Ep. 33 - The Flavorful Journey of Risk and Reward in Business with Trent Brock

Thank you , pleasure to be here .

Uh , I just met Trent a few weeks ago at the cancer challenge lunch where he was one of our featured speakers , and Trent's got a great story to tell about both personal survival there's some of that , there's a little bit of that , yeah , yeah , there's a lot of that and business , um , the guy is is one impressive guy who has overcome a lot of challenges and

still keeps a great attitude , and that's what we need more about there in the entrepreneurship and small business world .

I wanted to do the doctor thing . Oh , so you were going to go to med school . I thought I was Okay and uh , I couldn't . I couldn't pass the MCAT . Yeah , yeah , Bombed it twice First time . First time I took it .

By the end of the conversation I was his graduate assistant . I was going to MBA school , that and I did that for two , two and a half years , did you ? That's what happened . So I got my MBA and and and did the IT thing with it , which was the hot thing at the point . And then and off we went so .

I wanted to , I wanted to make good money and I wanted to travel and I wanted to do it on someone else's money and so I joined Accenture , which used to be Anderson Consultants .

I think , that they had sort of disassociated themselves from the name before that whole thing imploded over the uh , yeah , over over the uh . What was it ? The um , oh , the , you know the company that um uh , enron , enron , yeah , enron , enron and Dynagy , that's right .

Sure , so you know , me and and all my you know um , coworkers , you know , young people in their mid twenties , early thirties , kind of thing , we would , we would , you know , do something for the weekend . We would go fly somewhere , or we would go to Key West , or you know .

So we traveled and did that a lot , cause most of us , you know , you're in an in between life . Sure , You've got a few days , you got a few days during the week and you're at home , and then you got a few days you're away , and it's really kind of hard to to cultivate . So people that are in that lifestyle normally migrate together .

So that reentry and and getting back into the home life was always stressful , you know , especially if you didn't have more than a couple of days to do it , yeah , yeah , and then have to head out again . That's right , so you weren't married or anything at that time . No , no , that's good , not at all .

The kids would come to class for the ones that want to learn . If you don't want to come , go do whatever . Right , you know , I don't want to fight that . So I thought maybe I'd do that , yeah . And then I wanted to try to learn Spanish .

Okay , and then , and then I kind of started doing my research and I thought , well , Spain's the place to go , Because that's where .

I had taken a couple of classes right In college . Sure , the professors like , amen , you could really excel at this . And they thought , well , what do you do ? You ? Immerse yourself . That's what everyone's doing . No way , it doesn't work like that . Okay , I got over there the first day I was there . Okay , I'm in the airport . They've lost my luggage .

They can't even speak English in the airport . Oh , no , okay , I was in the colors , pointing at bags , pointing at sizes , and I thought to myself I have done it , I have done it . So I did . I got a gig .

I did get a gig where I was teaching English , teaching English , and then they had associated Spanish classes , so they were teaching a lot of languages in the school . So I had a thing where I could teach some English , and then I got my Spanish classes for free . So I was taking Spanish every day . Well , I got better .

Yeah , what was it like living over there , like where did you , where did you live ? I lived in Madrid and man it's European , man it's laid back . Is it your apartment ? I just I flat it man . Okay , yeah , I mean . What does flat it mean ? It means you roomed up with , you roomed with people .

But these guys were awesome , man , they were like my brothers , they protected me . You know , we hung around together and you know , you learn to communicate with people when you can't even talk to them . Sure , you know , and you pick up on the vibe of people and who they are and how they are .

And you know these guys were rough , they were tough , they were construction guys . But you know what ? We were friends . That's good and it worked . It worked , you know , and so you know the weirdest thing ever you moved to Spain and you lived with Bulgarians .

Well , what happened after that ?

I kept wanting to go on an international project with Accenture and they just kept you know , it was all US based , which was fine , you know . And so I was like , you know , I've got the skills and I'm gonna be a contractor , I'm going for the big money , you know . And so that's what I did .

I started out and I started going worldwide and I got on some projects and I worked in New Zealand for most of the time and then I got on some projects in like Australia and Indonesia and Little Thing in England and all that . And then I kept ending up back in New Zealand . Okay , well , one week I was in the boxing gym .

I used to do , you know , be in the boxing and kick boxing and stuff like that Training , not fighting . Okay , I don't want anybody to hit this face , not at all . So I met these American guys that they'd come in and they were there for several weeks getting ready for matches . I met their manager .

