It is time to get solar powered. We welcome you back to another episode of the solar powered podcast. I'm Ryan Hall from loyal hearts coaching, loyal hearts coaching dot com.
And over the past, couple months, I have been we've been taking a look at revisiting some of the authors from the great pause, the incredible collaborative book that I was blessed to be a part of, and I really believe that has really helped to launch this podcast, give it an audience, and really helped to connect, just a lot of people to this incredible book and also to the message that I'm sharing here today.
And it's truly an honor to welcome my dear friend, Ian Charlery, back to the solar powered podcast. Ian was a, was a fellow author in the, in the great pause, has an incredible story, and an incredible story of transformation, and, we've just been talking about this for a long time. So without any further ado, I wanna, as I always say, wanna welcome my Caribbean brother from a different mother. Let's go back to the let's go back to the Cayman Islands and talk to my dear friend, Ian Cholery.
My brother, welcome back to the solar powered podcast. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. How goes it? No. It goes. It goes. It's been, it's been way too long since we've connected like this. So, you know, thank you so much for taking the time out of your insanely busy schedule. Yeah. I know. Thank you. You have to make time. You know? Yeah. You really do. You really do. So just kinda catch us up.
I mean, I, you know, I was reading your chapter before, you know, before the Zoom meeting. And, you know, how I know one of the, like, one of the things that I remember when the book first came out is that you read your chapter in front of your, in front of your staff at, at your place of business, and, I would love to get some reflections from you about how that went and how that was received. I know it was a good experience. You know? Obviously, it's it's all about vulnerability. Right?
You know, you're going to share something like that with people that you have such a close relationship with. You know, you you tend to color their thoughts a certain way, but, really, the press the whole idea of it is to connect. You know, get us a little bit more connected because, you know, as I said in my chapter, my staff are you know, I could be one of their sons, you know, just just as easily. I could be one of their sons. My mother could be working, you know, could be one of them.
So, you know, for me so, you know, just showing them that and giving them a deeper perspective for them to understand, like, you know, they were like, oh, okay. You know, a lot of them get it. You know? Some of them get it, but, you know, this is another one of the lessons of life. You know? When you do things, do them how am I how am I trying to say this? Do them without, you know, any sort of intention that it should go this way. You know?
Once you can do it and just kinda release, I'm telling you, you feel better. You feel better because those expectations can be a doozy. You're telling me you're telling me. It's like the old saying. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't force him to think. So Amen to that. Yeah. You can, you know, you can you can drop Ray Charles in front of the piano, but you can't force him to play. I mean, we could go on and on like this.
Hey. You know what? I have actually been thinking about things that force people to think because I constantly have to think about how I can communicate to my team. You know, my team, sometimes we have language barriers, cultural barriers because my team is from all over, you know, the the world, really. You know? Nepal, Africa, India, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Saint Lucia. Like, my team, they're from everywhere.
So, you know, a lot of what I've been thinking about is, you know, like, how do I how am I able to communicate with my team? And, you know, the truth is, via visual. You know? Because when you can when you can get them to see what you're saying, maybe they might see what you're saying. Right. Alright? So this is a weird transition, but, you know, so, like, I have I have this one phrase. You know? So I use it to help to build with communication. Right?
Because communication is a big deal in anything, but I guess, specifically, I can think about communication in the aspect that I needed. Right? So this the statement is, I saw a blind man with binoculars. What do you get out of that? That's a good one, actually. I saw a blind man with binoculars. That's cool. What I'm getting from that is almost like everybody, obviously, vision.
But is it the kind of vision that you're and speaking of, Ray Charles, but, you know, it's, you know, it's the kind of vision that goes beyond the eyes, goes beyond the, you know, the ocular nerve from the eyes, from the eyes of the brain. It's really that intuition that, you know, can you see forwards? Can you actually see how you want your life to go? Put it this way.
If you when you have to think that hard about the statement, well, the certain questions I ask, well, it is there something ambiguous about it? Because it doesn't clearly tell you where to look. Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? So if it's so what's ambiguous? I mean, if you think about it, I saw a blind man with binoculars. So I had binoculars when I saw a blind man, or I saw a blind I saw a man that I perceived to be blind that had binoculars. Okay. I see. Yeah. What is it?
