How a Near-Death Experience Transformed My Leadership Journey with Mike Phillips

Jim Bergoon: 00:00:00

Welcome to Grace in the Grind, the podcast where we dive deep into the journeys of heart centered and purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs. We're here to equip and encourage you on your journey. So let's get started and find the grace within the grind. This is Grace in the Grind.

And now your host, Jim Bergoon.

Speaker B: 00:00:21

Welcome to Grace in the Grind, where we sit here to empower, encourage and equipment Christian entrepreneurs and leaders to do life.

And in Grace in the Grind, we get the story behind the story from some successful entrepreneurs and how they create it, what they have and what they went through to get there. And today, my good friend Michael Phillips is with us and just want to welcome to the show. Mike.

Michael Phillips: 00:00:44

Yeah, absolutely, Jim. Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited to have a conversation with you.

It's funny because sometimes when we're talking, it's the role reversal. I had you on my podcast and we've developed, we were just talking right before the show.

Developed a really good friendship over the last five or six years. Time goes by so quickly. It's important to really value people.

So I'm very appreciative that you invited me on the show and that we have the time to talk today.

Speaker B: 00:01:09

Yeah, same man.

Because you have such great wisdom and I think that the audience, the entrepreneurs and the leaders out there could learn so much from you, especially not just in life and your walk with Christ, but how you, like, carry yourself is actually very inspirational. But with that being said, why don't you tell me a little bit and tell the audience a little bit about what you do and what you're about?

Michael Phillips: 00:01:32

Sure. At this point in my life, what, first off, what I'm about, my number one is God. It's carrying my faith forward.

And I do that in everything that I do in my family and my business and our conversations. I'm. I certainly don't shy away from conversations of faith. I do digital marketing inside the automotive industry. I've been doing that for 20 years.

So sold cars, been in management, had a lot of leadership and management training from different angles within the automotive industry.

I've, I have a podcast right now that I host called the Leadership Toolkit just to share the insights and some wisdom that either I've learned or as some of you may know, I interview leaders in different verticals of business and have conversations with what their successes are and what their failures are and such. I've been podcasting for, my goodness, 15 years now. Even before the name, before the it was titled as a podcast.

e radio show starting back in: 2009

And then certainly I have an amazing family, a wife that supports all the craziness. I've got three great kids.

eree in business in the early: 2000

And then the combination of, hey, the passion for radio and the passion for leadership combined to support the podcasting efforts that I've had over the last several years. So that's where I sit right now. I got hands in a bunch of different projects.

Speaker B: 00:03:24

That's amazing. So where I want to hit first, which says, my hands are in a bunch of projects. Let's dig in here.

How do you balance your hands in all of these projects? Your faith walk and your family? How do you balance that without burning out?

Michael Phillips: 00:03:38

This is one of those things that may sound cliche until it's not. I really lean into my faith, my relationship with God, My walk with Christ is number one. And I've even had people ask that. They say, hey, how.

What you're saying, how do you balance if you. If it's family first, and this may come contrary to what other people's beliefs are, for me, God is number one.

I put God number one, my wife's number two, my family on down the line, and then business and being able to give back to God and from industry and so forth. And so for me, that's quite literally how I start my days. I start my day with prayer and giving thanks.

It's important I do that every single morning, spend some time in silence.

I actually just had a conversation with a gentleman, a good friend of mine, Saturday night, and he says, man, I'm praying each day, and I go off down the rabbit holes like this every once in a while. Jim, so just roll with me. We were having a conversation on Saturday night, and he was asking.

He says, I feel like I've lost faith sometimes because I'm praying, but I'm not hearing anymore. And I said, are you taking the time to listen?

And that's something that I had to learn through many mutual friends, guys like you, that God has put in my life. I really believe there are no. There are no accidents.

People come in and out of our lives, and we have the choice of how, where, and when to listen to those messages. And I think a lot of it becomes. We often pray when we need something. Like right now in the world.

We were talking just beforehand, like, things are crazy in the world, right? Socioeconomic, climate, politics. People are at each other's throats or easily can be. And so we spend a lot of time praying and asking for God's help.

