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Welcome to the VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory one story at a time. All right, here we are, behind the curtain. What'd you think? I thought it went great. I did, too. Yeah, no, I, I appreciate the questions. I feel like they were thought provoking, which is nice. Yeah, I just, I didn't want to go in with cookie cutter questions, but also, like, not to throw any curveballs, obviously. I felt like, you know, I really kind of was outside the box with the questions, but also, like, I didn't, you know, I didn't get too deep into anything personal. Right. And I just, yeah, gave you the opportunity to share what you want, Wanted to share. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And, you know, I think it's good also because a lot of the, the podcast that we, that I talk on, it's very business focused and most of them are real estate focused and so, and I obviously, I love talking about the platform in great detail, but it's also really nice just to talk about being an entrepreneur and mental health. You know, it's a big part of what I want to share and something that, you know, it's something that I still deal with all the time. You know, I, I, I get crazy anxiety sometimes, and so, you know, it something that, you know, you prompted me to think about that, you know, in a way that I share first vulnerably, so that other people will feel safe to, to be vulnerable to. And when you touched on that at the end, I thought that was really, really poignant, you know, about, yeah, what you said at the end that I thought it was great. Yeah, for sure. And before I forget, I just. Anybody in your circle that's close to you, any entrepreneurs, anybody, any landlords that are, you know, really kind of having the conversation that we're having. Send them my way. I love to have these inspiring, empowering, you know, conversations. This is what the VICI Code is all about. So if, you know, anybody, send them our way. I know you're in a bunch of different circles as far as, like, other, other masterminds. What, what other, what other groups are you finding that work for you? So right now I've been really busy with the business and honestly, I haven't, um, I haven't put a lot of effort into finding another, another group since Dan's membership ended. Um, but, you know, I, I, I've been doing little Workshops, so, like, really temporary things. So I just finished a workshop on public speaking, on speaking on stage. That was a week long. And then a few weeks ago, I did a workshop for. It was kind of like AI coding. So quite varied. My. But that's my. That's my business. That's. My life is quite varied. So, yeah, I've just kind of been enjoying dropping into these kind of more temporary workshops to get some kind of actionable stuff to take on. And I definitely will get back into kind of mentorships and coaching for, you know, like, a longer term. But right now, I think, you know, I want to keep my mind free to be able to focus on the business as and when I need, because some weeks can be really intense. Yeah, I like to. I know we use a lot of curves and stuff on graphs as far as, like, performance and. And progress. I. I like to see. I like to see the world as, like, it's more. It's not like that. It's more steps, right? Like, make a big step, and then you kind of gotta need to, you know, stabilize, make another step of uncomfortable and then stabilize. So I get that. You know, I think. I feel like, you know, you and I have learned a lot and met a lot of amazing people in Dan Martell's elite group, and it makes sense to kind of not put it in practice, Right? You don't. You don't have to be in, you know, in growth mode every second of the year. So that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And so you had mentioned you grew up in England, correct? Tell us a little bit that. Go as deep as you want. But I'm just. I'm just curious, you know, what. How long were you there? When did you travel here? What was that like? Yeah, so. Well, I was born in the uk, but my dad is from South Carolina, so I grew up coming to visit my family in the US As a kid. And so I grew up with dual citizenship, so I always knew that the option was there. And it was in, like, 20, 2014, I think, was the first time I came over here. I was working as a flight attendant, and the job that I was doing was seasonal. So. So when you first start there, you can only work during the summer, and then during the winter, you kind of get laid off, and then you come back the next summer. And I saw that people were starting to go traveling in the winter, and I thought, I could do that. I could do that, so why don't I do that? And I thought, you know, I can go to the US And I had friends that would give their left arm to come and live and work in this country. But it's nearly impossible with all of the barriers and the red tape. And it's so difficult for people to come here that don't have citizenship. And so I thought, you know, I have to take advantage of that. So I came in 2014 and I went to San Francisco for three months and it wasn't for me. Even though I feel like people in San Francisco say it's the best city in the world. Yeah, it was