This guy's a serial entrepreneur man , I mean all sorts of stuff , has his hands in all sorts of small business and one of the things was they were from the home state of Washington and he did kettle corn , you know , during the spring and the summer and he's like it's a great business , do they have it here ?

We got to know each other , you know , over the several weeks that they were there and we would take training together and then we'd go eat dinner together and we decided we're starting a weekend business . Okay . So we got some money together . We had some primitive popcorn makers made and got some tents and started going out to local market .

So I was doing IT during the week and then I was doing the popcorn on the weekends . I would say about eight months the money was good enough . I quit the IT . I wanted out . I got tired of sitting behind a desk . I wanted to do my own thing . Back then the definition of success was you'll never be what you want to be unless you do your own thing .

Sure , so you know , that's what I went . Popcorn was popping and the thing was it wasn't in New Zealand . They didn't have it . They didn't know what it was . All they had was like butter popcorn and caramel popcorn . They didn't have the middle .

And I just knew , you know , you know , when you have those feelings , sure , just know that you know , yeah , and you know , and I knew that this thing was gonna work . Now , how good it was gonna work I didn't know , but it worked good enough for me to quit my job in eight months .

And you know , I mean it's your ragged kind of riches , so to speak , story . I moved in with these guys and I said , look , the deal is I'm not taking the room unless I can have the garage . So I put half of my junk in the garage . I had an old box truck that we had all the gear in , and I started going out with my buddy .

And on the weekend , one weekend , man , I go inside to grab him . You know it's five o'clock in the morning , right , so I go in to grab him on a Saturday morning I come out the fricking truck's on fire Underneath , yeah , so I get a rag , I get the fire out and he's like we're not going .

I'm like , yeah , we're going , we took the truck anyways , man , we went and you know it was just those kind of things that would happen , and we got to where we started with two setups , then we went to four and we were like you could pop in these trucks and stuff . Wonderful

. What we did is we would take the setups and then we would have a tent . You know . So it's like where you go to a typical farmer's market , right ? You know you set up a tent , you get all your gear out , you know an hour or two before everybody shows up and you know you start popping that popcorn man . Oh , so you made it right there .

It was like , you know , friday to Sunday and then during the week I was getting ready and trying to find markets and man , I'm just man , I'm a dog , you know , I'd go for anything . So , just to give you an idea , we would run like four setups and man , I would do anything and everything I get my hands on .

So we got contracts , like with the rugby stadium , you know , we would do weddings or nonprofits or school gallows , and we did the weekly markets . We did about six or seven weekly markets a week , in the morning , that night , all the time , you know , and in seven years we did over 2,500 market events , holy cow that's a lot , all right .

So you know it was just we started out , so you know we're making everything by hand . And then so these guys we don't want . You know we can't have this in a plastic bag . We need this in a real potato chip retail looking bag Right Like this . Okay , that right Something like that Yup . And so that's where everything started .

You know , learn about packaging and distribution . And we would use the . We would pop by hand with our popcorn makers , we would dump it out , we would sift it by hand , then we would take the popcorn right , and we would take the scoop and we would have a bag . We didn't have all the machine .

We had a little scale , you know like a little foot scale , yeah , and we had a little hand sealer thing . And that's how we started . And the first day we had like four or five people who worked like eight or nine hours , man , and we made like 400 bags of popcorn . It's like this ain't gonna work , right .

Well , we launched and we launched into about six cinemas with about three or four boxes in each one , and we went out and sold out . Yeah , man , it went crazy . We started we would send people out , we would send our see , our , our weekend . People wanted something to do , right .

So I had a few people that were annual with Sure , they wanted something to do . We send them to the , to the cinema , to do samples . We're selling out , we're selling better than their stuff . They're like you know what ?

The profit margin isn't where we want to be , I mean , if you know how movie theaters operate , yeah , sure they don't call their money on concessions .

So we started going out pitching to distributors and we got one , and that's where it all began .

You know , we started with the , with the sweet and salty popcorn , and you know , over the years , the things you know with , for example , let's see , just to kind of give you an idea on size , so we started in a one car garage Right , then a two car garage , then about 2000 square feet , and then , and then like , and then like six to 8,000 .

And then like 15,000 . I mean , it's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger , right . And we got to the point where , you know , each time we would do this , we would upgrade as well with the machinery .

