Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Welcome to Battle Ready, where we equip you with the mindset, strengths and strategies to face life head on. I'm your host, Ricky Chavez, and today we're driving or diving into what it really means to find a purpose in the work you do. Our guest, Adam Henry, is the vice president of Amity Group, where he helps transform hospice operations across the country, supporting the nurses and the teams who do some of the most meaningful work in healthcare. Through leadership, innovation, and a deep passion for service, Adam has helped grow Amity into a national force in hospice, staffing, compliance and technology. Adam, welcome to the show.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Hey, Ricky, thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Yeah, perfect, perfect. Today we're starting with a topic. Many people feel deeply losing purpose in their careers and what it means and how it happens and how to get back. You know, many people today feel detached from the work that they once cared about, and they never found meaningful work at all. It creates frustration, burnout, and a sense of going through the motions rather than actually living. This segment helps the audience understand how purpose can rediscover, reignite, and even rebuild. Adam, why do you think some people lose their sense of purpose in their careers and even what they're doing?
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great question, Ricky. And, you know, I have some experience with that myself.
So when I was a young man, I'm almost 15, sorry, almost 60, and I was going to go to the recruiters, right. I was going to join the military right out of high school, and I had this plan. I didn't, I didn't have a parent with me or anything, and I was going to go to each office and I was going to see what they had to offer. Well, you know, you have some military experience. The first office I, I walked into, that's the branch that I joined. I was in the United states Navy for four years, 85 to 89.
And, you know, we had some, some really good times and I got a lot of good experience.
Was I in the right place? I don't know. I think things just work out when you continue to suit up and show up.
And that's what I did for four years. But I wanted to go to college after the military, but I didn't really know for what.
And this guy that I hung out with, he would talk about horticulture. He was going to work in horticulture. And, Ricky, I really didn't know what horticulture was, but it sounded cool, you know, so when I, when I left the military, I, I went to school for horticulture. I mean, that's how I made my decision based on, with this, this other guy that I thought was cool, what he liked. And I worked in that industry for about 10 years and as you know, it was much more difficult than what I anticipated. I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I always wanted to be self employed.
I just didn't quite know how to make that work.
So after, I don't know, seven, eight years of working for other people in the horticulture industry, I started my own business.
And gosh, I didn't even start my own business there. I joined someone else as a partner. And being very green, not really knowing anything about business, found out that I was not a partner, that I was an employee.
And so, you know, I broke off on my own and I did that for a few years and I made all of the mistakes because I didn't ask questions, I didn't really do any research and asked for help.
And, you know, some things happen later on in life and we'll probably get into that as the show progresses, but I think that's what happens. You know, people find themselves in a place where was the decision made? Yes, but was it based on what their needs are, are the best fit for their personality or their ambition or their, you know, we're all born with certain gifts and characteristics that would really play to the strong suit in certain industries or certain roles within industries.
And I, I think that some folks, we just find ourselves just going wherever the wind takes us, you know, and sometimes after years of doing that, we find out that, you know, hey, I'm just not happy, you know, I, I, Is there something else out there for me?
[00:04:46] Speaker B: You know, you said a couple things and as I listened to your answer, it's, it brings some thought to my mind. So naturally, you know, I was an army recruiter and there's a test, I know you remember taking it before you went in. It's called the asvab. Remember that?
[00:05:01] Speaker A: You do. I do remember that.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: So the armed service vocational app 2 batting. What it does is it tests people on what their ability is, not necessarily what they like. You know what I mean? It tells them what they have their aptitude for and what people don't get. And I think you've been learning, based on what I just heard a minute ago, that you were running and doing things that you thought you might like or be based on somebody else's word, but maybe not exactly what the aptitude that you have would make your, your journey easier. Does that make sense?
[00:05:39] Speaker A: It does, it makes A lot of.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Sense, you know, and. And a lot of people out here, a lot of our viewers are like, I mean, gosh, going. Being to work, being at work for somebody, then all of a sudden going off here. That was pretty scary, I would imagine.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Absolutely. Definitely scary.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: What was. What were some of the scary thoughts for you?
