Hey, guys. Welcome to the podcast. My guest today is Chris Warrins. He's an MBA business and life coach. He also owns and runs a company called Warrior Consulting. Chris is a retired US Army Purple Heart recipient. The dude is totally legit. I know you're gonna love this. He talks about how to be successful in life and in business. Don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn. Check us out on YouTube. We put all our videos up on YouTube, And we do MSL talk live, which is a live version of this podcast.
It's on the LinkedIn live platform. That's typically the 1st Tuesday of every month at 1:30 PM EST. So thank you for joining us. Welcome to MSL Talk with Tom Caravella, a podcast specifically designed for MSLs and all things field medical. Zw, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining me, brother. Tom, dude, I appreciate the invite and your time, today. Thank you for thank you for allowing me to come on and chop it up with you. I can't wait. Guys, I'm so excited.
So, you know, I'd like to give you a little background. So Chris and I, we call him CW. He, he and I literally just met, like, this year. It's only been about a year since I know this guy. And I could tell you, you know, when you meet someone and you're like, yeah. I can I can hang out with that guy or I respect that person or I look up to that person? All of the above for me with this guy. And and I mean that, like, literally, we've become fast friends. I totally look up to this dude.
He's got so much to pour into you guys today. So, we are very I'm grateful, and we're very fortunate to have CW with us today. So, before we get into it, let's, CW, let's let's do an intro, man. So tell everybody who you are and where you're from and all that good stuff. Yeah. Well, first things first. I I think the beauty of your opening statement is it's it's mutual. I respect you. I look up to you. I want to be around you. I see you exactly how you see me, and I think or similar.
And I think that's one of the huge keys to great relationships. It's it's mutual. It's give and take. It's one hand washes the other. You help, I help, we help each other, and the key is we all grow together. I think that's that's the critical part. So so I appreciate you, man. Yeah. I love that, man. I love that. And I wish everybody you know, if everybody had that philosophy and we all just had this mutual respect and helped each other, I think the world would be a much better place.
So Agreed. We definitely follow that, and I and I look forward to doing big things with you. So, yeah, tell everybody your great story. Yeah. You know, it's nothing special. Guilford, Connecticut, it's a town on the shoreline. If if anyone's familiar with Connecticut, it's close to the casinos. Grew up, didn't know that I fail I didn't know I failed high school. I didn't know until recently I had failed high school.
My guidance counselor reached out to me, I think it was 2 years ago, maybe 3 years ago, and said, hey, one of your teachers is dying. Will you shoot a video because you're the most successful person that he's had in his teaching career? Wow. And I'm like, what? Yeah. Like, what what happened? Whatever. So I shoot the video, and she has a conversation with me to thank me for shooting the video and she's like, Chris, you don't know this, but you failed with the 59.5.
We passed you because we knew you were going into the military. Wow. And I was like, okay. Like, understood. You know, unfortunately, he had passed recent soon after, but at least we got the video out to him. I thanked him. I was like, thank you for holding me accountable. That's exactly what good leaders do. Now in my late thirties, I can appreciate that. At 78 17 18, I had no clue what was going on, let alone that you were doing the right thing. So I ended up in the military.
I was an athlete in high school. I I think the the most integral part that really shaped my childhood was my father was dying. My father was dying of lymphoma, and I knew it. And I was really angry, so I would always fight, you know, on the sports field, off the sports field, ended up in the military, did a couple of tours in Iraq, in Baghdad back when, at the beginning of the Iraq war in the early 2000, mid 2000.
And then, I had gotten out of the military, and, I I started going to community college, started going to school, got a job as a personal trainer, got fired as a personal trainer, went into business for myself. That was 15 years ago. That was my first company that I ever built. Went to school for business undergrad, grad for business as well. At this point, I have built 6 of my own companies. I have exited 2, wrote a book. Actually, I wrote 2, but one's out.
I'm getting into speaking, which is awesome. I love consulting even though I don't do much of it. I I keep it to a small percentage of my time. And, yeah, just taking one bed at a time and trying to enjoy the ride. And let me help unpack that a little bit, guys, because Chris was incredibly humble in all of that. So the dude, first of all, from the military side, like, you hear stories. Like, the guy was in the fight.
Like, he was in the action, you know, got blown up and hurt and and, you know, saved people and and fought for our country. And and he he has a he's a Purple Heart recipient, guys. Like, you know, it's not every day you get to meet somebody that has fought for our country in the thick of things, you know, sacrificed his life, and, and was has been recognized by our country with a purple heart. So I just wanna stop and say thank you, Chris, for your service.