But do we spend time listening to when he answers us, who's that person he put in your life? What's that task? What's the challenge that he's presented you with that's going to allow you to learn an opportunity?

And so we were having that talk and I said, that's something that I had to learn and I couldn't, unfortunately. I wish I could for you, Jim. Like, pinpoint. When was the time that I remembered that, okay, I've got to listen as much as I speak and I ask.

Speaker B: 00:05:50

And so sometimes that gets muddled. Yeah, yeah.

Michael Phillips: 00:05:54

And look, if I can finish this one thought. If we're constantly asking for stuff and God is a loving father, just like you're a parent, I'm a parent. Right.

At some point, what happens is if your kids are just constantly asking and you're going, I'm given this and I'm given this and I'm given this.

It's just like, same thing I think happens to us on some level is we're constantly asking God, we're constantly praying, hey, I'm thankful for this and let me pray to you and please provide this peace and the strength and whatever.

But if we're never taking the time to be still and spend just five or ten minutes after that to allow him to speak back into us and have some of that calm, it's the same thing as us as parents is, oh, my gosh, I'm worn out, kid. I keep trying to tell you this and you're not paying attention. So that's one of the things that I think, oh, gosh, so that's how I start my day.

Speaker B: 00:06:46

Yeah, definitely. And I could see how that would help. You would be energized. So then the question becomes, and this is where I was going to go with this.

Okay, so we get muddled.

We don't know sometimes when we first were aware of something, but in that, what were the challenges you faced in the listening process, learning to listen? What were some of those challenges?

Michael Phillips: 00:07:07

I think we live in a society of instant gratification. We're looking for, especially right now, throw AI in the mix.

And so if we want an answer to something, you Google it and you have it in seconds, you put it into AI, it'll create an answer for you. We're so accustomed to having the apparent results at our fingertips that it's easy to forget to listen.

I think it's something that's very deliberate. You asked me in the last question, and one thing I did not answer specifically. He said, how do you make time for family and business?

Well, you make time for God first. Then when it comes to those family pieces, you have to be deliberate. Like I have to be deliberate.

If I'm going to say I'm going to be about something, you can't just talk about it. You have to be about it. You've got to take the actions that are necessary.

So if we talk about we're going to have family dinner, then you got to stay connected with family and have an actual family dinner. Don't allow something else to. To distract you. You're saying, how do you overcome that? I think it's important to.

Here's a little trick, and this was from a coach friend of mine. And hopefully this then answers the second question.

When I was had gone to someone to learn about goal setting and goal achieving, because we all talk about goal setting, coaches, leadership, people, everyone talks about, oh, you got to have this big action plan on how do you do goal setting? There's a difference between setting the goal and actually achieving the goal.

And I remember this is just within the last couple years, he said to me, he says, here's a trick. What happens? And you've heard Simon Sinek say this, you've heard other people say it.

When we want information, we want to know what's going on, we get that hit on our phones right away. Bam. So I need an answer to something. If I'm going to text you, Jim, and I say, hey, Jim, what's the link to the show I get on?

I expect an answer back like that, right? Just bam. I got to have an answer. And so you're saying, how did you. How did I learn to be patient?

One of the things that I think it started with for me and this is, this has happened multiple times, but most recently, silence. All of the social media notifications on your phone, like, literally go into every app that you pay attention to.

Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, whatever it is. Silence. All the notifications on your phone. Your phone can be used as a tool, but it's also as powerfully a distraction. I think it pulled that.

That's something for me that pulled me in and easily allows me to be distracted from whatever it is that's taking place in my life, my time and prayer time.

If I got up in the morning and the first thing that I'm going to do is I'm going to give thanks and pray to go, but my phone is buzzing on the nightstand. It's. You easily get distracted. That's. How do you wire your brain for it?

It starts with absolutely being deliberate and something so simple as silencing those notifications for your social media stuff so that then you're in control of what your responses and when your responses are, rather than just being a slave to, I gotta respond to this, I gotta respond to that, I gotta do the next thing. Hopefully that answers that question for you.

Speaker B: 00:10:13

It does.

Michael Phillips: 00:10:13

And there's lots of other things being deliberate. There's lots of other things you can do. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think that's something that's really relevant right now in society.

And to the question you're asking.