[00:05:59] Speaker A: So back then, when you're talking about that business, that was a landscape business, Adams Landscape Maintenance.
And so I.
You know, Ricky, I. I don't know that I was. I think that the thing that I was most scared of is being of looking like a fool, of not. Of things not working out and not knowing how to fix them.
And to a large extent, that's exactly what happened.
One of the largest mistakes that I made was not reaching out for help and asking people who had been in the industry or people who had just been in business, period, for, you know, years, and getting some advice of how to turn things around.
So, you know. You know, it's kind of a. Go ahead.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: No, please, please finish.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: So it was kind of a twofold problem for me. One, I was unfulfilled because I was doing something that my. My heart wasn't truly in. And then I was creating all these problems for myself by not running a business. I would. Back then, I would have told you, I have a business.
A very wise person told me. Right. Not long before I sold that business and changed careers, that you don't have a business, Adam. You have a way to get money. Yeah, I was doing everything wrong. I didn't have insurance. I wasn't paying taxes correctly. I was just doing everything.
I was. I was seemingly trying to fail, but that was really not what I was trying to do.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: You know, it is. It's like. It goes back to, if you remember when we talked, you know, prior to the show starting, you know, you don't know what you don't know. Right, right. And the people. You know, it's really interesting that. That what I've learned over my years is that people genuinely want to help others. If they're your competition, if you reach out to somebody, I had very few.
I can't even remember when somebody say, no, man, I want to help you.
What do you think?
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard that myself, you know, but a young man, you know, a young testosterone. I've got this, you know, that's. That's kind of an unhealthy place to be in business. Right?
[00:08:21] Speaker B: No, for sure. I mean, with. With nowadays. And this was kind of what this show's about. It's like how many. There's so many resources out here, so many amazing people out here. So many people have made so many mistakes and are willing to share from the mistakes. Right. And that's what, you know, we want our viewers to get out of this is. All right.
It doesn't matter what you want to try, where you want to go, what you want to do. There's somebody out here that has messed it up amazingly crazy and doing a great job right now, and they actually want to share that. Right?
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: So for, for those who feel, who are watching, who feel burned out, what's the first mindset shift that you would tell them to reignite their passion because you are at some place you don't want to be, but you, you finally, you know, started moving in different direction.
Yeah.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: And so one of the things that I had to do so I didn't stop there with the, with horticulture. I actually wound up in the oil field. And it was kind of the same thing. I was, I was, I had a money problem. I was going through a divorce. Everything in my life was on fire. And so I was directed. I finally asked for some help. Someone directed me to go work in the oil field. I would have benefits and I'd get raises and, you know, get my finances turned around.
But when I finally became uncomfortable enough in the oil field to make another change, what I needed to do was reverse engineer. In other words, you know, I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I kind of did, like in my heart, but I was, I was afraid of being judged or laughed at if I actually said it out loud to someone. So I started reverse engineering like one, I don't want to work in the Louisiana heat in the summertime anymore. I don't want to work offshore, you know, in the pouring down rain anymore. So, you know, I just had to start backing that up. This is what I don't want. Right.
And then I started tapping into. This is something I'm still working on, tapping into who I was as a kid. Like, you know, when you're a kid, particularly into junior high, beginning of high school, anything can happen, Right.
Possibilities are endless. So I started trying to tap back into that and what did I believe was possible for myself. And that's, that's where I would start. People, you know, journal.
It's easy when up in our heads we tell ourselves all kinds of things, they're going to laugh at me or, you know, whatever. We, we make these things up. But when I write it out.
It's difficult for me to lie to myself for very long. It's difficult to deny the truth for myself when I'm writing it out. When I what am I good at? What do I like to do? What do I not like to do? These things on this side of the page that I don't want to do. Let's make certain that we don't wind up doing this anymore because this doesn't make us happy.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: You know, that, that definitely makes a lot of sense. I mean, I know that I've learned there's a, a book called Miracle Morning, right? And, and I've done that. And part of it is journaling, right. And I, I just write out and I, I try to be like, thought, let's just write my thoughts out. Good, bad, what happened today, what didn't happen. And I go back through it and I see when I was doing really well, what was going on in my journal, what I do really bad. When I was doing really bad, I also took a look at that. So coming up next, we're going to talk one about one of the biggest fears people carry. Starting over. If you've been afraid to step into this a new chapter, all you want to do is stay with us.
