Speaker 1: person that has had a straight path to where they're going. Now,

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Speaker 1: Benjamin's story really reminds us that, hey, there's so many

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Speaker 1: different paths to being a successful business person, and you

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily have to worry if you're kind of missing

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Speaker 1: one of the things you think you need. Right you

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Speaker 1: might not have that fancy college degree, you might not

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Speaker 1: have that fancy experience, you might not necessarily even believe

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Speaker 1: that you're able to do what you're doing. One of

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Speaker 1: the things I found so compelling about Benjamin's story is

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Speaker 1: that at one point, when he's handed the keys to

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Speaker 1: this new business, he says, I definitely don't think I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be successful, Like, there's no way I'm going

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Speaker 1: to run this business as well as the person before me.

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Speaker 1: And you know, look at the amazing things he's done.

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Speaker 1: And so I think it really reminds us that a

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Speaker 1: lot of the ideas we have about successful business people

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Speaker 1: who can be a good leader. Some of those ideas

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Speaker 1: are really mistaken, and we might really need to visit

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Speaker 1: thinking about them differently.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's clear from Benjamin's story that starting and running

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Speaker 3: a business, whether you come from a background like his

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Speaker 3: or not, if you list all our stories, takes a

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Speaker 3: certain level of resilience. How do you develop resilience as

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Speaker 3: an asset, as a tool in your life. What are

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Speaker 3: the inputs that help people build that muscle.

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Speaker 1: I think the first one is your mindset. He had

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Speaker 1: a mindset that things were going to work out. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't so much like a blindly hopeful but he just

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Speaker 1: had faith in his own abilities to push through things

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Speaker 1: when things were tough. And this is really a mindset

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Speaker 1: of optimism, something that's really important for resilience. You realize, hey,

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Speaker 1: it's not that tough stuff's not going to up. I'm

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Speaker 1: not blindly hopeful that no problems will ever come up.

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Speaker 1: I just if problems come up, I have faith in

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Speaker 1: my ability to push through. And I think that was

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Speaker 1: really inherent in benjamin story. But I think it's something

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Speaker 1: that all resilient business leaders need to build in because

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Speaker 1: we can't blindly think that no problems are going to

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Speaker 1: come up. They're going to come up, right. This is

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Speaker 1: what we hear on your show a lot. Right, the

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Speaker 1: problems come up. But I think we need to have

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Speaker 1: a mindset where we just have some faith in our

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Speaker 1: ability to get through it. It turns out that that belief,

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Speaker 1: believing that you can do it, is kind of half

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Speaker 1: the battle for getting through things. And so I think

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Speaker 1: that's resilience ingredient number one, the right mindset of resilience.

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Speaker 1: The second thing, though, is I think you want to

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Speaker 1: build up social support. You want to have people that

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Speaker 1: you can ask for help, You want to have businesses

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Speaker 1: that can help you out when things get really tricky.

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Speaker 1: I think you want to build a set of social

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Speaker 1: supports around you that can really take care of you

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Speaker 1: when times get tough. And I see this in benjment

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Speaker 1: story a little bit too right. He really made good

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Speaker 1: use of the opportunities he had socially, of the people

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Speaker 1: who did believe in him. He kind of locked on

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Speaker 1: to that and really use those individuals to fuel his success.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I really want to hear what you think about

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Speaker 3: the rest of Benjamin's story. Let's listen. At this point,

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Speaker 3: Benjamin and Chris are living in the RV. They had

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Speaker 3: lots of small residential projects and slowly built up their

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Speaker 3: name and their reputation. Finally, they got a big break,

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Speaker 3: a contract with a research and development lab in Austin.

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Speaker 3: Not only did it help them financially, but it also

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Speaker 3: gave Benjamin the nudge he needed.

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Speaker 2: That's why I kind of realized that there was a

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Speaker 2: good chance we could line up more of those and

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Speaker 2: actually start to build a business.

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Speaker 3: So once you really got it going, then there's a

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Speaker 3: point at which you really started to invest. Right. You

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Speaker 3: started to buy equipment, You started to buy everything you needed,

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Speaker 3: and then you bought some vans. Tell me about that.

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Speaker 2: I started investing in the company from day one, buying

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Speaker 2: restoration equipment, fans do you use, and the things we

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Speaker 2: needed in box trucks and used vehicles.

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Speaker 3: Their transportation inventory reached a critical moment in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 2: We realized that our fleet was just aging out. It

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Speaker 2: was just one disaster of the.

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Speaker 3: Other, one broken belt away from whatever.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and turbos and being late to customers houses all stuff.

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Speaker 3: This was Benjamin's chance to get his beloved eighty to

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Speaker 3: ninety thousand dollars vans.

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Speaker 2: I was going to kind of rip the bandaid off

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Speaker 2: and replace the fleet with these vehicles. I told the

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Speaker 2: sales guys, we want to replace our entire fleet of vans.

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Speaker 2: It's about fifteen vans we're looking at. He's like, we're

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Speaker 2: not going to get those allocated to us.

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Speaker 3: If you remember anything about the car shortages during twenty twenty,

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Speaker 3: then you know what Benjamin was facing. Unlike many Americans,

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Speaker 3: the shortage actually worked out in his favor.

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Speaker 2: I didn't want to do it all at once. Let's

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Speaker 2: put that in one at a time. When they come in,

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Speaker 2: we'll trade it out for one of the vehicles that's

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Speaker 2: in rough shape with the company. So he calls me

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Speaker 2: about a month later, he's like, hey, good news. I

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Speaker 2: was able to get all of those vans allocated and

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Speaker 2: I started the order on all of them. And that

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Speaker 2: was a panic moment for me because that was well

388
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Speaker 2: over a million dollars.

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Speaker 3: You didn't have a million in cash to just have

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Speaker 3: on it.

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Speaker 2: No, I did it okay, So it was a total panic.

