Five Key Ps of Hope: Because Sometimes all you need is Hope 163

It's crunch season for loud, proud American, the time of the year on the calendar when desperation and excitement meet. Today we feel the heat of this American brand trying to make it on the street and I share with you my five key peas of hope, because sometimes all you need is hope. Let me tell you something Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely yours. Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life. If you find strength in the struggle, then this podcast is for you. You have a relationship that is comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. Challenge you, humble you and they build you. When you sprinkle a little time and distance on it, it all makes sense. Most disagreements, they stem from our own insecurities. You are right where you need to be. What a deal, what a deal. Hot damn. Am I so excited, grateful and blessed to be back with you. So 163, and today it's just you and me. I tell you what baby Whoo Share this podcast 163 Freakin' episodes, unbelievable y'all. We ain't Mr Week. As busy as this schedule gets, as chaotic as this life gets, we together that's you and me collectively haven't missed a Freakin' week. Oh man, I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of you. I appreciate you. If this was your first time listening to the show, thank you and welcome to Share this Ruckle Podcast. If this is your consistent, all-time consecutive winning streak type of show, like you've been here since day one, to all my day ones out there, put one finger up in the air right now. If you're driving in your car, if you're in your office, if you're in the garage, if you're on the treadmill, wherever you are, if you've been here since day one, I want you to take that point of finger on your dominant hand. Okay, I'm not singling you out. If you're left or right here with your hands, maybe you're ambidextrous and if that's the case, you're gonna take both of them, but I'm right-handed. Take that number one. I'm sitting in my living room recording this episode for you and I'm pointing it high to the sky All my day ones where you act. If you've been here since day one, keep that finger up for a moment, close your eyes and thank for a second me rapping my freaking virtual arms around you and singing Thank you, I freaking love you. Together we are accomplishing big, big things 163 freaking weeks. I love you, my day ones. You mean so damn much to me. You I'm gonna let you in on a spoiler alert here in today's podcast. You are one of my key peas for hope. Yes, yes, you guys give me that shot of hope-yum, that's right, hope-yum. You guys fuel me up with hope. I appreciate each and every freaking one of you. My day ones, yeah, but each and every week we're adding new listeners, like Kevin White listening all the way out in New York today Out to a new listener, potentially a loyal listener. Maybe Kevin will go back and become a day one. Maybe you just thought about the podcast and you know this is week one for you, this is week two for you, but you just get the hook and you realize this message is just for you. You can go back and start listening from episode one and you can become a day one. We'll let you do that, don't forget. You can find all things podcast related at wwwsharetheshruggopodcastcom. We do still have some podcast merch out there as well. But I just need to open up today's show by saying thank you, I love you. And for 163, it's just you and me. No guest today, baby. I want to say thank you to my wife for joining me last week and a few of our previous weeks. It's been exciting to have her on. But today we're back to flying the show so low. And before we go, I got to address something, y'all I got to address something. I got to say something and if you're a spiritual one, we all got to pray for something. Please, please, pray for those folks in Maui, everybody in Hawaii that is affected by the tragedies right now the wildfires, the craziness. It's beyond depressing to see right and to think about the reality of the situation and everything that everyone there is having to cope with, having to deal with. When you really take your own problems, when you take those things going on in your life and you just think about how much they've had you down right, if you think about this show and last week, me letting you guys know that, hey, man, stuff's getting hard, shit's getting hard, things are getting difficult, and you just ask yourself, am I getting all these obstacles as a roadblock, as a stepping stone, as a speed bump or as a turn back sign to let you know, hey, maybe you shouldn't go this direction? And you start to vent about those things and you think about having the shop truck breakdown fully loaded, having all those things happen, right, and just dealing with unruly vendors and just poor receptions and downturn events and things like that. They could beat you up. But when you see what's happening to fellow Americans, when you see what's happening in Hawaii, when you see the fear, the desperation, the urgency, man, whatever it is that we're dealing with today, it ain't that bad, am I right? Whatever difficulty you have today, it ain't that bad. Whatever is beating you up today, whatever's pulling you down today, let it go today and be thankful you have this day and just take a moment, pray for those people in Hawaii. I'm sure there's ways to donate, I'm sure there's ways to contribute money. If you can do that, by all means Do that. Whatever can be done, go ahead and do that. Obviously right. But, man, I can't help but just hurt for those people. And what a wild time it is that we're living in, when you see fellow Americans that are suffering the way they are, that are dealing with such tragedy and loss, and we have a country that's more focused on sending financial aid and support across the country to send it to Ukraine, right to get involved in a war