Welcome back to Battle Ready. If you want more inspiration and powerful stories, stay connected to Battle Ready and all your favorite NOW Media TV program, live or on demand anytime. You can download the Free Now Media TV app on Roku iOS for non stop bilingual shows in English and Spanish. And if you're on the move, catch the podcast version on www.nowmedia.tv. from news and business to lifestyle and culture, Now Media TV is here 20.7.
So welcome back to Battle Ready. I'm here with Adam Henry. And now we're shifting into something that terrifies almost everyone at some point, starting over.
Whether it's a job, a change, a business pivot, or a major life shift, stepping into the unknown can feel overwhelming. But it can also be a doorway to the life you've been waiting for.
So, hey, welcome back, Adam.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: Hey, thanks for having me, Ricky. Appreciate it.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: So why, man, why, why do people fear change so deeply when it comes to their careers or business goals or shoot, even their personal life?
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. You know, and I've been questioning. Yeah, I've been through all of those. And you know, years ago someone told me something about a, a baby mobile, right? You know those mobiles that hang over the crib and everything is fine until the baby, like, picks the mobile and then it just kind of Goes all kind of crazy, right? So, you know, family, you know, your work life, even if it is dysfunctional, unfulfilling, it's comfortable because you know what to expect. You've been showing up at this job every day for however long. You know what's expected of you. You know how to get through the day and to jump, to reach up and kick that mobile, to do something different. That unknown really stirs up the chaos.
But, you know, everything that we want is on the other side of that chaos where sometimes you just have to be honest with yourself and, and say, you know, what's the worst that can happen?
I'm a big studier of people, particularly successful people, whether it be business or sports or, you know, anything really.
You look at how many times people, other people try, you know, walking into my door, there's a. Into my office, we have the Michael Jordan. I'm paraphrasing. I've. I succeed because I've been willing to fail over and over and over. How many times he's failed all the shots he's missed, all the championships that he lost.
You know, the, the continuing to show up, that's where you'll find the success.
Almost no one, I'm sure there's a.0001% step out of whatever they're doing into just, you know, stardom, you know, just, I don't know, crazy success.
But that's really rare, man.
There's another guy that I listen to, talks about when we're, you know, particularly in sales or marketing or starting a new business.
You're. You're not. Just because you fail, you're not down for keeps. Tomorrow's a new day. It's kind of like playing poker. But you never run out of money, right? You just cash in your chips and you start over tomorrow. You just give it another shot. And I think that also to answer the question, a lot of us surround ourselves with the wrong people. You know, if you want to, you know, I don't know, be a writer. But no one, you know is a writer. No one in your family's a writer. No one's ever been a writer.
For you to say you want to be a writer at the dinner table is gonna sound crazy, you know, and so what you may have to do is widen your circle and, and get to know some writers, maybe join a writers club or, or something like that.
I don't know if that was a great example, but, you know, there's a lot to overcome in fear, to unpack what the fear is and usually what. All the things that I've ever been afraid of, Ricky, have never happened.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Wow, that's pretty deep. I'll tell you this, one of the, one of the things that you said that resonates with me is I had a guy on one of my other shows is actually from your area where you live at now.
He was talking about success and what your definition of success is. Everybody's definition is different. You know, as a 17 year old, your definition of success might be 50, 50,000 a year. And as you grow, your mountainous changes or your, what your success is, is changes. Right. And I think the scary thing about, you know, leaving a career in business or, or starting your own businesses, you really haven't sat down and kind of mapped out what your idea of success will be so that you can understand when you're doing well. Because most people automatically feel like they're not doing well.
You know what I mean?
