The C-Suite

Traeger CEO: The Jeremy Andrus Story of Grit, Grills, and Gridiron

Join host Frank Dolce in a captivating discussion with Jeremy Andrus, President and CEO of Traeger Pellet Grills, on this episode of "Know Your Ship." This week, we get into his journey of entrepreneurship, personal growth, and resilience. Frank and Jeremy dive into their passions, from the friendly rivalry of college football with teams like Utah and BYU to transformative business discussions.

Join host Frank Dolce in a captivating discussion with Jeremy Andrus, President and CEO of Traeger Pellet Grills, on this episode of “Know Your Ship.” This week, we get into his journey of entrepreneurship, personal growth, and resilience. Frank and Jeremy dive into their passions, from the friendly rivalry of college football with teams like Utah and BYU to transformative business discussions. Witness how a bond formed over Thai food translated into innovative business practices and pivotal leadership lessons. Jeremy shares his journey of steering Traeger through the tumultuous times of the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of company culture and personal well-being, underscored by his commitment to physical fitness and overcoming adversity with resilience and strategic thinking.Whether you’re fascinated by entrepreneurship, leadership strategies, or the power of persistence, this episode is packed with motivational anecdotes and life lessons that will inspire. Powered by www.ehub.comConnect with us! https://linktr.ee/knowyourshipConnect with Jeremy Andrus and Traeger!Jeremy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremy_andrus/Jeremy’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremybandrus/Traeger’s X: https://twitter.com/TraegerGrillsTraeger’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TraegerPelletGrillsTraeger’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traegergrills/Traeger’s Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/traegergrills/Traeger’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TraegerGrills

welcome to the know your ship podcast presented by ehub I’m your
host Frank doce so Jeremy and I bonded over uh we got to know Jeremy was at
Skull Candy uh running running Skull Candy we got to know each other there
and then we started going to lunch at taii Food pretty regularly that’s right
you introduced me to a great spot yeah that’s now closed unfortunately and
then uh and then we discovered we we both have this passion for college
football me with Utah Jeremy with BYU but it’s an interesting relationship
because we can talk about both without any animosity oh it’s like I love
talking Utah football and by the way the saddest thing that happened to me in
my life is that I spent time with Kyle Whittingham oh and I fell in love with
him that’s the problem I’m like I can’t hate him anymore that’s what happens
that’s what happens he’s very engaging and you wouldn’t necessarily think
that when you see him on there’s a reason he’s a winner he is a winner he’s
compelling yeah yeah okay are we all ready yeah the whole crew do here we go
welcome the man who needs no introduction Frank Dolce it’s nice to be here
thank thank you any question we are right now yes I man I cannot tell you how
much I appreciate this I know you’re a busy guy thank you for taking the time
to be here with me today of course this is the one and only President CEO of
Trager pellet grills that’s Jeremy Andress right there you look as good as I
have ever seen you Frank flattery always faileth um but I will say when you
have kids that are 16 14 12 10 and double eight you got to stay in good shape
right I I got going a little late and my kids ensure that I stay super fit
yeah otherwise they like my boys will beat the crap it’s the best fitness
program around in I did too we started late with our kids as well and I felt
an obligation to make sure I was getting miles in road work in hitting the
gym because I didn’t want to get beaten on the trail or on the soccer field
or whatever we were doing I still had to be you know in in charge I’ve I’ve
got twin boys who are almost date and they play three Sports a season and so
I’ve I’ve got to stay I got to stay sharp yeah you look sharp the best of
times thanks for saying whether you believe it or not thanks for saying it
felt good to hear you know the real athlete in the family is probably your
wife who was uh an international uh swimmer correct she she yes she was a
synchronized swimmer she was she was Olympic caliber yeah and decided that uh
all things must come to an end she was tired of getting in cold pools at 5:
in the morning my wife you said probably the real athletes probably my wife
take out the word probably she’s an incredible athlete and some of our
children have her genetics and others I just apologize to because they got mine
I I was like work my freaking backside off to be slightly better than average
