This week Marcus sits down with Andy Wood. Andy's roots are here in Mobile. His father was in construction and helped build some of the buildings that still stand around this city. He is the managing partner of LifeVesting Group and utilizes his PhD in Organizational Leadership to coach business owners. Let’s jump into this conversation between Marcus and Andy.

This episode is brought to you by the awesome team at Blue Fish.

Transcript:

Andy: I'm Andy Wood. I'm the managing partner of the LifeVesting Group, here in Mobile.

Marcus: Welcome to the podcast, Andy.

Andy: Thank you Marcus. It's great to be here.

Marcus: Yeah, no. I'm excited to have you on the podcast. I think you have a lot of insight that folks will get something out of. In the very least, I enjoyed very much our lunch that we had ...

Andy: Absolutely.

Marcus: A couple of months ago. And so it's always nice to get a chance to revisit and find out a little bit more about the person. But so, having said that, tell us the story of Andy. So where do you ...? Where are you from? Where did you go to high school, college? Are you married? Give us some of your back story.

Andy: Absolutely. Grew up here in Mobile, and graduated from Davidson High School 1976, and the University of Mobile, which was back then, Mobile College. And did that in three years. And from the time I was 15, I had a sense of call in my life that God had a purpose and a plan for me, and that direction led me towards a vocational ministry for 32 years.

Marcus: Nice.

Andy: And so I went to Southwestern Seminary, Fort worth. That's where I met my wife, and she was a Texan. And so we got married. After the seminary, came back here and ... Back to Alabama, not to Mobile. And, but I was a pastor in different parts of the state. And then moved back to Lubbock, Texas, had gone through kind of a crash and burn season. That's a story for another day. But moved back to Lubbock, Texas in 19 ... The middle 90s and was involved in some ministry there. Started a church actually there. That's something that, if you hear I've done that again, you'll know that I saw handwriting on the wall or something. It was a great experience, once.

Marcus: Yeah.

Andy: But it's kinda like building your own house, it's something you want to do once, probably don't ever want to do it again.

Marcus: But you can ... If your marriage can last through building a home ...

Andy: Yes.

Marcus: It's a testimony to your marriage.

Andy: Exactly, exactly. But it was a great experience, and my kids wound up graduating from high school there. I have three children who are now all married, they have kids of their own. So I've got one granddaughter, eight grandsons ...

Marcus: Golly.

Andy: Yeah. It's a little army when they all get together. And they were all, age-wise, they're very close together.

Marcus: You've got a football team.

Andy: Almost, yeah.

Marcus: Almost.

Andy: Yeah. Baseball, for sure. And we'll let the girl pitch, but anyway. But we're very blessed. We ... After living in Lubbock, Texas for 18 years, in 2014 we felt led to come back to Mobile. Some things has happened in between though. In 2010 I went through a career transition. Along the way I had picked up a PhD in Organizational Leadership.

Marcus: You just picked one up.

Andy: Oh, you know. Yeah. I just, you know.

Marcus: Sure.

Andy: They took my money and they put me to work, but anyway. Yeah. And so I'd started doing a little bit of adjunct teaching in the realm of leadership. And what I loved about this particular degree I had was that I didn't just go mix it up with a bunch of other preachers, I was hanging out with business people. I was hanging out with educational people, government people, non-profit leaders ...

Marcus: Right.

Andy: And trading ideas with them, learning from them, contributing to the conversation. And it gave me a multi-disciplinary degree and the opportunity to impact some lives in ways that I couldn't just by being a pastor of a Church.

Marcus: No.