I was talking to a guy yesterday and he, he just, he's in the middle, he's in transition right now and he's been having some struggles in his interviewing. And I want to ask you a couple this question based on my conversation with him. I said, he's been telling, and he says, I know what my worth is. And I said, I totally get that. But he's also has a good education, but not a lot of experience. I told him what he needs to decide or determine is what he needs to make, what he wants to make. And oh my God, instead of scaring himself out of jobs because, you know, he puts his bar too crazy, what do you thought? What are your thoughts on that?
[00:17:57] Speaker A: So what you're saying is that his, his idea of success, the bar is too, is set too high.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Well, so he's asking for, let's say, 90 to 100. He wants to be in the six figures, but basically his education would work, but his experience doesn't.
But because of that, he's closing a lot of doors in his face.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Right?
Yeah, yeah. So sometimes we have to take or find a job versus the job. Right. And there's a, there's a great story and I, I think his last name was Pickens. I don't really that that could be off there, but there's a story about a guy that, you know, basically was a hobo and during the Depression and he caught a freight train, right? He hopped a freight train and went and found Thomas Edison and he was convinced that he was going to be Thomas Edison's partner. But that was beyond reasonable thinking. Right. But this Guy believed it. And he would. He would talk to himself and. And use.
We call it affirmations now. They called. They used a different word back then. But he started off sweeping the floor.
That's what Edison put him doing, sweeping the floor. And he did that for years.
And then there was an opportunity. Edison had a tool that he had developed. And all of Edison's salespeople said, you know, I'll never be able to sell this. And the guy, I think his last name was Pickens, saw this opportunity and he took it. You know, he's like, hey, what. What if I give it a shot? What if I try to sell it, right? And he wound up over a period of time, being Edison's partner. And. And so, you know, sometimes you just have to start where you are and continue to grow and learn and believe in yourself. I'm a firm believer in betting on. On me, right? I believe that about everyone. I think we often underestimate what we're capable of as people in this moment because we often measure ourselves by what we see on television, movies, social media.
I was listening to Steve Harvey just the other day talk about all the steps that you have to take to get to wherever you think success is, right? Like, for him, where he's at right now, all the steps that he has to take to get there. There is no elevator, right? No one gets on the elevator straight to the top. And every once in a while, someone does get on the elevator. But guess what, Ricky? They didn't take all the steps, and they can't stay on top. They're just destined to fall because we didn't learn the lessons that we needed to learn to. To get to that successful plateau.
I know that I was. I had a job that I had become uncomfortable in the oil field, and I was. I wanted to make a change, but I didn't know what to do. And so I started.
I didn't want to be a safety guy, but I figured, you know, hey, that's something that I could do, you know, regardless of how old I got, I squandered my youth away, right? So I'll be working until I'm 75 or 80 years old. And so I knew that, and so I started looking at safety. I started taking a course. I was almost finished with the safety course while I'm still doing my regular job.
And, you know, I was at a drugstore with my then girlfriend, who's now my wife, and there was a guy in front of us that had known me for years, but he had moved off to this other company, we started talking. He offers me this position that at that time was basically was the dream job for, for where I was in my career at that time, had nothing to do with safety. It had, I needed all the experience that I had received in the last almost six years working at the job that I was before that.
While I was super grateful for the opportunity when I started, as time went by, I was in the wrong role for me, you know, so you always have to bet on yourself, continue your education, continue to believe in yourself.
Got to stop the negative thinking, man. You got to squash the negative thinking.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: So what are some of the signs that true, that education, it's truly time to move on versus just needing to make changes where you're at?
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. If you wake up in the morning and you're dreading going to the office or the factory or wherever it is. And look, I experienced that in, when I had my landscaping business, right. I would wake up uninspired, to say the least. I, I got into a place where I did not enjoy the work.
I, I, the challenges were not exhilarating at all.
And you know, where I was then in my life, I was still playing the blame game. Right. And what I mean is a lot, all I should say, the problems that I had going on around me, I had created, but I was not yet willing to look at that.
So, you know, if, if, if a person is waking up uninspired, dreading going to the office, you find yourself gossiping about the boss or the co workers or, you know, whatever. I think those are some, you know, red flags.
