Raven’s Nest Gourmet was launched over 30 years ago in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in the basement of the Dennis family home. What started as a small operation has survived the test of time by delivering quality products to family gatherings for decades. Throughout the years, Raven’s Nest products have served “mom-and-pop shops” nationwide and can now be found in over 1800 stores. On this episode, Rob sits down with Monica Smith, who bought the business over 14 years ago from her mother, Raven, and f...
Mar 23, 2022•45 min•Ep. 54
Brennon Lang is an outdoor enthusiast who loves a challenge. He is into Ultra-marathons, backpacking, rock climbing, endurance (mental, emotional, physical), and pushes the boundary between badass and dumbass, as he says. In this episode, Robert and Brennon discuss their love for the outdoors and what goes into training for an ultra-marathon, as well as the way to cope when things do not go as planned. There are always barriers to pursuing a dream, especially something as crazy as an ultra-marat...
Mar 16, 2022•42 min•Ep. 53
Beyond Grit is officially one year old! In honor of this milestone event, we are throwing back to Robert's very first guest, Chuck Norris. Chuck's episode is one of our fan favorites so if you haven't heard it yet, you are in for a treat. If you have heard it, enjoy it again or leave a review. Chuck grew up in the Detroit area of Michigan. He joined the Army out of high school, which led him to North Carolina. After the military, Chuck knew that sitting behind a desk was not his path. Since that...
Mar 09, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 52
Julie Carter is an attorney, advocate, and consultant who works mostly with education rights and disability law. She has always worked hard and had a desire to learn. Combine that with the fact that she comes from a family of attorneys, and it is no surprise that she followed a similar path. In this episode, Julie and Rob discuss her family life, personal choices, and the path that led her to law school at Tulane University in Louisiana, to eventually getting married and becoming a mother. Her p...
Mar 02, 2022•44 min•Ep. 51
Mike Dascal is a North Carolina native who has always had a heart for serving others. He enjoys gathering with friends and family within the community, and he enjoys a doing CrossFit. A few years ago, he combined those passions with an event he hosted at his home. The idea was simple – they would workout then hang out, eat food, and drink beer. They had a massive turnout. The following year, he decided to charge a fee and donated the funds to charity. That was the start of a yearly event, now ca...
Feb 23, 2022•22 min•Ep. 50
Beyond Grit with Robert Young: Ep. 49 – Ken Newbill, FNP, HTMA-P, Coach | Newbill of Health Ken Newbill was an average American man, living on a common North American diet. He explains how he was clinically obese and never cared much about his health. Then, in his late thirties, he started having health problems. What started as kidney stones eventually turned into a heart attack. As Ken explains, most people are unaware of the fact that the two are related. That life-altering experience placed ...
Feb 16, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 49
Noah Gully is a young entrepreneur that has worked hard his whole life. At 24 years old, he became the owner of his first barber shop, located in Charlotte , NC. Gully has done many different things over the years to make money, but he has remained focused on the goal. He has always worked hard to fund his dream of becoming a barber and owning his own businesses. It was not easy. There are lots of requirements and high costs to complete barber school. There were many times he wanted to quit, but...
Feb 09, 2022•41 min•Ep. 48
Tiffany McGinty was born in a small town near Birmingham, Alabama. Her parents were young entrepreneurs who had a booming Cotton Candy business, and they were a happy little family. When Tiffany was 9 years old, her mother gave birth to a new baby brother, and almost immediately was diagnosed with colon cancer. The doctors gave her three months to live; she made it one year. It was traumatizing and family life was never the same. While many kids who experience trauma venture down a dark path, Ti...
Feb 02, 2022•44 min•Ep. 47
Johnny grew up just outside of Detroit, Michigan. She was an athletic kid with a love for softball and basketball. She was on a travel sponsored team at an early age and played all the way up through college. She landed a scholarship to, but faced some trouble once she got there. Ultimately, she was forced to make some tough decisions. In this episode, Johnny talks about how she was headed down a path that could have been destructive. But she had enough sense, and stubbornness, to leave Michigan...
Jan 26, 2022•43 min•Ep. 46
Robert Young is a husband, father, part-time CrossFit™ coach, and Realtor® residing in Charlotte, North Carolina. He grew up in Michigan until he and his family moved to North Carolina 10 years ago. Rob has two children, who are now in college, so he and his wife are officially “empty-nesters.” In Michigan, he was a firefighter, but when he and his family moved to NC for his wife’s career, the best decision for their family was for Rob to be a stay-at-home dad. A few years later, he got into rea...
