Show Transcript

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I obviously have no idea why you clicked on today's episode.

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I have no idea how you're feeling, what you're going through,

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what you're dealing with in life.

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But I want you to know this. Before you hear anything else, I want you to know

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that where you are is not where you have to stay.

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And where you come from, your past, that does not dictate where you go, what your future is.

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I say this because that is the theme of today's episode.

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That is the theme of today's guest, Eric Allen.

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Eric, he grew up in a broken home. He was addicted to drugs.

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He was in jail by 18 years old, bankrupt by 21.

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And yet, look where he is today. He turned it all around. And I want you to realize, so can you.

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So no matter what you're going through in life, I want you to realize that there's always a path forward.

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Sometimes you got to get a little creative. Sometimes you got to do the work, do the hard stuff.

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And sometimes maybe you just need to hear how somebody else did it. You need to be inspired.

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And then maybe you can put things into motion in your own story.

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This is episode 290. This is the story of Eric Allen.

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What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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I am your host, Kevin Lowe. 20 years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery

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only to find that I was left completely blind.

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And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

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And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you.

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Because, friend, if you are still searching for your purpose,

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still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right

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path to take, we'll consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from

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where you are to where you want to be.

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I believe that one of the most difficult things that we'll ever do in this life

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is understanding what our true life's purpose is.

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And equally so is truly understanding what is God's will for our life.

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Today's prayer request is for somebody who's been struggling with that very question.

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What is God's will for his life?

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He's been out of work since December, 2023.

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He sent out over 300 different applications and still it's like nothing will work.

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He's still just hitting a brick wall and he's struggling to understand why.

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Struggling to support his family, right?

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And that's why he asked if we could say a prayer for him.

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As I say, with any prayer requests on this podcast, they can be kept anonymous.

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And that is the case with today's prayer request.

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I just ask that you please help me in praying that God will not only let the perfect,

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most ideal job open up for him, but to also give him perfect clarity and understanding

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of exactly what God's will is for his life.

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That is today's prayer request. It would be amazing to have you joining me in

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praying for this person right now.

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Now, I want to remind you, if you have your own prayer request,

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I would love to feature it here on the podcast.

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I have people listening to this podcast from all over the world,

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and I feel like what an amazing platform to get people praying for something

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that means something close to us.

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So please send your prayer request via text message to 877-749-8178.

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Again, that number is 877-749-8178. you can send your prayer request via text to that number.

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I also have that listed inside of today's show notes in case that's easier for you to jot down that way.

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And with that, my friend, I am beyond excited to welcome you to today's amazing

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interview with none other than Eric Allen.

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I grew up in a place called Kennewick, Washington, Eastern Washington area.

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And I grew up in what I thought was a typical household, man.

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My mom and dad took us to church. I went to Sunday school.

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And though I was the kid that would excuse myself to go to the bathroom and

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I'd have a pocket full of GI Joes and then just play with GI Joes in the bathroom.

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And for some reason, no one ever came to find me. But a whole another story

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there. But we went to Sunday school. I played little league.

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My dad would take my best friend, Dave, who I met in first grade and still my best friend.

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He'd take us out to dumpsters behind big stores and literally throw us in and say, go find treasure.

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And we just would venture into dumpsters and dump sites and see what we could go find.

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And I had a good childhood up until my parents got divorced when I was 11 years old.

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And then when that happened, my mom got together with a man who was physically

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abusive, emotionally abusive, almost immediately.

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I remember there being times where, you know, I would be in the backyard and I'd be playing.

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I'd hear them argue and I'd run over to the bedroom window and I'd look through

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and I'd see him hitting her with a cordless phone when those around and I'd

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call the police and they would show up and my mom would never press charts.

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I never understood that. You know, it was like this rinse and repeat cycle for her over and over.

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You know, we, we would constantly be calling the police. The neighbors would

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always be checking on us. Right.

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And then they did the smart thing. They got pregnant. And in the middle of my

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eighth grade year, they decided to move us from Kennewick, Washington to Stevensville, Montana.

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Now, when we moved there, it was a population of about 1200 people.

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And we lived on the outskirts of town. So we're further away from any sort of

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police or anything like that should anything happen.

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And they rented this house that was on five acres. It was a beautiful property,

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two big ponds right by the Bitterroot River, you know, lots of room to run around

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and, you know, shoot the BB gun and just get dirty.

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And the problem though, was that house had three bedrooms. So it was one for

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them, it was one for my little brother who's come us old, and then one for my

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younger sister who's four years younger than me.

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And they said, Eric, you get to live in the garage. So I literally had this

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tarp that separated the garage, my bedroom on half, and the truck was able to

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pull into the garage on the other half.

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Now, luckily, my half had the fireplace that would keep me semi-warm in the

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middle of the negative degree nights of Montana in the winter.

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But that's where I stayed. And there would be nights where once that fire would

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go out, 1, 2 a.m., I would be freezing.

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Like I'd wake up and I could see my breath, right? You know,

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that cold out there. There was a moment, though, when I was about 13,

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14 years old, that really changed the trajectory of my life.

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I was home, brushed my teeth one night, and they came home arguing.

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It wasn't anything different than any other night.

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But I remember as I was brushing my teeth, I felt God say, dude,

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you've got to look around the corner to see what's going on.

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And as I peek around the corner, my view was down the hall was to the kitchen,

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to the pantry, to the garage door where my bedroom was at.

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And as I peeked around the corner in the pantry area, this man is on top of

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my mom. Boom, boom, boom.

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And I had 20 seconds of courage in that moment. I walked up and I grabbed a

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cast iron pan out of the cupboard and I swung as hard as I could and I split

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the back of his head open.

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And he turned around and he said, what? And as he did that, I smacked him again in the forehead.

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Again, splitting his forehead open. And blood coming down his face.

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I swung so hard the second time I had fallen over.

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And I remember him standing up over me yelling. my mom jumps up like mama bear,

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punches him five, six times. There's blood splat in the wall.

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I mean, this is a crazy movie scene.

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The police finally show up, take him to jail. My mom doesn't press charges, rinse and repeat.

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And I actually thought I was the hero in that moment, but it wasn't much longer

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after that, that with three months left in my freshman year of high school, I got kicked out.

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I had to go stay with my buddy Forrest and finished the year of my freshman

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year there at Forrest House and moved back to Kennewick to live with my dad.

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Now, my dad, he rented a house for him and I, and he put 20 bucks in the cup.

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That was my lunch money for the week, put hunger man meals in the freezer,

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cereal milk in the house so that I could eat. And then he would go stay with his girlfriend.

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So I would see my dad in passing maybe two or three times a month.

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That led me to get into whatever I wanted because I knew that I couldn't get in trouble.

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Basically, I was getting stoned before school, after school,

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during lunch, me and my group of buddies, we were what you would call the stoner kids, right?

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So we were taking acid and mushrooms and Robitussin, DM, whatever we could get our hands on.

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And when I was 18 years old, as a senior, I actually got arrested for having

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a bong, which is really funny now looking back, it's now legal to have a bong in Kennewick.

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But in 1998, it was not. And I had to go stay the night in jail.

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And I was still a senior in high school. I literally wrote a note to my dad

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saying, hey, stay in Danny's house, right?

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And just left and went and checked myself into jail because I knew he wouldn't call Danny.

