Hi there. I'm Jill Allen and this is find your fierce, the show designed for women to discover your fierce, unlock and unstoppable mindset. Build unbreakable courage and completely transform how you show up every single day. Each week I will bring ideas, methods and strategies that will inspire you to step into your greatness and live life on purpose. Let's be fit, fierce and unstoppable.
(00:35): Hey there, welcome to find your fierce. And I love it that you were here with us today. I'm super excited to continue our business series, passion to profits. So if you're new, just tuning in, we cover a lot of topics from health to fitness, to nutrition, to our faith, our mindset, even our family and relationships. And in this series, passionate profits, we're going to dive into our professional development, talk a little bit about business startups, entrepreneurship, and what it takes to make it all happen. And you are going to love today as I have a long time friend and a genius when it comes to business and leadership, as well as the host of rise above podcast, we have Greg Smith here with us today. How you doing Greg?
(01:15): Good. Good, Jill, thanks so much for having me on.
(01:17): Yeah, I'm excited that you're here. You tell us a little bit about yourself and
(01:21): Well, yesterday was father's day, so I don't know when this recording comes out, but I don't know if I just botched that for you, but I know you're ahead of the time. So first and foremost, I'm a husband of 12, almost 13 years of four kids that are seven and under. And I own multiple businesses and have my hands in a bunch of different things, but I've been working for myself ever since I was about 21 is when I actually like quote unquote left the corporate world, but I am a dad. My kids are out of the house except for my oldest right now. And so I know like you were in a quiet zone. So I would say first and foremost, that's that's who I am.
(02:02): Yeah, well that is a full life for sure. I know I had Stephanie as a student back in the day when I used to teach. So it's been, it's been years. I won't even, how long that has been. I don't even know
(02:16): It's a long time, so yeah.
(02:19): Yeah. So, I mean, you left the corporate world at 21. You usually don't hear about that. We talked about how women are leaving the corporate world last week, more and more, whereas like back in the seventies, women were going into corporate. Now there was another shift and a movement. It seems that people are leaving, that you picked up on that a very young age. I mean, 21. What prompted you?
(02:45): Well, it's interesting enough. So you're talking about Stephanie, my wife, we met when we were 16 at the County fair, you know, the best County fair in Ohio. And I had some rustling scholarships that I did not use. And so I actually didn't go to college at all. And so a lot of that reasoning was that I truly had this fear of loss if I went to college, which would be about two hours away and then she would go to college, then we would not end up together. And so that was kind of the first risky thing that I did because as you can imagine, you know, I had, I actually had one friend tell me that I would never equate to anything more than a pizza boy. Cause I used to work at pizza, pizza crossing. And you know, that, that still obviously 18 years ago, I still remember that, like, it was like a knife to the heart, like, Oh, I'm not going to go to college and I'm not going to amount to anything.
(03:38): But I remember just thinking, like I was, that it was a fear of loss decision, you know, just fear of loss, of losing staff. And fortunately it worked out and now we have all of our kids, like I mentioned before, but I ended up getting a really good job almost right out of high school. I mean, I went through a couple of different, there's a Daisy chain of events that got me from knowing one person to knowing one person which come to find out in the real world. That's really how you get jobs and move up and, you know, make these connections. And so I had a really good job in the, in the freight industry where I was legit at 21, making more money than some adults that I knew along with some of my friends that were starting to come out of college, who necessarily couldn't even find jobs within the realm of what they went to just school for.
(04:23): So I liked the job. The job was a great job. The money was good. The upside potential was there. I already moved up the ladder multiple times, but now at this point, Stephanie is Stephanie and I's relationship. I was driving to Columbus. And as you know, from our hometown, it's an hour drive hour drive home one way, you know, there's one main highway that goes there and we had legitimately be, you know, calling each other like, Oh, mile marker 20. Oh, there you are. Hi. And that was it. And so cause I worked third shift and then she worked first shift and we both actually worked kind of like 10, 11 hours each. And so we'd perfectly pass each other to and from. So for me, that decision again came out of Kevin, another fear of loss of like this. Isn't how I should start my marriage.
