Speaker 1: This isn't rehearsal. This isn't just like version one of
Speaker 1: life and you get your second life later. This is it.
Speaker 1: This is life. Welcome to the one you feed throughout time.
Speaker 1: Great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have.
Speaker 1: Quotes like garbage in, garbage out, or you are what
Speaker 1: you think ring true. And yet for many of us,
Speaker 1: our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity,
Speaker 1: self pity, jealousy, or fear. We see what we don't
Speaker 1: have instead of what we do. We think things that
Speaker 1: hold us back and dampen our spirit. But it's not
Speaker 1: just about thinking. Our actions matter. It takes conscious, consistent
Speaker 1: and creative effort to make a life worth living. This
Speaker 1: podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in
Speaker 1: the right direction, how they feed their good wolf. Thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us. Our guest today is Dale Partridge, a
Speaker 1: serial entrepreneur and CEO, co founder of sevenly dot org
Speaker 1: and start up camp dot com. In less than two years,
Speaker 1: Sevenly has given over two point seven million dollars in
Speaker 1: donations to charities across the globe. Dale is best known
Speaker 1: for his expertise in branding marketing and social media. He
Speaker 1: started his first company while still a teenager and has
Speaker 1: partnered and launched a few successful organizations since. His mission
Speaker 1: is to lead a generation towards generosity. Dale has been
Speaker 1: featured in various business publications, including the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine,
Speaker 1: I n C Magazine, Mashable, MSN Money, Forbes, and The
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Times. His personal mission is to lead a
Speaker 1: generation towards generosity and empower business leaders through the philosophy
Speaker 1: to you that people matter. His latest book is called
Speaker 1: People Over Profit. Here's the interview. Hi Dale, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the show. Dude, Super excited to be here, my friend.
Speaker 1: I'm very happy to have you on. We've had a
Speaker 1: little challenge scheduling this, and you've got a lot of
Speaker 1: we share some people in common who all highly recommended
Speaker 1: me having you on. So I'm glad that we're finally
Speaker 1: getting to do this. Thanks man. Yeah, I think we're
Speaker 1: you know, for anybody that's listening, we're recording this on
Speaker 1: a Sunday night, so we're like, that's how that's how
Speaker 1: dedicated we are um to this to this show tonight yep, yep,
Speaker 1: Sunday night, nine pm. So our show is called the
Speaker 1: One You Feed. And it's based on the parable of
Speaker 1: two wolves, where there's a grandfather who's talking with his
Speaker 1: grandson and he says, in life, there are two wolves
Speaker 1: inside of us that are always at battle. One is
Speaker 1: a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and bravery
Speaker 1: and love, and the other is a bad wolf, which
Speaker 1: represents things like greed and hatred and fear. And the
Speaker 1: grandson stops and he thinks about it for a second.
Speaker 1: He looks up as grandfather and he says, well, grandfather,
Speaker 1: which one wins? And the grandfather says, the one you feed.
Speaker 1: So I'd like to start off by asking you what
Speaker 1: that parable means to you in your life and in
Speaker 1: the work that you do. That's a great story because
Speaker 1: I think that I would look at history, and history
Speaker 1: shows us that that love always wins, and that truth
Speaker 1: always wins, and that you know, transparency and generosity and
Speaker 1: authenticity and these things that that really are at the
Speaker 1: core of of life, meaning that the things that we
Speaker 1: struggle with most of our lives. And it's funny because
Speaker 1: I think so many people are looking, especially business people,
Speaker 1: are looking for like the next strategies and tactics in
Speaker 1: like the Harvard Business Review, and uh, most of us
Speaker 1: uh that have succeeded very well in not just business life,
Speaker 1: but in our personal lives have leaned more on the
Speaker 1: lessons that we were taught in kindergarten, which is, you know,
Speaker 1: to to love people, to to be kind, um, to share,
Speaker 1: you know, and to tell the truth. And it's these
Speaker 1: things that we struggle with as humans for like our
Speaker 1: whole lives. I'm talking like I'm thirty years old and
Speaker 1: I'll still sometimes tell my wife that I'm around the
Speaker 1: corner when I'm like eight minutes away, you know, and
Speaker 1: it's this, it's this like I don't know why I
Speaker 1: can't stop exaggerating, and I don't know why I can't
Speaker 1: like be comfortable in my own skin, and I don't
Speaker 1: know why I hide things sometimes. And um, So I
Speaker 1: think that at the end of the day, history just
Speaker 1: shows us that that love always wins and truth wins.
Speaker 1: And I think that if we if we can stand
Speaker 1: with that side, uh, we know that we're gonna we
Speaker 1: know that we're gonna win two at the end. Well,
Speaker 1: You've got a book coming out called People Over Profit,
Speaker 1: Break the System, Live with Purpose, Be more successful that
Speaker 1: I think really touches on some of that. It's sort
Speaker 1: of a feeding your good wolf. In the Business World
Speaker 1: book for lack of a better analogy, and you talk
Speaker 1: about seven core beliefs that creates success by putting people first.
Speaker 1: Do you want to maybe talk about a couple of
Speaker 1: those and how they, you know, get in because I
Speaker 1: think these are around feeding other people's wolves. Also, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: So I you know, as a business guy, I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there and I'm going, okay, you know who's winning in
Speaker 1: the business space? I mean, and I remember, there's no
Speaker 1: bad companies, There's only bad leaders. And so I sat
Speaker 1: back and I go, Okay, who are the good companies?