So we'd take out a manual step , sure , and we would add in something that would Automation , yeah , and we would add in a human part , sure , human element was the thing . And so , you know , over time we got to that point and we got to where we were serving . You know , we had , we had several hundred supermarkets in New Zealand .

We're still kind of doing this by hand halfway . So we went for it , man , we got to . You know You're funding all this internally . Most of it was funded internally , okay . Okay , because we were using the money from the weekends , yeah , to buy the stuff Right , to buy our manufacturing , and that's the big boy Right .

So , to give you an idea , it towards the end what would happen was we would go out all weekend , right , and I was working , you know , 12 days on the weekend Friday , saturday , sunday , whatever In one day , making popcorn is what we would make in all 12 of those days . And I was just like you know what I'm sick of killing myself . This is silly .

So we just kind of stopped doing the markets and I eventually sold that off to a mom and pop deal and that was cool , you know . So they still had advertising still out there , still getting our brand and everything for us and all that . That's good . But we moved to the manufacturing .

So , you know , and at that point in time , you know we weren't making a lot of money . We were making some money . We borrowed some money as well , you know privately , and it's like well , are we gonna ? Are we gonna buy one piece ?

We need about 12 pieces of machinery , you know cookers , conveyors , sifters , weirs , baggers , all these checkwares , all this stuff . Right , what are you gonna do ? You're gonna buy one piece of the machinery from the US for a half million dollars or are you gonna buy the whole thing from China for 200 ? Everything ?

So we found this guy that had been recommended by , you know , a fellow that had been our engineer and kind of with us the whole way , and he said look , I'm retiring , I'm getting old , but I'm handing this guy to my business , handing it over . And why don't you go for the ? You know , try it with this guy .

It'll be his first import , you know , his first big deal . So you know , we went for it , man . So we got the whole line . We got the whole line of kicking caboodle and you know we didn't need something like a Frito-Lay . Sure , I mean , we're running 24 , seven lights out every day , 500 bags a minute or something crazy .

Yeah , we're just eight hours a day , more , five days a week . You know 15 , 20 bags a minute . You know we're making money , we're good . So you know , and you know , eventually the plan has had been the whole time . We would upgrade as we went .

That takes a lot of capital .

More , you know , not enough staff or too much staff , sure , you know that it was always one of those kind of things , just trying to always find that sweet spot , right . Well , hey , it is what it is , right , sure .

And so then you know , we got from one line that we could just do kind of one size on , and then we're out on another line where we could do little bags , and then we're about another line where we could do multi-packs and we started expanding our sizes , yep , and then they're wanting , then they want flavors .

So every year or every six months , when you go in to see the buyer , they want the new thing , they want a new flavor , they want a new size , they want a new product , they want product development , they just want new , new , new , right , you know , like- Gotta keep the market interested All the time .

New is what it takes All the time , man , you know , and I'm a little guy , you know , I'm just a little guy selling a couple bags of popcorn , where you know , and you got these potato chip guys , you know , coming in with different seasonal flavors and blah , blah , blah , and so I'm trying to , you know , keep up with these guys and do that kind of stuff .

And so we got into it . You know where it was like . Once we had a meeting and we saved that skew for the year . We still had it , we had our numbers . It was like what are we gonna do next year ? You start on something already . So that would start . Man , I was starting the kitchen . Yeah , just experimenting . You got it , uh-huh , yep .

And then you know , we do taste test with all our friends and then we do it , you know , then we do it out somewhere public and so , and then we take it in and we hang it all out and say , well , making a zillion of these right . Yeah we looked at the numbers , we looked at everything . What do you think ?

So you know , a couple of them didn't work , a couple of them didn't work along the ways and a couple sizes didn't work along the way , and that hurts . That hurts a lot . Yeah , put a lot of money into it , put a lot of you know research and you know R&D and you know marketing behind it , and then it flops Mm-hmm .

And it could flop for many reasons that you have no control . And so we had a few of those , you know . Like , we had a sour cream and chives . Sour cream and chives is the second most popular potato chip flavor .

And then it was like , well , we've kind of thought of like we've tried kind of all the flavors we could do , We've kind of done all the sizes we could do . We're starting to get saturated in the market and that's one of the things in a small country , you know , in New Zealand New Zealand is small , yeah .

