Mike Hutzel | Thinking from the Perspective of Others, Making Conscious Life Decisions, & Being a Dad

"Who needs me today, more than I need me?” - Mike Hutzel

EPISODE OVERVIEW:
Growing up as the oldest of 5 boys in a military family, today's guest got use to change early on in life. And not only change, but making clutch decisions fast when facing major forks in the road. Today he shares with us the insights he has learned on his journey of decision making, leadership, mindset, perspective, and the joy of being a dad. From how to handle career changes, to entrepreneurship, to the importance of real relationships, you will be thankful you listened to the episode. Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to the Mike Hutzel story!

GUEST BIO: 

As CEO, Mike leads the teams associated with revenue for the company, that include the sales teams, partners and allies, consultative partnerships and franchises. Mike leads the vision of EagleONE and contributes to the ongoing adaptations and modifications that best suit our client needs. Mike’s most recent noteworthy professional accomplishment is being a contributing author to The Franchise Bible, 9th Edition, released world-wide by Entrepreneur Magazine on 20 April 2021. His best personal accomplishments ever were marrying his best friend Nicole and becoming a dad. Mike is a committed Catholic whose faith is a central part of his daily life. He is an Army Brat of the 101st Airborne Army and the proud father of a United States Marine. The values associated with his faith coupled with the life-lessons learned in a military family all contribute to his work-life, building up clients and the family at EagleONE.

SHOW NOTES:

• Website: https://eagle1group.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehutzel/

REMARKABLE LISTENER SPECIAL OFFER: 

Fee one-on-one discovery session with Mike. This could be to discuss business goals, personal goals, or a business project.

Transcript

Mike Hutzel | Thinking from the Perspective of Others, Making Conscious Life Decisions, & Being a Dad  

Hello, my Remarkable friend. Welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. Today's guest is amazing and you're going to love him. He talks about growing up in military brat, being the oldest of five boys, how he had forks in the road, and how to make decisions. We talk about leadership and the differences between, between pushing and pulling people.

We talk about mindset and perspective and paradigm. Just the joys of being a dad and tips of [00:01:00] how to do it better and so much more. Today's guest is someone who had a journey where he had career changes. He's an expert at what he does and built a large organization that's successful and works with clients all over the globe.

But today he shares his personal story and journey. So you and I can not only be entertained, but most importantly, we can learn, we can apply, we can grow, and then he even shares his email address and personal information at the end so you can reach out to him, continue the conversation, because his mindset is just like the podcast mindset.

To help one another grow and to glorify God, and to enjoy the journey together on the way. So at this time, get your pens and paper ready, because our guest today, Mike Hutzel, is going to share his life expertise so that you can be next on the show. Or maybe we'll never hear from you, but you're [00:02:00] impacting millions of lives.

Or maybe you'll be all over the TV and we'll hear all about you. We'll get to find in heaven that we were the catalyst that you used to change whatever the situation is. We're not looking for glory or fortune. We're only looking for your benefit, for God's glory. So we love you. Thanks for being here today.

Share this with your family and friend and enjoy this episode with our friend Mike, because if you listen through to the end, you're going to get some great quality content to change you for the better. Enjoy.

Mike Hutzel | Thinking from the Perspective of Others, Making Conscious Life Decisions, & Being a Dad: 

Hey Mike, how are you today, brother? I'm doing well, man.

Yourself, man. I'm doing fantastic. It's been great talking to you a little bit off camera. Our listeners from around the world just heard a small bit about you and they're excited to hear your episode. So thank you again for being here today. And we always ask the same question to start the show. The people who've been with us for years, or the new listeners, if they listen to the intro, they know the show is about the [00:03:00] past, the present, the future.

It's about the story, your journey as a man. We're going to stop along the way and just dissect your life in a way and try to figure out not just how you overcame things and achieve success, but the practical steps of how you did it. So our listeners can too, saying that if our listeners were going to hang with you for this entire episode, what's one truth?

Or if you're like, you got nothing else, this is something that's really important that we're going to communicate and share today. Yeah, I would say that the concept that I, I, my spiritual advisor gave me a number of years ago, and it's, it's a question you can ask yourself, and the question is, who needs me today more than I need me?

That's a paradigm shift I use in my personal life as a, as a family man, as a, as a professional. Oftentimes when things are going crazy or, or not going the way I would want them to go I always stop and ask myself, who in this situation needs me more than I [00:04:00] need me? And I, I hope your listeners can get some value outta that.

That's a powerful question that has deep, deep roots. So I'm looking forward to hearing this episode myself cuz how many people struggle with their purpose or even if they know their purpose, fulfilling their purpose and to make sure they have more meaning. So that's fantastic. So in your life, Mike, where did your life begin?

Where were you born? What was your upraising like? Parents, married, divorced brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles. What was your upbringing like? Yeah, so I was born in Cincinnati in the early seventies 72 to be exact. And although I never really called Cincinnati home dad, my dad was a hundred first airborne Vietnam era.

So I grew up what was, what's known as an army brat. I was the oldest of five boys and because of dad's service we lived everywhere but Cincinnati, mostly down south but across the pond. So we spent three and a half years in Germany when dad was stationed there. [00:05:00] And it was, you know, it was, it was a typical, typical army life in that five boys, one army salary.

I'm pretty comfortable at this stage in my life saying that we didn't grow up lower economic class. We grew up poor. Now, I'll tell you this though. We, we didn't know it. Mom and dad were really good about making sure we had all our needs. And, and as kids we were surrounded by other army brats. So we, we, all we knew was that life.

And although the salary didn't go very far, we never went without food or clothing or, or love or that kind of thing. Awesome. And then five brothers, where were you in the order? So I'm the oldest of five. I was born in 72 and I, so the next one is four years younger than me. That's Matt. Then Brian and Brad came and they were a year apart.

And the, the irony is the distance between my, myself and my youngest brother is 13 years. I like to tell people a little bit tongue and cheek. I was the reason mom and dad got married. And my youngest brother, Brent, was the [00:06:00] reason they stopped having children. We were both unplanned but, but mom would argue that our number has been five our whole life.

They ended up with five daughter-in-laws and 10 grandchildren, ironically. Five girls and five boys. So five has been a number for us for, for our entire life. And, and the, the neat thing about having all brothers and growing up the way we did David, is we're, we're thick as thieves. You know, I, I hear so many families, they, they move off or they go away, or they lose touch.

And my brothers and I are all here in town. Our, our families all here, the kids are all here and we spoil mom with all of our attention and, and family gatherings, et cetera. So it's, it's a unique situation. We know it, and we're very careful to protect it and talk about that a little, because sometimes we grow up and things are so commonplace for us.

We think everybody's life's like that. But the sad reality is most families aren't close anymore, and that's a huge problem [00:07:00] from every aspect and every level of life. What are some of the things that your family does that keep you close? I think most of it's time, honestly. You know, I, I think part of it is our background.

So there's a certain amount of humble pie that comes up when you, that comes with growing in, growing up in poverty, right? We, we had to rely on each other for everything. Of course, that growing up the way we did it was back in the era where kids went outside to play and you ran the neighborhood and things like that.