Yeah, those are definitely red flags, man. If you're, if you're living, if you're living for, you know, a 12 pack on Saturday night, maybe, maybe you're not in the right role. You know, I'm not. Nothing wrong with drinking a 12 pack on Saturday night, but if that's the highlight of your week, man, you're, you're probably performing below your potential and it's, it might be time to have a look on the inside, right, and, and see what's really there.
Right, right. And see what, what else is out there for you.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Hey, Adam, where can people learn more about Amity and, and the work you're doing to support teams nationwide?
[00:24:27] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So they can go to my website, which is www.amity staffing.com. that's a M I t y S T a F F I n g do.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: All right, so next up, we talk about one of the biggest modern battles. Balancing work in life without losing yourself. Stay tuned. Be right back with that.
Hey, welcome back to Battle Ready. In this segment, we're going to talk about something nearly everyone struggles with, finding a balance between work and the rest of your life. To many people, they feel stretched thin, constantly chasing deadlines, forgetting to care for themselves. I want to brings a powerful perspective on how leaders and individuals can reclaim peace and boundaries and time. Welcome back, Adam.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: Thank you, Ricky.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Appreciate it.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Glad to be here.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Why so why do you think so many people struggle with work life balance?
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Oh, man.
Work life balance.
Like, look, so I can only speak for myself and I don't know about folks who, you know, like regular nine to five jobs, but I'm speaking as an entrepreneur.
Work life balance is a lie, right?
It kind of. If you're an entrepreneur and you're passionate and you're obsessed about what you're doing, what you're trying to deliver to your clients and whatever positive impact you're trying to have on your community or your region or the world, whatever the case may be.
You know, it's almost like the equation is, you know, if I'm doing well at work, then I can't possibly be doing well at home. Right? That's just, and that's absolutely not true. I think the, the, what we need to learn how to do and prioritize is integration.
Right.
And so, you know, entrepreneurs, we are really good at working all of the time and then we're also really good at not doing anything.
Right. And so there's not a lot of in the middle. And so, you know, if you're early on, as an entrepreneur, I know the Amity Group, we, our business will be turning nine in January. January 3rd will be marking our, our ninth birthday.
The first six years, Ricky, we took very little time off.
Now what we learned to do is we would travel for work, go to conferences and that type of thing. And probably around year seven, maybe six, we started adding an extra day to whatever city that would be in. And so I'm talking about like, no vacations.
Sure, yeah, you're starting out. I mean, you know, I don't know, I'm not going to say you don't have time to take vacation, but we certainly didn't have time to take vacation. We were working, trying to build our business.
Now, you know, last year we went to New York, we took four days off and we didn't hardly work at all. Just answer emails, do the bare minimum in the morning. But, and we just, actually just came back from New York again this year so you know, the, the idea of work life balance, man, if you're, if you're starting off a business and you know, if you're, if you're by yourself, that that's probably the easiest place to start.
If you are in a relationship with a significant other, maybe go at it as a team, as my wife and I did and what the way we worked it out is, you know, hospice. That's the industry that we work in. She's the expert in that industry, but has her, that's her best aptitude. Right. I mean she knows the industry inside and out where I was more organized and keeping up with payments and bills and you know, who has called, who hasn't called back those types of things we had. And I am much more extroverted than she. So it just made sense that I did all the marketing and when we started out, you know, she was our only nurse and I ran the office and she worked in the field. So I would go out and find business for us and send out invoices and keep the records and you know, make contact with the, with the insurance people and the state and make sure that we were where we needed to be legally. And that enabled her to concentrate on.
It was my job as the marketer to get the client to call the potential client and it was her job as, as the expert to talk directly to the client and close the deal and then actually do the work and then build our nursing pool from there.
So, you know, it's, it just kind of depends on where you're at and that, you know, I think when you know, you'll know and, and I know that sounds really vague, but I think that particularly strictly entrepreneur, if you're doing something that's never been done before like we, we are right now, there is, there's no clear path to follow and so you have to. You know, I read a lot of books. I led. Read a lot, listen to a lot of audiobooks when I'd be driving and you know, tune in to NOW Media TV and watch all these fantastic shows. There's a ton of shows on NOW Media about business and having entrepreneurs and of. In all different industries. Right. So a fantastic resource there.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: You know, it's as I list you talking. So as an entrepreneur myself, you know, I actually just did a time management class with all the brand new agents from our side of Houston, from our, from our brokerage and you know, I, I try to make sure that they understood as an entrepreneur, work for yourself, you have to have buy in from your Significant other, you know, whoever your partner is, they need to understand what you're getting ready to attempt to do. And without buy in, I mean, that's where the struggle is. Now, if you're single, that's a whole different monster, right?