Speaker B: 00:10:27

Yeah, no, that's perfectly fine. And I appreciate that. Growing patience through social media.

So I want to hear a little bit more about your personal frustrations through it, the struggle through it. I want to hear a little bit more. So I want to push in a little deeper to that because we all can say, we're out there, hey, do this and this.

But what were the struggles you faced.

Michael Phillips: 00:10:47

Laura, with the social media stuff, or just the struggles that I've seen in.

Speaker B: 00:10:52

The journey, or the struggles of you learning to listen? Because this is before we switch to something and all that stuff.

Michael Phillips: 00:11:00

I. I think that there is an absence of acceptance for being silent. And so I think so often people want an immediate answer.

Like, often I was the guy in the meeting, Somebody would ask a question and it was like, oh, let me answer that. Let me give you the response. And so one of the struggles, I think for myself, actually two, this will bring up two of them.

probably, gosh, back in about: 2010

And as he was asking me what I thought of something, a particular process or particular project, I was already trying to answer him and he finally interrupted me. He had to break my thought pattern.

And he said to me, he goes, man, he goes, listen, if you are so busy with conversations running through your brain that you're trying to think of a response, you can't possibly be hearing what I'm Having to ask you. And so at one point, one of the struggles was realizing I needed to be humble enough to really listen to people.

Like, when somebody's asking a question, when someone's having that conversation, I have to stop, just clear my brain. That's an actual deliberate process. And to this day, I remember that, and I will remember it a lot.

There's a lot of times I'll go in to answer a question, I'm like, oh, I got the answer to that. And I'm like, let me just pause for a moment, because sometimes somebody else there will have the answer.

Sometimes the person is not finished asking their question.

And so that was a deliberate statement when he said to me, listen, you can't possibly be hearing what I have to say, because you're so busy with these conversations running through your head with an answer. And so I think, call it a struggle, call it a revelation, it was something that.

It took somebody else literally, like running the record needle across my brain going, you're gonna screw this up, kid, if you don't pay attention. So that was one struggle. And then along with that, the other struggle was knowing it's one thing not to know. Nobody had said anything to me. I was.

For a long time, it's like the shell answer, man, you have the answer to all this stuff. But then once somebody said that to you, has said that to your face on two levels. One, at first, I took it as, man, that's really hurtful.

And then the other is, it's, no, actually, that person cared enough to tell me that was a real shortcoming of mine. And so when you're saying the struggle to listen, it, I. I had to be willing to be open, that it wasn't coming from a place of hurt.

It was coming from a genuine place of caring for me, that it was like, hey, this will help you grow. And frankly, Jim, I think that's one of the things, like on with my own broadcast and podcast journeys over time that has allowed me to develop that.

It was like, oh, okay, when I'm speaking to somebody, like you're doing now, hey, let me just take notes, because then I can ask a really good question in a minute. And so I do that in a lot of areas. So that.

That I think was one of the biggest struggles was just knowing that I had to quiet my brain for the answers, because even though I may have one, someone else may have a better one. But person that's asking the question may already know, and they want my input or reinforcement. Hopefully, that answers your question.

Speaker B: 00:14:29

Oh, yeah.

Michael Phillips: 00:14:29

There's probably a lot of others.

Speaker B: 00:14:31

Oh, I'm sure. But I do know this, that our listeners struggle with stuff. I struggled with that for a little bit.

Like, my brain tends to be a little adhd and so I have to do things like take notes that have caused it to focus. And no, it was beautiful. I appreciate that a lot. So let's go deeper into another area.

Before the show started, we talked about your time during the pandemic that shall not be named or Covid, and we said you, you had almost lost your life during that time. And so let's talk about that. Let's unpack that in a couple ways. Number one, the challenges of that and number two, the disruption of that.

Michael Phillips: 00:15:09

s announced back in the early: 2020

I get reminded of it every year because it comes up on my Facebook, how it gives you memories. I was this day. Let me share this. And I don't know if this was God's way of giving me a sucker punch or saying, hey, you got to slow down and listen.

Every year I'm reminded of it, though. I posted the. Literally the day that it was announced I had posted, I said, living dangerously today. Eating Chinese food. Right.