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So I checked myself in on Friday, got out on Saturday. But this was an old school

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jail. This is black and white chain gang outfit on bright orange slipper type of jail.

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This was when they would bring the food out. You could see it hot steaming off,

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but you couldn't reach it until it got cold. Then they'd slide it into your cell.

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That was an old school jail, right? And then two weeks after I graduated high

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school, I woke up to a post-it note on the bathroom mirror.

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And it said, you can't comply with house rules. You have 48 hours to get out.

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And so from there, between the age of 18 and 21, I would move 21 times,

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living off of couches here, couches there, basically homeless at that point.

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And one of those moves was to Seattle, Washington. I had $100 in my pocket and

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ended up living with a guy who went by the name of Mr.

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Sexy. He was a regional wrestler. It was the funnest thing ever to live with

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Mr. Sexy, still a good friend of mine today.

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But it was during that time that I was partying and by the time I was 21,

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I was $28,000 in debt and I had. to file bankruptcy.

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I would end up landing a job with Universal Records, which was a dream job of

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mine to work in the music industry.

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I lied to get the job because I had to be in college.

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I wasn't in college. I just went and paid for a course, took my receipt to Universal,

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said, yeah, I'm in college.

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And I got in, but I got in the door and I was just the mailroom guy.

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I was tracking sales, all this stuff and posters, you know, being involved as much as I could.

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But that gave me free concerts two to three nights a week and had an open tab.

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So I got to live a rock star lifestyle without being a rock star, hanging out backstage.

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And then my one year anniversary came and I got laid off because of a thing

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called Napster. If people remember Napster, it absolutely killed the music industry.

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Yup. And I was the guy at the bottom of the totem pole along with 15 other people

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in that office that all got laid off at that time.

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And I started working at Starbucks as a night manager. And one night,

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you know, basically as that night manager, I was basically getting off work.

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I'd go to the grocery store, grab a six pack of beer, go to Hollywood video,

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grab my favorite movie on a DVD, go back to my ghetto apartment there and rent

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in Washington across the street from where Jimi Hendrix is buried.

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And I would drink myself to sleep every night. It was rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

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And then one night though, while working at Starbucks, a girl walked in and

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said, Hey, we've got a cool college age about night down there at church. Would you want to go?

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Now I'm depressed. I have no friends. And she was absolutely gorgeous.

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Yep. What time do I need to be there?

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And I went to that church event and it was at that event that I realized that

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God had been protecting me my entire life.

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All the stupid things that I'd done that should have killed me.

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I was still alive. I'm 44 today. I've never had a stitch. I've never broken a bone.

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I've been protected by God, but I wasn't ready to give up my worldly desires.

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But a month later, it was Easter 2004. And I woke up after a night of partying,

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surrounded by 15 other dudes in my buddy's basement.

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And they're all passed out. And I remember waking up going, man,

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I just felt God saying, dude, you're going to go down a path that's going to

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end your life real quick if you don't start making some changes.

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And so in that moment, for me, I gave my life to Christ right then and there. And I quit.

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Cold turkey, drugs, drinking cigarettes, everything in that moment.

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And I called that girl up and I got her voicemail. I said, hey,

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happy Easter. Thanks for inviting me to church. Maybe I'll see you at the store sometime.

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And 11 months later, we were married and we've been married for 19 years now.

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Oh my gosh.

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Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay. So that is one heck of a story so far.

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We might have to unpack some of those things, but I'm happy to go back to where we were.

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I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like that was one heck of a cliff notes version.

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Wow. Wow. Wow. So backing up with the whole thing with, with your mom,

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with the stepdad and stuff, was he ever abusive to any of you or the other like siblings? Yeah.

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Great question. Never to me. I don't know if he was to siblings.

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I'm not, I'm not sure. I never witnessed it myself.

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I wouldn't put it past him, but for me, I never, I never saw it or,

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or he was not abusive to me.

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Okay. Verbally abusive. Most definitely. Yes. I don't know about physically. Yes.

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Understandable. Yeah. When when you had to leave and you went to live with your

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dad, did you like the way you made that sound?

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I couldn't help but feel sorry for you. This kid who moved back with your dad

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and then your dad really wasn't around.

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Yeah. Was it was that hard on you?

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It was interesting because I think at the time, I didn't really see it as a

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bad thing because I was just so wanted to do my own thing.

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I wanted to go out and party and get stoned all the time.

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And that was our drug of choice, my group. We would just get stoned all the

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time. We had a shed in the back of the house that we rented.

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And that became the Cheech and Chong smoke sack, basically.

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We were always getting stoned in there. And so at the time, I didn't realize

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or think about it. Like, why is dad not here so much?

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Like, I just knew that he was out. That was just normal life for me.

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And I remember one time my dad asking me if I was on drugs or was doing drugs.

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And I said, no, I was probably stoned at the time.

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And never, it came up, it never came up again.

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Never got asked, never got told about drugs. Never. I mean, I remember the DARE

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program in school, right?

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But never by my parents, right? Right. And my dad, you know,

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he struggled with that stuff in earlier in my life as well, which I later found out.

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But at that time, I believe that he was sober at the time. And but he just chose

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to, you know, spend time with his girlfriend over his kid.

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Yeah. Wow. Now, during this time, I mean, you're a teenager,

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you're partying, you're doing drugs.

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Did you still, though, continue to go to school?

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I did. Yeah. So I never was one to skip school.

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I got detention one time for being late too many times to class,

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but I never skipped school.

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I had a photography class, which I loved because it was just super easy.

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But I remember when a good album was going to drop, because I've always loved music.

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When a good album would drop, I would skip that class like, oh,

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I'm going to go out and take pictures on the campus.

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And then I would jump in my car and go grab, buy the CD at the store and then race back.

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Right. That was the only time that I really missed school, you know,

00:15:42.893 --> 00:15:47.113

but yeah, I still went to school. I barely graduated. I had a 2.8 GPA.

00:15:47.493 --> 00:15:50.993

I didn't really pay attention to too many classes except one.

00:15:51.393 --> 00:15:55.113

And that one class I think has helped me throughout my entire life.

00:15:55.513 --> 00:15:57.933

It was sports and entertainment marketing.

00:15:58.373 --> 00:16:04.433

And the guy that was the teacher was an amazing man. And I took his class,

00:16:04.453 --> 00:16:06.213

sports entertainment one and two.

00:16:06.533 --> 00:16:10.353

And then I took an entrepreneurship class that he taught my senior year.

00:16:10.753 --> 00:16:13.893

And those, that was the only class I ever paid attention to.

00:16:13.953 --> 00:16:16.873

We got to go on field trips and hang out backstage at like, you know,

00:16:16.873 --> 00:16:19.553

concerts and sporting events and learn how the marketing things work.

00:16:19.693 --> 00:16:22.033

That was the only one I was excited about everything else. I was like,

00:16:22.073 --> 00:16:23.013

yeah, whatever, you know?

00:16:23.233 --> 00:16:25.873

And so, yeah, I still went to school, but I just barely passed.

00:16:26.733 --> 00:16:31.993

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Very interesting. Those, the class that you just talked about that.

00:16:32.593 --> 00:16:35.873

That's something that I've never heard of, of other, you know,

00:16:35.893 --> 00:16:39.953

schools offering and how perfect for you. Yeah.