And I think that those kind of experiences growing up, it wasn't easy. And, and we were by no means perfect. I mean, dead, dead. Even after the service was working, two jobs usually. You know, that we had some alcohol things go through the family over the years. And, and so there was some imperfections, but those, those difficulties that we encountered, not only from the poverty side, but some of the internal stuff we were facing, I think really drove us close as brothers.

And, and so now it's really a matter of how do we really find time to spend with each other. It's not [00:08:00] just e and by the way, it's not just even with the whole family. My brothers and I collectively go and do things what we call experiences. We'll go and experience things together now some of us for the first time.

And it's, it's a way for us to stay close and stay bonded and keep meaningful interactions happening on a regular basis in our lives. Excellent. So now, when you were growing up, you talked about your mom and your dad, you talked about your brothers, and then that, you know, that just internal strength and that bond that was part of your family.

What? What do you think the military background had into also bringing that team together? Was that something that just for generations, your family's always been proud and strong and close, or was that something that was even further strengthened by the military tie? Yeah, it definitely was strengthened by the military tie.

I mean, I, I do a lot of speaking, David in what's known as the veteran owned business sector. And I joke because [00:09:00] I'm, I'm an army brat, which means I didn't ever serve. But I, I tell the audiences a lot of times, look, you know, I knew what a four inch fold was by the time I was five because dad was a drill sergeant amongst other things.

And so we, we had a very orderly household, everything, and we used to, I can remember the old Green Army blankets that we have to, but dad would want to bounce a quarter off of our beds as young men. Once we knew how to, once we knew how to make our beds we learned all kinds of military terms too. Dad didn't say, go out and pick up the trash in the yard.

Dad would say, give me a police call. But we knew what that meant. Okay. It's, it's, it is just a military term for the same thing, but we understood that we had to go out and do a police call, so he brought that home. You know, and I also think in retrospect is I think back to why I'm an entrepreneur and some of the things that.

Places like Forbes and Entrepreneur, they claim are unsuccessful entrepreneurs. You know, that perseverance and, and, and some of that, that chuah that comes along with the military [00:10:00] life is, is part of why I think, you know, ultimately I was a successful entrepreneur because I grew up that way. It was always mounting the next obstacle, doing the next thing, and pulling people along.

Right? I, as the oldest, you know, I, I might talk with my wife about this quite a bit, but I was always carrying somebody else's rucksack. Right. I knew how to change diapers at a young age. I was, I was making bottles. I was, cuz dad was t d y which means he was off doing something for the service and mom was alone.

Well, me as the oldest I had to take on some of those responsibilities and, and my brothers did as well as, as they grew older and older, everybody got more and more responsibility cuz dad was gone. So it was, it was, and from the military aspect, the, the other thing I would say, which I really appreciate now because we moved so many different places it, it taught me a couple things.

One was the world's a very small place. Two is that not everybody's like you. So that, that holds two, two really things for me. One is that I have to be [00:11:00] comfortable in my own skin no matter where I am, but that I also have to appreciate people for where they, where they are, who they are. So, so things like racism or, or sexism or bigotry or not that, that didn't have a place because you had to go to the next place and you had to learn how to figure out how to work with the people who were around you learn whether it was kids in school or sports or whatever it was, we had to know the next place and, and so we had to hold onto who we were, but we had to understand we were going somewhere where we were going to meet brand new people who were probably not going to be like us.

Yeah. And that's such a privilege. And to have that balanced mindset from a child, that's such a great thing the way it should be. Today, our kids are programmed all over the world, not just in America, you know, just the term, like if I, you you mentioned racism. I mean that core of that whole concept, we all use it and we all understand what it means.

Yeah. But there's only one race. The human race, the actual term itself would de was designed to divide people. Yeah. And it's [00:12:00] something that bad people popularized and preachers from our pulpits use it today, but it's really an inaccurate term. There's one race, the human race. And that's one of those terms that further fuels the vision.

But everybody uses it and we all know what it means. But if we really break it down to the core, that's a problem. There's different cultures, there's different nations, there's different subcultures. But everybody bleeds. Red man won blue or red. No. Amen to that. Amen to that. And I'll tell you that we just didn't even.

When we moved back to the States again, we moved into a, a very humble community. And, and I, it was right before I started high school. I, I went to a, you know, a very quote unquote affluent high school here in town, but I had to pay my own way. My parents couldn't, couldn't afford to do that. So my first full-time job was for the school the summer before my freshman year.

And all of the pay that I was supposed to get was went to the tuition. But I, I remember thinking how, how beautiful this place was [00:13:00] and how, how diverse it was. And it, it just never dawned on me because of how we were raised. Again, people from every, you know, every time we moved it was people from everywhere else.

So everybody was sort of a foreigner. But the common thread we had was the green of the army. It didn't matter what race we were. And so, and that's how we were raised. And, and I think it, it carries true today and, and it's, it's carried into the grandchildren. Mom would, mom would attest to that for sure.

And I, I just think it's one of those things, you, you just can't even afford to be racist because you, you, you need to rely on the people that God's given you and in, in that place and that time. Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. Like a hundred percent. So there's some shows where I already get, like, I will have questions and I feel the leading like, oh, I can't wait to ask this sar mass this, and I don't want to get ahead.

Like in, in a lot of people's story, you know, we go chronologically, I don't want to jump through and pull back. But at the same time, you made a great statement and you talked about [00:14:00] pulling people. And in leadership you can push and you can pull, and most people don't ever understand the difference in the types of leadership and let alone have a good leader.

But that learning of pulling people and helping them, that style of leadership, was that something again, your father and your mother instilled in you, or is that something you learned as you came through? Because just the fact that you used that term, that's not like a natural term for people to use.

Yeah, I, I think it was a combination of things. I mean, one thing mom insisted on, no matter where we lived was a, was a Catholic education, so I'm considered a Catholic Christian. You know, mom taught us there was not one right way up the mountain. That, that, you know, each, each, you know, each version of, of faith is up to the individual.

But, you know, some of, some of what I learned, I, I would argue, was also in school, right? So like my high school, for example [00:15:00] their, their mantra is men for others. And that can mean a lot of things. And it can be one of those big ambiguous statements that means I, I, I mean really well, but I never actually do anything.

Part of the, part of what I learned was love is love is an action. It's a verb, right? And so, so to to, to, to the point of pulling people. You gotta, you gotta demonstrate that. And, and so the men for others concept that I learned while I was in high school you know, a lot of, the, lot of the work I can remember, David, here's a, here's a great example.

I didn't, I didn't recognize we were poor until I was in high school and we, in my high school, we had a community action program that was required for juniors and seniors. And I remember feeling great about that cuz I was like, oh, there's people worse off than me. Great. I'm, we're helping them and all these things.

Well, one of the, one of the times we had a trip, we, we had a delivery of food delivery around Christmas time and it was in my [00:16:00] neighborhood. So the family, I went to pay a visit, lived two streets over, and we were, the, the, the seniors were delivering groceries to that family. And, and it dawned on me at that moment that I, you know, these were neighbors, right?

And so I, I think that aspect was a combination of my parents for sure. I think being the oldest too, frankly, I mean, I, I, you know, I'm, my brothers might have a different opinion on that, but I, I really think just that, that pulling them along was my first job or one of my first jobs anyway.