Because I thought it was just tongue in cheek and hilarious. That did not age. So no fast forward. I'm reminded of it each year. That's the only reason that I know. So fast forward.

About a year into that, my family and I took our first vacation that I'd taken in year. Like real vacation. Not hey, we're going to go do this for the kids or we're going to go do a business trip and disguise it as a vacation.

But like an actual just unplug and go on vacation. And while I was there on the flight back is where I'm convinced I got. And I'll spare everybody the details. I journaled all this.

If you want, Jim, I'll share a copy with you and you're welcome to share it for download or whatnot. It's probably 15 or 20 pages because I journaled everything and I went back and rejournaled stuff once this had happened.

So we come back, I started feeling ill. It was like seven, eight, nine days.

And that was at the time where if you were sick, they wanted to know if you were sick, but they didn't actually want to see you. Like, they didn't want you to spread that. So I'm calling the doctor and they're like, yeah, we don't want you actually there.

And so the one of those first struggles was, I'm asking like all of society, what the hell do you do? I'm sick, I think I've got this thing that's going around. But then you call the doctor and they're like, can you make it at home?

Don't actually come in. And I'm like, what's the outcome if I come in? What do you do? And they said, we send you to the emergency room.

And I'm like, why wouldn't I just go straight to the emergency room? Like all these bone headed steps. Because that was their process at the time.

So fast forward, I get about 8, 10 days, just miserable at home, losing weight, the whole deal.

Finally go check in and they're like, I'll never forget, the doctor's probably 30ft away in the, in the doorframe of the room, all masked up, all suited up. Looked like Darth Vader from Back to the Future, if you know that reference.

You remember when he's standing there in the suit and he's man, you're really bad off. And I said, what? Nobody at this point had even told us if I had coven. My wife was with me, they wanted her to leave. I said, absolutely, not until.

Because they said you have to. And I said, not until you tell me if I am positive or not. Because that was the requirement at the time.

So he says, yeah, you're terrible, you have Covid, you have walking pneumonia. I had some gastrointestinal infection. And I'm like, yeah, I'm miserable. And he says, only problem is your oxygen is 89.

And I said, I, is that a problem? Seems like it would be pretty good shape.

He goes, no, the problem is, he says, you're in bad shape, but we have to let you go home because you're not low enough to admit that was how this all started. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. So I go home.

I'm home for three or four days, then in the middle of the night on a Saturday night, struggle to start breathing, go back in. I'm in the hospital for I think eight days at that point. Went through treatment, went home, got released on oxygen. So fortunate.

And people are going, this isn't an exciting story so far. So I go home that Sunday, eat breakfast, eat dinner with my family and so forth. And I started having these real bad lung problems.

n started beginning of August: 2021

And I'm like, oh my God, I don't know what's wrong. And I'm like, I told my wife, just help me up to the bed.

And so as I started to lay down all the fluid, my lungs shifted and it's the worst pain I've literally ever felt in my life. I thought someone was stabbing me. Like I screamed out in pain and so forth. And she's like, I think we need to go back to the doctor.

And we're cranking up the oxygen the whole time. They said, if I get past five, I gotta return to the hospital. And at this point, I'm halfway lying down, halfway standing up.

We cranked the oxygen up to 15 because I couldn't hold oxygen. We didn't know why. And I'm in a two story house.

I literally take the oxygen tank, boom, put it in my lap and slide down the stairs because there's no way my wife could get my big butt into the car. I go sliding down the stairs with an oxygen tank. Literally ran probably 20ft.

Like, I'm moving fast at this point because I could feel lightheaded, but the oxygen was running so fast, I threw myself into the side of our car. And I just told her, I said, drive fast. I think I'm a blackout.

We're about probably, I don't know, two and a half miles from the hospital, three miles from the major hospital. So she goes driving fast, maybe more than that. Anyway, at one point I black out. I'm gone by about two blocks from our house, I'm done.

And she makes it to the hospital. Took six minutes. So whatever that timeframe is, like I said I could look it up. I don't want to be incorrect in the miles, but it's not super far.

But it's not right around the block, right?

Speaker B: 00:20:17

It's far enough to make note. Yeah.