great. It just wasn't for me. So I went back to the UK and flew again for another summer. And then the next year I came out and went to Miami, which was my second choice when I was doing research beforehand. And I loved it. It was just different. I don't know if it was the palm trees or something in the air, but it was just different. And also there was different things going on in my life. My dad had moved back to the U.S. at that point, was living in South Carolina and. Yeah. Which was close. Proximity wise. You were close to him. If you had to drive, you could. But it's a short flight too. Yep. So I would. I was able to go and visit him and spend time and I just decided to stay. And so that was 2015. And yeah, I've been living here ever since. So you're still in Miami then? Yeah, there's a. I think there's a lot of elite people in Miami. Oh, really? Well, I lived in. Yeah, I was in New York for about six years and then I just moved back to Miami last year. What, you were in New York City? Yes, for a while and then Long Island. Yeah, got it. Yeah. New York City's amazing. I love it. It is, it's so. The people there are incredible. And I remember, I remember when I moved from Miami and I went to New York City, it was the, the people, the energy that you get from the people. Everybody's got multiple things going on and they're just hustling and I just loved that energy of being around people. It's so inspirational. Yeah. And then, you know, just took a bit of a detour in my, in my life and ended up back in Miami. Yeah, New York's just so culturally, like, mixed. It's just everyone just gets along and, you know, they may be northeasterners as far as, like their attitudes, but genuinely like, they're just good people and everyone's willing to help. It's a pretty interesting situation down there. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's almost like, you know, it's hard to be here, and we all know it's hard, so we're all going to kind of struggle through this together. Yeah, exactly. And then the two things that, like, you know, actually the three things, the. The voice acting, the flight attendant, you know, real estate, like, none of those require you to go to college. Did you go to college? I did not. Yeah, I didn't think so. I. I thought I would have caught that. But you didn't. And look at you. Pretty amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know. When I finished school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. And it's funny because actually, when you just wrapped up the podcast, I felt like it was just such a. The way that you explained it, it was just felt so relatable that, you know, people don't have linear paths. And. And I think that I really struggled with that for a long time because I don't feel like I've ever had a set pathway. And I think for a long time, I kind of beat myself up about that because it felt like, you know, I would use that. That phrase, you know, jack of all trades, master of none. And I felt like that that was where I was because I had all these different career paths, you know, when I was in sales and I was. Worked as a flight attendant and, you know, and then I was a bartender for a while, and it was. It felt so. So what's the word I'm looking for? It just. It felt like I was just less than, you know, because I. I wasn't. Because I didn't have this clear path from the beginning, and I didn't have this plan, and I think I really beat myself up over. I realize that actually everything that I've done in my past has led me exactly to where I am right now. Absolutely. Every step I took, even if it felt like it wasn't anything back then, even the work that I did as a bartender and as a server, I think that that prepared me in how to deal with people. And all of these steps were different lessons for me and the experiences I had in real estate in the UK and even selling cars. I sold cars for a while, you know, that. That experience of understanding people and really, like, there's been so many. So many different. Different steps, and I think I struggled with that for a while, and now I realize that actually that's. I think it's really important that that's your journey. That's just. It's your journey, and I think it just. I Think it builds, like, a lot of humility, you see, you know, what. What you could do for the rest of your life, and it. And it maybe inspires you to do better, but you do learn so many skills. I tell my kids, I'm like, the restaurant business isn't what you want to spend the rest of your life. And it. It. It can be. It can be rough, but, like, it's a great training grounds for, like, anything else. Right? It. It. It's just so much. You can learn so much chaos and honestly, so much fun. You know, it's almost too much fun, especially when you all get out and go do your thing together. But, yeah, the. The restaurant business is, you know, it's good. And it. Yeah, like, the challenges, the setbacks, it. Like, you. You said it perfect. Like, it all culminated to putting you exactly where you're at now. Like, I always like to say, we're exactly where we're supposed to be. We're. We're not supposed to be ahead, we're not supposed to be behind. And I struggle with that because I graduated school, I