So it was good from a marketing perspective and a , you know , a popularity perspective , because you know we could saturate the whole country , you know , with minimal marketing dollars , but you know you only have so many supermarkets , sure , and so then we had to start going international Right , so Australia would be obviously the next logical .

That was the next logical ? I would think it was the next logical . But you know what meant . They're tough , they're mean over there , their percentages are higher , their requirements are meaner and you know we had a couple of opportunities and even with the exchange rate and everything never worked out .

So we figured out we're gonna go where people want us instead of where we gotta try to fight , sure . So I did a show in Singapore . That's really the gateway to Asia . Like a lot of the stuff comes in there and whatever the trends are , they kind of blow out to a lot of the other places .

And I did a lot of , you know , r&d and work with it's that fluent . They won , yeah , yeah , sure . Multicultural Interest Pad community you know that deal , sure , and they're very wide open to try all sorts of different things .

And so I went to a show there and we got our popcorn in a couple of stores there and then we kind of started , you know , growing and we started going to . You know we got into Taiwan and Hong Kong and Malaysia and some things like that , and then eventually the Middle East . But it was still this pressure , still this pressure . What's next ? What's next ?

So then we started a microwave popcorn company and so , yep , this thing really took off . It's crazy , man , it's crazy , I mean . You know from . I mean , and you know when we did the markets , you know , not only were we doing popcorn , but then the cotton candy guy got tired of his business , so I bought that .

And then there was a side thing to do toffee apples or caramel apples .

You know , he was kind of the brains behind the whole , like I know the black magic to make the popcorn and he , you know , he'd run several businesses . So were you equal owners ? Yeah , we were equal owners , yeah , yeah . Yeah , I was on the ground , I was kind of on the ground guy and he would do a lot of the back end stuff .

Yeah , your front end , sales and marketing , yeah , and on the ground , operations and all that kind of stuff .

And he'd do a lot of the stuff on the back end where , you know , somebody wasn't present , you know , like the invoicing and the accounting and the collections and all the stuff I , you know , didn't have time to worry about , right , so it worked well .

You got to do something better , different , Sure . And then the other guy , right , Right , and so New Zealand is very green , they're very environmental , they're very , they're very all natural , they . You know there's a big push for that . They have a lot of that high origination .

And then we had the allergy free deal . There's a lot of allergies in New Zealand . People all one out of one in four people have something Corn allergies are fairly common too , aren't they ? Yeah , well , not corn , not corn . Okay , gluten , dairy , soy , peanut nut , those are all common .

But note , the corn thing isn't very much and it's not anything that like if somebody has a reaction they're not gonna kill them , sure , you know . So I think peanut allergies are common . Oh , yeah , I mean , that's you know . Deal with that . Sure , we got a great deal , cause we serve the schools as well . We got into doing school lunches and we would serve .

We got into a government contract and we were serving the schools and things like that . And man , I'm telling you , like you know , something happened to one of the kids and it was your product . Not good , yeah , not good . So you know , I mean , we were true . You know we were true to what we had and what our claims were .

And instead of your market you were serving yeah , absolutely , and you know the whole all natural thing . And then it's New Zealand made . And you know , one of the things that I knew living there was the New Zealanders . They are very proud of what they have and what they have .

So , like their rugby team , yeah , and they have a couple of food dishes that they've said that they've invented , or you know some of the things along the way that they've done , sure , and so we named this thing New Zealand Kettle Corn . Yeah , like they owned it and they loved it and they supported it . It was a New Zealand made product .

Sure , and they love supporting New Zealand made stuff . Yeah , so you know we had all those things I mean . New Zealand made is . You know , we're all sick , man , we're in the back . So you know that was kind of our whole marketing plan and we were more expensive . You know we were handmade , but I'll tell you what , man .

You know I'm a bit partial , but it's the best popcorn on the planet . You know it's made by hand . Sure , it's all made with that blood , sweat and tears deal . And you know , you just can't beat it , man .

You can't beat it putting it in that market , in that kettle and making it from scratch the old fashioned way , you know , were you gonna eat grandma's cookies , or mom , or the ones from the supermarket ? Right , what do you like about it ? Yeah , grandma . And so I win . I win every time , you know . So that was kind of our thing .

And we grew , we grew from , you know what we were , to the number two manufacturer in the country , and then we had to start expanding out . You know like we kind of talked about internationally . So then what happened ? Well , in the middle of working on the neck and kernel thing yeah , the microwave popcorn I got hip bone cancer .