And I know our our everybody that's listening is is giving a big collective thank you as well. Well, that's that's one of the best conversations we had in the beginning of meeting each other. Right? We we connect we connected on your son Yep. And and what he's doing. And the conversation wasn't about me and what I did. It was what he's doing, how is he's doing with it, how he's deploying.
And I I think that's what really brought us together, and and I could speak on, you know, guys like me that have seen combat and lived in combat and and and almost were were killed, we're just grateful. You know? Like, gratitude comes easy to me because I shouldn't be here. Yeah. And there was multiple occasions that I was left back by whatever source you believe in, God, universe, you know, whatever. But the point is, like, having a purple heart when you're alive is very rare.
Every soldier that's killed in action receives a purple heart. There's very few of us that are still alive with them. Crazy, man. That's it's just crazy. And I, you know, thank god you're here, man. The world's a better place with you being here. And I I would love I think now is a good time. I'd like I'd like for you to share the story of, the Clark Initiative and your and your buddy, Carlton Clark Yeah. And and what happened. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this.
And this is this is a speech that I'm still working through to be completely vulnerable and honest, and it's the hardest one. I mentioned that there was a couple occasions where I was left back in this world, the day of my purple heart and the day that Carlton Clark was killed. As a serial entrepreneur, in 2021, I decided to take my curriculum and start helping veterans transition out of the military, overcome their trauma, and become entrepreneurs.
Any veteran listens listening knows the hardest part of the military service is the transition out. There's boot camp going in, but there's no boot camp coming out until maybe now. But, anyways, yeah, August, August 8, 2006. Just prior to that in April, my dad died. They flew me home. Just prior to that in June of 2006, I received the purple heart. Just prior to that in July, I was put in for the bronze star with valor, which is one step below the medal of honor.
F f fourteens had to drop in that day and disrupt our fight because I was stuck. I was cut off by enemy combatants, without my gun, and, it was pretty bad. So f fourteens dropped in. You don't hear that stuff. No. Wow. It's pretty crazy. It's a crazy story. But the story of Clark is August, so a month later after that. I'm getting I'm we we got this mission that comes down the pipeline, and we gotta go out we gotta go out, and we're going to a really bad area where we always got into fights.
And when I say fights, I mean machine gun fights, rockets, bombs, complex ambushes, people advancing on you to try to cut your head off on YouTube in Al Jazeera and show the world. Men hunted us. We hunted men. Ernest Hemingway writes about it, but for so I don't digress. My my mission that day was I was in a gunter of a Humvee, and I was behind a 50 caliber machine gun. And for anyone that has never seen an m 2 50 caliber machine gun, they're quite large.
They're about a £100, and they're 2 pieces, a barrel and a body. And I had just set it up. It takes about, I don't know, 15 minutes to set up a 50 cal, and I had just dumped engine oil on it because anyone that's been in combat knows you put engine oil on 50 cals when you know you're gonna rock it. It's lubricant. Yeah. And my boss comes over to me, and he goes, Lawrence, you got the night off, buddy. I was like, I don't what what? I don't understand. You don't have nights off in combat.
And, the whole truck, the driver, the passenger, and the gunner got bumped Yeah. And a new team came on. Really? Zamora, Seal, and Clark. Oh. And Clark came over to me. Clark's from, basically Woodstock, Vermont. Super cool dude, sergeant Clark. I was under under his rank. I was a private. He was a sergeant, super nice guy, and he's like, hey, Warrens. Is that 50 caliber up? I was like, yeah, man. It's up. He's like, should I check it? And I said, damn right. You should check it.
He's like, yeah, but you're the best. It's up, isn't it? And I said, yeah. It's up. It's ready for you, man, but check it. I'll check it with you. We checked it. It was good. Was on the phone with my girlfriend at the time a few hours later. All of a sudden, someone came in and said, blackout, blackout, blackout, which means all the phones, every communication cut off, k I a, k I a, killed in action, killed in action, killed in action, and I knew. I felt it in my gut. It was someone I knew.
And I ran back to my, basically, my office, and it was bad. There was a truck that was blown up from underneath that flipped upside down on top of itself. Zamora and Seal burnt alive inside the truck, and then, Clark was found, several 100 feet away. Still alive, but passed away on the Blackhawk to the hospital that night. And, when I opened my my nonprofit, I tracked down his parents and I sat in front of them on January 1, 2022, cried my eyes out.
