Ep. 80 The Military & Business – Veteran Owned, Baby

The Military & Business – Veteran Owned, Baby

Nothing really prepares you for life as an entrepreneur. But if I could put my finger on the one thing that helped me the most on my entrepreneurial journey it would be my time in the military.

In this episode, Sean, an Air Force Veteran, and I, an Army Veteran, talk about how the military shaped our businesses, our health, and family. In ways we never would have expected it, it prepared us for the challenges, failures, and successes we have today. Hooah!

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SAF 80

Torie: [00:00:00] The ability to work smarter and not harder because in the military, working smarter is not always what happens 

Sean: [00:00:08] Almost ever.

Torie: [00:00:19] Hey, everybody, welcome to the show. I’m Torie Mathis, your host, and I’m here with the one and only Sean Mathis, founder of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum. So if you didn’t know, Sean was in the Air Force, we don’t hold that against him. 

Sean: [00:00:35] You shouldn’t 

Torie: [00:00:35] Unlike me, who was in the Army we’ll let Sean, right?

It’s all right. So both of us being in the military gives us a real, really unique outlook on running our business. And I’m so happy that I have that kind of foundational background that I can bring to business because I think it just helps so much with being able to push through a lot of the business things and the ability to work smarter and not harder because in the military.

Working smarter is not always what happens 

Sean: [00:01:11] Almost ever. It always seems like the most stupid way to do things right. I don’t know why I get it. It seemed like everything that was asked of us to do was just a long-winded, not efficient way to do it, which is that much crazier too. Cause like when you’re downrange or something like, is this really how we’re going to do things?

Torie: [00:01:35] The only thing that I could think of for it is that the military is so big and stretched out so far. And that there are so many different people coming in at different times at different levels that you can’t be nimble there no way to. And you always have to go to the lowest denominator for things know, break things down Barney style.

We always said you’ve had to break things down, like as low as possible so that anybody with any amount of experience. Could get it and understand, which is definitely not how you want to run your business. But I can understand that being some being so big, like you might, you have to do things slowly.

We have clients all the time that are corporate or have built bigger businesses. And even to do these small little things like logo designs, or, starting some type of project, they have to create a board to do it. Things take so incredibly long to do things. And so beaten bigger is not necessarily a good thing.

Sean: [00:02:41] You can even tell them, clients of ours that come from corporate backgrounds, that maybe they just starting their own business, but they were so many years in corporate that they still can’t let go of just the monotony of stupid shit. That’s not necessary when you don’t have 

Torie: [00:03:00] Everything needing to be a formal meeting because when you’re in something big like that like it’s, it seems like that’s the norm that everything has to be something very big, very long.

Everything has to be very explained. And I know that when I started my business, I definitely didn’t want it to be that way. And now that I’ve been in business, 15 years or It’s just I think about that all the time and whenever we start to think maybe we need to be bigger and maybe we need to hire going back to that.

I like that we’re small. I like that. We’re nimble. I like that. We’ve been able to move all over the country. Like our overhead for our business has always been very low. And I think that’s been a huge benefit to creating the life that we wanted and who would have known that the army was the one that really made that happen.

Sean: [00:03:51] Not me cause I wasn’t in the army. 

Torie: [00:03:53] I’m sorry that you weren’t in the army. 

So another thing that I learned in the army, and I know that you did in the air force as well. And this is a positive thing is that there should be a process for everything. And when you have a process, not only does it streamline things that you don’t have to remember, like all the steps that need to be done, but then you can take whatever it is that you’re doing and pass it off to someone else to do.

Sean: [00:04:18] Yeah. I was a crew chief on eight tens and C one thirties. And so every job you could imagine that you could do with an aircraft, they had put into a book like everything that want to know how to put air in the tires. There’s a couple of pages for that. All the pre flights and flight checks and put like all that stuff, it’s all written down.

And that’s basically so that somebody straight out of basic training and in hot school, could come in and they could go step-by-step through that book and accomplish that job. The guys that have been doing it for 10, 15 years, obviously they don’t necessarily need that book to do the job. But it’s still there.

