I went from Park Avenue to Park Bench. Right? I was emotionally financially and spiritually bankrupt. I lost everything. I even almost lost my life. My life went dark and became completely unmanaged. I was risking my life every single day. I overdosed twice. The last time, it took 6 cans of non can to bring me back to life. 6 cans of non can. There's no drug, no alcohol. We'll ever give me that feeling that I get when I'm able to empower someone to transform that line. What's up, everybody?
I'm Chaz Wolfe, gathering the king's pod cast coming back to you here today with another king on the stage from New York. My mate, Joe Rivera. How are we doing? I'm blessed, man. Bless another day, Charles. How are you doing? Also blessed. I received that. And, man, we're don't know about this week, particularly, Kansas City is buried in snow. What's what's New York looking like? We got a little bit though too, man. We ain't get as much as everybody else's getting, but you guys could keep it.
I'm alright with that. You know, I was reminded with the snow how, the time I spent in South Florida was so wonderful. You know? And, maybe maybe we need to make that happen again, but, the the sledding with the kids was pretty fun. You know? It's always good to get away and get that sun, though. Right? That's right. Exactly. Joe, tell us what kind of business that you got, my man. So I have a a coaching and speech in business. I'm a resilience coach, resilience keynote speaker.
I empower business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs from hitting a wall of exhaustion and lacking direction. By creating a simple road map to re forge their life and live in purpose Wolfe closing the gap between spirituality and true wealth. Okay. Wow. There's a that's a whole big old box that maybe we'll get to play around with some toys in there, and see what you can pull out and help the listeners here today if you're okay with that. It's I'm always willing to unpack it, man.
Good. Good. Well, clearly, you're you're, I love the the the clarity of that answer, honestly, I think that in itself should give the audience some sort of like, okay. Wow. Clearly, he is on a mission. Just let's talk about this for a second because you said that so succinctly. It was like, obviously, you've worked on this. You you probably help your clients work on this, but let's just talk for a half second. Why is that piece so important for you, for your clients?
Like, this is a big just in general, clarity, kind of like what you do, but why is that that having that little that little statement so clear, important for you, and also for the listener? For them to have their Clarity. Clarity is a key to success. Without being clear on your mission, without being clear on your purpose, you you're not gonna fulfill that. Yeah. What's the opposite? I mean, if someone doesn't have clarity, where are they now?
Life becomes unmanageable, lack of direction, you know, things seem to to to fall apart at the seams. Yeah. Yeah. I've got 2 kind of circumstances in my mind. I want you to help me on because we all experienced this in our entrepreneurial journey, but, I see someone who is, you know, just completely like, they literally just don't know what to do next, a lack of clarity.
But then there's also the lack of clarity of the guy, like, more like me years ago, where I was doing, I was doing a bunch actually. But because I was just so busy doing, I really just was being busy. And I was thankful for a lot of that because I learned a bunch. But I also didn't have very good clarity. Can you speak to both of these situations? I'm sure we have listeners in both examples. Yeah. Because when you're just busy doing, you're not being productively busy. Right.
There's a difference with being busy and being productively busy. When you're when you're doing things clarity, when you're doing things with your mission, when you're doing things with your purpose, you're being productively busy. When you're just doing to do with no direction and and and no clarity, it's unproductive. Yeah. And what about the guy that, just doesn't even know what to do? He's not doing anything. That's when he should call Joe Rivera. Okay. Well, there you go. Easy enough.
Great next step. Don't overthink it. Call Joe. Good, man. Okay. No. You you gotta have a plan, man. You gotta have a plan. You gotta have, an accountability partner. Your accountability is so important. This this this steps to this, man. Yeah. You're right. I wanna I wanna get into your steps. The steps that you've taken personally, obviously, I wanna hear your story. The y factor. I'm sure you help clients, kind of figure out there why it's kind of a catchphrase right now, but for Joe?
Like, why do you do what you do? What's the bigger picture? You've obviously been successful, but you're still doing it. Why? Yeah. Well, I mean, it it it it goes into my story. Right? But, what I will tell you is I'll give you a sneak peek before you when we get into that. You know, after achieving sobriety, I was able to build another, you know, multimillion dollar company and something was missing. You know, god kept nudging at me and pulling at me, telling me that my journey is not complete.