Which which is it? Yeah. The you know, the only way you can know what it is is if I give a further statement to clarify, but I would have to understand that you wouldn't understand in the first place. So I'll give you It's intentionally supposed to be vague. Yes. It's intentionally ambiguous. I saw a blind man with binoculars. I could make it even more vague. I saw a man with binoculars. Because it does a man have binoculars? Or do we Yeah. Are you or are you seeing somebody with binoculars?
Exactly. But so that comes across as nothing, but at the end of the day, the only way we can connect often is if we're able to communicate. And if we're not able to communicate properly, we may not be getting the connection that we so desire. Our expectations might be out of whack. So the idea is to as I I say to them, you go into a cupboard and you're looking for something, and you might find something else.
But the fact that you're looking gives you the glasses that you need to see quite possibly what might be there. See, because if you're not looking, how can you find it? It's like you go into the cupboard and you're looking for you got some peanut butter. Right? Oh, wait. You got some you got you you already have jelly. Now you just need to find peanut butter. It's way above your head. You can't you can't see.
So you're searching with your hands, and you're up above, and you're searching, and you're searching. And you take 1 and you pull down. Well, here's the thing. You're looking, so you may find other things there. Sure. No problem. Right? But even though you're not seeing, you're still looking. You're going through the trouble of being, hey. I grabbed something here. Let me bring it down. What does it say? Pickles? Jelly and pickles? No. It doesn't work. Right? I need something else. Cheese?
No. I you know what I mean? And and and you're you're you're going through this process. But a lot of the a lot of the time, we take for granted that, the sometimes you just need to be in the act of looking. Right? So I get them in the act of looking to see where there is a communication breakdown so we can ensure that communication stays flowing.
Because if I say something and you perceive it a certain way, if you're not looking at the way the communications come across, you might just perceive it. And here we go, the 2 of us. I'm thinking we're on the same page. You're thinking this guy's crazy. You know, I hate it here. I can't believe he said this to me. I'm saying, oh, this is such a great relationship. Right?
Right. So Yeah. No. And and I think that's what a lot of leaders are really missing in this world is it's not simply the words. There's a difference between a manager. There's a difference between a boss and a leader. Right. Are you A boss yeah. No. A boss is gonna be behind somebody whipping them with a, you know, you know, whipping them with a, you know, with a bullwhip or whatever, trying to get them to work faster.
But a leader is gonna be in the trenches doing the work with you and leading by example. And I think that's what makes you a leader. That's what makes you an effective leader in the world is that you're down in the trenches working your working your ass off right along with them. Yeah. Exactly. And that helps to connect because, you know, I have it that in the employment experience, you know, that connection is so important. You know, we kinda overlook it because we just look at the money.
And, you know, in any industry, you know, in mine as well, I could just look at the money, take away the humanity of it. But, even if I do that, it kinda feels like I'm doing that to my mom. Yeah. So and, you know, listen, it's not something that that doesn't come natural to me. You know? So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I totally yeah. I totally feel that. I mean, I mean, I, you know, I don't know your mom well, but I know she's a tough cookie. But Yeah. You don't wanna push that.
Yeah. You don't want to, you know, you want to treat the people that work with you as, you would wanna treat people that you love. I find that to be the right recipe because that right formula because, it helps me to sleep better at night. You know, I, I have less it's like they say, if you're being if you are authentic, you don't have to remember. That's generally I don't know if they say it, but I say it. Yeah. I don't have to remember shit. I'm just being me. You know what I mean? And Right.
I don't need to be yeah. It's not a lot of work. I'm just being me. You know? I'll be my authentic self, and sometimes that's not perfect, but that's okay. What am I gonna do? Who the hell is perfect? Why is perfect? I've never met any I've never met anybody perfect yet. Not even Jesus. Exactly. He said it. He if you understand the whole premise of the Bible, it's that there was the old testament, and that was all about the law, the 10 commandments. Right?
And then there's a new testament where Jesus comes to this earth because he says it's almost impossible for you to follow these 10 commandments. So I'm going to save you. You're gonna be saved by grace. I'm gonna sacrifice myself. I'm gonna die on the cross for your sins. That's literally the whole Christian premise. You know? You you're saved by grace. You know? You so if if if Jesus is not expecting you to be perfect, why the heck? Come on. That is that's not a pass for you to wild out though.
Right. You know? Right. You know? Right. No. No. That's not a you know, that's it's I'm of the firm belief that nothing is impossible, but perfection is not possible. Perfection is impossible. Human being is not possible. No way. That's the beauty of it. Yeah. What would you be striving for if it was? You know how you do you know how quick we were just talking about this whole ADHD thing. Right?
