From Chasing 'Shiny Objects' to Building a Thriving Business with Michael Tucker
[Introduction]
In this episode of "Grace in the Grind," host Jim Burgoon sits down with Michael Tucker, a successful digital marketing and virtual event entrepreneur. Michael shares his journey, from his early ventures in real estate to finding his passion in the world of online marketing. Through this candid conversation, listeners will gain insights into overcoming personal and professional challenges, the role of faith in building a purpose-driven business, and strategies for balancing work-life integration.
Michael Tucker
Creating unprecedented income and influence can take years to do, but Michael Tucker has found a way to shorten that timespan to just days through his virtual event and digital marketing secrets. After generating over $30 million in profit over just 2-3 years for his clients, he is now ready to share his secret formulas for running successful virtual events and marketing tips with any online entrepreneur who's ready to grow their influence and their income FAST!
[Timestamps]
(00:00) - Introduction and Welcome
(06:00) - Michael's Journey: From Real Estate to Digital Marketing
(11:00) - Overcoming Fear and Shiny Object Syndrome
(18:00) - Balancing Work and Personal Life
(25:00) - The Role of Faith and Identity
(35:00) - Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
(43:00) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts
[Key takeaways]
- You can overcome the "shiny object syndrome" trap by committing to one thing and becoming an expert.
- It is important to know your worth and charge accordingly as an entrepreneur.
- Balancing the demands of business and family life through vulnerability and open communication is essential.
- Discovering how faith can serve as an "anchor" during adversity and uncertainty is a game changer.
- As an aspiring entrepreneur, taking calculated risks and staying the course is key to building a successful business.
[Relevant Links]
- Million Dollar Secrets Community: https://milliondollarsecrets.com/
- Book Recommendation: "The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan https://amzn.to/3zkx8gu (Affiliate Link)
[Call to Action]
If you enjoyed this episode and found the insights valuable, subscribe to "Grace in the Grind" and leave a review. Your feedback helps us continue to create content that equips and encourages Christian leaders and entrepreneurs.
[Connect With Us]
Michael Tucker
@officialmichaeltucker on Instagram
Jim Burgoon
- Jim Burgoon: @leadwithjim (Instagram, Twitter, Website)
https://grace-in-the-grind.captivate.fm/episode/tucker
Copyright 2024 Jim Burgoon
Transcript
Welcome to Grace in the grind, the podcast where we dive deep into the
Speaker:journeys of heart centered and purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
Speaker:We'll pull back the curtain to explore the stories behind success, how people
Speaker:have navigated the toughest challenges, overcome their obstacles and found
Speaker:their way through the grind to build something truly impactful, whether you're
Speaker:a Christian leader looking for guidance or an entrepreneur seeking inspiration.
Speaker:We're here to equip and encourage you.
Speaker:So let's get started, and find the grace within the grind.
Speaker:This is Grace in the Grind, and now your host, Jim Burgoon.
Speaker:Michael, thank you for showing up and hanging out with me on the podcast.
Speaker:So we can have a great conversation around some stories behind the stories.
Speaker:I appreciate you.
Speaker:I know we've known each other for a few years and this is going
Speaker:to be a, a great conversation.
Speaker:So thanks for hanging out with me today.
Speaker:Dude.
Speaker:Thanks for the invite.
Speaker:I tell everybody, Jim is the man and you truly have a servant's heart, man.
Speaker:So thank you so much for creating this podcast to create
Speaker:vulnerable conversations.
Speaker:And I'm excited to dive into it.
Speaker:Well, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker:So, so the world of Michael, so you do a lot of stuff.
Speaker:Like when I first met you several years back, you were real estate
Speaker:flipping, flipping houses and things like that coming out of some jobs.
Speaker:Now you're, what was it?
Speaker:I think you just got a 10 X award for.
Speaker:Funnels and doing virtual events and all that help, help me understand,
Speaker:like dive into some of the things you, you are currently doing and then let's
Speaker:jump behind the scenes on some of that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So my name is Michael Tucker and I currently run a digital marketing
Speaker:slash virtual event agency.
Speaker:That's all we special specialize in is virtual events.
Speaker:been doing this for about five or six years now.
Speaker:And so that's what I do primarily full time.
Speaker:We do some real estate investing on the side.
Speaker:But yeah, so I, I fell in love with marketing and sales.
Speaker:So I, I tend to live there 40 to 60 hours a week.
Speaker:And that's just kind of my world right now, but yeah, back when I met you,
Speaker:Jim, I was more heavily involved in real estate in which kind of was the start.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Real entrepreneurial journey, right?
Speaker:With a lot of us entrepreneurs, or if you're listening and you are a business
Speaker:owner or a potential business owner, then, you know, a lot of times it
Speaker:starts as a childhood selling stuff you know, just being young moguls.
Speaker:And so that's, that was my story, but real estate was the first real venture.
