Feb. 4, 2026
Signs, Grit, And Going For It: From Angel Numbers To Daytona
A number on a license plate. The same number at checkout minutes later. That strange echo was the push we needed to move from doubt to a full-send commitment: we’re heading back to Daytona Bike Week for the 85th anniversary, this time posted up at the legendary Cabbage Patch. It’s not luck and it’s not magic. It’s a blend of faith, timing, and the kind of work you only do when the pressure is high and the mission matters.
We open up about why America 250 turns 2026 into a once-in-a-generation chance for a US-made brand built on God, country, and hard work. You’ll hear the nuts and bolts of our plan: cutting safe but stagnant events, building a targeted outreach video for festival applications, and chasing stages where authentic, American-built stories resonate. We talk about the bus breakdown that bruised our biggest event in 2025, the rental bills that followed, and the choice to get brutally organized—daily cash tracking, payoff schedules, and a promise to cut monthly expenses by half.
Daytona wasn’t a romantic yes. The rent is higher, the hours are longer, and the logistics are heavier. But the alignment is real: an anniversary year, a stronger location, and a product line that belongs in the heartbeat of a rally. With our road crew locked in and parts finally arriving, we’re betting on execution, not excuses. Along the way, we explore the idea of signs—how noticing patterns can focus your courage, and how process turns that courage into action.
If you’ve been waiting for a nudge to take your own leap—switch events, launch the product, prune your calendar, fix the system—this is your invitation. Listen, share it with someone who needs momentum, and tell us: what sign are you following this year? Subscribe, drop a review, and send this to a friend who’s ready to grow through it.
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Thank you for Supporting My American Dream!
00:01 - Open Eyes, Open Spirit
01:35 - Welcome Back And Community Vibes
04:08 - Planning 2026 And New Events
06:41 - Video Pitches And Festival Strategy
08:59 - Leaving Comfort For Bigger Bets
10:49 - America 250 As Growth Catalyst
13:08 - Record Sales Year, Hard Lessons
15:18 - Family, Travel, And Tough Tradeoffs
17:03 - The Bus Breakdown And Cash Crunch
19:08 - Radical Organization And Financial Reset
22:04 - The Daytona Dilemma Returns
24:13 - Doubt, Delays, And Seeking A Sign
26:05 - License Plate 6066 And The Receipt
28:07 - Interpreting 6066: Balance And Trust
31:08 - Decision Made: Back To Bike Week
33:01 - Cabbage Patch And Team Lineup
34:45 - Owning The Risk And The Hope
36:58 - An Invitation To Notice Your Signs
39:30 - Gratitude And Where To Find Us
WEBVTT
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If you choose to walk through life with your eyes open and your spirit receptive, signs will guide your path and push your ass.
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If it's the God you pray to or the universe you wake up to, if you pay attention, they have something to tell you.
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Let me tell you something.
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Everybody struggles.
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The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it.
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The choice is completely yours.
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Which one you choose will have a very profound effect on the way you live your life.
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If you find strength in the struggle, then it's for relationship that is comfortable with stages.
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Am I so excited to be back with you?
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Oh, it is true.
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It is damn true.
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Why?
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Because I love you, Boo.
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How do you do?
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Tip of the morning to ya.
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Top of the morning.
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Happy afternoon.
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Uh good evening to you.
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I don't know.
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I don't know what time of day and what way you be listening.
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I don't really know.
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But I need to let you know that I appreciate you and I acknowledge you.
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If you are one of the loyal ones, one of the day ones, get your ones up.
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I acknowledge you, and I thank you for being on this journey with me for 291 episodes.
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Thank you very much.
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If this is your first one, then welcome to this positive vibe and this positive tribe that we are building.
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This is episode 291, and I am ready to have a little fun.
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Share the struggle podcast, the podcast where we are willing to share whatever it is that we are going through, whatever it is we are growing through, because we know the truth, boys and girls, chipmunks and squirrels.
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If you are courageous enough to share it, then we can all grow from it.
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How do you do?
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How's everybody feeling out there?