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Speaker 2: I got with my anchor. We started looking at everything

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Speaker 2: financials and he helped me recast my financials and he

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Speaker 2: kept coming back and be like, I don't know how

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Speaker 2: we're going to make this happen. But we're going to

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00:18:18,876 --> 00:18:21,996
Speaker 2: make it happen. And I was like, okay, So sure enough,

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Speaker 2: those vans are rolling in, just one after the other

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Speaker 2: every day. I was getting stretched to pretty much the limit.

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Speaker 2: And then COVID had a huge impact on all businesses.

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Speaker 2: We were no different. And so like from when the

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Speaker 2: order went in to when the vans became available, all

402
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Speaker 2: at one time, the company was also not doing fantastic.

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Speaker 3: Somehow, Benjamin got all his vans. The van panic was

404
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Speaker 3: almost over. Almost just after he got the final van

405
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Speaker 3: wrapped in road ready, he got a call from the

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Speaker 3: guy next door to his business property.

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Speaker 2: He's in a complete panic. He can't give it all,

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Speaker 2: get a straight word out, ben Oh my god. And

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Speaker 2: I was like, no, dude, what's going on. He's like,

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Speaker 2: all of your vans are floating away in the creek

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Speaker 2: and it wasn't even raining. And I was like, stop

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Speaker 2: joking with me. It wasn't storming, and it hadn't even

413
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Speaker 2: bend raining. The ground wasn't saturated. And I was like,

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Speaker 2: you have to be kidding me.

415
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Speaker 3: What happened? Was it raining upstream?

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Speaker 1: Like?

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Speaker 3: What happened? Here's what happened? Benjamin and the All Nation

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Speaker 3: Restoration facilities were near Walnut Creek in Austin. Surrounding the

419
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Speaker 3: creek is a large natural area with miles of biking

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Speaker 3: and walking trails. It also has a large floodplane. All

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Speaker 3: Nation Restoration was in that floodplane, and today was Benjamin's

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Speaker 3: unlucky day.

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Speaker 2: So it took all these vans off the creek, and

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Speaker 2: it took them down the creek, some of them miles

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Speaker 2: and just obliterated them. And then it's also just embarrassing,

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Speaker 2: super embarrassing, like the restoration company that usually helps people

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Speaker 2: with floods loses all their vans in the creek.

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Speaker 3: Right, Did you think the business was going to survive

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Speaker 3: at that point.

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Speaker 2: No, I was pretty sure it wasn't. We bought in

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Speaker 2: the middle of COVID, so prices were elevated from all dealerships,

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Speaker 2: so we're paying over what the vehicle was worth. On

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Speaker 2: top of that, we didn't put gap insurance on stuff

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Speaker 2: when we bought them. We were in such a hurry

435
00:20:06,636 --> 00:20:08,916
Speaker 2: just to get this to happen. And then because of

436
00:20:08,956 --> 00:20:11,796
Speaker 2: the costs increase on my insurance premium, which I really

437
00:20:11,836 --> 00:20:15,316
Speaker 2: didn't fully take into consideration when I bought all these vans. Yeah,

438
00:20:15,316 --> 00:20:18,076
Speaker 2: I didn't really think about it. I had opted for

439
00:20:18,116 --> 00:20:20,756
Speaker 2: a high deductible ten thousand dollars per vehicle because in

440
00:20:20,796 --> 00:20:23,716
Speaker 2: my mind there was no way that I would lose

441
00:20:23,756 --> 00:20:24,796
Speaker 2: all of my vehicles.

442
00:20:25,276 --> 00:20:27,476
Speaker 3: So how did you resolve this? What'd you do? Well?

443
00:20:27,476 --> 00:20:30,076
Speaker 2: It's interesting because I think things resolved themselves if you

444
00:20:30,156 --> 00:20:33,116
Speaker 2: stick in there, if you persevere through them. We went

445
00:20:33,156 --> 00:20:35,636
Speaker 2: through the normal things, getting all of the equipment that

446
00:20:35,676 --> 00:20:38,316
Speaker 2: was in those vans out and back up onto the

447
00:20:38,396 --> 00:20:40,716
Speaker 2: dry land, and then working with a towing agency to

448
00:20:40,756 --> 00:20:42,356
Speaker 2: get all of the vehicles out of the creek, which

449
00:20:42,396 --> 00:20:44,876
Speaker 2: was a huge effort, filing claims on all of it,

450
00:20:45,476 --> 00:20:47,956
Speaker 2: and then try to negotiate with our insurance company on

451
00:20:48,196 --> 00:20:50,796
Speaker 2: all the vehicles. We went to rental companies and re

452
00:20:50,836 --> 00:20:53,916
Speaker 2: rented vehicles, and there's a company in town that does

453
00:20:53,916 --> 00:20:56,716
Speaker 2: our lettering. They felt bad for us. They put temp

454
00:20:56,796 --> 00:20:59,476
Speaker 2: lettering on all of our rented vehicles and then offered

455
00:20:59,476 --> 00:21:01,356
Speaker 2: to take them off clean up when we were able

456
00:21:01,356 --> 00:21:01,996
Speaker 2: to return them.

457
00:21:02,076 --> 00:21:03,636
Speaker 3: Wow. I love when I hear stories like that, like

458
00:21:03,676 --> 00:21:05,596
Speaker 3: small businesses supporting other small businesses.

459
00:21:05,756 --> 00:21:09,676
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was super. Austin Seinco. Has been really good dusts,

460
00:21:10,036 --> 00:21:12,156
Speaker 2: but then came the interesting thing, and I thought to myself,

461
00:21:12,196 --> 00:21:14,596
Speaker 2: you don't deal with something like this for no reason.