00:16:40.293 --> 00:16:44.573

Loved it. And it was, it was part of DECA, you know, it's kind of like FFA,

00:16:44.693 --> 00:16:47.493

but DECA was more, I don't even remember what it stands for now,

00:16:47.553 --> 00:16:51.833

but it was more like how to start a business and what things do you do on taxes

00:16:51.833 --> 00:16:54.433

and, and things like that. So I enjoyed that class.

00:16:54.553 --> 00:16:57.953

I've just always been intrigued by that. And so it was fun to be a part of that

00:16:57.953 --> 00:17:01.713

and and you know talk about how much does the super bowl ads for the super bowl

00:17:01.713 --> 00:17:04.413

this year you know that year and you know things like that and looking back

00:17:04.413 --> 00:17:10.073

i like it was like a million dollars to do a super bowl ad now it's like you know 10 times much right.

00:17:12.833 --> 00:17:20.013

Absolutely absolutely when you talked about being asked to by by that girl who

00:17:20.013 --> 00:17:24.673

would become your wife yeah when you when asked about going to church besides

00:17:24.673 --> 00:17:28.293

for the fact that it was a pretty girl. Yeah. Did you, did you,

00:17:29.442 --> 00:17:33.322

I mean, you said when you were a kid, you went to church, but do you feel like

00:17:33.322 --> 00:17:37.082

at that point, you really knew much about God at all?

00:17:37.322 --> 00:17:41.302

My grandma, who turns 90 this year, this amazing woman of Christ,

00:17:41.442 --> 00:17:45.142

here she is at almost 90 trying to memorize over 100 verses.

00:17:45.262 --> 00:17:49.162

She's been doing this for years, and she has 54 grandkids, great grandkids,

00:17:49.202 --> 00:17:51.542

and great grandkids that she prays for by name every day.

00:17:51.702 --> 00:17:58.962

And I believe that her prayers for me since I was a kid has really kept me in the right place.

00:17:59.202 --> 00:18:02.422

Even though I was lost for a long time, I always knew who God was.

00:18:02.502 --> 00:18:06.302

I knew who Jesus was, but I hadn't really read the Bible.

00:18:06.462 --> 00:18:11.302

I hadn't really gone to church and learned or paid attention since I was a kid.

00:18:11.822 --> 00:18:15.282

And I just believe that God has always kind of been on my heart.

00:18:15.322 --> 00:18:17.262

He's always been there to protect me, like I said.

00:18:17.822 --> 00:18:23.042

And I think I had just gotten to a point of brokenness where I was at this point

00:18:23.042 --> 00:18:27.302

where I had fought for my dream to get in the music business. I got let let go.

00:18:27.802 --> 00:18:32.062

I really had no friends. I really didn't think that I was even going to make

00:18:32.062 --> 00:18:35.762

it to age 40 at that point in my life. I was just going to party myself to death.

00:18:36.342 --> 00:18:40.822

And so when she gave me that opportunity, and funny thing is,

00:18:40.862 --> 00:18:45.302

you know, that girl, she's my wife now, she was studying to be a youth pastor at that time.

00:18:45.362 --> 00:18:49.702

And so she'd come in and study sometimes at the Starbucks that I've worked at.

00:18:49.962 --> 00:18:54.142

And, but I just felt this draw to go to that event.

00:18:54.322 --> 00:18:57.442

And it was interesting when I I went to that event that she invited me to,

00:18:57.522 --> 00:19:03.642

I ran into four or five guys that I had met five years earlier when I had a

00:19:03.642 --> 00:19:05.182

small attempt at college.

00:19:05.242 --> 00:19:09.162

After I graduated, I went to school for like three out of the four quarters for the first year.

00:19:09.562 --> 00:19:13.222

But I met them there on the other side of the state. And then they were at this

00:19:13.222 --> 00:19:15.662

church and I was like, man, what are you doing here?

00:19:15.782 --> 00:19:18.482

And it was like this small thing that God was starting to put together.

00:19:18.842 --> 00:19:23.022

Right. And so it was, I just started to realize, man, God's been, God's been so good, man.

00:19:23.062 --> 00:19:26.622

He's been protecting me as much as I knew that at that point,

00:19:26.682 --> 00:19:29.802

I still fought that worldly desire to go out and party.

00:19:30.122 --> 00:19:36.042

Yeah. Talk to me about the part that we kind of ended on when you talked about

00:19:36.042 --> 00:19:39.922

waking up that morning on Easter morning of all mornings.

00:19:40.162 --> 00:19:42.762

Will you, will you talk to me a little bit more?

00:19:43.162 --> 00:19:48.762

What, what was that morning? Like when you woke up, explain to me the feeling you had.

00:19:49.682 --> 00:19:54.142

Man, it was like I had woke up after a night of partying on that night.

00:19:55.053 --> 00:20:01.713

And surprisingly, I wasn't hung over, which usually I was, but I just felt this sense of emptiness.

00:20:02.113 --> 00:20:05.573

Like I was broken mentally and spiritually at that point.

00:20:05.613 --> 00:20:09.713

And I just felt God tugging on my heart to say, dude, look around.

00:20:09.853 --> 00:20:11.093

Look, this is what you're doing.

00:20:11.333 --> 00:20:14.633

You're 22 years old, 23 years old at that time.

00:20:14.653 --> 00:20:19.813

And just felt like this is what your life's going to be every time if you don't start giving it up.

00:20:19.933 --> 00:20:23.953

And so what I did was in that moment, I was like, God, I want to accept you

00:20:23.953 --> 00:20:25.453

into my life. I want to do what it takes.

00:20:25.553 --> 00:20:29.573

I want to give you, surrender my life, and I just want you to take over.

00:20:29.753 --> 00:20:33.493

And I believe that's why I had the power to stop everything, cold turkey.

00:20:33.653 --> 00:20:36.953

Now, I tried quitting cigarettes many, many times before, of course,

00:20:37.033 --> 00:20:40.693

but never was able to stop. But it was an instant stop in that moment.

00:20:41.373 --> 00:20:44.373

But here's the thing is people who struggle with drugs and alcohol,

00:20:44.553 --> 00:20:47.793

and I know it because I was there, I could not go back to that environment.

00:20:48.133 --> 00:20:50.693

As much as I love those guys, I had to call them up and say,

00:20:50.753 --> 00:20:54.273

man, for me, I got to take a break. I got to mentally step away from the party

00:20:54.273 --> 00:20:55.973

scene for a bit and I got to get better for myself.

00:20:56.253 --> 00:20:58.653

And those guys are still people that I connect with today.

00:20:59.213 --> 00:21:03.473

But I had to take a break. And what I did was I replaced that environment with

00:21:03.473 --> 00:21:06.553

men that I found in the church that had great walks with Christ.

00:21:06.633 --> 00:21:08.073

They were great. They had great marriages.

00:21:08.353 --> 00:21:11.333

They were great dads. They had great jobs. They were great entrepreneurs.

00:21:11.793 --> 00:21:16.173

And what I did was I would ask them to go out to Starbucks and have a coffee with me.

00:21:16.253 --> 00:21:20.213

And this is way pre-podcast days, but I would basically interview them and say,

00:21:20.253 --> 00:21:23.333

man, man, how do I live the life that you're living? Because that's what I want.

00:21:23.633 --> 00:21:26.113

I want to live in Christ's glory.

00:21:26.453 --> 00:21:29.693

And I want to have a great marriage and I have great kids. I want to be a great dad.