And that I had a bigger purpose in life. And that's when I decided to build this coaching and speaking platform in me. There's no drug, no alcohol, will ever give me that euphoric feeling that I get when I'm able to empower someone to transform their life. I mean, that's that's the gift that keeps on giving. That's my why. That's that's what wakes me up in the morning. Yeah. And I wanna I wanna dissect that because it's it's so good. It's obviously real for you.
But someone who may not have the same desires that you do of wanting to help people specifically in their business, and and they wanna help people with their marketing or, you know, they wanna they wanna, improve their home or whatever their business is. But I guess what we're underneath that layer is the dopamine or the Chaz you talked about of helping another person. Why is that important for you?
Cause you can help a lot of people do a lot of things, but you're helping them specifically with their business or transform as you say. Why? Why that specifically? Because I Chaz to transform my life, and and I know what it's like to walk around with lack of direction. I know what it's like to to not have that clarity and know what it's like to to have that struggle and and not know how to be resilient, not know how to down back.
Yeah. Yeah. What I mean, you kind of, you've given us a couple different things here I wanna chew on, but for the person, who maybe has a multimillion dollar company like you did before, but you said you weren't complete or maybe you didn't have clarity. You were successful financially, it sounds like. Maybe the listener isn't even to that multimillion dollar position yet, but maybe they are, but they're still lacking the clarity.
What so you're saying that I can still be 6 successful and still be confused or lack clarity? It sounds like there's more. There's more to this equation Chaz I need. The secret sauce is the spirituality, man, and it ain't religion. But it's it's being connected to that higher source.
I call god someone else might call it the infinite intelligence, the universe, whatever they believe but being connected to that higher source and and and and utilizing that to be able to open those doors and move those mountains fee that you can't move on your own. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Infinite Intelligence is a reference from Think And Grow Rich. So let's get into this. We've got we've got a a a connect ability to a a power that we cannot see. So now we're automatically into the faith principle.
Talk about this for a second. Yeah. Because look, man. You could either lean into your faith, right, which you just mentioned something you can't touch. You can't feel, but you know is there. Or you can lean into the fear and and and and have that fear move you away from your greatness or lean into the faith and bring it towards your greatness. Yeah. How how does fear rob me of my greatness? I mean, I I I see how fear can maybe, keep me from some things, but how is it affecting me?
Because you're you're you're running away from from the problem because that fear is there. And then that's when you know, the the little voice pops and you had the inner critic telling you you're not good enough, telling you you can't do this, you can't do that. You know, it's for some people, Right? Fear stands for everything and run. Right? You wanna change that to face everything and reforged. You know, don't let fear dictate everything and be your steering wheel in life.
You wanna be in the driver's seat, steering the wheel, to create your own destiny. Fear is huge. Fear is everywhere, but yet fear Chaz be overcome and control. Right? It could even be a powerful learning experience. The best way to overcome that fear is just to face it head on. And that's when you're gonna achieve empowerment, clarity, and freedom. I remember when I was out there risk in my life getting high, I had a fear of what life would be like without drugs.
I couldn't imagine light without having some kind of mind altering substance in my body. Every single day. Right? But it wasn't until I faced that fear head on and chose to get help on overcoming my demons. That's when I was able to achieve sobriety and have that paradigm shift. So now rather than thinking or feeling powerless over drugs and alcohol, I get power for my prayer and meditation every single day, which is so much more empowering. They're chasing a high that doesn't even exist.
You know? Yeah. So facing that fear changed my life forever. Yeah. I'm listening to you right now. You know, small business owner in Indiana. I'm listening to this New Yorker, and he's telling me to have no fear when it comes to the things that are growth oriented, how do I even determine what are the things that are growth oriented? Something that you know is gonna help take you to the next level, right, where you get that little inner voice that pops up and says, oh, you can't do this.
You shouldn't do that. Who do you think you are? The imposter syndrome pops up and and you you sit there and you could allow yourself to listen to that voice allow that voice to to control you, or you could go the other route and realize that that little voice is gonna always be there to try to prevent you from overcoming because that's the paradigm. And you have to shift that paradigm. So removing that little voice and realizing that that little voice is in the control of you.
You control your own destiny. Yeah. Makes me think of a situation. This was years ago, but, I had, I had been recruited by the 10 x office by Grant Cardone. And so I flew down there and had an interview with Jared and one of the other executives down there, and there was a couple different positions that I was, applying for. I already owned a couple businesses, but There was a a marketing position that I really I didn't know. I didn't know how to do it, what to do it. It was completely fearful.