And it's like, do you know how how it feels or how it must be to, you know, to not to not be able to, I guess, follow through? You know, like, to perfection is not possible, and it's okay. Like, because sometimes when you if you're playing a video game and you actually beat it, you don't want to go back to play that shit. No. I've already done this. Let me see what it means to be a heathen. You know what I mean? Like, oh, man. I get that. Perfection. You know? I get that. I get that.
And that's one thing as a writer, especially, that's one thing that is just really difficult for me to get out of my head because, you know, when I'm writing a, like, a first draft of something, 9 times out of 10, it's gonna be trash. But there's That's everybody. But there is going to be one bit of gold in that trash. And the great writers are the ones who can build on that gold. It's not gonna be perfect when it come you know, when it comes out of my head the first time.
It's not gonna be perfect when it hits the bookshelves. Right. But it's gonna be the best that I can because I have because I have built that, and I have, it like, I have grown that. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely, that resonates with me with the, you know, the wanting to wanting wanting the first draft to just be perfect. You know, it's like you you you obviously have to end up giving yourself the space to know this is a process. It's kinda you know, you have to remember it's a process. It yeah.
It really is a process. You know, I'm reminded of, I'm reminded of, the first time, the first, the this is kind of a famous rock and roll story, but the first time that Greg Allman came to a rehearsal for the Allman Brothers Band, which was formed by his brother Dwayne and, you know, like he Dwayne already had the vision. But, you know, Greg Allman was 19, you know, had been living out west, and had gotten into a kinda really bad record deal, for an old band that they were in.
But he finally came out, you know, came out back east and had brought, like, a whole bunch of songs that he had been writing. And his brother, you know, had, you know, was, like, looking at these songs of, like, yeah. This doesn't work. This doesn't work. This is bad. This doesn't work. But the first one that was like, okay. I think this can work is a song called dreams. And that song was a staple off of, you know, off of their live shows for their entire run.
It's been it it it still resonates 50 years later, 50 plus years later. So you're gonna find, you know, you're gonna find that there's gold in everything. You just have to be willing to look. And I I have it that that's what you're doing with your employees. That's what you're doing with, you know, your relationships, your you know, and your own growth. That is definitely the focus. It's not all that is definitely the focus. It is not all, what's the word?
You know, it's not gonna be smooth all the time, you know, but, that is definitely something that is at the forefront of my mind on a regular basis, especially for my my employees because we're in an environment. We are in an environment where the relationship to employee and employer is sometimes likened to the relationship to slave master and slave. Right? Again, with the whip. Again, with the whip.
Exactly. Because and I find that a lot of companies, a lot of businesses, they they don't think about serving the customers inside. You know? They think about serving the customers outside. Sorry. But they don't think about serving the customers inside. The customers inside, as far as I'm concerned, those are your staff. You know, those are the people that have dedicated their times to come to this space. Whether they do it because they're getting paid, The fact is that they are there.
So the duty is to create a better environment. It doesn't mean you're gonna get it perfect. It doesn't mean you're gonna please everybody. But if you're looking, it's one of those things where if this is where you're looking, then you have the glasses on, you'll see opportunities. But if you're not looking and you're focused on trying to just save money, well, you're gonna find that as well, and that might not be beneficial.
So, you know, it's I I I speak like this, but I recognize that not everyone is necessarily, you know, thinking about it on that that kind of level. It's probably not feasible, you know, because sometimes when you just you know, probably not feasible to some people. I don't see how because I know where we I know where we came from. You know, absolutely nothing to absolutely something. Yeah. And the focus did not ever really come off. Mind you, you could do less. You know? You could do less.
You know? For me, I recognize fully you could do less for the people around you and still move forward. And sometimes that's how it has to be because life is about seasons. You know? It's not always gonna be like you can give 100%. You can try. I believe that. You can try, but, you know, realistic. Yeah. Yeah. And I totally get that. And with what you just shared, it kinda leads me into a into a great question.
How would you say that that relationship that you have with your, with your staff and, as a, you know, as a leader with your staff. How would you say it's beneficial that the fact that you that it is a small business, that it's not a giant conglomeration like a Walmart or a Target or something just like like monolithic like that.