Speaker 1: Because that means that they have great leaders? And so
Speaker 1: I look at companies like Whole Foods and and r
Speaker 1: I and um and In and out Burger and Chick
Speaker 1: fil a, uh and maybe um Ben and Jerry's and
Speaker 1: Patagonia and north Face. Some of these outdoor brands especially
Speaker 1: kind of have this this sense. And and I look
Speaker 1: at their leaders and I go like, what are they doing?
Speaker 1: You know, what what are what are those men or
Speaker 1: women's there's actually a couple of those CEOs that are women.
Speaker 1: I go, what are they doing. And um, I I
Speaker 1: looked and I studied their businesses for for a few
Speaker 1: years and read tons of articles and actually got some
Speaker 1: good interviews with some people. I found out, uh that
Speaker 1: those people are just very what I call constitutionally incapable
Speaker 1: of breaking away from these core beliefs. And they have
Speaker 1: the ability to value people. And um, they have this
Speaker 1: humility about themselves. They have this generosity and this authenticity
Speaker 1: and this ability to to tell the truth or like
Speaker 1: honest abe level truth. I mean, they just can't lie.
Speaker 1: And and they have this integrity about themselves that that
Speaker 1: is very rare. And they think about business not out
Speaker 1: of the you know, they don't think of their their
Speaker 1: businesses as as parts of a machine or their employees
Speaker 1: as parts of a machine, but people. And it's something
Speaker 1: that they don't have written in their business plans. They
Speaker 1: don't have it on like you know, tattooed on the
Speaker 1: walls and their HQ, they don't have it like in
Speaker 1: their mission statement. They just have this like this thread
Speaker 1: of commonality between all these leaders that that have the
Speaker 1: ability to value people over profit, which makes their companies
Speaker 1: more profitable. And um, remember it, you know in the
Speaker 1: books not called people instead of profit. Right. I'm not
Speaker 1: a communist, right, So it's it's the idea is that
Speaker 1: that if you value people over profit, you'll actually be
Speaker 1: more profitable because your company is healthier, your culture is healthier,
Speaker 1: and people work harder when they feel more valued. And um,
Speaker 1: So I started studying these men and women, and um,
Speaker 1: it was just incredible to see, Uh, some of the
Speaker 1: stories and some of the insights. Um that they were
Speaker 1: just dedicated to the simple things. Like I talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: is that these truths that have always won across history,
Speaker 1: and they're just better at it than most people. They're
Speaker 1: they're they're just dedicated, like fanatically dedicated to integrity and um.
Speaker 1: You know, they tell the lie even if are they
Speaker 1: tell the truth even if it hurts right, they admit
Speaker 1: when they're wrong. They they value people when it costs
Speaker 1: them money. Um. You know, they they give in the
Speaker 1: sight of like not a practical decision. You know, they
Speaker 1: are very true to themselves even if people don't like it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's so many unique things there. So I
Speaker 1: think that that it's really the books a study of
Speaker 1: of the success of business. But if you go dig
Speaker 1: dig deeper, it's it's a success of it's the personal
Speaker 1: development of of like the greatest leaders on the planet
Speaker 1: and um and and remember, like we we look at
Speaker 1: people all the time. I remember Eric, I used to
Speaker 1: sit back and look at Okay, who should I start following?
Speaker 1: And I based that off of like how much money
Speaker 1: they made or how successful their company was. I don't
Speaker 1: do that anymore. I don't follow people unless I can
Speaker 1: look at their lives and I go, Okay, they're winning
Speaker 1: in business, they're winning in family, they're winning in relationships. Um.
Speaker 1: And those people are very rare, like if they're healthy,
Speaker 1: they have a really great relationship with their children, they
Speaker 1: have an incredible marriage. Uh they have there and they're
Speaker 1: also on top of it, you know, running a multimillion
Speaker 1: dollar company. They're they're very rare people. And and those
Speaker 1: well that can do that well, I think we have
Speaker 1: something to learn from. I agree. I mean getting all
Speaker 1: those different things working well together is really a challenge. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's so crazy. My my the chairman of my my
Speaker 1: past company, I'm still a co owner, uh sevenly dot Org.
Speaker 1: His name's Jim Van Earden and he um, you know,
Speaker 1: he's been a great businessman. He's also got ten children, UM,
Speaker 1: a marriage of you know, thirty years, and his children
Speaker 1: respect him and love him and care for him. And
Speaker 1: and he's he's still travels and maintains this and runs
Speaker 1: these companies and and his marriage is just flourishing and
Speaker 1: and and his relationships are strong and and he's constantly
Speaker 1: like consistent, you know. And I'm like, dude, all I
Speaker 1: want to do is just end up like that, you know,
Speaker 1: And so I'm trying to. I've surrounded myself with a
Speaker 1: couple of these men and UM, and my wife has
Speaker 1: surrounded herself with a cup all of these women, and
Speaker 1: we learned like whoa like because I grew up in
Speaker 1: southern California where this is just a rare thing. You know,
Speaker 1: you're really good at business and your family's fallen apart,
Speaker 1: you know, or you're really good a family and you're broke,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's it's this balance that I'm looking
Speaker 1: for and UM, and I think that's kind of what
Speaker 1: what people need to start searching for more than just
Speaker 1: go deeper besides the professional and financial success. Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk a minute about when you were running your company.
Speaker 1: You ran into some challenges there that caused you to
Speaker 1: step back and re evaluate what you were doing. And
Speaker 1: I think that's part of what led you to write
Speaker 1: in this book and uh doing the start up camp
Speaker 1: that you're doing. Now, do you want to share a
Speaker 1: little bit about how the company was going and what
Speaker 1: happened with you and the changes you needed to make? Yeah? So,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Eric, at the core, I'm a
Speaker 1: ruthless entrepreneur and which probably makes me very qualified to
Speaker 1: write this book because I've learned the lessons that I've
Speaker 1: written about over the years. Um to uh to change,
Speaker 1: because um, I want to win, and I'm incredibly competitive,
Speaker 1: and I'm addicted to success and I'm addicted to achievement.