And they had offered me the sales job, which I I knew that I could crush, but I I that was I gotta already conquer that mountain. I was already making you know, 5 x more than what they were offering. And and, so this other one, though, was like, I want that one.
And even if the listener is paying attention, and there are any sort of a fan of Grant Cardone, then then they know that, like, he has the same mindset, just run after the fear, kinda like, you know, if if you're afraid of it, you should you should do So I just was honest going, this actually scares me the most. That's why I want this one. I don't want that one. I want this one. And I ended up not getting the job.
But a couple years later, I was able to come in as a net partner on a completely different opportunity that was way larger, with them. So they called me back a couple years later. And we moved our family down there and all that fun stuff. So it's just kinda funny how things work out when you say you run towards your fear. I ended up not getting it, but it actually ended up working out down the road. And it was. I remember sitting in the office. Cool as a cucumber, shaking on the inside.
Yeah. You know what I mean? I have Absolutely. And and and that's but but you faced it. Right? And even though it didn't come into fruition right then and there, eventually, it did. Yeah. And and I believe that Eventually, it always does. Yeah. So tell us a circumstance. I mean, I gave one for me. What give give us circumstance in your story because and I want you to kinda use this.
Give this example, but then, like, keep going with the rest of your story because you've got obviously, you kinda hinted at it already, but you've got a a pretty transformational story. So give us one of these situations where you've overcome fear and then and then give us the rest of the rest of the backdrop here. Yeah. The fear of of being sober and living a normal life. Right? All the fear of even starting this coaching and speaking platform, you know, and and and and putting Yeah. Who am I?
And realize Yeah. Right? And and realizing and not knowing what to expect the unknown and and what the challenges Chaz come with a business. Right? We're building a new business and a new arena that, you know, nothing about. Yeah. That's always the those are scary, you know, healthy fears. Right? But that you can either allow yourself to stop growing and say, you know what? Let me stay here in my comfort zone, or you can move out of your comfort zone.
And allow those doors to open in those mountains to move. Yeah. You know? And and and I also remember, you know, having that fear of not knowing what a normal life would look like without drugs and alcohol. Yeah. Because, man, I was getting banged up for years. Because a lot for you to even imagine what life would be out without it. Can't do. I I went I went from Park Avenue to Park Bench. Right? I was emotionally financially and spiritually bankrupt. I lost everything.
I even almost lost my life. I had my dream job in the financial industry as a stock broker. In the early 2000s, I'm twenty five years old, making 7 figures a year. I should feel like I'm on top of the world at this point. But 7 figures a year? I wasn't good enough. I wanted more because I lived in a belief system. With never enough. I wanted 8 figures or 9 figures. And at this point in my life, being spiritually bankrupt, Money is the only higher power that I knew.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make more money. I was putting in late nights at my office one evening, and this dude we called Johnny Connect. We called him that because he had the ability to get his hands on anything you could imagine. And keep in mind, we're in New York. So this dude's sways, he's part of the mafia. He's he sits down at my desk, and he says, hey, Joe, You think you're a top producer now? Take this little round pillar. Forget about it. You're gonna produce even more.
Wall Street's known as drug street also. Right? So everyone's doing some kind of drug, and I'm already smoking weed. Treating or having some kind of mind altering substance in my body every single day for the past I don't know, 10 years at this point. So I said, why not? And that's when I got introduced to opiates. And that's when my battle with substance abuse took off to the next level. My life went dark. And became completely unmanageable. I was risking my life every single day.
I opened those twice. Wow. The last time? It took 6 cans of North Ken to bring me back to life. 6 cans of North Ken. Yeah. You're gone. Chaz same night? Yeah, man. I mean, talk about go hard and go home. Right? Yeah. I mean, and Chaz same night, I'm laying in the hospital bed. I wake up. I pulled the EKG electrodes off my body. Leave the hospital against medical advice. And then when I get outside, it's the middle of winter.
I'm wearing a gown, and I'm shivering, looking like a crack head like Pookie from New Jack City, from all the opiates being taken out of my body. And the first thing I do I go call the dealer again to go get high. Wow. Couple weeks later. My sister invited me for an event. At that event, I don't remember exactly what it was, but something clicked I looked at my sister. She looks at me. And we both started crying. I mean, she knew exactly what I was gonna say, Chaz.