that we shouldn't be involved in man if that doesn't piss you off, if that doesn't fire you up, if that doesn't put into perspective just how fucked up this country is. And I don't know what does America? Our people are hurting. Our country needs us. Our resources, our abilities should be dedicated to our people. They should be given, provided and poured into our people. We should be doing all things possible to help our people. I'm not going to go too far deep into this scenario because I really want the opening part of this show just to be a supportive one and a plea for hope and for positivity for our people and Maui. But you can't help but be furious by the actions of our government Over this, this, this time, right now, the the lack of response, the lack of effort to to help. I just want, for one second, to point out the fact that what is America given to Ukraine right now? What is it like? I mean it's over like a hundred billion dollars, so the old presidential puppet has decided to. I believe. I mean this is. This is what I've read and heard. I haven't really dug into all this stuff because I think it distracts me from from the real situation of Praying for these people right, but I believe that presidential puppet decided each person affected in Maui should receive seven hundred dollars $700. $700 fucking dollars your You're fist fucking me, right $700. You lost your home. You might have lost a family member. You probably lost everything you owned. So many people are dealing with Such tragedy. I Am so fearful of that situation. We just had an episode of the podcast a few weeks ago where I thought I was going to lose everything to a fire. Right, I just for one second felt one millionth percent of what those people are feeling. Right, because it was nothing compared to what's happening. Right, my imagination took me to that point. My imagination had me thinking and feeling like I lost everything, or like I could right that I was. The potential existed for that to happen, but it never happened and it never came that close to happening. That fear, that anxiety is reality for these people, that hopelessness, helplessness, fear, everything. I can't even imagine what that's like. Man, just take for a minute, take for one minute, putting yourself in in that position of having fire. Take everything from you right, just seeing it coming and sweeping out Everything that you've ever worked for, for everything that you've ever built, and then all the people around you, your community, that common unity, your family, your friends. It Happening to everyone, everything just being wiped out. People are dying during this. You think about that for a minute? Would you want your response to be here? $700 from the government. How many of you have given $700 for the government a week? Right, get the fuck out of here. This is Such a sorry excuse. An example of leadership. It's a piss poor representation of this country and how things need to be run here. I've seen so many videos of people in Maui just begging, pleading, praying for a month and praying for help. Ma'am, my heart breaks for them. I Don't. I don't have words. I don't have words to accurately describe what's going on. I don't have the words to accurately describe their, their feelings, your emotions, because I don't know, because I can't imagine, because nothing that that tragic has happened to me. I can't, I can't put it into words, I can't describe it right. We've all seen it. You know what I'm talking about. To for one second, think of those people. And then our lack of response, our lack of help and effort Unbelievable. Today, a few hours ago, before this podcast, I saw some videos kicking around and I didn't even push go on the video. As far as I didn't turn the sound on I I read it enough. Right one was the presidential puppet was in a, in like a I don't know, like a conference room ballroom setting with some of the victims from for Maui and they were. They were talking and he fell asleep. He fell asleep. There was a video of this old fuck asleep. As Americans, how does that make you feel? Is that is that okay? Is that okay with you? Whatever it is that you believe, whatever it is that you stand for, I hope there's a common ground here. I hope there's a there's a common value here and that is that you should have passion and compassion for the people on this planet. Right, you should have passion and compassion for fellow Americans. I'll be remember that when it's time to vote. I don't care who you vote for. I don't care who you vote for. I don't care. If you're listening and you tell me you hate Donald Trump, and then you would, you would never vote for Donald Trump. I don't. That's okay. It's okay if you feel like you can't stand for what he stands for. You know who I stand for and with you know how I believe, but I'm not gonna push that on somebody. What I'm gonna say to you is this what is time for you to vote, can you think about the $700 checks? If you just lost a loved one, if you just lost your house, your animals, your everything and you were handed a $700 check from your president, can you think about that? When it's time to vote? Can you think about the victims being in that room and him falling asleep? If that isn't such a sign of not giving a fuck about America and its people, I don't know what is Is Now. I didn't have the ability today to push, go on a video and watch all of it because I didn't want to totally derail myself and get all fired up Because, as you can tell, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm already getting emotional and I'm already getting fired up about this. This is without even pushing play on this, but while the presidential puppet was there giving a speech and it may be previously to him falling asleep, I did not push play on this because I did not want to listen to it, but I read part of it and I'm going to move on. So if you want to fact check me, that's fine. If