Blaze Your Own Trail - Developing Courage and Resilience with Waldo Waldman

Episode Date: December 15, 2024

Takeaways The importance of a strong work ethic and values in achieving success The power of competition and self-reliance in personal and professional growth The significance of stepping out of your comfort zone and facing your fears The role of family and upbringing in shaping one's mindset and approach to life Reach out for help and build a support network when facing challenges Responsibility and preparation are key to overcoming obstacles Embrace adversity and use it as an opportunity for growth Continuously strive to blaze your own trail and achieve success Chapters00:00 Introduction and Background04:15 Lessons from Parents09:29 Adversity and Overcoming Challenges13:35 Career Path and Pursuing Dreams17:35 Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone21:36 Opportunities and Obstacles26:26 The Importance of a Support Network31:39 Focusing on Serving Others and Building Relationships36:29 Responsibility and Preparation in Overcoming Obstacles39:13 Embracing Adversity as an Opportunity for Growth45:37 The Power of Courage and Resilience in Blazing Your Own TrailThanks for listening! 🎉We hope the episode added value to you!Visit Waldo's website to learn morePurchase a copy of Waldo's New York Times & Wall Street Journal Best Selling Book: Never Fly SoloConnect with Jordan:LinkedInInstagramTikTokJoin Jordan's weekly Group Coaching Community Risk Free  Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host, and I've got a very special guest today. His name is Waldo Waldman, and I'm going to have him tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today. Great to be here, Jordan. Beautiful day to do an awesome podcast with the top gun in the industry. For those that don't know, my call sign is Waldo. My real name is Rob, but I was known as Waldo.

I was a fighter pilot in the Air Force, Combat Decorated. Saw a lot of combat, a lot of interesting. things in my life. But after I left the military, I went to business school and was in a few sales jobs and learned the entrepreneurial craft of selling and engaging and growing a business. And then I took that huge entrepreneurial leap and became a Hall of Fame keynote speaker, executive coach on building trust and collaboration in life. And I'm a father of a 13 year old little guy and happily married for around 14 or so years and enjoying life. Awesome. Awesome. Well, hey, I'm super excited to have you here. We've connected through another buddy of ours. And so super excited when I just kind of learn more about you, what you've been up to. And my favorite part of the show is really taking a rewind. It's getting context into your story and your journey. Not kind of what most people might know, but like let's dive back. And so I love to focus on adolescent years, elementary middle to high school years. So if you can take that rewind for us, like where were you born and raised? What kind of kid were you? What type of thing?

did you get into back then? Roger that. Yeah, because that's the impetus. You know, if you really want to see where people are going forward, many times you've got to look back and see where they've been and the context of their lives. In case you can tell from my accent, I'm not originally from the southeast in Georgia where we're at. I'm a Long Islander, a New Yorker. My parents are from Brooklyn. I grew up in a very blue collar family.

That was a mechanic at Kennedy Airport. I have an identical twin brother. A lot of people don't know that. We're mirror twins. Basically, we drive each other crazy. I've got an older sister who is a registered nurse and an older brother, too. I just lost my parents in the last year, both of them. Sorry to hear that.

They were in their 90s. So a long, healthy life, very, very blessed. But as a kid, I was always very competitive. I think that was by nature of the fact I'm an identical twin brother. You know, we were competing in sports and beating each other up and having fun. My parents were old school blue collar, very conservative, old school values. The work ethic, the discipline, the accountability, the sweat equity that goes into success was instilled in a very early age. They were great parents, but not the best.

That dad was a workaholic. Mom was raising family. She didn't have six kids like you, Jordan, but she had four and basically raised us, you know, while my dad was working. Dad did his best to come to my baseball games, but didn't attend that many. So we had this reliance on each other, my twin and my brother and sister. And then also, you know, just waking up every day realizing that if you want, you want money, you better earn it. My mom always said, you know, get out there and do the job and taught us the work ethic. And my dad was more the values-based, values-based guy, you know, integrity, accountability, do the right thing, all those things that were instilled in the blood of my being.

That's great. That's great. Yeah. So from them, it sounds like they gave you a lot of things foundationally. You know, I mean, you think about being able to work hard. That's something for me I learned from my dad. My mom was kind of more like your dad where she taught me about, hey, be kind to people, have a sense of humor, don't take things too seriously, you know, things like that. And it's so awesome the things that we can get from our parents that really help shape and mold us and kind of start the path for us. And so with a twin brother, right, I don't, have actually six brothers, no sisters, which is just kind of crazy. My mom had five boys, and she wasn't supposed to have any kids. She was born in the 50s, with one lung, and they said she had

until 18, and no chance of kids. And so, you know, it's kind of a miracle that I'm even here today. And when I think back to lessons from mom, I would love for you just to share a couple. I know your parents, you mentioned they lived a great life, and unfortunately, they just passed on. but what are a couple lessons from mom and a couple lessons from dad that really maybe you still carry with you when you're out there doing these amazing keynotes when you're out there inspiring people all around the world? Yeah, because, you know, you learn the positive from your parents and the negative. And so some folks listening to this podcast may have had extremely, extremely supportive, loving parents gave them everything, which could be the exact detriment to their career. the fact that we didn't have much forced us to be scrappy, forced us to be more innovative.