you that’s not just a humble self-deprecating like I can acknowledge that now
I wanted to play professional sports so badly and at about 16 years old I
realized DNA mattered that that counts right I’m really good with PowerPoint
spreadsheets but le le less so uh I’m not terrible no but I just wasn’t I
wasn’t a Frank Dolce it’s a burden being blessed with this talent I can only
imagine yeah I think I manage it pretty well curse me with that Talent there
we go but uh that’s a that’s a podcast for another day uh invite me back
please you’re on it hey I but I love what you said because I think this
translates into the success you’ve enjoyed over the course of your life and
to something that we’re going to talk about in a minute but something you’re
going through now with Trager and that is you said you had to work your
freaking butt off and I I’ve known you for a long time and I think that’s a
quality that people recognize is that you’re just willing to to put in the
effort and the time and the dedication and that’s meaningful yeah you know um
I realized it’s it’s interesting for me to think back decades in my life and
like the earliest moments where where I remember my train of thought and I
was always um I was always gritty and determined and willing to do the work
and it’s and that that’s just in my DNA like my disposition is I’m kind of
this introverted guy that can put his head down and just grind and grind and
grind I was also like I was a like I was a little kid growing up when I got
my driver’s license I was 55 105 lbs uh far smaller than my 16-year-old
daughter and she’s beautiful and I she I was a little kid and I and and so I
always felt like I needed to really amplify my confidence and my ability to
not Sprint marathons but run like run five minute marathons like he had to
keep going and there are also these moments in my life where I remember
looking just looking around me and seeing people and saying you guys are good
like you guys are you’re probably better than me from a talent perspective I
remember sitting in Harvard Business School on my first day in my section and
they like they 80 of my section mates they’re Ivy Leaguers they’re you know
children of very successful CEOs of prime ministers and I’m sitting there
saying I always wanted to go to Harvard Business School and I got rejected
and I eventually got in and the only the only way that I win this this like
deficit of talent like winning is the wrong word but I looked around and said
business is competitive and I’m going I’m going to compete with people like
this the only way I win is if I’m willing to just consistent consistently and
methodically in in a very disciplined way grind it out not for these two
years of business school but for the rest of my life and it’s sort of
interesting and by the way i’ I I have a real appreciation for grit and
consistency and I’ve also seen people who I just look at and I Marvel at
their talent but it’s like they Sprint and they stop when they Sprint and
they stop and I just think if I keep going I will eventually figure it out
and if I’m always making Investments and doing the right thing in my life it
will lead to good things even if I can’t Sprint as fast as the guy next to me
yes would you say that is the best thing that you do is that your best
quality is the ability you know what it’s it it’s certainly a superpower and
it’s always funny when I have this conversation with my wife Kristen for
example and she’s like why aren’t you talented no no no no it’s it’s just the
opposite no I say hey Kristen we we’ll somehow end up in a place I’ll say but
I’m this average guy that’s figuring out out like I I I have so many learned
behaviors in leadership and business and all of the things are just driven by
grit and discipline and consistency and I’ll say this I’ll start the sentence
I’m I’m I’m I’m average but i’ but I’ve learn to amplify and be better and
she’ll say stop like you’re the smartest guy I know and right by the way I
don’t think she’s just St my ego I think she believes that and like she she
saw me 30 30 years into my life and she she saw a lot of that early grit and
not sprinting fast but like consistently moving fast and it’s not
self-deprecating I truly believe that about me and it doesn’t like I I
acknowledge it and it doesn’t hurt my feelings there are more talented people
and and there are also people when you’ve got the intersection of more talent
in this written discipline you know that’s Michael Jordan it’s like there are
incredibly talented people but he was so talented and he was the hardest
working guy out there and I would say I’m of moderate talent but like willing
to just make it work long term yeah well that’s an amazing story and you
mention mentioned Michael Jordan I love to fall back on that Kobe Bryant was
that Tiger Woods for a major portion of career was like that those are the
guys that are the next level both guys well I want to dig into your to your
background a little bit and you’re where you grew up and how you developed
