366 | The Million Dollar Journey: Flips, Flops, and Triumphs w/ Rodric Lenhart

Oct 18

[00:00:00]

Rodric Lenhart: You're not alone in whatever way you're thinking. And for entrepreneurs, I mean, if you ever read stats on entrepreneurs, I mean, suicide rates and depression rates and because they don't have people to lean on, they don't have a corporate office.

You know, a lot of times the only thing they have is the space between their ears and I think having been such a voracious reader my whole life, I just. I didn't think that I was alone. I just knew that what I was experiencing was wrong and I had to, and I had to figure out a way to never let that happen again.

Chaz Wolfe: What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolf gathering the king's podcast. Coming back to you again with another king on the stage. Roger Glenhart, my brother. How

we

Rodric Lenhart: doing, man? I am great. Thanks for having me on. This is going to be a good time.

Chaz Wolfe: It is going to be a good time. You're halfway across the world right now.

You're just telling me, you know, you're, you're preparing for a book launch and you're on our 12 already for today. And you were telling me that you've got another, another whole day [00:01:00] ahead of you. Another seven hours. Most people are, are,~ uh,~ trying to figure out how they can take a nap, get some rest and you're full force here.

So I'm, I'm thankful that you're here. Tell us what kind of business that you got my man.

Rodric Lenhart: Oh man, it's a relatively complicated, but,~ uh,~ I've got a book coming out. We'll start, we'll start with author. ~Um, ~my book million dollar flip flops launches tomorrow. So that'd be September 12th, depending on when you listen to this.

I am in Salzburg, Austria. We were on about a 10 country tour,~ uh,~ for book launch. And that is just the first side of the business. There's the book, the courses, the journal, mastermind, private coaching, all of the things we do on that side of the business. And then that all. feeds the foundation, which we can talk about later.

Chaz Wolfe: You've been stepping,~ um,~ intentionally, let's just say it like that. Even, even your book,~ uh,~ tour and,~ uh,~ just. Being very purposeful. It sounds like so you've got a lot of history here. ~Um, ~a lot of things going on Like you said somewhat complicated. It's it's not you're helping a bunch of people win Okay, right like [00:02:00] I want to know though before we get rolling What's on the inside of Roger like deep the burning desire way way way way down there Like you've probably never said this answer before

Rodric Lenhart: Burning desire.

So, ~um, ~I mean, I guess that's a good lead into why I'm doing any of this. So I sold my business last year, about 14 months ago, I guess, and was very much set up to not really do anything at all ever again. ~Uh, ~but if you're wired like all entrepreneurs are, that is simply an impossibility. So. I could have just, I like to say, I could have,~ uh,~ strapped on my white Velcro new balance and called it a life and just,~ uh,~ I build classic cars in my spare time.

So I could easily do that for the next 40 years and just bounce around and,~ uh,~ have a good time. But,~ um,~ I lasted about six months and I was on a beach in Thailand and had this crazy idea to start this new business. ~Um. ~I had already went to Brown for my ICF and professional coaching, and I was just going to pick up a couple of clients here and there based on my expertise, 20 years of experience.[00:03:00]

That's good with me. Right. Well, ~um, ~it ends up becoming much, much bigger than that. Hence the book and all the other things that go along with it. And we donate 100 percent of what we do. So that's why I get up every day. That's why I put in 18 hour days. It's, it's not for my money. It's for our foundations and it's called,~ uh,~ send a student leader abroad.

And we're partnered with EF tours. If you're familiar with EF, they're a, 7 billion global leader in student travel. And I've got a goal, a crazy big goal to send a million kids abroad in my lifetime. So that's my burning desire. That's why I get up

Chaz Wolfe: every day. I love it. Well, there's a lot of meat here on this bone that I'm going to try to try to pull off a little bit, give a little bit to digest the.

The action for you, let's go back to you saying I did it for six months, the retirement, the live, do whatever I want, you know, whatever that looked like. ~Um, ~what do you think is the biggest misconception that most [00:04:00] people listening here today who have never experienced that moment where they could literally do whatever they want?

And they still choose like you to go after it. They haven't experienced that, but they're like hoping for that day where they can just sail away to the sunset. What's the biggest misconception that maybe you realize in that moment that they don't realize

Rodric Lenhart: now? Yeah, there's a man we can, we can go into some major stories around around lessons learned in the last 20 years.

But,~ um,~ the biggest misconception is that that is what's going to make you happy. And ultimately that's what my book is about. You know, the, inside the book. It's not just a story about my life and my businesses, what have you. But it's,~ um,~ it's kind of part memoir part. Manifesto, part manual, if you want to, that's how my publisher would put it to you.

Sure. ~Um, ~the, what we try to get out of people is that deep why, and we can go into the Waves method that's inside the book and what exactly that is later, but it was a tool I developed at a really low point in my life,~ um,~ where I had not been honoring my values and I was [00:05:00] going down the wrong path. And this was, at this point, it feels like ages ago.

~Um. ~But the misconception, I start the book with this phrase and it's from a Tolstoy book,~ um,~ called The Death of Ivan Illich. And I don't know if you're familiar, but it's a, it's a short book. I recommend everyone, especially if you're an entrepreneur, I recommend everyone read this book, but spoiler alert.

Turn off your turn off right now and come back in 12 seconds at the end of the book, the main character, Ivan,~ uh,~ is on his deathbed and he's looking up at his wife and he says, what if my whole life was wrong? That stuck with me. I read that when I was probably 18 or 19 years old and I've lived every day to make sure that if I'm gone tomorrow, I had a really good run and I did all the things I, and that's true right now.

If I got hit by a bus here in Austria, I had a really good run and did everything I wanted to do. And I think people wait. I'm answering your question in a really long form way, but I think people wait until they wait until they're [00:06:00] retired. They wait until they have this amount of money in the bank. It's, it's a constantly a tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, someday, someday, someday, and someday never comes.