Speaker:I could say I got myself into back a little bit prior before we met.
Speaker:Yeah, I can say I was.
Speaker:When I first started my first business, eight, I had three by the time I was 12.
Speaker:So yeah, that, that hit home right there.
Speaker:So what you're saying, your first real estate, your first
Speaker:entrepreneurship was real estate, right?
Speaker:What were some of the feelings, like, how did you get over
Speaker:the fear of jumping into that?
Speaker:Like, cause everybody has these blockages.
Speaker:Especially when they think of real estate, cause that's a lot
Speaker:of money to be thrown around.
Speaker:So what were some of the things you did to overcome some of those fears?
Speaker:You know, fortunately, Jim, I was young and dumb, so there was not a lot of fears
Speaker:in my head and my heart because to, to set the frame here and set the tone.
Speaker:I was just in college.
Speaker:I just gotten married.
Speaker:So like I was.
Speaker:in a point in my life where I, you know, just going out there going,
Speaker:you know, as hard as I can in life.
Speaker:And I was trying everything and anything to make a dollar.
Speaker:I was trying stock trading.
Speaker:Cause I listen, college kids, we don't got no money.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I was like, I was working as a part time youth minister.
Speaker:I was going to school.
Speaker:I was working part time at restaurant service.
Speaker:I had no money.
Speaker:So I was trying everything, bro.
Speaker:And I think one of the, you know, we talked about.
Speaker:Struggles.
Speaker:You know, we want to talk a little bit about the story behind the story.
Speaker:One of the biggest ones for me, whenever I first was starting out in business
Speaker:and in life was shiny object syndrome.
Speaker:So before I even made that decision to jump into real estate, the adversity
Speaker:I faced was trying to figure out which one I even wanted to go with.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so I think that's a lot of what Current business owners face
Speaker:because there's so much to pay attention to on social media.
Speaker:You have ads everywhere.
Speaker:You got people running events everywhere.
Speaker:People telling you, you need to do Facebook groups.
Speaker:You need to be running virtual events.
Speaker:It's just, there's a lot.
Speaker:And so whenever I was first starting out, I just was trying
Speaker:everything and anything I could.
Speaker:I was trying e commerce.
Speaker:I was trying, like I said, stock trading.
Speaker:I tried everything.
Speaker:Anything you see ads about, I was trying it.
Speaker:And so one day one of my friends, he reached out and said, Hey, Michael, I
Speaker:think you should try real estate as well.
Speaker:You should try real estate as well.
Speaker:Because you know, I think you could do good.
Speaker:You're good at sales.
Speaker:You're, you're a go getter.
Speaker:And I said, dude, I ain't got no money.
Speaker:I'm, as you know, I'm in college.
Speaker:What do you, what do you think is going to happen here?
Speaker:And he said, well, I'll show you how to do it with no money.
Speaker:You know, all that stuff, very little credit.
Speaker:And I was like, okay, let's try it.
Speaker:And so it was during that time I realized because I hit my first and
Speaker:we'll go into it in a minute, but I hit my first brick wall during that time.
Speaker:And it wasn't the shiny object syndrome because, you know, I said, you know
Speaker:what, I'm going to, I'm going to give this real estate thing a try.
Speaker:But it was the brick wall of, deciding to do something long enough
Speaker:to see it succeed, see it through.
Speaker:And so for me, that was a big, big point of tension was, Hey,
Speaker:am I going to try one thing?
Speaker:Not many things, but am I going to commit to something long enough that I'm going
Speaker:to be great at it, that I'm going to be an expert at it, that I'm going to succeed.
Speaker:And for me, I know that that was a long answer to your short question about
Speaker:the fear of jumping into real estate.
Speaker:There was no fear.
Speaker:It was.
Speaker:A lot of conflict on asking myself, Michael, do I want to
Speaker:dedicate my life to something?
Speaker:And if so, what is it?
Speaker:Is it real estate?
Speaker:And so I don't think a lot of people think that way.
Speaker:And they probably should because that's why we have the shiny object syndrome.
Speaker:They call it right.
Speaker:It's because everybody's just bouncing from thing to thing.
Speaker:But anyways, that was my biggest hurdle when I first started was
Speaker:just committing to the process.
Speaker:So then in the commitment stages, do you find that maybe, and I
Speaker:struggle with some of this too, so this is hitting a little home.
Speaker:Do you find that some of it was personality driven or some of it was
Speaker:like, just more maybe trauma driven, more like what was causing you not to
Speaker:commit, like what was those things?
Speaker:You know, I think I don't think there's a fancy answer to this.
Speaker:I think it's just sometimes, and specifically for me in that time of
Speaker:my life, I was looking for the golden key or some, some will say, Hey,
Speaker:I was looking for the magic pill.
Speaker:And so for me, I was like, I have to make.
Speaker:Like I just got married out of college.
Speaker:I have to find a way to support us.