That it allows you to be able to have that personal connection with the people who are on the front lines for you every day in these businesses, in these homes doing the work? Well, you know, obviously, it's it's it's huge, right, to just to be able to connect. You know, obviously, it's a little bit maddening sometimes, if I'm being honest to you. Have it at Dunbar's number comes in at some point. You know Dunbar's number? I'm not familiar.
So, apparently, the human brain can only remember maybe about a 100 names, a 100 people. Right? Something to that effect. And as and this is something that I've been constantly thinking about because we're we're we're at, like, 40 something 50, and we're transitioning more now to there's a quite a possibility we may be at 70 or 80, maybe by the end of the year. And as we get I I'm feeling it now. You know? Just having to think about all of these people.
Jeez. Do you know how much work that honestly, it's so much. It's so much. Oh gosh. And then still have friends. I'm drained, bro. When I get home, I'm drained. Yeah. Yeah. When you're when you're looking at one of your staff, oh, I thought that was your mother's name. No. It's his mother's name. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know? So well, I do it. I try to do it in a way that it's more sustainable.
So, you know, my staff, what I am focused on doing in my business is creating the structures, the flows, the foundation, the culture that allows the allows them to get their needs met, mentally. That's the big thing for me. You know? Because I I I I'll share this with you. I had a meeting with my with my team. This is everybody. Right? So we have this meeting, and, you know, I say to them, you know, how many people here know about meditation? And some knew, most didn't. Right?
Most looked at me and responded as if I was talking about channeling evil spirits. Right? So the next question was, how many people here understand what it means for you to, you know, mental health? What does that mean? Just blank stares and so I was like, okay. You know, I recognize that the bigger corporate, companies, they actually do spend that money to have retreats and, you know, have their staff do certain things. Right? But companies like mine don't. This is not something that you do.
Yeah. Right? That's something that I'm trying to change. So what I did is I have a relationship with one of our, actually, this person is a mentor coach. Could have probably been a, master certified coach right now. Right? But she's taking a different route. But, she's also, she also teaches, like, meditation, you know, like, guided meditation, etcetera. So, you know, I I I've already I I like, I've literally started to say, okay.
I'm gonna get you to come in maybe on a, like, maybe 2 times a quarter or 3 times a quarter. Right? Let's get something going. And I don't I don't even wanna tell them that this is what's gonna happen because I actually posted in the group in our group, hey. Anyone interested in any, mental health, you know, in a mental health session? You know, like, where we just really talk about our mental health, not like counseling, not anything like that.
Just just for us to talk about what it means to practice good mental health. Like, I would share, you know, but crickets. Absolute crickets. Yeah. Right? Because it's it's a topic. No one you know, people are especially low income wage workers, that's usually what I find is they're either, oblivious to it completely or just resistant to it, Right? Because of what they might know or think they know. You know?
So what we're trying to do is we're trying to build a society, within the company where you have mental health, workshops in a sense where, you know, if you're having these issues or whatever, if you're having because my the the people have things going on. If you leave your country and come to another country, you're leaving everything you know for everything you don't know. You understand? And Oh, I I understand, my brother. I understand. And and put it this way.
You moved from Alabama to New York. So put it check this. I live live in 1, 2, 3 different countries, Saint Lucia, Cay Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Kansas City, Missouri. Right? I moved to multiple several multiple homes in Jamaica with different families that I never knew. Right? So I and I have the experience of my mother not being in the same place with me. It's because she left and went to another country to work. Understand? So I I get it. You You know? That's what they did.
That's what my mom did. 100% get it. I am one of their kids who is in another country, probably their home country, going to school, and they're working to facilitate me going to school. You understand? So I definitely get it. However, the the facts remain that this weighs on their mental health. Sometimes the the, their performance waivers, it drops because they're not doing too good. Sometimes I had one of my one of my staff, his his kid got burnt with hot oil.
Somebody was cooking, and the oil from the pan, I think the kid might have pulled the handle and everything through all in him. His face, his body, everywhere. Oh, man. And he's beaten himself up because he's not there. Understand? I got tons of those. Right? I like, so, you know, so it's like, you have to, you know, just put myself in his shoes if that was me, and I couldn't be there for my kid. Are you kidding me? Like, this for me, the most important job. You know?