462
00:21:14,596 --> 00:21:16,396
Speaker 2: There has to be something that we can learn from

463
00:21:16,436 --> 00:21:19,116
Speaker 2: this and some way we can grow in a positive

464
00:21:19,156 --> 00:21:22,156
Speaker 2: direction through this. And so although I still believe that

465
00:21:22,196 --> 00:21:25,956
Speaker 2: the Mercedes Sprinter van is the best for restoration, there

466
00:21:26,036 --> 00:21:28,796
Speaker 2: is also negatives. And then some of the negatives are

467
00:21:28,836 --> 00:21:31,356
Speaker 2: that they're high roof, which is good to work in,

468
00:21:31,436 --> 00:21:33,396
Speaker 2: but they're not good for overhead damage. We had a

469
00:21:33,436 --> 00:21:36,156
Speaker 2: lot of overhead damage claims that were coming in. Then

470
00:21:36,276 --> 00:21:38,396
Speaker 2: just the weight of the vehicles on the road and

471
00:21:38,716 --> 00:21:40,396
Speaker 2: the impact on the environment.

472
00:21:40,076 --> 00:21:42,836
Speaker 3: Burned a lot of guess and yep, tires, more.

473
00:21:42,676 --> 00:21:45,796
Speaker 2: Tires, tires for all of it, and then the insurance

474
00:21:45,796 --> 00:21:47,396
Speaker 2: costing everything else. So I went back to the drawing

475
00:21:47,436 --> 00:21:49,276
Speaker 2: board and I said, we're going to go way smaller

476
00:21:49,316 --> 00:21:51,396
Speaker 2: on vehicles, and we're going to buy cash. So we're

477
00:21:51,396 --> 00:21:53,436
Speaker 2: going to rent and then we're gonna start knocking out

478
00:21:53,516 --> 00:21:56,796
Speaker 2: those rental vans, getting the returned back to the rental

479
00:21:56,836 --> 00:22:00,076
Speaker 2: company by replacing as fast as we can, replacing these

480
00:22:00,116 --> 00:22:01,836
Speaker 2: vans with cash vehicles.

481
00:22:02,796 --> 00:22:05,316
Speaker 3: At that time, Benjamin was also spending a ton of

482
00:22:05,356 --> 00:22:08,116
Speaker 3: money on marketing the company, trying to drum up business

483
00:22:08,116 --> 00:22:09,876
Speaker 3: and replace what he lost during COVID.

484
00:22:10,876 --> 00:22:13,836
Speaker 2: I ended up moving my marketing dollars out of promoting

485
00:22:13,836 --> 00:22:16,156
Speaker 2: the company digitally, and instead I bought a dumpster company

486
00:22:16,156 --> 00:22:21,636
Speaker 2: and I logoed out the twenty five dumpsters with full graphics.

487
00:22:21,916 --> 00:22:23,636
Speaker 3: So they became a marketing vehicle for you because the

488
00:22:23,676 --> 00:22:25,956
Speaker 3: dumster sits outside and everybody drives by it. Yeah.

489
00:22:26,036 --> 00:22:28,396
Speaker 2: So I was like, I can basically purchase this company

490
00:22:28,396 --> 00:22:30,196
Speaker 2: out right with my budget.

491
00:22:29,916 --> 00:22:31,916
Speaker 3: And it'll make money and do marketing at the same time.

492
00:22:31,956 --> 00:22:34,796
Speaker 2: That's right, And then it allowed us to buy smaller vehicles.

493
00:22:34,396 --> 00:22:35,196
Speaker 3: The good Ninja move.

494
00:22:35,396 --> 00:22:36,996
Speaker 2: Well, I look back and I was like, I need

495
00:22:37,036 --> 00:22:39,196
Speaker 2: to pat myself on the back. I figured out, you know,

496
00:22:39,636 --> 00:22:41,996
Speaker 2: and then I bought all these little transit vans and

497
00:22:42,076 --> 00:22:44,276
Speaker 2: I used the insurance company to get out of the

498
00:22:44,276 --> 00:22:47,356
Speaker 2: debt with the van as best as possible. And then

499
00:22:47,396 --> 00:22:49,236
Speaker 2: the debt that was remaining, we went to the banks

500
00:22:49,236 --> 00:22:51,196
Speaker 2: and we were like, look, this is the situation, here's

501
00:22:51,236 --> 00:22:54,476
Speaker 2: the pictures. Can we consolidate? So we actually came back

502
00:22:54,476 --> 00:22:56,916
Speaker 2: from this whole thing a lot stronger. So at first

503
00:22:56,996 --> 00:22:59,236
Speaker 2: I was like, man, nobody's going to believe how stupid

504
00:22:59,276 --> 00:23:01,356
Speaker 2: I am parking all my vans at a floodplant. And

505
00:23:01,396 --> 00:23:04,076
Speaker 2: then once we solved all these problems, I started thinking, Oh, man,

506
00:23:04,116 --> 00:23:06,756
Speaker 2: I hope nobody thinks this is insurance fraud. Like I

507
00:23:06,796 --> 00:23:10,716
Speaker 2: intentionally dumped my fleet to switch gears to do something better.

508
00:23:10,876 --> 00:23:14,796
Speaker 2: So I feel like really blessed that it actually happened,

509
00:23:15,316 --> 00:23:17,196
Speaker 2: which is really weird because I think we came back

510
00:23:17,236 --> 00:23:20,356
Speaker 2: so much better and on a different trajectory, a much

511
00:23:20,396 --> 00:23:23,796
Speaker 2: more sustainable trajectory, a much easier trajectory to grow.

512
00:23:27,676 --> 00:23:30,076
Speaker 3: Laurie, we talk a lot about mindset on the show,

513
00:23:30,116 --> 00:23:33,996
Speaker 3: but I gotta say Benjamin's mindset is next level. Even

514
00:23:33,996 --> 00:23:36,516
Speaker 3: when he's panicking or he's in a really tough spot,

515
00:23:36,756 --> 00:23:39,276
Speaker 3: he's able to keep showing up. It would be so

516
00:23:39,316 --> 00:23:41,556
Speaker 3: much easier to quit, but he doesn't. Can you give

517
00:23:41,636 --> 00:23:43,436
Speaker 3: us a little insight into what it takes to have

518
00:23:43,476 --> 00:23:45,036
Speaker 3: a mindset where you can keep going.