And and then the words came out. The words My family was waiting to hear for years. I said, I don't wanna do this no more, sir. I'm I'm a shell of my true Wolfe. Man, I was tired of writing my obituary. I wanted to begin creating my legacy. And, after that, I made the decision to achieve sobriety, you know, and and look. My my story is not unique. Right? Many people struggle with vice Mine was drugs and alcohol. Someone else might be gambling, sex, shopping, overeating, whatever that advice is.
It interferes with us being our true self by having us isolate not being fully present. It creates character defects For some, life may become unmanageable. Some people lose their motivation and self esteem. But I promise you. You don't have to live like that. There's a better way to live life. I believe living in purpose closes that gap between spirituality and true wealth. I used to live an unmanageable life where a lacked direction didn't finish things that I started.
I couldn't get out of my own way. But now I live an incredible life where I know the direction I'm going. I know what my goals are. And when I start something, I finish it and I shatter those goals, but it's because I built a reliable, repeatable, transformational system that helped me create wealth financially, emotionally, and spiritually. And that spiritual component is so important, man. Yeah. I appreciate you, Sherry, man. That's super vulnerable.
I think that there's listeners here now that, like you said, share the common struggle, or if if they don't any longer, then they should be able to share in the understanding of what that freedom feels like. I think every entrepreneur listening, every entrepreneur in the world, we we do business because we want freedom.
And we can define that freedom in different ways, you right now have defined it as, well, I needed sobriety first, and then I was able to, you know, achieve many other things that you just alluded to, but What is that freedom for for the listener, for you? What does that look like? What does that feel like? Why why is it important? Freedom is to not be handcuffed by anything or anyone, right, to to be able to live life and create success. On your own terms.
What what what my terms are gonna be could be completely different for someone else. Right? It's their definition. It's your success. What does success look like for you? What is what is what is creating that success on your terms mean to you? You know, what is that that that relationship that you have with the people around you? What does that look like for you? So freedom is is being able to live life on your turn. Yeah. Not on somebody else's, not by something else.
We're not victims of our circumstances and conditions. You know, we control our own destiny. What would you say and you Chaz reach back even to some of the companies that you've that you've built before. Of course, in this successful coaching practice, what what's been just like a really good decision that you've made in business? Like, you know, you've you've you've achieved sobriety. You've got this spiritual connection.
We can maybe loop around to some of these things again, but practically inside the business. What's worked for you Chaz the listener could take away right now and go, well, I can do that today. Don't try to do it by yourself. K? You know, realize that you're as good as your team's gonna be, you know, and and and you don't if you try to do everything yourself, It it ain't gonna work, man.
I tried doing it alone so long so many times, and there's so much more success when you have people around you to help you get to that next level. Don't be afraid to ask for help. You know, people get so caught up in the ego and and and and and and the fear, right, fear, ego, all of that comes in, and and you don't wanna ask for help. Yeah. You feel ashamed or you're shy or whatever it is, man.
Yeah. But you'll be surprised when you reach out for help, how many people will put their hand out to help? Yeah. I mean, it's just it people wanna help others. Yeah. And I wanna I wanna stay on this for a second. The the other kinda across the line with this fear was, is this hiring. Right? You know, the fear of doing it alone or or you're saying don't do it alone. The fear then immediately for hiring purposes, oh, I don't know. Can I afford it?
You know, will they will they will they actually tear it down? Like, there's a lot of fear that can go there. We're on the vein here of asking for help, which could be getting around other entrepreneurs. That's what Calvin and the Kings does. Getting a coach. That's what you do. There's free meetups. There's people online. There's groups on Facebook. Like, What else can I do to to reach up? Because that's probably the hardest piece.
As you already know, the ego piece is just It's rooted in there. There could there's somebody listening right now. Who literally is in the 1st couple of years and they're just beating their head against the wall? And they're just stubborn. And they're they don't wanna ask for help. So give them a couple of on ramps here that can help them because they they know they need it. They just just don't do it. Yeah. Listen, man.
And and and if you can't afford to go and and hire help, then the next the next best thing and probably even it might even be better, right, is go out and find other people who have done what you're looking to do and are ahead of where you are. Because guess what? When you surround yourself with people who inspire you, You're gonna be inspired to do more with your life. Yeah. Right?