I told them the story and asked them for their blessing to name my nonprofit after their son. They gave me their blessing, and now we're in the process of building a retreat in Vermont named after him, as well as the company. I mean, I I I've I've heard this story more than once, and every time I hear it, it just like, it literally puts me into this state of amazement. And, guys, I wanted Chris to tell that story because, you know, I I don't use this as a platform to promote anything.
You guys know that. But this is something that if if you are moved by that and if you do wanna make a contribution again, I'm not selling anything. I will have information available when I do the announcements, or you could just Google Clark Initiative. I did it, and it it just comes right up. So if you Google Clark initiative, you'll find the information on this. And, if you wanna if you wanna get involved and contribute. But, Chris, I wanna thank you for sharing that story.
I know it's not easy for you to discuss, but I am I'm I'm again, I'm grateful that you're with us. I'm grateful that you're here. Let's transition into some of the business stuff. So you've been around a lot of people. You've been around a lot of people in the military. You've been around a lot of leaders, and you've run companies, sold companies, and, you know, you're a coach now. So I want you to share with the group, what are the characteristics that you see in leaders and in top performers?
Yeah. Absolutely. And and thank you for the opportunity to tell that story, Tom. You know, I think that probably one of the biggest problems I personally had in my 2 decades of leadership was I took the military style and applied it to business, and I was a little too much. Right? And once I learned to tone it down significantly, things blossomed well. The attributes that I find from military leaders and business leaders, corporate entrepreneur, however you wanna cut it, are pretty simple.
The ones that are really successful is selflessness Mhmm. Selflessness. Meaning, as a leader, you are the epitome of the word selfless. It used to be a core value in one of my companies, Right? Because I wanted everybody to be a leader because I had a lot of people working with me. But anyways, pure selflessness.
And when it comes to selflessness, it's understanding that every single person that you're responsible for is your responsibility, and their well-being is your responsibility as their leader. In selflessness and leadership, as you know, Tom, you've heard me say this before, leadership is not when it's convenient. It's always. Always. Yeah. And the key to the best leaders I've ever met outside of their selflessness is they take care of themselves first 7 days a week. Mhmm. They get out of bed.
They take care of them. They take care of what they need to take care of for them, and they fill their glass up and then they pour from it all day long for their family, to their friends, to their companies, and they just fill everybody up. And pure selflessness, I believe. Analogy. I love that. I love the I love that analogy. I think that's great. You know?
It's almost like it reminds me, like, when you're on a plane and they tell you, you know, you know, put the mask on first and then help others. Mhmm. But when we when looking and guys, you've heard me talk about this before, but when we look at in a business setting, in your career, it this applies. So selflessness in your career means that you are looking out for the betterment of the organization. What am I gonna do today Right.
To achieve the strategic goals that are set in front of me by the organization? So it's we we have to be careful not to with there we obviously have individual goals, but the idea is to what can I do to move the needle and to to achieve the strategic goals of the organization Yeah? As they were presented to me? What can I do myself each day? And how can I help others? How can I help others on my team? That's true selflessness. Don't you agree, CW? Said like a true leader. Awesome.
Yeah. What about I know there's a lot of people listening to this that are looking to excel at the highest levels, looking to stand out. What types of things would you what types of advice would you give to folks that really wanna stand out in their careers? I would say it's I mean, there's many answers, but the prominent ones that stand out to me, there's there's 2. There's ask for help and the polarity, learn from someone who's already done it. Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, they go hand in hand.
But if you're looking to stand out outside of authenticity, which I believe should shouldn't have to be said. However, in today's day and age, maybe it does need to be said. Other than being authentic, which is how you stand out, ask for help to stand out. The the call that I had before this podcast was my professor from community college asking her to put me in front of the kids to speak to them, Mhmm. To help them. Ask for help. Right? Ask for help.
Hey, Rose. Can you get me in front of your your your entrepreneurial classes? I wanna help. And and I I'm asking for your help to help me create more impact. Ask for help and learn from people that have done it before you. I waited too long. I didn't hire my first coach and mentor until year 9 in business. And you know what I did? I hire I was a gym owner at the time. I hired the OG of, like, 45 year gym owner consultant that was, like, the top pedigree in the industry. And I was like, hey, man.