How did you find out you had that ? Oh man , what a story , yeah this . So I started limping around the factory . You know , I'm very active . I leave from the front , show my guys how to do things . You're a new kickboxer . Well , I just , you know , I mean , I knew how to do everything , cause I started from the ground up .

Sure , so you know , when we were a small business , we didn't have the money to hire an engineer to pay somebody to do this . So , you know , I did everything . And I'm limping around the factory and I go to a couple of doctors and they say , man , you've torn your butt , you've torn a butt muscle .

I'm like , okay , and I , eventually I had to go into the hospital for some blood work and the hematologist said Trent , something's wrong . You're getting an X-ray . Okay , whatever , I get an X-ray . A week later , that call , get that call , that one that changes your life , and it was that you have hip bone cancer . It's extensive , it's aggressive .

You have a quarter inch of bone holding your leg on and every step that you take you could break your leg . We're surprised you haven't broken it already . If you break your leg , we're taking it off . Come to the hospital right now . Oh my God , yeah . So I went straight to the hospital and checked in . And it's public there , man , it's a public deal .

So we know that anything you deal with the public , nothing happens quickly , and that includes healthcare . So I check in for the weekend and they start running tests on me . You know it's an anomaly , man , this thing is not normal . What happened ? And so you know I stayed over the weekend and I'm like you know what I'm out of here . I'm running a business .

You guys call me when you need me to do a test , I'll be here . Oh geez , yep . So I checked out . I checked out and I said , look , I'll be here for anything , but I'm not laying here in the hospital bed . I got business to run , I got things to do , and so back and forth in and out of the hospital for six months .

What they would do is they would do the x-rays , they do the scans , they would create the implant . By the time they were ready to do the implant , the cancer progressed and the implant wouldn't fit .

And you know , after six months of everything of in and out of the hospital and in and out of a dementia nursing home , that they put me in for a while and they thought I had dementia and all this craziness and you know , the nut farm and all that stuff . I just lost it , you know .

And my parents , my parents , would be on the phone with me at that time . Finally , my folks would get on the phone with me and they'd say , you know , I had them as my support group . Sure , because what happens a lot of times with these kind of things , but you're kind of the globe , it's hard .

He said if you don't leave it , I'm flying him home tomorrow . So the doctor left it . And so just to give you an idea , I don't , you know , just to give you an idea . So they removed . You know , I don't know if we can , if we can see that . You see that , yeah , sure , that's how much , that's how much , that's a lot .

They took out , they took out all that .

And then on the next scan , you know , I thought we were done , you know , you know , got out four months in the hospital , all the thing back at work . The next scan lung and pancreas . Lung and pancreas cancer . I couldn't believe it . So the pancreas was the next big deal and obviously that's like less than a 5% chance .

Okay , so I've survived all your surgeries , correct ? Yes , that's some five . Yeah , oh my God yeah . So on that deal , we had the surgery , covid hit . Everybody's locked down . You know it's so lonely , you're all by yourself , no one's in the hospital with you , it's all that kind of thing .

Had the surgery went fine , got the debrief report misdiagnosis Cut out half my pancreas and spleen . It was ended up being a mistaken blood clot . Oh my God , yep .

Sure , because you don't have part of the stuff that you're supposed to have Right , and you know you can't do anything about it because it's public . You can fill out a complaint form when they throw it in the rubbish , right ? Okay , fine , let's get past that . So then we had the lung thing , had the lung thing , had the lung cancer .

That's okay , that got infected . Oh yeah , by the way , the hip was infected from the start , since the very first you know , removal yeah . So that was infected for a while . Doctor decided we're gonna go in , we're gonna take out this little wire that we've put in to kind of help hold the leg . That's the reason the infection Botched up .

The surgery messed me up , gave me a surgical hernia , bladder issues , and removed the wire and what it caused was where the hip began to come upwards . Okay , so it had nothing to hold it here . Here you have a little . You had this little wire thing , yeah , okay . So then the wire was gone . So then over time it just continues to go up .

It's like Jell-O Leg is just shorter and shorter . Yeah , yeah , nothing to yeah yeah , so this is the kind of shoe that I ended up having to wear . Well , so , four and a quarter inch lift , man . Okay , told me I'd never walk again , I'd be on crutches and a wheelchair for the rest of my life , be handicapped that would be my life .