Then you kind of understand that, okay, I'm getting ready to just go head into this and I don't care about anything else, but as a, you know, somebody that's attached. And one of the things I told him was you need to make sure and plan your family first and then plan your work around that. Because usually most people don't have that much family stuff going on, but that gives them kind of a, a feel good. But then they understand when it's time for you to go to work, it's. I can't say anything. You know, we're not going to give you any grief.
How do you feel about that?
[00:31:59] Speaker A: No, I think that you're dead on. I, I started rambling and kind of lost track of where we were. I, I know a story. And, you know, again, he was already married when he started his, his business, but they had it. Everything was fine with he and his wife, but they had a child while this business is going on. And so what he did, you know, like us, right, he is passionate and obsessed with what he's doing.
So the only way he could make that work was to get up earlier, right? Wake the child up earlier, do outings with the child each morning, spend some quality time with that child, and then he was able to go to work, focus on his job. And then the evenings, because the child had woken up so early, they were able to put the child to bed early and then have an hour or two as a couple in the evening. So, you know, a lot of it is time management and. But you're absolutely correct. I mean, there are times when, you know, Shelly, my wife, we, we work together in the same industry. And there have been times when, you know, I was just done for the day. I mean, I'm just done. You know, I've been here however long I've been here and I go home and she stayed and vice versa.
And there were times when we were starting out when we needed to grow beyond the Lafayette area. Lafayette, Louisiana, where we live.
We made the decision together.
We're both passionate, we're both driven to do what we want to do. And so what I needed to do was get in my truck and go out on the road and, and talk to people, do cold calls and talk about the Amity Group and drive more Business in.
And you know, that it was almost like working offshore. I was going for a week at a time. I'd leave on Sunday and come home on Saturday and. But that's what we needed to do, but we were both in it. You're definitely right, you know, so the buy in was there, the buy in was there. But we're.
We're fortunate on our end because we are both heavily vested in what we're doing, but from two different angles, right? She is. She is vested in hospice and making a difference for the way hospice nurses work.
Whereas I have. I don't know how much time we have. I have a little bit still a small, little chip on my shoulder.
Back when I was in. When I was in sixth grade, there was an authoritative figure in my life that was giving me grief about my bad grades. And they said, you know, Adam, what are you going to do with your life? What are you going to be when you grow up? And, Ricky, I didn't know what being a businessman meant, but I did know, or I thought I knew, that it had something to do with reading the newspaper and capitalizing on current events. That. That's was my best guess.
And so I told them this, this authority figure that I wanted to be a businessman. And they say, what does that mean? You know, I'm in sixth grade, right? And so I said, well, you know, I'm gonna read the newspaper. And before I can say anything else, they said, adam, you don't know how to read the newspaper.
And so it's one of those things, Ricky, that, you know, it's that burning inside. I think that we need to have a little bit of a fire inside. If you're going to be an entrepreneur, you're going to be successful.
I know I had a. I had another experience that. That was another log on the fire for me. I was. We were very young in business, and we were unable to get any funds from the bank, right? And running a staffing agency, it's. It's all about cash flow. If you miss a payroll, you're done, right? Your people are going to leave. And so that's what I wanted the money for, was just as insurance to know that I would have access to the money. Well, the bank could not or would not. And so they sent me to a factoring company, and I didn't even get a chance to meet with the guy on the phone.
We get on the phone. I mean, I didn't get a chance to meet him in person. We talked on the phone, and he said, adam, what do you want this money for? And, and I called him by name and I said, you know, there's going to be a time when I'm going to get the opportunity for one of these big companies that has multiple agencies, multiple states and they're going to want us to staff all of their agencies.