Andy: And so I began to experiment with that a little bit by doing some adjunct teaching along the way while I was still pastoring my Church. And in 2010 made the shift into working more in the educational realm. Until basically by the Spring of 2010, I was a full time college professor. But I was doing it all in schools online. And so I had a day job, at Lubbock Christian University, teaching Leadership in the Masters and Leadership Program. All kinds of different careers, all kinds of different industries and things. But then began to also reach out into other schools. It grew to the point ... And every bit of this I was doing at home. I was sitting at the house, trading ideas, sharing leadership concepts with people, training a new generation of leaders, grading a whole bunch of papers. And so in 2014 my wife, who's a therapist, we had started a group there called the LifeVesting Group. My wife and I were talking, and we just really felt led to come back here. My dad was starting to decline a little bit in his health and we wanted to be close to him. And so we moved back here, and people would ask me like, "What are you doing?" And I said, "Well, we're moving." And they said, "Well, do you have a new job?" I said, "No." "What are you going to be doing?" "Same thing I'm doing now."

Marcus: Yep.

Andy: "Why are you moving?" How do you explain to somebody, the only answer is "We'll know when we get there"?

Marcus: Right.

Andy: And so that's kinda what we said. "We'll know when we get there." She actually transitioned out of her office, came to Hillcrest Road, and started a brand new counseling practice from nothing. And now she is seeing a very full client load, that happened very quickly. And so I continued to teach and do what I was doing. Along the way though, two things began to happen. I began to get a little frustrated, in a nice way, that there's got to be a better way to impact a whole new generation of leaders, than just grading their papers.

Marcus: Sure.

Andy: I wanna be ... I wanna walk alongside 'em. You know, I've been trained to do that. I wanna encourage them. I want to help Christian leaders exercise their faith in the market place.

Marcus: You're a man after my own heart.

Andy: Well, I believe the market place is the Church of the future.

Marcus: Yeah.

Andy: Cause they're not coming to the Church house doors as much anymore. We used to just build, put up a steeple, and say, "Y'all come." That doesn't happen anymore.

Marcus: No.

Andy: And so what we get to do is go into, and help other people go into, the market place as leaders, as business owners, as sales individuals or whatever, and solve people's problems, help people in terms of providing employment and those kind of things. And at the same time, touch their lives. And so it gives us ... And so I began looking for this opportunity to do something that was more hands on, more personally involved, either with an organization or with individuals. Hence the transition into coaching. And so at the beginning of this year, I began the process of shifting from academia. I still do that, I still teach Leadership at the University of Mobile and some other places, but beginning to teach ... Or make that transition to work with people in business, in professional practices and things like that. And basically the focus of what I do now is I work with people who are in performance based businesses. That means basically, you don't punch a clock, you own the results of your work, whether it's in sales or whether it's in business ownership, entrepreneurs, those kind of things. I work with people like that. Or pastors. In order to help them multiply their business while at the same time maintaining what's most important to them; their family values, their spiritual values or whatever.

Marcus: Yeah. No. It's really cool because you said helping business owners take their faith to the market place. I'm actually ... Jared Darby who is a friend, he's on staff at City Hope, and he's over the College Ministry that City Hope has at the Mobile Campus. And he's asked me to be on a panel. It will have happened by the time this is coming out, but it's next week. And so ... And I've just been thinking about that a lot because, not everybody knows this, but I was actually the Communications Director at City Hope. And I left because I knew that full time ministry was not my place, I very much value my place in the business community, as well as the technology industry, as someone who is a believer and who wants to just show others that not all Christians are Westboro Baptists, you know Bible thumping hate mongers, right?

Andy: Exactly.

Marcus: And so, just trying to share God's love with people. And so that just naturally comes out in a lot of the things that we do as a business. And you're sitting on one of the testimonies of how we manifest that.

Andy: Absolutely. Absolutely. And it shows. It comes out in the integrity of your work. It comes out in the testimony of your employees, what kind of leader you are, what kind of passion you have for people, for the city, for what's ... To do what the Bible calls, seek the good of the city ...

Marcus: Yeah.

Andy: And so that ... I love that and I love working with people like that, who are still trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of how am I going to make money? How am I gonna make payroll next week?

Marcus: It's kind of important. Yeah.

Andy: Absolutely.

Marcus: So going back, you said that you felt a calling at a very early age, but one of the things that we like to do is look back at early experiences that have kind of formed who you are now. Do you remember what your first job was?