And, and then at, at the high school level, you know, going, reaching out and community and pulling people letting 'em know that somebody was out there that cared. And then, you know, of course, as I got older that that became more and more instilled, which is why, for example, I'm a knight of Columbus and have been for 20 some years, and I'm a lay spiritual director for the Christ for News is parish.

Those are all pulling, right? Those are all pulling men towards God. And I, I, you know, I'm doing a lot with men's ministries. Why? Because [00:17:00] I believe that if men could honestly be vulnerable with one another, authentic, we'd have less war, we'd have less conflict, we'd have less crime. So I, you know, I focus on men's ministries because I, I want men to know it's okay to be vulnerable.

Yeah. I personally agree with that. There's equality among men like mankind, but Brother Charles Holscher was probably the gods man I've ever met. And he used to tell us, he's like, you're a man. Focus on men. Everything else will fall into place. He's like, if you, if you help create men, They'll have their wives and women will follow them and everything will fall into place.

So I think you're super wise to focus on the men and the leadership. Well, and I, I think for women, it. It's, it's, it's amazing to me how naturally it comes where they can bond with one another and just be so forthcoming about what are their feelings or if something tragic has happened. You know, men, especially my [00:18:00] generation, generation X, right?

We were taught to rub dirt on it, button up boys don't cry that. And, and I get all that right? I mean, that, that was the generation and no big deal. I certainly wouldn't change the thing about how I was raised. I'd take all the bumps and bruises a second time just to be here today. But, but the, the reality there is just being able to, to, to have that place, right?

Whether it's just a, a single one-on-one relationship where you've got a brother in Christ, you can be rel, you know, you can be vulnerable with, or a small group or something large like the Knights or whatever it might be. But, but it's just that opportunity to be authentic, right? You know what, because what, what do men typically do?

You meet a new guy and what's the first thing outta their mouth? Well, what do you do? What sports do you follow? Right? These superficial level stuff level, it's not. What's your faith journey like? It's not, you know what's the most emotional thing you've overcome in your life, you know, because that's, that takes time.

That takes ministry, right. Which is part of the reason I'm passionate [00:19:00] about, I guess. Yeah. So now you're growing up and you, between your birth and high school, is there anything else? Significant Remarkable and not Remarkable, like, fantastic. Just something worth mentioning that ties into your life today before we move forward?

I, I think the, the one thing I would say that was a pivotal point in high school was I attended a, a Kairos Retreat weekend. So growing up the way I did was, you know, it was sort of machismo on the streets right out and out. And when you were out and playing, it was, you sort, you sort of solved everything fisticuffs and, and you know, of course they don't do that anymore.

Maybe they do, I don't know. But they probably should in a lot of ways. Yeah. Well just get some of the energy out, right? Like just let's go out and fisticuff it and then be friends afterwards. Right. That's, that's kind of was the, the, the mantra back when I was even with my brothers, we used to say, yeah, I don't want put words in your mouth and you can say, [00:20:00] Dave, you're flat or wrong.

But in my life I didn't have any brothers or sisters growing up. But some of my best friends to this day, our guys I got in fist fights with, cuz we didn't get along when we were younger. Right. And then you win each other's respect. Right. And you know, with brothers I'd see like my best friends were four brothers that lived next door.

They'd fight with each other. And it's just, there's something healthy about fighting. I mean, it's, it's not that maliciousness fighting, but there's something healthy for a man to fight to develop. Yeah. Well, and my brothers and I, we don't fight anymore cuz we're past that, I think. But we still heckle each other, so, and there's a little bit of a humility aspect there, right.

It's like, you know I, I love the passage in the Bible about where Jesus says, we can't be a prophet in your own town. Yes. You know, when you, when I get together with my brothers, It's, it's almost like we still, we all fall back into the, our twenties, you know, ribbing each other, giving each other a hard time kind of thing.

But, but man, I wouldn't trade that for the world, right? It, it, it is just something that just, it's, it's not only [00:21:00] humility, but it's, it's a little bit of, there's almost comfort in it, right? Because there's a little bit of banter back and forth kind of thing. You know, so, so anyway, all that to say, there was one pivotal moment it was a Kairos retreat weekend for, and it was an all, all male high school that I went to.

And it was the first time in all of my years of growing up because I, you know, I was the quintessential jock. I was also terribly book smart and that, and that was a bad combination because I, I thought my, my ego was the size of Florida, okay? And so when, when I, I attended that first Kairos weekend, I can tell you that it was the first time I wept in front of another man, and these were my football buddies, right?

So it was really unsettling. But I, I really believe that it ended up doing a few things for me late in my, in my high school career that probably saved my life. And do you want to explain [00:22:00] how so or do you wanna leave it at that? Yeah, well I can, I can say this much cuz I, I don't wanna belabor the issue, but, you know, I was running on a track where I was in two worlds.

I I lived in a very poor neighborhood and most of the friends that I had in on that side of my life are either dead or in jail. The other side was this sort of ivory tower on the hill where all these rich kids went to school. I was the kid from the other side of the tracks who happened to be smart enough to, to do all that.

And I had going for me that I was an athlete. So they, they made exceptions for me, but. I, I was constantly in this dichotomy of, well, I can accomplish these things, so say the Jesuits, but then I'd get home and I'd be running the streets and things and, and it, the Kairos weekend really pulled me out of the idea that I, I was, you know, I was kind of going down this path with my older neighborhood friends, that, that probably wasn't the best for me long term as a, as a man or a person.[00:23:00] 

And, and so that, that weekend was a pivotal moment that just kept me from going too far down one road, cuz I was, I was well on my way. All right? And now for most 18 year old American men, they're thinking at this point, where do I go to school? What do I do for work? Do I join the service? Who am I going to marry?

You know, we're thinking all these major life decisions at that age cuz the society we're in, good, bad, or ugly. That's how we're groomed, right. What are you going to do? You're 18, where are you going to spend the rest of your life After they just punched us through a system that's really broken, right? Go to school, become a workaholic eight to five, do homework.

And like you said, you do sports, extracurricular, it's just go, go, go, go, go. So now you're 18, you got a choice to make. You already have a father who's in the military. Where does your life go from there? Yeah, so one of the difficulties and the challenge and, and I, again, I would not change one thing about how I was raised, my parents were not in a position to [00:24:00] pay for school.

Which meant I had to pay for it. I paid for my own high school and then I had to pay college tuition. So I had a very unorthodox college career where I was working full-time and I was going to school full-time. And it's, it is not to say I didn't do my fair share of partying, cuz I sure surely did that.

But it was on again and off again. So it took me a while to get my undergraduate finish because, I had to stop and pay bills and pay for rent and all the other things that came along with it on top of the school tuition. Honestly, I was probably the most single guy you would ever meet. I had no, like, the thought of marriage or, or, and, and part of that was David.

I had, I had carried this load with my younger brothers and, and picking up all these responsibilities as a, as a very young man, e even an adolescent to some extent. And so when I got out of the house, I, I didn't want any, I had no intention of getting married. No. I didn't want any baggage. I didn't want [00:25:00] anything slowing me down.

