Chris Jordan on Living a Life That Was Never Dull

00:00 Some life shifts are loud and some are sudden and some, like Chris Jordan's, arrive quietly in the form of six simple words etched into stone. It was never dull. That's what his grandmother had engraved on his grandfather's headstone. Chris was just a kid when he first saw it, but somehow, even then, it stuck. And over the years, that phrase turned into something more than a memory. It kind of became a mantra. In this episode, Chris shares how that small moment shaped the way he approaches every decision in life. 00:29 from dropping out of college to walking away from comfort to building a business rooted in creativity and care. He's not chasing flashy success. He's just making sure that the life he's building is one he can be proud of, one that was never dull. There was one thing that my mom pointed out to me when we would every couple of months or at least every year I would eventually tag along as a kid. So going to the cemeteries as a child is like a strange thing, but eventually I went. 00:58 And I realized that on my grandfather's grave was this quote from my grandma that it was never dull. And I thought that that was such a beautiful line and way to communicate that my grandfather lived in a way that was non-traditional. I'm Maciel Houli, and this is The Life Shift, candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever. 01:35 Hello, my friends. Welcome to the Lifeshift Podcast. I am here with Chris. Hello, Chris. Hello. Thank you so much for having me on the show. I greatly appreciate it. Well, I will accept that. I thank you for just wanting to be a part of it. I know we've been talking about this for a while. I'm glad we're finally getting to do it because there's so much power in storytelling. And I know you have an important story to share and how it's kind of shaped this version of you. We all have those stories. And sometimes I think 02:05 some of us, maybe me growing up, felt like my story had to be a certain way to be told, right? Like I had to have something behind it or maybe there had to be some kind of lesson. And what I've learned through over like 200 episodes of the Life Shift podcast is like everyone's story has an element in it that I personally can relate to. So if I can relate to a little bit of everyone's story, imagine all the people out in the world. 02:33 that can hear someone's story and it affects them in a different way. So it's been such a cool journey. So I'm excited to hear your story. Yeah, no, I appreciate you sharing that. I definitely share the same sentiment around stories. And I feel like, I mean, at the core stories is what like connects us. It's what makes us, you know, relate to each other. And it's the most powerful thing in the world, honestly. And the older I get, the more I realize that that is true. And the more people that can 03:02 understand that. think the world would be a better place. Yeah. Growing up, did you feel the need or did you relate with any of that thought of like, you felt like your story had to be a certain way to be told? Or were you always kind of like, I'll share it all. I grew up as a as a creative kid, I was like the first kid in my school to be a YouTuber. Before that was even a thing. Now every kid puts on what they want to be when they grow up is like a YouTuber. But like when I did it, like I got made fun of, I was I was bullied for it. 03:32 But because of actually like when I was home, I was making videos and I was telling stories and creating like all these things. And so in the beginning, as a kid, I felt like I didn't feel like my story had to be perfect or anything. I just loved telling them and making them up and, you know, just being creative with that. What is interesting is I feel like as I've gotten older, I've now 03:56 try to perfect my stories and try to overthink them or feel like they need to be bigger. Even though I know at the core it is, you know, we were talking about this, like it's smaller moments, it's smaller stories that usually are the things that can help like create transformations like not only within us but within other people. I have to remind myself of that because it's really easy to consume a lot of people's stories who are, they're big and they're bold. 04:26 But honestly, I don't relate to those people. I don't usually end up like wanting to continue to follow along unless I had been seeing them share vulnerable small moments that then I saw their big announcement. But so yeah, it's interesting. It's like I didn't have that struggle until I started to get older and got into the real world and began to kind of overthink it. And now I feel like I'm right in the middle, kind of having to remind myself exactly that doesn't need to be big and bold all the time. Yeah. 04:55 I think there's a lot of people kind of coming to that awareness, at least in the last maybe, maybe during the pandemic kind of sparked where people are like, what am I vying for? Like when I'm trying to run to the top of this mountain, like, is that the most important or should I center myself and like just be a human again? And good and bad things happen to us every day. And we kind of have to, and that's what makes us interesting, I think, you know, like. 05:24 When I was a kid, my mom was killed in a motorcycle accident. And for so long, that defined me. And I felt that, I mean, I had a terrible grief journey. It took like 20-something years. But I look back on that and I realize how much I use that one life-shift moment as a crutch on the good and on the bad side. So there would be instances in which I would win some kind of award in school. And I would immediately say, oh, I won that. 05:52 only because my mom is dead. Or I did something wrong and I got a bad grade or something bad happened. It would be like, that is because my mom is dead. And it's so interesting to look back on like how we use the story. And when we have the awareness of like, it just is part of our story. It's not the whole thing is when we can kind of find the space, maybe the middle ground where you're living these days. And you're like, okay, I'll share some of that. But also, you know, I need to curate it a little bit. So 06:22 people are even remotely interested in what I have to say. Yeah, it's interesting the different effects that stories can have on us. And I think that's really interesting hearing you share that, because I think there's probably a lot of that that I have not reflected on enough yet to realize where I have been doing that in my own past. So I appreciate you. Like that's making me think a lot about that. I appreciate you sharing that. Well, it took me a long time to get here. And I think there's so much of my learning has come from when 06:52 I was finally self-aware enough to reflect on these things and be truly honest with myself, like, no, Matt, you made that decision. It wasn't because of what happened to you when you were eight. It's like, when you were 30, you consciously made that choice. And so sometimes we have to hit something. Something else has to happen to kind of pivot us in a space that gets us to it. So we should continue to evolve and transform and... 07:20 and be the best versions of ourselves that we can and want to be. So you'll get there. I love that. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's every single day is part of it, right? I mean, I hope so. I mean, if we're lucky, right? Like if we're lucky enough to have the ability to reflect on these experiences and grow from them and not do them again or do them again differently, you know, I think there's there's so much luck that comes in because we're not promised 07:49 any more than right now, right? So we're not even promised that. So I think it's just what's great about the LifeShift podcast of hearing all these strangers from across the world tell their stories and how much there are similarities, but also like so wildly different. And that just shows us that the human experience is like more aligned than it is different from each other. Before we get into your details story, maybe 2025, you could tell us who Chris is now. Like, how do you show up in the world? How do you identify like, who is Chris? 08:19 Yeah, that's a great question. I think at the core of it, I am somebody who loves storytelling. And I am somebody that loves creating content around helping people tell their stories, which is why we connected and why I've really related to the stuff that that you've done. On the work side of Chris, that part of my brain, you know, it's a lot of podcasts strategy and helping people build their personal brands. 08:47 But on the personal side and the stuff that excites me the most is I'm a husband, I'm a big cat dad, I've got five cats. So it's a fun fact about me. Couple of life shifts around all of those stories. I'm somebody who loves to hype other people up. It's like one of the traits that people have said is good about me that I'm starting to like, want to speak about that more. And I would say like that is 2025 me as someone who 09:16 I like to be a friend and be a supporter. The first time you and I chatted was actually to talk about the dream of what you were doing with this podcast. And I just wanted to hear what that dream was and be of support. And so yeah, that's kind of 2025 me. It's kind of a harder question to answer. I should probably get, well, I don't wanna be more rehearsed about it. It's fluctuating all the time, right? So. I think it's interesting because. 09:44 a lot of people at least my age and maybe older, we were conditioned to respond to that differently. And I think now in 2025, people are thinking about that differently. Like I notice a lot more people don't, they don't lead with the work part anymore or their job position, right? They lead with what lights them up, what makes them show up every day to do what they do. And I love that you highlight like one of your passions now is to like hype people up. 10:14 that's not a common response. And I think it's really cool and really authentic. Do you think that stems from your own experiences or is this something like you've always liked this or it's a new revelation for you? So, I mean, I think it's just in terms of, you know, it was going to be really easy for me when you asked like, who's 2025 Chris? Like I started to go down maybe the typical talk track that most people do. And like you said, it's 10:41 what we're conditioned to do is what we've grown up on. But I also do know, every time I've met somebody, it's like, okay, that's cool. It's like, that's what you do. But like, who, who are you? Like, what about you outside of that? Because I think that makes what you do even more interesting to have that context and to know you for that. I feel like a lot of our actual selves get gets hidden when we use the usual answers. But as it relates to sort of, you know, 11:09 I felt really called to share that thing about like, you know, I don't know, I like to be someone's hype man because it was like one of the first conversations we had where I put our conversation or a post and I was like, I want to hear about people's dreams. And you know, you and I just spent like an hour together talking about it. Why I brought it up also is there's been this weird, this weird thing where I'll have conversations with people where they'll share, maybe they're starting a business or like they have some big idea and we'll talk about it. 11:37 And I won't take any credit for this, but somehow like I'll get a follow up message and be like, the next day I closed a client or, dude, I actually just left like that big role we were talking about. And it was our conversation that like made me feel confident enough to do it. And so I've realized like, I mean, it's just me talking to people I care about or people I think are doing interesting things, but that lights me up more than anything I've ever done for work or anything like that. 12:07 When I can talk to someone, hear about their dreams and play a small pivotal moment of, know, just being an encourager, I feel like. And usually when I'm encouraging people, I'm trying to encourage myself to. It's a nice byproduct. Yeah, yeah, it is a good byproduct. And so I think all that together made me like it just came up for me as you asked me that question. I was like, I'm going to mention this because I've never said this on a a podcast or anything. But someone told me they're like, you should start sharing that because like 12:36 Dude, honestly, you helped me like put out this offer into the world that then has opened up all these doors that I would have never thought possible. So that's where that comes from. It's really a wonderful quality, especially now when people feel like they're more divided. So I think it's a really good thing that you're doing. So let's get into your story because we could talk about this part all day, but I'm sure some of it is informed by your story. So I know you have lots of pivotal moments, including five cats. 13:04 but we're gonna talk about like the one that you feel maybe has changed you the most. So before you tell us that moment, maybe you can paint the picture of your life leading up to that. Like who is Chris before what you feel is one of the major pivotal moments in your life? Yeah, so when I was thinking about like what my, you know, what my life shift moment would be, it was actually one that it took me reflecting back and realizing, oh, this was a thing that made a big impact on me that has 13:34 changed every decision that I've ever made. And so I think to paint the scene, the context for me is I've lived a different life than a lot of my peers and a lot of the people I grew up with. I dropped out of college and immediately after high school, I wanted to be in the film industry. And so I dropped out of college. 13:57 I moved to New York with my girlfriend at the time who's now my wife. And that was very untraditional from everybody around me. Everyone else was going to college and doing that. I loved that for everybody. I just found this thing where I was like, oh, I could go and try this path over here. And then there became a point where I felt tired of going down that path. And I said, you know what we should do? We lived in New York at the time. We packed up everything and we moved to Kansas where my wife's family was from. And that's a very big culture shock. 