Speaker 1: And I remember, um, you know, Sevenly was my sixth
Speaker 1: or seventh company. Uh we you know, I had started
Speaker 1: multiple things by the time I was twenty six years
Speaker 1: old and made uh you know, a few million dollars.
Speaker 1: I had some really great success and and um, I
Speaker 1: started Sevenly and it was a great experience to blend
Speaker 1: purpose and profit. I was like, oh my gosh, this
Speaker 1: is it. Like this is what I really want. That's
Speaker 1: what I thought, right. I was like, this is what
Speaker 1: I really want, like to to change the world. And
Speaker 1: we raised, you know, four point two million dollars now
Speaker 1: and seven dollar donations, and I mean literally, and when
Speaker 1: I look back at it, I go, man, like the
Speaker 1: money that we've given to charity, there's quite literally people
Speaker 1: that probably wouldn't be alive if we hadn't started the company.
Speaker 1: And and I always asked myself the question, like, I go,
Speaker 1: what if we didn't? You know, like for for those
Speaker 1: of you that are dreaming out there, that have dreams,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this from personal experience. You have no
Speaker 1: idea the impact of the dream that you might have
Speaker 1: on someone else. So so like if you're if you're
Speaker 1: fearful of starting, uh, just know that I never knew
Speaker 1: that I would be giving four point two million dollars
Speaker 1: away to to charities and and feeding people and rescuing
Speaker 1: girls from sex trafficking, and and building wells and and
Speaker 1: stopping bullying and and and all the other things that
Speaker 1: we've supported. But the company grew very quick, and this
Speaker 1: is the first time that I realized that companies can
Speaker 1: grow faster than people can. And that was a really
Speaker 1: interesting learning experience to go. Man, we went from zero
Speaker 1: to like fifty employees in two and a half years,
Speaker 1: and I had a multi hundred thousand dollar every two
Speaker 1: week payroll that was incredibly stressful at twenties seven years old.
Speaker 1: And um, and I had people that work for me.
Speaker 1: There were forty and that had kids than a wife,
Speaker 1: and and I'm thinking, gosh, like, what a what a
Speaker 1: unique experience this was. And I grew a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: I read more books than I probably have ever done
Speaker 1: in my whole life. I mean, I spent so much
Speaker 1: mentorship with with different people, and went through coaching courses
Speaker 1: and and um, you know what, I just couldn't keep up.
Speaker 1: And I realized also that that I'm a creative entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: I'm I love the vision and and I needed a
Speaker 1: staff my weaknesses because I couldn't operate. I was not
Speaker 1: an operator. And you give me ten to fifteen employees,
Speaker 1: and like, I'm in like I could totally run that.
Speaker 1: But when it starts getting to the point where you
Speaker 1: walk in your office and there's people that are working
Speaker 1: there that you didn't hire and you have no idea
Speaker 1: who they are, it's it's a weird thing because you go, man, like,
Speaker 1: this thing is so much bigger than me now. And
Speaker 1: that was hard for me. And I remember wanting so
Speaker 1: badly to be the San Francisco VC, like like raising
Speaker 1: multimillions of dollars and being on the covers of magazines
Speaker 1: and like turning into this like prodigy entrepreneur. And I
Speaker 1: had all the characteristics for it, but the ability to
Speaker 1: stay sane while doing it. And um, one of my
Speaker 1: favorite quotes is, do you remember who you were before
Speaker 1: the world taught you who you should be? And uh,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I literally didn't. I I was so focused
Speaker 1: on like achieving this success that I didn't care. And
Speaker 1: I put my my family and myself at the back
Speaker 1: burner for a long time. And um, I remember I
Speaker 1: got to a point where to start having anxiety, like
Speaker 1: I just couldn't handle the stress and the pressure. And
Speaker 1: I didn't want to tell anybody, like would it would
Speaker 1: show weakness in my investors, it would show weakness to
Speaker 1: my staff, and and so I just like stuffed it down.
Speaker 1: And I was like panicking all the time and like
Speaker 1: walking out and like I literally be in a meeting
Speaker 1: and then I would jump out and like run into
Speaker 1: a closet and like and like take deep breaths, like
Speaker 1: trying to like get my composure back, and and um,
Speaker 1: and you know, being a CEO is a real deal,
Speaker 1: like a CEO of a of a seriously large company,
Speaker 1: like anything over ten fifteen employees. It's a really hard stress.
Speaker 1: And I started having insomnia even like, um, and I
Speaker 1: still fought through it. I mean, I was still working hard.
Speaker 1: Like that's the that's the crazy thing is that I
Speaker 1: was still running the company. I wasn't just like bailing,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh, you know, insomnia and anxiety and
Speaker 1: panic attacks and and I I I actually remember my
Speaker 1: wife started having them at the same time, so we
Speaker 1: were both going through this. This is craziness. I remember
Speaker 1: a time that I was sitting on the bed with
Speaker 1: her and she was having a panic attack or she
Speaker 1: just finished having a panic attack, and she was so
Speaker 1: frustrated with them that she was like suicidal thought thinking
Speaker 1: like she was she was so I couldn't leave her alone,
Speaker 1: like I had to literally take her to work with
Speaker 1: me every day. And and I remember like fighting off
Speaker 1: my own anxiety at the same time coaching her through
Speaker 1: the you know, the coaching her through why like why
Speaker 1: she should live. I mean it was it was incredibly
Speaker 1: brutal and um and we we said, hey, it's time
Speaker 1: to change and UM among a lot of other variables
Speaker 1: in the situation. And I said, hey, you know, I
Speaker 1: think maybe it's getting close for me to step down
Speaker 1: as CEO, and my I think my my partners and
Speaker 1: stuff are kind of ready for it as well. There
Speaker 1: threat thinking like Dale, you you kind of need a break.