you have a problem with it, then maybe I'll between this episode and next, I'll watch it or I'll attach the video to our podcast feed on Facebook, whatever. Apparently, while giving a speech, he compared the Maui wildfires to a house fire that he had when he was younger and the fact that he almost lost his 67 Corvette. I believe it was. Can you, can you really process that? Can you think about that for a second? You're standing in a room talking to victims. You see people lost everything. You want to compare it to a fucking house fire you had that I guess research says was a fire in the kitchen that was put out within 20 minutes and he talked about being scared that he almost lost his 67 Corvette. Remember that, america, when it's time to vote. You remember that man? I'm fucking believable, but I don't want to end this on a pissed off note about a lack of leadership and a sorry excuse of a president. I want to end this on a powerful request to pray for those people in Maui and if there's anything that you can do, then do it. If you can't send money, if you can't donate, if you can't do those things, then you can pray for those things and take this time to count all of your blessings to recognize that life could always get worse, that your difficulties could always be greater, your obstacles could always be bigger. Be grateful for what you have. Tell somebody next to you that you love them, support your neighbors, your friends. As much as you can Count your blessings, it could certainly be worse. Whatever it is that you're dealing with today, imagine what they are dealing with right now. Pray for those people. Got ya intéressing songs, alright, alright, alright. Welcome back y'all. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Chad Struckle Podcast episode 163. That's 163 consecutive weeks of you and me as we flip the script to the task at hand. Today, I want to highlight something super awesome. Today Did you guys get a chance to maybe even see on Loud Prod American social media outlet. I put it on the Loud Prod American Facebook page. I might have put it on the podcast page. I think I did. Might even put it on my personal page. But have you guys heard about Oliver Anthony? Have you guys heard about this young fella, this, uh, ginger from Virginia? Oh my God, sometimes I crack myself up. Man, this is a Ginger from Virginia. That sounds so cool. I should reach out to him with a marketing campaign, maybe a t-shirt idea and see how it goes. But Oliver Anthony, he came up with a song, um Richmond, north of Richmond, and it is so unbelievably powerful. It uh basically really kind of sums up some of the things that we just talked about, basically um and around about way, because it talks about just the new world that we're living in and how much of a damn shame it actually is. So if you guys have not given that a listen, go ahead and do that. You can find all of my social media channels. You can find it absolutely everywhere. What's so powerful about this is, uh, really more so him and his message and and his purpose, because what's really crazy about this is that this fella came out and he posted a YouTube video one day before his song hit YouTube. Okay, so there's a video you can watch on his YouTube channel and I'll see if I can link it up on our show notes today. But Oliver Anthony has this video. He records it in the car right, just in his pickup truck, and he basically says all right, y'all, um, I am about to release this song, it's going to hit YouTube tomorrow and, uh, I just want to come on here because hopefully, uh, some some traffic comes my way right, hopefully you know my message, my song gets to somebody and then you make your way over to my social media. So by doing so, I want to take take a minute to kind of introduce myself, right, so it gives a little bit of a story about himself and and the fact that, um, you know he's, he's had some demons, he's had some battles and he has turned his life around and that he found God and, uh, he really just committed himself to to God and to a positive life and to making a difference, and he started writing songs to in his, in his mind and his heart that would make a difference. He started writing songs that he thought could help somebody, and people have been reaching out to him and and saying you know, thank you, this, this song has helped me with my addiction. This song has helped me with these difficult times. And then you realize, you know what. This is my purpose. This is. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to commit myself to, uh, writing and and singing, producing music, doing everything I possibly can. This is my life's work, this is my life's purpose. This is what I'm going to do. So, in this video that he cuts and releases one day before his song rich man North of Richmond. He literally says in his video Lord willing it'll get some traffic. Think about this for a second. He puts his video out on YouTube talking about the song coming out tomorrow. Lord willing it'll get some traffic. Do you know? The next day when that song hit YouTube, it broke the fucking internet. Did you know that? Because when his song came out, when it hit, it literally shot to number one on iTunes. Are you guys understanding this Number freaking one on iTunes Literally? I'm also not talking about, like just country genre for iTunes. I'm talking about across all genres on iTunes, all forms of music. He shot all the way to number one and he actually had three of his songs in the top 10. So I think the Lord was willing to spread your message because you came out and requested it and, hot damn, did he bless it. All the way to number one, three in the top 10, absolutely unbelievable. But this song will hit you right in the feels, it'll put life into perspective and it'll smack you around a little bit. What I think is exciting about this song is, at least for me, is the fact that it was shared with me, so it kind of