14:27 to go from New York City to the Midwest and you know, smaller town. It led to, okay, well, what path do I wanna be on now? And I found myself working professionally for in the podcast industry. But what's interesting is what led to me being able to do the film industry or the podcast industry stuff was the fact that I was making all those videos as a kid that I mentioned in the very beginning. I'd been making content and videos and telling stories my whole life. I was thinking back to, 14:57 Why have I felt comfortable to make these decisions that were against the advice of peers, against what was the traditional track that most people go down? And when I was growing up, one of my grandfathers passed away before I was born. And so I didn't really know too much about him. I've only been able to learn about him from speaking to my grandmother and speaking to my mom and learning things about him. But there was one thing that my mom pointed out to me when we would, you know, every couple of months, 15:26 or at least every year I would eventually tag along as a kid. So going to the cemeteries as a child is like a strange thing. But eventually I went and I realized that like on my grandfather's grave was this quote from my grandma that it was never dull. And I thought that that was such a beautiful line and way to communicate that my grandfather lived in a way that was non-traditional. And I had known stories he was an entrepreneur. 15:56 He had all these different businesses. He moved them from, you know, state to state, all these different things of someone that I did not actually ever meet or know. But when I read that quote, I would have probably been 10 to 12. was young and it made me feel because even at 10 or 12, I was the only kid in my school making YouTube videos and getting made fun of for it, which is such a funny thing to say now because no one would get made fun of for doing that. But I got made fun of for it and 16:25 And as I, but I didn't, I didn't stop because I thought about like, what an interesting way, like, I don't know, a life that was never dull. It's like, I wanted to be an example of that. Like it just really, I don't know, planted a seed within me of like how I wanted to go about things. And as I've made all these decisions over the last like decade, as I've really gotten into the real world and all of that stuff. 16:52 Again, a lot of it's been non-traditional compared to what was expected of me or what my friends did. And I think it's been easier for me to take risks and to do things that are non-traditional because I think of that quote and I think of the feeling that it gave me when I was like, that is such a cool way to describe someone's life, that it stuck with me. And so it's led to a lot of these life shift moments that would scare a lot of people. You know, the fear is maybe still there. 17:22 but it's given me the courage and it's something that in every difficult moment I've had, I think to that quote, you know, eventually when I decided to get a tattoo, like that's the first tattoo I will get, like it's just stuck with me that much. And so when I thought, you know, when we were talking about, you know, a life shift moment, that was the one that felt the most pivotal because it's helped transpire everything else that has happened in my life up till this point. Curious if when you saw it at the time, do you recall it being? 17:52 so impactful or is it more of something where you reflect back on it? You're like, oh yeah, that planted a seed. Like, was it more of a spark? Like, oh, this is the direction I should go? Or was it more of like the seed, like he's revered or people in my family liked him and he did it and like, this feels like I can do it too, permission. Yeah, I think, I think it's a bit of both. mean, obviously, because again, I, I want to say I was probably 12 and around that age also, 18:21 I started to read, like was in self-development stuff early on, you know, I was, I don't know why. I was reading fictional books that had like self-help themes to them. I was always entrepreneurial minded. was selling golf balls or trying to do the lemonade stands as a kid. So all these like things that again, it was like weird to do. And so I think at that time, like I just saw that and I was like, I really liked that. Like I really liked that, that idea there. 18:48 was 12, right? So it was like, I don't, it wasn't like I saw an everything change, but it did like tell me, my grandpa was kind of a badass. Like that's pretty cool to know that that is a, as a story. I definitely think like, as I stepped into, you know, graduating high school and having to make real decisions and having to choose, you know, taking a risk or going down like a safer path, that quote helped push me forward. Cause it just was like, 19:17 Well, what's the never dull path in front of me? And I'll frame that in a lot of ways now because usually that's the one that's like scarier. It doesn't always work out, has not always worked out, but there's a better story on the other side of it. And usually it's more aligned with what I actually want versus what I think people would want me to do and should I do that. And so I think it's been a moment where I saw for the first time a planted a seed. 19:46 And it's just grown to mean more and more to me every single year and every time I come across like a difficult decision in my life. Was there ever a point in that journey where you were like, screw that, I'm going to do what everyone expects of me? Like, did you ever conform? Yes, there was moments where I came really close to to conforming. And I don't even like to say it like that, because I think like everyone's journey is very different. I think 20:15 being a YouTube kid who then wanted to go work in the film industry, it just led myself to like wanting to, I don't know, do things a little bit differently. But there was a moment where I felt like things weren't working and I was struggling. And it was in that moment where we had actually moved back to like to the Midwest, not moved back, but just, yeah, we ended up in Kansas. And I was like, what do I want to do here? There was no film industry stuff. So that all like dried up. 20:43 And I was like ready to go into real estate. And it's this thing that right now I can't even picture myself thinking that. But it was like a whole thing. Like I was studying. I took the like I paid for the exams. I took the exams. I was meeting with people like I was very close to going into real estate, which still has like entrepreneurial sides to it very much so. But it was like a was like a early life crisis that 21:12 I got really close and deep into it. And then I said, well, wait a second, wait a second, like this, I'm going towards it because it, it felt in a way for some reason if it just felt safer. But then I was like, wait, this is the most unaligned thing. Like I will not, I will not be happy doing this. But that I mean, yeah, that was like a couple months thing, like very deeply in it told my parents like the whole thing. And then at some point I said, hold up. 21:39 How did your parents respond