So that case they had a brain fart or whatever the case may be. If they don’t miss a step, it’s always going to be the same. And that, that aspect of it was really important to make sure that obviously the aircraft and the pilot that’s in it all stays safe and comes back. But it also makes it so that.

That new airmen can feel confident in doing their job because they’re just following a guideline. It’s not like they got to have the pressure on their shoulders to remember what they just learned in school. And now they’re putting, this pilot’s life and, Couple of million dollars of aircraft air force property on their shoulders.

  It would be too much for anybody. But to have these books Tech, technically somebody off the streets has never done it. That knows how to read, should be able to come in and do a lot of the stuff because it’s just in the book. 

Torie: [00:06:02] It’s so funny that yours is we don’t want to put too much pressure on people for me.

It was like, if you die, Somebody needs to be able to come up and take your job and not miss a step so that the mission drives on.

Sean: [00:06:22] It’s still like that to some degree. Cause if something happens, somebody else still needs to come in and do that. But it is also, it’s a very expensive equipment and somebody’s life that’s in there that if it’s not like a, the paperwork got filed wrong,  you leave a tool or something somewhere that you shouldn’t, that aircraft’s coming down.

Torie: [00:06:41] Okay. So you said the person that’s done it forever. They don’t have to reference the book. 

Sean: [00:06:46] No, they do it. They don’t necessarily need to because they know what to do. They still have to reference the book. Technically they have to hold the book the whole time. 

Torie: [00:06:57] So we were talking about this and this is the one thing that the army and the air force definitely is the same with, is that if that’s how it says to do it in the book, no matter who you are or how experienced are you, do.

Every single step. And Sean was saying like, if it says, hold the book in your hand, like you have to hold the book in your hand while you’re doing it for ours. We had this we had to go to motor pool every single Wednesday morning. And even though the things that we were down there for, we probably could have did in 10 or 15 minutes, like how it was supposed to be, it was supposed to take an hour and a half.

That’s how long it took. And we had to fill out all of this paperwork. We were in Germany, it was cold. And the regulations require you to wear like these big black leather gloves. Like you cannot write very well in those. So we would wear these small, like little tight gloves underneath so that we would, when we had to write, we would take off the big, giant leather glove and that we would write.

And we would actually have people come and yell at us that put that glove back on, like try to write with the glove because that is how it has to be done. 

Sean: [00:08:04] I don’t have to put up with any of that stupid shit. 

Torie: [00:08:06] You also guys to call your boss. Steve,

Didn’t you call your boss, Steve? 

Sean: [00:08:15] No. 

Torie: [00:08:16] Yes. People you worked with, you guys were all on a first name basis. 

Sean: [00:08:20] Last name. 

Torie: [00:08:20] Oh. So you called him Jones. Not Steve. 

Sean: [00:08:25] It depends on what their rank was. Okay. Chief was chief for Sergeant and was still first Sergeant. 

Torie: [00:08:31] No, I mean like everybody they were very serious.

Sean: [00:08:34] Like I’m not calling, I wasn’t going to be called Sergeant Mathis. That was just massive. See now, 

Torie: [00:08:40] There is no calling someone mountainous. 

Sean: [00:08:42] There was no egos. We’re all launching airplanes. 

Torie: [00:08:46] That’s funny. So one thing with all of that though, is that though processes are good. And I think that every business should have processes, because like I said, you can hand it over to somebody else.

You can free up some of your time by having these processes, just because that’s the way things have been done doesn’t mean that’s the way things should continue to be done. That was the one thing that drove me crazy in the army is that processes were never updated to be better or more efficient, which if you’re trying to train and trying to get everybody on the same page, I can understand that’s hard.

But as like a small business owner, like you constantly should probably be updating your processes and trying to find ways to save money and ways to do things better, not wear the big gloves when you’re trying to write informs. 

Sean: [00:09:35] Yeah.  We’re constantly trying to figure out how we can be more efficient, not necessarily cutting corners.