Speaker:So I was looking for anything, but what I was realizing was I was bouncing from
Speaker:thing to thing to thing, but I never gave enough time for myself, my mind, my body.
Speaker:To learn how to actually fulfill these things and succeeding these things.
Speaker:You know, it was finally after 10, 15 ideas I'd going through in my head
Speaker:after one to two years, I was like, you know what, what would happen if
Speaker:I just, Committed to one of these.
Speaker:Now there are some people out there that it could be trauma based, you
Speaker:know, personality, but for me, it was just, I just was looking for the magic
Speaker:pill and I wasn't actually willing to put in the work in any of these.
Speaker:I was looking for something that was gonna make me money fast, like one
Speaker:of these get rich quick scenarios.
Speaker:When in reality, I didn't realize at the time that.
Speaker:All of these vehicles work if I work, but I just wasn't working long enough.
Speaker:So that brings up another interesting question of how, even
Speaker:as entrepreneurs, we, you know, segregate our minds like this.
Speaker:So here you are looking for the magic pill, as you say, which
Speaker:I, I like what you just said.
Speaker:You said I wasn't willing to work and now seeing you, man, I can't
Speaker:believe we've known each other for eight, nine years now, but to
Speaker:see you on the other side of that.
Speaker:Where you're making, you know, the 10 X award and stuff like that
Speaker:for selling so much online for marketing digitally, the commitment.
Speaker:So you see that principle working, you know, you're working.
Speaker:So it's working.
Speaker:But the question then becomes is how did you struggle or was it a struggle?
Speaker:Because I know entrepreneurs, we have our compartmentals here.
Speaker:You are in business trying to get the magic pill, the
Speaker:golden key, things like that.
Speaker:So you can't commit yet.
Speaker:You're highly committed to your wife and it almost seems like
Speaker:a contradiction, doesn't it?
Speaker:So was that ever a struggle that, or was it something that you just
Speaker:kept them so separate that it really didn't bleed into one another?
Speaker:No, man.
Speaker:And that's a great question.
Speaker:And I would, I would be lying to say that I kept them separate all the time.
Speaker:And so for me, that has been a big, a big point in my life where where's
Speaker:the balance between work life.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And everybody's trying to find the balance.
Speaker:Can we ever find the balance?
Speaker:I'm not sure, Jim, you tell me, but for me, you know, it's that's been a,
Speaker:that's a big, big tension point to have somebody who loves, who fell in love
Speaker:with the work eventually, you know?
Speaker:So at the time I was bouncing from thing to thing, but eventually
Speaker:I fell in love with the process.
Speaker:I fell in love with.
Speaker:The work and there was, there were times and there still are times when
Speaker:I have to, when I have to keep myself in check saying, Hey, am I taking
Speaker:enough time for my wife and my kid?
Speaker:Am I being there present for them?
Speaker:Definitely a big tension point there, and I'm not going to say I have it all figured
Speaker:out cause I'm still pushing through that.
Speaker:And that's still a big big hurdle I have to cross, but you know, I would say that
Speaker:I've gotten better at it, but at the very beginning, yes, I would say there was some
Speaker:commitment issues there, not as much as.
Speaker:And not wanting to be in that relationship anymore, but commitment as in like, Hey,
Speaker:am I going to commit to being present?
Speaker:Does that make sense?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I think that would, that would be the answer there.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:And I think like with the whole thing as being present, so it
Speaker:seems like you're, you're much more learning how to be present.
Speaker:You're present in your business president home.
Speaker:What do you feel like the transition point was that like, how did you
Speaker:start prioritizing those things?
Speaker:Yeah, great question.
Speaker:And I think, you know, it was probably whenever we first had our kid, which
Speaker:has been, you know, year and a half, two years now, once that process finally
Speaker:started, but it was like, Hey, you know, my wife, she can handle things, but you
Speaker:know, once you have a kid, that's a whole different kind of relationship, right?
Speaker:There's a whole different responsibility there.
Speaker:So I would say number one was, Whenever it came to client relationships.
Speaker:I've had several clients that I've worked with over the years that are very
Speaker:demanding and a lot of entrepreneurs, especially digital marketers and sales.
Speaker:Like they're very on the disc scale.
Speaker:A lot of them are high D personalities and not saying that's
Speaker:all entrepreneurs, but a lot of the clients I work with really driven,
Speaker:very motivated work on the weekends.
Speaker:And so I often got sucked into that.
Speaker:You know, part of that was saying, Hey, I got a, you know, a family
Speaker:now, you know, I had my wife.
Speaker:We have a family.
Speaker:What can I do on weekends?
Speaker:Tell him, no, you know, what can I do in the evenings and say,
Speaker:Hey, you know, blocking it off.
Speaker:And I think for me, it kind of, I had my identity attached and I still, like
Speaker:I said, I'm not perfect in any way, but I had my identity attached to the wrong
Speaker:people and to the I'm going to, I'm trying to figure out how to say it elegantly.