And next thing you know, you're 70 years old and. Your life's more than half over for most people at that point. So that's what I've tried to avoid. That's why I wrote this book. It is, I want this in as many hands as possible. And that's a lot of the reason we donate a hundred percent of it, because I don't want people to think, ah, it's just another Huckster selling some IP, you know, I'm not going to give him my 20 bucks.

I want them to know it's going to a good cause that's going to help kids. But ultimately I want it to help change their perspective on where they want to go in their life. Yeah. What do you think you

Chaz Wolfe: said you, you figure this out at, at a rock bottom place for you, what do you think was unique to your situation?

Not necessarily the sticky that you were in or the, the wave,~ uh,~ format that you've created, but in that moment, why were you able to create the format? Like what was, what were the ingredients of being at the lowest point, but yet [00:07:00] still able to Create something that now you're teaching to others.

Rodric Lenhart: Yeah, that, that's a really good way to phrase that question because everybody just asks what that moment was.

Right. And maybe that's not where the secret sauce is. ~Um, ~so yeah, let me think about that for a second. So I'll, I'll give you just a short piece of background on what. what that moment in time was. ~Um, ~I had, I had taken a job with a, that's the first dirty word job. I had taken a job with a fortune 100 builder and I was 24.

I was making more in a month than my parents ever made in a year and I could buy do go anything, anything I wanted. And I absolutely hated my life and I woke up every day with that is this all there is sinking feeling in my stomach and it was anxiety and depression and worse. And I had to dig myself out of that.

Now, what's unique in my situation is that I've always just kind of been a nonfiction personal development. It's like, since I was really young, I mean, [00:08:00] probably, yeah, I've probably at this point read, you know, 500 plus books. And I would say three of those are, are fiction books. You know, they're, they're always a biography or a memoir or a how to, or why do people do what they do?

I've always been fascinated with that. So it made me good at sales. You know, I was, I've been a. Class salesperson in a lot of different industries. And that's why it's cause I've, I've always wondered how, why do people do what they do? And once you understand that, that that's the key, right?

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, that's how they think.

So the ingredients in that moment where you had this subconscious training,~ uh,~ hundreds of books, personal development. where you were able to kind of pull yourself up. Was there anything else that you used along with the kind of what you had been feeding yourself for years at that point?

Rodric Lenhart: ~Um, ~that was, that was really it.

It was, I knew that I shouldn't be feeling this way. I knew, I knew to ask for help, which I think a lot of people don't do. And whether that's a coach or a therapist or a counselor, [00:09:00] whatever, however you want to put it. Yeah. ~Um, ~And I think it was the combination of those two things that, that both pulled me out of where I was and it allowed me to develop tools that were specific to me that I could then reference for the rest of my life.

Anytime I felt that coming on again, it was all right. We're, you know, we got to run through this again and see what's happening. Right

Chaz Wolfe: now. Now I'm curious to know what was unique about the situation that allowed you to. Pull all of that depth that you had been feeding yourself and actually put it into a different action.

Obviously the situation was what changed your perspective so that you could start using. It's not like all of a sudden you read 500 books in a week period and then, and then used it, but you called on the information differently. Why?

Rodric Lenhart: It was just having the perspective that it could and should be different.

And I think that speaks a lot to, I think the power of having the right tribe, you know, like you have with your audience, you know, and, and masterminds that you're a part of, and just knowing that. You're not [00:10:00] alone in whatever way, whatever you're thinking. And for entrepreneurs, I mean, if you ever read stats on entrepreneurs, I mean, suicide rates and depression rates and because they don't have people to lean on, they don't have a corporate office.

You know, a lot of times the only thing they have is the space between their ears and I think having been such a voracious reader my whole life, I just. I didn't think that I was alone. I just knew that what I was experiencing was wrong and I had to, and I had to figure out a way to never let that happen again.

Yeah.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Our stories are pretty similar in that way. Hundreds of books and I knew better, but yet we still. Go down roads that were like, maybe in the moment we're not like consciously choosing, this is the wrong path and I'm going to do it anyway. It's more of a, I just, I thought this was what was good.

And so you get down the road, but then you realize, oh man, this is not where I needed to go. And I knew better, but how did I not know then what would you say if in that moment, looking backwards, you know, whether it was a year or two years or five years, what were some of those things? And I'm going to kind of lead, lead this in the [00:11:00] audience knows I always ask a good and a bad decision.

What was maybe that decision beforehand that you had made that maybe led to that, you know, down moment

Rodric Lenhart: chasing, chasing the money. I mean, that was, that was hands down what it was. You know, I was, I had already started multiple businesses at that point. I was perfectly happy as an entrepreneur and I had just moved to Charleston, South Carolina from Michigan and saw this, who's now a friend, still a friend.

~Um, ~this woman in this model home making. 300, 000 a year and driving a BMW and she's only working 36 hours a week. And I'm like, man, that seems great. So. I, I started with that and then, you know, you get lured into that,~ um,~ you know, the stock options and 401k and sales trips out to Palm Beach and dinner with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and just all these things that you're like, I couldn't health insurance, you know, it's like now it's laughable that I would, why anybody sticks around a job [00:12:00] for things that are ultimately just a number, you know, and, but it was the money.

It was the chase and the money. And it goes back to the first question you asked is most people, they don't get to that point in their life. I think the reason most people have a midlife crisis is because they finally achieved that material success. Now they've got the house and the Porsche and the vacation home and whatever.

And they're like, wait, I'm not happy. I was told I was going to be happy. I want a refund. Yeah, that's right. So that's right. I just was fortunate to figure that out at a really young age.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, you, you've mentioned something that obviously plays well into what we do with gathering the kings. It started as a, as a mastermind group.