It shouldn’t be cut, but at the same time cutting corners, that should be cut. 

Torie: [00:09:45] Absolutely. 

Sean: [00:09:45] And as the business, like you can do that, you don’t have to ask permission from your boss. Know, like you’re not going to get in trouble because you’re breaking regulations, like figure out the most efficient way to get done. What needs to be done. And do it that way. 

Torie: [00:10:01] Yeah.

Sean: [00:10:01] I think some of the tweaking it to keep trying new things.

Torie: [00:10:04] I see it with technology a lot and a lot of people with social media, like they don’t want to branch out into it. And so many business owners are just missing out on so many opportunities. Opportunities, mostly like on social media to have free advertising for your business and to get in front of so many more people than you ever could get in front of.

And this isn’t just businesses, but like you’ve been involved in even some organizations that just aren’t stepping up and doing some things that could get them in front of so many more people. And I don’t know if it’s just because they haven’t before, so they aren’t now, or it’s good enough or it’s how we’ve always done.

What do you think the reasons are behind that? 

Sean: [00:10:46] It’s gotta be just the unknown, like people are so quick to walk away or turn their head towards something or away from something that is just makes them uncomfortable. Like it’s easier to not do it than to try to figure something out. 

Torie: [00:11:02] Yeah. I just wish that more people would. Would realize the opportunities that are in front of them. And if they would just push through that unknown or that fear just a little bit like so many more opportunities lie, 

Sean: [00:11:17] Did they know and are purposely avoiding it, or maybe they have no idea that they exist, and, but then it comes down to is it because they’re not trying. If they put a little bit effort into trying to figure out what’s out there, what can they do in discover that thing that they need to be doing? Even that’s better than doing nothing. 

Torie: [00:11:35] I think that, I always talk about like business owners wear all these different hats, but you can’t wear them all at one time.

And I think that some people get stuck in that. The doer, the busy bee doer mode, and they never put on their CEO hat or, that planning hat of Let’s look at the overall picture and see where we can improve things. And I think you have to actually schedule that kind of 30,000 foot view time because that’s how you’re going to improve things.

If you’re always constantly do doing, then you’re probably missing out on things that are wasting so much more time. So as though I could see people saying Torie I don’t have time to be CEO and put on that hat and look at all these things, but by not doing that, You’re probably missing out on so many opportunities and looking at the ways that things are leaking and things are wasting time and money.

And I think you got to set out that amount of time for yourself weekly, at least monthly so that you can see what’s actually going on in your business and you can find those opportunities. And if you can’t, if you don’t see those yourself, bring somebody in. That has a different view that can look over maybe your marketing or maybe your processes or some of those different things that just, that you’re just not seeing.

And so many times it’s like those little things that somebody could point out that you’re just like, shit. I didn’t even notice that, you stare at something so long when it’s really close, it’s blurry. If you’re able to step back, you can actually start to see some details in there. And then you have to do that every once in a while in your business.

So that you can improve those processes and make things a little bit better. 

Sean: [00:13:15] Yeah. And there’s so many different software’s available right now that aside from your actual, there’s so many different software is available right now that aside from your actual core part of your business, whatever that is damn near everything else.

There’s something that’s already been created that can help you accomplish what needs to be accomplished. There’s even stuff that, that will. Audit everything you do and let you know what it is you need to do. If anything, you can start with something like that. That’s just I have no idea.

We’ll have something there’s something out there that like, have somebody tell you and then go from there, figure out what it is you need to do. They hit the table. 

Torie: [00:13:59] I saw that you were like on top of our motor pool, Wednesdays, and Sean said he didn’t have this in the air force, but in the army, every single Thursday, we did Sergeant times training, which.

Meant that we did not go to our regular office. We did not work out in the morning. We went and we trained, which was really awesome because I was in transportation units, but I was personnel. And so I would go to the training for my entire unit. And so I learned some of the coolest logistics things load plans, how to do all these different things that I would have never known.