(05:13): I can't fathom not seeing my wife for five days out of the week for the rest of my life. And in the industry that I was in, particularly the freight industry, you typically have to wait for somebody to die or hit retirement age in order to get a daytime position because it's all about seniority, you know? And it's one of those things where it's like, well, Johnny didn't put in for his vacation yet this year. So you have to wait until he puts it in to wear it. So those were a lot of the, the decisions that kind of prompted me to give, give up that security blanket per se. Well, we talk a lot about time. I mean, that's basically what you, I mean, when I hear a fear, It's
(05:58): The lack of time or not having enough time. Yep. From that. So you made that jump, but what's a dash thing.
(06:06): Interesting enough, that was the summer of 2007. And that was the same summer that we got married. And so here I was at a job that had health benefits, matching 401k, a great salary. And I started this other business on the side and I saw really good potential with that. And it was actually two weeks before our wedding that I decided that I would leave it. And my boss came to work that day and I worked for a corporation. So he came six hours, five, six hours out. I walked in, he was in like the little post office that corporate guys would use when they would come in from out of town. I remember looking in and I was like, Oh boy, like, why is he here? And rumor had kinda got out with it. I mean, the trucking industry is just as bad as high school gossip.
(06:59): And so they kind of knew, they thought I was going to a different company. So anyways, he and I went to lunch that day. Really interesting what he said, but it was about time. Cause he had two daughters that he's like, they don't even know who I am. They're 18 and 16. So he actually told me to get out if I could. Yeah. And so I told Steph, and then the day before my wedding was my very last day at work. So we're going into the wedding, getting married, you know, jobless for me. And she, my promise to her was, Hey, talking about time. I said, as long as we can pay our bills, well, we have more time together. Like, are you good? Like, like I will always make sure that our bills will be paid. Like I will figure that out. Don't worry about it. So if it's fear on your side, like I'll do that. And I've stuck to that, you know, but we have more time together. And so fortunately it worked out, but her, you know, her parents.
(07:59): Yeah,
(07:59): Yeah, no kidding. While they seriously tried to talk her out of marrying me during this time. And then my parents, you know, I was still working third shifts. So she'd be having dinner with my sister and my parents. And they'd be having like this intervention of like, how do we talk to Greg? What's going on? Has he lost his mind? He's got everything, every, you know, good salary, good benefits, good insurance.
(08:23): Well, you mentioned risk and letting go or removing that security blanket. I mean, you're an entrepreneur. I mean, hands down, I think I've always said everyone they're wired differently. However, if maybe we're not wired, let's talk a little bit about that because one, it's going to take risks. It's going to take taking a step outside the comfort zone, but say we don't have that entrepreneurial spirit or that mindset, but yet we still need to make ends meet. We want more time. Where do you even, how do you take the first step? Because there's a lot of people out there that want their own business, but they don't think they can achieve it
(09:02): Well, and that's, you know, it's interesting now because I had taken a few risk prior to getting that corporate job, one of which was buying a box truck and I was going to go get used higher from dealerships and resell them and do all this stuff. And I bought a lemon man. It was a lemon. So I yeah, get rid of that truck. That dream was gone, lost some money there. And so, yeah, I had a couple of risky things that I had done back then, but the particular kind of business that I had started prior to my wedding, you know, a couple of months before that had very low risk, it was something that I did not have to control the business structure. I didn't have to create entities. You know, prior to that, I remember I, I sold car electronics when I was 18.
(09:52): Cause it was like fast and the furious days. And I was Paul Walker obviously. And so I had to have a vendor's license and I had to file state taxes and they were like giving me letters like you didn't follow your taxes and you know, as 18, 19 year old, you're like what? And you know how they like to just throw penalties out there as if, you know, you have these penalties. And so I think that my point to all that, as I went through a lot of the like, Oh no, like this is a world that is unknown. And if you don't have a mentor within it, starting a business from scratch can be a very scary thing. It's very, you know, it can be very risky as well, but it's starting something part time at home that you can do from your computer that you can do from your phone that has low overhead.