I mean, I I remember when when I when I went out on the before I chi when I chief sobriety, I had to find myself a support. I went to places where I could find other people who were sober and connected with them. Yeah. And found out what steps they took to get sober and stay sober.
And when I built my business to another multimillion dollar business, I surrounded myself with people in that industry who a multimillion is and connected with them and found out which steps they took to build their business to a multimillion dollar business. And guess what? I also had to go on in both networks and find out what those people's struggles are so I could learn from their struggles and their mistakes.
Start by, you know, surrounding yourself with people who who are gonna take you to that next level. And I promise you you're gonna see a difference. Yeah. Going back to Thinking Grow Rich, you've already referenced some principles that are clearly identified in that book, but, the mastermind principle is is by far the most in-depth that that Napoleon Hill goes through and through his material, all of his different books. It all basically comes down to the mastermind principle.
And when you hire a coach, or when you join a group or when you, you know, even in your own marriage, it it the mastermind principle is in effect, right, where the 2 working together unto a definite chief aim and the accomplishment of that, it it creates new solutions. It creates a new mastermind. And so give us a little, principle here because, I mean, that's the baseline, and that's what this is. Give us maybe your definition of that. How do you use this in your coaching program?
Cause ever essence, what you just described, go get around other people. You had to do it with your sobriety, whether they hire you or or someone else, like, They're really engaging with the mastermind principle. Would you agree? What would you give us some more here? Yeah. You're definitely engaging with the mastermind principle. And Take accountability. Have a find an accountability partner within that mastermind. That's gonna help hold you accountable and take you to that next level.
Because without the accountability, it it gets difficult to kinda put it into place and and really apply what you're learning because it's so easy to get sidetracked without that accountability. And it's so easy to kinda put it off and procrastinate. But if you start surrounding yourself with that mastermind group and then you start having yourself an accountability partner, man, I mean, it it it really takes it to the next level. Scott's the limit at that point.
Yeah. And I know that you're a father and and you've got other people in your world outside of just clients and and or other entrepreneurs that you're around. Talk about how to how does this affect other areas of your life? This this mastermind principle or reaching out, helping each other you know, a kind of a rising tide raises all ships, may then maybe the listener knows it better that way, but how does that apply in other areas of your life?
It it it takes Presidents in every part of life, right, relationships surrounding yourself with other people who have successful relationships, Parents surrounding yourself with other parents who may be doing it longer than you. That's how we learn, man. We learn from other people. Yeah. And guess what? Learning doesn't stop or end when you go to school. It's a lifelong experience.
Continue learning and every respect of your life, relationship, vocation, health, and wellness, all of it, and surround yourself with the right group of people. You're gonna be a winner. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I am using this as a segue to come back to, you know, the how you opened up the show, which is that, you know, the spiritual connection, you know, is is the juice. Said it's a secret sauce.
And and Napoleon Hill breaks this down in laws of success, but he talks about how the mastermind principle is basically like, a super practical way to be able to access the next level, which is, you know, the mastermind of you and me even right here on the show. Like, we like, your thoughts and my thoughts are coming together, creating new ideas in your mind that you haven't said yet, and and in my mind, and or maybe in the listener.
We've spurred something in their mind, so this mastermind principle is reaching in to you know, the the download, if you Wolfe. I I wanna give you the platform here to kinda share a little bit more. I I've got some opinions here as well. So, take us away on on what is this this juice, the secret sauce that we're that we're talking about.
Yeah. I mean, look, the the juice for me is, without a doubt, the spiritual component, right, because and, look, spirituality and religion are 2 different worlds. We're not talking about religion. Yeah. There's a higher source involved. I call it god someone else might call it the universe, infinite intelligence, whatever it is you believe and and choose to call it. Right?
And having that connection with that higher source, realizing that that higher source is gonna take you to to to your highest point and be able to to help you really unlock your fullest potential Yeah. Is so important. But spirituality is also about walking and living in your purpose. Right? Because we've seen it so many times. I mean, so many people, they could have all the money in the world. But and there's something missing on the other side, and they end up taking their life.
They end up owning drugs and alcohol and and and taking their life that way. I mean, look at Chris Foley, the actor. Look at Robin Williams. Perfect example. I mean, these guys had the world by the bulls. Right? All the money. They they they they had it all. And yet they took their life. Why? Because something's missing. So the the people that they cared about the most end up getting hurt from that. Right? So because that spiritual component is missing. It's it's there's emptiness there.