this I think it’s really interesting that Kristen met you at 30 so you had
developed all of these characteristics over time so what she sees is genius
but she doesn’t see everything that led up to that I want to figure out what
what led up to that you know what um where to start I grew up in Minnesota
and my dad was uh my my my dad was early in his career he was making not a
lot of money we lived in a restored farmhouse on a culde saac in Minnesota and
not only did he not make a lot of money my dad’s really Frugal like my my
grandmother who who whose hundredth birthday we celebrated on the day of her
funeral I mean like she was Scottish and she was I won’t say cheap she was
Frugal and resourceful and so I I I grew up in in in the combination we
didn’t have a lot of money and my dad was super Frugal and it taught me to
work I I knew from a very young age that I had to earned I had to earn money
and if I wanted a pair of Nike shoes and I love i’ I’ve Loved Nike since I
was since I was a kid yes there we go my parents weren’t buying me Nike shoes
and so at 7 years old I got a paper out with my older sister and in Minnesota
I’m out you know five days a week after school excuse me slinging slinging
papers and on the weekends like Sunday morning I’m up at like 4:30 in the
morning on a 30 below Minnesota winter pulling a cart this metal cart that
has you know it’s like just rough around a mile neighborhood delivering
papers going back and collecting from people it’s amazing that the number of
people that will take the newspaper but then not pay you for it and like I
was in like if I wanted to get paid I had to collect for it and so I deliver
newspapers I bought a lawnmower when I was about seven years old and I
started cutting Lawns and so it was just always in me if if I wanted
something I had to do and I had to earn it and so I was always when I played
Monopoly I mean I was like the hoarder of properties and so um you know from
an early age there’s no question like DNA matters but it’s interesting for me
to think back and actually to look at I I was one of five siblings I had an
older sister who was about a year and a half older than me and so as the
oldest male I definitely had sort of old older child um syndrome is the wrong
word qualities I’ll say qualities and it’s interesting to look across my
siblings and we’re all we’re all very different but I had the DNA and I also
had the necessity and you know my my dad made money later in life as an entrepreneur
but not while I lived at home he worked hard he did well but he wasn’t
extremely successful financially until I left and so it was always on me to
think about how was I going to pay for Scout camp uh I was paying for half my
education that was our that was our deal and so there was just a necessity to
work hard and those qualities honestly they’ve just with me throughout my
life and you tackle harder and harder things and it’s like it’s cumulative
but when you connect the grit with the confidence that you can get Beyond
hard things even though every hard thing is different it just over time it it
it it becomes a you know it becomes a superpower it is a superpower I love
that story one lesson from that story there’s many that I resonate with is
this concept of you’re a kid you want the Nike shoes and you I don’t know
maybe you did maybe you did go to your dad and say Hey Dad could I get some
Nikes and he said no go figure out a way to get Nike whatever it was that’s
exactly what happened and and actually and by the way the the teaching
moments of Hey listen Nike shoes are expensive we don’t buy you Nike but if
you want them here’s how you get them and it all it always it always
ingrained in me I own my destiny like I got to figure it out so good I
actually really I actually really appreciate that that he did that and and
I’ll and I’ll tell you it’s like as a parent and I got married a little bit
later in life and I didn’t have two nickels to rub together when I when I got
married but I married a woman that made a lot of money it’s not why I married
her um still married she saw some potential in she saw she she saw potential
I’ll share a story of our second date which which I think she questioned she
questioned our potential but not not to go sideways in parenting but this is
this is probably what I worry about the most my children don’t have the same
necessity that I had and we faked being poor as long as we could until we
just had to sit down and and acknowledge we built this like this is like we
deserve this we own this you are not even tenants in our house because you
don’t pay rent we are allowing you to sleep in this room in this bed but if
you want to make it in life you got to figure it out yourself we’re always
here as a sounding board but you got to go do your hard things on your own
it’s you’re not getting sideways by this is exactly what I want to talk about
and I’m a parent as well and I know that battle because you know we we’re