(10:35): And I think the best kind of business is basically a customer broker type business. And so yeah, if you think about first off we're in the day and day and age of the internet, I mean, we're the only humans ever in history to have the internet. It's unbelievable. Like I can literally, I can my phone right now. I could text somebody in Japan and they're going to get the text like this. Right. Then they got texts across the world. And so not to have something that utilizes that to me is mind boggling. And it also is something where you can tap into a global economy. You can tap into an economy like as you know, our hometown, I used to own a gym there. And when you had the gym there, well, if a tornado came through and blew over my gym, you're kind of stuck.
(11:26): Yeah. You know, but if I can serve people all over the world and I have customers all over the world. So finding something that has that leverage that ability and what you're seeing now is, is people are getting paid very well to direct eyeballs toward different products or places. Airbnb is simply a broker that connects somebody who wants to rent with somebody who wants to lease. And so it's somebody who, you know, lease, meaning they a vacation or what have you. So they play broker Uber. It's the same thing. They don't own the cars. They're connecting a service, which is a driver with the customer. A lot of these home businesses nowadays are connecting that consumer, somebody who wants something with somebody who's selling something, and that person can be selling something from almost anywhere in the world and they drop ship it directly to a customer.
(12:18): So that to me is a way where you can get in and you can start to learn business. And maybe you have no intentions of starting your own business as you, you know, you have your, your business. And so, yeah, that is very low risk, low overhead, but very high leveraged with using the power of the internet with using the power of social media per se. And I think that's kind of one of the best ways because somebody can get their feet wet and make some extra money, but not take on a lot of the risk. Right.
(12:47): Well, and
(12:49): Yeah,
(12:49): You mentioned the word mentor. I think there are so many people that try to go out and do this stuff on their own and they get frustrated. They don't know, they don't know the ins and outs. And this is where, or maybe that's the fear. If I have to do this on my own, I don't know what the next step is. So having a mentor and I know you've definitely been mine and talk about the personal growth that comes through all of this. I think everyone has to have that step or that phase from day one. So let's talk a little bit about personal growth in this because I just look back personally in the last few years, let alone the last 10 or 15 of the personal growth. And I know I definitely don't want to be stagnant and you're, I know you're always learning. I'm looking at the books behind you. I know you journal, you know, and you're constantly looking of how you can become better. I'm all about that fires me up, but let's talk. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about personal development and growth and why it's required for someone who's wanting
(13:50): To be a successful business. Well, the first thing it has to be a desire to actually grow. That's the thing about it is there are a lot of people who want change, but they don't want to change. And when you start thinking about your mind as this computer and this software version, like your phone, you're on 10.1, but there's a version of 11.4 that you could have a lot of times people don't want to upgrade the versions. And so they think that the old software, the 10.1 is going to get them to an 11.4 kind of life, but it's just not going to happen. And so I think having the desire it's actually learn and change because this was something Stephanie and I butted heads on very early on within our first two years of entrepreneurship and risk taking is I was asking her like, what do you dream of?
(14:40): What don't you want more? And she was like, I'm, I'm fine. Like, I like our house. I like our she's like, she didn't want change. She's very scared of change. It doesn't, you know, like to now it's a little different, but I remember just being like, don't you dream of other things. And so, I mean, like we had like a knockdown, you know, knock down, but it was, it was one of those. And I'll tell you if you want anything, it'd be really interesting to do a study on people that are entrepreneurs together and the lifespan of their marriages. Because I, I think if you have a successful business together, your marriage I'll tell you the growth that we went through within the first two or three years of becoming like real entrepreneurs probably was worth 20 years of normal. I don't know. I don't want to sound pious.
(15:29): No, I agree with that for sure. I've live in it with Rob.
(15:32): Yeah. I mean it's every, every emotion cause you're making business decisions and all over, but I think personal growth, you know, obviously like you said, I love to learn. I love to research, but I do. This comes from a competitive sports background. I would always be better. It's not that I'm not happy with who I am or even where I'm at. I actually, and extremely content almost to the point where I could be lazy due to the fact that I'm content with my lifestyle and things that I've achieved. But I truly know that I have giftings and then I need to serve more people and that I have a message that can resound. And so I have a higher purpose now for wanting to continue to grow. But originally when you first started off, like, it's just a prerequisite, like you have to change your mindset, you got to get around other people, you have to have a mentor that feeds into you and kind of each upside, the head every now and then tells you, you're thinking a little incorrectly and gently guides you in the right direction.