And so we're in the same lane,~ uh,~ from that. So I want to add some value to the audience from both of our perspectives because you said, you know, whether you realize it or not, you were alone. And, you know, I don't think I consciously thought, oh man, I'm, I'm sitting here by myself. I'm so alone, you know, like, although I do some feel that way.

~Um, ~it wasn't a conscious thought of, I'm by myself or I'm [00:13:00] scared or I'm, you know, I'm in my bed by myself and the lights are off as dark it was, it was me just doing what I knew what was best. And then eventually that takes a toll. Like you said, all I had was me between the ears and you don't know what you don't know.

You don't know who you don't know, and so therefore you don't have perspective. And so just talk for just a half second here on what it's like to solve that one problem. Because for us, it's like. Once I solved the loneliness problem, like once I can put you around some other people that are high quality, we can start working on your mindset.

We can start working on tactics and business and your marriage. Like the rest of it starts to flourish, but we got to solve the loneliness thing first. As cheesy as that might sound. What's your comment on that? I

Rodric Lenhart: mean, I a hundred percent agree. And you know, the waves method, what, let me give you the rundown of kind of what, at least what the component parts of that are.

So it's your why, and I'm just going to go, I'm not going to give you explanations. I'm just going to go through them. So it's, it's your why it's authenticity. It's values, it's exploration, and it's your statement of purpose and [00:14:00] the a in that authenticity. The reason I put that second is as you're building your wine, you're building your values.

You've got to be coming from that or coming at that from a really authentic place. You can't be doing something because it's for your wife or your parents or your pastor or your business partner has to be for you and we're not, it's okay to be selfish in that moment. And it's very much that principle of the, I can't fill anybody else's cup unless my cup is filled first.

So same thing, you know, human, we're human beings, you know, connection is huge. And as an entrepreneur, you don't get as much of that as you should. And got to solve the loneliness piece to your point. So, and that's where a mastermind or, you know, other groups of like minded people come in.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, yeah. I think that,~ um,~ there's, there's a, a hidden piece to the puzzle that you just don't know.

~Um, ~and I can remember being an entrepreneur, you know, six, seven years before really going like, Oh wow, that happened because I met a guy who then introduced me to a guy who introduced me to a gal who like, you know, down the [00:15:00] road. And so, ~um, ~you know, it's funny because I just had a dinner in Atlanta last week.

~Um, ~and I had the same feeling a couple of months ago when we did our family mastermind in Bermuda, but it was like, I look around the table and I'm like, I have literally met everybody from my podcast or someone I met through the podcast or from the group. Like I built this circle, like not knowingly as an essence, what you're talking about, you're saying, Hey, like, no, be intentional about the relationships.

And so give us, give us some other things like, okay, so I can be authentic and I can create values, but. You're talking about doing this inside of help from others, whether it be working directly with you or being in a mastermind setting. What's the value of other people looking in on you being authentic and creating values and that type of thing?

Yeah.

Rodric Lenhart: ~Um, ~I mean, man, there, there's a million reasons I could give you to have a coach, right? And,~ um,~ why I have my own coach and always will, you know, and why the greats. In, you know, the goats in every industry, like they all have coach or multiple coaches. Right. [00:16:00] Yeah. You know, I heard, I don't know if you know Dan Martell, but he put up a funny,~ um,~ meme the other day.

It wasn't a meme. It was just a short, but he was saying, you know, I show up to the Olympics and I've got a team of coaches behind me and the guy that's competing against me shows up by himself. And you ask him, you know, where's your coaches? I just do it all on my own.

He goes, I'm going to obliterate this guy.

You know, you. You have to have people that, that are looking from the outside in, you're just too close to your own situation to know what's best for you all the time. Yeah. I still think you have to go with your gut. I still think there's a lot of things that are internal, but there's, and I'll give you some examples, but there's, it's why you videotape your golf swing.

It's why sales calls are recorded. It's why the world's best eye surgeon doesn't perform his own eye surgery. He's just too close to his situation and we see it a lot going through the waves method in. Particularly in values. So we do a really deep dive into values and most people, that's why authenticity is second.

Again, most people are going to put down things they think that they want [00:17:00] to hear or that others want to hear. They're even when they're doing it themselves, they're just going, they're reading the book or, or they're self pacing through one of our courses and they're, they're not engaging in any of the accountability that we offer.

Invariably, they're going to put down things that aren't really what they want. And the example I use most often is parents. So a mother, a father, they're going through the program and out of the list of a hundred different values they can pick from, which one do they pick? Family. And because what kind of dick would I be if family's not number one?

If, if Johnny and Timmy are playing in the backyard and it's back to, you got to fill your own cup first. Like you, you are a good mom or a good dad because you take care of those other things, not because your kids are your number one thing. And it's, it's a hard concept to wrap wrappers around. And unless somebody is looking at it from the outside and it never gets caught.

~Um, ~another example, just going from the waves method is when people get to their SOP, their statement of purpose, invariably it'll just look kind [00:18:00] of like their why and it's not meant to, your why can be huge. You know, there's a lot of reasons you do things and I say it can't involve money, power and notoriety when we're, when we're building your why, but your statement of purpose is very, it's very personal.

It's, it's what you want to do with your life, how you want to show up in the world. And it's this really. ~Um, ~finessed, you know, elevator speech if you're from,~ uh,~ the sales world. But it's that three sentence thing that says, you know, this is who I am. This is how I'm going to show up in the world. And this is who I want to be for the people around me.

Yeah, it's

Chaz Wolfe: good. It's good. ~Um, ~power statement, a statement that empowers,~ uh,~ identity. ~Uh, ~all of those things are super, super important. ~Um, ~you, you mentioned there for a second, their family and, and like the realness of that sentence of like, I gotta put down my kids as being number one, otherwise I'm going to look like a dick to my wife or to whoever else is listening.