I wanted, I wanted to meet people. I wanted to go, I wanted to see, and I had the travel bug. So because of being raised in the military, I would see a show or something and I would go, I've never been there. And I would drop travel and I'd just take off and go. Some of the best memories I have are road trips with my brother Matt on a, on a whims notice.

We'd just pick up and take and go, go for a week, go for three days, whatever it was. So my, I call it 18 to 25 period of life was very unorthodox. Again, I wouldn't change it. I ended up on the Navajo reservation for a couple of summers doing mission work, like you know, just all kinds of stuff I found.

And, and frankly, that was also a time where I was very far away from my church or my, my faith. I, I was spoonfed it coming up to your system, punch you through a system. Well, I had 12 years of Catholic education, right? Everybody telling me about God, and this is the rules. And, and I, I had had enough of that, so [00:26:00] I, I went out and did my own thing.

And then, you know, I don't wanna sound cliche, but I, I took a, I took a role with an organization that took me to Columbus, Ohio. And that's, that's where I met my wife. I'm absolutely sure I knew the day I met her and that I know how cliche that sounds, so please forgive me, but No, that's real.

Some people know the minute they see it was, I don't tell that at all, but I was still telling my, I was still telling myself, no, no, no, Mike, that's not you. That's not I, I mean, internally I had this battle going on. I was like, that's the girl. I think I could marry that girl. And I'm like, no, no, no, you're not getting married, you're not, remember, remember, you're staying single and you're going to but, but God did put her in my life.

I mean, and I know that also sounds cliche, but it's I married my best friend and we have a relationship, man that I, I just can't even, a lot of times I have trouble just, just describing because it's, [00:27:00] it's just so authentic. It's so, I mean, if, if we've had five arguments in our entire marriage, it's, and I'm not saying we're, we're the, the cleavers or something, right?

Like, I'm not pretending we're perfect or all this. We've had our, we've had our issues, but, but. Our, our friendship is what I think is so strong. And I, I met her and that's another pivotal moment where I, I was working my way up through a career as being a chef. That's how I paid my way through, through college.

I had to get a real job working full-time and, and go to school full-time. So the, the culinary aspect appealed to me. I got to open restaurants for Brinker International for a long time. That's how I met her. And then she looked at me as we got a little serious in our dating and she said, I can't, I can't marry a restaurant person.

You, that's, that's a single person's life. And so believe it or not, I have a master's degree because I didn't know what else to do with myself [00:28:00] because she was going to get her master's degree. And she said she couldn't be with me if I was going to stay in the restaurant business. So I quit. I quit being a chef and I enrolled in graduate school just to kill time.

Best, best couple of years of my life, though I enjoyed it quite a bit more than undergrad. But I literally got a, got a master's degree because misery loves company. I thought to myself, if I, if I don't do this now, I'm never going to do it. So I did it. And just to stop real quick, Mike, we're blessed with listeners from all over the world and not everybody has our paradigm and understands.

So if you're listening to Mike and he was in acting as a sh living profession as a chef in America, most chefs and Mike, again, you correct me if I'm wrong, they'll work 80, a hundred hours a week. It's grueling, it's long hours, it's late nights, it's holidays, it's weekends. So what I, it, it's, there's nothing wrong with being a chef and there's [00:29:00] nothing wrong with being in the restaurant industry, but it is not conducive to family life.

So that was your wife's concern, correct? It was, it was. I mean, we, so I had to, to make it work for myself until I met her classes were in the morning, and then I would get to the restaurant around lunchtime and I'd work until all hours and, and you're right. Weekends, holidays, you know, nights, all the stuff.

And it just, it, it's, it is, you're absolutely right. It's not conducive to a, let's call it traditional family life, which is where you can come home and be with your family in the evenings and spend time with your children on the weekends, et cetera. Yep. Yeah. So his wife had, She had good, legitimate reasons for her request.

There's nothing wrong for anyone listening who is in that industry, but if you know what you want out of a marriage and life, you gotta be equally yoked. And for Mike and his wife to be equally yoed, that was something she knew she needed. So that's good. She communicated that to you. Yeah, and it was, it was kind of a do or die moment in our relationship because I was, I had succeeded quite a bit in that, in that [00:30:00] role, especially with that particular company.

And I was like, man, I gotta leave all this money. And, and, and, you know, now I also knew I was leaving the lifestyle behind, which wasn't all hard to give up because I got some life back, but, but it was a, it was a transition for sure. All right. So now you, I was a little unclear. You said you traveled during that time period and you went on mission, was it admissions trip to the Navajo Y Yeah.

So it, it was, yes, it was a, it was a Yes and no. So the, it, it was a mission trip, but we were on the, I was on the Navajo re reservation for a couple of summers. Yeah. Okay. But that's not where you met your wife? No, no. Okay, okay. I just wanted to make sure I, there's a little, I wasn't clear. Sorry. Sorry.

Yeah, so, so by the time I had met her, I had long since been on the Navajo re re reservation before I just happened to be opening a, a restaurant, a macaroni [00:31:00] grill in Columbus, Ohio. And she, she was taking a year off between undergrad and graduate school. And she got a job there and that's how we met.

Beautiful. Beautiful. So now you met, you both decided to get master's degrees, and that was actually a good time during your life, you said. And then at what point do you get married and where do your lives go from there? Yeah. So right at the end of her she, she had a medical approach. So she was a, she's a speech language pathologist, so she had a little longer than I did an extra summer or something.

But we got married the labor day after she graduated and then we moved to Memphis, Tennessee to just move far away enough from family to just really start our own lives. So, so to think and it was also a fun year. We had, we had two and a half, almost three years of marriage with just the two of us, which gave us that wonderful opportunity to figure [00:32:00] out how to live together, how to be together, how to do grownup things, like pay our bills together and all that stuff.

But we also got to have fun, right? Like, we got to, you know, because we didn't have any children, we were able to just pick up and go or go travel here, go travel there. But it really, it was, it was formative years in our marriage. Because we were, we were just being friends still. And just enjoying one another's companies just at that time now as husband and wife.

Beautiful. And then did you end up staying in Medford or did you move back? When did you decide, okay, it's time to start a family, we're going to move back? What, how did that work out? That's exactly how it happened, David. So we, we sort of were kicking around this idea, having kids, and you know, assuming of course we've heard so many horror stories over the years about how, how, how people have trouble.

W we just assumed God was going to bless us, right? And, and but we, but one thing I told her was, I said, well, your family's in Columbus. My family's in Cincinnati. And I, I kind of referenced this is one of the negative things growing up in Army [00:33:00] brat. Back to my original part of the story was I had this huge family.

Dad, dad, dad had this huge family here in Cincinnati. But I didn't know any of them growing up because we were always gone somewhere else. They was stationed. So I told her, I said, well, one of the things, if we do decide to have children, one of the things I really want for our children is to know family, to really grow up around family.

And so that brought us back to Cincinnati which is where we've been ever since. Since. Okay. And then besides marrying a great woman and having children, what was your life like? What was that, that leg of the journey? Yeah, so it was work. Work and work. I mean, we, you know, I was you know, I was in this industry working on the business.

Well on, make sure you go to the transition, cuz last time we were talking you were the chef. You were going to transition out. So what did you transition to and how So I, I came back into the industry that I'm in now, which is the marketing and, and [00:34:00] customer service world that, that I'd known really through high school, et cetera.

