Doug Hunt: 0:01

I know that the character that I carry with me and how I operate is a direct result of the negativity that I grew up in, because I had a desire to be the opposite.

Porter: 0:15

Alrighty, folks, welcome back to Transacting Value, where we're encouraging dialogue from different perspectives to unite over shared values. Our theme for season four is intrinsic values, so what your character is doing when you look yourself in the mirror. Now, if you're new to the podcast, welcome, and if you're a continuing listener, we'll welcome back. Today we're talking our July core values of initiative, freedom and independence with the director of entrepreneurship for the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce out in Missouri, mr Doug Hunt, and we're going to cover all sorts of things why that's important, why that's relevant and, most importantly, what that has to do with your personal values and, obviously, how you can showcase that through your character. So, folks, without further ado, I'm Porter, I'm your host and this is Transacting Value.

Doug Hunt: 0:58

A good afternoon, morning whatever.

Porter: 1:03

Yeah, I suppose it depends on where everybody's located. But, doug, how are you man, how's life?

Doug Hunt: 1:07

Fantastic. A lot of blessings for this day of the week.

Porter: 1:11

Amen man for any day of the week. In my opinion, there are so many things that we hear about in the news and we see about on TV that just its negativity, its pessimism, more often than not. Doug, I'm not going to be wrong, I'm not naive, I understand it drives ratings, but it's not all there is in the world, right, and I think there's something to be said for realigning with reality, right, and so saying that for everybody new to the show, doug and I are talking on a video call, but because, doug, nobody else can see you and chances are there are a lot of people listening who don't know who you are either, let's start there for a second. Who are you, where are you from and what sort of things have shaped your perspective?

Doug Hunt: 1:46

Absolutely Well. It's a pleasure to be here and I appreciate the invitation. My title is Director of Entrepreneurship with the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce and, for a lot of people that may be listening, people know Joplin from our EF5 tornado that hit 11 years ago. That took 161 lives. So we have recovered from that as best can be and we're proud of that. But typically when we say Joplin, anybody in the United States they kind of associate it with that. But we're really building our brand now for resiliency and coming back from such a natural disaster. My personal background I grew up on a family farm about 10 miles south of here. Very poor, limited resources, couldn't do sports because we didn't have the money to do it. So I poured myself into speech and debate. That uniform was pretty cheap and that was one of the best things I ever did. I had a lot of mentors along the way and I excelled at it. So by the time I graduated from high school I put 32 speech and debate trophies in my car and off I went and launched a TV career shortly after that and, making this quick, I spent 11 years in TV and then I jumped and started my own ad agency and I've owned two businesses since then and advertising PR firm and then a business consulting firm which I started after the Joplin tornado, and that has ultimately led me to the position I'm in, where I get to work with entrepreneurs and new startups and get to relive some of that. When I was younger and got some of the you know, had that excitement of starting my own business. So that's a little bit about me.

Porter: 3:29

Man, and now you've become the back in my day guy. Yes, yes, I am man. I got to tell you, though, I mean, for all the cool action scenes, star Wars wouldn't be near as good without their Yoda, so I think you're in a pretty solid spot. Well, I appreciate that, yes, yeah, I think there's a lot of things. One in terms of resiliency obviously, being able to build back is huge, but you started all of this sort of on your own accord. You said speech and debates, and how much of that was learned in terms of hard skills, vice, how much of that was learned in terms of your soft skills and what you brought to the table, getting started, if I had a percentage to it, I'd say 70, 30, 30 being the soft skills.

Doug Hunt: 4:12

I was blessed to have an amazing speech and debate coach and I was in a situation in a high school where there were plenty of educational professionals that had an idea of where I was coming from and limited resources and they stepped up above and beyond what an educator would typically do. So for that that's one of the best blessings in my life and what I learned from speech and debate has benefited me my entire life. So less than 10 years after high school, I was 25 years old, decided to run for city council in Joplin and won in a landslide out of 13 candidates, and to this day I still hold the record as being the youngest serving city council member in Joplin and served four years and decided not to run for reelection. So that was a great education in and of itself. But to your question, I kind of divvy that up 70, 30. But it's always that the character I've tried to build within myself to push and improve no matter what I'm doing.