graduated college in 2012. I graduated high school in 2002. So there's 10 years it took me to graduate college, but, like, I joined the military and I went to Iraq, and, like, there were some bus stops and in between. And I always look at, like, where I'm at. I always see myself as, like, 10 years or eight years behind, you know, my peers, and I don't see it that way anymore. I kind of see it like, you know, look what I was able to do in such a short period of time. And. Yeah, so we're exactly where we're supposed to be. Absolutely. And think about all the things that. That I'm sure being in the military shaped you in huge ways. You know, even just, you know, like, discip. I feel like, you know, making the bed. Right. It's like, it's all. It's all shaped you to who you are. And I think that those steps are crucial. You know, you can't change them. That's all just part of your experience, part of your journey. Yeah, absolutely. And I think you look at things like, you know, some people say, oh, well, you know, you drank the Kool Aid and, you know, there's brainwashing in the military. And I'm like, yeah, okay. But also, like, you. You see the results of, like, what discipline and consistency looks like. Like, people come out changed people, not always for the better, but, like, if you just look at, like, just discipline and consistency, and you can apply that to other areas of your life. Like, amazing things happen. So. Yeah, I agree. Like, there's definitely been some experiences that, you know, have definitely helped also help me catch up for lost time as well. So. Sure. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. So real quick, I just, I like to, I love asking people about, like, their diet and exercise. So what's, what's, what' Your exercise regimen? What do you do to kind of stay fresh every day? What, what do you. Is there certain days you do biking or hiking or weights? What, what's workout look like for you guys? Well, I, I do CrossFit. I love doing CrossFit. I don't like to, you know, I, I feel like CrossFit gets a bit of a bad rap because people think that, you know, Everybody that does CrossFit talks about CrossFit, but for me, it's just, you know, I love the community. I love being able to go to a class and not have to think about what I'm going to do. But I very challenged. You know, it's such a, it's such a scale of, like, areas of ability. You know, when you think about the gymnastics, the strength, there's endurance, you know, there's so many different areas. And I think that you struggle to get all of those things with any other, any other fitness class. You know, I've tried different, like, boot camps and. But you still, you don't get it in the same level. And so that's what I really enjoy about that. And so I know if I just go to the class, I'm going to get worked out whether I like it or not. All I have to do is show up and I don't have to think about anything else. So I do that every day and. Yeah, you do CrossFit every day? Pretty much, yeah. Wow, that's impressive. So I do CrossFit too. I don't know if you know that. I do CrossFit also. Three, four days max. I feel like maybe it's my age, but like, if I do more than that, I'm just like, dead. But I just recently, if my, if my tax season wasn't crazy enough, I actually got my L1 training done. So that was really cool. So it's cool to see another, another crossfitter out there doing their thing. Yeah. So I do, I say every day, but typically it's like five to six days, but because I have to make time for it. And actually you mentioned something about recovery. Do you have a whoop band by any chance? Boom. Yeah, I Feel like that might be a CrossFit thing too. I don't know. But I recently got that. Well, a few months ago now. And it's really been helpful for me to understand my recovery. And it's so on days where I'm feeling particularly tired or if I got a bad recovery, I just take it easier at the gym. Like, I'm not competitive at all. So for me, I don't care if I go into the gym and I just go steady, you know, I'll just, I really scale the workout back so that it fits what I, what my body needs for that day. And I'm okay with that. You know, if I still go and I still sweat, that's fine. You know, it doesn't have to be an all out every day, you know, go hard, you know. Yeah. No, and I, I think, I think the same is true also for like when you get those green recoveries. I try not to put pressure on myself. Like, okay, today I'm gonna like, you know, do better than I thought. You know, I'm just like, you know, okay, good. Like, I do feel good and green makes sense. But on the yellow or red days, I, I've, I try not to get any red days, but once in a while during tax season, it happens. I just, it's just like a mindset shift. It's like, okay, I'm still showing up, I'm still going. And it may not be my best effort, but you know, sometimes my best efforts are on yellows. But it's really good. I've actually dial things in as far as what I eat, when I eat, you know, things I'm doing, you know, timing with that and I use the AI function in the Whoop app as well. And I basically kind of like take what I am doing in like Claude or GPT and I plop it in there and I say, hey, this is what I'm going. They're