~Um, ~that's real. ~Um, ~especially for high performers. And I've talked about that on the show here several times where it's like. You know, I, many years ago I would say my kids were important and my family, but my calendar [00:19:00] reflected otherwise, right? Like I was just working all the time. And it doesn't mean that I actually didn't love them.

I do. But the dopamine hit of playing UNO with my 4 year old and my 3 year old, or 2 year old at the time, was different than doing a podcast with a guy like you. Or, you know, building a deal or getting the next thing, you know? I had to change my language. And so I'm curious to hear what you have to say about this.

~Um, ~I changed my language to that I'm a builder and that whether I'm building a podcast or whether I'm building a business or building a team or building my marriage, building my children, like now I get to be super intentional about the things that actually do bring me joy, which are like, Ooh, there's all these little pieces and I get to like.

Build and put it together. Oh, I just happened to be building my four year old son now. Oh, okay, cool. Or I'm building a podcast with this awesome guest. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, what, what are your thoughts on that?

Rodric Lenhart: No, I think reframes like that are important and, and a lot of it comes down to, you know, what are your global metaphors to, you know, like old NLP, Tony Robbins stuff, I mean, it's, [00:20:00] it's the way you frame it is how you show up for it.

And, you know, we have, I'm doing the finishing the journal right now, the journal that accompanies the book, or you can buy it separate. It comes out a couple of weeks after the book releases tomorrow. And every 14 days you fill out, it looks like a wheel of life. If you've ever seen a wheel of life, but we've kind of tailored it to the waves.

So ideally your waves should all be the same height. And so, and you put in your own six categories, but oftentimes it's family, it's career, you know, personal fitness, those kinds of. Sure. Yeah. ~Um, ~but to your point, you know, it, it lets you recognize where maybe these areas are suffering and we can look at it together and figure out how to make it all more rounded.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Cause if you've got a clunky, we we've done exercises, you know, like that. And it's always funny when you. You really do it authentically to your point. ~Uh, ~and you got a square and you're like, I don't know how this is going to make it down the road. What do you think that the listener needs right now?

They're hearing you talk about,~ um,~ you know, building these areas of life and [00:21:00] being able to maybe be intentional about the things that they're projecting over themselves or even writing down as a statement of purpose. What if they've never heard anything like this before? What's their first step of

Rodric Lenhart: action?

~Um, ~You know, my, my initial reaction is I'm, I'm not here to sell anybody on anything. And if you're, if it's not where you're at in your journey right now, that's okay. You know, I think there's, I think you can't unhear things. You can't unsee things. And the, the example I always use is the KFC logo. Like once you realize that it's not his string tie, he's, he's a little stick figure.

You'll never look at the KFC logo the same again. And so I can't unsee it. Right. I've never seen a string tie ever again. I just see a stick man on a giant head and it's the same thing with this talk we're having right now. You know, some people are going to listen to this. They're going to be like, man, these guys are nuts, you know, but they won't be able to forget it.

And at some point in their journey they're going to be ready. And when the, when the students ready, the [00:22:00] teacher appears, you know? Yeah.

Chaz Wolfe: I appreciate that. I think that,~ um,~ the acceptance, right. It was what you're saying. It's like, Hey, look, like, when it's right for your journey, first off the journey is the best part.

Like you already said that, like, don't hurry up quick and get to it. And so, ~uh, ~it's okay actually that you don't have it all together. Or maybe that you've never heard of creating a statement of purpose. ~Um, ~or that you don't,~ uh,~ you know, read out loud the articulation of your life back to yourself every single morning.

Like it's okay. It's not okay now that you don't do anything with it. So, ~uh, ~there you go. We'll put that one in your lap and you can figure that one out. ~Um, ~Roderick, I got to ask, you know, kind of a side question here. Cause you know, ~uh, ~I've been wondering from the beginning, but I keep looking at it cause it's the name on your screen.

Why, why million dollar flip flops from, for the name book or for the book of the name or the title

Rodric Lenhart: name of the book. There you go. Yeah. I'm right there with you. ~Um, ~do you want the,~ uh,~ Do you want the newspaper answer or the, I want them both. Actually,

Chaz Wolfe: I want them both. I want what you would give to everybody else.

And then I want the secrets.[00:23:00]

Rodric Lenhart: ~Um, ~honestly, do you know who Mike Kim is? He wrote, you are the brand. Okay. So, ~um, ~I was reading his book again, nerding out. I'm, I'm semi retired. I'm, I'm on that beach in Thailand. ~Um, ~and that was the book I brought with me and. There's an exercise in there. That's clearly what other people read for pleasure reading.

Right. When they have nothing else to do. Yep. I'm nerd. Now they're right there with you. ~Um, ~there is an exercise in there that says, look around. And at this point I'm just trying to name my coaching practice. You know, what do I want to call this thing? You know, like my last business was called ever long.

Cause I love the food fighters, you know, like there's just, there's reasons you didn't name these things. But,~ um,~ it was look around in your immediate environment. And pick one thing that represents who you are as a person. And for me, it's flip flops. So I, I, I call them foot prisons. Like I very rarely have real people shoes on and I, and it's, it's sounds crazy, but I have these little indicators of success that tell me if I'm, I'm doing the [00:24:00] right things, right.

And deeper, it goes back to values and why and such, but right. I don't set an alarm every day, like I'm usually up at six in the morning, five in the morning, like, you know, I get up and that's my time. I won't have appointments till 11, but I'm able to just get up naturally every day, which is a huge thing for me.

~Um, ~I don't have notifications on my phone. I had my phone hasn't made a noise in like 10 years and I wear flip flops every day. And if, if one of those three things is not happening, I'm doing something wrong. It's like an immediate indicator that I'm doing something wrong. ~Um, ~so I look around, I go, ah, flip flops.