just hit me. So a couple of weeks ago, when I was at the fair you guys heard the recap story about the Top Some Fair where it just didn't pan out for me I was sitting in my tent hanging out in. A fellow vendor, roger from Mainly Coffee, sent me this link and said whoa, just a whoa like, listen to this video. And I started jamming it. Man, and I was moved and I was emotional over it. And then to see, like within the next day, he was number one and I sent the charts over to Roger. I was like, man, take a look at this, can you believe this? And that message was just cutting through and I feel like with this happening, it's just one more sign, it's one more glimpse of hope that there's more good people in this world, that there's more people in this world that share common goals, common values, that have common beliefs. There should be strength in that, there should be hope in that for each and every one of you, and I really hope that you understand that, that maybe his song and his message and the fact that the people in this country were powerful enough to move that all the way to the top, that shows you, that gives you hope. There's more people out there that think and feel and believe the way you do than you actually think. There's more people out there that think and believe the way that you do than the news would like you to think and believe. You understand what I'm saying. There is a distinct message that has shoved down people's throats in this country by mainstream media, social media, all forms of media, but when it comes right down to it, there's some core beliefs and some core values that most of us believe in that we can draw strength in. I think this is the same phenomenon that happened when Jason Aldean's song Small Town went straight to number one on the charts. Right, it's the same thing. It's the same message, it's the same shot of hope, because sometimes all you need is hope. And I told you when I started the show today we were gonna dig into hope and we're gonna dig into my key piece for hope and we're gonna head there today. But I want you to identify this song and this moment in time as hope and to look at it and say good things still happen in this country. Right, that the internet isn't all bad, because that internet made him famous. The internet made a difference. The internet put this message out right. It was a catalyst for him, for his message, for his purpose, right? There's hope. There's hope there that this too could happen for somebody else. This too can happen for you. And there's hope there for you because, I want you to understand, there's more people that believe the way you believe than you are led to believe. That is hope, baby. That is a shot of hope in him. You got me, you hear me? Great, good, grand. This my business, loud Proud American, is a lifestyle brand dedicated and determined to represent the American spirit, with an unrelenting commitment to provide made in the USA products. If you would like to join the 2% of Americans that buy American and support American, head on over to wwwloudproudamericanshop. Together, we can bring back American manufacturing. Ooh, ooh, ooh, look at you. We are cooking with gas now, baby, whoo hot diggity, damn man. Did you guys feel that? Do you feel that? Do you feel that in your body? Do you feel that right now pumping? That's hope, ian. Baby, that is a shot of hope. That ain't dope. That's hope. Okay, you got me, mm-mm. Now we're rolling, baby, now we are rolling. So I wanna connect the dots and I wanna share with you something that I came up with on the spot today, actually. So spoiler alert. This just happened because, as y'all know, I like to analyze things that are happening around me, that are happening to me, that are happening for me, and oftentimes I slow down and try to put things in perspective before I push record and then I analyze those things, I think about those things and then sometimes they just connect for me, and today they connect in four key P's for hope. But before we get to those four keys, I wanna describe something for you. It is crunch season for Loud, proud American, and we're gonna connect the dots between this show and last week's show, because last week we let you know that, man, times are tough. Things ain't easy being lemon squeezy, right. We had those conversations about is this a speed bump? Is this a road block? Is it a turn back sign or is it an obstacle? That on the other side there's greater things of mine? Right, this is where we're at, man, this is where we're at. Things have been tough, things have been rough. The season has not been great. Most of my events are down 50%, but we continue to find creative ways to make things happen and I'm encouraged to continue to make things happen because of hope. Okay, sometimes hope comes in many different ways, many different shapes and forms. Hope is sometimes all you need. I believe it was a John Lennon and Paul McCartney that said love is all you need. Well, that might be true, but I'm also gonna say that sometimes hope is all you need, and it is hope, it is that feeling inside that gives you the drive to continue outside. Now there's many definitions of hope. You wanna look them all up online, but what I'm trying to define for you in hope is that, that belief, that confidence, that seedling of confidence that whatever it is that you see for you can come true for you, that you have that ounce of hope. That's that common drive, that common connection, that common force that keeps that dream alive. Whatever it is inside of you, that little hope-eam dream, that's what we need y'all. We need that shot of hope that says man, this dream might still be alive. Sometimes we get weak. We get weak in the knees and you need a shot of hope. So I wanna connect last week to this week and if you've listened last week, I wanna remind you those difficulties, right, I wanna remind you that again, another down fare, another unsuccessful