I'm not saying you have to have nothing growing up to become scrappy and passionate about earning a living. But always there's a yen and a yang, the positives and negatives. And so it's important for us to build that context because I know the weaknesses that I had on my childhood, some of the scars and battle damage, right? Sure. but also gifts for me as a leader. And as we get old around 56, like I said, I have a child and have been married and flown some missions. I'm not a season 70-year-old.

And some of the folks listening may be a scrappy 30-year-old, like a young guy like you, right? Growing a family and learning. I'll take that any day of the week. You call him 30, brother. So thank you. I know we talk about how you look younger than you are. So my dad, totally blue collar. I remember him coming home after a 16 or 18-hour day.

working overtime to feed the family, cuts all over his hands, grease on his uniform, smelling like jet fuel. And yes, I love that smell. But I remember, I'm always preaching to the kids. Do it right the first time, but don't do it at all. Do it right the first time, or don't do it at all, which is really not a bad philosophy, especially when you have a side hustle or you blazing your own trail. You're going to make some mistakes, but if you're going to attempt to do it, do it the best you possibly can. Be careful who you spend time with on the weekends was one of his favorites. Who we spend

time with, the influences in our life. Your circle, yeah. Love it. And don't take the easier way out was ultimately his favorite. Don't take the easier way out. So my dad was always pushing us to be more innovative and not to cut corners. And I think it really taught us a lot. You know, he was a mechanic. And I remember him teaching us how to put together, you know,

the air filters on the car, change you all. And then when we wanted a dirt bike, he would show us. us how to take apart these two stroke engines and change the piston and rings and coach us and teach us how to do that. So I really appreciated that context, but he was very, very impatient, right? You know, wasn't a great communicator, didn't really know how to show love because his family members and his dad didn't really show him love. So we had to like kind of temper that. My mom was more than nurture and my dad. Once again, you know, the values. So he was the flight lead. But I like to call my mom the general, right?

You didn't want to mess around with her growing up. And she was like, you want something, you better earn it. I want you up and out of the house on the weekends, mow lawns in the summer, shovel snow in the winter. She used to have us go out and sing Christmas cows for tips, right, as little kids, which is a big deal for a Jewish kid, right? Yeah. You know?

And so it was always, always get out there and make something happen. Get your butt out of bed, right? And she was also be a lover, not a fighter. your mom, she was very nurturing as well. But she knew, because my dad was working all the time, his example was good, but she had to get us up and moving and working. And they also instilled a lot of faith in us. We grew up Jewish, going to temple. I have a Christian wife now. We believe in God. Faith was very important, values. Right? So that North Star was something important for us. And it doesn't have to be important for everybody. But it was always about, hey, there's a higher

higher calling in your life. And we need to be accountable to your faith and to God and all that. So I really love that. And it really taught us those fundamentals of life that I still hold true today. I love it. Yeah, I appreciate the access there because I know it's, you know, tough to kind of dive in. But I appreciate you sharing that because a lot of people are going to see what you're made of. Like you've been blazing a trail, but you didn't earn it the easy way, right?

You had to face some adversity. You had to face some trials and some lessons. And I grew up food stamps, government housing, moved 14 times before 14. Alcoholic stepdad. Didn't meet my dad until I was 12. You could go down the dang list and everything could sound really bad. But here's the thing, folks. We have a choice of how we're going to react, of how we're going to respond, and then what we're going to do about the circumstances that we're given.

Okay. And you may have had some tough things, but it made you tough. It gave you that tough skin, that tenacity, going out, shoveling snow. I know how cold it is up in New York. I've been stranded in New York before because of a blizzard and things like that. And I've lived in Maryland when tons of tons of snow. So take me through the middle and high school years. You mentioned you're competitive because you had a twin brother.

So what type of sports did you guys get into? And how long did that kind of carry out where you guys were competing together, playing together? I'd love some access there. Yeah, still, still do today in a loving way. in a good way. Iron sharpens iron, right? Dave was my best friend growing up, but we're also enemies. I always say he's the only person other than my family that I'd jump in front of a train for, but the only person I'd throw in front of one, right? I mean, like, it's that love-hate relationship many times. I mean that decisiously, but, you know, I remember we would go out and we would

shovel snow together. We would go, we would, we would, both of us would team up and shovel snow and mowons. I always had cash in my pocket, which was a byproduct of the sweat, the bi-products, the byproduct of the fact that we weren't given anything. I didn't have allowance when I was a kid. Five bucks for this, getting money for doing your chores. It was like, no, this is expected.