Yeah. What's everybody wants a million bucks and everybody wants to live in flip flops. Right. Like with exception, but like, that's what I'm going to name it. And everyone's like. Typical. Oh, that's a stupid name. And I'm like, well, what's Google? What's, you know, none of these things make any sense. So I'm like, that's what I'm naming it.

And it, it ended up being really apropos as we built out the waves method and everything, because [00:25:00] ultimately, you know, my superpower. Forever has been the ability to identify change and make those changes with confidence and quickness and ease. And you know, business isn't going right by a relationship.

Doesn't look like it's working out by like there's a lot of people know they need to do something, but they just don't do it. You know, and that's what the waves method builds. It builds that confidence because you have, it's not just a, you know, positives and negatives. Should I do this thing or not? You have have a really structured way of making any decision in your life.

And it's, it's a game changer. It takes this mental weight off of, Oh man, should I take that job? Should I start a family? Should I even pick up this hobby? You know, it doesn't matter what the thing is. It's does it go through this filter clean? And if it does, It's a yes. If it's not, it's a no. And it takes all the pressure off of you to make those decisions.

So, ~um, ~the flip flops identify that change. So why do I have millions of dollars? Because I've been able to change million dollar flip [00:26:00] flops. I

Chaz Wolfe: love it. You've, you've,~ uh,~ done a really good job of actually connecting all those dots. So that is not a Hollywood answer or whatever you called it. ~Uh, ~it actually makes a lot of sense.

I think that there's, there's a lot of tie to your identity too, which I think is actually the most important. ~Um, ~even though. Someone like me, flip flops would be the last thing that you would catch me in. I love shoes and I used to wear shoes until I went to bed because I didn't want to have to re put them on.

Rodric Lenhart: And once you get married

Chaz Wolfe: and you have kids and she's like, no, shoes off at the door, I'm like, ah, okay, fine. And so the flip flops to me, I'm like, I don't relate to that at all, but everything apart of that story, I'm like.

Yes. Thank you for sharing that. ~Um, ~yeah, we talked about a bad decision, but,~ uh,~ what's been something that you've done that's just really practical that you did that kind of tipped all the dominoes and we can maybe go implement in our business.

Rodric Lenhart: Practical. I don't know if it would be practical, but it's,~ um,~ Just, just really leading with intention and thinking from the end, you know, in everything I've done since then, I call it the dark place in the book, but,[00:27:00] ~ um,~ since that day, just, just having a really clear purpose about why I'm doing everything I'm doing and recognizing that has been the best decision of, of my life because it leads to all the other things, whether it's business or relationship, et cetera.

Chaz Wolfe: Right. Yeah. And so for the person that is like, okay, like they hear the word intention. I know the way that you're talking about when you hear intention, we use that in my family. Like, like it's, it's our identity, right? I was like, no, everything is done with intention, everything,~ uh,~ intention, and then followed by attention.

~Um, ~and which I'm sure that you would agree, but for the person that's like, okay, well, I can intentionally do these things. What does that mean? Give us just a smidge on,~ um,~ What does that look like on a day to day for you? You've kind of given some hints around it, but what is an intentional morning or an intentional day?

Or what could they be doing right now to be intentional like you were back after the dark day?

Rodric Lenhart: Yeah, so it's probably two parts to that question. And one [00:28:00] is a little, I'm going to give you a little time hack for you in the audience about how you can buy back a lot of time for, for 0. So that's the teaser.

~Um, ~but I think it's. It's looking at everything in your day. I mean, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Why are you doing that thing? You know, and it can be as simple as a walk. It can be time with your four year old. It can be a new business deal, but it's why are you doing that thing?

And once you've built, that's why the values piece of the ways method is so important. Why we spend so much time on it. Easily the biggest part of the book, the journal when I'm working with you one on one, if you're in mastermind with us, et cetera, until you have those component pieces, you don't know if what you're doing is intentional.

It's as good as the yes, no, good, bad list that you're making to make major life decisions. You know, and the key with all this is that you're,~ um,~ You build these things when you're not in a time of, you're not making a major decision. You're not in the middle of [00:29:00] that. And you're not in crisis of some kind.

Like you have to be really even keeled. And we, we take people through when they do their first values list. They go off into their world and when they're having a really great day or a really bad day, they pull that list out and they say, okay, everything's jamming. I'm in flow state. I haven't looked at the clock in nine hours.

What am I, what's on this list that is causing that to happen? And there's things that are on there. There's things that aren't. Or the opposite of that, you know, I'm having a terrible day. Everything's shit. I want to sell my business. You know, what am I not honoring right now? Right. And you identify those values in those moments and it helps gain more clarity so that tomorrow when my buddy says, let's go do X, Y, Z, I can easily say no.

And I'm not, I don't feel bad because it's not in line with who I am and how I want to be 40 years from now, you know, and I'll give you the time hack. So this was in mastermind,~ um,~ a while back, and this may not be her idea, but it's what she brought to the table. But [00:30:00] it's basically, if you, somebody asked you to do something, you know, Hey, I got this thing in 6 months.

It's in Vegas. You know, I want you to come speak if you wouldn't do it tomorrow. You say no now because you're not going to have any more time in six months or a year or five years than you do right now. So in our minds, we're more free next week or next month. And that's how our calendars get full. So if I wouldn't do it tomorrow, the answer is no.

Chaz Wolfe: It's a,~ um,~ perspective switch for sure. The, the moment for you,~ uh,~ I'm thinking of a specific one that I'll share after you, but the moment where you were able to,~ um,~ I guess. Pick something that really, really was specific to the intention of what you've already defined as a value, right? And that could be maybe sitting on the beach But what's what's a personal example for you when you said something was in front of you and you said yes That matches what I've [00:31:00] already previously stated as my value.