event for Lab Proud American the shop truck breaks down. I spend a whole day trying to get home. So again, let's bring ourselves back to last week, to the difficulties of the week, to questioning yourself, to doubting yourself, to wondering if this is the right path for yourself. Right, that's the place that I'm in and I'm confident that I can see so many of you in that same place. There's something that you wanna do for you, there's something that you believe in for you and it's not coming true for you. When you have yourself, you find yourself just doubting yourself. Right, and questioning yourself hey, is this right for me, and can I continue down this road? Do I need to pivot? Do I need to fold? Do I need to give up? Whatever, it is right. You've either been there, you're headed there or you're currently there. There's something that you want that you just can't have and you're questioning yourself on whether this is meant for you. During those times, you need a little bit of hope, and I found some hope last week and I identified some key areas of hope and we're gonna discuss those. But I wanna tell you that after last week's podcast, it wasn't a quick change over to positivity for me, because, after last week's podcast, I had to dig into a major project for Benton v Saloon, one of the biggest let's see how I put this one of the biggest wholesale orders that I've actually received for the brand, which is great. Right, that's a great thing, and if wholesale orders can help offset some of the lack of success at events, that's one creative way of getting around things. But the problem is I was running into a lot of difficulty with my equipment and things weren't working. Little things, simple things that have just been routine for me, were failing. Things weren't working. I spent two days, two entire days, battling equipment just to complete, let's say, six or seven t-shirts, when I needed to complete over 200 t-shirts and over 200 pairs of yoga pants, okay, so, as this is happening, you're starting to think about man. My largest events are coming. I have three fairs left on the calendar, three fairs, one of them being my biggest event of the year that's quickly approaching, and then the other one my next event on the horizon is big enough to potentially rival my biggest event. Right, you guys have heard me talk about the Windsor Fair and how blessed and thankful I am to be there and how grateful I am for my friends at Ledgeway Farm for helping me to get in there. I have a lot of stock and faith and hope on this event. I'm getting ready for that event right now. I'm heading out to that event on Thursday. We'll be bringing the camper out and starting to set up for that event. It opens on Sunday and runs all the way through Labor Day. I'll back up on Tuesday after Labor Day and then I will tow to our next event, getting ready for our next fair and then after that fair I'll come home and get ready for our biggest event. So that's kind of what my schedule looks like right now. As far as what's on my schedule, I have three events left. That's it, y'all. And I'm at that point right now where it hasn't panned out. The business has not turned a profit yet this year. We are completely in the red at this point this year. You understand Now when you think about all those things, all those moving parts. I want you to now put yourself in my shoes of nothing's working. My equipment's not working. I diagnose a situation as my office is full of humidity. There's an issue in here. I have too much apparel in here. It's too hot in here. I'm in the basement, I'm moving everything out of there trying to make room. It's still not working. I got dehumidifiers running, not working. You know what the solution is? Pull the siding off and blow a hole on the side of the wall. Yes, I stopped everything I was doing and ripped the siding off and then me and my dad cut a hole on the side of the house To throw an air conditioner in there because, spoiler alert an AC will turn humidity into cool air. So that's what we did. We stopped and cut a hole in the side of the fucking house and threw an air conditioner in it. Did it work? You damn right, it did, little redneck ingenuity. But it's just one more thing to show that you can't let things stop. You can't let things derail you. You got to find a way around them. But during that time, during those two days where things weren't working and things were stacking up and the deadlines coming and the timelines shrinking, I had a meltdown, y'all. I'm coming off of that unsuccessful week. I'm coming off of the breakdown. And I had a mental breakdown and I had a conversation with my wife. She just kind of called me, you know, at the. I guess you should say the perfectly wrong time. And I just had a breakdown and said I don't know if I can keep doing this. I don't know what to do, I don't know how much more I can take. And I literally said I'm at that point where I don't know how much more I can handle, like I don't, I don't know what to do here. I can feel it coming, I can feel a breakdown coming and I don't know what to do. And, man, it was hard. It was hard to overcome that. And my wife was saying things to calm me down and to try to refocus me, and and she was pleading to me that you need to ask for help in areas that you can, that you can get help right, and and I'm not so good at that, and it's just it just kind of hit me in that scenario and I ended up asking my mom and my dad for some help and our outcome was to let's cut a hole in the wall and put an air conditioner in, and I know this sounds crazy as to how that all connects here, but but it does. And that was me coming out of the box because Something I really wasn't thinking about and it ends up being a solution that works. And then some late nights and early mornings and long weekends and here we are getting back on track. But I got to a breaking point. But there was a shot of hope because when