we’re pretty sound um in our lives my wife and I and we can provide our kids
with nice things the challenge is figuring out where where do you yes have
that teaching moment of I want to give my kids all the stuff yeah but that’s
not the best that’s not always the best thing for them and that you can apply
that to to your business as well as you’re working with people do do you know
what I I am such a I am such a Believer you have to go through hard to get
stronger and it’s like it’s sort of funny sometimes when you know when you
run a business when you’re an entrepreneur you realize it’s a bumpy path and
I remember early in my career lamenting it’s like why do we have so much so
many problems in our business and you step back and you realize business was
never intended to be easy it’s too competitive if if we’re easy easy we would
all be very successful wealthy entrepreneurs and so I think being willing to
go through hard things to to like very very deliberately crystallize what you
learn from them catalog your lessons and use that as confidence and
experience to recognize patterns going forward you actually that that’s how
you become that’s how you become someone and it’s interesting for me to look
back 20 years in my career and 10 years in my career and and even 5 years and
say what what I’ve gone through the last two and a half years that would have
broken me 10 years ago there’s no question it would have broken me I would
have said this is this is too much and but but when you’re always not just
getting pushed to the Limit but allowing yourself to be pushed to the limit
when you are okay with discomfort and you don’t toss in the keys and give up
but it’s just like that’s never been an option for me in the hardest things
I’ve gone through and it’s like by the way it’s like it’s interesting to sit
in this beautiful studio and to live and to live in this great town of
Holiday Utah and then I start talking about how hard the journey was I’m like
hard like Leaf in a hot tub hard I mean it’s like like and and like joking
his side like my my my career mattered to me and life matters to me and not
failing is important to me and so sometimes like not having great perspective
it’s actually it’s actually been a good thing for me because it’s like what
what do I really get out of professional adversity well I don’t just become
better at selling grills or headphones all of the adversity that’s sort of
stacked on top of each other has created capability that I own as a human
being and I and I can apply to anything and so I’ve really actually come to
love not just looking back at some of the moments where in the middle of them
I said this freaking sucks this is hard we are not winning and like and and
there’s always this voice in the back of my mind where I say but it’s but but
we’re not only to get through it I’m going to look back and say it was good
for me and the evolution of that in my life has been and this is like I
learned this in in my business but but this is what gives me confidence that
I and we my wife and I we will get through anything because I went through
the hardest thing and in the middle of it like 10 11 months into it as I’m
getting up and looking in the mirror every day and saying I have an amazing
wife I have six amazing kids live in a great community and neighbor lots of friends
and I’m miserable I’m like looking in the mirror and saying like food’s on
the table every day why am I so unhappy and as I thought about my 16-year-old
daughter and like I may be miserable until she leaves for college because
businesses don’t you know you don’t build them quickly and you don’t and you
don’t turn around difficult moments quickly the ability to reorient my
mindset and say I’m going through the hardest thing I’ve been through but I
can be happy while I go through it and and more than be happy actually what
what allows me in part to be happy is that the same way when I do something
hard physically and to to exhaustion like muscles aching want to vomit
running up a mountain and my mind is saying this is good like germy this is
making you stronger the ability to be in that moment professionally which was
nothing but a birth mhm and to say this is making me stronger and I’m not
going to be unhappy every time I go through adversity that was the biggest
unlock of my life and you know like it happened in the setting of a wood of a
wood pellet grilled business like you got to step back and say in the grand
scheme of life doesn’t matter that much but it mattered to me what matters
more to me is what I learned not in a moment but over the the course of many
months where I where I was able to for the first time in my life say this is
not a burden this complexity and messiness and this you know what felt like
real adversity this is a good thing in my life that perspective is so
insightful and the way that you analyze it and incorporate it into your life