Yeah , still , man , still . You know what I'm running my business .

It was good for me from the standpoint of I had something to focus on , had something to work on , had something to deal with besides laying there looking at the wall waiting until the doctor come talk to me every day . Yeah , because I was in the hospital nine months , over two years , dude .

But I ran my business , man , you know , I put the laptop up on the on the Little table yeah , on the table , man . And you know my suppliers would come in and meet me . I wouldn't even get , I couldn't even get out of bed , yeah , I couldn't even roll over , right , I couldn't even meet me .

My staff were coming in , we're having meetings , we're doing our thing , we're still working . So , a couple hours a day , man , I'd get away from it , you know , and I think it kind of saved me , to agree , saved my sanity to a bit . And you know , my team got to where I couldn't do everything . It couldn't depend on me to show them how to do everything .

They had to go learn how to do it and say , look , I'll tell you how to do it . I'll never leave you , always be here , but you have to go do it yourself now , yeah , and if you make a mistake , come back , we'll fix it . Yeah , fix it together , you know . And so I had some guys that you know they stepped up , they grew , they became unbelievable .

You know , some of them moved on since then , but you know , they just they wanted to . You know , I mean , I'm a good boss man . Yeah , I'm a good guy to work with . You know I treat my staff like family . Sure , you know I've done all sorts of things . I've done all sorts of things , man .

You know , have their car fixed , give them money on the weekend by their Christmas presents . You know , do whatever man .

I was all alone , no one to , no one to , and I was kind of like , okay , so they did that and so then that really messed the leg up Right and it didn't fix the infection either . So I still had the infection . Okay , man , two and a half months in the hospital two supposed to be a couple of weeks turned into two and a half months .

Get out all over again , just trying to get back to life and do my thing and work . Next scan no , you do have pancreas cancer . For real , this is for real . For real . I'm like , well , you wouldn't do a biopsy last time , let's do a biopsy this time .

So a couple of months and me arguing back and forth with the pancreatic surgeon when they found the cancer . It was the size of a couple of nickels . Okay , that's how big it was . After four months arguing with the doctor , getting a biopsy and everything . It was the size of a tennis ball . Okay , poor guy Was growing into my stomach lining .

I had a scan , went into a private radiologist because these guys were dragging their feet and I figured out what was going on . Later they were just waiting me out . They were waiting me out . I mean , it's public , it's a business . They're like I can do anything for me . And so I went to a private guy and I had a serious talk with him .

He said look , it's too far , we won't do anything for you . You know , we won't do surgery , it's too risky . We won't do radiation , that's too risky . So you can go home . And I'm like and wait to die . And he's like well , you can go home . And I'm like man , I know the stats . With treatment , it's less than 5% .

You're telling me to go home With no drug treatment . And so you know , there was this thing the whole time I was like am I gonna come home and be with my parents or am I gonna run my business ? So I've got free healthcare here . I don't have it in the States . What am I gonna do ? You know , I haven't lived here 15 years or whatever .

Sure , well , my dad and I started talking . He's like you know , the healthcare rules have changed . You know you ought to check into it and see if you can still get something with preexisting conditions , if it's affordable , cause I wasn't gonna come home Right and die on my parents and bankrupt them Right , bankrupt the whole family , and die .

I'd rather just die and be sad . You know , like that's practical , okay , approach this thing like a business Uh-huh , like just nothing but facts and practicality . And that's how I think I got through it . You know , I just these are the facts , this is what's gonna happen . Try to take your emotions out of it .

Even though Just accepted your fate , I mean , you know I'd go to the hospital , you know , and they tell me I was dying and I'd go back to the factory an hour later and I didn't have to work for seven or eight hours until I got home at night , mm-hmm , you know . And then you kind of just fall apart when you get home by yourself .

But you know , that's what I did . You know that's what I did , man . And so I decided I was coming home . I decided I was coming home . They'd given me a year . They said you got a year to live .

I'm not going to MD Anderson , I'm not doing all this big stuff , let's just start local .

Man , oh my God , that's the size the sucker was when Hershey got it , uh-huh . And so then , you know , I had to scan it . We're clear , it's amazing , it's a miracle , really it is a miracle . And then Were you doing things like change your ?