That was an part-time. I was just, just think of it this way, David, my entire career from pretty much the time I started high school until now, I, I've had. Pretty much a full-time job in some industry or another. So, so the, the reality there was is I decided to get back into the industry. I knew that was more normal which was working nine to five, and I got back into the customer service and, and marketing world.

And I had already, I had already known it was something I was familiar with. And so that part was, and it, it was, you know, decent money to start potentially trying to raise a family. So that, that happened when we moved back here in 2000 and or 2002, excuse me. And then really, we, we did the the whole, we're going to start trying thing and we did, and I got up to the plate and hit home run right away.

And that was a blessing and [00:35:00] a curse, by the way. But but I have to tell you, anybody who knows me, David One of my favorite life choices ever, ever is becoming a dad. I love being a dad. Okay. I, it, it's one of those things that now I'll admit, and my wife will say this to anybody who will listen, is that when they were young, and I mean really young, like fresh out of the womb, I was really bad at interpreting the cry, right?

Like, were they hungry? Did they, did they poop? What, what happened? Right? As soon as they could look at me and say, Hey, pops, I want a PB and J with the Crest cutoff. I was great. I was like, yeah, okay, sweet. You wanna double Decker chips with that? How we, how did we go? And one thing I'm, I am also glad of is that by making the choice to move back to Cincinnati, I, we rediscovered our faith together as a couple.

Because we made the conscious decision that we were going to put them into Catholic schools. And I promised [00:36:00] myself that I didn't, I didn't wanna be the parent who just wrote the check. I wanted to be that dad, that dad that coached that dad that was involved, that dad that did the Cub Scouts and all the stuff.

And so it, it kind of forced us back into a regularity with our church. And it's, it's one of the best things that's happened to us as a family because I look at my sons now and I think about how well balanced they are and how respectful they are of, of, of authority and their mother and just family and traditions and things.

And they, you know, at, they're 20 and 18 now, David and they still get up and go to church with us when they're home without any, I mean, that's, that's teenage years. So that's a big deal, right? Like the fact that, I mean, most of their friends won't get anywhere near church and they tell their parents to pound salt.

My boys get up and go to church with us. You know? Yeah. That's awesome. Because the most important relationships is ours with God. And then to have family. [00:37:00] Those are tremendously important, but then to worship God together and have that triangle, man, that's just beautiful. Well, and I think, I think here's, here's a cool, here's a cool side note, EV, so one of the things we started doing years ago is going to church on vacation.

Cuz you know, people think about vacation, I'm going to go, I'm going to sleep in and I'm going to party, or I'm going to go to the beach, or I'm going to whatever. And I had heard a witness years ago where a guy who worked for a large, who worked for GE traveled the world. You know, part of his witness was, I, I, anytime I could, I went to a Catholic church just to see what it was like, how did they worship, what, how did I look at the architecture, why I took that little nugget, put it in my shirt pocket, and I started applying it to our, our vacations.

I can't tell you how many times somebody has stopped us on vacation in, in the aisle and said, are those your boys? You know? And I said, yeah, it's amazing they go to church with you still, you know, and you talk about a compliment. But, but I think to myself, it's just who we are. It's just this, we're [00:38:00] hustles.

We go to church and that's what we do. And it's not church for church's sake. It's, it's, we're we're going to go, we're going as a family. Right. And it's a, and so it's a, it's it's something I cherish. My boys still roll their eyes, but you know, they are 20 and 18, so Yeah, I understand. Allowed to do that.

Yeah. So you had solid mom and dad, you had brothers. Now you're married, you got children. You had two boys, two boys, Dylan and Sam. And then you've learned and witnessed and watched a lot of leadership. For the fathers, for the men, even for the ladies listening, what are some of the main, you know, what's a couple other tips?

Like you said that I agree with you completely. Just cuz you're on vacation doesn't mean you're not that, that actually to me, if you go on vacation, I understand sometimes you go on vacation and you know you're on a strange land or you [00:39:00] know, it's like if it was my son's birthday and it happened to fall on a certain day and we only have time to be together on Sunday, God understands.

I'm not saying you have to go on church regularly or it's like some kind of crazy sin, but God's still your God every day, every day of the year, every year the, you know, decade and on vacation, there's no different worship if we're going cuz we love God, we go because we go. So I think that's fantastic, but other just everyday practical leadership tips as a father that you employed, that you look back now and you're like, man, that was a really good decision.

Or maybe the opposite. Wow, that was a terrible decision. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, no, I've screwed up for sure. You know, I, I would tell you that the, the involvement that I don't know, I, I think, you know, part of it is my, because you know, when you, when you grow up with parents, you know, I would say Dad was absent a lot because of either the army or his work, which meant mom was over involved with, and just to keep five [00:40:00] boys put together.

She had us in sports all the time. Just that mostly keeps us outta trouble. But what I learned from that, that paradigm back then was I, I wanted to be the dad who was involved. And I, I think that involvement you know, my, my son Sam, for example, he still comes up when I, when I get home from work he's a senior in high school and he'll still come and as soon as I get home from work, he comes up and gives me a hug, right?

I mean, how many 18 year olds do, you know, are willing to give their dad a hug? Like, you know and so I, I think it's, it has really had to do with involvement. David. I mean, I. And, and, but also just consistency. Like my wife, this is the military, this is another military thing. My wife has always told me, I've been hard on the boys, right?

And I said, well, too, I said to her, well, I didn't grow up like this. I didn't, I didn't know about a pool in the backyard or a golf cart in the garage, or these kinds of things. I didn't, in fact, the house that I consider my, my, my childhood home here in town sold for 40 grand in 2021. [00:41:00] Okay? Two bedrooms, one bath, no, no central air, you know, five boys.

Okay, mind you, all right. So to say we were cozy is an understatement. So I, I think just a combination of that consistency, the, the, the discipline for sure. But, but purposeful discipline, right? Like, you know, explaining to them, you know, and I, I've, when they were growing up, I said, guy, just don't make me be the bad guy.

I will because I'm, I'm a, I wanna be a good dad. I will be the bad guy and I will ground you or do whatever. So I think that's some of it. Did, did we get it? A hundred percent right? No. You know, we both boys struggled with some version of a d D or a D H D, and we were going through that whole tumultuous time.

Both boys had health issues when they were young and we were making choices. But, but I really think, if I had to say one word, it, it would be involvement, right? Just and consistent, maybe two words is better, consistent involvement, right? In their sports and their studies and [00:42:00] their lives and their friends and their, you know, because my boys still want to spend time with us.

And I, I cherish that to be, to be frank because I, you know, I know so many parents who, who don't have that, right? They, their kids get ready to get college age and they want to get, get gone, get in the win. You know, my boys still wanna watch a movie on the weekends or hang out and play pool or do whatever, and I, you know, I just, so those are the kinds of things I would, I would probably offer your audience.

Yeah, no, I think that's fantastic. And then something you said, this is kind of a sidebar if you don't mind. You mentioned earlier that your friends in your neighborhood, they all are either still struggling or literally ended up in jail, and that path was bad in the sense of like not the desired outcome for your life.