So by forcing us to go out there and scrap for a living, so I can have milk money or play Star Wars and asteroids and get a slice of pizza and a Coke, hey, man, you had to go out there and work for it. So I was resentful in many ways to my parents because of that while my buddies got allowance. But in the same sense, they were teaching us in planting that seed of auntie.

entrepreneurship and self-reliance that are key, that are key, that only comes as a byproduct of the, of the sacrifice. Yeah. So Dave and I competing, fun, baseball and soccer, big sports, we both on the, on the baseball team. I was a really good pitcher in an outfiel. I always made the All-Star team because of my skills, not necessarily at hitting, but in outfieling and pitching, my twin brother, on the other hand, great hitter, was just always crushing it. So that was really, really amazing. But the big change in our life happened when we were around 10 or 11 years old when my dad took me and Dave, my twin brother, to Kennedy Airport in Queens and New York to go on a little tour to see what he did for a living. And I'll never for the life of me forget walking on the flight line and seeing the planes and hearing the rumble of the jet engines and smelling the jet fuel, instantly hooked.

And then... That's where it all began, huh? Yes, that was the impetus. But the critical thing was him when he sat me in the cockpit, that 747 that he was working on. And I started to play with the throttles. And I'm like, man, I don't want to be a mechanic and fix the planes like my dad.

I want to fly these bad boys. So I remember saying, Dad, I want to fly these things. What do I need to do? And he said, listen, son, you forgot. You're massively afraid of heights. It's probably not the best career choice for you, right? And I said, I don't care, down.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to find a way because deep down I knew my new inspired passion was greater than that fear of heights that I had growing up. And so that impetus, that spark, that example, sitting in the cockpit, smelling the jet fuel, watching my dad, you know, work and creating this paradigm in my life that I could do this. and it gave me this North Star to try to achieve, which was a lot easier said to done, because once again, being a pilot in the Freight of Heights is a pretty tough thing to do. So basically, I did really well at high school

because I wanted to go to the Air Force Academy. For those that don't know, four-year school, just like West Point or Annapolis, very, very difficult to get into. You need to be top of your. class and then really good in sports, et cetera, and I got accepted. And sign on the dotted line

was carving my own path, blazing my own trail. Like, this is the way to do it. What is the best way? Go to the academy. And so I saw that. Question here. Did your brother follow in your footsteps

or did you have a completely different path of his own? Because I'm sure, you know, that couldn't have been the easiest thing. Obviously, if you knew that, hey, this is the way that I want to go. But I mean, you're talking about this is your bro, right? I know you said you might toss him in front of the train, but, you know, how was that impact on your guys' relationship? And like, did he end up taking a similar pass? I'm just very curious, just for my own curiosity. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So, so he did not, he went to, he basically didn't go to the

academies. He went to a Maritime Academy, the Sunni Maritime State University in New York Maritime Academy, which is a four-year school with a Navy ROTC scholarship. So that's, where he went. However, he left after the first year. There were some issues there, some challenges, some some personal stuff that he went through there and he wound up leaving. And the military really wasn't for him. He's more, he's more independent. He didn't, he didn't adapt as much to that, that military regiment as I did. And then he went to Albany State University. He became an entrepreneur and he's crushing it in sales right now, just a different path. And so, so I went to the academy and it just suited my lifestyle a little bit more, my personality. But we were okay

with that. We were okay with going separate ways. We were both fiercely independent. I thanked my mom for that as well. She had us dress up alike a lot and do the same things, but he had his friends. I had mine. That's awesome. Very, very independent. So a quick question for you. So I've been to Long Island. Actually, I had a fun little thing in Ice Slip Airport. I'm pretty sure you're very familiar with five minutes from where I grew up with that airport lake run concoma I believe is around the corner I stayed at Marri out over there so my first time flying into I slip airport I like get in and I go I'm like where's the rental car place they're like there it is it was the part it's the parking lot like you just walk across and there's your

rental car but again you're traveling all over you you're used to kind of different places different environments so when I was leaving for my very first time I walked past TSA because I didn't realize it was TSA because it's one little belt. And they're like, now we have to swab your hands, sir. Now we've got to put you through this extra security check because you just tried to bypass us. I was like, I just literally didn't see you. I wasn't trying to do anything funny. So that's my, you know, one of my little stories from Rancancum, Lake Ron Concoma, Dolphin Avenue, I believe we had a property out there. And so I used to go and train some folks in that area. So that's pretty cool. You're right around the corner.

It's the New York that people don't know about trees. I grew up by the water at a fish hatchery behind my house, nature reserve. I used to go fishing, you know, five minute bike ride away from where I live. So really, really beautiful area along. You know, it's only 45 minutes from the city, which is pretty amazing. That's awesome. So let's get into your career a little. So you go to the academy.