00:21:30.113 --> 00:21:33.913

How do I do that? And I just started interviewing them. And I just sponged up

00:21:33.913 --> 00:21:37.153

as much as I could. Any book they recommended, man, I was reading it.

00:21:37.353 --> 00:21:41.193

I was so hungry to make a change in my life at that moment. And it wasn't like

00:21:41.193 --> 00:21:44.533

it was this gradual change. It was a sudden change for me.

00:21:44.989 --> 00:21:49.769

And I was like, boom, I'm hooked. Let's do this. And through those conversations,

00:21:49.969 --> 00:21:54.149

I realized that my past and other people's opinions of me does not define my future.

00:21:54.329 --> 00:21:58.229

And when I step into that, I can realize what my purpose is and start making

00:21:58.229 --> 00:22:00.009

an impact by sharing my story.

00:22:01.129 --> 00:22:04.169

Wow, wow, wow, wow. So incredibly powerful.

00:22:04.929 --> 00:22:10.449

So at that point then, kind of talk to me about kind of a new chapter of life.

00:22:10.569 --> 00:22:14.949

Where does life start leading you at that point? We had an interesting,

00:22:15.269 --> 00:22:18.429

you know, my wife and I, we got married in, like I said, in 11 months after

00:22:18.429 --> 00:22:20.929

we went on our first date. We were married 11 months later.

00:22:21.489 --> 00:22:25.329

It's just funny when we go on our honeymoon, we're on a cruise ship.

00:22:25.389 --> 00:22:27.409

And this is back then before you had a passport.

00:22:27.509 --> 00:22:30.109

So we had our birth certificates and we're standing in line to get on the boat.

00:22:30.169 --> 00:22:32.449

And I remember looking down and going, oh, yeah, I was born.

00:22:32.689 --> 00:22:35.629

I go, hey, babe, what time are you born? She goes, 1.41 p.m.

00:22:35.629 --> 00:22:39.629

I go, wait a second. So me and her, we're both born at 1.41 p.m.

00:22:41.069 --> 00:22:44.569

Wow. Different days, different years. it's not a world record.

00:22:44.629 --> 00:22:47.649

I submitted it to Guinness. They said, that's not a world record, but thanks for the plug.

00:22:49.369 --> 00:22:52.109

So yeah, we were both born at the exact same minute. So I just,

00:22:52.189 --> 00:22:54.189

all right, God, isn't that, isn't that funny, man?

00:22:54.389 --> 00:22:56.929

It was basically at that point where I was like, okay, I got to start making

00:22:56.929 --> 00:22:59.409

some money. But the first year that we were married, I was still working at

00:22:59.409 --> 00:23:01.609

Starbucks and I had to be at work at 4am.

00:23:02.129 --> 00:23:05.669

And the interesting thing is my wife would get off work at like six at night

00:23:05.669 --> 00:23:07.069

and I was going to bed at seven.

00:23:07.109 --> 00:23:11.229

So she'd get home for like 20 minutes. I'd see her and then I'd be out snoozing. Right.

00:23:11.349 --> 00:23:13.549

And she was like sitting there going, man, man, this is what the first year

00:23:13.549 --> 00:23:16.129

of marriage is like. This is crazy because I'm like snoozing, right?

00:23:17.349 --> 00:23:20.709

But I knew that I had to make more money. I wanted to support my family.

00:23:20.789 --> 00:23:25.849

And so we went, I went and got a job in sales and started making pretty good money.

00:23:26.029 --> 00:23:29.029

And, you know, my wife and I, we just wanted to get to know each other because

00:23:29.029 --> 00:23:30.489

we both came from broken homes.

00:23:30.589 --> 00:23:34.449

We both knew what a bad marriage was like, but we didn't know,

00:23:34.569 --> 00:23:37.069

we knew exactly what we didn't want to bring to marriage, but we didn't know

00:23:37.069 --> 00:23:38.409

what a good marriage looked like.

00:23:38.549 --> 00:23:40.669

And so we, you know, So we did premarital counseling.

00:23:40.909 --> 00:23:46.509

It was okay. Right. But what we did was we spent the first five years just getting to know each other.

00:23:47.141 --> 00:23:50.581

Man, what's the ins and outs of our history, our background?

00:23:50.661 --> 00:23:53.981

Like, you know, cause we kind of, I would say rushed it. I'm going to tell my

00:23:53.981 --> 00:23:56.601

kids, we courted for 20 years and then got married.

00:23:56.661 --> 00:24:01.781

But like, you know, like, you know, we're, we're fresh married for the first five years, just us.

00:24:01.921 --> 00:24:05.661

We went on camping trips. We went down to Mexico twice to build homes.

00:24:05.881 --> 00:24:09.961

Like we just got to experience life for the first five years of just her and

00:24:09.961 --> 00:24:10.761

I getting to know each other.

00:24:12.401 --> 00:24:17.621

And then we a goal of mine to get my wife to be a stay-at-home mom.

00:24:18.021 --> 00:24:23.481

And so when my daughter was a year and a half, I believe that around that time,

00:24:23.561 --> 00:24:27.421

I was able to get a job that allowed her to come home and I was able to pay the bills.

00:24:27.501 --> 00:24:30.621

And my wife is an amazing woman. She's been home with our kids since.

00:24:30.941 --> 00:24:34.061

And she just started homeschooling them last year.

00:24:34.201 --> 00:24:38.201

And so it's just been this fun journey, man, where it's just been us four.

00:24:38.321 --> 00:24:43.641

We moved to Idaho in 2014 and we didn't know anybody, but we knew we just kind

00:24:43.641 --> 00:24:44.941

of felt like God was leading us here.

00:24:45.101 --> 00:24:47.781

And so here we are, man. And just to join us for.

00:24:48.321 --> 00:24:52.881

Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. You know what? What I loved you talking about that with,

00:24:52.921 --> 00:24:58.801

with your wife was I've always heard they say, yeah, you gotta date your wife.

00:24:58.941 --> 00:25:03.061

And you literally started dating your wife after going into getting married.

00:25:04.661 --> 00:25:08.961

That's pretty remarkable. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I wish that we could get

00:25:08.961 --> 00:25:13.921

on more, you know, dates, but we definitely have time on one-on-one where we

00:25:13.921 --> 00:25:14.781

can just have great conversations.

00:25:15.061 --> 00:25:18.001

And I'm still working on how to be a good communicator. It's funny,

00:25:18.021 --> 00:25:21.581

as much as I talk for a living, I still struggle in that communication area.

00:25:22.001 --> 00:25:25.641

And so that's things that I'm still learning here. We are 19 years married,

00:25:25.861 --> 00:25:28.241

still trying to figure out how can I be a better communicator?

00:25:28.261 --> 00:25:29.661

How can I be a better husband, better dad?

00:25:29.881 --> 00:25:34.121

And I think that once we stop growing and learning, that's really the end of

00:25:34.121 --> 00:25:38.421

life, right? For me, I always want to grow, always want to learn and just,

00:25:38.501 --> 00:25:42.181

you know, spend time in prayer and asking God, man, hey, lead me in this, lead me in that.

00:25:42.221 --> 00:25:46.461

Right. And so we are breaking the chains of divorce, abuse, addiction and rejection.

00:25:46.961 --> 00:25:55.081

Yes. Yes. That leads me to my next question is coming from the childhood you did.

00:25:55.241 --> 00:25:58.461

Yeah. What does it mean for you to get to be a dad now?