Andy: Yes. My dad worked for a construction company called Martin Builders, built a lot of the very familiar buildings, including Spanish Plaza, the Office Park buildings, St Pious Church on Sage Avenue, they build all of that, right? Well they had a yard, a construction yard, and my first job, my first paycheck was for eight dollars, for cutting the grass at Martin Builders. And he set me up as ... You don't hardly see teenagers do this anymore, but as a probably a freshman in high school, a sophomore, he set me up in my own lawn care business. And bought me a push lawnmower. And sometimes got to use the riding one ...

Marcus: Back when push mower meant you actually had to push the stinking thing.

Andy: You pushed the thing. And so my first job was actually my own business. And probably put a little bit of an entrepreneurial streak in me from the very beginning.

Marcus: That's amazing. So I was gonna ... I mean that's the follow on question is, what are some of the lessons that you remember from it, but obviously that ... I mean, him starting you up as a business has carried forth because now you are ... You're not ... It's influenced everything that you've done.

Andy: Yeah. Two things about that in particular. Number one my dad taught me, and my mum too in particular, "Boy, you ain't too good to work." Including outside in July in Mobile, Alabama. But the other was, my dad taught me that if you really dream something and want something bad enough, and you're willing to pay your dues, there will always be ... He modeled this for me. There will always be somebody who will help empower you to do it. At that age, that was my dad. I said, "I think I want to cut yards." "Okay, let's make that happen." And so he helped me figure it out, and then made it possible. I couldn't afford a lawnmower, I didn't know what they cost. I didn't know anything about a lawnmower ...

Marcus: Right.

Andy: Except I knew how to cut grass. I'd done it at home for three or four years. And so he made possible what I dreamed, and then I still had to go do the work, but he was the catalyst to help make that happen. And that put in me, and modeled for me, what I want to be able to do. I want to do that with my kids. I want to help them make their dreams come true. That's just what I do with clients now, I want to help them make their dreams come true, and help them fulfill their purpose and their dream. And so he modeled that at a very early age for me.

Marcus: That is so cool. Now this most current venture that you've started, what are some of the things that you did to start that business? I mean, obviously you don't just say, "Okay. I'm going to start LifeVesting Group." And then boom, you're ... I mean, technically speaking boom, yes you are in business ...

Andy: Right.

Marcus: But I'd like to think that there have to be clients on the other end of the transaction in order for it to be a legitimate business.

Andy: Absolutely.

Marcus: And so, what were some of the things that you did to kind of get that off the ground?

Andy: To get it going? Okay. To, just for perspective, there are two sides to our business. Okay. One is the professional counseling side, and that is the part my wife runs. And she is a licensed professional counselor, works with children. She's a play therapist, registered play therapist. Would be a great interview by the way.

Marcus: Yeah.

Andy: But is an advocate, one of the few counselors who will go to court on behalf of children. Most counselors don't want to do that. So she has about a half and half load, half kids and half families and adults. I as a coach, I began ... Your question was how did I get that started?

Marcus: Yeah. How did you get it off the ground?

Andy: Well, one is getting a coach myself. Okay. And getting some training. And about how to structure, not just how to coach people, part of that I had been doing all my life, all my adult life.

Marcus: Sure.

Andy: But also getting some business specific training. So I had some great resources for that. But then reaching out to my own network. And one of the things I have learned, I've always appreciated, but never was that good at, is the importance and power of networking. And I had been fortunate enough to share this dream and this idea with some people that know me, like me and trust me, who also I learned to ask, "Who else do you know?" One day I was talking to a friend of mine who said, "There's this guy downtown you need to know. His name is Todd [Greer 00:14:24]." And so, it turns out Todd and I got our PhD from the same place.

Marcus: Yep.