Speaker 1: And so I stepped down in UM after about two
Speaker 1: and a half years of running the company, and my
Speaker 1: wife and I we just made a ton of changes.
Speaker 1: I mean, like we made changes like this is the
Speaker 1: thing is that we also had the blessing of being
Speaker 1: able to make the change right like, because a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't have the ability, they don't have the money,
Speaker 1: they don't have the the the resources to like make changes.
Speaker 1: And um, we actually bought we sold our our house,
Speaker 1: like forced us to drive in traffic everywhere, and um,
Speaker 1: we we bought a house in the mountains, um outside
Speaker 1: of l A. And then we like in the mountains
Speaker 1: like six thousand foot elevation, like little cabin and then
Speaker 1: we we rented a little house at the beach, and
Speaker 1: we split our time between the two of them, so
Speaker 1: we got you know, got some more peace and quiet.
Speaker 1: We we started exercising, We we started um, getting back
Speaker 1: into our faith a little bit. We we started eating healthier. Um,
Speaker 1: we started, uh, you know, reducing our commitments. Um. Two
Speaker 1: people and and and just try to to figure out, Okay,
Speaker 1: we gotta serve ourselves because I think as people that
Speaker 1: we don't always remember that we have needs. Also, especially
Speaker 1: as leaders. If you're a leader and you're listening, Um,
Speaker 1: often times we we are serving. We're I'm like, my
Speaker 1: life is so good, is what I'm thinking. That, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't need anything. You know, I'm the CEO, and
Speaker 1: I mean I'm I'm successful, I'm I have a good
Speaker 1: amount of wealth and and I'm so you know, have
Speaker 1: this great wife in this house and all these things.
Speaker 1: Like I'm thinking, the last thing I want to do
Speaker 1: is tell anybody that I need something. That's a massive mistake. Um,
Speaker 1: Because it doesn't matter who you are. I don't care
Speaker 1: how successful you are, Like you still need you still
Speaker 1: sometimes be able to go. You know, I need you
Speaker 1: to tell me that it's gonna be okay, Like I
Speaker 1: need you to tell me that you love me, Like
Speaker 1: I need you to tell me that even if I
Speaker 1: screw up, You're still gonna love me. You know, you're
Speaker 1: still gonna be my friend, um, whether I'm not the
Speaker 1: CEO here, and I think enough of that as leaders
Speaker 1: when you go you know what, hey man, if you fail, like,
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna like you and we need more of that.
Speaker 1: So so I we jumped into that season and UM,
Speaker 1: and eventually started redefining like what did we really want?
Speaker 1: You know, like who were worried before the world taught
Speaker 1: us who we should be? And uh, and that was
Speaker 1: the kind the journey that we've been on ever since.
Speaker 1: How has the anxiety and insomnia been for you as
Speaker 1: you've made those changes? Nothing changes fast, right, So the
Speaker 1: way I've learned about it is that um, and I've
Speaker 1: struggled with anxiety at various levels for ten years now. Um,
Speaker 1: when you start getting anxious, it's because of the things
Speaker 1: you were doing weeks ago, right, so like you know,
Speaker 1: it's the pressure that's been building up for weeks two months,
Speaker 1: and that's your you know, that's that's like what I
Speaker 1: say is like it's God's way of saying, like this
Speaker 1: is your breaking point and like chill out, and um,
Speaker 1: the problem is that most people can't chill out right,
Speaker 1: Like they got to go to work the next morning.
Speaker 1: You know, and and so what do they do. They
Speaker 1: take drugs, And my wife and I just decided, like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do this without drugs. I mean, I'm not like,
Speaker 1: I'm not, um, you know, shaming anybody that has taken them.