He'd get on a clinical trial and he'd get chemo and then he would work out for hours after that . Yeah , of course he was exhausted . You know which it takes , but I think that worked it through his body , yep , he lived to be 96 . Unbelievable Cancer-free after that . I love it , I love it , man , I love it .

But he did watch his diet and his exercise was extreme . I did all that .

We beat the hip infection that I had for two years Couldn't get rid of , wow . So we beat that . Had to beat the infection , to work on a hip implant . Found this who was that ? By chance here , that was Dan Young . Ok , dan Young , yep , yep . Infectious disease of Northwest Arkansas . Got an awesome man . Man , he's a bulldog too .

Man , he's like first day I went in there he's like we're going to get this , we're going to get it , we're going to get it and I'm going to give you a chance to get that leg , yep . And so , because you know , what I want to do is I want to be off the crutches . Sure , you know it's like beat the cancer , beat the infections , off the crutches , yep .

So I have a orthopedic advisor guy , dr Montgomery , down in Arkansas , down in a little rock , and you know , I catch up with him and I said , man , I want to walk again . And I said I've been going to everybody all over the country . No one will do anything to this leg .

Uh-huh , I said you know , they told me there's not enough real estate left to do anything , right ? And he said look , I got a guy that worked under me . He's at Mayo . I said I've been to Mayo . He say I'm into this guy , he does these things .

So we're in the middle of the largest , most complex hip implant ever done in the world , with proprietary procedures that have never been done , and I don't think any pig . And so this is what this thing looks like right now , man . So just to give people an idea , like this is kind of what a normal hip implant would look like .

Right , yep , yep , and this is what the largest , most complex infant plant in the whole world looks like . Wow , seven or eight screws , three rods in my spine , all the way to the other side , all over the place . But , hey , man , structural integrity , baby , that's hey . All this is . It's a construction project On a human . That's all this .

Is they just a big project ?

Sure , yeah , so that would be pretty gnarly . So that's an option down the road . Let's just get through this first Right , and in the middle of this , you know .

It's like the , you know , a camp of nine lives man , but so you're going to .

But you know , I knew , I knew it was , it wasn't going to be a long term deal for me to go back . Sure , and so my business partner , I'd agree that we were going to get rid of it , and so you know it took us about a year and a half year and a half , two years to do that , but we successfully completed the transaction over Super Bowl weekend .

And who'd you sell it ? To A Kiwi guy . Ok , yeah , a Kiwi guy that had been in the food business . He had been in , he had , he had worked as a account manager nationally and within the chicken industry , so he knew the supermarkets , he knew the food . Yeah , I know he wanted to do his own thing , and so it was a good transition . Good .

It was a good move over to him and you know you just want to see your baby , you know , see that thing , just carry on . And so your partner , he got out at the same time . Yeah , we got out together . We got out together and he's got several other things that he does and this was my primary focus .

You know , it's like it's been a chapter in my life . It's time to move on to the new thing .

So they're like you really should write a book or you shouldn't be on podcast or something Sure . So I started doing podcast and so now I'm kind of moving into the public speaking thing a bit and I'm looking at kind of Sure , well , you're inspirational .

Yeah , but there's a difference in total failure and failing at an experiment . I love experiments . We are fail experiments , like you said , some of your flavors or sizes . They don't work , okay . But the key is , if it fails , then you move on to the next thing . It's not like you go oh it failed , my whole business is crap , I'm done .

You know it's that experiment failed , but we'll try something else now . That's it . That's it , you know . And it sounds like you know it's the same thing with your healthcare . It's like well , you get the wrong answer from somebody , I'll try something else .

It was like hell on earth it was . And you know , you appreciate just the simple things in life , like walking around , yeah , I believe it . Yeah , in the sunshine , yeah , I mean really , you know , yeah , you know everything's . You know we're so gratified now and everything's so instant . You know it's just .

You know a married human beings , you know they , just they do that we don't appreciate stuff until we don't have it .

Yeah , you want to do something better than what's out there . That's right . That's right and it's just . It's a basic need and it's when it works . It's very gratifying .

So everyone on you know we're still there .

If you have any suggestions for who should be on the show , we've got an extensive list of future guests coming up , but we're always interested to hear about people who've been successful , people who had struggles and overcame them , and people who are doing great things right now . We love to hear from you and otherwise this has been another episode of you .

Got to say it along with me now , since Eric's not here Big talk about small business . Thanks , everybody , awesome .

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