we found a solution and it worked as much as I was behind the eight ball it worked. That's a shot of hope, right, and I got some help and that was a shot of hope. Before you know it, you get in a double dose of hope and you're starting to figure things out and you're starting to Make things happen. And once I completed that job, that was more hope, because now I'm hopeful that I Can get my own things done. Now I'm hopeful that, hey, this event coming is gonna be a good event, because you started putting projects behind you. You started putting successes behind you. You started stacking blocks of success. That's another way to build hope. So as I load the back of my truck up with product for the saloon and drop it off, I'm stacking success. I'm building hope through some production right, because I'm getting things done. And Shit, I might have to change my four key piece to five as we're talking. All right, let's let's ruin the opening of the show when I said four because I Told you it happened. Naturally, production, that's another one. Five keys Maybe I'll go back and edit this five Key piece of hope the first one, I'm gonna throw it there in a particular order production. Sometimes just getting things done if you just get something done, there's a feeling, there's an accomplishment that happens, that's a dose of hope. Having production sometimes it just comes down to purposeful movement. You can get out of a rut by just moving, by just picking your feet up, putting them in front of each other and making something happen. Production when you get things done, you will build hope. Build hope from one key P Production. Courtesy of me, you hear me get something done. If you're beating yourself up, if you're doubting yourself, if you're self-sabotaging, if you're on the on the brink of failure, on breaking down, make something happen. Purposeful movement, fine production. Get something done. You understand that happened for me. Production. The next one, I'm gonna throw it for you. And a key P is perspective. Now, when we're in the midst of Of a meltdown, of a breakdown, it's kind of hard to remain positive, right, it's real hard to have that positive outlook, that positive perspective. But sometimes somebody else can have that perspective for you. Sometimes they can sprinkle that positive perspective on you. But Building hope one key way to build hope is with perspective, because when you get down and You're beating yourself up, yes, it may be almost impossible to have that right perspective. But if you maybe start with some production and you get something done, you can very quickly build some perspective when you have that completed job. I'm going to give you my example for a moment here. When I complete that big job for the saloon, there's my production. When I drop it off and I'm going to get paid, it's pretty easy to change my perspective when I'm going to collect a paycheck. You understand what I'm saying. Perspective can give you that positive outlook. When all of a sudden I'm banging out jobs and all of a sudden I've worked around the issues in the office, all of a sudden that timeline might be ticking away, the difficulty, the deadline might be stacking up. But if I have a positive perspective about what's to come, when I think about the fact they have three events coming not that they're my last three, but I think about them as my best three I can change the perspective on my year for me. You understand what I'm saying. Having that right perspective is a way to build hope, you understand. The next one I'm going to highlight is peers. So, if we're highlighting our piece of hope, I've given you production, I've given you perspective and I'm going to give you peers, because your peers can fill you with hope. Each and every one of you. I started off earlier today in this message by saying thank you, and I mean it Each and every one of you, whether you're a day one with that finger to the sky or if this is your first time listening to this guy, thank you, you are my peers. You are a great source of hope because each and every week when I drop a podcast episode, I hear from one of you that fills me with hope, that gives me the confidence, that gives me the belief and helps me continue. And what's kind of cool last week is that I actually did an event at Bentley Saloon. I DJed and it was my best DJ at the Saloon DJ night DJ performance I think that I've ever given or ever had, and it was an event that I really didn't. To be honest, I'm going to be confessional here, y'all. I'm going to take my hand put on the Cabela's catalog. Honor this guy, give you the truth from this guy, I don't even want to go. I've been doing these costume events. This one was a cartoon one, and I had a hard time getting up for it. I wasn't really excited for it. I don't even watch cartoons, so I guess I had low expectations, but it exceeded everything. We had a packed dance floor. We had a great time. There was some drama, there was some fights. One of our friends, a balancer, got punched in the face. My wife almost got into a fight spoiler alert, completely not her fault, though. Long story, this table was trying to basically fight a bunch of people that were there, so what I'm trying to make for a point here, though, is that, violence aside, I had a great time, I delivered a great performance, and I had so many people coming up and thanking me for it and saying how much of a great time they had, and the dance floor was packed and it was easy to see that everything was working for me, and it was the best performance I ever gave to the saloon as a DJ. I'm just going to throw it out there and when I was all said and done and I was packing up and I was talking to the wife, I literally said to her I needed that, I needed that. And it's true, I needed that. I needed that win, I needed that success, I needed that production right and because I enjoyed it and I knew that, I knocked it out of the park