Well, what was that specific thing?

Rodric Lenhart: Let me give you I'll give you this example. So when So I sold the last business. I didn't necessarily have to do anything. And it's all right, I'm doing this new thing and I have a clean slate, right? Which was, I was very fortunate to be in that position. And you often heard me say, I called in life number one and life number one that, you know, I, I don't know what two is going to look like, but I can't see it while I'm in one.

So I very intentionally built a business to scale and exit so that I could give myself that runway to figure out what it is I wanted to do with chapter two. And As I was building this business, if you're looking at my top three values, they're freedom, autonomy, and connection. And I'm in Austria right now.

I don't necessarily have to do anything and I'm talking to you. So the building of this business feeds all three of those things. So, but had I not taken the time to look at that, I might be like, well, I'm going to go sell forklifts and Louisiana pays well, you know, like, yeah, there's a reason

Chaz Wolfe: why[00:32:00]

Chaz Wolfe: , I'm going to give you an example. That's not. ~Uh, ~very motivational. Like the one that you just gave, because I think the two, [00:33:00] two sides, every coin is good. I can remember being 17, 18, and I was just very different than my friends. And I would get calls at, you know, nine, 10, 11 o'clock and from my buddies and they were, you know, at IHOP eating pancakes.

And then they were going to go to some late night movie or something where high schoolers do, I guess. And I get a call and I would say, hello. I'll tell you where I was in a second, but I'd say hello and they would say, you won't. And I would say, you're right. I won't. And I hung up and I would roll then back over and go back to sleep cause I was already in bed because I was going to be up in the morning and going to work.

I started working when I was 13 basically in the summertime and then actually full time when I was 16. And so for me, even though I wasn't, I didn't have this value system that you're talking about. I still knew. And at least at that point, it was like, I know, cause we poor, I need money. And so I was not willing to exchange that

for,~ uh,~ you know, going to the movies or eating pancakes. I wanted [00:34:00] to, they were my buddies, but I wanted this more. So greater, lesser desire is what I'm hearing. You say you can have that greater, lesser desire kind of like a compass built off of your values. That way, when you're put into a situation, all you have to say is.

You're right. I won't

Rodric Lenhart: right? And not feel bad about

Chaz Wolfe: it and not feel bad about it. One lick. I'll see you next time, bro. Or not at all. Who cares if it either serves,

they knew exactly what it was. And I knew exactly what it was too. So, ~um, ~anyway, all right. So let's talk about, let's talk about family for a second or really just some of those other dimensions in life. How would you suggest a listener or how have you practically gone after those things while you've been obsessed with the business?

I'm, I'm not a fan of the word balanced. ~Um, ~I'm, I'm an all in type of a guy. I can clearly see that you are as well. So how have you gone all in, in those other areas, whether it be family or other dimensions at the same time as building a company that you eventually exited and then now building this one, traveling, that type of thing.

Rodric Lenhart: Yeah. I mean, it all just keeps coming back to back to the [00:35:00] values piece. You know, it's, it's, you hear me say it again and again and again, but it is who we are as people and we just haven't been taught. At any age to, to look at that in a really structured way and then build a life around those values versus having life happened to us for 50 years and then going, well, it was okay.

You know, it's just a really different way of looking at it. And I think Once you can sacrifice things in the short term, but ultimately you have to, it's back to that wave or the wheel, you know, you have, you have to eventually have it even out, you know, or else you're just not well rounded. Isn't a great term, but it's, I mean, it's what ultimately leads to, you know, kind of base level happiness, you know, is you have to have all of those things.

So, and I think that's why. You know, we've got some strange qualifiers if you want to work with me privately and I only work with six people at a time, but one of them is,~ um,~ you have to be making a certain amount of money [00:36:00] for a certain number of years. And people look at that on its face and they say,~ uh,~ well, he just wants to know that I've got the budget and it's like, well, the price for me doesn't change.

So it doesn't, it doesn't matter if you have the budget or not, but it does tell me that you don't think money answers all the problems, you know, you've, you've had enough success that you go, wait a minute. Like, so if I'm talking to your 17 year old self or, and I was in that same boat, I mean, we grew up with nothing, you know, so I've been a hustler since I was a little kid.

If I'm going to get anything, I've got to get it myself. You know, mom and dad can't buy it. So, ~um, ~Until, and I, again, I was fortunate to learn that lesson in my early twenties and that certainly changed my trajectory and what I value as a person. But I don't want to have a 40 year old sit in front of me.

Well, but I have to take this job because I'll make 200, 000 more a year and then I'll be happy. Like, it's just not a conversation I'm going to have. Like you already, you already have to be at that level of awareness because I'm not going to be able to, nobody's going to be able to get you there. Like you, you have to have had that experience for yourself.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I [00:37:00] appreciate that perspective. It's tough for someone listening right now who has yet to be in that position, but for the ones that have,~ um,~ Or, you know, you've, you've made enough and then eventually you get to a place where you either sell or you, you've built assets that pay you enough or more than enough passively.

And it's like, well, I could, I could literally do whatever I want. And it's like, what else is left? Because once you've gotten that, there's gotta be something else that we're going after. And so I appreciate you bringing it back to the values. Why do you think that this purpose for you, like this mantle, if you will, to go and help other people get so deep on this, why do you think it's for you?

Why, why, why are you made for this?

Rodric Lenhart: ~Um. ~I don't, I'm not going to toot my own horn. I don't know that I might not be the right person for a lot of people listening to this, you know, and I think if you're, if you haven't clicked off of us 38 odd minutes in, maybe I'm the right fit, you know? So, ~um, ~I've had a lot of experience around [00:38:00] this and I can tell you the reasons why I do it.