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Man, I uh I'm happy to I've had a few days plow truck free, tractor free, just trying to be free, you know what I mean?
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I don't know if y'all have been affected by snowmageddon, but it's nice to get out of it a little bit.
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It's nice to have a little sunshine, 30 degrees never felt so nice.
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I was in the store sweating.
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I had to take a coat off.
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You know what I mean?
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Like, just it just feels different, okay?
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I know we got a long way.
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Old freaking Punxitony Phil said you got what, six weeks to six months of suffering left, whatever that scoundrel said.
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The wife showed me a meme that said, if old Punxitony Phil sees his shadow, he's going in the crock pot.
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You know what I mean?
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I don't think he's been all that accurate anyway.
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Which also fun fact, wife told me this is the last year for the Falmer's Armanac.
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Have you guys heard that?
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That's it.
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This is the this is the final straw.
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There's people listening out there that have no clue what the Farmer's Almanac actually is.
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So do you.
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This will be no shock, no surprise.
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But uh to me, kind of surprised, kind of surprised.
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Well, I hope everybody's doing good.
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We have made it to February.
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That means the first month of 2026 is in the books.
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That month been cooked.
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Okay.
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I will say that the first month of the year for Laura Prot American was successful.
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It was a nice boost.
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We are up year over year already, so I feel like we have some momentum building on the year, but there's also these uh monumentous obstacles to overcome, but I'm encouraged by them.
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And this is kind of where we're headed today.
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We're gonna get into being open to signs, being receptive to the nudges that come along the way, and the latest example of something pushing me to take another leap.
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Something that uh was just the final straw to tell me, come on, boy, get make your move.
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You know what I'm saying?
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And the words of Doc Holliday, you just gonna stand there and bleed?
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Or was it Wired Arp?
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I don't remember which one, but might have been Wired Arp.
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Either way, both great, okay?
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And also greatest movie of all time, Tombstone.
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Just saying.
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That's when Westerns were westerns, okay?
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That's before this Yellowstone kidney stone nonsense, okay?
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Y'all Yellowstone people out there, get yourself a copy of Tombstone and you're welcome, okay?
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Just saying.
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Alright, just putting that out there.
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Now, here's the thing: in the first year of 2026, there's a lot of planning that goes into it.
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The method of the madness for me is I will go and uh just open up a document online, make a temporary uh template calendar, print it off on regular paper, and then I just start chucking opportunities at the pages, right?
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I just start to fill out the events that I always go to, and then the events that maybe I'd like to go to, any notes that I've taken throughout the year about potential events that I should look into, and then I just start scouring high and low, just looking for potential events.
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And uh actually, part of this process, I'm gonna be jumping around a little bit here, but um, I don't have notes for this.
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I'm just kind of really just doing a little brain dump for y'all to give you a little example.
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We're gonna peel back the uh layers of the onion a little bit, we're gonna core this baby out, we're gonna get to the center so you understand where this is all brewing from.
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But part of the process this year in applying for new events, I decided to make a little YouTube video.
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And uh that YouTube video is uh me just introducing the apparel brand and um showcasing some photos of customers, many of you listening, probably in some of those photos, and then just saying, hey man, we're looking for new events, we're looking to uh build the brand, to expand our audience, to find like-minded people.
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And I've been taking my YouTube video and I'm starting to attach it to vendor applications and sending that out as a way to separate myself from uh other businesses, other vendors.
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I made this video with a couple of uh niche categories in mind to separate myself and make myself look a little bit different because I don't feel like they have a vendor like me, but I feel like it's a great opportunity for me.
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And uh, I shouldn't say all these things, but I'm just gonna let a few things out of the bag.
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I've started to seek and apply for certain country music festivals because I think that's an untapped market for us that has great potential for us, and I'm looking forward to hopefully being accepted as some of those.
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One of the challenges that I put on paper this year when I go back to those random pages as I start to make the plan, some of the things that I put on there is that I want to remove myself from a whole list of events that I've been doing for six years.
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Or this would be the sixth year, I guess you would say, if I did them.
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Some of them have been good to me, uh, they've been loyal to me, they're close to me, they're convenient to me, but I don't know how much they're benefiting me.