00:25:59.341 --> 00:26:03.741

Oh, it's so special, man. Yeah. It's interesting being a first generation Christian.

00:26:03.841 --> 00:26:05.761

My wife is is also first-generation Christian.

00:26:06.081 --> 00:26:09.521

How do we raise second-generation Christians that didn't have to go through

00:26:09.521 --> 00:26:12.281

the adversity that we went through? And that's a journey that we're on.

00:26:12.501 --> 00:26:13.961

We're building that strong foundation.

00:26:14.241 --> 00:26:18.201

Like I said, my wife homeschools, and she spends the first hour of homeschool.

00:26:18.961 --> 00:26:21.801

Just with them deep diving into the Bible.

00:26:22.321 --> 00:26:25.981

And for me to be that dad, man, it's amazing.

00:26:26.341 --> 00:26:29.741

And a couple things happened that really changed my mentality.

00:26:30.041 --> 00:26:31.961

I don't think, for me personally,

00:26:32.585 --> 00:26:36.405

My wife, when she had our daughter, my wife was 36 hours in labor,

00:26:36.565 --> 00:26:39.705

had to have an emergency C-section, like crazy story.

00:26:40.065 --> 00:26:43.545

But I remember when my wife was pregnant, I would always talk to my wife's belly.

00:26:43.785 --> 00:26:46.965

This was with our daughter who's 14 now, but I would say, I'm your daddy.

00:26:47.145 --> 00:26:50.605

I'm your daddy. And I would sit there and speak to her belly.

00:26:50.745 --> 00:26:55.285

And I remember when she was born, she came out crying and I said her name.

00:26:55.325 --> 00:26:57.345

And as soon as I said her name, man, she stopped crying.

00:26:57.585 --> 00:27:00.285

It was like this moment where God said, man, you guys are connected.

00:27:00.965 --> 00:27:04.285

And I think that was such a special moment for me. And I realized that,

00:27:04.325 --> 00:27:05.865

man, I needed to protect my family.

00:27:06.025 --> 00:27:09.725

And I'll tell you, the scariest day of my life was driving home from the hospital

00:27:09.725 --> 00:27:13.525

with a brand new baby because I did not want to have anything happen.

00:27:13.785 --> 00:27:19.605

Right. And so we lived about four miles from the hospital. So I get my wife in the car.

00:27:19.805 --> 00:27:23.445

We put the baby in the car and I'm driving home and I'm coming up to an intersection

00:27:23.445 --> 00:27:24.565

that has a free right turn.

00:27:24.745 --> 00:27:29.065

And a dude jumps the curb and almost hits my car. And I'm like, what the heck, dude?

00:27:29.445 --> 00:27:33.245

Like I'm just trying to get home with my new baby, right? And no joke,

00:27:33.245 --> 00:27:36.685

about a mile down the road, there's this massive straightaway for about two miles.

00:27:37.005 --> 00:27:41.485

And as I'm going down the straightaway, this dude on a motorcycle zips by me going like a hundred.

00:27:41.605 --> 00:27:45.505

And I look at my rear view mirror and he starts wobbling and just bites it and

00:27:45.505 --> 00:27:47.285

shoots like a hundred feet down the concrete.

00:27:47.425 --> 00:27:50.605

I'm going, this is the craziest drive home. I'm 10 minutes from home.

00:27:50.845 --> 00:27:55.345

I'm not leaving my house ever. Like I was so much in protection mode at that

00:27:55.345 --> 00:27:57.685

point. I was like, we're never leaving the house, you know?

00:28:01.225 --> 00:28:05.085

Oh, my gosh. Wow, wow, wow. That is hysterical.

00:28:05.565 --> 00:28:09.305

Yeah, it's just fun, man. My daughter's 14, my son's 10, and I coach my son's

00:28:09.305 --> 00:28:11.225

baseball now, and I was a big baseball kid.

00:28:11.305 --> 00:28:16.385

And so, you know, it's just fun to engage and see them grow and see them mature

00:28:16.385 --> 00:28:19.825

and see that they love God and their hearts are just people.

00:28:20.085 --> 00:28:23.205

Man, I could just sit back with my wife and go, man, we're doing a pretty good

00:28:23.205 --> 00:28:24.945

job, you know? Yeah, yeah.

00:28:25.572 --> 00:28:30.212

You know what, man, you, you're a prime example of the fact of our past does

00:28:30.212 --> 00:28:31.872

not have to define our future.

00:28:32.032 --> 00:28:34.052

Yeah. You know, it's remarkable.

00:28:35.492 --> 00:28:39.792

So, but the last thing, last thing I want to kind of touch on with what you've

00:28:39.792 --> 00:28:43.552

told us so far before we dive a little bit deeper into how you've gotten to

00:28:43.552 --> 00:28:45.292

where you are today with, with career wise.

00:28:45.552 --> 00:28:49.412

Sure. Did you ever reconnect with your mom?

00:28:49.692 --> 00:28:54.952

Yeah. So interesting story. I'm not actually in touch with my mom or my dad

00:28:54.952 --> 00:28:57.852

anymore, but they do live in Texas.

00:28:58.832 --> 00:29:04.032

And my sister lives out there as well. And she's got a few kids and they are great.

00:29:04.132 --> 00:29:08.112

But what I had to do is I knew that when we came to Idaho, there was going to

00:29:08.112 --> 00:29:08.932

have to be some separation.

00:29:09.212 --> 00:29:13.772

And I think when you're going through struggles and you have a trauma past,

00:29:14.332 --> 00:29:18.912

you have to decide, do you want to allow toxic people into your life?

00:29:19.372 --> 00:29:21.452

Or do you want to make something new for yourself?

00:29:21.952 --> 00:29:26.492

And for my wife and I, we chose to step out on our own, trusting God that he

00:29:26.492 --> 00:29:30.232

would bring the right people in our lives. And I forgive my parents.

00:29:30.432 --> 00:29:34.512

In fact, last year, I mean, this is, like I said, about a year ago,

00:29:34.552 --> 00:29:39.012

I started going through counseling because I was trying to figure out like, why am I so stressed out?

00:29:39.032 --> 00:29:43.712

Anytime my mom, my dad would come over, I would stress out. And I didn't understand why.

00:29:44.272 --> 00:29:47.812

And so I had to actually go through a process where I wrote them a letter and

00:29:47.812 --> 00:29:52.492

I said, man, I would need you to acknowledge that this is the things that actually were done to me.

00:29:52.632 --> 00:29:56.812

But I want you to understand that I love Jesus and Jesus loves me and I forgive you.

00:29:57.312 --> 00:30:00.272

But I need to take a break from us, from connecting for a bit.

00:30:00.512 --> 00:30:03.112

I need to grow in my faith. I need to take care of my family.

00:30:03.452 --> 00:30:07.372

I'm 44 years old. I don't need my mama. I don't need my daddy, right?

00:30:07.712 --> 00:30:11.492

This is my time to grow my family. In a loving way, I basically had to break

00:30:11.492 --> 00:30:14.292

up that relationship and say, it's not over.

00:30:14.392 --> 00:30:17.792

I forgive you, but I'm taking a break from us communicating right now.

00:30:18.479 --> 00:30:22.159

And since I did that, it was this massive weight off my shoulders.