So I just try to see where my team where, you know, where they're coming from and, try to create an environment that helps them. You know, maybe we're not gonna be able to give you money for everything because it's not really this is not Walmart. I don't own, like, 20 Walmarts. I'm not Jeff Bezos. I'm not, like, a billionaire, 150 something bit. Why the hell does anyone need a 150 something $1,000,000,000? Wiles Wiles, the people are underpaid. You know?
Although they are being paid, I think they're being paid, like, $15 an hour or something. But quite frankly, I feel like if you're making a $150,000,000,000, you got to give more. And whether you work hard to deal with the government, hey. I don't care to pay this tax, but I guarantee you this. I'm gonna raise the rates, and I'm gonna bring more to all of these people that are working under me. I feel like that's the trade off. Why do I a bit a 100 and something billion that do you know what?
Like, just save 1,000,000,000 back. Shit. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know? Like yeah. Talking about Jeff Bezos, I'm like, okay. Yeah. Not raising the you know, not raising his wages on his employees, but he's gonna make a big spectacle out of riding on a rocket in a few weeks. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, like, you know, I I am the kind of person that likes a balance. You know? So I'm not saying that you can't be profitable. I'm all for profitability.
That's the whole reason to be in a business. However, I think that there's another whole reason to be in a business. You know, business has the opportunity to shape society, shape mind, shape experience. You know? You can literally curate an ideal. You know? So maybe I don't want my staff to have to rehearse, poems and etcetera. You know? Maybe know things by heart. You know? But I would like it to be that we have an environment that can spot people that need help and help them. You know?
Or at the very least, them getting help, and I don't have to remember everybody's names. Because I'm gonna be honest with you. That shit is exhausting. It is absolute and I when I mean names, I know everybody's name, but I can't remember your mom's name. Yeah. I don't have the bandwidth. I absolutely do not. So, you know, it's like a give and take. You know? I get that. I I yeah. I totally get that.
And there's a yeah, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask, now that we're kind of, well, first of all, let me ask, how was the, how was the pandemic down there right now? How, like, how were the numbers? How were the, you know, how are things going with the pandemic down in the Caymans? A pandemic. We don't have a pandemic, bro. What are you talking about? We don't have a pandemic. My point exactly. Yeah. We don't wear mask, and we don't do social distancing. We don't do any of that stuff.
We what we do though is we're very, very, very strict on who's coming in here. You're gonna have to quarantine. Yeah. If you're gonna have to show proof of your you're gonna have to show, like, a vaccine certificate. If you don't have it, tough shit. Right? You're gonna have to quarantine, and you're gonna have to get proven that you don't have COVID before you can be let out. If you break the rules like Skylar Mac, you probably saw this little white girl from Atlanta. Oh, yeah.
We've had we've had this conversation. Yep. Alright. You're gonna find yourself in the shit because that's not how we do things here. You know, you can't be in quarantine and then you breach quarantine. You're putting everybody at risk and go to a public event. That's crazy. You can't that's not responsible. You know? So we're okay, man. We we don't we really do not have COVID at all. Like, we have zero cases of COVID. We just have people in quarantine. Now some of them might have COVID.
You know? They when they come in, we oh, you have COVID. Alright. Then guess what? You're just gonna have to stay your ass right there in this quarantine, and you can't come out until it's finished. And yeah. And then there's a big vaccine drive on Ireland. You know, everybody's trying to get their vaccines. So yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. The re the reason why I ask, and I knew you were gonna say that, but the reason why I ask is has your, because I know that when the when the, when the pandemic was kinda going hot and heavy, your business looked a lot different. Like, the kind of work that you did was a lot different. Like, I know that there was a, you know, there was a thing, last year where where you guys were contracted to, like, disinfect buses. Right. How was that adjusted?
How was your business model and what kind of business you do in your cleaning business? How was that adjusted since you guys are clearly doing a lot better with the pandemic than we are here in America? Yeah. Well, for us, it was that, so our task was to disinfect any vehicle that came that transported anyone who was new to the island. So you came off of the runway. You're going to you would go into a, you go into a bus. We would disinfect that bus.
Sometimes we would disinfect the plane or they would get another company. So if you if the ambulance had to transport someone who was positive, we would disinfect that ambulance. Right? So, you know, like, we were really busy doing a lot of disinfectant, and we still have clients that still require disinfectant on a regular basis, you know, just to be safe. You know, they continue to practice. And, we still have quarantine facilities and stuff. They'll call us in regularly.