Speaker 1: But we wanted to do it without drugs. We didn't
Speaker 1: want to get on anti anxiety medicines or or um,
Speaker 1: you know, sleep medicines or different things, because you get
Speaker 1: really dependent on that stuff, you know, And I think
Speaker 1: that it changes a lot of the way you are,
Speaker 1: but you have to do it sometimes because you know
Speaker 1: that that's just the only way. And um, so we we, uh,
Speaker 1: we started noticing that, you know, even if we stop
Speaker 1: and start calming down now, it's not gonna we're still
Speaker 1: going to be anxious. Like it's gonna take it's gonna
Speaker 1: take a few weeks two months to like start letting
Speaker 1: that calmness catch up with us. So we had to
Speaker 1: be patient in that. And um, and we started making progress, man,
Speaker 1: like it was great. We started like, wow, We're started
Speaker 1: having our lives back again and our thoughts back again,
Speaker 1: and and um and I had to start replacing lies
Speaker 1: with truth. And UM, I think that a lot of
Speaker 1: the lies and we worry, you know, like there's you know, um,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a Christian guy, but you know, whether
Speaker 1: you're a Christian or not, I think the idea is
Speaker 1: that there's there's a there's a quote in the Scriptures
Speaker 1: that says, um, you know, what is worrying going to
Speaker 1: do to add a single minute to your life? You know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't do anything right, Like worrying is like at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's there's just no there's
Speaker 1: no point of it. I mean, sure there's there's there's
Speaker 1: an importance if you actually have something that's like urgent
Speaker 1: and you need to go to it. But most of
Speaker 1: the worrying we do, of the worrying we do is
Speaker 1: just it's just worthless. So I stopped worrying, and um,
Speaker 1: and and my wife and I kind of just came
Speaker 1: out of the hole. And uh, and we said we're
Speaker 1: never going to go back. And so we had to
Speaker 1: define what does that look like. And I mean in
Speaker 1: the book and People of a Profit, I talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about our story and and that process and
Speaker 1: and and how it relates to work. Um. Because I
Speaker 1: think that people think that, you know, the most dangerous
Speaker 1: person in the world is the guy that goes, hey, man, dude,
Speaker 1: it's no personal, it's just business. Like. No, now everything
Speaker 1: is personal. Uh, you're you're you're a dangerous person the
Speaker 1: person that says that, right, And um so I I
Speaker 1: I looked at people of a profit and the book
Speaker 1: is this, like this is the result of my internal
Speaker 1: change and and how you can kind of create companies
Speaker 1: that are really who you are. Um So, yes, So
Speaker 1: now I'm on this journey of of Uh instead of
Speaker 1: having big companies, I want to do the highest amount
Speaker 1: of revenue, least amount of employees, and be able to
Speaker 1: live anywhere I want. Um So, those are the rules
Speaker 1: that we put in. So we wanted to have um
Speaker 1: you know, an online membership business was the business for us,
Speaker 1: and we had to think about that and we go
Speaker 1: So we started a business called startup camp dot com
Speaker 1: where um I would actually credit a twelve month curriculum
Speaker 1: on teaching people how to start a business, you know,
Speaker 1: from start to finish. And uh, it's been great, and
Speaker 1: it's it's been it's been still incredibly difficult and stressful,
Speaker 1: but not near early as stressful because it's more me,
Speaker 1: you know, it's more me, and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's we have we have two employees. Um you know,
Speaker 1: we have uh something members now and paying a month.
Speaker 1: And the result of this, of this company that actually
Speaker 1: fits with who we are is so much better. We're
Speaker 1: so much happier. And so businessmen and women out there leaders,
Speaker 1: you know, don't just chase something because it makes money.
Speaker 1: Don't just chase something because you can be successful from it. Um,
Speaker 1: chase something that is actually you and also successful and
Speaker 1: can make you money. Because I'll tell you what I've made.
Speaker 1: I've made lots of money, and at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I would rather be making a little bit
Speaker 1: of money and happy than making a ton of money
Speaker 1: and where I was. Um, So that that's been my
Speaker 1: my theories. It's just somewhere where you love who you are.
Speaker 1: Because this this isn't rehearsal, right, I mean Eric, you
Speaker 1: know this, like this isn't rehearsal Like you're not Like
Speaker 1: this isn't just like version one of life and you
Speaker 1: get your second life later, like this is it, you
Speaker 1: know right here, So like don't wait on those decisions
Speaker 1: like this is life. Like you're in your twenties or
Speaker 1: thirties or forties, like make those decisions now, yep, exactly.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I think ties a little
Speaker 1: bit into this. And I saw it was something that
Speaker 1: you had written recently and you talked about and this
Speaker 1: is a thing that comes up a lot in my mind,
Speaker 1: and we talked about a lot. But the I will
Speaker 1: be happy when syndrome? Can you elaborate a little bit
Speaker 1: on that? Oh man? Yeah, I uh, when you when
Speaker 1: you say I'll be happy when, um, it's incredibly dangerous
Speaker 1: because joy should has nothing to do with your circumstances,
Speaker 1: has nothing I mean, I mean, your joy should not
Speaker 1: be affected by anything that you live on like you could.
Speaker 1: You should be able to be in jail have the
Speaker 1: same amount of joy that you have today. And that's
Speaker 1: a harsh statement in a in a very you know,
Speaker 1: extreme you know circumstances. But what I'm saying is that
Speaker 1: that um joy comes from from like a heart of
Speaker 1: of contentment. It comes from looking at your life and
Speaker 1: gratefulness and gratitude and and so I um, I often
Speaker 1: tell people just just you know, when you go to
Speaker 1: bed every day, just like look at the things of
Speaker 1: your life, like you're healthy, Like there's so many And
Speaker 1: maybe this helped me a lot because of sevenly, I
Speaker 1: got a chance to see some of the most unfortunate
Speaker 1: people in the world. And so we live in the
Speaker 1: covetousness era, right like where you're just like constantly coveting
Speaker 1: like other people's stuff. And I do it too, Like
Speaker 1: it's you know, I look at someone's life and I'm like, dang, man,
Speaker 1: like look at their life, like you know, he's got
Speaker 1: so much freedom and look he said he made the cover,
Speaker 1: he got a New York Times bestseller, Like, oh, like
Speaker 1: I want that, you know, and um that's I mean,
Speaker 1: our social media feeds are the highlight reels of our life.