Andy: Okay. And so I reached out to Todd, and I said, "You know, we've been talking around each other for two or three years. We really should meet." And so we went to lunch one day. Todd and I became fast friends. Man, we just ... I just love him, love what he's done for the city. I love a guy, like you, who didn't grow up here, got here as fast as you could, and loves the city. That ... Because when I was growing up, I was fiercely proud of Mobile, when I was a little kid. Fiercely proud of it. So to see other people come in like that was just amazing. Well, anyway. Getting to know Todd, getting to know some other people like that. And then asking him, "Who do you know? Who do you know that I should talk to?"

Marcus: Which is ultimately how we ...

Andy: That's how you and I met. And I found out in this town, if you mention the name Todd Greer, people pay attention to that. And I think that's awesome.

Marcus: Don't say that.

Andy: I know.

Marcus: You realize that this is being recorded, and that he is going to get the big head listening to this.

Andy: I know, I know.

Marcus: You know, we'll have to talk after this about the meeting that we just had. It was quite interesting. But no I mean I think, he's been such a great advocate for Mobile.

Andy: He has.

Marcus: But I love that perspective that you have because going and just asking, "Well who else do you know that ...?" I mean it's such a ... It feels like a very difficult question to ask, but the reality is just getting together with someone for lunch or to have coffee or something like that, that's a win win for both people involved.

Andy: Certainly is. Absolutely.

Marcus: And as business owners, getting to know other business owners is never a bad thing.

Andy: I had never realized until I became more intentional about it, how important that is. I've always liked the idea, one of the myths that I believe, is that you can really do business flying solo, dealing directly with just you and your client or your customer. You can't do that.

Marcus: Nope.

Andy: It is ... You're a fool to try. You're going to fail if you don't somehow build around you the capacity to work with people and to network with people.

Marcus: Right.

Andy: And particularly the nature of what I do, you know when I can have a client who's an insurance agent who ... His business has multiplied because he's worked with me, he can't stop talking about the difference that that relationship has made. Or if I've got an attorney I'm working with who's getting reconnected spiritually to her spiritual values, and she can't say enough about the difference that that relationship's making, that buzz, that referral kind of thing, begins to take on a life of it's own.

Marcus: Yeah. And word of mouth is probably one of the nicest ways for people to find out about you. It's the social proof married with a testimony, married with typically an introduction. It checks all the boxes to speak.

Andy: Yeah.

Marcus: But ...

Andy: And it's really fun too. You know sometimes, not everybody's a fit. I developed a relationship with one person, we coached along for two or three times. And you know, I just really weren't at the right time and situation for this client. And so, low and behold, two months later I'm talking to a business owner, and this person happened to be in sales, and this business owner was like, "Man I am just ... I am looking everywhere for sales people." And I said, "I think I know who to call." And reached out to this person, and then reached ... And said, "Would you be open?" Put the two of these people together. I'm not making a dime off of that transaction, but it gives me the opportunity to cross-pollinate and serve somebody else in a win win situation. Somewhere down the road that helps me. Or if doesn't, it doesn't.

Marcus: It doesn't, yeah.

Andy: But you know what, it helps them

Marcus: Yeah. I mean there's some level of that, just being a good steward of the people that you know.

Andy: Absolutely.

Marcus: Well if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them?