And it gave me a. Better outlook on how the entire organization ran. I had an idea of like, when I’m sending these people down range, like what they’re doing and when they come back and like what they’re talking about. And so it was a really great way that even though it always felt like we had shit that needed to get done, like it always had to wait, we had to do this training.

And I think that sets up a really good thing of. Learning your craft and honing in your craft and always learning more and working on personal development and things like that. I personally it’s a huge thing for me. And though for you, yours might not be the exact same type of personal development, but that honing your craft and always learning more.

I know that’s like part of what you are always doing as well. 

Sean: [00:15:22] And that, that comes from be passionate about what it is that you’re doing and that kind of stuff should come natural. I would think like it should be natural that you want to know more and do better and be more efficient, all these positives things that, that you could do as opposed to just.

Being stuck in, overconfident, but not really. You shouldn’t be that confident because you’re not even trying anymore. I get it. So Henry Ford created the model T right 15. Was it 15 million? 50 million, 200 million. Damn. I don’t remember. He made a shitload of model. T’s.

And it w the thing was, is he obviously wasn’t the first and he wasn’t the only one, but he made him so efficiently that he was able to make them the cheapest, really. And so it made it so that a lot of people bought them. The problem was that all those other companies, some went under because they couldn’t compete with Ford.

But not all of them. And what happened was those other ones started making better cars, and so as the automobile starts becoming more relevant in society, all these other manufacturers like Chevy and Cadillac and packer, like they’re making better products than what the model T was.

And Henry Ford would he would have died the business if it wasn’t for his son ed soul that forced him to change and come out with a model, A If it wasn’t for that, there may be no Ford today, as we know it at all, 

Torie: [00:17:00] Because he was so set in his process and his ways, he was like, this is working.

We’re not doing anything else. I’m not looking outside of this. 

Sean: [00:17:06] In his mind, it was always going to be the model T there was no need for you to ever buy another vehicle. It seriously, he would, if he was alive today, he’d be like, model T like, why would you need anything else? And that kind of thinking will kill a business.

It’s brutal how people can be so closed minded on that kind of stuff. Look at what your competition is doing. Look at all. If you would’ve just been like, Holy shit, that Chevy is a better car than the model seat in the museum. We’ve got a 27 Ford and a 27 Chevy. You can go look at both of them.

The Chevy is all original and not nice. It’s not restored or anything like that. It’s how it is. The Ford is restored and super nice. But if you break, like you look at how the cars are made, that Chevy is a better car. All around, better car.  Hands, hands down, like not even close to the same car and yet it’s not as popular still, but it would have, it would’ve killed him eventually because not only was it better year to year, but they kept getting better and better.

Even when, by the time they came out with the model A. They were still behind, but they were then able to produce, obviously the same one that produced the T’s. And some of it, they, they got lucky in that sense, but it wasn’t the best product and they definitely didn’t do it as efficiently as they should have as far as timing and all that other kind of stuff.

That’s probably the most relevant example I can think of just. Not trying to improve yourself is Henry Ford is a prime example.

Torie: [00:18:47] Some of that is ego then, and then I can see a lot of business owners, like with the last one that we talked about would be time like people would say I don’t have time to improve these things, or I don’t have time to research my competition.

I don’t have time. I don’t have time. If you don’t take the time, like it’s going to be taken from you. 

Sean: [00:19:08] What those other businesses, their direct competitor, like you, you should want to know what it is they’re doing. We tell people all the time go sign up for their newsletter. If they’re offering one, see what it’s all about.

What can you use from that? 

Torie: [00:19:22] How can you distinguish yourself differently from that? There’s all these different things that you can learn. It’s not being like you, you have to be like crazy about your competition, where you’re always like up all in their stuff, but you got to take time to look at the whole market and look at who else is out there because otherwise you might be left in the dust.

You have to make time. For those CEO type things for those self-improvement type things. And you have to schedule those things into your time and make them non-negotiables in your business time so that you’re not left behind because that’s one of the great things about being a small business is that you can be nimble.