There's no fulfillment there. That's not a way to live life. Hey, Kings and Queens. Chaz Wolfe. I wanna talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort. We, meaning myself and my team, into this podcast into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, We want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
So we would love if you would like, comment, share, leave a review, post, share again all of the things on social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands, more entrepreneurs so they can grow their business as quick as possible. Together, we are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this.
Let's help each other. Let's help each other grow. Yeah. Yeah. The, the connection for me there is if I'm created, in the likeness of god, you know, if I'm created in his image. So Genesis tells me. So it's like, okay. What does that mean about me? Wolfe, that I'm a creator Chaz I I get energy from the way I'm designed. And, he's designed me to be a builder, especially entrepreneurs.
And so we're talking to entrepreneurs right now specifically, and and different people who maybe aren't entrepreneurs, maybe have a different, maybe build word, but for us, we're builders. This is how we've been designed. And so what I'm hearing you say is by reaching into how I am at the core, who my identity is, who I am, whose I am, who, like, what I'm supposed to be, right, the the potential that you're talking about.
Is I I can't actually achieve that without knowing first where it came from. Right. Amen. Absolutely. Without a doubt. So uh-uh. No. Uh-uh. You you hit it on the button and and people could you could think about being created in whatever form you want from whoever you want, whatever you want, but know that There's a reason you were put here, and there's a reason that you're supposed to live the life that you're supposed to live. And you have to find that reason.
You have to find that purpose, and you have to fulfill it. Yeah. It's your job to do it. Everything else is given to you. You have the abilities within you. You have the purpose is there. It's there. I mean, you have the the key to unlock it. You just gotta go find the key, and you gotta learn how to unlock it. It it don't work where you're gonna say your prayers and all of a sudden, it's just gonna come up in the next day. You gotta do your part. Right?
God or or the infinite intelligence, whatever you call it, wants to see that you're working with them. Teamwork makes the dream work, man. Yeah. But you gotta go out and do the work. Yeah. It's funny because, you know, I've I've led, you know, small groups and men's bible studies and all kinds of fun stuff across my time. And it it, you know, I've as I have found, there are there are principles or laws.
And, you know, so I can I have stood in front of, you know, let's say, a men's breakfast, you know, a 100 men? And I'm talking about, you know, using the subconscious mind, but again, it's a different it's a different title. It it's a it's it's the download from the Holy Spirit. You know? And and here's the reality is, look, man. You you're either operating on purpose, not necessarily in purpose, because that's a lot what Joe's talked about, and I'm in agreement there.
We're we're we're over here. And operating intentionally on purpose because I know where I'm going because I have clarity, all the things that Joe's given to you here today. I'm either operating like Chaz, or I'm not. And it's pretty cut and dry. You either know if I'm if I woke up today on purpose to get something very, very specific done because I know who I am, and I know what I'm doing. Now I don't have the full download yet. I'm asking for a new download every single day.
That's the beauty of it is that I don't know exactly who the Chaz from 5 years now is, but I wanna meet him. Right? You wanna meet that, Joe. Right? Yeah. Of course. Absolutely. How how do you do this? How how can I how can I meet the Chaz? 5 years from now. The the real, who I'm supposed to be. Learn from your mistakes. Right? Learn from those who stay. Realize that failures part of success. And it's okay. It's not about perfection. It's about progression. That's right.
As long as you progress every day, That's a win. And that's gonna get you closer to to meeting that person from 5 years from now. Right? Because if you continue making the same mistakes over and over again, you're not learning from them, you're never gonna be able to unlock that potential. You're never gonna be able to live to see that, you know, to be that person 5 years from now that you you have the potential of being because you're not putting the work in. You're not doing your part.
Yeah. It's good. It's good. I wanna ask you, one last question here that might take us a minute. Maybe it won't. I don't know. Kinda thinking about your story here. If you had the opportunity to roll back the clock and talk to the younger Joe, I wanna know, 1, how old is he? You've got pictured in in your mind. And then what do you whisper in his ear? Man, that that's don't be afraid to fail. I and and you know what's funny, Chaz, is people would say, damn, what did you say? Don't do drugs.
Wouldn't you say, you know, go back and change this. I don't wanna change nothing. You know why? Because that's who I am. My past doesn't define me. It helped me propel to my access to who I am, you know, so people always say, damn, don't you have regret for doing drugs and alcohol? I mean, I actually say thank you to substance abuse for making me the person that I am today.