Andy: There are four questions that you never escape. And your tendency is going to be, the temptation is going to be, to drift toward one of them. Those four questions are, the why question, the what question, the who question and the where question. The where's the fun one, that's where are we going? What are our goals? What do we want to accomplish? What's the dream? Okay. Some people get so locked into the vision and the dream they just assume that once they're intentional enough about it, that it happens. No, it doesn't just happen. You know, you still have to do some other things. The why is important. Simon Sinek's book "Start with Why" is a huge influence there. But just exploring what keeps you going, why don't you quit? Because you're gonna have a thousand reasons to do it, and if you don't get anchored into your why ... Yeah. If you don't get anchored into why you do what you do, then you will have every reason in the world to give up, and probably will. The what question is what is my job, and what is it that I, and only I, can do? Your mama's not gonna do it for you, your customer's not gonna read your mind and do it for you, your employees ... They don't care or they aren't equipped to do it. You and only you can do it. But that then comes to the who question. And the who question is who's going to partner with you? Whether it's on a team, whether it's employees, whether it's Yoda. You know, whether it's somebody. Who can help you get where you're going? And what I have ... What I'm seeing, and what I would say to anybody starting a business is, you need to have an answer to all four of those questions. And whatever you think the answer is today, you're wrong. Because three months from now, six months from now, that's gonna evolve. It's gonna change. The who question's gonna come up and slap you in the face. The what question, you thought you knew what your job is, well guess what that's evolved and it's changed. And sometimes what you need ... You don't always need a sage on the stage, but you need a guide by the side. You need somebody just who's not emotionally involved, but who's committed to your success, who can sit down with you and just ask questions. And just say, "Have you thought about this?" Or explore ideas. Or just sometimes encourage you and remind you of what you're why really is. And that's what I get to do.

Marcus: All right folks. Literally hit the rewind button a couple of times, cause that right there was gold. If you can ... I mean, seriously, go back and listen to that a couple of times because the four questions that he just answered or posed to you are legitimately questions that people that run businesses think of on a regular basis.

Andy: That's right.

Marcus: And my role has changed with every additional person that we add. And now I'm finding that my role is more about tending to the people versus doing the actual work.

Andy: Absolutely.

Marcus: And it's more of a visionary type role too. I mean, just where do we want to go? What do we want to do? Who are we going to affect? Who are we going to partner with in those things? You know, all those things. I mean, that is just ... That is definitely something to go back and soak on for a little bit. Are there any ...? And this is a four-part question, so I'll give you an out.

Andy: Okay.

Marcus: I used to ask if there were just any books that you've read that were impactful, but I've changed it a little bit. So are there any books, podcasts that you've listened to, people that you've been mentored by, or organizations that you're a member of, that have been helpful in starting your business?

Andy: Gotta shout out to BNI. I know that for some people it's not a solution to them, but it has revolutionized ... Well, it has definitely helped revolutionize my business, and it's where it is today. If you don't know what BNI is, it's Business Network International. It's an intentional group that gets together on a weekly basis to help support and refer business to each other. Definitely that. Podcasts, I have a couple of favorites. One is coaching specific, that I listen to, but also ... There's one for leaders that I really love, particularly Christian leaders, and it's called Eternal Leadership dot com, and I love it. Great podcast. I know the guy who does it, and he's a great source of interviews. He's bringing in some good people all the time, some refreshing ideas. Books. There are two that I'm just in the process. Don Miller just came out with a book. Don Miller's known for his ...

Marcus: Like jazz and yeah ...

Andy: Yes. All right. Well, he's moved into ...

Marcus: Marketing.

Andy: Kinda marketing. And so he's got this thing called StoryBrand where he's released a popular book called "Building a StoryBrand". I'm just getting to the end of it, really good stuff.

Marcus: Is it good? Cause I was a fan of his writing before and then he took a hiatus, but it was kind of interesting because when I was at City Hope, his videos that he did with ... And I can't remember the guy's name, it was a pastor of one of the larger churches. Yeah, it's not coming to me, but anyway. They did some videos together talking about the marketing automation that they put in place for the Church because that's kind of his thing. Like he helps not just Churches, but organizations find their story.

Andy: Exactly.

Marcus: And then how do you communicate that? And then he sets up the systems that help them with that.

Andy: And it's so useful for people who are in the business world who live by the numbers, who live by the data, and I understand those things have their place, but if you get so immersed in that you can lose touch with your story. And when you lose touch with your story, you lose touch with your clients or your customers. The second one is a book by Jeff Goins, who is ... He's written several books now, who's really good. But he challenges the whole starving artist idea. And it's called "Real Artists Don't Starve, But Thrive." And so he does this contrast between the starving artist and the thriving artist. And it's obviously a book to creatives, people who love music or poetry, art, whatever. By the way one of the wealthiest people in Italy, back in his day, was Michelangelo. People don't know that. He was a businessman. He was an entrepreneur of all entrepreneurs. He turned art into a business back then.