Speaker 1: It's like we almost do it to make people jell
Speaker 1: us right, like like we put this this picture out
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh man, people are gonna like this
Speaker 1: photo because they're gonna like they're gonna want my life. Man,
Speaker 1: they're gonna want my life, and we love it. We
Speaker 1: were gonna eight hundred likes in the photo and they go, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: those people are jealous that they're not me. You know,
Speaker 1: it's really sick. And um so uh yeah, I think that,
Speaker 1: you know, money is never gonna make us happy. I mean, sure,
Speaker 1: there's that, there's that documentary Happy Right that talks about like,
Speaker 1: you know, money makes you happy until you know about
Speaker 1: fifty tho dollars a year, you know, and once you
Speaker 1: have enough to like cover your basic needs, money makes
Speaker 1: no difference on happiness. But if you if you if
Speaker 1: you're you're making twelve tho dollars a year and you
Speaker 1: need to make forty, you know, you're you're pretty unhappy
Speaker 1: because you don't have enough money. But once you get there,
Speaker 1: you're you're definitely happy enough. So I mean, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you, you you know, we we've been able to make um,
Speaker 1: you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and
Speaker 1: I've listened to the lie before that that money making
Speaker 1: more money is gonna make me happier, and and it
Speaker 1: my wife comes up to me, tells me, She goes,
Speaker 1: you know, I just want to let you know, dale, Um,
Speaker 1: you know you don't need to work more like like
Speaker 1: like I'm okay, Like you don't like I know you're
Speaker 1: you're hustling theale Like I know you're hustling. I know
Speaker 1: you're doing the next thing, but like you're doing it
Speaker 1: for you, You're not for me, you know, Like I
Speaker 1: just want you to know that, and I remember her
Speaker 1: saying that to me. I'm thinking, like, like she's happy,
Speaker 1: like if we made sixty dollars a year, like has nothing.
Speaker 1: Her love for me has nothing to do with how
Speaker 1: much money will make, and her love for our life
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with that either. And um so
Speaker 1: just there's a lot of that stuff there that just
Speaker 1: you know, trying to figure out how what what it
Speaker 1: means to be content. And you know, for us, I'll
Speaker 1: tell one last story. What we've done, Eric is we've
Speaker 1: kind of made a decision that find this number yet,
Speaker 1: but we're we're getting close to this number. We go,
Speaker 1: what number do we need? And because every time we
Speaker 1: get to a number, I mean, we go, oh, you know, two,
Speaker 1: you know, I think that we actually need more. So three, oh,
Speaker 1: I think we need more. And dude, that is a
Speaker 1: dangerous road, my friend, because the people that get up
Speaker 1: to a million, they, oh, we just need a little
Speaker 1: bit more, like you don't need more. Yeah, it never
Speaker 1: ends if you're in that mindset, it never ends. So
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out that number for our family
Speaker 1: where we go, hey, you know what, any money that
Speaker 1: we make this year past this number, we're either going
Speaker 1: to give it away or we're gonna put it in
Speaker 1: a foundation for our children. That's it. And um because
Speaker 1: there is a there is safety in that if you can,
Speaker 1: if you're open enough or um mature enough to to
Speaker 1: listen to that message, their safety in that. And UM
Speaker 1: and you need to find that number for your family.
Speaker 1: I think would be a good exercise for for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. That mindset of I'll be happy when
Speaker 1: is that? The core problem with it is that it
Speaker 1: ever ends. It's always the next thing. At least that's
Speaker 1: been my experience. Is that I think that this is
Speaker 1: the thing that will make me happy, and I get
Speaker 1: there and I don't feel happier, And instead of questioning
Speaker 1: the entire mindset, I just think, oh, well, it wasn't
Speaker 1: that thing. It must surely be the next thing on
Speaker 1: the road. And it's it's insidious. We have to remember
Speaker 1: like at the end of the day, right, we're gonna
Speaker 1: we're gonna die, and we're gonna sit there at You know,
Speaker 1: this is one thing I always tell people. You know,
Speaker 1: the average age blended men and women is about eighty
Speaker 1: years old today. So you know, I'm thirty, so I
Speaker 1: got fifty years left. Right, This is that's it. You know, Eric,
Speaker 1: hell do you forty four? Forty four? Right? So so
Speaker 1: you got potentially thirty five years left, right, And and
Speaker 1: you think about that and you go, no one on
Speaker 1: their deathbed because there's tons of research projects and studies
Speaker 1: that goes, um, they go, you know, uh, what would
Speaker 1: you have done more? And nobody says I would have
Speaker 1: worked more? You know. Um. You know one of my
Speaker 1: favorite quotes is you don't get too busy making a
Speaker 1: living that you forget to make a life. And yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's it's the relationships that count. And and I
Speaker 1: really hammer on that part in the book. I talked
Speaker 1: about like like relationships are the things that matter. That's
Speaker 1: why we're choosing people over profit. Because at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, sure, you built a great company, but
Speaker 1: everybody hates you. Um, there's nothing valuable about there's no
Speaker 1: legacy and and um, and or you were so busy
Speaker 1: that you forgot to make friends. You know, you're so busy,
Speaker 1: And sure there's I'm all about having a season of business,
Speaker 1: like you might have a six month Like I'm writing
Speaker 1: this book and then getting it marketed and putting it
Speaker 1: out there. I'm way busier than I than I like
Speaker 1: to be. But once we're done with this, I'm going
Speaker 1: to take a big break and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be busy for another year. And um, so we gotta
Speaker 1: do that because at the end of the day, like
Speaker 1: the relationships that we make are really the only things
Speaker 1: that matter, um, and it's the it's the only influence
Speaker 1: that that those people are gonna have on their children
Speaker 1: and their children and their children. So so like just
Speaker 1: focusing on the things that really matter, because money is important,
Speaker 1: but it's it's it's not any it's not everything, right,
Speaker 1: it is certainly not. But boy is it bo where
Speaker 1: we culturally taught something different and that that idea that
Speaker 1: it is money runs so deep. Oh and and fame
Speaker 1: and influence and um and things you know. Um, I
Speaker 1: watched this video today on YouTube of this couple. I
Speaker 1: follow somebody that took photos of this couple and they're
Speaker 1: like a young model couple. They both have like a
Speaker 1: million followers on their Instagram account and they're both incredibly
Speaker 1: good looking. And they did these videos of like they
Speaker 1: travel somewhere and they have this like they're in helicopters
Speaker 1: and skydiving together and then like snowboarding and then like
Speaker 1: doing all these crazy things and it's got like three
Speaker 1: million views on this video, and um, it's awesome, like cool,
Speaker 1: Like you know, I'm not going to compare my life
Speaker 1: to theirs because I don't know what their journey is, right,
Speaker 1: Like there's that quote that says like, don't compare, Like,
Speaker 1: don't compare your twenty you know, your to someone else's
Speaker 1: you know, mile one, right, um, and and uh, they're young.