I'm assuming you finish up, right? And you start blazing your own trail and going after this big dream, this big, hairy, audacious goal that you're afraid of heights, but you're going after this no matter what. So let's get into that a little bit. And how is the experience, you know, going through training and everything? So the big thing is the transformational shift that helped me step out of my comfort zone happened when I went to water survival training at the academy. I think it was sophomore year you go through water survival. And when I went to the swim class, the first time in the corner of that brand new Olympic-sized swimming pool was this 33-feet-high

diving board. Now, I was looking at that diving board, but I was picturing being on the Empire State Building looking down, right? I was like, I was freaking out. And I remember looking to the instructor, I said, excuse me, sir, do we have to jump off that thing? And he said, as a matter of fact, you do. You don't even graduate the academy and have any chance of flying jets unless you complete water survival training, jump off that diving board with a 35 pound pack on your back. And I was thinking, this wasn't in the damn marketing brochure. Yeah, right. I didn't see this in the contract. Yeah, the fine print. And so I jumped off that diving board last in my class to do it because there was no way in heck that I was going to let that 33 feet stand between me and living my dream. And it was

symbolic of the 33 feet jumps that I had to take in my life to step out of my comfort zone, to be courageous to take a risk, to let go of my past, to change my mindset, and take that leap of faith because on the opposite side of that fear is growth. On the opposite side of that fear was flying jets, living my dreams and accomplishing what I want. And for many folks that are watching this podcast or listening to it, it's like, hey, they're experiencing some 33 refeeds, right? Fear of failure, fear of rejection, wondering if you should leave your full-time job as an IT technician or a manager or an insurance broker or whatever to start your own gig. I don't necessarily agree in side hustles either, by the way. Sometimes you got to go all in. You diffuse, you lose this.

Fighter pilots, if we were looking at multiple targets, we may forget the one that's closest to us that we needed to engage. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a side hustle because I did it, and I'm going to share with you how I did it, but eventually you need to take that leap and just go all in. Yes. Yes. And that's a hard thing to do. And I knew, like, if I want to be a pilot, I got to jump off that diverboard.

And I faced my fear, eventually graduated, became an instructor pilot after going through pilot training. One buddy, Andy Tooth, that bastard got the F-15 fighter, and I wound up getting the instructor slot. There was only one fighter in the class. So I became an instructor pilot first, did pretty good at that. I was very well-rewarded instructor-instructed pilot the year, et cetera. And then I became an instructor instructor teaching pilots how to instruct, i.e. guys and gals who are out flying active duty, flying fighters or transports or tankers, who went back into training command.

And I had to teach these pilots who were great with being an aircraft commanders, but weren't necessarily good at teaching. Yes. And you're a great teacher from what I've seen, Jordan, what you're doing on LinkedIn and all the things that you do. Teaching is a lot different than doing. 100%. And so I did that.

wound up becoming an instructor pilot of the year, a lot of great awards. And then I eventually was offered the opportunity to fly any jet I wanted. And this is really, really important. Any jet you want, Waldo. F-16, your dream. jet, et cetera, or C-17 cargo plane, et cetera, you know, be bored out of your mind flying eight or 12-hour missions overseas or fly that F-16 in combat and, you know, make it happen.

And obviously you know which one I chose, but there was something big that got in the way. Do you know what that is, Jordan? I don't know if you dug deep on my website. I don't think I do. I'm very curious, though. I want to find this out. So I had this opportunity, had a choice to do anything I wanted. Now, what happened that most people don't know about, and surely my buddies in the military didn't know about, was three years into my 11-year flying career.

Even before I flew fighters, I'm abbreviating here, I almost died in a scuba diving accident. Wow. First time I'd ever been scuba diving, had a panic attack under the water 30, 40 feet, couldn't move my muscles. You know, I was totally doing bad technique. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. My masks separated, had a malfunction. I inhaled a whole lung full of burning salt water. Freaked out, thought my lungs were going to explode,

had a panic attack, which I didn't know what one was up into that moment. I thought I was going to die. I don't know if you've ever had a panic attack or if anybody ever... I haven't, but I know people that have. It is pure hell. No combat mission in my life could ever come close. to the moment I was underwater for that few minutes where I had that panic attack. And so I got out of the jet, I got out of the water and said, I'm just never doing that again.

I kind of put it behind me. Around a week or so later, I'm back in Oklahoma, flying a cross-country training mission in a T-37 down to Shreveport, Louisiana, and then up to New York to see my family. Weather was terrible. Thunderstorms, lightning, couldn't see the sun, couldn't see the ground. I'm socked into this plane. called flying through mushroom soup, right?

And I had the same panic attack come on that happened just a few days prior, but instead of being 35 feet under water, now I'm 35,000 feet in the air. Yeah, a little different there. Thought there was something wrong with the jet, but there wasn't anything wrong with the jet of the auction, but there was surely something wrong with me. And I realized I had claustrophobia. I'm like, I got to get the hell out of this plane. plane. Not the best thing for a pilot to have, claustrophobia, right?