Marcus: Nice.

Andy: And artists don't know that. But anyway, Goins tells this amazing story about him and other artists down through the years who've kind of figured that out. But what I love about it also is you could just as easily read this book and re-title it, "Real Business Isn't Small". Because we often use this idea of the small business, as in I'm a starving artist, or you know, I'm gonna kinda hang on by my fingernails and hope I can duke it out.

Marcus: Well there's a lot of people that own their own jobs.

Andy: Yes.

Marcus: That's the e-myth way of thinking about that, right?

Andy: Exactly.

Marcus: So, and what that means if you're listening and you don't quite understand, is that if you're a business owner and you're literally just kind of supporting yourself and barely maybe even doing that ...

Andy: Right.

Marcus: You own your own job. The premise is that you should be working on the job, setting up the processes and getting the business to a point where it can, where it would be considered a legitimate business where you have additional employees and growth, and there's profit involved, and maybe opportunities for expansion and stuff like that.

Andy: Exactly. And then you're working on the business, not just on the job. You're not a technician anymore, you're a true entrepreneur, the way Michael Gerber describes it.

Marcus: Yep.

Andy: Yeah. It's this whole idea. And this is the part that a lot of people going into business, or even starting their own non-profit, don't get. "I want to start my own profit, non-profit, and help people. Just don't ask me to raise any money." Good luck with that. You know. Good luck.

Marcus: Yeah.

Andy: You know, I hope you have a wealthy patron somewhere along the way, cause otherwise, you know. You're still going to have to figure out a way to work on the enterprise itself.

Marcus: Right.

Andy: And that's a whole different set of skills. I have learned that there are ... There's the technical skills, there are the process or business skills, and then there are the marketing skills. How do we reach out and tell our stories to other people? And there's a constant balancing act that we have to do to stay on top of all that.

Marcus: Yeah. If you are that non-profit, or even if you're a Church planner, a non-profit person that's just getting started, or if you're a business owner, and you have not read "Seller Be Sold," then you owe it to yourself to get "Seller Be Sold." It's by Grant Cordone, it'll probably run you 12 or 14 bucks, but it'll change your perspectives on what sales really is in our lives. Cause we oftentimes think of that dirty, used car salesman that's selling the lemon, but knows it's a lemon, but's selling it for top dollar. It's really not, it's about what you talked about with just asking somebody for lunch. Well, that's a sales transaction.

Andy: Sure, it is.

Marcus: You're making the case for why somebody should spend an hour with you, and they may or may not know you. So those are the small little micro-sales transactions that he talks about and then expands that out to what that looks like as a business owner, and setting goals for yourself and stuff like that.

Andy: Good stuff.

Marcus: So that's my one resource for the podcast. There you go. But what's the most important thing that you've learned about actually running a business?

Andy: I would say two things. Number one, never stop being a student of the business itself, of the process. If you get to the point where you think you've got it all figured out and you put it on automatic pilot, please sell it today. Walk, shut the doors, walk away. Otherwise, someone will just help you close that business anyway. And so stay a student of it, but it doesn't necessarily mean always in your technical field. Stay a student of people. Stay a student ... What can you learn? How can you cross-pollinate? The other thing I would tell you in answer to that question. The second thing is, one day a week don't do a dead gone thing with it. Walk away. De-role. Take your hat off. Take your uniform off. Go play with your kids. Go to the family farm.

Marcus: Go to the beach.

Andy: Go to the beach.

Marcus: Yeah. Go fishing.

Andy: Go sit and just look at the water. Just do something. Go to a Church house. Go volunteer to help one of the amazing organizations in this town. Do something different to get your head out of your own stuff.

Marcus: I often tell people some of my greatest ideas for my business have come while I'm mowing my grass.

Andy: Absolutely.