Speaker:I found my identity and things I shouldn't have.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And You know, a lot of times when you start finding success, you start saying,
Speaker:Hey, I'm associated with this person.
Speaker:Now we've gotten these results and these success, and you start associating
Speaker:your identity with those people.
Speaker:And for a while, and this is a whole nother rabbit hole.
Speaker:So I don't know if we want to go down it, but you know, often found myself
Speaker:not feeling confident because I'm like, well, these people are finding success
Speaker:and I'm helping them find success.
Speaker:What about myself?
Speaker:You know, can I, could I replicate the same things for myself?
Speaker:And so long story short you know, I, I think it was when the family
Speaker:transition happened there, but then, you know, I still had issues come up.
Speaker:I still have things I'm working through.
Speaker:Part of that identity, the confidence the, you know, the courage to step out and
Speaker:represent yourself and say your clients, which is a whole nother conversation,
Speaker:but dude, you're just opening, you're just opening my heart right now and
Speaker:I'm just like pulling stuff out.
Speaker:I'm like, why am I sharing this with Jim?
Speaker:Because it's just, Hey, listen I've always had that.
Speaker:It's really funny because over the years.
Speaker:I just started asking questions and, you know, create safe space for people to
Speaker:actually share what's really happening.
Speaker:And I appreciate the vulnerability because I really think there's a lot of people who
Speaker:are listening that's going to really gain a lot because the things you're sharing
Speaker:are the things that really happen in many of us that were too, whether ego driven
Speaker:or too scared to actually admit and face.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:That's that's I commend you on the courage and the bravery to step forward with that.
Speaker:So thank you for so much of being so transparent, which then now leads
Speaker:into a furtherance of this question.
Speaker:So identity issues challenges with, you know, not being confident.
Speaker:You started the conversation was you were a part time youth pastor now I
Speaker:and many of my people who are going to listen to this are going to be
Speaker:christian Some won't be what is the role of your faith in all of this?
Speaker:Yeah, and that's you know, i've grown up in church you know
Speaker:faith is not something new to me.
Speaker:So i'm and I say that to say It's always been a part of my life and
Speaker:everything I do and You know I would say
Speaker:I'm very, I'm very hard whenever it comes to figure it point.
Speaker:And this is something I struggle with, by the way, my wife tells me like,
Speaker:Michael, you need to open up more.
Speaker:And I, so this is something that Jim, you're, you're getting reps out of me.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So you're how pulling stuff out here.
Speaker:But I say for, for the faith side of things, like.
Speaker:I would be lying to say if it was all sunshine and rainbows, God, you
Speaker:know, I included God and everything.
Speaker:But what I've realized is that a lot of times, Jim, as I was growing in
Speaker:this journey and I had those identity issues, I always could go back to the
Speaker:true identity where I needed it to be.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So me, my faith, you know, as a youth pastor it was kind of like the anchor.
Speaker:It was the anchor that even when I was drowning my first real estate deal, and
Speaker:I didn't tell you guys this part, but my first real estate deal, I lost 20, 000.
Speaker:And so at that time, you know, just gotten out of college, just got married.
Speaker:It was like, that was my first hit at rock bottom.
Speaker:I was like, what in the world?
Speaker:I'm all, all this credit card debt.
Speaker:But it was like, every time I've hit a wall, I can go back
Speaker:and find that safety there.
Speaker:So for me, you asked, Hey, how's your faith been involved in all this?
Speaker:I still struggle with the confidence and the and, you know, sometimes my
Speaker:self worth, but I can always come back and say, okay, God, I got nothing else.
Speaker:But I got you so help me through this.
Speaker:And so that's, that's kind of, it's been my anchor through it all.
Speaker:That's, and that's wonderful.
Speaker:And I love, I love hearing that.
Speaker:So what now I love breaking this, he used the word anchor and I'm actually
Speaker:going to be doing an episode on called anchor points because it's something,
Speaker:a conversation my wife and I have, cause we have anchor points in our life
Speaker:that we always go back to good or bad.
Speaker:We have anchor points.
Speaker:And I love that you said that your faith.
Speaker:is an anchor for you.
Speaker:So with that being said, small victories create big breakthroughs.
Speaker:Where have you seen some really good victories come in in your
Speaker:identity and your confidence?
Speaker:Because online, man, and just knowing you personally, you
Speaker:are an incredible individual.
Speaker:Like I absolutely love you and I'm so grateful for you to be here.
Speaker:So where do you say some of your victories have come in the struggle for
Speaker:identity and the struggle for confidence?
Speaker:You know, there's been, there's been several.
Speaker:But I think for me, it's whenever I've seen people I'm working with
Speaker:that have started with nothing, maybe that whenever they have started
Speaker:with little, I should say nothing.