No, not at all. And so for the rest of that 90-minute flight and for the next eight years, eight years of my 11-year flying career, every single time I stopped it to that jet to do what I love more than anything else. I had to deal with this PTSD that didn't happen from a combat mission, but it happened because I freaked out underwater. And I can go through this, you know, being underwater locked it, you know, locked it to a tiny cockpit, can't see anything, right? And so there's a lot of symbologies and analogies here. And so part of my journey as I blaze my own trail was to have this constant headwind and missile and obstacle of this anxiety and fear of having a panic attack, which I had dozens of times after that, teaching students in the jet, flying combat missions. at night on an eight-hour combat mission over Iraq. Imagine being shot at over Iraq or Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

And then that was nothing. It was having the panic attack being, you know, flying on the tanker and flying at home, right? And so a couple of things, it never impacted my ability to do my job. Because if it was causing a safety incident and would prevent me from executing, I had every right to hand these wings in and say, I'm done. I can't do this, which I thought about doing, which they were in my hands. a dozen times after these panic attacks. I was still able to do my job.

I was still able to be flight leader of the quarter. One of my plaques here in the... Oh, yeah, like, it's on the wall there. Flight leader of the quarter. I don't know if you could see it, but you can't see it, but it says flight leader the quarter. I got that in combat. I was more scared than any of these folks

that I was flying with, but I was still able to focus my mind than executing the mission, which is the true testament of leadership and courage and resilience. Yeah. People don't know the panics and issues and garbage going on, the claustrophobic panic attacks that you may have.

People don't know about your obstacles, your habits, your things that maybe drag you down into the dungeon of doubt that you need to overcome to get you airborne, kicking ass in life. And so this is an important part because in the process of blazing your trail, you're going to have these obstacles, is going to have these things that cause you doubt and fear. And part of my discovery was focusing, part of my discovery of dealing with this fear was focusing on my team, the folks who were depending on me, checking their six, you know, being that

coach and mentor and knowing that they needed me, they needed me and were depending on me to fly. You've got six kids depending on you, Jordan. You've got clients who are struggling in the dungeon of doubt trying to build their business, trying to make revenue so they can not just go on vacation, but just feed their family. Yeah. And so part of it is distracting yourself, finding out who needs you, your loved ones, your goals, you know, who's depending on you, and also realizing that all you need to do is call out

May Day and that I need help of the three most powerful words that you can ask yourself per se when you're struggling in life. 100%. Yeah, it's some of the hardest words that you'll ever say, but some of the most profound impact comes from when you realize that you can't do it alone. And here's the truth, folks, like we are created for connection. We're created for community.

We're not created in this world to do things on our own. We actually need people around us. We need people in our corner, your spouse, your colleagues, people in your in your groups if you go to church like there are people that want to invest in you but a lot of times we get in our own way we're the knuckleheads that get in our own way and we make the mistake to not reach out when we need it and so i'd love for you waldo just to share a little bit about you went into this career this dream of yours and then realized that for the better part of it you had to suffer through to make sure that you could be successful and have the people around

be successful. And in Japan, they say teaching is learning twice. When one person teaches, two people learn. The teacher learns and the student. And so share a little bit about what it was like to transition from instructor to instructing the instructors while in the meantime, you have all these other things happening. So, because that's the key to performance. It's not just doing when things are going great, when the skies are blue and the business is coming in, the class. are saying, yes, it's when the economy craps and you lose your big client or you fell on that product launch or you cold call and get hung up on or your test results from the doctor are positive or your kids in the hospital and you you don't know what's going on there, right?

Or your parents get, you know, lose their like all these things. That's the test, right? It's easier to be committed to excellence and passion and blazee. your trail when it's there for you, but when there's obstacles along the way and bear coming at you along that path or there's friars or when you blazing that trail, that tree goes over. You've got to find a way to outmaneuver the obstacle and get around it. That's where life is and that's where growth is. That's why I think I'm pretty successful today because I like that challenge.

You've got to, number one, embrace that challenge and say it's an opportunity for me to kick some butt and leverage my mindset, my skill set, my hands, and also the relationships that I have. 100%. And so part of my journey was sharing my fears with my buddies outside of the cockpit. I couldn't share my fears with my fellow fighter pot. I'd be like, sorry, well, you're claustrophobic. I'm not flying with you. Like now, I was instructor pile of the year, all these great awards. people don't know about your issues and obstacles and panics and nuances that interfere. It's how you're performing, right? But it is important for you to reach out and say May Day or contact a comrade of courage, as I call them, that that harbinger of hope. You say, hey, Wilt or Rick or my twin brother,

in particular, Dave, man, I got to fly today. I'm freaking out. It is weather. I don't know what to do. And so I'm abbreviating here, but he believed in me, he coached me, inspired me, saw me the best. We need to reach out to folks in our lives who see the best in us, who can clear our cobwebs and get that smoke out of the way and get us to go, right? And so you need to build up those people in your life, not the ones who drag you down, but the ones who lift you up, who I want to be the type of guy who's like people are calling, you know, and I think that's how you are, Jordan, from the little that we've getting to know each other, like, you're the guy that people need to lift up, but you also need somebody to lift you up.