Hey. We need you guys to do some disinfecting here for us. No problem. You know? But, but as far as how it's affected our business, you know, the truth is we've the biggest effect that this has had on our business is our labor shortage, but that's more specific to these Cayman Islands. The when you handle COVID really well well, when you are the Cayman Islands, you're amazing. People are wanting to come here. Right? And the Cayman Islands dollar is stronger than the US dollar. Yeah. I know.
I've been wanting to visit for years. Yeah. Right. So go figure. Right? Right. But then when you when you are the Cayman Islands and you handle COVID the way that we handle COVID, we have a lot of people that wanna be here. Right? So they're coming in. There's there are incentives for them. If they buy property, They can get, like, some sort of citizenship.
And so you have these people that are just buying these 11,000 square feet houses, 8,000 square feet houses, and they're just living life, man. They get to walk around, no mask, no social distancing. There's parties all the time. Like, jeez. Everything is literally 100% back to normal here. You know? Just that way, we know any day now, we can have this COVID outbreak community spread, and we're in the ship. Right. Back on lockdown. Managing it back on lockdown, which I don't mind at all.
I got a break. Yeah. I feel you on that. Yeah. No. It's like a few weeks ago, I went into New York City for the first time in a year and a half. And, old yeah. I had an old friend of mine from, from back home came to town, and we, you know, we went and took in a baseball game. Great seeing, great experience, but I have to admit, I was very nervous getting on a train headed in New York City.
I was very nervous hopping on the subway, being among a big, you know, being amongst a big group of people. Yeah. No wish you know, no worries of the back end of it, but it's also kind of the rewiring of, hey. We've been in survival mode for the past year and a half. Let's get back to some semblance of normal of going to, you know, going being able to go to events, being able to go to concerts and, you know, being able to go to dinner every now and again. You know what I mean? Right.
How many people were at the, baseball game? Do you know? Do you have an estimation? My my guess, my guess, you know, 25, 30000, something like that. It was a big crowd. It was a big crowd. Granted it was a Monday, and the game started at 5 you know, it was a doubleheader, and the game started at, like, 5 o'clock. But, and and the crowd got bigger as the, as the games went along. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So how many does this it was a stadium home? It it wasn't a full house by any stretch.
Do you know how many does stadium holds? Yeah. Yeah. 45, 50, something like that. Okay. Yeah. Well, our population now is 71,000. Okay. So, you know, you take that into consideration. Exactly. Exactly. You know? When we hold big events I mean, we had a big event called Kaboo. I think that was, like, 10, 11000 people. That's a lot of freaking people for our, you know, our island. That's a whole lot of people to be in one one place. Right?
Yeah. So, you know, for us, our experience has definitely been different. We've because we've taken some necessary steps, and we've stood tall with the enforcement. And there are people that want this place to open up from, like, last year. They're like, you need to open up the island. This thing is just, like, you know, you're not gonna stop it. Blah blah blah blah. And that's true. You know? Maybe we do need to open up the island, but then I I just actually say this well.
I don't think they realize that it's changed. You know? Because a lot of people we're like an island. Islands depend on tourism to make money Yeah. For people to survive. Cruise ships are not coming here. Although, I hope that I never ever see a cruise ship in our waters ever again. I hate those damn things. Oh, yeah? I have no love for cruise ships. None. They should actually be banned or or or, dealt with more strictly. They dump all of their trash into the ocean.
They create as much pollution as a city. I don't we don't need it. We don't need that. Like and they they act as if I don't know. It's it's a weird relationship still. The the cruise industry acts as if they have the product, and not some shit. Well, yeah, my yeah. I I've actually never been in a cruise ship, and that's something that I don't know if I'm ever really interested in doing. I wanna visit these places. Don't get me wrong.
But so far as I actually being stuck in a boat with somebody, you know, with, you know, with somebody for weeks on end, I don't know if I I don't know if I could really be with that. Speaking of bandwidth. Yeah. If you pick it if you pay the right amount of money, it's a great experience. It's all you can eat. It's, like, literally, you have a grand experience, but there's a pandemic. And if you're literally in a soup in a COVID soup, that isn't that does not sound enticing at all, you know.
Yeah. Whether you're vaccinated or not because recently, there was cruise ship with people that were vaccinated, and obviously, they still had COVID outbreak. I had to go through all of that. So Yeah. Exactly. And, you know, speaking of vaccination, that's one thing that makes me nervous about the upcoming football season seeing, you know, they they wanna have full full crowds at all these football games.