Yeah, and I [00:43:00] know how I grew up, and I know a lot of people, you put a hundred people in the same scenario. There's an average, right? You always have the 10% stars, the 10% dogs, and you get this average, right, that 80%. But for you, you saw and interpreted that same data, those same experiences. That other people used for an excuse to stay stuck, or maybe they just didn't know any other way that that is possible.

They just never saw the hope. They never saw the light. They never saw a better way. Looking back at your life, excuse me, did you just always know from the travels with the military, this is temporary. I don't have to live like this forever. Was it just a God-given drive inside of you to get out of that poverty?[00:44:00] 

Was it something someone shared with you? What, what made you that, you know, top 10% that got out of the poverty? Yeah, that's a great question. And and the reason I ask why you think about, it's just because as humans, when we, like I read my Bible every day. It's perfect book, the living Word of God. You can read the same thing over and over again, and you can keep learning, right?

Just how God made it. And at different points of our lives, same word, nothing's changing, but it speaks to us differently. But we can study successful humans, we can study success, and then we can apply those traits to our lives. And that's what this podcast is about. Not just how our guests, what they've done, but how do they do it so we can too.

But when all we know for 20 years is poverty and let's say crime or [00:45:00] less than motivated lifestyle and mindset, what was it that was inside of you that drove you for more? Well, so, I mean, I would tell you that part. It's a, it is a, it's, it is a puzzle. Maybe only four or five pieces, but it's a puzzle.

I would tell you that. I know at this age of life, I'm 50 this year that I can look back and tell you that I, I was always the guy who, who thrived when the, the obstacle was the toughest. All I needed as a kid, for example, was for somebody to tell me I couldn't accomplish something. And I would not only go accomplish that thing, but I would do it in some fashion that was better than whatever.

And it was always, always had to be my way, which was not always good, by the way, cuz it fed my ego. But I, I can't say that I didn't [00:46:00] dip, right? Like, in fact, I, I. I consider myself broken pottery in a lot of ways, right? So, lots of scars, lots of, lots of memories, lots of things I'm not proud of. Especially during those years be because I didn't know.

I mean, I, I, I, you know, the, the, again, the, I mentioned the word dichotomy between how I was, what, what it looked like when I went to school at high school, and then when I would come home, it was, it was like this stark contrast of two lives. The, the I, I know part of it was the foundation mom and dad gave me with the, the, the education.

And I think, I think honestly part of it was God just deciding he had more planned for me. And I don't mean from a business success standpoint, I mean, I'm still trying to figure out what God has planned for me. Like I, I know I've been put in certain people's lives for different reasons. I know certain people have been put into my life for, for reasons.

Do I have it all figured [00:47:00] out? No, but, but I can say that that. What I, what I did know was, you know, the, the, the, the poverty, the crime, the drugs, the alcohol, all that stuff. It was easy to, there, there were times where it was easy to follow that, like, it was, it was just easy cuz I mean, it's not difficult to stay up all night and party with your friends and, you know, and do all those things.

But, but there was a point where the, some of the novelty had worn off and I was trying to outgrow it one day at a time. And, and it was a conscious effort. I wanna outgrow this. I don't wanna, I don't wanna be like this forever. I don't, I don't wanna live here and raise my kids here. If, if that even was a thought, right?

Like, so, you know, I think it was a combination of things, David. And it's, it is kind of like this, you know, as a, as a child, you know, I, I would tell you mom was our rock and dad was our provider. It [00:48:00] wasn't always pretty. But, but when you look at the parents that we had, I would say to you, you can make a choice when you have bad parents.

You can either be a bad parent too, or you can take everything you learned from your bad parents and be a better parent. Right? And I chose the latter, but it was a choice.

And that is, like you said, it's a conscious decision. It, it's something that you look at the options, decide and then pursue that direction. Yeah. And it's not a perfect line either, right? Like, I mean, it's, it is more like a, you know, an upward bar charter, you know, it, it, you go up, up, up and then you, you take a dip up, up, up, take a dip, or maybe even slide back a whole level, you know?

I mean, there's, there's been those stages of life too. I mean, we've only got a limited time here, but the, the, the reality is, is that I, I cherish my scars. I cherish my broken pieces because they're stark reminders of what I could have [00:49:00] been. They're start, and they're, and they're also helpful to me when the next challenge comes, by the way, right?

Like y you know, at the end of the day, most of the problems I face today are what I would call first world problems, right? They're, they're, they're client problems or they're employee problems, or, you know we, we, we, we, well, my about a month and, well, a month ago we, we laid my, my dad to rest. Those are, those are problems there, no doubt.

But there there're problems that if you have a foundation and you've been through some trials and tribulations, you, you build skill sets and a little bit of muscle memory on how to overcome these things it doesn't mean you're not going to be faced with challenges. It doesn't mean that some days aren't dark.

It just means that, that, you know, you have a choice. You can, you can have a pity party or you can march on and, you know, nobody wants to, you can invite as many people as you want to, to a pity party and nobody's coming, right? [00:50:00] So, All right, so let's kind of jump back into your story now. So you get married, you get back into marketing.

Yep. Out of the restaurant industry, where does your life go from there? Where did you work? Who did you work for? Where did you do, how did you get to the point you are today? Yeah, so, so was, was head of night had of, well, a lot of good fortune in that I was really on the sales side for a very long time as a 10 99 guy.

So I knew a bunch of firms where I could, you know, and that's when, that's when Templar started with back in 2002, where I could be a part-time, let's call it a part-time salesperson for several different firms and have a nice living, right? So I was, I had to, I had to hunt every day and all that kind of stuff, but I was back in the marketing world and it also allowed me to work from home for, for quite a bit and or, or at least have a very flexible schedule so that I could be that dad that I told you about [00:51:00] earlier.

The the reality was, is I was focused on my family during that time. So, so really since Dylan was born and then I, I got, and, and however way he did it, he brought me back into the church through a couple of ministries. The Kairos Prison Ministry. I got heavily involved in that. The CHIRP ministry CHIRP stands for Christ for News as Parish and then the Knights of Columbus.

So those three things were going on early in my marriage, and they were sort of forcing me to do more active things with my church. And it started to really create the faith journey that I'm on now. But it also helped me start making better and better business decisions and then eventually roll out Eagle One.

And, and the organization we, we know and love now as our, as our home. And it, it was, but it was. [00:52:00] You know, it was that phase of life where you're, I was balancing being a father, being a husband, and being a good provider. And I just had the good fortune of being able to do that in a very flexible way because as, as anybody in sales knows, if, if you can sell well, then you can live well.

And you can, if you're, if you're structured properly, you can have a lot of free time to boot. Absolutely. And then talk about, so between that point and today, is there anything else that we missed in your journey that's significant to make Mike the man? He is I, I'd say a couple of things. I mean, You know, there, there's been a couple of health trials with my wife that have happened that really changed our lives pretty much forever.

It had to do with a longstanding industry or in indi injury when she was, when she was younger. And it just kinda exacerbated a few things. [00:53:00] I think the journey that I've been with my whole family and through dad's cancer also had a profound impact on my life. Not only from the, the cancer survivor.

Dad's first bout with cancer was 23 years ago. The bout that he most recently went through, it wasn't even the cancer that killed him. It was the chemo. But those, those trials and tribulations that came along during, you know, let's, let's call it from the time I met my wife forward are a large part of who I am.