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It's hard to say goodbye to guaranteed money, but I need to bet on the brand and I need to step out.
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I need to um really just try to branch out, take some chances, put ourselves in new places.
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And I think that this year, the year 2026, is the perfect year for our brand to expand, to reach out, and to try new things.
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One of the biggest reasons for that is that this beautiful country that we live in was born in 1776.
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Welcome to America 250.
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This year we throw a birthday party, 250 years in the making that shall last all year.
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The good news, boys and girls, chipmunks and squirrels, is that means a lot of different events, fairs, festivals, concerts, they are leaning into America 250.
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They are looking to celebrate and put an emphasis on America 250.
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What better way?
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What brighter way?
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What uh imaginable?
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I'm looking for words because I can't I can't come up with more words because there isn't any more words, because we are the perfect fit to sprinkle a professional, beautiful dosage of America on your event.
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It is the cheat code for Loud Proud American this year to apply for events if your theme is American theme, because what better way than to have Loud Proud American at your event red, white, and blue as far as the eye can see?
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How do you do?
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I'm gonna cheat on this one, baby.
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Well, it's not cheating when fate and the universe and the heavens and the birthdays all align.
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When your your driving force and motivation behind your brand celebrates America, American manufacturing, it delivers only American-made products, and it happens to be America's birthday.
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You lean into it.
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Heck, you don't lean on nothing, you run into it, you run hard and fast towards it.
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This year has the potential to be the greatest year we've ever had.
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Now, we are coming off of 2025 being the largest net sales year in the history of this brand, also known as the brokest year for this brand.
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Why?
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Because we broke something every time we left the lot.
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We tried a new, a lot of new things and they didn't all work out.
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But this year, as much as I would want to pull back from trying so many new things, I'm gonna run towards many more new things because this is our year.
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This is the year to tell us if this has the potential that we believe it does.
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If you're tuning into this podcast for the very first time and you don't know what the heck it is I'm talking about, well then strap up your boots, baby, because this podcast is brought to you by the fine folks of Loud Proud American, aka myself, my wife, my baby, and my mama.
00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:33.679
Okay?
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Loud, Proud American, more than just an apparel brand, it is a lifestyle.
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We are dedicated and determined to representing the American spirit through high quality products, proudly made right here in the US of A, rooted in faith and freedom, representing God, country, and the hardworking American.
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That is Loud Proud American.
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Find all things.
00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.960
Loud Proud American at www.loudproudamerican.shop.
00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:00.960
Go on ahead and get you one, okay?
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This is all aligning up.
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The stars are aligned.
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This is our year.
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I am beyond encouraged.
00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.000
I am beyond excited for this year.
00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:11.759
Can y'all feel the energy?
00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:13.919
Can y'all feel the excitement?
00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:15.600
It is bumping, okay?
00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:24.399
I got goosebumps, and it it could be from excitement, or it could be that I'm in the garage with the heat off to keep the sound down for optimum listening conditions.
00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:25.279
I don't know.
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I don't know which one it is.
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I'm gonna lean on positivity and excitement.
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That's what I'm gonna lean on, okay?
00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:32.480
Wow.
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Let's slow down, let's breathe.
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The folks need to understand your family, your business, your family business is all about America.
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This year is America's birthday.
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We worked for over five years to get to this year for this opportunity, for this moment.
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I started the year off, and I'm still working with these random lose-to-leaf pages of paper, throwing darts at the board, pasta on the wall, just trying to find the best way to fit it all on my schedule.
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Now I must say, it's never been harder for me to leave my home.
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I have my beautiful wife and my beautiful baby girl at home, and I love time with my family.
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It is going to be so difficult to leave my family again for weeks on end.
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But I just need to continue to tell myself that I can replace a lot of the time when I get home when I can take months off on and spend time with them.
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And I need to structure things in ways to allow me to spend more time with them, to not be gone for months at a time, but weeks at a time.
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All these things go into the planning, all these things go into these pages where I'm trying to fine-tune the schedule.
00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:05.519
I've already locked in a couple of new events and I've applied for several new events.