Speaker 1: And what I look at it is so many people
Speaker 1: are watching this going like, gosh, I want that life, man, Gosh,
Speaker 1: I want that Like they're so un they're so unhappy
Speaker 1: with their own lives that they're just like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: and the people that produce that video or thinking the
Speaker 1: same thing. They're thinking like, oh, everybody's gonna want our life,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's just a big thing of just
Speaker 1: just you know, if you if you are, you're never
Speaker 1: gonna be happy if you're not happy right now, So
Speaker 1: just just start learning how to be like just as
Speaker 1: happy as you would be if you were, you know,
Speaker 1: a multi millionaire, famous with a bunch of great kids.
Speaker 1: Like the happiness should never change out of your circumstances.
Speaker 1: That's that's the key. Lesson. Do you have any tips
Speaker 1: on doing that, because that is really a challenge for
Speaker 1: a lot of people. That's uh. I mean, I I
Speaker 1: agree and uh, but boy, it's it's harder to do
Speaker 1: at than to say it. It is without getting into
Speaker 1: like the whole faith world. For me, I think it
Speaker 1: starts with with the gratitude of health. I don't know
Speaker 1: if anybody that's listening has been sick before, like six
Speaker 1: where you're like really sick and you're and like you're
Speaker 1: actually fearful of your life sick. Um, you realize very
Speaker 1: quickly that if you're not healthy, nothing else matters. And
Speaker 1: so I think the gratitude of the fact that you
Speaker 1: whoever is listening can actually listen to this and is
Speaker 1: likely having a decent day. Um, it should start there
Speaker 1: and just been like, man, I'm so stoked that I
Speaker 1: have a great life. And then also the idea of comparison. So, um,
Speaker 1: we compare up all the time, like all we do
Speaker 1: is compare up. We go oh, man, like I want
Speaker 1: that you know, Um, I started comparing down um, and
Speaker 1: that really helped me. So if you haven't gone to
Speaker 1: a developing country, that's a great investment for your life.
Speaker 1: And getting a chance that you get to see people
Speaker 1: that live in like little huts with like definitely disease
Speaker 1: written things all around them, with you know, incredibly difficult
Speaker 1: situations that are happier than you. And it's so stinking
Speaker 1: frustrating because you go, how is this person who was
Speaker 1: completely upside down, um, happier than me? And you realize
Speaker 1: how broken you are. And so if you're going to
Speaker 1: invest in certain things, you know you're gonna you're thinking
Speaker 1: about traveling, You're like, I'm gonna go to Europe and
Speaker 1: check things out, Like Europe is gonna be fun. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, if you want to do something that's
Speaker 1: actually gonna make your life grow and change and be different, um,
Speaker 1: compare down. Go go somewhere that makes you feel very
Speaker 1: uncomfortable and almost fearful, and you see the people and
Speaker 1: you realize how happy they are, and you realize that that, um,
Speaker 1: you've got a disease need to here. So comparing down
Speaker 1: and and as a is a is a good, good
Speaker 1: little trick that I've I've learned to do. We all
Speaker 1: sort of moved through one thing and then the next
Speaker 1: challenge faces us. What what are you wrestling with? Currently.
Speaker 1: What are some of the things that you are working
Speaker 1: on right now in your own life? Right now, I
Speaker 1: think I'm I'm trying to I'm trying to be comfortable
Speaker 1: with who I am, um, to find out if people
Speaker 1: like the real me, because influencers are the best persona
Speaker 1: marketers you have ever met, and they're so good at
Speaker 1: being social chameleons and and becoming whoever they need to
Speaker 1: be at that moment. Celebrities are really good at it too,
Speaker 1: right um, And so I'm trying to figure out who
Speaker 1: I am. I'm also trying to just be an incredible husband.
Speaker 1: I started thinking about, like, if my wife doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like she's the most cherished woman in the world, that
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not doing anything for my marriage and and
Speaker 1: I want my daughter and and our future children to
Speaker 1: to to be able to see the representation of of
Speaker 1: a husband, um, and and my wife's relationship with me
Speaker 1: so that they can carry that down and to say,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want my daughters learning like having
Speaker 1: to look to anybody else to choose to learn how
Speaker 1: to choose a husband and UM, so I'm really trying
Speaker 1: to say, hey, you know, this is this is exactly
Speaker 1: your your whole life. You're gonna see me loving your mother. UM.
Speaker 1: So that that's the kind of men that you need
Speaker 1: to be looking for. And so, UM, the challenges is that,
Speaker 1: I it's really hard. Um, it's really hard to be
Speaker 1: a good husband. UM. It's way easier to be a
Speaker 1: good businessman, that's for sure. You know, being a good
Speaker 1: husband and a good father, UM is incredibly difficult. So
Speaker 1: it's slowing down because you know, going down and from
Speaker 1: from my computer to my Instagram, to my Facebook, to
Speaker 1: my book launched, my speaking engagements to my you know,
Speaker 1: whatever I'm doing, and then like stopping and then like
Speaker 1: getting down on my hands and knees and like playing
Speaker 1: a reading a book to my daughter. Um, and this
Speaker 1: is only one kid, right, I want we want as
Speaker 1: many children as we could possibly have, just because we
Speaker 1: love children so much. And uh, you know, I'm concerned
Speaker 1: sometimes I'm like, man, am I gonna be able to stop?