Speaker:And we've been able to get them big wins in our business or big wins in life.
Speaker:Like there's been several of those moments where I'm like, wow, like.
Speaker:That, that makes, that reaffirms what I'm doing.
Speaker:That reaffirms that like, Oh God, I'm supposed to be doing this.
Speaker:You know, there's been times when there's been feud or conflict and this
Speaker:sound, this may sound really weird.
Speaker:So I'm going to try to word this in a way that makes sense.
Speaker:But there've been times when there's been feud or conflict.
Speaker:That has pushed me and pressured me and what I've been doing that have
Speaker:reaffirmed my identity and be like, okay, Michael, you're on the right path.
Speaker:And some of those times is because people are maybe trying to steal
Speaker:what you're doing in the industry, or they're trying to copy what you're
Speaker:doing or trying to push you away because of how you operate in excellence.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And some people don't like that.
Speaker:Some people don't like seeing you win.
Speaker:Some people want to take advantage of you for their own gain.
Speaker:And so those times are often reaffirming God.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:I'm on the right path, even though it sucks at the time being hit with
Speaker:the right jab to the jaw, right?
Speaker:Even though people are trying to pull you out of the game, God,
Speaker:I know like this is obvious sign that we're It's a victory, right?
Speaker:We're heading in the right direction.
Speaker:And you may have heard many people or several people, speakers say,
Speaker:you know, that every time you're, you're going in the right direction,
Speaker:you'll hit oppression, right?
Speaker:Or some kind of like lid, right?
Speaker:And so that's, for me, been once, One sign of victory, but I would
Speaker:say just seeing other people win, but then also there's been certain
Speaker:times in when I've just felt that oppression, felt people pushing it back.
Speaker:And I'm like, this is good pushback.
Speaker:And that's a, that's a hard mindset to have whenever you're getting
Speaker:pressed and beaten and shaken over.
Speaker:But I think If you look at things differently, you can see the good in it.
Speaker:So that's what i've been trying.
Speaker:That's what i've tried to do and that's and that's great.
Speaker:That's great So so then so then how do you?
Speaker:Not make not take these victories and make them your identity Like when you
Speaker:see massive wins for your clients and stuff and say man, that's who I am Like,
Speaker:how do you keep that separate, you know?
Speaker:And this is something I was actually laying in bed thinking about last night.
Speaker:I've been selfish many times.
Speaker:And I think just the realization that that award is nothing, Jim, this bit,
Speaker:this business, and this may sound totally bad, this business you're starting.
Speaker:It's nothing.
Speaker:Michael, your business is nothing.
Speaker:I could be gone tomorrow like that.
Speaker:And so for me, the realization has come into my mind that everything we
Speaker:do here on earth, we don't, we only have one goal to give glory to God.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so for me, I have had times where I'm being selfish.
Speaker:I've had times where it's all about me, me, me.
Speaker:But recently it's been more of like, even you've seen the picture of me
Speaker:holding up the award from ClickFunnels.
Speaker:It's like, you know, I thought about making a video and I thought about
Speaker:doing it and I'm like, you know what?
Speaker:It doesn't matter.
Speaker:And should we live life with that?
Speaker:Oh, it's not matter.
Speaker:I'm not going to give it my best.
Speaker:No, I'm going to give it my best, but realize that these
Speaker:are just material things, man.
Speaker:These are just material things.
Speaker:They're awards, big whoop dee doo.
Speaker:I'm going to still give it my, I'm going to go still serve people,
Speaker:but this is not the ultimate goal.
Speaker:And so I would say you probably have a similar mindset about that just because
Speaker:you and I are both of, You know, the same faith we believe in the same God,
Speaker:but I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker:Would you say that's kind of the mindset you have?
Speaker:Or do you struggle with the same thing?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, there's some things I struggle with but same mindset.
Speaker:Like if I go to, you know, gold button, platinum button, whatever
Speaker:on YouTube, then I'll probably be like, Hey, this is so cool.
Speaker:And then I just hang it and forget about it and just keep on doing what I'm doing.
Speaker:And I, because I don't put a lot of stock in the, The thing.
Speaker:Because like, I love saying, wow, all that hard work and something came of it, but
Speaker:I'm not going to stay in there because if I stay in previous victories, I don't
Speaker:get further victories in the future.
Speaker:And yeah.
Speaker:And what I've noticed a lot of people who end up failing long term it's
Speaker:because they camped on a victory.
Speaker:And so they'll be like, Oh, I remember back when, when I did
Speaker:this, this, this, and this, and they're not doing it anymore.
Speaker:So I tend to celebrate because what you celebrate stays.
Speaker:I will celebrate it and then move on from it to truly what my purpose and
Speaker:my goals are and what God is saying.
Speaker:Okay, here's where we're going, but I do acknowledge it, but I
Speaker:don't tie anything to it because if I never get one, I'm still Jim.