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I'm challenging myself with these events, but with all of this going on, there's a few things happening in the background.
00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:30.399
And the first one of them, if you've been listening along over the past few weeks or the past few months, you know that the Loud Proud American Express, aka the school bus that we converted into the business wagon, broke down going into our largest event of the year, and it left us having to rent a box truck.
00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:39.039
And in doing so, it racked up a pretty hefty bill, and it's now sitting in the driveway, just um out of comish.
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:39.519
Okay.
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.799
No um real positive hope in sight.
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And that bus being down has weighed me down, it has held me back from making choices and decisions on applying for things.
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This is the time right now where my business needs to be on the road.
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We need to be on the road.
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A sapity sap.
00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:14.480
With that said, me and Noah, my mechanic, have been trying to track down some missing parts for this freaking monster that we have, and we located some pivotal parts to the process at a bone yard in Pennsylvania.
00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:25.679
Spoke to the fine people out there, and they mailed me the parts, and it saved us quite a bit of money that could allow us the opportunity to get ourselves back on the road.
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This business, this brand, this bus needs to move.
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We need to get on the road and start making money.
00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:35.759
We have put ourselves in a financial situation.
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We have backed ourselves against the wall.
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But you've heard me say it many times before when backed against the wall, when there's no option but to work your ass off, you're gonna find a way to work your ass off.
00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:51.600
We do our best work in life when the pressure is on.
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We do the best things in life when we have to do the best things in life.
00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:05.519
If y'all know this GOAT, you've been listening to me for a while, you know that every year I go into the year saying I need to be more organized.
00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:13.360
This year I've already started to take steps to hold myself accountable, to start beginning to make myself more organized.
00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:19.519
I need to be more financial uh responsible, I need to work my way towards being more financially free.
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.000
Last year I had to make some difficult decisions.
00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.799
I bet on myself in certain situations and it didn't pan out, it didn't pay off.
00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:38.639
And when you stack those things up with all the times that we broke down, that we messed things up, that we mix things up, all those things considered, it all piled up, and I put myself into a situation.
00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:42.480
I've put myself into the worst financial situation of my life.
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.039
With that said, I'm encouraged.
00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:53.039
You heard the optimism, you heard the excitement, I know the potential, I can see the opportunity, I know what's right here in front of me.
00:16:53.279 --> 00:17:04.880
This year, I vowed to myself and to my wife, to my family, that by the end of the year, I am going to cut my monthly expenses by 50%.
00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:12.079
I'm gonna work them down, I'm gonna pay things down, I'm gonna be more responsible, and I'm gonna put my family in a much better position.
00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:16.799
And then by doing so, it gives me a whole new outlook on the business.
00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:29.279
So next year, at this time of the year, when I'm throwing those random pieces of paper at the wall and I'm trying to get those dates down, I can have a whole new perspective and a fresh new look at the entire business and the entire plan.
00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:33.839
We might have to change a lot of things next year based off the success of this year.
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:43.519
With all this said, I built myself some spreadsheets that every single day when I go in there, I look and see what needs to be paid today, what needs to be paid tomorrow, when is this paid?
00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:44.880
When does this need to be made?
00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:48.160
And I track every single freaking cent.
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Something that most business owners probably should be doing, but I know they're not doing.
00:17:54.079 --> 00:18:03.119
I am trying to get back to basics, and by doing so, I must tell you, it becomes extremely overwhelming, but also enlightening.
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:10.240
I don't know how you can have something feel daunting, but also see a glimmer of hope.
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:11.599
But that's where I'm at.
00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:18.799
Because sometimes just knowing how bad it is gives the opportunity to understand how easy it could be.
00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:31.200
So, by doing these things, finding the part, getting the part sent to me, organizing my life, trying to get things situated, freeing some, I'm doing the best I can to try to remove some clutter.
00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:32.640
I have a long ways to go.
00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.079
When I'm on the road, I tend to pack things at home.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:40.160
You end up just putting things aside and saying, I'll get to it when I slow down.
00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:44.160
And before you know it, when you slow down, you're overwhelmed by everything.