to that? Were they always supportive of you kind of like not taking, I call it society's checklist, like where I just did what I thought the world and my father wanted me to do, not because I wanted to do them, just. Yeah, I mean, I have to give a lot of credit to my parents. I am very, blessed in that I would not. 22:05 have been able to I think I would have struggled more to be like go against them. But for some reason, they've always just given, you know, they've put trust in me, they've known I'm going to figure it out. They've known I've had moments where things are looking really difficult and tough. And it's like, you know, 22:21 like, am I going to be able to pull this off? And somehow some way things typically work out and they just have this, you know, I mean, they'll still throw comments of like, you know, have you thought about just like doing a little like safer thing? Like they want that stability and that safety there. But they know if I listen to that, that it wouldn't be right for me. And they and they know that about me. And they were, you know, when I talked about, you know, being a YouTuber kid, there were conventions early on. 22:48 2011, like very early YouTube. VidCon is a very big convention now. Like I'm sure maybe you've even heard of VidCon and all these things, but there wasn't that like over a decade ago. But my parents would drive me like eight hours to Orlando to these conventions. I was freaking, I think 2011, no, it not even 2011, it would have been earlier than that. Like I was, again, 10 to 12 going to these conventions. 23:15 about YouTubers. And so they just allowed me to exist in these in these worlds and like gave me that support. they allowed you to be on YouTube in the first place. mean, yeah, right. Yeah, there's a lot of like a lot of my friends were like, oh, I was like banned off of that because nobody knew what it was. But yeah, they allowed me like they got me a camera and they let me like figure out how to how to do it. And so yeah, I would say that it definitely is something that I don't take for granted. And I definitely would give a lot of credit to them. Because I think I still would. 23:45 I would have just ended up going against them, but I'm glad that I didn't have to do that because that I'm sure like that caused a lot of rifts for people to, you know, go against what your parents want. I don't know if you experienced, you know, experience things like that. No, because I did what my parents wanted or my dad wanted. You know, like I felt like that was required of me. But mine was out of fear, not of my father. But, you know, losing a parent as a child is. 24:13 in a child's brain, in my child's brain, I can't say for every child, it feels like abandonment. And so when that happened, I automatically started to try to be perfect so that my dad wouldn't leave. 24:30 Logically, think I guess it makes sense, but it just snowballs from there. so growing up, it was like straight A's, taking the hardest classes, going to college, getting good grades. know, like it was all the things. And then it was part of my grief journey, too, because I didn't really truly grieve the loss of my mom until I was early 30s, which is a really long time when when she died when I was eight. But what happened is when I started to like actively do the 25:01 move through my grief process and process it properly, I realized that all the decisions that I had made were for someone else and not for me. So it was like kind of autopilot, which is totally the opposite of what I hear from your experience of like, you wanted to do something, you do it. So you were piloting that ship from the get, right? Like it seems like as a kid, you were like, I want to try this, I'm going to do it. I want to do this. 25:30 I mean, I'm sure your parents were putting guardrails and like keeping you safe. But at the same time, like you had the freedom or it sounds like you had the freedom to dream, to dream what you want to do and make a new dream and then try that and then make a new dream and try that. Is that true? Am I reading that correctly? Yeah, no, that that is true. Yeah. And I think that's something that's like, again, I think that like there's privilege for me there 100 percent. And it's one of those things that 25:59 Yeah, I wouldn't know what it would look like. And so I think it makes sense that, you know, like what you share for you, and I appreciate you sharing that it's like it makes sense that that that path like looked different. And and I guess I would hope, you know, like, yeah, now like Matt now it's like very different on the other side of that, right? You know, different as I'd want to be. Right. And so, you know, work in progress. It's a work in progress. And and so and that's true. Like, and that's true for me. It's like 26:30 It's all a work in progress. yeah, it definitely like, I was very blessed and lucky to have parents that that did support it. Or if they ever voiced, you know, they voiced, hey, what about this, this thing over here? If I didn't agree with them, they like they just knew like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna trust you. Because if not, you're gonna do it anyways. And so let's let you know, I've never talked about that. So really, have they ever like, 26:59 you dreamed something you were kind of trying to do it and they talked you out of it or stopped you from doing it? Was there ever and maybe you don't have to call out your parents in this but did you ever feel like you were pursuing something and then you were kind of shut down in that besides the real estate thing that was your own shutting down? Yeah, no, I honestly think the only times that I ever got shut down was was actually from like just the societal like pressure. you know, so I say this like, there are moments like where I 27:25 where I've made decisions or I've said like, okay, like what is the route that I would want to take? And I do really think to like, yeah, what is the never dull path to phrase it? But there's times where I stop, you know, there are times where I go dark, people don't hear from me as much. And definitely as I, like for my story was as I got into high school and again, the creating stuff was kind of getting, I kind of got ridiculed for it. And I started to get self-conscious about it. And you know, it'd be a thing where it's like, 27:54 Oh, I'd walk down the halls and I would know people would be watching my videos and my videos when I was younger, like they were silly. They were stupid, right? It was like kids making videos on the internet. But then like, you know, people are watching that and then they're seeing you in the hallways. And so it was like a handful of years where I stopped creating or posting anything online. And it's really taken like I've had like moments where I'll jump back in for a couple of months and then stop over and over and over. And it's actually taken until I would say I repeated that process for 28:23 probably eight years up until a year and a half ago where I started to go out on my own and do my own business. And then I was like, well, there's no, you know, like that the societal pressures of like kids in the hallway, you know, became like my bosses, right, or people on my team that I was working with. And now I'm like on my own. And I, I'm literally recognizing this out loud is like, I don't have those same fears now because it's all on me. 28:52 You know, and so I've kind of been able to reconnect truly, truly. That's funny that you say that. Not funny. Ha ha funny. But when you say that. I feel the societal pressure like if it was reversed, like if I was going out on my own and not working for someone. I would be scared out of my mind and have those pressures of like, what are people thinking? 