519
00:23:45,596 --> 00:23:48,156
Speaker 1: You'd be surprised how becoming a little bit more other

520
00:23:48,236 --> 00:23:51,236
Speaker 1: oriented and purpose driven can give you the resilience to

521
00:23:51,316 --> 00:23:54,116
Speaker 1: push through when times are tough for yourself. That's providing

522
00:23:54,156 --> 00:23:57,316
Speaker 1: a foundation, that's boosting your happiness. That's boosting your sense

523
00:23:57,356 --> 00:23:59,316
Speaker 1: of self worth. That can kind of help you out

524
00:23:59,316 --> 00:24:01,956
Speaker 1: when things get tough. So I think becoming other oriented

525
00:24:01,956 --> 00:24:03,756
Speaker 1: in an odd way is a way of sort of

526
00:24:03,796 --> 00:24:07,356
Speaker 1: selfishly protecting yourself. That said, I think you also need

527
00:24:07,396 --> 00:24:10,716
Speaker 1: strategies when the tough times come up to help yourself,

528
00:24:10,996 --> 00:24:13,796
Speaker 1: and a big one is really mindfully noticing how things

529
00:24:13,836 --> 00:24:17,436
Speaker 1: are going, mindfully noticing like, oh, I'm feeling really overwhelmed

530
00:24:17,516 --> 00:24:20,276
Speaker 1: right now, I'm feeling really stressed out, I'm feeling a

531
00:24:20,276 --> 00:24:22,116
Speaker 1: little lonely, like I haven't had a chance to see

532
00:24:22,116 --> 00:24:24,516
Speaker 1: my family in a long time. I often tell my

533
00:24:24,556 --> 00:24:27,316
Speaker 1: students that negative emotions are like the dashboard light on

534
00:24:27,396 --> 00:24:29,236
Speaker 1: your car. You know, if your tire light goes on

535
00:24:29,356 --> 00:24:31,476
Speaker 1: or your engine light. You have to notice that and

536
00:24:31,556 --> 00:24:34,556
Speaker 1: pay attention to it, not necessarily immediately, but at some

537
00:24:34,636 --> 00:24:37,116
Speaker 1: point you've got to rectify the situation and fix things.

538
00:24:37,596 --> 00:24:40,596
Speaker 1: I think our own negative emotions and mindfully noticing those

539
00:24:40,636 --> 00:24:43,476
Speaker 1: negative emotions work like that. If you want to be

540
00:24:43,516 --> 00:24:46,156
Speaker 1: a resilient business leader, you have to take time to

541
00:24:46,276 --> 00:24:49,356
Speaker 1: notice when you're feeling a little overwhelmed, You're feeling a

542
00:24:49,356 --> 00:24:52,156
Speaker 1: little stressed, you're feeling a little down. Maybe feeling a

543
00:24:52,156 --> 00:24:54,916
Speaker 1: little angry, you're anxious, Right, These are all emotions that

544
00:24:55,036 --> 00:24:57,236
Speaker 1: push us towards some behavior that we can use to

545
00:24:57,356 --> 00:25:00,636
Speaker 1: resolve things and feel better. That sort of mindset research

546
00:25:00,636 --> 00:25:03,556
Speaker 1: shows can really be good for getting through tough times,

547
00:25:03,756 --> 00:25:06,716
Speaker 1: but also making sure you're motivating yourself in a healthy way.

548
00:25:06,996 --> 00:25:09,836
Speaker 3: I mean, those are really forms of emotional preparedness. I

549
00:25:09,876 --> 00:25:12,396
Speaker 3: spend a lot of time with clients and guests on

550
00:25:12,396 --> 00:25:16,116
Speaker 3: the show talking about financial preparedness, risk preparedness, thinking through

551
00:25:16,156 --> 00:25:18,476
Speaker 3: what could happen. What I hear you saying is you

552
00:25:18,476 --> 00:25:20,156
Speaker 3: have to do the same for your own mental health

553
00:25:20,156 --> 00:25:21,916
Speaker 3: and emotions exactly.

554
00:25:21,956 --> 00:25:23,876
Speaker 1: And I think that sadly, this is something that we

555
00:25:23,916 --> 00:25:26,356
Speaker 1: don't teach people very well. I mean, I think Benjamin's

556
00:25:26,356 --> 00:25:28,636
Speaker 1: School of Hard Knocks has really taught him to develop

557
00:25:28,676 --> 00:25:31,916
Speaker 1: that emotional preparedness. I think just as we have lots

558
00:25:31,956 --> 00:25:35,676
Speaker 1: of courses on financial literacy, we actually need equivalent business

559
00:25:35,676 --> 00:25:39,316
Speaker 1: courses on emotional regulation literacy. Right, How do I regulate

560
00:25:39,356 --> 00:25:42,036
Speaker 1: my emotions, notice them and tackle them in tough times?

561
00:25:42,436 --> 00:25:44,636
Speaker 3: Yeah? And I think that's become a lot less taboo,

562
00:25:44,836 --> 00:25:45,516
Speaker 3: is the good news?

563
00:25:45,596 --> 00:25:45,756
Speaker 1: Right?

564
00:25:45,796 --> 00:25:48,196
Speaker 3: Mental health in general has become less taboo. But it's

565
00:25:48,196 --> 00:25:50,116
Speaker 3: also the hard one because I can't put it on

566
00:25:50,116 --> 00:25:51,876
Speaker 3: a spreadsheet like a lot of the things that I do.