You don’t have to keep these processes. And if you do. Like people are going to come up and they’re going to take your business and take your customers because they’re doing things better and making a better quality product, careful 

Sean: [00:20:14] In knowing other business owners that are also veterans.

Like we can see first, like they have that military opposite military mentality really. It’s they know the military cycle of hurry up and wait, this is how it’s done. This is how it’s always been done. And they go the complete opposite on their own because they know the other way they know the outcome.

Like it’s more of the same. 

Torie: [00:20:41] Absolutely. One of the things though that I think is really great from. Everybody that was in the military is they always say that we get more things done before, most people wake up in the morning. And I think that without taking that too far, that you need to get up at 4:00 AM and do everything under the sun.

I think being able to schedule in and get those important things done and out of the way, Every single day that you need to is super important because once you schedule it and once you make it part of, you make it a habit and you make it part of your just everyday routine and schedule, then, just the learning, it becomes a non-negotiable working out is a fantastic idea.

Sean: [00:21:24] The PTs aspect of it, like there’s obviously. Stuff that has to always get done in the military, that functions on a 24, seven basis. And yet everyone. Can work out. They do. And so whether it’s, you and your civilian business, you should be working out as well. You should make time for that.

But in that same sense, you can make that same time for other things that are also important. And it really is just saying, okay, this is the time that I’m going to do it and then do it during that time. But if you don’t and do that, then it, it can easily time flies. You don’t. Force yourself to do it and make it a habit. It doesn’t get done. 

Torie: [00:22:05] And I think a great thing is stacking on some of these good habits. Like you say, maybe you don’t have time to work out and you don’t have time for self-improvement and you don’t have time for this and time for that. There’s a lot of ways that you can do two of those things or three of those things, or however many of those things at the same time, if you’re going to work out. Listened to an audio book or something. So that way, or listen to podcasts, like SmartAF, because you learn all kinds of great things about marketing your business, running your life. So you can do all of those things. Like you can do think that the same time so that you are getting more done.

Just like Sean has to drive to the museum at least once a week. What do you do on your drive? 

Sean: [00:22:43] I listen to smartaf. 

Torie: [00:22:45] You do, but you listen to audio books. 

Sean: [00:22:47] Yeah. 

Torie: [00:22:47] And in your commuting, how many audio books do you think you have listened to 

Sean: [00:22:53] Just going back and forth to the museum? 

Torie: [00:22:55] No. Just in general, your commute. Hundreds? 

Sean: [00:23:01] Yeah. 

And do you have time to read a book? Would you sit down and read with some of these books? 

No, I wouldn’t, I’ve through audio books, I’ve read some, there’d be some gnarly books. 

Torie: [00:23:13] Sean has read hundreds and hundreds of books because no matter when he’s in the car commuting, and he’s commuted for years now, it just happens to be one day a week to the museum, rather than listening to the radio or, doing, listening to something that doesn’t really matter.

Getting that in, 

Sean: [00:23:30] yeah, that last week in the original location, the museum, when I had to go four days a week that was like two books a week. 

Torie: [00:23:38] Sean was busting through our audible credits,

Sean: [00:23:41] Drove like 30,000. It was that year, but it was a lot of books. 

Torie: [00:23:46] Yeah. So there’s ways that you can make more time to get these things done.

And you just say, you have to make them a priority. If the military can make running two miles every morning, a priority, like you can figure out how to get 30 minutes of exercise in every day. Absolutely make it a priority. I learned, I got out of the army and I ended up working for the army as a civilian for a couple of years.

And I had a fantastic boss and he was previous military. He was a warrant officer, and then he ended up being a high ranking civilian in logistics. And one of the things that he told me when I first started working with him was that we were same team. And what do you meant by that is that he had lots of different employees that worked for him and they all had different opinions on all kinds of things.

And they were all pretty high ranking civilians as well. I was not, I just worked for him and he said that no matter what everybody else says, like I worked for him, I was his Know, executive assistant that him and I were the same team. Like he wasn’t gonna talk shit about me. I wasn’t going to talk shit about him.