You're the best. Can you teach me? And he's like, yeah. We'll see if I could teach you. We'll start with a phone call. Okay. Great. And that propelled me. That's awesome. And, you know, we talk about, like, even the idea of and we talk about mentorship and informational interviews and just asking people for help, people that might be ahead of us, people that might have done done a great job before us, people that are considered top performers in the field.
You ask them, I guarantee, at least they're gonna point you in the right direction, if not want to take some time and say, yeah. You know what? I'll give you 15 minutes. I'll give you 30 minutes. Let me let me give you the answers to the test. Right? Mhmm. How about the I and you and I talk about this and and Chris and I share the same types of habits and consistency. We we get up super early. We do the same things every day. We go to bed at the same time at night.
In between, it's just, you know, one thing after the next. So we believe in consistency. Yes. CW, if you can share the importance of consistency for people to find success, I'd love to hear your version. You know, I was just listening to Alex Harmosi talk about this. Right? Harmosi is the entrepreneur of my generation. I'm a geriatric millennial. Right? I'm like an old millennial. I'm pretty much Gen X, but I'm technically a millennial because I'm born in the eighties.
And he he said it best, and and I'm gonna paraphrase, but he stopped setting goals and started setting habits Yep. To achieve the success that he has. I mean, he's he's at the top of the realm. Oh, he's legit. He's he's the entrepreneur of my generation. Right? I mean, he's recognized by all the big names and been on their shows, but the point that I'm getting at is habits. Okay? I get out of bed at 4 AM. You get out at what? 444, you said? 4:44. 4:44. That's so amazing. 4 AM, 7 days a week.
I'm in bed by 9 PM, 7 days a week outside of an exception like travel or an events or something along those lines. I'll tell you what. This morning when my alarm went off at 4 AM, I didn't wanna get up. Yeah. I don't you know, like, I mean, like, that initial, like, ugh. Yeah. Yeah. But then I and then I reframe it. Chris, it's a new opportunity. Let's go. Let's get it, baby. You got Tom today at at 10 AM. You know?
And, but it's the habit the habit of putting yourself asleep at 8, 9 o'clock, the habit of getting up early and taking care of yourself as a selfless leader before you pour into everybody, the habit of going and doing exercise 7 days a week. You don't have to go to the gym, but you exercise 7 days a week. I perform at a high level because my body is in excellent shape. My body is in excellent shape. My mind's in excellent shape. My heart's in excellent shape.
My soul's in excellent shape, and that's not boasting, that's not bragging, it's because I've built the habits of going to bed at the same time every day, waking up at the same time every day, meditating, gratitude journaling, affirmations. You don't have to do that stuff, but that's what works for me. Walking the dog 10000 steps a day, going to the gym 7 days a week, everything 7 days a week, working with my team 7 days a week, building my company 7 days a week. It's just habits.
Yeah. I think habits equate to the life you wanna live, and it's okay if you don't like what I'm saying. We just prioritize things differently, but that is my answer when it comes to success in life and business. I believe it boils down to habits. Totally agree. I, you know, I asked you that for selfish reasons because I I 1000% wholeheartedly agree. We both have that same we we both have that same philosophy. And I think what I wanna share with you guys, and and Chris just said it.
You don't we're not saying you need to get up at 4 AM or 4:44. You don't have to go to bed at 8 or 9 at 9 PM. Yeah. But the idea is that you should develop your own life habits, good habits, be consistent in those habits, and make sure that those positive daily habits are going to be the foundation of your life so that you can operate and perform at the highest levels.
Because if you have habits where you don't get enough sleep or you're you don't work out, you don't meditate, you don't, you know, you drink every day. And again, I'm not, yeah, I'm not saying that I'm excited about drinking, smoking, whatever. But, like but if your day and your life is filled with negative habits and you never even give yourself a chance, then life is just gonna be harder. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that habits dictate your present and future.
If you go out and drink every day Mhmm. You're likely gonna be overweight, depressed, and or miserable, and and that that those are your habits. I'm not talking down about it. Listen, I enjoy a nice bottle of wine. Oh, yes. Absolutely. Especially if Tom's making it. Yeah, man. You know? And I'm and I'm not talking down about that, but that's the habit you choose. That's the life you live. And just to put it on display before we move on, last year, I was walking my dog. Right?
My dog is 10 years old. She's shredded with muscles, jumps 4 feet in the air, still at 10. I was thinking to myself, I'm like, why is she so healthy? 7 days a week for 10 years outside of extenuating circumstances, I walk her miles a day. And I thought to myself and I said, man, Chris, are you wasting your time by doing this, spending an hour a day walking the dog? No. I need it for me. Yeah. She needs it for her. And it's not a waste of time. It's an investment into our health and our mindset.