(16:31): Well, and I love that you said higher purpose because it doesn't always start that way. It starts. I think, I mean, I mean, for me, some of them are businesses. I started off selfishly. Yeah. I it's, you know, what is it that, you know, it was all about the sales and the making ends meet and the money and this and that. And that's, I think from the personal growth standpoint and when you said higher purpose and your giftings that begins to change, because then it's a lot bigger than just you and me.
(17:02): And I love that because in, and here's why will say it's not, although you may have started it for selfish reasons as did I, it's not selfish though. So a lot of times people can feel guilty like, Oh, I'm doing this for money while I'm doing this. You know, because my first like sales job per se, I wasn't necessarily like, Oh, I want to make sure the customer gets the best product. You know? But now I do. I legit, like I have somebody the other day, I'm like, Hey, I don't have the best thing for you. I turned away. They were like, what? And I'm like, dude, it's, it's fine. Like I don't need, you know, I don't need the sale, but I want to say that when somebody is starting, it may be for selfish reasons because you need money or lifestyle or what have you, but that's also, you can't take care. Like I can't do what I do now. And you can't do what you do now until you actually take care
(17:50): Of yourself. And so once my financial house is in order, I can give more of my time. I can give more of my money, but if I have no money to pay my own bills, I have no money to help other people to give to other different charities and things that I want to do. I don't have, if I don't have time for my own family, I don't have time to go help other families. And so selfishly you have to take care of self first as a mother, I see this all the time, particularly, cause I've worked with a lot of females over the years, as you know, if you don't take that time for self and really make sure that you're a priority within your own mind, then you become last. And ultimately it's not a healthy thing that typically doesn't end very well for the mental health of the mom.
(18:36): Well, the stress exactly. Yeah. Being put on the back burner and yeah. Not taking care of yourself, they're all about it. Oh yeah. We're running on empty. Sure. All of that. I think just that, that personal growth in that process and the consistency is that it requires, and then everything gets elevated in that process. And again, you just do become better. Get more. What do you think I want to throw, I want to ask you a question, even though you're bringing me on to yours, what do you think? Because you're talking about consistency and I'll tell you, like, I always, whenever I talk, you know, Jill Allen, I'm like, I am woman, mom, you know, business woman, like just has all these accomplishments. What makes you consistent in drilling? Oh gosh. Wow. I think we need to be held accountable self wise, you know? And I asked myself that all the time though, I think like, was I wired this way?
(19:31): Did I just wake up? If I don't do anything? Am I lazy? I think it's the showing up as your best self every single day. And it's funny on the, on the gifting part of it, it's like, you're here for a purpose and I don't want to waste another day. I don't want to waste a second. Just not showing up. That's my best. So I don't know if that had turned into the discipline that it takes in showing up on the days, even if you don't want to, because there's a lot of days, but at the same time, there's like, you know, without using crazy words, but the whole thing of the legacy leaving a legacy that inspires other, I mean the list can go on, you know, but at the end of the day, are you showing up as who you were created to be and who God created you to be? And so that's kind of what fuels me. Yeah. I definitely think you're wired. You know, not everybody is wired that way and everybody wants to do it, do an Ironman race. But I think that you, from what I've seen though too, is you've also done a really good job at surrounding yourself with others that have that same drive and motivation. And I think that environment is key. And then I see that you just like three or podcasts and
(20:47): Working
(20:48): Out in such a, you're constantly passing that on to other, you know, you're empowering other people the same way. So I feel like you do a great job making sure that you're being empowered from outside forces, you have that internal wiring, but then you also have that. You're also passing that along. So I think it's a mixture of all those things, you know,
(21:08): Thank you. But definitely fires me up when you get to see other people change and transform and just to be a part of who they're meant to be. I think that's my biggest thing. I'm trying to be that mentor and coach for others.