Michael Phillips: 00:20:20

So making a long story shorter, ultimately, and you want to talk about a reaffirmation story of Jesus and having a hand in my life from the. Often people will say, oh, did you see the white light and the pearly gates and all that? No, I was completely blacked out.

But when I will tell you there's a miracle moment, is I was gone. And when they made it to the hospital, they were rolling me back. And I vaguely like in My subconscious.

And I can even think of it now, I could see the fluorescent lights flicking like this, right? But I was gone. I was completely unconscious. I was checked out. And I don't remember this. It took the doctor telling me this to know this.

So as they're rolling me back, at one point they talked about intubating me, which fast forward to the punch line in the story. Both of my lungs had collapsed and had they. So I had. That's what caused me to black out. Had they intubated me and inflated the lungs, he.

The doctor told me later, he said, your lungs would have exploded and you would have died there on the table. There's no question. So here's the God moment. Fortunately, he's a faithful man.

The doctor that was treating me, former Navy, one of the top trauma surgeons in town.

And he said as I was going back, he says, we were halfway to the OR talking about having to intubate you, and he says, you sat up and grabbed my wrists and screamed at me. That's not what I need. And then blacked back out. And I don't remember that. That came from the doctor and the nurse.

And I'm like, oh, I get the goosebumps even telling it now because I'm man you. And he goes, he says, you yelled at me. That's not what I need.

We re interviewed your wife, who had said that you had a hockey injury from a collapse long years ago. So I ordered. And he says, instead of ordering an intubation kit, I ordered a chest X ray, and both my lungs were gone.

So they chest tubed me three times. Boom. To reinflate my lungs. Spent eight days in the ICU. Spent 20 days. I think it was something like that.

We'll call it 20 days in the regular population with no human contact, because everybody was wearing safety suits at that time. So that part was terrible. But the. The crazy thing you're saying, what did I learn from it? I definitely. It was a reaffirmation of faith.

There's a deeper story there that we could get into another time, longer than what your podcast is. I don't want to spend all of the time on that, but definitely a reaffirmation of God. Literally. I'm a walking miracle. There is no question.

And had God not put the right doctor, top trauma surgeon in town at the wrong hospital at the right time, I would not be here, because he was supposed to be at a different place. And like, literally, there's so much to the story. I had written and released a devotional exactly 30 days prior to this happening.

So if you want to talk about the enemy trying to take people out and God's saying no. So that. And then the fact that we didn't release any of this stuff, that I was sick. You've known me on social media.

It's not that I have a facade or we just post the positive stuff. I'm deliberate about posting the positive stuff and my faith, because that's what I want to put into the world.

And so we didn't really say Mike's sick or anything, but at the point I was checked out, when we were headed to the hospital the first time, I asked my wife, I said, you better say something. I said, we really need some prayer warriors right now.

And so that was another reaffirmation because there were hundreds, thousands, literally, of people praying, posting, calling me. I had one guy. One guy called me from my hospital bed so I could pray with his kids before bed one night. It was.

You want to talk about bringing the humanity out of people from a Covid was a dark time, and it was really crappy being in the hospital, but it was also like, I remember all of the good times and so forth, and that was awesome. And then at one point, when finally, after I woke up and got out of icu, I'm sorry to ramble on. You stop me anytime, Jim.

Speaker B: 00:24:17

But such a good story too, though, bro.

Michael Phillips: 00:24:20

Well, so here's what. What else is crazy. What else is crazy is from. At one point, I sat up and I was out of icu, and I said a prayer, and I felt compelled. I.

I sat and I wrote down a thank you to the doctors and nurses. Now, mind you, at this point, I've dealt with 40 different doctors and nurses, people in and out doing all this stuff.

And I'd been up and about, actually maybe a couple of days out of icu. And so I just. I recorded a thank you on my phone. Hey, thanks. This and that. And I knew the nurse. It was. You want to hear about crazy?

Here's the other stuff God did for me. You were not allowed to have family in the hospital at that time. You weren't. Nobody was allowed. You remember everybody wore the suits.

Yeah, I'll get emotional at this one. My oldest son played football for many years. One of the moms was the charge nurse when I was in icu.