567
00:25:52,076 --> 00:25:53,676
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it is going to be the kind of

568
00:25:53,676 --> 00:25:55,876
Speaker 1: thing that business leaders take into account because I think

569
00:25:55,916 --> 00:25:59,156
Speaker 1: more and more you recognize that mental fitness and by

570
00:25:59,196 --> 00:26:02,116
Speaker 1: that the ability to regulate your emotions, having a resilient

571
00:26:02,156 --> 00:26:05,116
Speaker 1: mindset and so on. Mental fitness winds up mattering for

572
00:26:05,316 --> 00:26:09,116
Speaker 1: your business performance. We want teams that can regulate their emotions.

573
00:26:09,356 --> 00:26:11,756
Speaker 1: We want teams that have a positive mindset that are

574
00:26:11,756 --> 00:26:14,356
Speaker 1: going to keep pushing and persevering when times get tough.

575
00:26:14,676 --> 00:26:16,156
Speaker 1: And so I think more and more we're going to

576
00:26:16,196 --> 00:26:18,996
Speaker 1: be seeing businesses paying attention to all these so called

577
00:26:18,996 --> 00:26:20,836
Speaker 1: squishy psychological topics. More.

578
00:26:21,116 --> 00:26:23,036
Speaker 3: It's squishy when it's everyone else's, but it doesn't feel

579
00:26:23,036 --> 00:26:23,916
Speaker 3: squishy when it's yours.

580
00:26:23,996 --> 00:26:26,996
Speaker 1: Right, Definitely, definitely does.

581
00:26:26,796 --> 00:26:29,836
Speaker 3: The research suggest that there are any conditions or tools

582
00:26:29,956 --> 00:26:32,276
Speaker 3: or anything else that can help us when we go

583
00:26:32,316 --> 00:26:35,196
Speaker 3: through tough times experience growth as opposed to trauma.

584
00:26:35,396 --> 00:26:38,236
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, one tool really is the right kind of mindset,

585
00:26:38,316 --> 00:26:41,596
Speaker 1: And I think Benjamin exemplifies this really well. He seems

586
00:26:41,636 --> 00:26:44,236
Speaker 1: to have this really lovely ability to look for a

587
00:26:44,276 --> 00:26:46,596
Speaker 1: silver lining in the midst of all these things, to

588
00:26:46,676 --> 00:26:50,276
Speaker 1: be grateful in the face of really bad times. Research

589
00:26:50,316 --> 00:26:53,396
Speaker 1: has shown that having a grateful mindset noticing the blessings

590
00:26:53,796 --> 00:26:56,036
Speaker 1: can be one path to having a mindset that can

591
00:26:56,076 --> 00:26:58,516
Speaker 1: help you through bad times. And that's important because our

592
00:26:58,596 --> 00:27:01,156
Speaker 1: natural instinct is to focus on the negative, to notice

593
00:27:01,156 --> 00:27:03,516
Speaker 1: only the bad stuff. When we train our mind to

594
00:27:03,556 --> 00:27:06,116
Speaker 1: focus on the blessings, that means that even in the

595
00:27:06,116 --> 00:27:08,716
Speaker 1: midst of terrible things, we can notice stuff that we

596
00:27:08,716 --> 00:27:10,396
Speaker 1: can be grateful for, and that can give us a

597
00:27:10,436 --> 00:27:12,716
Speaker 1: kind of motivation to sort of push through. So I

598
00:27:12,716 --> 00:27:15,076
Speaker 1: think that's one thing. He really has, this mindset of

599
00:27:15,156 --> 00:27:17,476
Speaker 1: noticing the blessings. Even though he went through such a

600
00:27:17,556 --> 00:27:20,436
Speaker 1: terrible childhood, he was able to make great use of

601
00:27:20,476 --> 00:27:22,996
Speaker 1: the social support that he did have, from the judge

602
00:27:22,996 --> 00:27:24,916
Speaker 1: who gave him a little bit of a benefit of

603
00:27:24,916 --> 00:27:27,316
Speaker 1: the doubt, to the hotel owner who helped him out

604
00:27:27,316 --> 00:27:29,956
Speaker 1: a little bit, to business owners who gave him a chance. Right,

605
00:27:29,996 --> 00:27:31,516
Speaker 1: I just want a job, I just want to jump in.

606
00:27:31,556 --> 00:27:34,356
Speaker 1: I'll do anything. He was able to make good use

607
00:27:34,436 --> 00:27:36,516
Speaker 1: of these moments of social support. And one of the

608
00:27:36,556 --> 00:27:38,236
Speaker 1: things we do know is that if you're going through

609
00:27:38,236 --> 00:27:40,516
Speaker 1: a tough time, whether that's in your personal life or

610
00:27:40,556 --> 00:27:44,156
Speaker 1: in a business, having that social support, noticing that it's there,

611
00:27:44,356 --> 00:27:46,996
Speaker 1: asking for help, These kinds of things can matter a

612
00:27:46,996 --> 00:27:47,356
Speaker 1: lot too.

613
00:27:47,556 --> 00:27:49,716
Speaker 3: I mean that's even correlated with the longer life, right,

614
00:27:49,796 --> 00:27:51,956
Speaker 3: having healthy social connections exactly.

615
00:27:51,956 --> 00:27:54,156
Speaker 1: And there's study after study really showing that if you

616
00:27:54,236 --> 00:27:58,236
Speaker 1: look at longevity, people who have and maintain their healthy

617
00:27:58,276 --> 00:28:02,836
Speaker 1: social connections wind up living longer and living longer more healthfily.

618
00:28:03,036 --> 00:28:04,476
Speaker 1: So you don't just like live for a long time,

619
00:28:04,476 --> 00:28:06,556
Speaker 1: but you avoid things like heart attacks and so on.

620
00:28:06,756 --> 00:28:09,476
Speaker 1: Social support winds up helping us out a lot, and

621
00:28:09,596 --> 00:28:11,876
Speaker 1: it's a great stress buffer, right, And I think we

622
00:28:11,916 --> 00:28:14,356
Speaker 1: see this a little bit in Benjamin story as well.