29:18 Are they thinking I'm not gonna be able to pay the bill? Like all that would come in my mind. where on the other, you're like, I'm in this space and this is where I feel the most freedom. Where I would feel like some big person in the sky, not God, but well, whoever's up there. But like some CEO is paying me to do whatever he's asking me to do. And I'm like, oh, that's safety. Whereas yours is like your own thing and you feel safe there. 29:44 That's really interesting. Yeah. And I also think that often the stories again, it's all stories like the stories we tell ourselves. It's like the stories I've made up in my head of like, this person is probably what it would be judging me. They're probably thinking negative about me. And then I have a conversation with them and a compliment for like, I saw that that thing that you posted that was actually really, really cool. Or like, hey, I saw, you know, you shared that. 30:10 that one thing a couple weeks ago, and actually I was like struggling with with a similar idea. And so I appreciate that. It's always been positive, but the story I'll tell myself and I'll still do it. And you know, and like, honestly, like the story that you're telling yourself, like people be like, Oh, is he gonna be able to pay the bills? Like what, you know, what is that doing? I guarantee you there's significantly more people rooting for us than than rooting against us. And in real talk, it's like if someone is rooting against us, that's really weird. 30:41 It's also not about you at that point. Yes, exactly. But but it is hard to like not feed into that. And so, you know, I think that luckily, maybe to just tie back to the your original question, I realized I went off is like, my parents never, never were the reason I stopped doing something. I think that maybe they were part of the reason that I would keep up stuff, because they would ask about it. And they were they were supportive, whether it was like, hey, I want to go make videos, you know, they helped me get like a camera or hey, I wanted to, you know, 31:10 make music and my dad got me a drum set and like, you know, things where there's like support. So it was really the outside societal pressures that for a long time were my my my biggest crutch thing, Amelia, I've only broken through that still not 100 % perfectly. Like in the last 16 months. Now, I mean, I think there's there's so much value in having the support even if it's like, you know, 31:34 of course, they're concerned because they're your parents, right? Like they want to see you be happy and succeed in those kind of things. But also to have the freedom from such a young age to to dream and to do the things that you want to do. I'm sure there were things that you didn't want to do that you had to do as a kid because we all have those. But I'm curious about that grandfather. Was he someone that the family like celebrated? Was he a revered soul for going his own path and doing his own thing or 32:04 Was he someone that was kind of like on the outside? Do you know? Yeah, no, it's a good question. I mean, my my knowledge coming into the world was that my family there was a family business that like my uncle owned and ran and my mom worked at and all the family worked out. It was my inner becoming my first job when I was like 1415. I was you know, is a family business. And so like, that's what I knew. But it really wasn't I guess until I was like a lawyer where I was like, 32:32 Oh, family business means like, my grandfather was an entrepreneur. And like, then I heard the stories of, you know, this wasn't his first business, there was actually all these different types of businesses, always these different ideas, which is so funny, because like now I'm like, oh, that's where I get it from. That's where all these different dreams came in 100 % because not everyone in my family is like, here's this idea and this idea, but like, I am that way. And I realized, oh, well, my grandfather was that way, which is where you know, 33:01 bless my grandma, but it's like it gave them a very interesting life because, you know, one minute they lived in California and he was running a pizza business and then they moved to Florida where they opened this beach shop and that was, you know, that was a family business that then was really successful and I grew up to know like, oh, this is like, you know what my family works for and to know, okay, that means that my grandfather like was successful in his own right and, and left a, you know, a business that 33:30 was able to continue on for decades after that. know, the business is still around now. And so, and he would have been gone for more than 30 years. So that's kind of what I have known. And so definitely, you know, celebrated by family. I don't know the full extent of like how often, you know, maybe my grandma agreed with all the different ideas and all that stuff. But I like to think that, you know, and what I do know is like, it definitely was never boring. And it was always interesting. 34:00 And that gave her stories to, you know, to tell me as I grew up again, teaching me about someone who I would never be able to meet, which is also just kind of like always in the back of my mind of what are the things that we're doing and the stories that we're leaving people with. Sometimes I'm like, ah, one day no one will remember me. But I'm like, that's kind of cool. Like I do get these stories. And here I am telling you a story about someone who's been gone for over 30 years. So that's kind of a I don't know. It's really interesting to think about and 34:29 with a podcast, you get to do that for a bunch of people. So kudos to you. Yeah, no, it's really interesting. And like as you were telling that story, it was like, well, it kind of probably makes sense that maybe some of his kids didn't quite follow in the footsteps or willingly do it like they wanted to be more structured because they saw things that or, you know, like people around are like, oh, I don't want to go that route. I just want I want the steady paycheck instead of all the chances. And if you grew up not really knowing those until you did, 34:59 you were able to form all the dreams and stuff and really get those genes. Cause I wonder if like you had known about all the failures early on, if you would have assumed some of the like, well, I shouldn't try that or, you know, or should I keep dreaming? It's really interesting. Yeah, that's actually a really good question. I think I definitely did not know how hard it was to be an entrepreneur until I was in it. And it is certainly