Porter: 5:21

No matter what you're doing, even if you feel like you're out of your depth, yeah absolutely Okay.

Doug Hunt: 5:27

And the reason? Let me explain that a little bit. Yeah, the reason I do that is because, running an ad agency for the 17 years that I did, it was necessary to do that with your clients. So you always pushed yourself into an area that was uncomfortable because you had to learn about them and their business in order to serve them well. So that's been kind of a pattern in my life where, regardless of what I'm exposed to or where I'm at or what I'm getting involved in, or maybe serving on the board of a new not for profit, that I'm not quite sure what their mission is. That's okay. I'm okay with being uncomfortable because nothing grows in a comfort zone.

Porter: 6:09

Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. And in fact, as things do get torn down or broken down in some cases right due to failure or due to any other number of circumstances, oftentimes they come back stronger. You know, resiliency counts for a lot. You know what? Let's start here. So this is a segment of the show called developing, character developing character, and the point here for anybody new to the show is to showcase Doug's personal values, and then we'll tie those into what they've actually done for you. All right. So, doug, there's two questions here and I'll ask you them both separately. So the first when you were growing up, what were some of your personal values?

Doug Hunt: 6:47

has always been part of me to be kind, to be kind to others. That was just a natural thing for me, and sometimes I was in environments where that was not fostered or it was seen as a weakness, but I couldn't force myself to not be kind. So that's something that I'm thankful for. And the other is to really try and understand where people are coming from. So when I was little, I didn't know that it was called empathy, but If I had to just pinpoint it, it would be kindness and empathy Were those more taught and emphasized.

Porter: 7:26

Do you think, or were they shown and you just?

Doug Hunt: 7:28

caught on. They were not taught. I can guarantee you that Kindness and empathy was not part of my household experience, but it was like if you're in a situation and you sense the opposite of that, if you have the character to see or sense the opposite of something negative, that's going on. It's wisdom, it's insight, and I felt like I was experiencing that even though I was in the throes of what was a very negative environment and I liked that, and so when I would be around other people who would show kindness and empathy, I was drawn to that, naturally. So it's something that's always been part of me and always will be.

Porter: 8:14

You think some of that setting, some of the chaos in that environment or some of the hardship maybe in that type of environment growing up, contributed to your desire now and relative comfort in discomfort.

Doug Hunt: 8:26

Absolutely. In fact, it's one of the things I'm grateful for. I know that the character that I carry with me and how I operate is a direct result of the negativity that I grew up in, because I had a desire to be the opposite. In fact, the best example of that in my life is my son my son and I. He will be 23 years old next month. He just graduated with his BA from college. I'm good for him and he and I have a fantastic relationship. We're both blessed, we're like great friends, and what's interesting is that that's the exact opposite of the relationship that I had with my dad. It wasn't because I wasn't trying or trying to be the best son that I could be because I was. He was just on a path of negativity and had a certain persona that was negative and dark. And so, witnessing and living through that hardship of having a dysfunctional father seated in me the desire that I knew if I ever had the opportunity to be a dad, I would bust my ass to be the best dad that I probably could be, and I'll leave that up to my son to tell everybody what he thinks his dad is like.

Porter: 9:50

Sure, sure, well, ok, so let's reel it a little closer. To present, I mentioned earlier, part of this segment is two questions, and so, in aspiring to become better and grow to be a better, however you want to qualify this question, just become better, I guess. The second question then, still regarding your personal values, doug, what are some of your personal values now, having passed all that time since then?