I think it's, it's the reason I'm so driven. And my brothers and I are ever more close today because of some of the trials and tribulations with dad and all, all the different cancers he had over the years. You know, I think those times, as dark as they may be really, really have helped formed and frankly just made me be more appreciative of things.

And, you know, and be focused on the human element of what we do. You know, at, at [00:54:00] Eagle One, for example, David, we, we call it the Eagle one family. To the extent, I mean, this is how much we, we mean it. Most buildings you go into, it says, It says employee entrance. It doesn't say that. Here, it says family entrance.

And I go through the same door that all of our folks come through, right? And I'm, I'm the leader here. I eat in the same lunchroom, right? And I, I, I think it's, it's not because we're successful that that happens. It's because we've lived a life full of trials and, and tribulations, and we've had to overcome personal things and professional things.

The business is, you know, has had its own ups and downs over the years. I, I think it's those things that I'm most appreciative of now. And with all that we're doing today as an organization, I, I really feel good about, and Diane, my business partner, who's mom, by the way we're most proud of our culture, right?

And I don't, I don't think that comes naturally. I [00:55:00] think you, you have to, this is my personal opinion. I think you have to go through certain things in life that are challenging. To make you appreciate something as simple as calling your organization a family. I think that's very well said. And, and you mentioned Eagle One.

Explain to the audience what is Eagle One. Sure. So most people from the outside in David would call us a full services marketing firm. They might also call us A B P O. We have four different divisions. We have our customer experience division, which is competencies like inbound call center work, live chat, email, back office.

We have our lead generation teams that do outbound calling and LinkedIn efforts, emails and texts. We have our digital marketing division and, and most folks are familiar with that. S E O S E M, social media, social media management. And we did a really cool thing. So a business partner of mine, [00:56:00] bill Testa he and I worked on a, a, a program for, it's about seven years.

This year we rolled out our, what's called our French division. And the French is a, it's our unicorn. It's the first one I've ever been a part of. But it is a it's a marketplace that combines patented technology, patented process, first party data and direct mail. One of the smartest things I've ever been a part of a lot of fun.

We're just rolling it out this year. But I feel like a kid at Christmas cuz we're doing something brand new, creating this brand new marketplace. You know, and it's just, it's fun when, when you sell commodities for so many years, you're like, oh yeah, I, I know what a call center is. I know what a digital marketing, okay, great.

What, what's friends? What's that? What is this? You know? So it's, it's it's fun to be a part of something so novel and something that we believe is going to have some great impact in a few, few industries. So that's, that's who we are. Beautiful. Now you talked about, you know, our personal leads into the [00:57:00] business and vice versa.

What are some of the, you know, as a man who's. Trying to follow God, lead his family, lead a business. What are some of the main, you know, obstacles you hit and, or, you know, something you can share? And how did you get through it? How did you balance life through it? Yeah, so I'll, I'll answer that in reverse.

So, one thing I found so as a Catholic we, we have a rosary. So I, I'm a, a big believer in my morning rosary. I also attend mass quite a bit during the week. And I do that not because I, I'm telling you that, not because I wanna pat myself on the back. I'm telling you that because sometimes starting my day that way prepares me for what might be a thunderstorm of a day, right?

I think my biggest challenge still as a, as a, not only a business servant, but a business leader is when, when we're dealing with people, Whether it's a client or a, [00:58:00] an employee or whatever, where there's to, to me, the, the human element is gone, right? The people are being, you know, unusually cruel to one another, or unusually greedy or unusually.

To me, business is so simple. It's, it's, we're all people, people buy from people, right? And so, you know, most of the challenges we see come when we meet people that are self-serving, greedy or, or, or worse yet which we don't allow here. When we get a client that likes to abuse people because they're in a position of power I'm the client, you and I'm always right, kind of thing, and we simply say, this is how it works here.

We don't abuse our people and n neither are you. So I, if you can that's part of the reason David, honestly, if you look at our, our website, right on the homepage it says two things. It says we're a military family owned organization, and it says we're a faith-based organization. Okay? And so I get my fair share of hecklers about that, by the way.

I [00:59:00] get little snippets through messaging on LinkedIn. Who do you think you are? It's 2023. What, what does faith-based mean? You, you're a for-profit company. Well, and I, I never respond to that kind of stuff, but I always think to myself, well, you've told me I don't wanna do business with you. Thank you. I know that in advance now, right?

And it, but, but it's not us claiming we, we have the only way, right? Way up the mountain, right? Like, I'm not, that's not what it says on the website. It just says, this is who we are. And if you're comfortable with that, great. Let's, let's talk and do business. And if you're not, it's better. You know that now.

Cuz you wouldn't wanna work with my sort anyway, right? Like So, you know, and then there's the normal stuff. I mean, I, I think there's times where in business especially things happen and it, it drives me crazy cuz I'm, you know, di on the disc chart. But, but, you know, they're beyond my control. They're beyond our control.

Something's happened and it's potentially ruined a relationship, right. And again, I I revert to prayer. I mean, I, [01:00:00] I I don't wanna sound like I'm a, I'm certainly not the holiest guy, you know, in fact, I, I just tell, I tell people at my church, I'm, I'm a simple doorkeeper, right? I, I wanna bring people into these men's ministries and that's, that's my job.

Just bring people in, bring people in. But, but there are times where things go beyond our control. And, and those are the ones where I'm like, you know, I don't, I'm not sure what lesson this is going to teach us, but as long as we learn something from it and we don't let this happen again then it was, it was worth the burden.

So when you're going through those situations that we all have, everybody's had 'em, everybody's going through 'em now, everybody will have 'em. The things beyond our control. What are some of the steps you've learned? Like you mentioned prayer. I agree a hundred percent, a hundred percent. If it wasn't for my relationship with God, I'd be done.

So what are the things that you recommend, Mike, to get through those circumstances? Professional or personal? When they, the onset, the [01:01:00] catalyst, the main event is something out of your control. Yeah. So both personal and professional. I would say others. Right. So on the professional side, for example, we decided, Diane and I decided a couple of years ago that it would be wise for us to form an advisory board, and we decided to pick people who were way more accomplished than we were.

But but despite their professional accomplishments, they were some really good human beings. They're still serving on our board today. And we can go to them when those, those challenging times come and go, well, you know, we wanna be you know, as, as, as Christian as we can be in this situation.

But we have to, we have to address whatever the problem is. So, and what? And, and just get some feedback. Cuz sometimes, you know, they, they're looking at it in a way we're not. Personally, one of the best things I ever did and I I, I don't have one now because he passed away, but for about eight years, I had a spiritual director.[01:02:00] 

Jerry s was his name, and, and he was, he was a deacon at our church, but he was, he was part father, part grandfather, part uncle, part big brother, part good friend of mine over the years. And even though he was my spiritual advisor he could guide me with the diif, some of the difficulties we went through with the boys on one hand, and he could guide me or give me ideas to think about on the business side too, you know?

So I think just having a, a, even if it's just one person, even if it's just one person, you can, you can really confide in and be authentic and spill your guts and, and say, I'm, I'm struggling with this. What can I do? I, I, I would also say if you can have more than one person, all the better, right? A small group.