00:30:22.539 --> 00:30:26.339

And I have felt like more connected to my wife, my kids since because I just

00:30:26.339 --> 00:30:28.779

don't stress out about them and I wish them the best.

00:30:28.939 --> 00:30:31.779

But for me, I had to take a break from communicating with them.

00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:35.279

I wanted them to know, hey, I forgive you, but I have to take a break from my

00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:37.639

family because my family is my number one priority right now.

00:30:39.019 --> 00:30:43.099

And you know what, man? Talk about the utmost respect for that,

00:30:43.179 --> 00:30:44.819

because what you did was not easy.

00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:51.259

Yeah. But the fact of you knew that you needed to do it for you and for your family.

00:30:51.319 --> 00:30:53.599

And I think that's pretty, pretty darn amazing.

00:30:54.219 --> 00:30:57.919

It's definitely tough. And I get it. People are, you know, want to hold on to

00:30:57.919 --> 00:31:01.119

that, but it's tough to step out and say, man, I need to protect.

00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:03.059

I got to let go of mom and dad. Right.

00:31:03.319 --> 00:31:06.379

I get it. But, and I struggled with that for a very long time.

00:31:06.419 --> 00:31:08.739

Like I said, that's just last year that I, that actually did that.

00:31:08.879 --> 00:31:12.519

But I think if we can do that, if we struggle with that stressing out moment,

00:31:12.579 --> 00:31:14.019

or we come from the toxic families.

00:31:14.279 --> 00:31:17.499

We have to make that point where, you know what? We're an adult.

00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:20.939

We have to protect our immediate family. My wife, my kids are my number one

00:31:20.939 --> 00:31:24.839

outside of Jesus, right? Jesus is number one, my wife, and then my kids, right?

00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:28.579

Outside of that, man, I got to make sure that everything is lined up and they're

00:31:28.579 --> 00:31:31.259

protected and they're safe and I'm providing. Yeah, absolutely.

00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:40.159

So here's the point in your story, as much as I know about your story that I'm

00:31:40.159 --> 00:31:42.359

still a little bit baffled. Okay.

00:31:42.439 --> 00:31:47.839

Because so far we've heard about you, the family man, you going to church,

00:31:48.579 --> 00:31:53.139

believing God, you seem like a pretty darn good guy.

00:31:53.319 --> 00:31:58.479

And then at some point though, MMA fighting? Yeah.

00:32:00.939 --> 00:32:06.599

Where does that enter the picture? So funny. So I grew up, my dad,

00:32:06.719 --> 00:32:10.619

one of the things, the cool things he did is my dad would rent a,

00:32:11.412 --> 00:32:14.392

ninja movies that had no English as a kid.

00:32:14.572 --> 00:32:20.552

And I would watch them all the time. And I just was infatuated with these movies,

00:32:20.712 --> 00:32:23.232

these ninjas, Kung Fu fighting Bruce Lee movies.

00:32:23.292 --> 00:32:26.352

I loved it. I was a ninja for Halloween for like 15 years straight.

00:32:26.412 --> 00:32:30.412

Like that's I was just like, I love fighting. Now I'm not a fighter.

00:32:30.632 --> 00:32:33.512

I've trained in a little bit of boxing. And that's about it.

00:32:33.672 --> 00:32:38.512

But I love watching it. I also grew up watching WWF when it was called that.

00:32:38.612 --> 00:32:43.352

And my dad would take me to see the live events, Hulk and Macho Man and Jake

00:32:43.352 --> 00:32:44.692

the Snake and all those guys.

00:32:44.772 --> 00:32:48.052

I've seen them all live. It was cool part of my childhood that I remember.

00:32:48.312 --> 00:32:50.232

Then as I got older, I was introduced.

00:32:50.532 --> 00:32:53.712

Actually, I don't want to say when I was older. My cousin and I,

00:32:53.732 --> 00:32:55.152

he lived in a small town in Washington.

00:32:55.352 --> 00:32:58.032

Anytime I would stay with him for two weeks at a time or whatever during the

00:32:58.032 --> 00:33:02.212

summer, we would walk down to the video rental place and we would rent.

00:33:02.372 --> 00:33:07.232

We discovered UFC 1 and UFC 2. And I was like, this is crazy. We got to watch this.

00:33:07.592 --> 00:33:12.052

And so I just became this massive fan where I love to watch fighting.

00:33:12.232 --> 00:33:16.712

And I love the aspect of it, though, because it's very much 99% of the time,

00:33:16.732 --> 00:33:17.792

it's very much respectful.

00:33:18.252 --> 00:33:21.292

It's not like they're being dirty. They're actually in there.

00:33:21.532 --> 00:33:24.692

They know what they're stepping into. So I became this fan. 2012,

00:33:24.932 --> 00:33:27.492

I started top rated MMA. It was an apparel company.

00:33:27.732 --> 00:33:32.212

And we had shirts and we sponsored fighters and did really well for a bit.

00:33:32.312 --> 00:33:35.492

But I got bored with the apparel side of things. So if we flash forward to 2017,

00:33:35.812 --> 00:33:41.452

I still wanted to be involved in the MMA scene, but I didn't want to be at every

00:33:41.452 --> 00:33:43.372

event and trying to do apparel.

00:33:43.472 --> 00:33:46.052

So I said, I want to actually interview MMA fighters and say,

00:33:46.112 --> 00:33:48.252

why the heck do you want to get in a cage and get punched in the face?

00:33:48.472 --> 00:33:50.872

That was my only agenda for starting the podcast.

00:33:52.112 --> 00:33:56.352

And I started at that point, didn't know what podcasting was.

00:33:56.352 --> 00:34:00.792

Was, I just was gonna interview these people, and then I uploaded a video to

00:34:00.792 --> 00:34:05.232

YouTube, and I would share that link out to Facebook at the time and say, that's my podcast.

00:34:05.975 --> 00:34:09.615

And I literally recorded about a hundred episodes of that show before someone

00:34:09.615 --> 00:34:11.715

said, well, how can I listen to it on Apple podcasts?

00:34:11.955 --> 00:34:14.335

I'm like, what the heck is that? I had no idea.

00:34:15.275 --> 00:34:19.535

So I started researching and I mean, didn't have a space to record a podcast.

00:34:19.675 --> 00:34:22.975

I was in a walk-in closet, a hundred foot extension that wrapped around the

00:34:22.975 --> 00:34:25.895

bed and into the closet so I could plug in everything or, you know,

00:34:25.895 --> 00:34:29.155

bad lighting, bad microphone, didn't even look into the camera.

00:34:29.435 --> 00:34:33.275

You know, it's really raw beginnings if we look back to the old,

00:34:33.355 --> 00:34:36.635

you know, and as I just did it more.

00:34:36.755 --> 00:34:39.675

I got more comfortable behind the mic and I started asking better questions.

00:34:39.835 --> 00:34:43.215

And then in 2018, I came across a guy named Ed Milet.

00:34:43.595 --> 00:34:47.935

And I was like, man, I like that guy's values. Like he's talking some good stuff.

00:34:48.355 --> 00:34:52.795

And so I started intriguing me about talking with entrepreneurs because as entrepreneurs,

00:34:53.035 --> 00:34:55.995

we also get punched in the face, but we keep going.

00:34:56.395 --> 00:34:59.755

Right. And so how do we do that? And so I started the Eric Allen show or what

00:34:59.755 --> 00:35:00.755

is now the Eric Allen show.