623
00:28:14,476 --> 00:28:17,116
Speaker 1: Times that would normally hit us really hard didn't hit

624
00:28:17,196 --> 00:28:19,796
Speaker 1: Benjamin as hard. I think because he was relying on

625
00:28:19,836 --> 00:28:22,356
Speaker 1: his team, he was relying on the social support that

626
00:28:22,396 --> 00:28:24,156
Speaker 1: he'd grown to love. And I think that that's a

627
00:28:24,236 --> 00:28:25,876
Speaker 1: lesson for a lot of us too, Right. It's not

628
00:28:25,956 --> 00:28:29,076
Speaker 1: just having these social supports, it's really maintaining them, putting

629
00:28:29,116 --> 00:28:31,476
Speaker 1: time in and being willing to go to them when

630
00:28:31,516 --> 00:28:32,276
Speaker 1: times are tough.

631
00:28:32,956 --> 00:28:35,196
Speaker 3: Thank you for those insights, Lori now, we've heard about

632
00:28:35,196 --> 00:28:37,796
Speaker 3: All Nations past and present, but I wanted to ask

633
00:28:37,836 --> 00:28:40,556
Speaker 3: Benjamin about the future. We've been talking a lot about

634
00:28:40,556 --> 00:28:43,796
Speaker 3: succession planning on the show recently, so much so that

635
00:28:43,876 --> 00:28:46,356
Speaker 3: we dedicated a bonus segment to it. So please go

636
00:28:46,396 --> 00:28:48,676
Speaker 3: take a listen. You can find it in the show's feed.

637
00:28:49,876 --> 00:28:51,556
Speaker 3: In twenty years, what's your wish for All.

638
00:28:51,516 --> 00:28:54,836
Speaker 2: Nation As the company grows and expands, I want its

639
00:28:54,876 --> 00:28:57,956
Speaker 2: focus to remain on helping people that are less fortunate.

640
00:28:58,396 --> 00:29:00,356
Speaker 2: I think a lot of times companies start selling out

641
00:29:00,356 --> 00:29:03,036
Speaker 2: to shareholders and people that are really interested in that profit,

642
00:29:03,036 --> 00:29:05,876
Speaker 2: which I understand that path, but as we grow as

643
00:29:05,876 --> 00:29:08,476
Speaker 2: a company, I want to give back to those type

644
00:29:08,476 --> 00:29:10,636
Speaker 2: of kids out of those programs or young people that

645
00:29:10,676 --> 00:29:12,916
Speaker 2: are struggling with addiction. And I would like to do

646
00:29:12,916 --> 00:29:15,276
Speaker 2: it in more than one city. We're doing it in Austin,

647
00:29:15,316 --> 00:29:17,876
Speaker 2: but if we can grow into multiple cities and give

648
00:29:17,916 --> 00:29:21,916
Speaker 2: people an opportunity for employment. I think for me, the

649
00:29:22,076 --> 00:29:24,756
Speaker 2: biggest struggle wasn't changing my life in the boy's home.

650
00:29:24,876 --> 00:29:27,076
Speaker 2: It was what to do once I got out, and

651
00:29:27,156 --> 00:29:29,996
Speaker 2: I think that path to a career that can support

652
00:29:30,036 --> 00:29:32,356
Speaker 2: yourself is a key piece. I think that's missing in

653
00:29:32,396 --> 00:29:33,236
Speaker 2: so many places.

654
00:29:33,756 --> 00:29:35,916
Speaker 3: And my final question, I ask every guest on the show,

655
00:29:35,956 --> 00:29:37,716
Speaker 3: if you had one piece of advice for a business

656
00:29:37,756 --> 00:29:40,116
Speaker 3: owner or aspiring entrepreneur, what would that one piece of

657
00:29:40,116 --> 00:29:40,596
Speaker 3: advice be.

658
00:29:40,956 --> 00:29:43,956
Speaker 2: Don't give up, do not give up. Persevere. All the

659
00:29:43,956 --> 00:29:45,956
Speaker 2: time I see people that have the answers, they have

660
00:29:46,076 --> 00:29:49,036
Speaker 2: the solutions to grow, they have it. They just run

661
00:29:49,076 --> 00:29:50,956
Speaker 2: into a problem. They run into a moment in their

662
00:29:50,996 --> 00:29:53,356
Speaker 2: life when it's impossible and they throw in the towel.

663
00:29:53,476 --> 00:29:56,556
Speaker 2: And if they persevere through that, a lot of times

664
00:29:56,596 --> 00:29:57,756
Speaker 2: they come out so much stronger.

665
00:29:58,356 --> 00:30:00,476
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Benjamin how It's been a pleasure

666
00:30:00,516 --> 00:30:02,156
Speaker 3: having you on The un Chackables. Thank you for sharing

667
00:30:02,156 --> 00:30:02,636
Speaker 3: your story.

668
00:30:02,836 --> 00:30:03,916
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ben.

669
00:30:10,316 --> 00:30:12,396
Speaker 3: Laurie. The thought that kept going through my head is

670
00:30:12,676 --> 00:30:17,596
Speaker 3: that I think we have this one dimensional definition of education.

671
00:30:18,276 --> 00:30:21,396
Speaker 3: But I'm sitting across from this guy who's incredibly articulate.

672
00:30:21,476 --> 00:30:23,276
Speaker 3: I was lucky enough to meet his wife and daughter.

673
00:30:23,836 --> 00:30:25,796
Speaker 3: He has this great family, and so I think, you know,

674
00:30:25,836 --> 00:30:28,596
Speaker 3: we have this one dimensional education means I graduated from

675
00:30:28,596 --> 00:30:30,556
Speaker 3: this and I can do X and Y, And he

676
00:30:30,636 --> 00:30:32,836
Speaker 3: just kept making me think, do I have that definition wrong?