Doug Hunt: 10:11

Very similar, but from a professional standpoint, something that I'm hardcore about is ethics and business. I'm a serial entrepreneur, even though I'm in a W2M position right now, working for a chamber, but it's rewarding because I get to work with other small businesses and startups. I am a capitalist at heart and I have an absolute burning passion for small businesses because somebody that is willing to take the risk of starting a business, they deserve the rewards. Because it's scary and you have to have a lot of intestinal fortitude to start and run a business, a lot of passion for them. So the way that's evolved is ethics and business is critical. There's plenty of money to be made in the business world if people will just do things correctly and honestly and with integrity. But in my career I've seen some individuals that prefer to make money through manipulation or triangulation or deception, and I've seen some great companies with incredible ideas fall flat because of ego and it's so sad to see all of that. So for me personally, it's something that I like to try and stay razor sharp on. So when I meet with the potential new startup businesses and I have the opportunity to coach them, a duggism, if you will, that I come up with is. Nothing exists unless it's in writing. If you sit down and you share an idea with somebody, you better have a document to hand to them. That's a non-disclosure, and uncompete Locks keep honest people out of your house. So why would you conduct business in a way that would tempt somebody to take advantage of you, and it's sad that we live in a world like that. So I treat people the way I want to be treated, but I'm also very mindful of the fact that we live in a world where people are not going to treat me the way they want to be treated, then that's OK.

Porter: 12:14

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Doug Hunt: 13:18

So I treat people the way I want to be treated, but I'm also very mindful of the fact that we live in a world where people are not going to treat me the way they want to be treated, then that's okay.

Porter: 13:29

Yeah, and there's, there's definite truth to that. You know the world we live in, for a second, I guess, isn't a new one either, right, I mean, a lot of that's human nature, right? So well, for example, how do we change what's popular? We talk about it more, whatever that applies to, take that for what you will, to whatever direction, but that's it right, we talk about it more. And so what about the things that we don't talk about then? Because obviously some things are taboo to discuss, some things get lost to time and we just forget to ask the questions or don't know the questions to ask and topics don't get brought up. Well, for example, greed isn't something we talk about. Greed is something we show more often than not, right, and a lot of those tendencies. They're natural. You know, it's human nature. But I think the other cool aspect to human nature is that for one it's a sliding scale for everybody. It's not that everybody's innately greedy to an extreme sense, but it also swings to a positive direction, right, when, like you said, people can also have integrity and conduct themselves with honesty and fairness and sympathy and competency and all of these other more positively applied words, right, and so things like that. I think usually they're caught first. Right, it's what you see, it's what you experience, it's what you hear, how these problems are being handled or managed or solved, maybe as a kid, maybe even as an adult. It's caught first, I think, and then we're taught to refine them, or we ask for help, and then we're taught how to refine them. What about the people, though, that like your entrepreneurship? This is your jam and your jelly Doug. So what about the entrepreneurs, the people that are self taught? Is that all on your own? Is that all pull yourself up bootstraps and figure stuff out? Or is it introspection through guidance? What's the relevance there?

Doug Hunt: 15:14

It's a brilliant question. Entrepreneurs have many stripes and I've had entrepreneurs come in and visit with me and they're excited and gung-ho and they'll draw out their idea on a cocktail napkin. I've also had people come in. They're entrepreneurs, terrified out of their minds because they just lost their jobs. That no desire to be an entrepreneur, but because the facility shut down that they were in the end. Clients looked at them and said if you will start something, we'll follow you. So they were immediately pushed at the abyss and had no entrepreneurial inklings in them and I've been blessed to be able to, like, step into that situation and just kind of mentally, emotionally, embrace those folks and say, look, this is what entrepreneurship is about, here's how it can fold out for you, and to be able to shepherd them through that process and this is a real story actually to get them to the point. Here we are two years later, watch them go from literally crying with me in a conference room at that moment to launching their business and growing it. To now they're still in expansion mode and they've hired nearly 20 full time people. So watching confidence grow without being cocky or arrogant is a beautiful thing and it's the best part about my job is helping people get to that point. But back to what you were saying is it part of who you are? I think in some degrees it is. It can be learned. I was not an entrepreneur at heart when I was little. It wasn't like I was in high school saying, man, I'm going to start my own business. I actually grew into that because my first real professional job was in broadcast television and I got to see the mom and pops of the world come in and rely on me to produce a 30 second spot and they would save up $5,000 for the year to run a two week campaign right before Christmas and I could see that fear in their face. So I knew it was important for me to do the best job I could in producing a nice advertisement for them. And that was the first seed of entrepreneurship for me and it was me relating that empathy. I could feel that fear that they had of spending that $5,000 or $10,000 that they had saved up on and that, honestly, if I had to pinpoint my career, that was the first moment where I realized, wow, small business owners deserve a lot of support and kudos because they are risk takers. And how many people are willing to be a risk taker. And I'm not talking about oh, I'm going to work part time and I still have this job to fall back on. No, I'm talking about you. Walk away from the job, you don't have health insurance and you're willing to take $30, $40,000 of equity out of your house and jump off the cliff, take a deep breath, pray and build a parachute on the way down. That is the energy of entrepreneurship.