like, oh, cool. Now I see what you're trying to do because it's kind of hard to really like dial things in like on the, on the Whoop app on the AI. So I just throw it in there and it's just like, got it. I know where you should be and all these other things. So if you, if you're not using that, it's, it's pretty fun. Yeah, no, I hadn't thought about doing that. I've been fascinated by the, by just, by the, just the data that gives you. I feel like it's so accurate. Yeah. And I was really, I don't know if you drink alcohol, but I was really surprised by the impact of even just one alcoholic drink on my. On my statistics. And I actually haven't had a drink now in over two months. Wow. Because I not. And I think I was open to kind of not drinking before. You know, it's not like I drank a ton, but I definitely drank a lot socially. And so, you know, being able to kind of be aware of the data and just make more informed decisions, you know, for me now it's like, okay, I'm not saying I'm never going to drink alcohol again, but it really has to be worth it. Right? And so, yeah, I've found that I haven't had alcohol for over two months now, and I feel great. You know, I love being able to see the good recoveries and, you know, I focus more on my, you know, you mentioned diet too. You know, I try and do a lot of meal prep and making fresh food rather than eating processed. And, you know, I've really dialed that in over the past kind of year or so in particular, and I feel so much better for it. The sleep, everything. Yeah, that. I mean, those are the things that I'm tracking right now is, you know, getting protein in early in the morning, stop eating at 7, get to bed, hydrating enough. And I haven't drank in like over three and a half years. It's about right now. It just got in the way. Like, just know four kids, I got one on the way. I don't know if I told you that we got, you know, another baby on the way. So it's like I just found it to not be. I mean, not that it was helping me at all for sure. Like I'm kind of all in all, all in kind of guy. If I'm doing it, I'm doing it. But I've just found that, like, you know, I just didn't have the time to belly up to the bar with the guys anymore. And it wasn't really helping me get to my goals. So that's definitely been very helpful over the course of, you know, the last three and a half years. But yeah, like, if I notice, especially if, like, if I'm having something that's high in sugar towards the end of the night, I'm not sleeping well and I'm usually kind of like overheating at night. I wake up, like, sweaty and I'm just like, now I know. Now I know how all these things impact. And like, this is a really good indicator. Helps you track all those patterns. Yeah. Yeah, I love that, too. And same. It's funny how I feel like the more data that you get on it, the more obvious it becomes when you. Like you said. Because it's same for me, like, if I eat late, I know how it impacts my body now, and I feel it. You know, I wake up in the night and I'm. I'm rolling around and I'm hot and I'm. You know, it's. I don't feel good. You don't sleep well. Yeah. And so that's why you guaranteed yellow recovery. Right. If not red. Yeah. And so, like, you know, for me, it's like, okay, I have to make time to prioritize. It's almost part of that, like, delayed gratification, too, because it's like, okay, I'm going to take the time now to do the meal prep and to make sure that I cook a healthy meal to make the time to do that rather than the alternative, because tomorrow I'll feel better, you know? Absolutely. And, you know, that kind of prepping seems, like, exhausting, or it just seems like a lot, like, at first. But again, it just comes down to, like, behaviors and getting into routines. You know, once it becomes routine, it doesn't seem like a pain in the butt anymore. It's just like, all right, yep, this is the time I have. I have a little. A little extra time to do other things. I'll do that. But just becomes a part of your operating system, right? Yeah. And it's like, people say you have to choose your hard. Right. Because, yeah, it's hard to make the meal prep and to take the time to do those things, but it's also hard to be unhealthy and to have to deal with, you know, illness or being overweight or, you know, whatever, all the other things that come along with. With the alternative or just feeling uncomfortable because you didn't sleep good. Yeah. You know, you were being stressed out or being stressed out because you didn't meal prep, and you're just like, why do I. Do I need to be this stressed out? Like, why don't I just do the things that I need to do so I can avoid that? And then I just have a clear vision and more clarity on my day. For sure. There's always ways to dial it in. Yeah. And I think you're right. You know, it kind of comes back to discipline, and I know that that's not easy, and I think it's not easy. And I can't imagine, you know, I'm in a different position. I don't have kids, so, you know that definitely. I know that that gives me a lot of freedom in terms of time and, you know, just mental capacity. And I definitely don't take. Take that for granted. I know that there's a lot of people out there that can't do that