today and the experience that you use we’re going to talk about what you’ve
been through recently and how you’ve utilized that experience to work through
it you’re still working through it if that’s fair to say uh we’re not winning
yet we’re not winning here here’s the difference we’re still working through
it we’re not on life support like we were at at at at a moment we’re working
through it it’s still messy it’s still complicated but I am nothing but
confident I am nothing but optimistic and like the complexity of it it’s like
it’s actually a lot of fun for me right now like it’s like I will never I
don’t think I’ll ever be dealt dealt or maybe I dealt myself this hand of
cards pandemic don’t totally own um but I I don’t know that I’ll ever be in a
situation quite this complicated and messy MH and that to me is energizing
now and it wasn’t two years ago it just sucked yeah yeah absolutely it’s and
then you mentioned mindset which I think is very important uh that you’re a
you’re a great reader you’ve lent me books that I’ve enjoyed and and you make
me think of Victor frankl’s Man’s Search for meaning and I know that you’ve I
know you’re familiar with that but I mean that’s the story of mindset and
finding happiness in the most horrendous circumstances so I should have read
that book during that moment I’ve I’ve I’ve read it multiple times it’s it’s
incredible I did turn through a lot of books I mean I read a lot when I say
read I listen and I and I listen while I run up a mountain or it’s it’s just
it’s my only peace peace and soulless is just like doing something hard
physically and amplifying the experience by just sort of listening to a great
book and and contemplating but reading things like Bernay Brown uh Rising
strong she talks about going through going through hard moments like this
messy middle it’s like boy you know you can’t circumvent it there’s no way to
move through it quickly so just say it out acknowledge you’re that you’re
there acknowledge what you’re going to learn from it and like grind it out
with a good attitude um you know very very different date David gogins MH uh
you can’t hurt me and it’s like totally different perspective but you hear
about this this guy who has this rough upbringing and like you you can’t
believe it and then he and then he decides to be a Navy SEAL when he’s like
300 lb and out of shape which makes perfect sense do you know by and you
listen you listen to the training that he goes through not even the training
the actual uh the the the qualification to to become a seal with broken legs
that he’s taping in and being in freezing cold water and so there were a lot
of different perspectives that I drew on and what I what what I was really
using them for was a catalyst to create introspection so that I could
reorient my mind and I and I knew that I had to do it and it really wasn’t
easy to do there was a lot of thought there was a lot of reading there was a
lot of meditation and there wasn’t like this single aha moment where he said
I got it but but over 4 five months I started to wake up and say this isn’t
bad like this is I’m do I’m doing it and I’m feeling better about it I think
that goes back to your childhood story and things that you’ve talked about
ear earlier is and and maybe you’re saying it without saying it but this idea
of grit and determination and I’m going to figure it out attitude it’s it’s
in your DNA and so you find yourself in that situation there’s not necessarily
Panic which could be destructive it’s more of I’m taking the next step I’m
taking the next step I’m going to figure this out yeah and and that I think
is is the superpower you’re talking about yeah and it’s and I’ll say it’s
interesting because I always I’ve always thought about myself as as quietly
confident and confidence isn’t it’s not binary you have it or you don’t but
confidence is relative to what you’re going through and I’ve never been
through anything hard that I haven’t believed I would get through and what’s
awesome about confidence and experience is that you actually you know un
unlike phys physical strength which like it gets really good until some some
age and then it starts going downhill a little bit um not there yet yeah I
think I hit that terrible I might be there too um and and I really
overcompensate to to make sure I I I steady the decline good for you but you
know what it’s um in in life experience and wisdom and knowledge and
confidence it’s cumulative until the very end and so that to me is a really
awesome principle I’ve never been through anything that I haven’t looked at
and say I don’t know what the answer is but I know based on everything else
I’ve gone through I can go through a brick wall to figure this out and and it’s
like over and over and over and the the brick walls used you look back and
say well those were like Paper Walls MH and this is like really a brick wall
this went the brick wall yeah and and so to what what I loved about what I