Speaker:I'm still a child of God.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:And like, there's these, these levels.
Speaker:To this.
Speaker:And I can't say I was always good at that.
Speaker:Like when I was a kid, it was terrible.
Speaker:It was like, I, I, everything had to be that.
Speaker:Cause I, well, I was, I was pushed away.
Speaker:I had some abuse.
Speaker:I had some, I had lots of bullying that happened to me.
Speaker:Like I tried to take my life like twice because of it.
Speaker:And so everything I could do to make me make myself feel okay.
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:So I, so I feel you on this, man.
Speaker:I feel you, like, really think about not making it a big deal, but
Speaker:definitely celebrating it in the moment.
Speaker:Yeah, there's no, I don't think there's anything wrong with celebrating it.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:But I would just say the same thing you said.
Speaker:And it's a lot of times we let our accomplishments in
Speaker:our victories become idols.
Speaker:They do.
Speaker:And I think that's where the, the hangup happens is that so many
Speaker:people live in that, like you mentioned and never moved past it.
Speaker:So I would, I would just say, I agree with everything you just said.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:We're on, we're on agreement.
Speaker:We're on agreement then.
Speaker:So in, in all of this.
Speaker:You ever really like, or do you currently fight with like depression or anything
Speaker:like that, that may come with some of the, the gaps you're trying to fill?
Speaker:Great question, man.
Speaker:I have, I'm not ha I'm not going to say I've had some family members,
Speaker:some, some friends that have gone through really bad depression.
Speaker:And to the point and Jim, I've had family members try to end their own life.
Speaker:Call me.
Speaker:Hey, Michael, like, you know, I'm about to end it, you know, and I'm It's scary.
Speaker:It's scary.
Speaker:I've been there, but not to that point.
Speaker:And I would say that I've had more anxiety about things.
Speaker:And that's been one area in my life is It's crazy.
Speaker:Even in business, you can get trauma and experience anxiety in certain ways.
Speaker:I never even thought would imagine.
Speaker:Cause whenever I was younger, I was like, Oh, like never experienced that.
Speaker:I'll never like, I'm good.
Speaker:I'm not anxious.
Speaker:I'm not, you know, but then.
Speaker:You hit a roadblock and you experience pain in a certain way that it comes.
Speaker:And so not necessarily depression, I would say maybe in, in waves at very
Speaker:minor times, but for me, it's more anxiousness that I've had to experience
Speaker:and just feeling of overwhelm.
Speaker:That's a, that's really so like, how do you deal with the anxiety?
Speaker:Like, do you just let it come and go?
Speaker:Or do you, or do you have a, actually have a process that says,
Speaker:Hey, here's what I do to help it.
Speaker:I've really struggled with opening up and that's just me.
Speaker:My family has been really, always really private.
Speaker:I shouldn't say all parts of my family, but a lot of my family, very private.
Speaker:They're known for.
Speaker:Straight to the point, quiet, like, you know, very different breed.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And so for me, that's something I've always struggled with, but what I've found
Speaker:helped me most in my life would probably like to hear this, but able to sit down on
Speaker:the couch and talk it out with somebody.
Speaker:And there's not many people I feel comfortable talking about those
Speaker:struggles and those pains with.
Speaker:So I would say.
Speaker:For me personally, it's just been able to go to her and sit down and be like,
Speaker:Hey, this is what's going on right now.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:I've been acting this way.
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:I, you know, acted out towards you or, you know, X, Y, Z.
Speaker:This is what I'm dealing with.
Speaker:And a lot of times that just knowing that I have somebody there I can
Speaker:go to has been a big help for me.
Speaker:I still struggle with that sometimes because there's times
Speaker:I just want to bottle it all up.
Speaker:And that's what I've done for so many years.
Speaker:It just sit on the couch, go to my office somewhere, just
Speaker:bottle it up, keep it there.
Speaker:But I'm slowly realizing over time that it's okay to share things.
Speaker:It's okay to be emotional.
Speaker:And so for me, it's just been opening up to others that I
Speaker:know that are close to me.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:I love the growth and the healing, the process that you're sharing in.
Speaker:And when your wife listens to the episode, she's going to hold you accountable.
Speaker:She'd be like, all right, here's the couch.
Speaker:Let's go.
Speaker:You know, she'll come to me and she'll say like, Hey, like I could tell you're off.
Speaker:Or you want to talk about something or let you go.
Speaker:And so she's been really that's awesome.
Speaker:I think whenever it comes to that stuff, so she, she's, has learned my body, which
Speaker:we've been, you know, my body language, we've been together for 11 years now, so
Speaker:she's like, I think she has it figured out, but she's, she's come from a very
Speaker:a good place as like being a caretaker.
Speaker:Yeah, but I would definitely say anybody who struggles with any, any form of
Speaker:anxiety, depression we all go through it differently, but But if you can share with
Speaker:somebody, because there there's always, for me, I've found there's, there's people
Speaker:willing to listen if you just seek it.