Porter: 18:11

Dude, it's like that scene in Indiana Jones the leap of faith, right when he kicks the dust out over the chasm and he tenuously takes the steps. That's what I was picturing when you mentioned the abyss. That's such a cool point too that you said the mom and pops that would come in and they would maybe not even explicitly, but they would show you how much it means to them and it would cause you to strive to be better, do better, treat them more effectively, successfully, whatever in your ad composition right now, I mean present day, almost present time, let's say social media. For example, what gets publicized and I mean technical social media, not like people communicating verbally in public what gets publicized is like this, not to exaggerate it, but like this conform or cancel, continuum. It all always seems negative, at least that's what I thought until exactly when you just said that, because you stood on being social as a way to conform and be better, based on the values that those people were putting into the moment and based on the heart that they were putting into the conversation and into the opportunity. All right, folks, stay tight and we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Alrighty, folks, here at Transacting Value, we write and produce all the material for our podcast and house game perspective alongside you, our listeners, and exchange vulnerability and dialogue with our contributors every Monday morning. But for distribution, buzzsprout's a platform to use. You want to know how popular you are in Europe or how Apple is a preferred platform to stream your interviews? Buzzsprout can do that. You want to stream on multiple players through an RSS or custom feed, or even have references and resources to take your podcast's professionalism, authenticity and presence to a wider audience? Buzzsprout can do that too. Here's how. Start with some gear that you already have in a quiet space. If you want to upgrade, buzzsprout has tons of guides to help you find the right equipment at the right price. Buzzsprout gets your show listed in every major podcast platform. You'll get a great looking podcast website, audio players that you can drop into other websites, detailed analytics to see how people are listening, tools to promote your episodes and more. Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners. The team at Buzzsprout is passionate about helping you succeed. Join over 100,000 podcasters already using Buzzsprout to get their message out to the world. Plus, following the link in the show notes lets Buzzsprout know we sent you gets you a $20 credit if you sign up for a paid plan and helps support our show. You want more value for your values. What can do that too? You stood on being social as a way to conform and be better, based on the values that those people were putting into the moment and based on the heart that they were putting into the conversation and into the opportunity. If you think about it conceptually in that way, social media caused you to conform and be better because the group think in the moment was we really need to band together and be successful and help each other out and rely on each other. You both saw how much it meant to each other. Not to put words in your mouth, but that's what it sounded like as you were describing it to me. What degree or what amount of conformity to social pressure have you seen work well for businesses, because you've got to identify a market before you do anything. You're just throwing darts at a wall, if not right. Is that where you should start?