00:35:00.815 --> 00:35:03.855

I used to have a big, big, huge beard and it used to be called the bearded biz

00:35:03.855 --> 00:35:08.235

show when it started. And my idea about that was like, if I have the podcast

00:35:08.235 --> 00:35:10.295

called The Beard of Biz, I never have to shave the beard off.

00:35:10.815 --> 00:35:13.575

That's not really a smart thing to do, but that's what I did.

00:35:14.855 --> 00:35:17.835

So I started The Beard of Biz show and I just talked with entrepreneurs,

00:35:18.195 --> 00:35:19.855

success-minded people and world changers.

00:35:20.075 --> 00:35:22.855

And I ran both podcasts up until 2021.

00:35:23.115 --> 00:35:27.675

I stopped the MMA show in 2021, did 256 episodes of that show.

00:35:28.875 --> 00:35:33.455

And early on, I won a contest on Instagram that landed me a phone call with

00:35:33.455 --> 00:35:35.895

Ed Milet. and I got to record that conversation.

00:35:36.335 --> 00:35:42.735

And so episode 12 was Ed Milet on my brand new podcast and episode six or eight was Sean Whalen.

00:35:42.895 --> 00:35:47.295

And then it just opened the door to massive entrepreneurs like John Gordon and

00:35:47.295 --> 00:35:51.855

David Meltzer and Jim the Rookie Morris, who's an awesome Christ follower and

00:35:51.855 --> 00:35:53.215

a man changing the world out there.

00:35:53.895 --> 00:35:57.135

So I've loved that part of the story. And I've been doing all these podcasts.

00:35:57.255 --> 00:36:00.875

Episode 260 of that show drops this week, actually.

00:36:00.995 --> 00:36:04.175

So really excited about that. But the interesting thing is I've been doing this

00:36:04.175 --> 00:36:08.235

for a few years now, but God put it on my heart a couple months ago to actually

00:36:08.235 --> 00:36:11.635

change the format, which is really cool. I'm excited about it.

00:36:11.715 --> 00:36:14.675

But rather than talking with what I call entrepreneur success minded people

00:36:14.675 --> 00:36:19.215

and world changers, I'm going to start talking with men of Christian faith and

00:36:19.215 --> 00:36:22.915

how do we balance following Jesus, having a family.

00:36:23.548 --> 00:36:26.988

Keeping our faith, watching our finances. Maybe we're running a business,

00:36:27.088 --> 00:36:30.508

but on top of that, like how are we raising second generation Christians?

00:36:30.948 --> 00:36:34.628

And I'm really excited about that. I've recorded a few of those episodes and

00:36:34.628 --> 00:36:37.848

that'll probably drop in the next couple of months, but that's going to be my

00:36:37.848 --> 00:36:39.948

format moving forward is just talk with Christian men.

00:36:40.008 --> 00:36:45.148

Because I think me at 44, I was struggling when I hit 40, like I'm not where I want to be.

00:36:45.548 --> 00:36:48.428

I'm not who I'm connected with. I don't have the money or the house that I wanted.

00:36:48.828 --> 00:36:52.388

And those are things that I think most men go through when they hit that 40 age.

00:36:52.728 --> 00:36:55.888

And so I want to try to target those guys and say, man, it's okay.

00:36:56.008 --> 00:36:59.568

We can step into this. If we connect with each other, then we can help each

00:36:59.568 --> 00:37:02.368

other out. So that's the new format of my show. I'm going to drop here soon.

00:37:03.008 --> 00:37:05.288

Yeah, dude, I love that so much.

00:37:06.128 --> 00:37:11.708

Through the podcasting journey, and especially talking about all these big hitters,

00:37:11.708 --> 00:37:14.948

big names, and in all the others in between.

00:37:15.528 --> 00:37:23.488

Do you feel like you grew as a person by just being involved with talking with all of these people?

00:37:24.268 --> 00:37:29.548

Most definitely. Yeah, by far. Podcasting for me has been a massive game changer.

00:37:29.688 --> 00:37:34.828

Not only is it great for collaborations and partnerships and trips and things like that.

00:37:35.188 --> 00:37:39.188

Some of my best friends today are people that I had on my podcast and we've

00:37:39.188 --> 00:37:42.348

just connected and had this deep, great relationship and deep conversation.

00:37:42.708 --> 00:37:46.208

But I look at podcasting even deeper than that. I look at it as a legacy.

00:37:46.648 --> 00:37:49.888

Like I wish that I could go back three, four or five generations deep and hear

00:37:49.888 --> 00:37:54.268

my great-great-grandfather's voice and hear his story from him directly. And I can't.

00:37:54.508 --> 00:37:57.048

But I can do that for future generations down my tribe.

00:37:57.508 --> 00:38:02.808

Right? And so as I'm talking with these people on my show, I get to hear their story.

00:38:02.908 --> 00:38:06.268

And then part of their legacy is I get to share their story.

00:38:06.888 --> 00:38:11.248

And things that I've heard about, you know, having a better mindset and relying

00:38:11.248 --> 00:38:14.168

on God, those have changed me.

00:38:14.988 --> 00:38:18.168

Podcasting, I interviewed a guy named Greg Reed. He wrote the book Three Feet

00:38:18.168 --> 00:38:20.288

from Gold, which was a follow-up to Think and Grow Rich.

00:38:20.668 --> 00:38:24.428

And then he invited me to an event called Prosperity Camp at his house.

00:38:25.188 --> 00:38:29.308

I didn't have the money. I scrounged up as much as I could. I flew on miles.

00:38:29.448 --> 00:38:31.828

I stayed at the Motel Six, the cheapest one I could find.

00:38:32.008 --> 00:38:35.568

And I go down to this event and there's only 50 people that are invited to this event.

00:38:36.248 --> 00:38:41.388

49 of them are millionaires. I am not. I walk in there. I have no idea what I'm doing.

00:38:41.728 --> 00:38:44.288

And I'm just connecting with people. And one of the guys that I met,

00:38:44.328 --> 00:38:48.668

there was a guy named Kelly Cardenas, dreadhead guy, looks like a surfer dude.

00:38:48.788 --> 00:38:50.048

We're down in Carlsbad, California.

00:38:50.588 --> 00:38:53.968

And him and I just kicked it off. Like we just were like, man,

00:38:54.108 --> 00:38:55.908

this is like my brother from another mother right away.

00:38:56.228 --> 00:38:58.748

And I remember, I remember reading down there and he goes, Eric,

00:38:58.788 --> 00:39:00.568

let's go watch the sunrise and read the Bible.

00:39:01.008 --> 00:39:03.768

Come follow me. I'm down the, down the way. So I'm like, okay,

00:39:03.828 --> 00:39:05.548

I got up early. I walked from a hotel.

00:39:05.768 --> 00:39:08.968

I go to the Carlsbad beach and we're sitting there and he brought chairs and

00:39:08.968 --> 00:39:10.748

we're sitting on the beach early watching sunrise.

00:39:11.208 --> 00:39:13.988

And I remember him saying, Eric, what do you want to do? I said,

00:39:14.028 --> 00:39:15.248

man, I just want to be a full-time entrepreneur.

00:39:16.463 --> 00:39:20.383

I don't want to work for anybody. And I go, all these people that were at Prosperity

00:39:20.383 --> 00:39:21.563

Camp, I want to be like them.