difficult and has many issues, but I guess sort of the lesson that I was able to take from it. 35:28 watching. Yeah, my my parents and everything was, it always works out, you know, everything like they all my family did end up being pretty entrepreneurial. And so it's like, it's like, okay, well, it all works out in one way or another. Yeah, but that is interesting. Like if I had I didn't know though, about the struggles, you know, now I talk about the struggles. And, you know, then my parents will let me know like, yeah, the early days of my dad had like a side lawn business his whole life. He traditionally had like a he's like a fire chief and 35:57 has a really wonderful, like had a whole career that he's retired from. you know, I knew that they had this side business. I've never thought about like, was it ever difficult to do that? You know, I didn't start asking those questions until like, the last couple of years as I've become an entrepreneur full on that I was like, Oh, okay. If I had known this, I probably would have made different decisions, which is actually really interesting to reflect on. Yeah, because the fun part is not that. Yeah, right. Yeah. if I work is not the fun part. 36:27 Yeah, so that's that's really interesting what happens around us and the story and the stories we see and like sell to ourselves about like, oh, I see this person doing this. So like, I want to do it. But if I if you know the the back end of all of it, that would change your perspective on it a lot. Yeah. I mean, I think there are people that definitely people I've talked to. You kind of. Don't want to repeat any kind of things that you saw others struggle in. 36:57 Right? Like I feel like that's probably fairly common with people. And so I've talked to a lot of people where they've grown up in a situation in which maybe it was a single parent household and that particular parent was working so hard and barely scraping money together to feed the family and pay the bills. so on the flip side now, I'm talking to the adult version of, you know, that kid grown up and their focus is building the wealth, creating the things that they didn't have as a child. 37:27 or the things they saw their parents struggle through. So I think sometimes we are conditioned to make sure that we're taking care of the younger versions of ourselves. And so I kind of still, I know I've said this before in this conversation, but I celebrate the fact that you were allowed to dream and to do the things, not allowed, allowed is maybe not the right word, but you were encouraged to play with. 37:55 creating funny videos and and even though people might be laughing at you in the hallways, which they probably weren't or they just wanted to do it themselves. You were encouraged to do that and not like discouraged to do that. And I think there's so much to be said of how you can now create a life out of it. Not that you're a YouTuber, but like or that you have to be a YouTuber, but like you can create a life out of being a creative because you were it was encouraged. 38:25 Yeah, yeah, no, it's a it's a beautiful reflection. And I think I had a friend who, like, as I started to go out on my own, we had actually we had like worked for a company that was in podcast world. So again, I've always like, been in the creative realm. But it was the moment where I was like, Hey, I'm gonna stop, you know, building for someone else, and I'm going to build my own thing. And he reflected to me, he was like, I've known Chris for over a decade. And like, he's always 38:53 at the core, like this has always been him. Like this has like always been his dream and like the things he's talked about. so like seeing like when I when I left a job, like the most stable job I ever had was a couple of years ago. And like when I left that it was that reflection of like, this makes so much sense because this is who you've always been. And that goes back to being encouraged as a kid and being like, and now like you say, like you want to take care of your, you know, your younger self and celebrate your younger self and 39:23 think kind of the phase I'm in right now is I'm really trying to make that that younger self who was encouraged to, you know, be creative and tell stories from an early age, like to make this what I what I do for a living or, you know, and help other people do for themselves, because I know it is such a gift. So yeah, I think like now that's the phase that I'm in is like trying really hard to make that you're coming younger me, like proud. Well, and it sounds like in parallel with what you were saying about like how 39:53 your story was was free and flowing early and then it got a little curated and now you're kind of finding this space. It's it's seems like a similar parallel in which now you're trying to just like be an older version of that that younger Chris and like just explore and do the things that you want to do. Is that true or am I just making things up and wanting to be like you? 40:17 That is true. And I haven't really thought about it that way. And actually, like, I don't know, I actually just felt like weight drop off my shoulders. With you pointing that out to me. Yeah, it's actually kind of like a beautiful thing to realize. It's like 40:32 Yeah, like that I'm just trying to celebrate that that younger version of myself and continue down down this path right to drive it back to kind of like, you know, that quote on on my grandpa's grave. It's like, I want to make sure I live a life that like never feels dull. You know, I want to give that type of life to, to like to my wife and like my future family and like anyone that I come in contact with people that I meet on podcasts, right? I want to I want to be someone that's like, 41:01 when we meet, I can help you in some way that then like transforms even in the smallest way possible, like has, you know, makes somewhat of a difference to then like change the trajectory that that you're on. And like that. Yeah, that's kind like the journey now that I'm like, okay, this is like what I want to put my my energy into. like you're doing it. Here's the dumb question. No dumb questions. If you could 41:30 Like if you had to grade yourself against that statement, what would you say 2025? What's your grade to meeting your grandfather's statement that you kind of live by? 41:41 Yeah, that's a you can do one to 100. That would give you a bigger scale. That's a good question. I I would say this, this year, this year, it's a little bit higher. I'll be honest, I would say this year, I think, I think my grandpa would be proud of it, because there's been a mix of, again, I've been in the season of building my own business for the first year. So there's a lot of ups and downs in there. But I've also taken, you know, trips that 42:10 I think a really big thing also that leads into like the life that was never those like taking the trips, right. And I think I don't know if you've struggled with this, but for many years, I'd be like, Oh, yeah, next year, next year, next year. And like, then I would like not travel or do something that I really wanted to. And this year, I've like really tried to whether whether it made sense, timewise financially, like, you know, you could say there's not the best decisions in there. But I've been able to like, went skiing for the first time. 42:40 which sounds really fun. And then I tell you that my wife tore ACL on day two of it. And so that created a whole journey this entire year or, or, you know, then I'd tell you that I booked a handful of concert tickets without any plan of where we were going to stay or how we were going to get there. And somehow they keep all just panning out just perfectly enough. And so, you know, been able to in the midst of building a business, my wife healing from a torn ACL or go into her dream concerts, right? 