And we were going to always make sure that we were in it together and that we worked together as a team. And I just, at the time I thought, okay, whatever. But since then, and especially now being parents, and I see this with other parents that they don’t do this. And I think this happens in business as well with business partners or spouses that work together is that they work against each other.

Parents do it. I see it all the time. And it’s insane. Like you have to be same team. No matter what Sean and I are, same team. And it’s not like it’s us against the kids or us against the dogs or whatever it is. But we are same team, whether it’s in parenting or in business. What do you think 

Sean: [00:25:34] You really can’t underestimate the importance of the same team thing?

Like I, I don’t, I know the story you’ve told me with him, with your, a warrent officer, when you say 

Torie: [00:25:46] he’s a warrant officer. 

Sean: [00:25:47] Yeah. But it, it’s, you definitely live it when you’re a parent. And then obviously being I call it your business all the time, but we’re also still business partners.

And I get. It wouldn’t work. If we just butted heads all the time, or, my opinion or your opinion, they just, they clap like it’s, it would be an issue 

Torie: [00:26:07] just like you and Truet. You have to always go at things, Truet it works with Sean at the museum when Sean moved to the new location, Sean made Truet at the executive director.

And so he is, partners with Sean in that, and. You two together also have to always be same team. Like you’re never like if something happens and one of you get your feelings hurt or something happens in that way. It’s never like somebody tried to do something against you. You always have to go in there as same team.

I think sometimes like we do get our feelings, certain things I can remember Riley, one time saying, why would you do that? Why would you be mean to me? Like. Why I would never be mean to you. I’m your mom. I would never intentionally be like, how can I be mean to Riley today? I love the crap out of you.

I’m never going to be mean to you intentionally. So if you think that I was being mean to you, like we need to talk about it because that’s not what happened. And just being business partners, you and I same team. I never think that Sean’s trying to do something that shouldn’t be done, or I trust that Sean, 100% is going to do a great job because he cares about the business just as much as I do and will always go into everything that way.

Sean: [00:27:22] And I think a lot of like jealousy is one of the things that is going to cause that issue. It’s such a stupid thing. Like there’s no need for that, even if it’s just a business partner and not a spouse, like in our case, but be confident that you guys are on the same team and going for the same goal.

It’s where somebody is what if they have other intentions or like all this. What if crap, that is just negative, that isn’t helping whatsoever. And what it’s doing is it’s dividing everything. And before you know it, you’re no longer on the same team and now you’ve got to divide and a lot of times that’s hard to come back from.

Torie: [00:28:05] Yeah, it might be impossible to come back from.

Sean: [00:28:08] No. It’s easier if you’re just like, okay we’re the same team going down the same path. And if there’s misunderstandings, which will happen, don’t go straight to the Holy shit. You tried to stab me in the back. Probably not case it’s it like the true at the museum, like we’ve had misunderstandings before, it doesn’t do any good for either one of us to be like, Oh, that, that asshole isn’t, when we’re not partners like, 

Torie: [00:28:37] No, just like Riley though. Like you’d never be mean to them. Never be mean to drew and 

Sean: [00:28:42] there’s something else. Let’s talk about it, if there’s and move forward again as the same time.

Torie: [00:28:49] And I think that same team thing can be assumed. Of course we’re saying team, I think you need to talk about it. Like he seriously sat me down in the beginning. It was like same team and explained to me what that meant to him. And I think that if you are in business with somebody else, if you are a partner with your, your spouse I think you need to have the same team conversation.

I think it’s important. I even, like I said, even like with Riley, our son who’s 12 I had the same team conversation with him. Don’t ever think that I’m going to be mean to you. I would never like that is not the relationship we have. We’re same team, we’re in it forever, ride or die.

It’s not, I would never be mean to you. So if you did think I was being mean to you, there’s a misunderstanding there. And then we need to communicate, use our words and talk about it because we will always be saying team. 

Sean: [00:29:41] Which is how the military is supposed to be to safety.