00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:48.880
I'm still trying to remove a lot of the things that were my dad's for my dad's passing.
00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:55.920
And there's a lot of different things going on at home, but we're making progress, we're taking steps.
00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:01.839
And this week we've seen some more progress in that, and and it just feels good.
00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:17.359
Things are starting to feel like there's a path being paved, there's an opportunity that might lie ahead, and I'm starting to feel real encouraged about what's ahead of me, what's right in front of me, what's here for me and my family.
00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:25.680
As daunting as the task can be, I'm optimistic about what's there for me.
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:36.799
With all this said, a few weeks ago I made a little announcement on the podcast that said, I'm considering taking another leap, and I just had a phone call.
00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:49.839
If you guys remember, there was an episode where I was running kind of late, and I said, Man, I had a whole plan, I had all these notes, but I got derailed by a phone call, by a conversation, and now here I am just kind of picking up the pieces.
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:58.240
That phone call and that conversation was me trying to decide if Loud Proud Americans should return to Daytona Bike Week.
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:02.960
If Loud Proud American should take another road trip to Daytona, Florida.
00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:20.000
I had a conversation with a location that is a much um better location for me and my business, um, has a greater attendance, and um I just think it fits us a lot more.
00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:32.000
And uh I had a conversation with them, and um they had agreed to accept me, but it was a a double rent increase for me.
00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:35.119
From where I was the year before, it doubles my rent.
00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:42.319
Now, last year I didn't really make much money, not enough to afford doubling the rent.
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:49.680
But you spend all this time trying to think about whether it was location, whether it was just overall attendance.
00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:57.119
A lot of the statistics will tell you they did geotracking of bike week last year and it was down 25% overall attendance.
00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:01.200
This year is an anniversary year, it's the 85th anniversary, I believe.
00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:10.799
And what happens when a big rally like this is having an anniversary the year previous uh to the anniversary and the year post-anniversary are slow.
00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:13.599
The year of the anniversary is big, it's busy.
00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:15.279
That's when things are booming.
00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:17.680
This year's an anniversary year.
00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:19.920
This year's America 250.
00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:21.519
I'm feeling encouraged.
00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:25.119
I think we can overcome the rent, I think we can do much better.
00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:29.200
There's longer hours, there's more responsibility.
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:39.039
Everything adds up to another bigger challenge that I think that maybe we should try to overtake again.
00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:44.559
Last year on the ride home, I was telling myself I'm never doing this road trip again, I don't want to do this trip again.
00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.000
But I called and I spoke with the venue, and they accepted me.
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.000
And I said, Let me just talk to my peeps and let me think this out.
00:21:52.240 --> 00:22:06.000
And then I immediately called Brian Palmolo, a brother from another mother who was the one that um Really just embarked on this journey with me, pushed me, pulled me, and dragged me through it, and helped me to do it.
00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.559
Brian and his boy Zach, we had a great time.
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.799
We made the best of our time, and I wouldn't do it with anybody else.
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:19.440
And um I talked to Brian and he said, Man, are we doing this or what, dude?
00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:24.880
Like he he kind of pushed me into making the phone call with his overall excitement.
00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:36.319
Then I made the phone call, we got accepted, and then we had another phone call, me and Brian, where we laid out the details, and we both agonized and stressed over the fact, is it worth it?
00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:37.680
Can we make it?
00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:39.680
And we started to spell all these things out.
00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:45.759
And I drilled into the finances, and in the back of my mind, I kept telling myself, you don't even know if you have the bus.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.759
You don't even know if you have wheels, you don't even know if you have the parts.
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:56.160
Now, my bus, I don't even have a garage to fit the bus in for us to be able to work on the bus.
00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.720
And you know, we just went through snow mageddon.
00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:00.640
All these things are weighing on me.
00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:07.759
All of a sudden, we get a little sunshine, all of a sudden we find the parts, all of a sudden the parts arrive.
00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:17.119
All these good vibes are starting to come true, and and you start to think, man, maybe, just maybe, maybe something's telling me it's time.
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:20.799
Something's telling me I need to pull the trigger.
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