Speaker:That's absolutely right.
Speaker:Absolutely right.
Speaker:Now I will say on the other end of that, my wife and I are celebrating
Speaker:24 years together this year.
Speaker:Congratulations.
Speaker:I, yeah, thank you.
Speaker:And then very much, very much dealing with the mental health
Speaker:issues and stuff like that.
Speaker:And that'll be on further.
Speaker:I got my wife actually agreed to be on an episode or two to talk about that.
Speaker:So like, all right, so we have all of this stuff swirling around,
Speaker:you know, identity, anxiety, you know, faith and things like that.
Speaker:So let's bring it down into this question.
Speaker:No, and I, and I think I've heard her heard it online once or twice
Speaker:over the years, but knowing what, you know, now being who you are
Speaker:now, if you were to go back.
Speaker:When it all started, what would you have done differently or what would
Speaker:you have done the same either way?
Speaker:That could help somebody who's just starting out saying, okay, here's a path.
Speaker:What would you, what would you have done differently or what
Speaker:would you have done the same?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:There's a few things here.
Speaker:And so a few of them will definitely help the younger
Speaker:entrepreneurs that are listening.
Speaker:Number one is know your worth.
Speaker:When I first started out in the marketing and sales arena, I
Speaker:was undercharging completely.
Speaker:And I think that just going down that lane at the beginning, I'm not saying
Speaker:I should have charged way more, but I was very, I was undervaluing my
Speaker:talents, my, my work, and that caused.
Speaker:A lot of pain over time and a lot of stress over time because
Speaker:I was chasing more work, right?
Speaker:And, and my situation is unique because I had contracts and things of that
Speaker:nature, but it all came down to, again, the identity and the confidence issues.
Speaker:So I would say, you know, if I was going back to the beginning, I would, I would
Speaker:tell Michael or anybody at the start line, I would say, hey, Know your worth, know
Speaker:that you are very good at what you do, know that you can, you can charge what
Speaker:you're worth, know that there's people who need what you have, so step into
Speaker:that, don't be afraid, step into that.
Speaker:And I think that, at the beginning, that's what caught, started a lot of the things
Speaker:I'm feeling, you know, today or I have felt in the past, so that'd be number one.
Speaker:Is that pretty clear?
Speaker:I got a few more, but I just want to make sure.
Speaker:That's very clear.
Speaker:And number two, I would say is take risk, but take calculated risk.
Speaker:You know, as, as I was, as I was getting out of college and stuff, I just
Speaker:was trying everything I was jumping.
Speaker:I was, You know, just doing anything I could, which is
Speaker:good, but I took pride in that.
Speaker:I was like, you know, I take action fast.
Speaker:But what happened was over time is I found myself in situations I shouldn't
Speaker:have been if I would have just stepped back for a bit, step back for a time and
Speaker:said, okay, do I really want to do this?
Speaker:Or do I really need to do this?
Speaker:And that's in anything.
Speaker:It's not just business.
Speaker:It's in your finances, your health, your relationships just taking
Speaker:those, those calculated decisions.
Speaker:And specifically for business, that's where I've had, I'm not going to say
Speaker:I've made tons of money and kept it all.
Speaker:I've lost a lot of money.
Speaker:I've been at rock bottom and but it's often because I've,
Speaker:I've jumped before I've thought.
Speaker:And you know, you hear all these people doing sales pitches.
Speaker:Oh you know, Execute fast act now.
Speaker:And like all these things, that's good to take action fast, but you definitely
Speaker:want to make sure you're, you're having informed decisions involved.
Speaker:And that would be the second thing.
Speaker:And so I just laugh because I'm in the sales arena and I'm in this industry.
Speaker:And that's like, that can be a big sales tactic, especially
Speaker:like with coaching programs.
Speaker:And, you know, Jim, I mean, you see it all the time you're in the industry.
Speaker:I'm in a little bit and you just hear people pressure, pressure,
Speaker:pressure, pressure is good.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But it's okay to step back, you know what I mean?
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that would be number two.
Speaker:So number one is just know your word.
Speaker:Number two is take calculated risk.
Speaker:And then number three I would just say, Hey Michael, just
Speaker:commit, commit for the long haul.
Speaker:If you truly believe in something, if you truly you know, have a vision for
Speaker:something, just commit for the longterm because listen, A tree doesn't grow in a
Speaker:day, a tree doesn't grow in a week, a tree takes years, but when that tree grows and
Speaker:it's planted and it's there, it's there.
Speaker:Most of the time the tree is there for a lifetime, right?
Speaker:And so for me, I would, you know, going back to whenever I was bouncing around
Speaker:from job or business to business or job to job, would you say, Michael?
Speaker:Just go ahead now, stick with one thing, get really good at it and
Speaker:see it until you're an expert.