Torie: [00:29:46] Can’t be like downrange somewhere and think that your own guys are.

Yeah, no, I, I really enjoyed the comradery of the military. I enjoyed the ceremony. Like I didn’t play a lot of team sports. I played very little, I played volleyball in junior high and that was it. So I didn’t really come from. That comradery place or the ceremony of team and doing all these, like doing those types of things. So I really enjoyed it. Some things were long and drawn out, but things were done like meticulously and I don’t know what these details in this legacy that went with them and that like things meant like the music meant something and the flags meant something and things were done for a reason.

And I really enjoyed that. I think that I might’ve enjoyed it more than other people because of how short I am. I never had to stand in formation. They would stand in formation and everybody would stand the tall people in the front because they look the best and then it would go all the way to the end and whoever was the shortest, like they didn’t fit.

I was always shortest. And so I never had to stand in formation though. I never got to be any type of color guard or anything that hold the flags. And a lot of people in my unit got to go to like Normandy. For the annual D-Day celebration and be part of all this huge ceremony and stuff. Like I never got to go, I had to work.

Is that was short. What about you for the air force? Did you do what did you think of like ceremony and things like that? Comradery, 

Sean: [00:31:18] The ceremonies are always cool. Just cause they’re, there’s so much history and all that. And obviously when I was young, so it was all like, So foreign to me based off of my life experiences, but it really starts to engrain that comradery of everything.

If anything, that, that military same team concept, it was in those ceremonies. Like it was. We’re one and together I get it. It was pretty cool. Yeah. Especially through basic, when you’re learning to March and all that kind of stuff. And then you got to do that smooth line, no bobbing and all that kind of stuff.

I guess there’s a lot to it there. And it’s, you don’t have a job or anything in basic training, so that there’s just, there’s nothing there other than learning how to just. Be one with each other, which, it’s there. Those are important life lessons, just in general that, easily applied to, being able to run and operate a business.

But I, in general, I think it. Helps make you a better person. 

Torie: [00:32:22] I didn’t have like love of country before I was in the military. I wasn’t like, all super patriotic or anything. And it definitely made me love my country love country. I love my country, men. I live my brothers and sisters. Like love are one and I don’t know.

It gave me some stuff with that that I definitely did not come in with. And I think that helps to build that. Rapport with family and with with a business team and with things like you can bring that same, the same feelings and that same pride for what you have in everything that you do.

And that’s some of these kids these days, they don’t have it. So my, I don’t think they were in the military, but I do see it in. Everybody that was in the military. They just there’s. There’s this thing that that you come out with it, 

Sean: [00:33:09] it changes you hands down. 

Torie: [00:33:11] Yeah I think two examples of that, which I think are funny.

One is funny. One of them is when I was graduating from. I think it was basic it was basic. My dad came with me or came to see me when I graduated basic in South Carolina. So he came from California and we were, it was after I got to stay off base for a couple of days since he was there and we got to hang out and do a whole bunch of stuff.

And we were at his hotel and we were getting in the elevator and this two star general walks in and I’m in civilian clothes. And this two star general walks in. I’m I didn’t know what to do. Cause I knew I was like, Oh my God I’m a private and we get out, my dad like, looks at me.

I’m like, Oh my God. And I told him, and he’s that’s so funny. He was just another old guy to me. And. In the elevator just gives you like a whole different perspective things. I think that’s funny. The other thing that I was thinking that made it very different is that after I was in the military, I went to Washington DC and I saw the changing of the guard.

And I could see that before I was in the military. Like I wouldn’t have got it. Like I wouldn’t have just understood why that was important. And seeing that afterwards, like amazing. And again, it’s part of that ceremony and comradery doing what’s right. I don’t know. So I’m really happy that I had the military to bring into my my entrepreneurial world.

Glad you did too. And his parents makes us even better. Same team. So if you liked this episode, we would appreciate it. If you would leave us a review and we will see you on the next one, you wanna get smart tools to build your business. You have to go to getsmartaf.com.