Doug Hunt: 21:41

Yes to a point. Anybody can craft a message in whatever vein or venue that they want to, but the first step, the strategy, is identifying who your target of demo is. That takes a lot of thought. That not who's just going to walk through the door or buy your wares or hire you for your services. The drill down is find out who your most profitable demographic is going to be. Once you have that, then it's important to craft a specific message that reaches them in the best way to reach them. Businesses that just throw a wide blanket and say let's conform because this is hip-hop and cool. Now they're not putting a strategy into it that they need to. In my opinion, that doesn't mean they won't be successful, but it just goes back to core values. All the clients I've ever represented I felt it was important for them to show their core values in their marketing messages, their branding, how they're branded or perceived in social media or in the public in general. It's a mindset and whether you're an employee or a business owner, it's either a media gratification of the greed factor, like you mentioned earlier. Oh, let's do this, but there's not deep thought into building a long-term relationship. Same way, with me working with those mom and pops producing commercials. I had it in my heart to do the best job I could for them, but I also had a co-worker that was just slamming buttons to get it done because they had to go to happy hour at five o'clock chop, chop. So that mindset continues on in the business world and I always tend to migrate toward other individuals that are striving to improve, self-improve, be the best that they can. That doesn't make us elitist. It's just that I personally feel like there's more emotional freedom and profitability in genuinely doing the best you can do and playing by the rules than trying to be a shyster for a quick fix.

Porter: 23:51

Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things I've learned since. First, seeing Pinocchio also didn't work out for him. And secondly, to your credit and also your date in yourself a little bit here, the number one question on my whiteboard here in my office is what is hip hop and cool? And that's how I refined to values and civics. Yeah, so I get what you're putting down. Yeah, but no, for real. You mentioned working with this other guy and the five o'clock happy hour and the sort of dichotomy of your personalities when dealing with clients and a lot of that sounds like you're both able to communicate effectively or you wouldn't both have clients. It sounds like you're both able to network or you wouldn't both have had clients. But I mean, ultimately between the two of you, assuming skill setting, capability is equal here it sounds like a big is. One of the biggest differences, I guess, was what character and gratitude, namely yours, vice, is, or how those were received and the empathy, okay, okay, empathy for the incline.

Doug Hunt: 24:52

Sure, not that I'm anything great, but that individual still works at the TV station, or did for a number of years, and I was willing to jump out, take risk and it was scary risk and go on and start and have an ad agency and have a 17 year run with it. That doesn't make me better than that individual, it's just that because I'm pushing myself to do the best I could for my clients. It allowed me to grow some wings, if you will, and go beyond where I was in the moment. And again, he's a great guy. But he never evolved out of that and was in his comfort zone.

Porter: 25:30

I mean, as humans, we're all just sort of products of the experiences that we surround ourselves with. I think it took me 30 years to realize that those experiences were largely within my control, though, and how I decided to interpret them. You know, like the amount of emotional baggage that I brought with me into my thirties, I think. All in up until probably the last year and a half, two years, I realized, dude, what are you doing? Make it a little travel kit. You don't need to carry the whole suitcase. You know and I think a lot of that applies to business too but I'm a grown-ass adult and I'm just learning that now. You learn as you go. It's not taught in school, but saying that a lot of those experiences, at least in my case, have resulted in failures as well, all right, if folks stay tight, we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Did you know that children who do chores to earn their allowance have more respect for finance and more of a drive for financial independence? Did you know that families who complete tasks together have stronger bonds? Did you know that cognition, sense of self and anxiety all improve if people have regular interactions with nature? Imagine what instilling self-esteem, resilience, family teamwork and an authorized sense of self could do for the growth of each generation, no matter the temptation. At Huff and Cluck or Farm, that's just another Tuesday. Want to learn how to homestead or just more effectively develop your character for an unknown future? Follow our direct message on Instagram at Huff and Cluck or Farm. Watch it happen in real time. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. A foolish man learns from his own. I'm a grown-ass adult and I'm just learning that now. You learn as you go. It's not taught in school, but saying that a lot of those experiences, at least in my case, have resulted in failures as well. I mean, we talked a lot of your successes, but has anything ever just not gone according to your plans or as well as you'd thought? And then how'd your hand go?