Speaker 1: Am I gonna be able to stop? So that's that's
Speaker 1: where I'm really trying to focus. Is just like slowing
Speaker 1: down and and and being willing to be called out.
Speaker 1: I've I've gave a couple of men in my life
Speaker 1: some permission to say, hey, if you see me going
Speaker 1: down a rabbit trail against what you know that I
Speaker 1: want to become, can you please tell me you know?
Speaker 1: And and I give you permission to pull me aside
Speaker 1: and be like, hey, man, like what you're doing right
Speaker 1: now is not what you want to do. Um, and
Speaker 1: you need to stop and UM. You know I always
Speaker 1: say that, you know, um. Self evaluation is helpful, right, um,
Speaker 1: but evaluation from others is essential. So I've just been
Speaker 1: really stepping into that and letting people speaking to my
Speaker 1: life from the outside in, and I think that's making
Speaker 1: a pretty big impact on on my relationships. Excellent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is the challenge is to let other people in
Speaker 1: the thing I wrestle with even when I sort of
Speaker 1: say that, like, well, you know, I want you to
Speaker 1: call me out on my stuff is and you mentioned
Speaker 1: it earlier. It's being um telling the truth. They're showing
Speaker 1: all parts of things. They're not hiding things, even from
Speaker 1: those people. Because we tend it's pretty easy to rationalize,
Speaker 1: at least for myself, things in my own head about well,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm doing it because this reason and nobody
Speaker 1: else and I wouldn't really need to talk about it.
Speaker 1: Kind of thing. Yeah, it's it's it's humiliating, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's embarrassing. And remember like growth is growth is
Speaker 1: never ever fun. I mean like hard growth. The ability
Speaker 1: to change is what makes people successful and and and
Speaker 1: so that's why you know, when I talk about and
Speaker 1: people of a profit, I go, I go, hey, you know, like,
Speaker 1: how do you make others feel about themselves? Says a
Speaker 1: lot about your leadership and and so people look at
Speaker 1: them and they and so I'm saying that so cont
Speaker 1: that that that ability to make other people feel good,
Speaker 1: it's something that's an internal thing with you. So I
Speaker 1: I I urge people to go change, grow, get better.
Speaker 1: And and that requires like fierce conversations and like embarrassing
Speaker 1: moments and sometimes humiliating awkward situations and sometimes just like
Speaker 1: incredible discipline to to stop, you know, doing the things
Speaker 1: that are are bad for your life. And um, it's
Speaker 1: it's the hardest thing. Like and and also on the
Speaker 1: other side, someone that that actually has to convince you
Speaker 1: or convict you. You know, nobody likes telling anybody that
Speaker 1: they got a booger on their face, right, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like that you're at dinner with someone you're like,
Speaker 1: oh my, you're just staring at that booger. You know,
Speaker 1: You're just like, God, I don't want to tell them
Speaker 1: because it's so embarrassing for them, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and then you like, you know, if you're close enough
Speaker 1: with them and you're like, hey man, you just like
Speaker 1: start scratching your nose like you had a booker in
Speaker 1: your face, and uh, you know. And but it's you know,
Speaker 1: you've got to get a friend that's willing to do that.
Speaker 1: To say, dude, the way you talk to people hurts them.
Speaker 1: You gotta stop doing that because you sound like an
Speaker 1: idiot and it sucks when someone says that to you.
Speaker 1: But I promise you it's better than living three years
Speaker 1: not knowing it right doing that. That's kind of the
Speaker 1: underlying philosophy of of of what I think some of
Speaker 1: it makes the greatest leaders in the world excellent. Well,
Speaker 1: I think that is a great place to wrap up.
Speaker 1: You have put together a little, uh special something for
Speaker 1: our listeners. Do you want to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about that. Where they can find that and where they
Speaker 1: can find you and when the book's coming out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the book comes out May fifth, and uh we
Speaker 1: are pushing really hard to get this in the hands
Speaker 1: of leaders and the people that really want to become
Speaker 1: better business people but also just better leaders, you know,
Speaker 1: and and to think differently about business, and to restore
Speaker 1: capitalism because I believe capitalism is great. What we have
Speaker 1: today is you know, not a lot of companies are
Speaker 1: really practicing what I think is is authentic capitalism. So
Speaker 1: we're trying to make this a better a better place.
Speaker 1: But I put together this three coaching kit with some
Speaker 1: coaching videos, a really good e book called People Matter,
Speaker 1: and it's about uh, you know, leadership in business UM
Speaker 1: and for self starters, entrepreneurs, dreamers, those kind of folks UM,
Speaker 1: A private podcast, UM, a couple other things there. But
Speaker 1: if you go to People over Profit dot com, Forward
Speaker 1: slash Wolf, you'll get directed to that and you'll get
Speaker 1: access to that for free when you buy the book.
Speaker 1: So UM, really appreciate it if you if you would
Speaker 1: consider to pick that up and support kind of the
Speaker 1: mission that we're pushing there. Excellent, well Dale, thanks so
Speaker 1: much for taking the time to be on. I wish
Speaker 1: you a great deal of success with the book launching,
Speaker 1: and UM, I've enjoyed the conversation awesome. Thanks Eric for
Speaker 1: having me. All right, take care, talk soon. Bye bye bye.
Speaker 1: You can learn more about this podcast and Dale Partridge
Speaker 1: at one you feed dot net slash Dale