And she's someone we were very close to, and it was crazy. She comes in, and that was how I woke up from icu. She goes, mike Phillips, what the hell are you doing here? In here. And I'm like, oh, my God.

Okay, I'm not allowed to have family. So you just sent me the closest thing. And then my wife's best friend at the time was the charge nurse.

Once I moved to general population of general Covid sickness floor. And so I recorded this. Thank you. And I said, hey, I want to send this just to the doctors and nurses. And I don't remember specifically what I said.

It was just what was on my heart at the time. And they were going to play at their little morning meeting. They did.

. From some sick dude in room: 3218

I'm making the number up because I don't remember the number, but it was like, third floor, but. Right. Some dude that just said, hey, thanks, doctors and nurses, you guys make a difference.

Because the humanity that I saw there from the people, like, they did not. And that was something else I realized is it's. Man, people need people. We need real relationships. And I know that's a long story.

Like, the moral of the story, people need people, and you can't shut that down. And the other thing is, it doesn't matter if you're connected to a bunch of tubes and all the other things.

And when you're knocked out in the middle of all the crap that's going on in life, when God tells you he's there with you, that is 100% legit. I can tell anyone who's listening to this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

All you got to do is look out the window, look up, pray, and have that conversation.

Speaker B: 00:26:51

Absolutely, man. That is an incredible story. Because that was where, like, a lot of that is. Like, how does this draw you closer to God? Already answered that one.

So as we slow down into the end of this episode, we'll have you back on another one.

Michael Phillips: 00:27:04

Sure.

Speaker B: 00:27:05

How has this situation. Because this is powerful. It's very powerful. In light of this situation.

How has it made you a better business person, a better father, better what you do, better leader? Like, how has that made you better?

Michael Phillips: 00:27:19

I think there's a couple of things, Jim, and if for you and for anybody listening, thank you for just allowing me to share for a minute, because. And again, it goes longer. It's one of those that's probably more important to me than it is to anyone else.

But there's these tidbits, these moments in it, right? How has it made me a better person?

I think it's really easy when people put the stuff out there on Facebook or on social or they say, hey, tomorrow's not promised. That is real. That is as real as it gets. And when you've gone through something like this, like, you have got to just know that's the truth.

I think it's easy to fall into that cliche category. And it's, no, tomorrow is not promised.

And so it has really made me, when you talk about, as a father, as a follower of Jesus, as a business person, it's made me realize how important it is that all of the moments that we have in our day, there is so much choice that we have to stop and listen and stop and have a conversation and stop and love on somebody. Because you really don't know. You. You were showing right before the. The show started, your free hugs shirt, right?

You got to show it on that I've given you free hugs. There's. There is so much power in the human connection that we have an opportunity to harness each day.

And so as a father, when my kids need to stop and talk, I stop and talk. When my wife needs a minute, I stop and talk. Sometimes I talk too much. You guys can't tell that.

But to be there for that person, as a business person, it made me realize, like, every single piece of somebody's story of this conversation. It's very easy in business, I think, even as your audience is Christian entrepreneurs.

And I think it's very easy, even at times when we're in business for any length of time, to stop and go, oh, God, why is this like this? God, why did you send this customer to me? And you have the opportunity to look at. Why is. Why am I being served with this task?

Why am I being served with this person? Why is this what's in front of me? And asking why in that manner?

Or being thankful for having another customer to have a conversation with, being thankful that that person is in your life at this moment. And so I really think it's made me slow down and realize that because I've been in business for a long time, and I would be.

It would be a lie to say, oh, I just love every customer. And I think it allowed me to reaffirm that with customers, with my family, my relationship with God. I think also one of. The.

Call it a side effect or an after effect. Most people don't realize the value in one breath.

And I will tell you still, with some scar tissue, sometimes, with some laboring and some other things, I feel and value every single breath that I breathe. And it's one of those things. It's just a part of life. Right. We're in there and we, whatever it is.

How many times are we breathing in and out each day? What? Yeah, you can Google it and it'll give you some ridiculous number. You go, I don't. I didn't realize that.

I realize every single one of those breaths is a gift, like, and, and partly because I feel it. And so I think that's his reminder to me is, yeah, you got the scar tissue. You're going to feel that for a minute. But also, I'm walking again.