677
00:30:32,876 --> 00:30:34,156
Speaker 3: In my head? Is that too limited.

678
00:30:34,436 --> 00:30:36,556
Speaker 1: He really shows the power of the school of hard

679
00:30:36,636 --> 00:30:39,356
Speaker 1: knocks for lack of a better term. Right, he's learned

680
00:30:39,356 --> 00:30:42,076
Speaker 1: a lot from running his business, but he's also learned

681
00:30:42,116 --> 00:30:44,916
Speaker 1: a lot from the kind of failures and the difficulties

682
00:30:44,956 --> 00:30:46,876
Speaker 1: that have come up. And I think this is something

683
00:30:46,876 --> 00:30:49,396
Speaker 1: that we get wrong about success. We think success is

684
00:30:49,396 --> 00:30:52,356
Speaker 1: about figuring something out the first time right, getting it

685
00:30:52,476 --> 00:30:55,396
Speaker 1: right all the time. We forget that our biggest teachers

686
00:30:55,876 --> 00:30:58,956
Speaker 1: can be the awful times, the traumas when things don't

687
00:30:58,996 --> 00:31:01,276
Speaker 1: go well, when all your vehicles are flooded, and like

688
00:31:01,316 --> 00:31:02,796
Speaker 1: you have to figure out how to get the right

689
00:31:02,836 --> 00:31:05,476
Speaker 1: insurance and what your business does after that. And that

690
00:31:05,556 --> 00:31:08,716
Speaker 1: means that sometimes as business leaders, we avoid those risks

691
00:31:08,796 --> 00:31:11,836
Speaker 1: right possibilities that might seem risky. We don't go for

692
00:31:11,916 --> 00:31:13,996
Speaker 1: that because we're worried about the failure. But what we

693
00:31:14,076 --> 00:31:16,636
Speaker 1: forget is that if we mess up, we might not

694
00:31:16,676 --> 00:31:19,036
Speaker 1: necessarily mess up, but if we mess up, that mess

695
00:31:19,116 --> 00:31:21,156
Speaker 1: up might be our biggest teacher. It might be the

696
00:31:21,236 --> 00:31:23,556
Speaker 1: thing that allows our business to grow in ways that

697
00:31:23,596 --> 00:31:26,836
Speaker 1: we couldn't have expected. And so Benjamin's story can really

698
00:31:26,876 --> 00:31:30,596
Speaker 1: remind us avoiding risks completely or worrying that if you

699
00:31:30,676 --> 00:31:32,676
Speaker 1: hit a hard time or something comes up, you won't

700
00:31:32,676 --> 00:31:34,996
Speaker 1: be able to handle it. That's just not what research

701
00:31:35,036 --> 00:31:37,596
Speaker 1: really shows. What research shows is that trauma can sometimes

702
00:31:37,636 --> 00:31:40,716
Speaker 1: make us grow. And that's trauma in life, as we've

703
00:31:40,716 --> 00:31:43,236
Speaker 1: seen with Benjamin with his upbringing and so on. But

704
00:31:43,276 --> 00:31:45,636
Speaker 1: it's also kind of trauma in the context of business

705
00:31:45,636 --> 00:31:49,156
Speaker 1: when things go just as bad as you could possibly imagine.

706
00:31:49,516 --> 00:31:51,316
Speaker 1: Sometimes that comes with some good too.

707
00:31:51,836 --> 00:31:53,796
Speaker 3: Laurie, can you talk to us a little bit about

708
00:31:54,076 --> 00:32:00,476
Speaker 3: more modern psychological frames for advantage disadvantage, how we approach others.

709
00:32:00,596 --> 00:32:03,156
Speaker 3: A lot of people in society would judge because he

710
00:32:03,196 --> 00:32:05,396
Speaker 3: can't read and write. Now, that's not his fault. He

711
00:32:05,436 --> 00:32:07,836
Speaker 3: grew up in an environment where that wasn't taught to him.

712
00:32:08,276 --> 00:32:10,596
Speaker 3: And if I'm honest with myself, I was on some

713
00:32:10,756 --> 00:32:13,756
Speaker 3: level surprised that he has been able to be as

714
00:32:13,796 --> 00:32:15,996
Speaker 3: successful as he has been when he can't fill out

715
00:32:15,996 --> 00:32:17,756
Speaker 3: a form. And I sort of feel bad about feeling

716
00:32:17,836 --> 00:32:20,276
Speaker 3: that way, but I'm being honest about it. How does

717
00:32:20,316 --> 00:32:25,636
Speaker 3: stigma and other things play into societal expectations around these

718
00:32:25,676 --> 00:32:26,396
Speaker 3: types of things.

719
00:32:26,796 --> 00:32:28,596
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think they play in a lot in

720
00:32:28,636 --> 00:32:31,156
Speaker 1: two ways that are really important. First, these kind of

721
00:32:31,196 --> 00:32:34,676
Speaker 1: cultural notions of like, well, who's educated, who belongs here right?

722
00:32:34,716 --> 00:32:36,916
Speaker 1: Who can fit into business world? Who has the skills

723
00:32:36,956 --> 00:32:40,756
Speaker 1: to do it? I think those expectations affect the opportunities

724
00:32:40,756 --> 00:32:42,956
Speaker 1: that we give to the people that come our way

725
00:32:43,036 --> 00:32:44,996
Speaker 1: as business leaders. You know, if someone can't fill out

726
00:32:44,996 --> 00:32:46,556
Speaker 1: a form, you might not give them the benefit of

727
00:32:46,596 --> 00:32:48,836
Speaker 1: the doubt to become one of your team members. But

728
00:32:49,196 --> 00:32:52,156
Speaker 1: just like Benjamin, it might be an amazing individual. And

729
00:32:52,196 --> 00:32:54,156
Speaker 1: so I think it reminds us that we need to

730
00:32:54,196 --> 00:32:57,356
Speaker 1: give folks grace that the normal stereotypes we have about