for one reason or another, but I do recognize the benefits from that. So I think the one thing for me, like, that is. Was a. Was a mind. A mindset shift, was like, I found myself as an ADHD person, as somebody who suffers from, like, anxiety. I don't know why it comes, and when it comes, it just kind of shows up. I just would always kind of, like, steer away from, like, discomfort or challenges or. Or hard things. And now I lean into it. Now I'm just like. The old me would be like, you know, it still creeps in, you know, the fear, the doubt, the whatever. But I'm like, if. If. If I'm getting that voice, that's just. I don't want to do this. That's, like, exactly the thing I should do. That's exactly what I should do right now. And it always ends up being, like, rewarding. I feel good that I did it. It's done. And, you know, you get that unexp. Whereas, like, I'm just going to be lazy and sit down and watch something, and I don't even know what I'm going to watch. I'm going to watch something. You just feel guilty. I don't even like the feeling of doing that. So it's just getting into those patterns. So, yeah, it's funny you said that. I feel like I've definitely been doing that too. You know, that actually a recent thing that happened to me, somebody invited me to a. It was like a pitch. Your business evening, you know, like, getting on stage and pitching your business. And I instantly. I always said, oh, no, that sounds horrifying. No, I'm not gonna do that. That sounds terrifying. And then I thought about it, and I was like, oh, gosh, that means I should do it. So I wrote it back and I said, okay, sign me up. And I was terrified. And so I thought to myself, you know, I need to get better at public speaking and speaking to, you know, a room full of people. And so as much as it scared me, I did it. And I was terrified, but I did it. And you're right, I felt, you know, I felt very accomplished afterwards because as scary as it was in the moment, I just bit the bullet and did it. And now I have that Experience. Yeah. That I can build on. And I'm like, okay, now I have to keep doing it. I have to keep pushing myself. So that's why I did that workshop recently about, you know, public speaking and, and yeah, yeah, it's all about reps. Right. Like, I don't think I'm ever going to be a sell by chat guy. I mean it'd be nice, but it's just not the, it's not my industry, it's not how it works. But I do see the value and I'm sure there will be business that will waterfall from it. But like just getting out there and recording more and posting more and I just, I've gotten more comfortable with that. Whereas before it was like I used to rationalize and talk my, talk myself into believing. Like, oh, why would I want to do that? I. All these people want attention and I'm just like, well, if I can help more people by being uncomfortable and talking about things and that's what I'm in the business of doing, so just do it. Right. Yeah, exactly that. Yeah, yeah. If, if my, if my temporary discomfort can help provide value to somebody else and like give somebody else some confidence that, you know, we're all just figuring it out, then that's great. Like that's really motivating to also push you to do it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, this has been great. We're actually on the minute, on the one hour, so we actually finished a little sooner than I thought. So should we maybe see if there's something on the calendar or should I have Danielle send you an email? What do you want to do? Either or doesn't matter to me. Yeah. In terms of tax stuff, I don't know if, if I really need tax planning for this year just because of the way that, that the business is going. But I think we talked a little bit about it last time I was interested in talking about bookkeeping, but only for one of the businesses. Yeah. Because that's the one that has the most transactions. And the, you've got the, you've got the baby clothes and then you've got the, the, the voice acting. Voice acting and then arrows. Yeah. So which one, which one? Do you, do you have bookkeeping for all three? No. So right now I'm doing everything myself pretty much. But I do have QuickBooks for arrows. Hospitality. Yeah. And that's the one you think you would free up some time for you, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Because the voice acting is very, it's very few expenses and baby clothes. Honestly, I really need to shut it down this year, but. Well, I can help you navigate that. Honestly, Abby, I think you're gonna wish you met me a lot sooner by time you're done with what we're doing by the end of the year. So what I'll do is I'll reply back to that email. Let's get something on the calendar just so that we can solidify, and if we don't need it, we can. We can just cancel it, and then we'll just move forward. But is. Is this week like a no go for you, or should we look towards next week? No, we can. I have availability on Friday this week or next week's? Yeah, Friday's a. Friday's slammed for me. No. Good. Okay. I wish my Fridays weren't that busy. So Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Next week is pretty open in the afternoon. Yeah, let's do Wednesday. How about doing a podcast?