Or something just some sanctity, some, some place you can go and have an authentic conversation about whatever the challenge is. And I think that does a lot of things. First of all, it, it gets it out, right? Another, another thing [01:03:00] it does is it gives you a chance to hear perspectives that are, are not your own, right?

And, oh, I didn't think about it that way, kind of thing. You know, it, it is just important that, you know, again, even if it's one person to have that, the, the other thing I might offer your audience is, and I've done this for, well, 25 years or so, is as simple as it sounds, I journal every day. And when I do that part, it's partly personal, partly professional, partly me asking God questions, partly me working through whatever situation I'm working through.

But sometimes it's just getting it outta my head and getting it down on paper, right? And then looking at it and going, oh, That's how I feel about it. Right? Like, that's, that's what was on my mind. It just, you know, it's kind of, that's just another idea. And I, it, it's helpful to me. And it, it has been for years.

So I, that's another way I kind of deal with both piece people or, you know, personal stuff and professional stuff. [01:04:00] And then today, is there anything we missed in your journey, Mike, bringing you to today before we transition to where are you, where's Eagle one, where's your family and where are you headed?

I, the only other thing I would offer is part of my faith journey has been searching searching for the next book, searching for the next you know, spiritual mentor, searching for the next retreat. I think, I think the healthiest people I know. Are not only continuing to grow and learn and all those things, but they're hungry for more.

Right? They're hungry for what's next. And I would say that served me really well up, up till now, is just to continue to be a student of life, a student of faith, a student of business. It, it, it's really just, it's brought some wonderful things into [01:05:00] my life over the years. Amen. Well, where, where are you headed next, Mike?

How can we help you get there as a Remarkable community? So the first thing I've, how can you help me? Well, I would, anybody who's willing to pray for me willing to pray for Eagle one, our clients, our people our staff that, that would be wonderful. You know, if, if anybody's got ideas that I didn't share on how to best deal with life a great book.

Or a a great experience, a, a retreat or a a pilgrimage or anything like that. I would love to hear about that. I'm always on the hunt for the next thing God can teach me. You know, and, and if there's anything on the business side that someone has out there that can share with me on how to be a better business owner or you know, we, we a better servant leader, I would love to hear it.[01:06:00] 

And I would love to hear other people's stories. So if there are people out there who, who can resonate with what I'm, what I've said today, or has benefited in some way, then I would, I would love to hear back from them and, and or, or converse with them or whatnot. Just to, I mean, cuz at the end of the day, you, you, you said it in the very beginning, David, we're all, we're all the human race, right?

I wanna, I wanna meet some other good humans. It's like we're friends forever. You're, you're repeating the whole theory of the show. Right? Right. Love God, love each other. Grow together, sharpen his, you know, his iron sharpens his iron, so the man, accountants of his friend. So awesome. So if someone wants to get ahold of you, right, whether they're personal connection, whether they're like, Hey, I want to talk to Mike about some work for my company quickly.

Who are the best clients to work together? Like the people looking for X are the ones you typically serve. Like you mentioned the divisions. Yeah. But are they small business owners under a [01:07:00] million, under 500 employees? Are they large corporations? Who's your ideal client? And then how can people get ahold of you?

Best way? Yeah, so we're what I would call client agnostic. And we really, so if I took a, if I drew our portfolio up in a pie chart, I would take one, one portion of that, about 30%, and I would call that the enterprise side of our portfolio. Enterprise for us is the fortune space, federal, state level government.

So the big logos people are going to recognize. The other 70% are the small and mid-cap space. So we love to work with entrepreneurial companies. You know, anything, anybody. And, and again, being agnostic means we can be in 30 or 40 verticals at any one time. So we have small startups, we have mid-cap folks, we have the, we have the big logos everybody recognizes to break it down across the ch the channels.

If you're a B2C company, you're, you're probably talking to us for either the customer [01:08:00] experience work that we do or the digital marketing work that we do. If you're a B2B company, you're probably talking to us about lead generation. Or the, the digital marketing, if you're what we call a packet sponsor, that's where the friends division comes in.

And a packet sponsor is really a, a good example of a packet sponsor is an organization like Chewy or aaa. These are organizations who have two portfolios, consumers and businesses that they interact with on a regular basis. As far as how to get, what's the, oh, go ahead. I was going to say as far as far as how to get ahold of this website is www dot eagle common spelling.

The numeric one group common spelling.com. Email address is real simple. Mike, common spelling, m i k e dot hutzel, h u t z e l@eagleonegroup.com. You, you, I'd love to hear from you on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn, so reach out or you're welcome to call the, the main line at [01:09:00] 5 1 3 8 4 7 0 4 1 0. Beautiful.

So if you're listening and you want to talk to Mike, reach out. You wanna learn more, you wanna see what his company can do, where you can work together and grow, check out the show notes. I'll put links in there to everything Mike just mentioned, or you can already be shooting him an email. Now, Mike, it's been a true honor to be here today and to just start our friendship, man.

It's been great talk to you. I know it's been nine months since our pre-call, so thank you for your patience to be on the show. I've learned a lot and I know our listeners have too. Yeah, David, listen, it was a real honor to be here, man. I, I you know, if, if today helps one person out there, either personally or professionally, it was totally worth it.

I, you know, I, I'd love to hear from your audience, but, but just the takeaways, man. I hope somebody got something today that'll make them a better person, a better servant, a better business leader, whatever that might be. And so I was, I'm pleased to be here and, and thank you for your friendship. [01:10:00] Oh, absolutely.

Hope we'll continue. Continue it in, in real life and not just on the air live before you know thousands of people. Right? Indeed, indeed. So let me ask you the one last question before we go, before we sign off. Could be something you mentioned could be something that just popped in your head. Is there any final words you wanna leave with our listeners?

Yeah, just, just don't, for forget what I said in the beginning. That, that the idea of thinking from the perspective of others, right? Who needs me today more than I need me that can be on a professional level, that can be on a personal level. It, it really has always served me well to, to, especially when things are difficult to think about who else I can help or who else I can focus on besides myself.

I'd really encourage your listeners to think about that in their personal lives and in their professional lives. Amen. That's great advice. Mike. Thank you again for being here today, ladies and gentlemen. Like our slogan says, Listen., Do. Repeat., For Life!. Don't [01:11:00] just listen to this great content Mike shared.

Do it, repeat it each day so you can have a great life in this world, but more importantly, an eternity to come. This life is a grain of sand that fell off a grain of sand. And an attorney is everything else we can imagine. So let's have a great life. Let's have an even better eternity. Correct? So we love you.

Thanks for listening. Reach out to Mike, reach out to me any way we can help you. We will. And then check out our next episode. Share it with your friends and family, not cuz we're trying to be rich or powerful or have influence. Honestly, our only purpose is twofold. Love you and love God. Love God first.

But we do that by loving you. So we want to help you grow. We want to see you thrive. And that alone will glorify God cuz he loves you more than anybody ever could. So I'm David Pasqualone. This was our friend, Mike. Mike, thank you again, brother. Thank you, David. It's been a pleasure. All right, have a great day everyone.

We'll see you in the next episode. Ciao. 

[01:12:00]