100%. Yeah. So that's an important part. And so I could bring that into the cockpit. And once again, I was a great instructor and great teacher because I was so focused on the student. If I was focused on my head and the fact that I was flying through the weather here and I wouldn't be able to do it. And so when you're focusing on serving your customers, truly loving them, not in a romantic way, but doing whatever you can to help them kick ass, to see the light, to give them your truth, which I'm trying to give you, then you don't care about yourself. You don't care about your ego, embarrassing yourself or whatever, or how are you going to fly this jet?

You're just giving your juice, and they sense it, and they feel it, and they believe in you. When folks believe in you, they trust you, and they'll take your advice, hopefully, provided that you got some credibility and knowledge and you'd share that advice with tact and love and encouragement, not ease, not acceptance for their mediocrity, perhaps, or lack of values, be in that rubber mallet. Okay. So that's what allowed me to do really well as an instructor and teacher. Getting into the head, into the psychology of that young student who may not be having a claustrophobic panic attack, but they have a dream of flying.

jets and they're dealing with air sickness or they can't land the plane and they don't know how to do the power on stalls or they're freaking out. And so they need the instructor, me and or the people I was teaching to get in their head and say, okay, here's how we can solve this problem. Here's how we can get you out of your head and fly the jet. So they were panicked and claustrophobic because their dreams stood in the way of the pilot and the instructor stood in their way or their own mentality. So you could see flying jets, there's a 33% washout rate in all the training. Sure. So there was a lot of fear of failure there, fear of rejection and the ability of potential losing their dreams. So getting into the mindset of your customers, your peers,

and into your own head to say, what drives me and what do I need to kick my own butt or who can push me and coach me in the right direction to see the path that I'm blazing and maybe shift just a little bit. 100%. Yeah. Yeah, we all need that person that can say, hey, listen, you're going left, but if you just shifted right, just a little bit, just even one degree, you'd be amazed at what happened on the other side of that shift. You got it, bro. And what's tough sometimes is that it's actually, and you've actually laid it out brilliantly in your story here, is that instability is what creates stability, not the other way around. We have it wrong where we want to try to be stable before

we get instable and it's like you have to falter, you got to fumble through that failure and through those situations if you want to actually get better. But we don't like doing hard stuff, right? We don't like to put ourselves in these uncomfortable situations. So there's a listener that's going to listen to this or that's going to watch this. What are you facing today that you need to go and blaze your trail like Waldo did? Like what is it? And do you have somebody that's on your six? Do you have somebody that's there that's willing to invest in you. And if you don't, reach out to me or reach out to Waldo. We're going to make sure his info is in the show notes. Like we need community folks. We need people that are in our corner, like he said, that have our best interests in mind,

just like he had the student's best interest in mind. He said, I don't care what's going on with me. It's not about me. I'm actually doing this so that they can do what they need to do to realize their dream. And when we start putting ourselves above our team, There's some magic that happens. And I had a team of 25 near Emory University, a big apartment building, almost 600 units, 23 acres. And on my first week, a tornado decided to come through town. This is back in 2010, 2011. And do you think that I wanted to deal with everyone walking in the office and saying that their power was out?

Like, our power was out too, right? And they were trying to say, do you're not answering your phone? I'm like, because it doesn't work, just like your phone. doesn't work, right? But people don't get things unless you can communicate it to them. And so you're going to come face a time in your life where you're in some circumstances that you don't think you can get through. But I want to tell you, because I've been through a ton, you can make it on the other side. And although it may seem scary, and although he may have doubt creep in, Waldo is going to share some tips for you guys that can help you get across the water, right? Get across the trail.

and maybe hopefully make it out without dissensatory, like on the Oregon Trail game I grew up with playing. So I'd love for you just to share. What are some things that would help people that they want to become more resilient? Maybe it's, they have a dream and a goal and a vision for what they want to accomplish, but they may need just help crossing that bridge. Right. Okay.

There's a lot to be said here. It's going to be in my next book, by the way. And you're going to help me with this too, Jordan, because I like, I like your mind. set. Number one is you can't do all things. You're going to have issues. Your passion may not be enough to get you through. Your fear may be subject, may subjectate your passion. It may be so much that you can't do it all. As an entrepreneur, as a leader, somebody who's trying to blaze their own trail, you need to know what to outsource and be perfectly honest with yourself to say, look, I can't get there for me. I got this skill set and I'm really good at these things,

but a couple I'm not good at. Who do I know? Who can I reach out to to invest in to coach me to get me on the right path? Don't try to do all things on your own because you simply can't. So knowing who to outsource and you do that by building relationships first. You know, people who have your back are critical, people who are supporting you and encouraging you. But the way you get there is by you being the go-to guy and gal. you being that resource in your community

and your Chamber of Commerce with the companies that you're supporting and your friends you're encouraging you be the guy or gal who steps up and says I'll help you here's who I know and what I knew I'm going to give my wings away and build one

relationship one problem solver one encourager one resource at a time because you're advocating for them and you're the wing man a wing man So you want to build a relationship or gain more relationships, then build one and give one. If you want to gain a referral, then give a referral. If you want a new friend, be a friend.