How about 12 or 12: 27:08

30? You're packed. Yeah, I can do that. If you have later, that would be better for me, but if you don't, we can do so later. As in, like

after one. Yes. So let's. So 1: 27:24

30 or two? Yeah, perfect. All right, we'll do. I'll do

1: 27:31

30, and that will be a placeholder. I'll make it just a half hour. I don't want to take up too much your time. Got it. But in the meantime, let's see what we can get accomplished over email. We'll revisit that. And yeah, we'll. We'll just see where we land. And as far as, you know, the bookkeeping, we can get that, you know, sped up. You know, honestly, if we figure it out between now and Friday, we can just start fresh. May, and then we can take everything over in May. We'll do like an onboarding. Maybe we'll use that, the sixth as an onboarding moment. And anything you need to tell us that we need to know, but I'm sure it's probably all within our wheelhouse. Something stuff that we have that. That we not haven't seen, so. Yeah. Okay. I'll send you the invite for that and then I'll reply to the last email we had going on with the proposal, we'll tweak it, and then we'll go from there. Yeah, that sounds good. So my camera is crazy. I don't know how to turn this. It's all over the place. I know, but you're barely even moving. I. I have the same thing. Like, if I move, it doesn't move, though. Oh, A tiny bit. Yours is a little bit more sensitive. I got a new computer and it's just like. I don't. It was worse before. It used to zoom right in like this, and I was like, close encounter. You see my paws? Come on. I'm sure there's some settings. Sounds good. Yeah, I know. I need to figure it out. Gosh, I feel old. I don't know how to work this computer. Perfect. That sounds great. Yeah. I think it should be pretty easy to take over, I hope, because I did have a bookkeeper come in at the end of last year who, like, organized it from last year and set up QuickBooks and, like, did everything with the. Because we have, like, basically my bank account through Baselane, which is real estate stuff, and then we have the. The credit card. So, like, everything is pretty much just those two. Yeah. We just need you to give us. You're the. You're the accountant right now, correct? Yeah. So you would just give us accountant access and then we would just. Most banks these days and credit card companies allow you to give your accountant accountant access. Yeah. Instead of giving us your password. So, yeah, if you could look into those three things. The accountant piece in a QuickBooks is easy. You just go to users, but with your bank and credit card, hopefully they're both through the same bank. But either way, it's easy just to take a look and see if they give you account access. Well, the credit card is Amex, so it's already just linked to QuickBooks. Perfect. And then the. I think with. It's called Baselane. It's like a real estate banking. I think that we did. I gave access to her before, so I think that I can do that just the same with QuickBooks, like users. That's it. I think. I think we could get all this dialed in even before the 6. We could use the 6 as just like a meet and greet. You get to meet the rest of the team and we can go from there. Sounds good. Awesome. Cool. All right, Abby, thank you so much for showing up on the podcast. I'm really excited to continue to work with you. Yeah, me too. Thank you. Have a great day. You too. Cheers. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to the VICI code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels a fight and your comeback is already in progress.