00:39:22.083 --> 00:39:26.643

And he looked at me and he goes, Eric, all these people that are awesome, have great businesses.

00:39:27.403 --> 00:39:31.003

They have, you know, lots of money. But how many of them have great marriages?

00:39:31.923 --> 00:39:35.163

And man, it was like the stab to my heart because I realized in that moment

00:39:35.163 --> 00:39:36.663

that my priorities all screwed up.

00:39:37.363 --> 00:39:40.923

And it was in that shift that I started going, man, I got to start changing

00:39:40.923 --> 00:39:44.183

things around and start putting my wife and my kids as a focus.

00:39:44.183 --> 00:39:46.443

And if I become a full-time entrepreneur, great.

00:39:46.683 --> 00:39:50.983

But if not, I have my family and God to help me through that.

00:39:51.063 --> 00:39:55.363

And Kelly was just, and he still is today, just this man that speaks life into

00:39:55.363 --> 00:39:59.583

me and encouraged me and inspires me to be better.

00:39:59.743 --> 00:40:03.563

And so, man, podcasting is just opens up so many doors, man.

00:40:03.963 --> 00:40:09.443

Yeah, that is absolutely incredible. The power of a sunrise at a beach,

00:40:09.503 --> 00:40:14.423

the Bible. And yeah, that life changer moment for sure.

00:40:15.423 --> 00:40:21.543

So how then from there, do you decide to start doing what you're doing today?

00:40:22.383 --> 00:40:26.103

Yeah, I've continued to do podcasting. So like I said, the Eric Allen show,

00:40:26.203 --> 00:40:29.543

and I've tried to get better.

00:40:29.583 --> 00:40:34.263

I am, I've improved over the years, but doing content creation for brands.

00:40:34.383 --> 00:40:39.103

I had an account on Fiverr for like 10 years, but about five years ago,

00:40:39.103 --> 00:40:41.343

I kind of got more serious about, Hey, maybe I can work with brands and they'll

00:40:41.343 --> 00:40:43.523

send me their product. And I'm an older guy.

00:40:43.643 --> 00:40:46.903

So I'm not like, you know, the, the Tik TOK superstar out there like that,

00:40:46.983 --> 00:40:52.683

but somehow I've been able to attract companies on Fiverr to send me their product.

00:40:52.763 --> 00:40:56.063

And then I charge them a fee and I do a commercial form. I send them back the

00:40:56.063 --> 00:40:58.783

video and I love doing that. It's so much fun.

00:40:59.043 --> 00:41:04.043

And sometimes I work with coffee companies and water bottle companies and bouncy

00:41:04.043 --> 00:41:06.323

ball companies, and I've done the whole range.

00:41:06.423 --> 00:41:11.763

And so I do that. And then, Eric Almedia, I actually coach people on how to

00:41:11.763 --> 00:41:13.023

start, launch, and run podcasts.

00:41:13.583 --> 00:41:17.643

I help them realize that, man, it's way easier to start a podcast than you think.

00:41:17.743 --> 00:41:20.563

And this is how you promote your show. This is how you land those big guests.

00:41:20.783 --> 00:41:25.983

This is how you can get ranked on Apple's chart. This is how you can continue to grow your show.

00:41:26.203 --> 00:41:29.383

And I walk people through that. And I have a bunch of free resources on my website

00:41:29.383 --> 00:41:31.443

as well. But then I do those coaching.

00:41:31.763 --> 00:41:35.423

And I want to help people realize that, man, podcasting is a legacy thing.

00:41:36.070 --> 00:41:39.630

But it can be the best and cheapest thing that you can do for your brand to

00:41:39.630 --> 00:41:43.970

grow your brand or grow your website, your company, your business, man.

00:41:44.110 --> 00:41:49.490

And so I'm so passionate about podcasting. So I just basically took what I what

00:41:49.490 --> 00:41:52.670

I know about podcasting said, let's put this into a course, let's help some people.

00:41:52.970 --> 00:41:56.930

And, you know, I've been a W2 employee my entire life and love that.

00:41:57.310 --> 00:42:00.790

It's totally fine. It fills the need for what I do.

00:42:00.870 --> 00:42:03.750

I pay the bills, it keeps my wife home and we can be with kids.

00:42:03.750 --> 00:42:05.610

And it's been a fun journey, man.

00:42:05.690 --> 00:42:12.430

But I'm very passionate about podcasting and coaching people and really creating content for brands.

00:42:12.530 --> 00:42:15.690

Like if I could do that, right, that's what I love doing.

00:42:15.870 --> 00:42:19.750

And I recently wanted to step out in front of the mic. So I started in Toastmasters

00:42:19.750 --> 00:42:22.190

last year, helped me get better at speaking publicly.

00:42:22.490 --> 00:42:26.230

And then I had my first big talk about a month ago, I spoke in front of 120

00:42:26.230 --> 00:42:29.030

ish people for 25 minutes on mindset.

00:42:29.110 --> 00:42:31.870

And man, it just fired me up to go do that some more. Yeah.

00:42:32.750 --> 00:42:40.870

Eric, you, you are one of the most giving people that I've ever met.

00:42:41.030 --> 00:42:46.070

Oh, thank you. And, and I say that not only just based on what you've told us

00:42:46.070 --> 00:42:49.230

today, but literally just the heart in your voice.

00:42:50.050 --> 00:42:54.910

Thank you. It's truly, truly remarkable. Thank you so much, man,

00:42:55.010 --> 00:42:56.230

for just, for being here.

00:42:56.410 --> 00:43:00.370

I'm just, you kind of leave me in awe, dude. I just, I love your spirit.

00:43:00.470 --> 00:43:06.390

I love what you're doing. I love the fact that you've taken a childhood that

00:43:06.390 --> 00:43:09.370

wasn't great. And yet you turned it around.

00:43:09.630 --> 00:43:14.390

You've got God at the center. You've got your family there. You got your priorities in check.

00:43:14.890 --> 00:43:19.790

And man, I wish nothing but the best for you moving forward.

00:43:20.390 --> 00:43:25.130

Kevin, thank you so much, man. I'll tell you, I have been a guest on probably

00:43:25.130 --> 00:43:29.290

close to 200 interviews or 200 podcasts since I started this thing.

00:43:29.450 --> 00:43:33.010

And this by far was one of my favorite conversations, man. I really,

00:43:33.050 --> 00:43:36.470

truly appreciate it. You're an amazing host. You ask great questions. You keep the flow going.

00:43:36.830 --> 00:43:40.090

Man, you're an absolute world changer. I appreciate you. Oh man,

00:43:40.230 --> 00:43:42.590

thank you so much, dude. That means the world to me.

00:43:42.870 --> 00:43:48.790

For you listening today, my hope is always is that you heard something said

00:43:48.790 --> 00:43:52.430

today that didn't just leave you entertained, didn't just make you smile,

00:43:52.550 --> 00:43:55.650

but it truly made you think, you know what?

00:43:55.650 --> 00:43:58.850

But if he could do it, maybe I can too.

00:43:59.310 --> 00:44:02.890

So my friend, take this and make it mean something to you.

00:44:02.950 --> 00:44:09.410

Put the lessons you learned into action, replay it again if you need to, and then take action.

00:44:09.710 --> 00:44:14.070

My friend, I'm Kevin Lowe. This is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

00:44:14.150 --> 00:44:15.910

Get out there and enjoy the day.