Doug Hunt: 27:26

Oh yeah, absolutely A couple of things. One, when the sky fell financially in September of 2008, I spent an entire afternoon on the phone after the stock market crashed and I took I don't know how many calls I took from clients that were canceling their retainers with me and I had 10 employees at the time and by the time I got off the phone around 5.30, it was a loss of somewhere around $20, $25,000 a month income coming in. It was that butterfly feeling where you feel like if you really concentrate on it, you could just throw up on your desk. It was one of those feelings and the atmosphere in the office was kind of that way because all the team members knew that that was happening. So you talk about failures. Maybe it's hindsight, but in that moment I made the decision to cash out all of my Apple stock that I had bought at $42 a share, cash that out to create a nest egg of cash, which that was my retirement. But I put that as a nest egg of cash and I decided I can use that to kind of reinvent and start the business again and I won't have to lay anybody off. And that's what I did and in about 10 months I was able to recoup with new clients about 80% of that book of business. Good for you, but it depleted my savings. Yeah, but the depletion kept 10 employees employed while everybody else was laying people off. Hindsight. Should I have done that? I don't know. You know it is what it is, but that was in 2008. And even though we bounced back from that and did great, when the EF5 tornado marched through Joplin on May 22nd 2011, there was no nest egg at that point in time. So that was as if, if you watched the movie Titanic, they hit the iceberg and it's a little while before reality sets in. That's the way it was for me and, quite honestly, may 22nd when the tornado hit, that was a crazy emotional thing in and of itself for the entire summer and the night of. But then in the year following that, dealing with that, I just felt like I was struggling and taking on water to the point where I had to file bankruptcy. I lost my house, I lost my car I mean lost everything and it was an opportunity for me to reinvent. And you talk about core values. You get to a point where you built a company from scratch for 17 years and you, you get to a point where you leave a networking meeting to discover your car has been repossessed because you've been, you've been, kicked out of bankruptcy. It's humbling, yeah, and that's why I love what I do now in the position I'm in, because, sure of experiencing a business partner dying, there's not much I have not experienced as an entrepreneur. And it would have been so easy during that, after the tornado, not only because of having five friends lost their lives and all of that, but then, nearly a year later, having to file bankruptcy, it would have been really easy to just give up or go get a job. I was really tempted to just leave, go get a factory job, check out, but that entrepreneur's you know. I had experience starting from nothing and growing, and I knew that could happen again. And that's when I pivoted and started my business consulting business and slowly built back up and started working with small businesses, not necessarily on their marketing messages and their branding, but what they were doing internally, how they were communicating with each other and what strategies they were putting in place to go after their best demographic. And I had a great eight, nine year run with that too. So still don't hold my apples back, though. Well, you're not getting it for $42 anymore anyway, so oh man, I tell you what, if I would have hung on to that, here we go down memory lane. You know sides 2020. Had I hung on to that and decided that after the tornado, if I would have hung on to that and just laid everybody off like most businesses do and pivoted to a consulting company in 2008 and then, when the tornado hit, just shut down my business and sold my Apple stock, then I would already be on the beach in Florida, retired, and we probably wouldn't be visiting.

Porter: 32:13

Well, I guess I'm glad that didn't happen, yeah, but good things come to those who wait, is the saying. I think that's appropriate here, and it's a matter of time. Right, you may not have the money, but, like you said earlier, profitability isn't always just in terms of monetary wealth. So look at everything you've learned in the process, man. I'm already focused to Tate and we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Good things come to those who wait, is the saying. I think that's appropriate here, right, and it's a matter of time. Right, you may not have the money, but, like you said earlier, profitability isn't always just in terms of monetary wealth. So look at everything you've learned in the process, man.

Doug Hunt: 33:41

And the other thing too. Let me jump in on here because, as your listeners are listening to that, they're probably still processing like, oh my god, I can't believe that or I would never do that. Here's the connecting point that got me through all of that without losing my mind or doing something really stupid, and that's gratitude. There is an immense power spiritual, biological, whatever else you want to throw at it. There's real power and gratitude. So even when I was going through all that darkness, I could always hang on to gratitude and say I didn't lose my life in the tornado my son and my family. I didn't lose them in the tornado. My home was not destroyed in the tornado, and there's always something to be grateful for, no matter how bad it gets. Even if you're living under a bridge, homeless, you still have something to be thankful for because even in that scenario you're not in a bunker in Ukraine dodging bombs. It's always something to be thankful for. And that gratitude helped me navigate through all of that and reinvent and to be where I'm at now. So I don't stress on things happening. Doors open up where they are supposed to and when your heart is where it needs to be. There's a lot of times you can't control what's going to happen. But if you are taking action and you are doing good by people and being grateful, it is amazing. What is attracted to you. That's good. I mean, it's a real deal, man.