Yeah, you're with me? So being that advocate. And so now that's why in my life, that's why my books never fly so light. There's always somebody I can go out and call out to you. And there's always somebody who's on that ladder of life that's one or two rungs above you that you can reach up to. why? Because you got a hand down and you're encouraging. You're finding all these other people. There's some other folks who's in the dungeon of doubt just like you are today or maybe you were who need you to support them. So have a hand up. Ask with honor and take with honor. Take, take, take, take, take,

take, take. Why? Because you're honoring that relationship and you're respecting it. And you're paying it forward and you're putting glove into the universe because you're helping others. You need that hand down. So that's really, really important as well. Another thing is responsibility trumps passion. There's going to be some missions where it's simply going to suck. You're going to have long days. You're going to be having long weeks and months, contrarejection. Your money's not coming in.

You're failing, failing, failing. You may lose the passion. But when you lose your responsibility, that's when you're in trouble. And responsibility ties in with the wings. that are on your chest, the fact that, hey, mister, you're a top gun, you're a fighter pilot. The only time your excellence is tested is when you're in combat. And the only time you're going to be tested is when those struggles come. And you may be in the dungeon of down and losing that passion, but your sense of responsibility,

which is tied to your purpose, to the meaning of what you do, the why before you fly, who you fighting for and loving for, your children, your dreams, your future. your legacy, that's where responsibility taps in. And sometimes you've got to just be like, man, I'm on combat today and the weather's going to suck and the missiles are everywhere. I'm going to get shot at and I've been shot at plenty of times in combat. But responsibility is going to trump that fear and keep you in the jet. So remember who you're responsible for as well. So your team, also your responsibility, your team. Also, it's understanding that the resilience muscle that we build when we go through life's

challenges is only built in the heat of battle, in the gymnasium of our life, where we're struggling, when we're on that treadmill, sweating and panicking, when we're up at those late nights going through these struggles and we're dealing with the rejection, that builds your resilience, the scars of character and scars of growth that your customers, your family members don't see. And that's the juice. That's what you build up in your life. It's struggle to do that, right? Yeah.

Listen, if you haven't cried in your office at 3 a.m., like, you're not doing anything yet. You haven't failed enough yet, you know, where you're in there crying, like, what the heck am I doing? Am I doing this right? Even when things maybe you have succeeded before, right? Because, again, we're all going to have fears and doubts. of like, man, am I good enough? Like, can I really do this thing?

Like I, like you mentioned earlier, we just had our sixth child. So when any of my clients have any issues with their kids, I'm like, that's very cute. You got, that's cute. That's a cute thing. But what if you had this? What if you were responsible for this much? How would your life look then? And what would you be doing then, right?

And so again, we can easily become a victim of our circumstances or we can become a victor. And what's real nice is in Waldo's book, Never Fly. solo. He's going to give you principles that are going to not only build you up and encourage you, but are going to probably have you saying, why can't I be the next trailblazer in my family? Why can't I go out and blaze my own trail? What if it was me? What if I was the one that's literally going to change the whole generations to come for my family? What's my legacy going to be? Like I never thought a couple years ago I'd be an owner of a company that's based in Belgium and go to Europe every few months. I never thought that that would be possible, but you know where it was,

Waldo? It was on the other side of my fear. I had to step out from corporate from 15 years with the same company, eight years in training development, five years as an on-site manager, and say, you know what, I'm talking about trailblazing. If I don't go blaze my own trail, I'm a hypocrite. I'm interviewing trailblazers. I'm learning from them. Why don't I put this stuff into action? And then you fast forward almost five years later, now I've got multiple businesses and podcasts and things are happening. But guess what? It's taken a lot of reps. It's taken a lot of failure, but I'm not afraid of that. I heard 200,000 noes before I was 22 years old. You think I'm afraid of a no? It's easy. But again, guess what? It's just like what Waldo said. It's about the reps. It's about the behind the scenes.

It's all the intangible things, the things that you're doing from, 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. when other people are sleeping, right? Or what are you doing in the middle of the night when that idea comes to your head and your whiteboard's blank? Are you going to go draw on it? Or are you going to forget about it? And then all of a sudden, now you're back to square one wondering what you thought about. So what I want for you just in closing, because I know a lot of people are going to be encouraged by everything that you're up to. And they're probably going to want to have you come and speak and all of that. So if you can just share, where's the best place for people to go to access you.