went through recently it’s I never doubted that we wouldn’t figure it out but
I doubted if I could be happy during the process and it’s sort of interesting
that you know there there there there there were periods in my life for me
many many years decades and and this this is a little bit my disposition and
and maybe a little bit of a Gen X uh s sort of um approach to life willing to
go through a lot of sacrifice to be successful to make money like quote
unquote whatever that means and you know I started to get to this moment where
I said but I don’t want to be unhappy for the next three years because I’m
not 20 anymore like my life is not all in front of me I’ve earn the right to
enjoy life but I will never enjoy life when I’m completely comfortable and so
like how how how do I sort of how do I balance I want to be happy I can’t I
can’t I can’t quit what I’m doing it’s too important there are too many
people that rely upon me and I don’t want my best I don’t want my defining
thing in my career to be behind me already and so I I had to figure out how
do I marry the confidence with like some level of it it wasn’t even
perspective because I didn’t have persp perspective but a willingness to find
a mindset that allowed me to be happy in the moment of the deepest
professional pain that I’d felt absolutely you know Comfort is a funny thing
Comfort has destroyed more potential than anything else maybe the world has
ever known uh because the things that you’re talking about the willingness to
sacrifice the motivation the determination that starts to get a little iffy
and the great ones M somehow maintain that I always think about that why did
Jack Nicholas keep winning why was he was wealthy he was by by any stretch he
was comfortable I mean why did he what was in him that kept him winning and
practicing and working and it’s it’s such an interesting question you could
say that about a lot of people that just couldn’t be satiated by and and and
I remember my uncle uh who lives not far from here 10 years ago saying why
don’t you just retire like what why do you do this why are you like I I was
invest I was put a bunch of money in this Trager business like you could lose
it all and like you guys are comfortable now and it’s it’s a different
mindset I get bored and I get bored when I’m comfortable um I’ve learned to
like truly value above above all growth in my life and growth only happens in
discomfort and I’ll tell you like there there are definitely moments where I
I wished I could be a librarian like why why can’t I just go at 9 and leave
at 5 and stack books read the newspaper and it sounds so appealing I can’t I
I I can’t do it I can’t do I I I I’m just not cut out for it but I I will say
I find so much joy in the progress that I make in life and what what’s
interesting about is like one day it will all end my career will all end my
life will my my life will end and if I could just that just sit back and
enjoy everything like this this is this is the Paradox then that would have
been worth it but the reality is I don’t enjoy sitting back and so this this
is my lot in life and by the way it’s a terrible I love it like great
terrible life I love the journey you know I I I have some I have some good
friends from business school who made a lot of money early and I actually sat
with an entrepreneur recently made hundreds of millions of dollars at 30
years old and you know and and so I I’ve I’ve looked at some of these
entrepreneurs that have made money early and they they they went through hard
but they never really developed a capability and the and when the necessity
went away it felt really appealing to say I’m going to get great at golf like
we’re going to travel we’re going to buy working by second third homes and
like inevitably what drove them to succeed the first time drives them again
the challenge I’ve seen them have is that when when you put a you know what a
when you put a 10-year gap between success and when you say I’m bored mhm you
can’t really get back in the game you don’t you don’t have the necessity you no
longer have the like the willingness to do something really hard and you also
it’s been years since you’ve been in the game so you don’t have like fresh
skills and so that that to me is like thinking about life not as a
destination but like the journey every day is what gives you Joy in trying to
define a destination is like it’s really hard I mean like I I I wanted to be
a CEO of my life so long since I was like 11 12 years old and I remember the
day I became the CEO of Skull Candy I was the number two for a number of
years to my to my majority partner and I remember the day you know Kristen
and I were in Prague we were International sales meeting I got this phone
call from the board and it’s like you’re the CEO now and it was like like the
most glorious news for 24 hours I was on Cloud9 but like unfortunately the
destination didn’t La it didn’t last very long and like and had to get to