731
00:32:57,596 --> 00:33:00,156
Speaker 1: the kind of person who belongs in our organization might

732
00:33:00,196 --> 00:33:02,276
Speaker 1: be wrong, and that we might want to rethink some

733
00:33:02,396 --> 00:33:05,116
Speaker 1: of those But I think Benjamin's story also shows a

734
00:33:05,156 --> 00:33:07,396
Speaker 1: second way in which some of these beliefs can really

735
00:33:07,436 --> 00:33:10,836
Speaker 1: affect productivity, which is the beliefs that an individual has

736
00:33:10,876 --> 00:33:14,036
Speaker 1: about themselves. If you're a disadvantaged, if you have something

737
00:33:14,076 --> 00:33:16,396
Speaker 1: that is stigmatizing, like the fact that you can't read,

738
00:33:16,556 --> 00:33:19,716
Speaker 1: or the lack of formal education or something like that,

739
00:33:19,716 --> 00:33:23,556
Speaker 1: that can affect the extent to which you yourself believe in yourself.

740
00:33:24,036 --> 00:33:26,916
Speaker 1: I was really taken by Benjamin's story of kind of

741
00:33:26,956 --> 00:33:29,556
Speaker 1: what switched where the judge was like, a smart guy

742
00:33:29,596 --> 00:33:32,076
Speaker 1: like you, you should have had these opportunities X, Y,

743
00:33:32,116 --> 00:33:34,716
Speaker 1: and Z. He was really changed by the fact that

744
00:33:34,756 --> 00:33:37,236
Speaker 1: there was somebody else out there that believed in him.

745
00:33:37,716 --> 00:33:39,996
Speaker 1: And I think this is something that we neglect as

746
00:33:40,076 --> 00:33:43,156
Speaker 1: business leaders. Right, A quick one off compliment about you

747
00:33:43,196 --> 00:33:45,196
Speaker 1: did such a great job, or you're actually really good

748
00:33:45,236 --> 00:33:47,756
Speaker 1: at this, or you're a really hard worker. Those quick

749
00:33:47,876 --> 00:33:50,676
Speaker 1: kind of one offs can actually change a person's beliefs

750
00:33:50,716 --> 00:33:54,356
Speaker 1: about themselves. It can make someone more resilient over time.

751
00:33:54,836 --> 00:33:56,796
Speaker 1: And I think it just reminds us as leaders that

752
00:33:56,876 --> 00:33:59,596
Speaker 1: like sometimes we think those kind of compliments in our head,

753
00:33:59,876 --> 00:34:01,956
Speaker 1: but we don't often share them. And I think that's

754
00:34:02,036 --> 00:34:05,596
Speaker 1: especially true for individuals from disadvantage backgrounds who might have

755
00:34:05,676 --> 00:34:07,876
Speaker 1: a stereotype against them that causes them to have a

756
00:34:07,916 --> 00:34:11,356
Speaker 1: threatened belief about them. Just these small kind of things,

757
00:34:11,476 --> 00:34:15,796
Speaker 1: especially to individuals in disadvantage groups, can mean the world

758
00:34:15,876 --> 00:34:18,196
Speaker 1: of difference, Like literally can change someone's life.

759
00:34:18,396 --> 00:34:20,596
Speaker 3: Yeah, we spend a lot of time at the bank

760
00:34:20,676 --> 00:34:23,876
Speaker 3: thinking about how to serve all different types of people

761
00:34:23,916 --> 00:34:26,156
Speaker 3: and it's pretty resource intensive. You can imagine we have

762
00:34:26,236 --> 00:34:28,876
Speaker 3: language barriers. Obviously, we do have people who can't read

763
00:34:28,916 --> 00:34:30,476
Speaker 3: and write, and we have to be able to serve

764
00:34:30,516 --> 00:34:32,836
Speaker 3: them as well. We have people with physical disabilities, and

765
00:34:32,916 --> 00:34:35,476
Speaker 3: that's not a small investment. I'm incredibly proud that we're

766
00:34:35,516 --> 00:34:37,636
Speaker 3: able to do it, but it takes work and you

767
00:34:37,716 --> 00:34:38,716
Speaker 3: have to do it intentionally.

768
00:34:38,996 --> 00:34:40,756
Speaker 1: I mean, I think what the research really shows is

769
00:34:40,756 --> 00:34:44,196
Speaker 1: that work is probably paying off. Allowing individuals to get

770
00:34:44,236 --> 00:34:47,916
Speaker 1: through the door. Kind of democratizing access to these opportunities

771
00:34:48,356 --> 00:34:50,956
Speaker 1: really changes the face of what's possible in business.

772
00:34:51,956 --> 00:34:54,276
Speaker 3: Doctor Lori Santos, thank you so much for being on

773
00:34:54,316 --> 00:34:56,236
Speaker 3: the show that this was really insightful and I appreciate

774
00:34:56,236 --> 00:34:57,196
Speaker 3: the time you've spent with us.

775
00:34:57,436 --> 00:35:02,596
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me. I hope you enjoyed

776
00:35:02,636 --> 00:35:06,396
Speaker 1: that deep dive into resilience building. Benjamin How's story offers

777
00:35:06,396 --> 00:35:09,036
Speaker 1: such valuable insights on how to meet like many ops

778
00:35:09,716 --> 00:35:13,916
Speaker 1: and come through them stronger, healthier, and happier. The Unshakables

779
00:35:13,956 --> 00:35:16,716
Speaker 1: podcast is full of such wisdom, so check out more

780
00:35:16,796 --> 00:35:19,356
Speaker 1: episodes from Ben Walter and the folks at Chase for

781
00:35:19,516 --> 00:35:22,836
Speaker 1: Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

782
00:35:22,876 --> 00:35:24,076
Speaker 1: get your shows.

783
00:35:29,996 --> 00:35:31,476
Speaker 3: Real Customer Compensated