and then it went well. I received the feedback from my peers that much more you understand, I had people come up to me and thank me and say it was a great job. They had some friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, some middle school friends that I hadn't seen in years, come up and just say, man, that was awesome, we had a great time. Thank you. We're moms. We don't get out much. The fact that we got out and saw you, this is great. You killed it. And then it turned into them having a conversation with me saying hey, we're proud of you and what you're doing for yourself and the fact that you're out there living life and you're crushing it and you're making things happen and you're building this brand. Like we're so excited for you and we're jealous of the life that you're living. And the wife and I had this conversation on the way home where I said it's crazy to think that some people can look at what we're doing and then be envious of the life that we're chasing when we're having doubts about whether we should be living this way, whether that we should be on this journey. You understand how crazy that is. You guys see that comparison there, that connection. But I took that shot of hope from my peers, my peers telling me we're proud of you, we're excited for you, we see these things for you. Thank you for this night. And then strangers just coming up, like you did great, I loved it. It was a great moment in the night where this gentleman came up and he requested Jason Aldeen, small town and I played it and I gave a speech to the crowd about being a boy born and raised in a Rondendoll and that that shit wouldn't happen in my small town, and I made a quick speech about this brand and this task at hand and how we stand with Aldeen, and I got goosebumps and I was just full of passion and the place was going nuts. It was just such a crowd response and everything about it was just phenomenal and that was a shot of hope. That was hope getting poured into me from the crowd, from the people, from the feedback, from the positivity. You could find hope from your peers and I needed that. I needed that. Oh so much. Now there's two more Ps that we can identify, and one of them some people might consider to be controversial or they might not buy NC where they might not believe in, and that's okay. So maybe it's not five Ps for you, maybe it's four, maybe you go back to my original four Ps philosophy, but for me, that other Ps is power, and it's higher power that you need to believe in, a higher power. I believe in a higher power and I believe that there's hope there. That there's hope because I'm here for a reason and I feel like I'm doing these things for a reason, that I have a gift and I'm trying to share that gift, and I have a message and I'm trying to share that message and because of that, the higher power shall see me through this two-shell path. Whatever this difficulty is, this two-shell pass that someday, some way, I'm going to make the difference. Someday, some way, I'm going to achieve all that I want to achieve. A key P for me is higher power. And the last one I'm going to give you is purpose. If it is your purpose, it will come true. If it is your purpose, it will happen for you. You understand, if you are living your life's purpose, it'll happen. If you are chasing your purpose, if you are living your mission, it will happen. So for me, I feel like there's a positive message that I'm trying to spread. That's the reason why we have 163 consecutive weeks, you and me. That's my purpose. This is my purpose. Part of my purpose is highlighting America, is building American manufacturing. It is building a brand that I believe in. It's being American, born and raised, it's believing in the mission. It's the purpose of building American manufacturing, the purpose of celebrating America, of being proud to be American and spreading a positive message and living a positive life. These things are my purpose. Because they are my purpose, they will happen. My purpose gives me hope. When you are living in your purpose, when you are spreading your message, when you are chasing your calling, you are full of hope because you believe it wholeheartedly. You understand what I'm saying. So for you out there, looking for hope, maybe it's not a life's purpose for you, but if it's something that you really need to achieve for you, something that defines you, something that makes you, that will be your purpose and because of that purpose, your dedication and your drive will be deeper. It will be more dedicated, more determined, more connected and by doing so, that purpose will give you hope. We have come up with five keys to hope Production appears, perspective, power as in a higher power and purpose. Now, you can't find all those at the same time when you're struggling, but when you are struggling and one of those peas hits you, trust me, you will find hope. And when you start stacking peas, those key peas to hope, the more hope you build. Eventually you're getting a full on dose of hope ium and you're back on track. I am back on track because I found production, because I got some jobs done. I am back on track because some peers filled me with hope and positivity. I am back on track because I changed my perspective, because, after having some production and good positive feedback from some peers, I start to think about my next three events as my best three events. I know I had the love and support and belief and commitment and dedication from my higher power. That gives me hope that this will happen and I know I'm living my purpose, so this will happen. I have become hopeful how hopeful you might ask. Hopeful enough to tell you that, once again, I have fully committed and bet on loud, proud American, to the point where, as we've discussed, businesses down, things aren't working. We're in the red. And what did I do over the course of this week? I found a way to go out and to