Jan 19, 2022•51 min•Ep. 45
Jimmy is a great guy with a gripping story. After the painful loss of his precious baby girl to SIDS 13 years ago, his whole life changed. Through this tragedy, he experienced a mental and physical transformation that eventually led him to start @4JossFund to raise money to provide @owletcare devices for families with newborn babies. We discussed many important things in this episode, one of the most important being the willingness to seek help when you need it. Often, we do not even know we nee...
Jan 12, 2022•48 min•Ep. 44
Matthew Imes is a remarkably interesting person. He is an entrepreneur, a published author, a movie producer, and so much more. His production company, DIG Entertainment, recently co-produced A Savannah Haunting, which has won multiple awards across film festival circuits. Matt is currently President and Co-founder of Prodigy Care Services based in Austin, TX. Prodigy "empowers payers to provide efficient and cost-effective health care, so that employees can live healthy and productive lives." I...
Jan 05, 2022•51 min•Ep. 43
Luan Nguyen was born in Vietnam and moved to Omaha, Nebraska, USA as a teenager. He views growing up poor as a blessing and growing up privileged as a curse. As he explains, he could lose everything and know how to survive. Luan explains how moving to the US at 14 years old was the roughest time of his life. He describes how being unable to communicate in English was like having a disability. He was determined to learn the language and make a life for himself. So, after a year or two of challeng...
Dec 29, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Luis Rivera is an awesome guy with an amazing story. He and his family moved to the United States when he was 12 years old, and Spanish was his first language. It was not an ideal situation for Luis, as he was forced to move in with his father in New York. It was a drastic change from the life he loved in Puerto Rico, and he faced many trials and tribulations along the way. He soon realized he was bigger and stronger than other kids his age, so he decided to start playing sports. Luis put himsel...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 41
Mary Lentz Everett is a recovery rock star, and she is only getting started. Mary is CEO and Founder of Backstage Recovery and is working on multiple projects across the nation, and beyond. Backstage Recovery LLC provides a unique and principle-based approach to recovery for entertainment artists, professional athletes and coaches, management teams, production and road crews, and entertainment venues to create a safe environment for anyone in need of recovery support. Mary knows the horrors asso...
Dec 15, 2021•59 min•Ep. 40
In the Summer of 2011, Kristina Graham's life was changed in a profound way. She was an active young mother and sustained a minor hernia, which eventually sent her into what she THOUGHT would be a routine surgery. It turned out, she had a complication with the defective mesh used to repair the muscle. For over 10 years, she battled. She was no longer able to exercise, was in constant pain; she endured thirteen surgeries, and each time she worked with a new medical team, no one could seem to get ...
Nov 24, 2021•39 min•Ep. 37
Joanne has an amazing story of survival. After experiencing the death of her father at 12 years old, which caused her mother to spiral into her own illness, most kids would have lost their way. Her grades dipped briefly, but her older sisters stepped in as mentors and she never let her grades slip again. Once she graduated high school at the top of her class, she continued on to college and kept up the demanding work to keep good grades. After graduation, she moved to NYC to work at an investmen...
Nov 17, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 36
This is a great conversation about fear, gratitude, encouragement and the transitions of life. Ed Williams grew up in poverty, raised by a single father and barely graduated high school. Now, he works with students to help them prepare for the transitions of life. As I am sure you imagine, there were lots of twists and turns along the way. Ed started his life on the beaches of Florida and life took him out west, where he lived in Colorado for a few years with his wife. Ed has worked as a teacher...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Sean Markey has spent his life following a path that many in this country consider the ideal American way. Graduate high school, go to college, find a decent job, and enjoy life. He did exactly that. He found his way into a field that allowed him the luxury of being outdoors, since that is where he loves to be. In February of 2020, he took a dream job as a Field Engineer in a city that he loved, Austin, TX. He was getting settled in his new digs in February 2020, right as the pandemic was about ...
Nov 03, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Clifton Muckenfuss has an interesting story of bouncing back from adversity. Like many of us today, Clifton never felt like he was the type of guy to stay in one place for very long. Directly after high school, he headed to Clemson and was out of the house for the first time in his life. Things got a little rough for the young college student and he found himself in a bit of trouble. Suffice it to say, it was not looking good. Throughout this episode, Clifton takes us on the adventure that has b...