work I got back to work and and and I realized that you get to the top of a
mountain and you realize there’s so many mountains taller so forget about the
top of the mountain like enjo enjoy Sometimes It’s a Grind sometimes it’s
hard but if you enjoy the journey you can actually look back Without Regrets
and say this is what life was all about I really hope people are listening
and to to your story and all of this great perspective and I’ll I’ll go back
and watch this because there are so many lessons that I align with and and
resonate and it’s it’s so great to hear a story because I think a lot of
people look at Jeremy andris and say well yeah I mean he’s TR he’s his life
is wonderful it’s amazing he’s Trager he he’s on The Dan Patrick Show it’s
meet Friday I mean all of those things all of those things you have no
worries in the world do you know what it’s interesting uh we all have worries
and and they all may be like on similar levels uh we all have insecurities we
all have moments where we say oof this is heavy this is hard and it’s always
interesting to me when when I speak to entrepreneurs and someone asks a
question that suggests it’s like I followed you for years on social media
like you’ve had such a good journey like it’s like and they never really say
it’s been so easy but there’s this there’s this insinuation that it just
worked out for you and it doesn’t really just work out for very many people
in life like there are some where the the journey is just like it’s easy yeah
they just so they’re so good and so talented and the roadblocks never get in
their way it’s very unusual yeah I think so too okay great stuff so far but I
wanted to get back to a couple things you mentioned and and if one of these
or if any of them are uncomfortable for you to talk about then even better
let’s go then just take a sip of your bucked up can can can I can I sip anyway
yeah in fact I I think I need to as well you want to do quick commercial
break by the way I love this product cheers the amazing I know and I don’t
drink energy drinks but this is one and by the way it’s zero sugar I know
that fits in with your lifestyle you unfortunately I had already consumed 250
milligrams before I sat down and saw this and so so you’re going to be flying
high I think this is 300 so 550 3ish I I I may sip it slowly that’s a good
idea that’s a good idea that that may be a life lesson right there just sip
it slowly you know what we can go a lot of directions with that one slowly
okay so you mentioned I know something about your past and I don’t know if
that just got really uncom comfortable and are you to say going to invite
tell me about that thing that you did yeah and you’d say oh no no not that
you don’t not on not on air you don’t have to say not that thing no you know
what’s really great is Abby we call her the abster she can edit anything you
know what I’m all about authenticity bring Bring it on Bring it all on I I
think this is part of your life story I don’t know how much you share it or
how comfortable you are sharing it if you’re not don’t share it but I know
something about about you that occurred early earlier in your life about a
trip that you took to South America and something really strange and
interesting happened and I think that’s part of your journey because I I have
many trips to South America and and and I’m going to do my best to identify
the one of two or three things that you might be referring to mhm was it
getting kidnapped in Mexico that’s the one you nailed it that was a scary
moment no doubt about it how old were you uh I would love to say I was like
stupid and 17 but I was actually like 25 years old oh so you’re stupid in 25
okay no no no I I I I was stupid in 25 and I was with my my cousin and best
friend in the world who was three years younger than me mhm and if I’ve ever
gotten in trouble in life which I have if like if anything has ever gone bad
it’s my cousin Brock and by the way I love him like a brother he’s my best
buddy but we’ve we’ve had some moments mhm that I said Brock this doesn’t
happen I’m not with you come on and Best Wing man Best Wing man in the world
and he made my boring life interesting a number Brock a number of times thank
you Brock you Brock yeah okay so tell us tell us the story and what is the
perspective that you gained that you learned from that oh my gosh you know
what uh I’ll tell it quickly uh we were going to Israel uh we were staying in
in La uh we had a night before we were hopping on a flight and um said what
do you want to do we’re in LA tonight what do you want to do let’s go south
and my cousin says let’s go to Tijana great idea this is Brock right this is
Brock terrific idea and I said I’ve been there I’ve only been there during
the day with my family um I’ll go check out all right let’s go and uh by the
way if he were here to tell the story he would tell the story very
differently and somehow we h

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