Speaker:And that would just be advice for anybody that feels like they're spread thin is
Speaker:just like, Hey, go all in on one thing.
Speaker:There's actually a book about that.
Speaker:So go check it out.
Speaker:It's a good book.
Speaker:Yeah, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker:It's some great wisdom, some really good wisdom.
Speaker:And this is, this has been a great conversation.
Speaker:And for all you guys who are listening I'm going to make sure that all of
Speaker:Michael's Social media and everything that, where you can connect them.
Speaker:It will be in the show notes you know, at the official Michael Tucker is
Speaker:where he's on social media and make sure you go follow the, get the show
Speaker:notes, follow him, follow what he's up to follow what he's doing, especially,
Speaker:especially in the virtual events space.
Speaker:You know, I think the challenges, I think that has been incredible to see.
Speaker:How much you flourished in that.
Speaker:And of course I'm going to be joining some soon at some point, but as we
Speaker:close out, what do you have going on that you said you would love to tell
Speaker:people, say, Hey, come check this out.
Speaker:Like, what do you got going on?
Speaker:Yeah, at the time, man You know, we, we are actually, nobody knows about this.
Speaker:So you're the only one like outside of my, like my employees, my staff.
Speaker:So we're actually creating a new community just on digital marketing and sales.
Speaker:And so I was, I have a bunch of higher ticket programs, but I
Speaker:realized there's a lot of people that just need something to start out.
Speaker:So if you're here, you may not be seeking any business
Speaker:advice or business mentorship.
Speaker:But if you are Jim, we were creating a community called the
Speaker:million dollar secrets community.
Speaker:I'd love to get you in there and I need you to come teach.
Speaker:To our students.
Speaker:If you can come teach, that'd be awesome.
Speaker:But just a super affordable community for people and, and get all of our
Speaker:curriculum and get all the coaching you need to go and build a business fast.
Speaker:But you can go to million dollar secrets.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:The site's not ready yet as we're recording this, but it's going to be.
Speaker:Within days, it's going to be launching.
Speaker:So by the time you're listening to this, it should be ready to go.
Speaker:And so Jim, let's connect offline, see what we can do to collaborate, maybe even
Speaker:give your listeners some kind of like free trial or some kind of, you know, some
Speaker:way to get in there and experience this.
Speaker:So it's, cause it's going to be amazing and it's going to change a lot of lives.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:I look forward to, and absolutely would love to come hang out with your group.
Speaker:You know, me, I definitely love being able to share some stuff and,
Speaker:and getting people to you know, create the impact that they want.
Speaker:So looking forward to that, we'll make sure that's all
Speaker:in the show notes and guys.
Speaker:Thank you for listening this far and make sure you connect into this.
Speaker:It's going to be an incredible community.
Speaker:I can already, I could already tell you.
Speaker:And then Michael, thank you so much for, like I said earlier, your vulnerability
Speaker:for hanging out your wisdom and just for, just for having a great conversation.
Speaker:So I want to thank, thank you for all of that.
Speaker:Thank you, my friend and everybody here that's, that's listening
Speaker:and watching this, like, no, you may know Jim or you may not.
Speaker:But I just wanted to say, Jim has a heart of gold.
Speaker:I've known him for several years now, years now.
Speaker:And he's just like, every time I talk to him, real raw,
Speaker:vulnerable, willing to share.
Speaker:And this dude has a very, like I said earlier, very big servant's heart.
Speaker:So make sure you follow the podcast because he's only going to continue to
Speaker:get better and better at these shows.
Speaker:Make sure to share this with a friend.
Speaker:He didn't ask me to do this, but I'm just saying like, share it with a friend
Speaker:because I promise you all it takes is, One share and it could change somebody's life.
Speaker:Think about it, right?
Speaker:Just one, you could copy that link, paste it to somebody that you think
Speaker:needs a certain episode, this episode, or a different one, and it could
Speaker:change the trajectory of somebody's life just by this one conversation.
Speaker:So Jim, thank you so much, man, for creating a space for stuff like this.
Speaker:And guys, make sure to you tap in, not only with me, but with, with
Speaker:Jim he'll lead you the right way.
Speaker:So thank you, my friend.
Speaker:Have a great day.
Speaker:This has been Grace in the Grind.
Speaker:Whether you're a Christian leader looking for guidance or an entrepreneur
Speaker:seeking inspiration, it's Jim's passion to equip and encourage you.
Speaker:Make sure to check out Jim's solo episodes, where he shares
Speaker:practical leadership insights grounded in a biblical perspective.
Speaker:We hope you've enjoyed the show.
Speaker:If you did, make sure to like, rate, and review.
Speaker:And we'll be back soon.
Speaker:But in the meantime, find us on social media at LeadWithJim.
Speaker:And you can also hit the website at www.
Speaker:leadwithjim.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Take care of yourself and we'll see you next time on Grace in the Grind.