I'm paying attention. Like, I walk and I look up and I pray while I move. That's just the reaffirmation. So you're saying, how has it made me a better person?

I can't say that. It definitely reaffirmed my faith and my connection with God. I feel like it's. I don't want to say it's made me a better conduit.

It's made me a better mouthpiece, made me a better listener. And hopefully that all wraps up to being a better person.

Speaker B: 00:31:33

Man, that's amazing. And thank you for that. And it's about, ultimately, it becomes about being intentional. The whole message today, be intentional. And I appreciate that.

And I'll say this and then one last question, because you're talking about the value of breath. And I was just thinking you don't know the value of a breath until you can't take them anymore.

Michael Phillips: 00:31:55

Very true.

Speaker B: 00:31:57

And yeah, in your case, in the story you've shared, that has been like, wow. So I'm going to put some of the things that we mentioned show notes particularly.

The next question is if people want to connect with you, how do they do?

Michael Phillips: 00:32:10

Absolutely. I would my. My email address. If it's okay, I'll share my cell phone number. I don't mind, folks. My email address is. Yep.

-: 2082

I don't mind having a conversation, but I get a lot of other calls and introduce yourself first. And then certainly if leadership and Entrepreneurship, management, in addition to grace in the grind.

Because I think this is a fantastic format that you have, Jim. I would say check out my show on the Leadership Toolkit as well, which I got right there behind me.

Speaker B: 00:33:02

Absolutely. And they can find that on YouTube and anywhere else you find your podcast.

Michael Phillips: 00:33:06

Yep, yep. If you look for the Leadership Toolkit or certainly the Leadership Toolkit, Mike Phillips, if you.

Or Leadership Mike Phillips, if people are searching for Stuff, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, you name it, it's there. I've had just over a hundred conversations with awesome entrepreneurs and the cra. Here's something else.

Just a side note, we're headed down another rabbit hole.

But one of the things that is crazy to me is, and I have no problem having conversations speaking about faith, connecting on Christianity and, and business and how they intersect. It is, I shouldn't say it's crazy. It's.

There's value in it to me that a lot of the people I have conversations with have that same stance that it's like, hey, I give it to God and because of that my business flourishes and so forth. It's, it's been a nice, it's. That's been a refreshing part of my podcast journey.

Speaker B: 00:34:00

That's awesome. And that's a great wisdom. To leave people too, is finding like minded people, finding people that have shared the same heart. That's amazing.

Michael Phillips: 00:34:09

Absolutely.

Speaker B: 00:34:10

Thank you so much for being on the show today. It has been such a great journey, such a great story here and just watch it unfold and what God's doing in your life.

And I just want to say thank you for that. Thank you for the vulnerability today.

Michael Phillips: 00:34:22

Absolutely. Thank you for the invitation. I'm glad that you're.

I am so excited for you and to see where this goes for you, Jim, because I know you have such a great. Just you all, you've got a great message, you have a great format and set up for the show. I'm excited for you, man.

And I'm really honored that you had me on the show today.

Speaker B: 00:34:41

Yeah, it means a lot to me. And we're gonna definitely have you back because there's much more to talk about and we're gonna have you back.

So for you listeners, all the stuff we mentioned today, we will throw those in the show notes to see all the links so that you can go ahead and take a look at that. Please go follow him, Please connect with him. Your life will be absolutely changed.

And if so inclined, make sure you follow this podcast on whatever podcast platform that you enjoy most.

And just come along and follow the journey as we unfold and get into the grace and the grind where we equip the power and just really encourage you to do all that God's called you to. So thank you for watching, thank you for listening and Mike, thank you for being on the show with us.

Michael Phillips: 00:35:22

Absolutely.

Jim Bergoon: 00:35:22

This has been Grace in the Grind.

Whether you're a Christian leader looking for guidance or an entreprene entrepreneur seeking inspiration, it's Jim's passion to equip and encourage you. Make sure to check out Jim's solo episodes where he shares practical leadership insights grounded in a biblical perspective.

We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like rate and review and we'll be back soon.

But in the meantime, find us on social media eadwithjam and you can also hit the website site at www.leadwithjim.com. take care of yourself and we'll see you next time on Grace in the Grind.