Marcus: And it's not just mowing the grass, right? It's the anything that isn't ... Cause if you're so focused or fixated on the problem. We do a lot of development here, and I'm a front-end developer designer, right. You know, I've done a lot of stuff in the digital realm, but one of the things that we have as a premise here is that something takes us longer than x number of minutes. Not x number of hours, but x number of minutes, to figure out. And that maybe 20 minutes or 30 minutes, or something like that. Then just leave it.

Andy: Yeah.

Marcus: And go and do something else because oftentimes in walking away from whatever it is, the thing that you thought that was a problem will suddenly arise as ... There'll be a solution that will arise out of not being so focused on it. So I wholeheartedly agree on getting away. Even if it's not because you're looking for the solution to some problem. It's just a healthy thing just to walk away from it for a while.

Andy: Absolutely. And there between your ears is a phenomenal processor that can create, generate and function even while you're sleeping. Or when you're doing relaxing, repetitive kind of things. You know, it keeps working.

Marcus: I've got at least opinion 886 or 8086 running between mine.

Andy: Jared's shaking his head as the resident geek here. He's like, "You didn't just do that."

Marcus: For those of you that might be a little bit too young to remember what opinion was ...

Andy: Yeah.

Marcus: We're measuring everything now in multiple processors and gigahertz, this was single processor and no gigahertz, it was hertz.

Andy: Yeah, just hertz.

Marcus: What do you like to do in your free time?

Andy: We have a family farm in Lower Washington County. And I love to go up there. I'll drive into [Milree 00:31:51], which is where it is at 70 miles an hour. I'll leave at 55. And it is a little bit of everything. There's a pond, there's woods, there's several outbuildings, there's all kind of fun stuff. Okay. And I'll get on the tractor, the Bush Hog, I'll get out a chainsaw and just look for something to cut. I'm a little dangerous with that. But ...

Marcus: That's so cool.

Andy: Yeah. It's my happy place. It's where I go to decompress. And it's amazing how my blood pressure comes down, my pulse comes down. And it's home, it's my soul roots. My grandparents built it, so ...

Marcus: Sure. That is really cool. I love that, you know, just find something to cut.

Andy: Yeah. That's right. Marcel's ... Andy's talking chainsaw.

Marcus: All right. So tell people where they can find out more about you and LifeVestings specifically.

Andy: Okay. You can reach me at andy@lifevesting L-I-F-E-V-E-S-T-I-N-G dot com. And just reach out and say, "Hey, I heard you on the podcast, I would love to know more about your coaching business." Or, I just love to troubleshoot. The first session's free. Let's talk. Let's ...

Marcus: Have lunch, go coffee. Do something.

Andy: Absolutely. I'm glad to do that. And don't assume that just because you don't know somebody that they're unwilling ... You didn't know me from Adam's house cat, I reached out to you, dropped a cool name, but I reached out and said, "You know, I'd just love to get to know you and find out what you're doing." And you were amazingly generous with your time and with letting me buy you lunch. That was awesome.

Marcus: Hey man, I'm gonna always let somebody buy me lunch.

Andy: Heck yeah dude. And so people ... You know, wanna go to lunch? I'm a lunch guy, let's do that. So anyway I can serve you, help you get where you want to go. That's what coaches do. They take Cinderella to the castle.

Marcus: There you go.

Andy: They're the vehicle that carries you from where you are to where you want to go.

Marcus: Well Andy, it has been great having you on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?

Andy: Yes, just one. Your life a year from now will be the same as it is right now, except for one thing. The people that help you or don't help you get where you're going. If you think that this is a solo project, you're not going to be anywhere a year from now other than where you are right now. If you really want to go somewhere different, find someone to take you, to help you get there. And you'll get there far faster, happier, safer than you ever could have imagined.

Marcus: Very cool. Well, Andy, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It's been great talking with you.

Andy: What an honor. Thank you, Marcus. Thank you for all you're doing in this city, and for the encouragement, you've been to me. I appreciate that.

Marcus: Yeah. Anytime, man.