You know what he told me, Ricky? He says, adam, that's a pipe dream.
And I said, david, I'm glad you said it like that.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: So we're gonna be right back real fast, you know, get run out of time. Up next, what happens when it we not when life knocks you down? We're going to commercial. We'll come right back to that so you can finish your story. Adam, Welcome back to Battle Ready. You don't miss a moment of this show or any of your Now Media favorites. You can stream anytime on Roku or iOS with the free Now Media TV app or you can catch the podcast version anytime on your website at www. Now MediaTV.
Nothing from from business culture to real stories, Now Media TV brings you the content that inspires and informs you.
Closing out today with one of the most important conversations in leadership in life, how to rise after failure. If sometimes everyone faces a, a wall where they hit, how do we rebound from that, what we come back from? But now I got Adam here and we're going to talk a little bit more about this work life balance. So I got some, I'm going to stow his way. Welcome back, Adam.
[00:37:55] Speaker A: Hey, thank you, Ricky.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: So, you know, I wanted to throw this at you because, you know, my wife and I are kind of the same industry. However, she's in the management side and I have the real estate group side. And what we learned, you know, after our, our time is that you have to take care of you otherwise you can't take care of anybody else, right?
So probably, I don't know, six or seven years ago, one of her, her favorite thing in the world is to go on vacation.
And mine is, you know, we always get to the time where we get, we think we can go on vacation and we don't go.
So probably and I'm looking forward to because it's the 20th of November, so on December 1st, right, I send my wife four places that I want to go to and she sends me four places she wants to go to. And the whole month of December we jockey, we send each other, YouTube all kinds of messages, propaganda about the places we want to go to. Just keep going, any article, any flights, any whatever you can think of. And on 9 January, which is my birthday, we pick two of. She picks two of mine, I picked two of hers. We pay for it. Pay for it. Put it on the calendar for each quarter, and at that point, it's done.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:14] Speaker B: Because if you already know that it's going to. You plan and work towards that versus getting there and like, oh, crap, too much things are going on. You got to take care of yourself. Just a thought for you to think about. All right, so why do you think failure feels so final for so many people?
[00:39:33] Speaker A: Well, gosh, you know, why does it feel final?
It's a strange thing because I guess for me to answer that, I just kind of. My experience has been different. I have definitely been there.
However, I'm on the other side, right.
Of those failures.
So, you know, I failed seventh grade. Right. Okay. You know, I.
Gosh, I've had several.
I already mentioned the. The business that I thought I was a partner of.
Right. And I was just an employee. I've already mentioned the failed landscaping business.
So, you know, I've been divorced. I've started over several times.
I'm a person who's in recovery. So I. I know that the struggle is there, but, you know, all of those things are behind me. I would say to someone who's struggling, who's experiencing what they think is failure, one, you know, get out a sheet of paper and a pen, pencil, right? And I don't mean think about it. I mean write it down. Right? There's a difference between thinking my thoughts and seeing my thoughts and write a gratitude list. There's a lot of things that we can be grateful for.
I think that's a. That's a. A big tool to use to overcome failure and to realize, especially if you study people, right.
You know, Michael Jordan didn't win every championship he played in, Right.
So, you know, you can look at sports.
I hear Tom Brady, the quarterback, talking about how he doesn't want to talk about the wins, he wants to talk about the losses. Right. Because that's where the learning curve is. That's where I learn what I'm made of. And so a lot, you know, you mentioned, you know, your spouse has to be bought in when you're. If you want to be an entrepreneur. And I think that that goes for your friends, too, right? If. If, say, you try something and it doesn't work out and, you know, you need to do something different if you're surrounded by folks who are like, yeah, see, I told you, man. I told you that we're going to work out.
You Know, I, I'm sorry, but that's not your friend. Right? We need cheerleaders. And sometimes, sometimes you have to be your own cheerleader sometimes. And I, and I realize that some of these folks may be members of your family and you may find yourself, if you are passionate and driven, if you're obsessed with, with whatever you think success is for your business of being an entrepreneur, you may have to learn to love some folks from a distance. Right. Just because I don't hang out with you every weekend or every holiday doesn't mean I love you any less. It just means that I cannot, as an entrepreneur, as, As a person who wants to be emotionally healthy, hang out with negativity. You know, if you're always talking about how messed up everything is or how nothing's ever right, nothing ever works out.