43:07 Again, it's like in the moment, it's like, is this risky? Yes. But I know the stories will be more interesting because here I am able to tell you this. again, I think that it's like. 43:20 we're not going to get any time back. I think that's that stayed at the front of my mind a lot this year. And there's been other things that have happened this year that have transpired that we had like a family member pass away that was like younger. you know, and that was a moment where I was like, like tickets were booked shortly after that, because it just was like a reminder of like, man, like, we just don't know. Like you said, all we're promised is 43:46 here now our conversation together here and we don't know what will happen after this. So I would say I would I would like to think that I would I'll say 80 % because you can always go bigger and bolder but I would I would say this year I've done well in terms of just trying to keep it interesting. It's very stressful. So I saw say that like, not in like a highlight real way. It's like, it's stressful. There's a lot of stressful moments but but there's been like at least every 44:14 couple months, there's been things where I'm like, I'm doing the thing I want. I'm trying to do the thing. Well, I think it wasn't dull. Is that is that the exact words? What was the exact? Yeah, it was never it was never dull. I don't think that necessarily means that it was always exciting. Right? Like, I don't think those are. I don't think that's what we're trying to say here. But as a as a whole, that was never dull. Like, I feel like that is a really good like mantra for you to check yourself with. Right? Like, 44:44 I'm sure there are moments where it is dull. And it just is because you're doing accounting for your business. know, like you're doing things that don't light you up or don't fill your cup in whatever way or you're, you know, you're just going or you're sick or all those things don't make an exciting life sometimes, you know, so I think there's something to be for me, someone that's very type A, that that often lives in a dull, right? And maybe for safety, maybe 45:14 for fear, maybe the eight year old version of me is choosing to do that. Who knows? So I can unpack that with my therapist later. But I think it's a really good mantra to like align. I think you said you're in good alignment now, like earlier in conversation. It feels like it's a nice thing to to check yourself with. you do you use it as like a checkpoint? Yeah. And I think that's a really great point. I actually I really appreciate you pointing that out, because like, I think I mean, literally in that exact moment, I 45:43 I felt like, I need to share the biggest, the boldest things that have happened this year. Maybe like go back to what we literally started this podcast out with. I just caught myself doing that. Right. Like those things are true. But what is true is like, yeah, 99 percent of the day it's like I am at home in Kansas, like with my wife and our five cats. And like that is what most of the life looks like. But where this is, is telling me. Right. That could be very fulfilling. And and what what does come up for me that 46:12 I would even say like, would encourage maybe it's helpful for you and hopefully people listening is like, like saying anything is dull probably isn't helpful to us even if we say like, you know, the, accounting or stuff like that. Yeah. Well, no, no, like, like I would say like, you know, when, yeah, when I'm dealing with like the money parts of my business or whatever, it's not fun, but there's like this gratitude that exists in there of like, well, this is because I'm doing something that I asked for. 46:42 And, the anytime I dip into like, oh, this isn't that fun or like this sucks. But then I think of like the why behind like the decision that led to this moment that now I'm complaining about. I'm like, I have nothing to complain about. Like, I, you know, like at least 99 % of the time. Right. And so that's that in terms of like, helping check myself on it, I do use it like that. And a lot of the let's say smaller moments, you know, it's like, am I spending my time? 47:10 with the people that I love doing the things like on the time that I want to do it. And the more I can push to saying yes to that, like all the time, the happier I am, you know, yes, taking a trip and doing the thing like that is cool, but that actually is like 10 % of the year. And so I appreciate you like reflecting that back to me because it is really it's not about just like the biggest, biggest, craziest things, but it is like a thing of just 47:39 I mean, yeah, like in our everyday lives, like there's decisions we can make that is like the easy thing or the thing that you want to do. And sometimes the easy thing is the thing you want to do. But if there's ever that sort of decision, it kind of or, you know, if I'm deep in my thoughts about something, I do use it as like, you know, like if I say this and I question myself on it, what would be the path, you know, that that would be more fitting to living a life that, you know, felt never dull? Does it? 48:08 Does it feel like a tool to pause and avoid making hasty decisions? Because I feel like I'm someone that like, if I feel like I want to do that, like I'm to make a hasty decision. Whereas I think if I had something like that, maybe it would cause a pause so I could actually think about it and be more intentional with my decisions. Is it something like that for you? Yeah, I'm definitely someone who definitely makes, you know, sometimes I get really excited about something, I'll make a decision and I'll jump the gun on it. 48:36 to where I'm like, ooh, so I feel like for me, it's been a tool and a learning process of like, you know, I think we'll all jump the gun on stuff sometimes. And then we'll say, you know what, I should have paused. I was like, yeah, like, you know, let's learn from this. Let's pause. Let's try this again. The next time that sort of like feeling comes up with like, this is the thing I want to go do. And I got to do it right now. Because yeah, like I'm not I'm not someone that 49:03 tries to be reckless about anything. definitely am. I mean, on my core, I'm an over thinker. So that's the creative in you, I think. Yeah, yeah, that's probably true. So I do think, you know, like, it makes sense to jump the gun every once in a while. We're human, we're normal. But I think it could be a tool. If it sounds like it could be for you. It's you know, it's like, yeah, to, like pause. And again, just like think deeply of like take a beat. 49:33 Yeah, take a beat. And I feel like usually when we're talking about like decisions or moment, like usually there's like, yeah, there's typically like two paths. And it's like, well, which path feels more aligned to what you want to be said about you at the end, you know, is kind of like, ultimately, that is what I try to lead with. I'm not perfect. But it is like kind of a helpful tool because 50:01 here I am talking about a lesson from somebody that's like that is the lesson that they left after their time. I think it allows you to be more intentional, I think, or it's like a tool to help you stay aligned and with good intentions for the life that you want to live and the one that that you think is is most fruitful for you to kind of exist in. You know, usually I kind of like wrap up these conversations with a very similar question to people. But I think I want to ask you something a little bit differently. 