And the mere fact, the mere idea, you know, speaking of Alabama, the mere idea of having, you know, a 100000 people in Bryant Denny Stadium when the vaccination rate in the state of Alabama is atrocious scares the hell out of me. Oh, they're gonna learn today. You know? They're gonna learn today. Exactly. Yeah. The thing is that not everyone can get vaccinated. You know? It's like Yeah. I know. Some people cannot get vaccinated. You know? So truthfully, though my my I don't know.
My stance is a little bit controversial. I don't really necessarily just flow with everybody and I guess what the consensus is. But for me, with the whole vaccination thing is it's your personal risk. You if vaccination is a possibility, then it's on you to make the right decision to get vaccinated. And if you don't, that's also okay because that's your ass. You know? Like, at the end of the day, you will have to deal with the consequences.
And based on the research, well, it says that you have a the same chance you have of dying from COVID is the same chance of walking down the street and getting hit by a car. Some people like those odds straight. Quite frankly, some people like those odds. You and I have both worked walked in New York traffic before. So yeah. Right. Exactly.
So, you know, when you think about it, you know, like, I would hope that I just want people to be safe, but I I I actually don't really like the messaging around vaccination and stuff or whatever. I actually feel like we need to be trying to encourage people to eat healthier, you know, practice better mental health. Indeed. Those are the things that weaken your immune system. We're just trying to pump and give money to Pfizer and Moderna and all of these fuckers. Excuse my French.
All they're trying to do is make money. So I I don't I'm not I'm not one to push people to go get vaccinated. I will always say, like, how about you just go get healthy? You know, try to get healthy, get exercise, and get get your mental health because you'll be so surprised how far that obviously you should get vaccinated. Right? But if you I mean, that's like a not a no that's a no brainer. You should get vaccinated.
If you're gonna put yourself at risk, the smart thing to do is get vaccinated. But then if you, you know, if you live in paradise like me, you know, I'm not necessarily thinking about getting vaccinated right away. I I can I can hold off a little bit? Yeah. Yeah. I can see. I I you know, I and I can definitely and, you know, I can definitely understand that and relate to that because, you know, because of where you live. But I also say, hey.
Definitely you know, I I'm definitely pro vaccination, but I'm also pro getting, you know, getting your mind, body, and spirit healthy. Amen. Yes. But it also but it also doesn't hurt to have that extra level of protection. Because even if even if, God forbid, you do get sick from COVID, it's the people who are vaccinated who were not getting hospitalized and are not ending up in a morgue somewhere. Right. And and it's generally the exactly.
I mean, you know, it's generally the people that are, that have these preexisting conditions. Yeah. Right? Because it's like obesity. I think they said it's, like, 60 to 70% of the people that were hospitalized were obese. Right? How about that? Yeah. Diabetes. And, obviously, we would think about it well, really, that's why we hit America a lot harder. Just just think about it. I don't have to think about it. I see it every day. Right?
Yeah. So but the thing is that the thing that concerns me is that the messaging is not focused on getting healthy. It's just focused on vaccination. So what? You could just get vaccinated and still eat Whoppers? Yeah. And not exercise? Yeah. You know, you know, eat, you know, eat a giant pepperoni pizza, drink a, you know, drink a 12 pack of beer Seriously. And just call it a day. But I'm vaccinated, bitch. So I'm good. I'm vaccinated. Exactly. I got this little piece of paper in my wallet.
Yeah. It doesn't work that way, man. I keep, you know, like so that that's one of my pet peeves, you know, like, we tell people to get vaccinated, but we're not telling them to get healthy. Yeah. I have a problem with that. Yeah. Yeah. That, you know, that I definitely, you know, that I definitely relate to. That I can definitely relate to. Yeah, man. You know, you're a busy guy. You've got a lot of thing you've got a lot of irons in the fire.
You've, you know, you've got a lot of stuff going on, and, you're about to become a dad for another time, are you not? Yep. Dad for another time. I'm I would like to say I'm already a dad for another time because from time that baby's in the belly, you know, the duties have already started. I hear you. I hear you. I know you got a little boy coming up here in a few weeks.
Yeah. What, how has that really affected how you, you know, how you see yourself as an entrepreneur, but, you know, more importantly, how you see yourself as a, you know, as a husband, as a, you know, is already a father to Mercy. How was how was that changed your outlook on how you wanna live your life? Oh, it actually hasn't. It it hasn't because my focus has always been it has been the same.