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Identity is a tricky thing. Many of us do things our whole lives and we become known for those things – we often take them on as our identities. They are not who we are, they are what we do. But how do we know the difference? Or what happens when that “thing” we do is taken away from us or we are no longer interested in doing it? Who lives underneath it all? Do we like the person within, do we even know the person? Do we allow ourselves the grace to discover what is underneath and accept the per...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 32
With all that is happening in the world, we often feel out of balance or overly anxious. Many of us try to find balance, but cannot seem to get in proper alignment. Jennifer Payeur experienced those same things, as she spent almost 30 years working in the corporate world. She was juggling mom-life, career, travel, and of course... STRESS. She was experiencing such high levels of stress that it literally almost killed her. After receiving multiple serious health diagnoses, she knew she needed to ...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Jonathan Copsey is no nine-to-fiver… he is a passion chaser. He has pursued his passions from early on, and never limited himself to just one thing. He has always had an open-minded outlook and a willingness to trying and learning new things. No matter what, if he was going to do something, he was putting his whole heart into it. In high school, he decided he wanted to ride Broncos in the rodeo, so he joined the high school rodeo team. The talent he developed in the arena landed him a full schol...
Oct 06, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 30
From a very young age, Tammy Fletcher learned that life requires grit. She and her family grew up in a small cabin in the mountains with very few modern luxuries. Those early years taught her how to be resourceful and how to deal with adversity. Her hard work and determination, combined with her strong faith, have opened many doors for her. She managed to work her way into a promising career in digital marketing and advertising. She did well and continued to grow within the business. Unfortunate...
Sep 29, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Derek Dutton has a remarkably interesting story. From an early age, he knew he wanted to join the military. It was never a question of “if” … the only question was which branch he would choose. He chose the Army, and he dove in headfirst - literally. During a parachute jump, which was later described as a “parachute malfunction,” Derek had a pretty intense situation occur that led him to believe he is “fall-proof.” Pretty crazy! Dutton was built for the military and worked his way all the way up...
Sep 22, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Mike Claudio is basically a “Big Stud.” He’s solid, locked in, and holds under pressure. (And he hosts the Big Stud Podcast- so go check it out). In the late 2010s, Mike was 27 years old making $150k a year, and totally miserable. He knew he had to make a change or something bad was going to happen. So, he took a chance - and a massive pay cut - and went to work in a new field. Where he lacked experience, he made up for his work ethic and sales experience. When risks are taken, there is always a...
Sep 15, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Dirk Steenekamp is a media mogul with an interesting story, as well as some very interesting hobbies. This South African entrepreneur has learned what it takes to make it in the media industry, and in many ways, has done it better than the rest. He claims to have gotten into the business “by accident” but where it has taken him has been no accident. His level of success only comes from hard work, determination, and pure grit. Like many, he has faced challenges and betrayal but hasn’t slowed down...
Sep 08, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 26
George Cuddy is a Marine Veteran who is not afraid of challenges. One of those challenges includes a weekly “Murph” workout – yikes! If you don’t know about Murph, it is an extremely challenging CrossFit hero “WOD” to honor fallen Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Lieutenant Murphy was awarded the military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. Cuddy has participated in the Boston Marathon for several years and was about 100 yards away from the bombing ...
Sep 01, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Tara Dower has covered a lot of ground in her life – literally. This young athlete is a hiking adventurer, who spends more time rucking across mountain trails than most of us would walk during our lives. In this episode, Tara and Rob share stories of their experiences on some of the most well-known hiking spots in North Carolina and across the country. Tara currently has the fastest known recorded time on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in North Carolina. If you’ve never heard of it, “The Mountains-t...
Aug 25, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Stefan Huebner is an artist. He started out as a musician and now crafts cocktails and award-winning experiences in his swanky Charlotte lounge, Dot Dot Dot Charlotte. In this episode of BG, Stefan details how his music career in his 20s, playing with names like Buckcherry in the 90’s, gave him front row seats to many diverse types of bars and lounges across the country. While he was creating music back then, he was also making mental notes of what he liked and disliked about certain bars and lo...
Aug 18, 2021•56 min•Ep. 23