Yeah. I think A 1000%. I think habits habits are, like, underrated because they're free. They're free. Oh, hell, yeah. I totally agree. What what's the one thing that you think people need to do more of in this current time that we're in? Shoot. Have gratitude. Mhmm. Yeah. Have have have have gratitude for what you have. And I know I opened the call with, gratitude is easy for guys like me. Right? Because, you know, people tried hunted me and tried to kill me for 2 years.
But it it it it goes beyond that. I remember I was talking to a lady. She's an author. Her name's Joy. They have a company called The Gratitude Box. Mhmm. And she wrote a book about losing her son, and, it's all around gratitude. And we started talking gratitude. I she's like, CW, do you understand gratitude? I was like, joy, I write about it in my book. She goes, oh, yeah? So do I. Let's talk about it. I'm like, okay. Cool. She goes, let me ask you something.
Do you have gratitude for the ants below your feet? I was like, Joy, can you give me a bone here? She's like, let me let me let me ask you something. If you didn't have ants or would you appreciate the fact that they don't aerate the ground below your feet? Your grass wouldn't grow, and when it rains, it would flood. I was like, wow. That's next level gratitude. I was like, I never thought like that. I was always thinking, thank you for the roof over my head. Right. Thank you for the bed.
Thank you for the toilet. Thank you for the water. I've lived in countries where there's no plumbing, there's no toilets, there's no magical switch you hit and it's warm water. Thank you for the food in my refrigerator. Thank you for my walk in closet full of really nice clothes. Thank you for my cars, my properties, my this, my that. That's the easy stuff Right. But you have to harness that first because there's levels. Thank you for my health. Yeah. Thank you for my sight.
Thank you for my vision. If it wasn't for those things, we wouldn't be here. Listen, gratitude, guys, you can't be blessed and stressed at the same time. So when you practice gratitude, it takes away that feeling of anxiety or depression or that, you know, you'd rather not be at work or you'd rather not be in a situation. When you start to really practice gratitude, it changes your complete mindset to a totally different place. You can't be grateful and have a negative thought at the same time.
Alright. CW, what parting thoughts do you wanna share with everyone before we close this out? Yeah. You know, you know, I was thinking about this and, you know, the the the I think the best thing that anybody could do, especially dudes if you're listening, but not limited to, I think one of the best things you could do to live a a a an awesome life is just be learn to be comfortable with being vulnerable. I think I think vulnerability is a superpower And, you know, I don't know.
I'm I'm kinda making generalizations, but, like, a lot of guys, especially of my generation and older, were not raised to be vulnerable. And, you know, dudes like me who go into the military, you know, you get injured in combat and they're like, hey, change your socks, drink some water, get up. And you're like, Wait, what? You know? Don't feel. Don't be vulnerable. Don't feel. Just move.
But the point that I'm getting at is I think vulnerability is a superpower and I believe that if you can be vulnerable, right, and especially as a leader and you lead into leadership situations, hey, guys, I made a mistake. I effed up. It's my fault. It's my responsibility. Let's talk about how we could fix this and doesn't happen again. Yeah. That's just in a leadership perspective. But think about think about anyone that that is struggling right now. Be vulnerable. Ask for help.
People will help you. People like Tom will help you. They'll they'll they'll they'll tell you, hey. Listen. You just gotta walk through this door. You gotta walk through it yourself, though. I'll hold it open for you. So I think vulnerability is is the key to living in a an amazing life along with gratitude. Yeah. Guys, I told you we would not disappoint you. I am so grateful. You can see, listen, guys.
You could see how much this guy's been through in his life and what he's had to overcome and how he's brought himself to this whole another level. And and I'm glad that I got an opportunity to share him with you today. For more information, if you wanna follow Chris on socials, his company is Warrior Consulting. There's also the Clark Initiative, and then he's on LinkedIn. It's Chris Warrens, w a r n e s. So you'll see all that information in my announcements. But CW, thank you, man.
I love you, brother. Appreciate you being here. I love you too. And and I'm grateful for you and the opportunity, Tom. Thank you. Awesome, man. Alright, guys. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for listening to the show. And if you enjoyed it, please subscribe so that you don't miss an episode in the future, and feel free to leave a rating or a review or a comment. Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you soon.