Porter: 35:16

I appreciate you closing out with that. I mean realistically for the sake of time I don't want to belabor it too much, but it is a powerful perspective to have. Number one that perspective changes absolutely everything but number two, the amount of power gratitude has in that process. Man, that was a solid point. I didn't even write it down to bring up, so I'm glad you did. That's incomparable, incomparable, doug. The last question I have for you, though, manx, I know you got to get going too. If anybody wants to look up any resources, any books, any videos, any insight as to what you've been describing that helped you move through, what are some resources you recommend?

Doug Hunt: 35:49

Some of my favorite books. Crucial conversations subtitle is talking points when the stakes are high. Get it, read it, live it, apply it. The other one is emotional intelligence. That comes with what you just said about perspective. If you're running a business, you need to get a copy of Stephen Little's book called the Seven Irrefutable Laws of Small Business Growth. It's powerful. Apply it, read it and apply it. Quick communication book is QBQ Question behind the question. Read that book, learn it as a technique for when you're visiting with anybody a prospect or client and what have you. And then I'm a big fan of Simon Sinek. Whatever you can follow and get from Simon Sinek, he has his book. Start With why. That's powerful. Everybody has to know your why, whether you're running a business or not. Know your why, live it, breathe it. That's powerful. There's a book on mindset that is a great book and there's so many others out there that are great books. But if somebody has a desire to improve, there are plenty of resources out there where you can dive into that. But the number one thing to weave all that together is to be in a mental state of gratitude. And let me end on this. I didn't say this earlier. It's a biological fact and this has been proven in plenty of Ivy League schools the chemicals, the way the human brain is designed. We cannot be in a mental state of angst, anger or agitation or fear at the exact same time that we're in a deep state of gratitude. It's like oil and water. Yeah, that's cool. So when you focus in on gratitude, it's like a mental reboot, no matter what's going on in your life. I love it.

Porter: 37:35

And for everybody listening. I hope you got something out of this. I've got a strong feeling, though, doug, we're going to be hard pressed to find anybody who didn't. You made some killer points, man. I appreciate the opportunity one just in your schedule so you can break out some time to talk, but two ultimately for your perspective and what you brought to this conversation, man. So I really appreciate the opportunity, thank you.

Doug Hunt: 37:58

Likewise, it's my pleasure and I just have lots of gratitude for you and having this channel for so many people. Thank you.

Porter: 38:05

Yeah, dude, and obviously share it with your friends. All right, do me that, but anyway, no, I appreciate it. Dude, thanks for saying that to everybody listening. Thank you for tuning into our core values for July of Initiative, freedom and Independence, obviously to well. Simon Sinek, and I'm pretty sure Carmine Gallo was an author of Crucial Conversations. Early when we talked, you mentioned the EMYTH revisited. So to all these authors and obviously your family and your son and your dad for giving you these examples to fall back on, because without them this conversation wouldn't have been as inspiring as it was either. So you know what. Thank you to those people. That was great also. But to our show partners Keystone Farmers, market, hovenklocker Farms, obviously Buzzsprout, thank you for your distribution. Folks, if you're interested in checking out our other conversations or just joining one of these, if you're interested in any of our merchandise or our members only page as well, check out our website transactingvaluepodcastcom. Follow along on social media. We'll continue to stream new conversations every Monday at 9 am Eastern Standard Time. And for all the books Doug mentioned, whichever player you're listening to this on, click See More. Click Show More to see the description and you'll find links to those books in the show notes as well, but for the time being, folks, thank you for tuning in and that was Transacting Value.