50:31 than I would normally. And I'm wondering like 2025 Chris, 80 % hitting that mark or what you've said 80%. If you could go back and talk to your grandfather that you never met and tell him about how you're living your life now, is there anything you would want to say to him related to this inspiration that he's given you? 50:53 That's a beautiful question. And I appreciate you asking me that. I have never thought about it through that lens. I think that. 51:03 I would say, I think I would thank him because it is like as I've grown up and I know that that's like at the core, like the life that he created and that is the life that like my grandma reflected back to like that she was given with him. It has led to how my life has played out. And so I think I would mostly say thank you. And I would hope that 51:33 they would also agree with me that you're doing some of those things right. And then from what I know of them, they would probably then give me a little bit of a hard time about it too at the same moment. But I think for me, I would express gratitude because I do know. 51:57 some of the things I've shared with my story and parts of mine and even you sharing with you like of your story. It's like we had different paths and we had different, you know, takes on a lot of this. And it's just interesting of like what can inform different paths. There's no right or wrong or within it. Like I think it's just all like this is our life and this how it goes. And it's so beautiful because like you're everything in your life, right? It led to like, here we are. You have hosted this show with over 200 people, right? So it's like, this is an incredible 52:26 path that you that you're on. Yeah, I just think that I don't know. I'm thinking I'm thinking really deeply about I think it's like such a beautiful question, but I feel like 52:40 Yeah, I don't know to come back to it. I think I would just express gratitude because I think it's just really a beautiful reflection right or wrong that has like helped me a lot in my life and my hope is that hope, you know, maybe it's a tool that sometimes you will question, you know, or anyone listening might question as well. And I can only hope that one day like I can leave behind a lesson or something like that that then people will, you know, maybe you already have. 53:07 Maybe already have, which is really cool. a hype person, like you have probably planted many seeds just as your grandfather probably did not intend to like leave that as like, someone should live their life. But like it was just a statement like a like I'm proud of this. Like this. was never dull. And, you know, there are some good parts of that and there are probably some bad parts of that. But in a in in grand scheme of life, that's how he described it. Yet when you saw it, 53:37 You saw it as like almost like a message, like almost as like a like a challenge. Yeah. You know, like you could do this to like you could end your life at the end when you come to whatever time that is. You could say the same thing and maybe feel good about it, you know, in a different way. Maybe he didn't feel good about it. Like, who knows? But you took it in a way to kind of live your life in this way. And I think it's I think it's a good reminder to a lot of people. I've talked to people where they've read a book and they saw a line and now they 54:05 That line really stuck with them at that moment in time. And it's very similar to your story, but yours comes from a family member, which is really cool. So I think we all kind of have these little sign posts or light posts or whatever we want to call it that kind of help us guide our way. So thank you for sharing your guidepost of what brings you to 2025. Chris, the hype man. Thank you for opening up the conversation and letting us explore it. I have thought about this stuff in a very different way and our time together that 54:35 I mean, yeah, like the way that you frame these questions has left an impact on me. So I want you to know that. Well, I appreciate that. If someone's listening and they resonate with your story or they want to tell you a part of their story or they want to learn more about like what you offer to the world and your services or in your hype services, what's the best way to like find you, connect with you, send you a message? Like how do they get in your orbit? Yeah. Best place to connect with me right now is on LinkedIn. And I'm just looking. 55:05 meet cool people, doing cool things. That is what brought you and I together. And it is what I'm always seeking is just like, there can be a lot of stuff going on in the world. So I'm looking for people who are adding more good to the world and that are doing like they're good people doing good things. So if that happens to be you that's listening, I would love to just connect and hear your story. If there's an idea that's brewing in your brain that you're, you know, a little nervous about, I'm here to be your hype man, you know? 55:34 Take it back to that mention at the beginning. All about like caring and listening. feel like anyone can be a hype man if they really wanted to. And it's about like just caring about the human in front of you and listening to them. So thank you for what you do to the to the world, with the world, for the world, because I think there are more people needed that can do that kind of thing. So thank you for that. Thank you for coming on this conversational journey in the way that we did. I never know. 56:02 where they're going to go or how they're going to go. But I always love where they where they've gone. So thank you for being a part of this. Thank you, man. I really I love this so much. This was needed for me. I appreciate it more ways than you know. That is very kind. I will accept that. And anyone listening, thank you for just coming on this journey. I never knew that I needed this journey and I hope it's served some purpose for you. And with that, I'm to say goodbye and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Thanks again, Chris. 56:31 Thank you. 56:44 For more information, please visit www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com