I am trying to cure a generational curse, and we are trying to attain financial freedom as one of the main things. Right? Because the the the the freedom of the financial freedom, the the fact that I can have my time, well, that means I can do more things with my kid. You know? Like, I remember my parents working, and I would come home for the summer or the Easter or the Christmas, and they would just be working. Always working.
It's not that because they didn't want to spend time with me and, you know, we'll go out to breakfast sometimes, or we'll do this, or we'll do that. But let's be real. These are low low wage workers. Low wage workers are always working. They can't afford to not be working. You know what I mean? Like yeah. So it it it's you know, how is it affected? Well, I keep looking up looking back and thinking about that, and I don't want like, my daughter now.
Even even now, she's say to me, I think she's just a little bit conniving. She's, like, some she's too far ahead. Right? She's come back your daughter after all. Right. She says, daddy, I want you to take a break from work. And, you know, I don't you're always working. Right? And that means she's not seeing me. You know? Like, I wake up in the morning. I get her ready for school, brush her teeth, you know, get her breakfast, you know, take her to school.
I'm literally carrying her to the school or whatever, walking her, and I would be doing most of the pickups. So until now, I had to give it to the in laws, you know, get them involved a little bit. So they'll pick her up on different days. You know, she'll see me. And then when obviously, when she comes home, we get more time or whatever. And, you know, she's I'm I'm saying she's saying this, and I'm saying to her, like, I'm saying to myself, like, shit. I'm here.
Imagine if I wasn't here, and she'll say, daddy, I don't like when you leave. You know? When at school, daddy, I think about you. You know? And I miss you. Right? She knows all the right things to say, man. I don't know if it's like she got a little woman training in the womb, and they're like, these are your prerequisites. Right? These are your prerequisites. This is how you grab his heart. Right? But she she says all of the right things, man.
Yeah. You saw what I posted on Facebook the other day. Yeah. I'm like, why do you why do you make me talk so much? Well, daddy, why do you think I make you talk so much? Like, how is she 3? Yeah. Hashtag girl dad. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. An experience.
Yeah. But there there's definitely you bring up such a beautiful point about, yes, being able to, you know, being able to create financial freedom for you, for your family, for, you know, for generations being able to break that being able to break that chain, but also at the same time, not at the expense of, you know, dance recitals and basketball games and band concerts and events from your kids' lives and not being able to not missing, you know, not missing, you know, dinner time.
Like, you know, what you know, e even when my dad was a bar owner and was having just, like, crazy, you know, like, late night schedules and whatnot, one thing I will absolutely give him credit for is he never missed dinner if he could help it.
He never missed family dinner, and that, you know, that's one thing that will always you know, that that always will land to me is, you know, he he he always made that effort, and I definitely see that in the way that you are, you know, creating your business and also creating your family. Yeah. Definitely. You know, that I, I can say that having the experience of, like, being a father when the evening time comes, you know, you will have a routine.
I gotta get my get the bath ready for her, and, you know, she's she's gonna have her bath and get her teeth brushed and whatever dinner she's gonna have, and then, you know, go to the bed now. And we're gonna have to lay down with her and probably play some songs, and she's gonna wanna talk, talk, talk, yappy, yappy, yappy, yappy, yappy all there. And, you know, this is a process you go through. Right?
And but anytime, and this is very rare right now, seldom, but anytime that I'm not home during those times, feels off. It feels absolutely off. I feel like what? And then she'll and then she'll she'll tell me, I missed you, daddy. Or or, you know, so you're not gonna be there when I wake up in the morning if I have to go go early or whatever. So she's paying attention, and I think about me as a kid. You know?
I was was I paying attention that much, you know, to to see whether, you know, my mom's there or who who's there, who's not there? It's a lot of things, man. Can't take it for granted. You're really Nothing beats quality time. Amen to that. Amen to that. And I think on that note, I think we'll wrap it up. And my brother, it's always it's it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much for, for taking the time, and, congratulations to you and your beautiful wife, on the, on the impending blessing.
Yeah, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's been a pleasure. As always, my friend. And that'll do it for this episode here at the solar powered podcast, a presentation of Royal hearts coaching. For more information about Royal hearts coaching, you can find me at royal hearts coaching.com. You can follow me on the social media machine at Ryan Hall writes on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or you can shoot me a good old fashioned email.