And then if that resonates with people, great. But I, ~um. ~You know, I coached baseball for a long time for over 10 years in Charlotte and even though I don't have any kids of my own and I've had half a dozen boys make it to the major leagues and I'll run into them on the street and they'll say, Oh, coach Roderick, coach Roderick, and they'll fill me in on their life and it's awesome.

And they'll be like, do you remember that thing you told me X, Y, Z day? And I'm just like. I don't bro. I love you dearly, but I do not remember what that was, you know, cause I was with these kids five hours a day, five days a week, five months a year. I mean, it was a lot, you know, for over a decade. So, but you get those chills.

I get chills now telling you the story, like having that kind of impact on someone. And I've I never. Did this professionally, but people, thanks to social media, I always say it looks good on TV, but people see me traveling all over the [00:39:00] world, but I still have these businesses back home yet. They're working a hundred hours a week and they can't, how do you do it?

Like if I could had a nickel for every time I've been asked, how do you do it, bro? You know, and there's people that I would take under my wing and help them and show them these principles. Right. And then you watch their life change. And so when it was time to, I don't have to do anything or I'm going to do something, that's why I decided to do this.

It was one of those, this is, it's silly for these to go to my grave with me, you know, or the 20, 30 people I helped over the, over the last number of years. So, and that's why we donate all the proceeds of the book. Like I really just want. This in people's hands and it's either a forum or it's not, but at least they have the idea in their head.

And then with their 20 bucks for the book or however much it is, nine bucks for the ebook. ~Um, ~we donate all that money. And then I get to have that exact same experience on the other side of the coin. So the foundation and sending these kids on these [00:40:00] trips and we can talk about if we have time, we can talk about how that's all structured.

But,~ um,~ I literally get to live that dream every day. Like I get to watch light bulbs go off for. People like you and I who have never been exposed to these things. And then I get to provide this opportunity for these kids that could arguably change their life. And then they take those experiences back to their community that might not be talking about these things and change other kids lives.

It's an exponential thing that I get to be a part of. And I'm just, I'm grateful is really what it boils down to.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I do want to give you a second to talk on that. You can tell when you've talked about this project of yours two times now,~ uh,~ the energy. Of which you bring,~ uh,~ just your tonality changed even.

And so, ~um, ~I would definitely want to give you a chance on that. The, the, the exponential piece is what's caught my attention from what you just said. How can the listener give us one last piece here? How can the listener find that exponential thing for them? Cause that's really. What legacy is, or when we talk about whether it's our kids and grandkids, like I do, or whether you're talking about these kids and their communities, or whether we're [00:41:00] talking about our own communities or we want to influence nations, it's all this exponential piece.

Give us a couple of steps on how to find that, like what we're tied to, because we're all in it for this exponential thing. But how do we know what our exponential thing is like for us?

Rodric Lenhart: You know, we do a lot of, there's exercises in the book and I clearly do it in the private practice. ~Um, ~we do a lot of visioning exercises and it's, you know, if, if I do this thing in a year, how does that make me feel and you run through, I have my private clients run through a, an entire week of their perfect year.

~Um, ~or yeah, it's a year from now and it's their perfect week and it's every 15 minutes. It's I'm getting up at this time, I get to do this, I get to do that, I get to do the other thing. And then. What values does that check off? Right? We're always back to values. And then ultimately, how does that make me feel?

And that's that's different for a CPA than it is for the CEO of a hospital or a volunteer worker, you know, and you just have to [00:42:00] identify those things for yourself. And like you just heard My tonality or inflection change when I talk about the foundation, that's another benefit of having a coach or somebody that's just outside of your immediate situation because they're going to pick up on those things and they will help point you in that direction of what it is that drives you.

Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. The thing that gets you excited. And I think that for a lot of guys,~ um, ~just doing the things that are dutiful. I'm going to take, I'm going to check all the boxes cause that's, that's my duty.

~Uh, ~but there are things that make us come alive. And that's what, that's what I hear you saying that it's worth pressing into. So, ~um, ~give us a couple of minutes here on, on the exponential piece that you're talking about with these kids. ~Um, ~you know, give us. How that structured the impact of those things, why you came up with this.

And then I got one more question

Rodric Lenhart: for All right. So send a student leader abroad. org if you want to go look at it. But,~ um,~ we are partnered with EF tours and they have been absolutely phenomenal to work with. Like I can not sing their praises high enough for [00:43:00] being such a massive organization. I mean, they're in.

150 plus countries and, you know, billions and billions and billions of dollars. And ultimately they are the facilitator for what we want to do. So when I was 13, my mom spent money we didn't have, and I can remember her and my dad arguing about sending me on that trip between seventh and eighth grade to UK.

And coincidentally, exactly 30 years later, I've done Italy. I'll be in France next week for HALT Prize, and then we're going to leave out of London just so I can have recreated the trip. Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. It's just, it's the universe at work, buddy. Like we weren't supposed to go to HALT Prize,~ um,~ in Paris and it popped up as an opportunity.

We got invited to go, so I'm checking it off, but my mom sent me on that trip and It changed my worldview. ~Um, ~it very much taught me there's no them, there's only us. We are very much one human family. And I think the [00:44:00] earlier you can recognize that, and without getting into crazy details, but our, you know, our history is the history of who we're taught to hate at any given point.

And they'll let you know, go look right now. Who are we supposed to hate? Go 20 years ago. Who are we supposed to hate? Go a hundred years ago. Who are we supposed to hate? And if you ask anybody, they don't know any of those people. They've never met any of those people. And so I think when you can leave certainly the U S because we are very privileged to be born and grow up in the United States and when you can see what's actually happening in other parts of the world, it just gives you a level of compassion that you can't get otherwise.

And at this point I've been to 50 plus, I guess after this trip, it'll probably be 54 countries on six continents and all for pleasure. Like I've never had to travel really for work, you know, it's just, I want to go experience. And when you can give a kid that opportunity, and so it's called send a student leader abroad because.