I, over time, because I used to be that guy.
I definitely was. This is definitely a learned skill.
And there's a ton of material out there, books and podcasts on this exact topic. But yeah, just because you failed at something, again, Thomas Edison, look, look how many times he filled it at the light bulb, you know, but yet here we are with the lights on. Right? I mean, thank God he didn't, he didn't abandon the, the project after the first failure or even after the hundredth failure. You know, he continued to suit up and show up.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: You know, one of the things that you say that, that kind of resonates, and I've had this come up a couple times in various shows.
Sometimes, you know, it's. It's okay to distance yourself from the negative people. You know, you have to surround yourself about people that are going to make you better. And not necessarily they don't have to support what you do, but they just have to let you do it, you.
[00:44:08] Speaker A: Know what I mean?
[00:44:09] Speaker B: Without the negative. So I, I totally agree with that. I know you said earlier in one of the other segments about your, your sixth grade teacher asking you, what do you want to be with you when you grow up? And I, I mean, people ask me all the time, ricky, how you doing? I've just said I'm just trying to figure out what I want to grow and do when I grow up. And, you know, because, you know, I'm on my third career and, you know, I've had fun with it, so it's like, there's no problem at any age to reinventing yourself, right?
[00:44:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We started the amity group at 50. We were 50 years old.
Right.
So, you know, it's never too late.
Look, at Colonel Sanders when he's 72, when he finally sold his recipe, when he finally got the okay to, to start frying the chicken with the 11 herbs and spices, he was 72. Ricky, that's crazy.
[00:45:02] Speaker B: I mean. Yeah, well, you know, I came into real estate at 55, so, you know, it's funny that you never, you know, you're never too young or too old to start a new adventure. And that's what I, that's all I call it is adventure. You know, try to figure out what you want to do when you grow up, and it's okay.
So what would you tell leaders, you know, to help them normalize failure? You know, how their teams handle failure?
[00:45:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So, you know, one, I think it starts with us as leaders and owning our mistakes. Particularly in business, if, you know, the team is engaged. Right. They know when you messed up. Right. So sticking our heads in the sand and acting like it didn't happen, one, we don't grow, and two, we lose credibility with our team.
So I think owning our mistakes, owning our shortcomings and in public, so to speak, in front of the team is a huge win.
That way, you know, you're not an untouchable as a leader. You too are fallible, as all people are, and give them the autonomy to make some mistakes. That was one of the greatest things. I worked at Halliburton for a long time, and no one, to my knowledge, at least at the, the, the, the division or department that I worked in was ever fired or let go from making mistakes. And believe me, Ricky, I made some huge mistakes and they did make fun of me, but they didn't let me go. Because the idea is when, you know, in general, people want to do good, they want to, they, they want to do good at their job.
So they, if, if you allow people the room to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, they're probably not going to make that mistake again.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: You know, I was told that if, if you're not failing, you're not trying.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: So, you know, so before we go finish with the show, tell us somebody how we can. They can get. Reach out to you and get a.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: Hold of you so they can fill out a questionnaire form on our website, which can be found at www.amitystaffing.com that's a M I T Y S T A F F I n g.com or they can find me on LinkedIn.
I'm Adam Warren Henry on LinkedIn. And then if you want to see someone struggling at something new, you can find me on Tick Tock at Adam warrenhenry. That's something brand new, Ricky, that I'm trying and. Okay, man. There's a learning curve there, you know?
[00:47:47] Speaker B: You know, Adam, thank you for being with us today. Your insights on purpose, courage, and balance, and resilience remind us the battle is often inside us and that we already have the strength to rise. For everyone watching, remember, whether you're facing burnout, fear of change, or rebuilding after a setback, you're not alone. Your story is still being written. Every challenge is shaping a stronger, wiser version of you. Stay brave, stay grounded, and stay battle ready. We'll see you next time.