expand my display. I received my new tent that I spent three grand on. I went out and bought Ridwall and shelving and hooks. I've released, or getting ready to release, two brand new designs. Stay tuned, I will prove to you. We are standing with Aldean real damn soon. But I've done all these things to double down, triple down on the business and on the next three events. As soon as I'm done recording today, I'm going to go back into the office and finish production and to get ready for these events. We are going just steadfast and determined, running into a brick wall to make this happen. I have, in all honesty as motivating and demotivating as this statement is can tell you, I have run out, maxed out, liquidated every line of credit that I have, every ounce of money that I have. I made sure there's enough money for the first of the month's mortgage payment to come out, for my bills to be paid. Everything else went into product for this business, displays for this business. I'm so determined and so full of hope. I'm going to this next event without enough money to pay for my camping, without enough money to pay for my vendor space, because I'm confident enough I'll make it on day one. That is belief in my brand. That is hope for the task at hand or it's just straight up stupid, but we're about to find out. But I ain't got time for doubt. I've pushed it all out. I'm focused on hope and I'm hopeful my next three will be my best three. Thou proud American, we're coming for you, baby man. Hot damn, it's a little scary. It's a little scary, but I'm pretty damn confident because I'm fueling up on hope. And I'm gonna leave you with this last piece of advice here If you're out there struggling, if you find yourself on the verge of a breakdown, like I was, control what you can control. And I wanna say this when my wife talked to me, she gave me her message and said that all these things about we're gonna get through this, we're gonna figure this out and asking for help. And I kind of highlighted that a little bit. The tables turned pretty quick in the week because my wife has been working by herself, running me off as by herself and stressing herself out by putting so many things on her plate, and I was able to return the favor to her and to give her a message that says, like number one take a minute for you, recalculate yourself, recalibrate yourself and then control what you can control and ask for help for the things you can't control. And it was just a full circle moment, right? She gave me some advice to help me through. I gave her some advice to help her through. We both implemented that advice and it helped us with our situation. So I hope it can help you as well. Control what you can control and ask for help with what it is you can't control. So if you find yourself struggling whether it's a never ending to-do list or it's some mental issues that you're having right, some anxiety that you're having, some difficulties that you're having control what you can control. When you take control of something in front of you, when you find that production right and you start making things happen, sometimes just taking handle on what's in front of you and controlling that to the best of your ability is enough to get you through. If it isn't, there's some things that are holding you back. Ask for help on those. But it's a lot easier to ask for help when you can cross something off the list by taking control of something. So find what it is and handle it, and then, what you can't handle, ask for help. We're all here to help you. You understand this too shall pass, you can handle it and you, if you follow my five key P's, you can live with some damn hope. I'll leave you this week with a quote from Tony Robbins it's not knowing what to do, it's doing what you know. Sometimes in life we're not gonna know what to do. Sometimes in life we're gonna be faced by some serious, difficult challenges and we don't know what to do. We don't know how to respond. Don't think about those big things. Think about what you do know and get that done. Handle what you can handle, control what you can control and ask for help. For the rest, it's not knowing what to do, it's doing what you know. And what I know to do is to say thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go watch Bucket Heads and Tell these Havoc. That's it and that's all BiggieSmiles. If you found value in today's show, please return the favor and leave a positive review. Share it with someone that is important to you. Hit, subscribe and help us grow our tribe. Are you interested in sponsoring the show? Maybe you're looking to be a guest on the show? Find all that you need to know about the show at sharethestrucklepodcastcom. Subscribe to Grow Our Tribe on Apple Podcasts, spotify, google Podcasts, amazon Music, iheart Radio and all other major platforms, and don't forget to like and share our official Facebook page at Share the Struggle Podcast. If you're a loud, proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, you can find me on YouTube, on Facebook or the face page, as my mama calls it Just search Loud, proud American. If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker, the Instagram or the Tickety Talk but the kids would be a tickety talking, the TikTok you can search Loud Underscore, proud Underscore American. If you want to join the 2% of Americans that support American manufacturing, head on over to wwwloudproudamericanshop and get your hands on some of that made in USA. Apparel and join the mission Mission 2%. Together, we can bring back American manufacturing. A big old thank you to the boys from the Gut Truckers for the background beats and the theme song that shared the struggle podcast. You can find the Gut Truckers on Facebook. Just search Gut Truckers and show your support to those Mother Truckers. I truly thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your fucking hands, your filthy savage.