~Um, ~it's ultimately a matching grant. So these are kids that can't afford to [00:45:00] go and their teacher nominates them as somebody that's got hustle and got determination and just deserves a chance. And we work with them. It's not just here's some money, you know, thanks Timmy. It's we work with them every week to like, how can we earn this money?

You know, you want some buy in from them. ~Um, ~and whether they raise five bucks, the trips are about four grand now, whether it raise five bucks or the whole 4, 000, we pay for the rest of the trip for them to go. And so they go have this experience that they otherwise would not have been able to, hopefully it changes their worldview, their trajectory.

And now they bring that conversation back to a community that also probably couldn't afford to go. Yep. And that's why I have a goal of sending a million kids, you know, and I've, I've told everybody since the beginning, I say, you know, if I only send 10, 000, well, darn it. Yeah. I love the

Chaz Wolfe: thinking there. ~Um, ~the piece that's impactful, that last little sentence was that they're going to go back and hopefully be able to articulate that perspective change, you know, that, and that's [00:46:00] the real ripple.

So you get to ripple. Yeah. With thousands, maybe even millions of children, but then what about all the others that they're going to be able to share their experiences? ~Um, ~not only on top of that impact, the people that they're going to visit. From all over across the

Rodric Lenhart: world, right? It's, it really is a spider web.

It

Chaz Wolfe: really is. It's pretty cool. Alright, I got one last question. You kind of hinted at it a few minutes ago. ~Um, ~you almost stole my thunder, bud. Okay? Ha ha! Just kidding. ~Um, ~I want to know if you could go back into time and whisper in your younger ear. You, you told me what you'd whisper in my younger ear.

What would you whisper in your younger

Rodric Lenhart: ear? Hmm. Do I get two shares or just one? Oh, give us both. If there's

Chaz Wolfe: two, give us both.

Rodric Lenhart: ~Uh, ~the first one is, it's been done before. Do it anyway. Ooh, that's no, that's number one. And then number two, which is usually my, my mic drop moment. So if this is the end, you gotta tell me cause this is the mic drop moment.

We'll talk for a few more, but it's the end. Give it to us. It's if you remember, I'll, I'll send it all [00:47:00] the way back to my space. It was on my wall on my, my space page. It's on my Facebook and my LinkedIn. Now it's tattooed on this arm. It says the cost of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

Chaz Wolfe: The heaviness of that. Why, why would you share that specifically? Why is that heavy for you?

Rodric Lenhart: It's heavy for me because it would have taught me earlier not to trade my time for money, and that's something that. My mom certainly understood. And my mom did, you know, she wasn't an entrepreneur or anything, but she's, I mean, why is well beyond her years.

And, you know, looking back now, all the things that come out of you, she died a couple of years back. We actually dedicate the book to her, but,~ um,~ all the things that she taught me that were like that. And you don't believe, you know, my mom was great, but I still didn't believe her when I was a kid. You never believe your parents about anything.

They're stupid. You, you know, all the answers. So, ~um, ~yeah. You know, I think just having that perspective and [00:48:00] that's, it's back to, you know, the money's not going to solve your problems and trading more of the only commodity that is fixed in this life for more of that maybe isn't the best idea. Yeah.

Chaz Wolfe: When you can put it into perspective tied.

To then your values,~ uh,~ gives you the compass needed to make right decisions. We're just mixing my language and yours so beautifully together. Don't you like that

Rodric Lenhart: dance, buddy?

Chaz Wolfe: Well, I actually, I appreciate the dance because, you know, a lot of people get, get really scared and worried about. You know, ~um, ~other people.

And like you said, it's been done before. And there could be plenty of reasons why,~ uh,~ there are people in my audience need to join your thing as opposed to mine. And I'm glad to have you here because there's, it's an abundance. ~Um, ~and the, the, the nuggets we've been able to pull out here today are worth it.

~Um, ~so like you're saying, it's like, ~um, ~there's not, ~um. ~There's not a wrong move here. It helps us both get what we're, what we're looking for. So, ~um, uh, uh, ~it's a pleasure being able to align with you in that. [00:49:00] How can the listener find you one, if they,~ uh,~ just want to get to know you better, maybe follow your content,~ um,~ or obviously by the book or actually want to work with you, they want to join one of your programs.

How can they find you? ~Uh, ~

Rodric Lenhart: really easy at million dollar flip flops on every channel and million dollar flipflops. com.

Chaz Wolfe: Easy enough. We'll put the ~Uh, ~you've been incredible. Thank you for being here, dropping us,~ uh,~ nuggets from halfway across the world and ~uh, ~in another time zone. So thank you for that blessings on your book launch and I will put the.

~Uh, ~information for the book launch. If you're listening right now and you want to go grab the book,~ uh,~ click the link below and grab that. I'm sure you won't be disappointed, especially it's got flip flops, golden flip flops, my understanding of on the website. Take a look at these things. There are, they're amazing.

~Um, ~appreciate you being here, Roderick. ~Um, ~you've been an absolute King here today. Thank you.

Rodric Lenhart: Thanks Jess.

[00:50:00] [00:51:00]

Host Chaz Wolf welcomes Josh Wilson, CEO of JW Global Enterprises, to discuss his journey from a real estate addict to a successful business acquirer through Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). Josh shares his five compelling reasons why business owners should consider selling to a holding company, emphasizing the potential for higher exit values. He also shares the importance of building a dream team, his million-dollar investment mistake, and the strategic pivot towards focusing on the transportation sector for better growth and future exits.

Rodric Lenhart:

Website: sendastudentleaderabroad.org

Website: https://milliondollarflipflops.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@milliondollarflipflops

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodriclenhart/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/milliondollarflipflops

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodriclenhart/

Chaz's favorite morning drink to fuel him for his day

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