(21:25): Well, you think, think about just the beginning of today's conversation, you had said that you were Stephanie's teacher. Right. And what was that in? You were coaching her. Right. And so it's interesting. Cause everything you're, you're saying now is you're fulfilling your want need of coaching and teaching and mentoring just on a much bigger scale than what you were 18 years ago,
(21:50): Right? Yeah. Just different. And that's, what's so hard is or amazing to see for anyone who has that little dream or a seed was planted or can I be more, can I do more? Can I become more? It's like, okay, we can get through to these people that they can be on this path. Just let, just open up the doors were opening everywhere. We need to kind of just wake up and realize that maybe the store is being open and we need to be able to take that risk, like you said, and walk through that door. So I love it. We'll wrap this up. I mean, what if biggest tips I know too, let's just do two, two things that you would share with someone. And I know we've already talked about it. You know, having the desire to grow, having a higher purpose, it's surrounding yourself with a mentor and a coach being a risk taker using your gifts, but a couple, yeah, two, maybe two things that you can share with someone who once to maybe do something different in their career, in their life and or how it can help their business.
(22:53): You know what, one of the first things that comes to mind is not ever feeling guilty or ashamed for wanting more then what your current circumstances might be. And this goes from people that aren't even looking to do a business, right? This is just life in general. Oftentimes we can get weighed down by our current environment. And current friends, current spouse sometimes were wanting more or wanting to change, gets frowned upon. And then actually it creates more of an internal frustration within ourselves to where we're like, Oh, we want this, but so-and-so doesn't or they're telling me I'm stupid. I'm going to be a pizza boy. Like, so I think not being ashamed and just truly allowing yourself to become who you truly wants to become. And now it's something I had to give myself permission to do both as just a person, but then as a, you know, career type deal as well.
(23:48): And now I'm, I'm a hundred percent are real and authentic and who I am, what you see, you know, you know what you see, Greg here is what Greg is offline. And then like, and that's just, it's the same thing with you. And so I think number one is giving yourself permission to be who you truly want to be and to become who you truly want to become and not let anybody else hold you back. Because what, when people do that of like, Oh, I can't believe you even want to vote this way. Well, it's like, that's who you are, right. Don't shame me for this or this way of thinking or this way of worshiping or whatever it is. It's like be true and authentic. And when, when that can happen, that's I think that's when all, all doors open, you know, is when you truly just start walking in authentic self and, and granted, when you become the kind of person you want to become, there are people that are going to find you on bearable.
(24:42): You are going to have some friends that may not come along with you and I can sound really, really scary, but I'll tell you, you and I wouldn't be friends. If I didn't walk down this, this road, you know, we have a really great mutual friend as well. Like we went, I wouldn't even know her, you know? And so sometimes the best is yet to come. And it's, it's just allowing yourself to go down that road and, and pursue what you actually see. So I don't, I don't even know if there's one that really I can pull them out with. It's like, just give yourself permission to become who you want to become and explore the things you want to explore to think the way you want to think and get around some other people that are going to help you go in that direction.
(25:27): Yeah. Oh no, that's good. That's we'll just wrap that up as to the one and two. How about that?
(25:32): I like it.
(25:33): Good guys. If you want more of Greg Smith, the head over to rise above podcast, what's your Instagram that they can follow as well. Or where do you want? Where can they go to?
(25:46): Yeah. Instagram is the real Greg Smith and then Facebook, if you can find me in the sea of Greg Smiths, I'm there. But Instagram is where I post most stuff. Roosevelt podcast. I got a hold slew of episodes there that people can check out too.
(26:01): No, that's, that's awesome. Thanks so much for joining us today and sharing your wisdom. I do want to give you guys a heads up. I do encourage women to take that leap and I help bring out their entrepreneurial heart by helping them go to business while working from anywhere, we have one of the best teams out there impacts a lot of lives. If you're looking for a rewarding side gig or a full time career, that allows you the flexibility to have a lot of fun. Reach out to me@jailatjoanallencoaching.com, or if you want to join a sisterhood dedicated to growing your faith, join our, just breathe. Facebook group heads up on the next episode, we are going to continue the passion to profit series with another special guest. My husband, Rob Allen. And we're going to talk about creating a culture where your team thrives and not want to lead your team as well as adapting and times change. Thanks so much for joining us today. Please subscribe, share this episode, link on your social media. As we all know, someone that can benefit, and I would love it. If you would give some feedback and a review as well, take it the next time. Beep it, eat yours. Be unstoppable. See ya.
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