I say thank you to substance abuse for bringing me closer to god and having me have the relationship where today, god's my father, my mother, my uncle, my best friend, my everything. I didn't even know what that relationship was coming up. I lost my way along the way. You know? So I say, thank you, the substance abuse for giving me this platform to be able to go out there and share my story with the Wolfe. You know, because I asked for so many years. Right?
I said, man, god, how do I give it back to you? How do I give back what you've given me? I mean, this gift, this, this, this, every day I wake up, I defy the odds. I'm so thankful for it. How do I give it back? I'm being so and he said just kept telling me. You know what, son? Go out there and share your story. Go out there and give it back. That's how you give it back. Don't be selfish. If you hold it in, you be selfish. So, man, but I learned from those mistakes. Right?
I won't go back and ever do drugs again. I won't go back and make the same mistakes I made before, right, because I'm learning from the mistakes. That's how I grow. So the one thing I tell myself, don't be afraid to fail. I love it. There's a, you know, there's a, a principle, if you will, or or a law of gratitude. And I've done a lot of work on this in the last year. And I really think, Joe, tell me what you think about this. I really think that basically everything comes down to gratitude.
Yeah. Gratitude is everything, man. I mean, I I did this. It's so important. I was saying, I'm I'm not worthy of you know, what you did for me. I mean, you saved my life. You know, you picked me up from the pumpkin patch cleaned out my guts, like like a like a jack o'-lantern, and then put me out there to put a light and have me shine and share it with the Wolfe, sharing me with the world. I mean, how do I give that back? You know, what what what made me worthy of doing that.
And today, I I know I'm a man worthy of love and respect. I know why god saves my life. I know what my purpose is, and and my gratitude is through the roof for that I mean, dude, there's not a day that goes by that I'm not saying thank you for for what he's giving me. Every day I wake up, part of my morning routine is weakened up and having prayer meditation in a moment of gratitude. It started off as a couple of minutes per day. Now there's days that last 45 minutes to an hour.
Because, I mean, there's so much to be thankful for. Waking up this morning, having food and shelter, having a roof over my head. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. One of my kids, this was probably a year or so ago. She's like, daddy, you always You always pray for weird things. Like, really? What do you what do you mean, honey? She's like, well, you're always thankful that we have, like, eyes that work and legs that work and, like yeah. But, like, could you imagine not having eyes at work?
Could you imagine not having 2 legs at work? It's something that we should be thankful for. And it was just like this little six year old going, oh, Right? Like, how can we do that, Joe, with all of the listeners right now? All the adult listeners go Oh, I should actually be thankful for all the little things because it propels me then into all the things I'm supposed to be. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. Love it, man. Absolutely, man.
Be thankful that you're a spiritual being living a human experience, and you have the power within you to do anything. You put your mind to me. Love it. Joe, how can a listener find you? Maybe they have, found some interest in some of the things that you've brought up here today. They wanna They wanna connect with you or they wanna follow you on social or maybe they wanna work with you. How can they find you? Yeah. Sure. You could go to my website, which is with joeriver.com.
Find me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn at with Joe Rivera also. And, Chaz, if it's alright with you, I wanna give it a free gift for everyone also. So if you text the word reforged, r e, f as in Frank, Chaz to 6464959867. I'm gonna give you my 3 pillars of, being able to create true wealth and close your gap between spirituality and true wealth. Love it. We'll put that in the show notes as Wolfe. So that way they if if you just heard that and you're like, oh, no. I didn't get it.
Just, just scroll down. Go to the show notes. It'll be right there for you. Joe, you have a magnificent story of overcoming and, what, you know, as we might say true success or real real, life winning looks like. So thank you for sharing that. Thank you for doing it. Thanks for thanks for being persistent, through the struggle and, being able to stand here today and and share with others that it's possible. I appreciate you.
Blessings to you, your family, your business, all that you do here in 2024. Same to you and your family and everyone listening, man. God bless. Thank you for listening to gathering the Kings today hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries and now interviewing over 2 or 300 other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs. In fact, we are putting together 1000 Keynes specifically who are grateful, but not done.
We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy. So if that relates and and resonates with you and you know that you need people around you, sharp qualified other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gathering the king's dot com.
I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.