Could be your website. It could be, we're going to link your book, of course, in the show notes as well. You got it. Yeah. I just want to tap into what you were saying about the prep, the reps behind the scenes. You know, part of the last piece that I'll share with you on building courage and resilience is prepping for that challenge. Wingman never wing it.

You can't lead or grow a business by the seat of your pants. It's the things you do behind the scenes, the sweat, equity. The best fighter pilots weren't just the biggest cheerleaders and fired up and motivated. We were the ones in the books, attending the seminars, doing the hard work, humbling ourselves, going through that tedious work. And that builds confidence and capabilities, which converts to courage. And when you have courage because of your competence and capabilities, guess what? Now you'll take the next leap and the next leap and you'll be able to augment your life and take on higher goals and responsibilities and reap the rewards because of that. and maybe fail a couple of times and then leverage your resources,

build up your skills and have the confidence to take another courageous leap. See how this, it's the courage loop. 100%. Right? And when you're in that fearful mode, that's when you know you're on the right path. But like you did, it didn't happen overnight. And so for those of you who are trying to build a business but don't have the scars and the reps, get your ass back in the jet, buy some more missions,

that's it. Build some more experience, take some more risk and build the crows. credibility. I was talking about overcoming fear and I wasn't in combat or dealt with some of my stuff. You'd be like, this guy has no credibility. You need that. And you often get to it, as you said before, because you're suffering through it. A buddy of mine says, suffer well because you know you're growing. Okay. Yeah. You can tell I'm passionate about this stuff. Love it. I got to eat my own dog food. 100%. And right? And I believe in it. Okay. So number one, Waldo Waldo, If you Google Walter Walmart, go on LinkedIn, Instagram, X or Twitter, at Walter Walman is the key. But we talked about this.

I want to give everybody on your podcast the free download to my New York Times best seller Neverfly Solo. This is a QR code there. If you're watching this, use your phone, open up the camera, go to your wingman.com forward slash NFS, like Neverfly Solo. You'll get the audiobook. You'll also get a five video resilience challenge, which are five videos on dealing with change and challenge. change it to change, change it every two days based on your coach and Jordan. But those are some cool videos you could share with yourself, your team, or somebody who may be in the dungeon of doubt that needs a little bit of open inspiration. But those are the, that's how you could stay in touch.

If you do get the download, let Jordan know or if you got to email me and reply and say, hey, I heard about you from the Jordan and there was a podcast. Please, your own trail podcast. Perfect. Hey, I appreciate that. So folks, make sure that there's no excuse. Free is all you have to do is invest the time and energy and effort to get into those resources. And I know that they're going to benefit and they're going to help you. So we're going to make sure we link all of that stuff down. So one of the things I wanted to say is, you know, just listening to kind of your story and journey,

and I know we have limited time to be able to do this. You've got so much going on. But one of the things that rings true for most Trailblazers is you are going to face a lot of adversity. Okay, you're going to face it, whether it was going door to door trying to sell shoveling snow or doing people's yards or your mom telling you, hey, get out of the house and go do something productive, right? All of those were reps. Those are all things that help shape and mold everything that you're doing today, right? And all the reps that you put in the airport, more reps, right? And so the more that we actually do the thing that we actually want to set out to do, and we become that practitioner.

Sure. And then because you taught it to other people, you just. just became even better. You know, you just became even better and it's more dialed in. And so if you, if you haven't taken anything away from this episode, folks, just know that if you want to be successful, you have to keep doing. You have to keep showing up. You can't take, you can't take days off. You want to blaze your trail. It may look like 3 a.m. on your carpet crying because you don't know where your next client's coming from. And that's okay, because that's part of your journey. But you got to dust yourself off, get back up, and go out and knock on a couple more doors, like you said,

or make a couple more phone calls. Who can you reach out to? Who has your sick? So lots of good content here, Waldo. Appreciate you coming on the show. Any parting words for the audience? It's not where you're at. It's where you're going. That's important. You don't need to be quote unquote successful today. You just need to have that vision and trajectory. And sometimes it takes the perspective of a leader or a coach like Jordan or myself or some podcast that you listened to or an unsuspected hero that you met at a networking event where you built a relationship with that you had no intention of gaining anything from. But through their example, through the things that they're doing in their life, through the clarity and perspective they give you, that may be

just enough for you to shift your flight path and get on a better trail or improve the trail or remove some of those obstacles from your trail. So that's the, the power. power of the relationships of the wingmen in your life that are key. So go out there and earn those teammates and wingmen, give your wings away. And remember the leaders never fly solo. Love it, love it. Hey, folks, make sure you guys listen to this episode. Reach out to Waldo on Spotify now.

There's a new feature where you can actually leave comments. This is pretty new. So if you got something, a takeaway, a piece of value, drop a comment. And then Waldo can go back to Spotify. He can check and see. hey, maybe this is the feedback I got from somebody. So do that. Make sure also, if you're not subscribed on Apple, following us there, following us on Spotify, make sure do that. And be sure to check out all our content over on YouTube as well. And hey, Waldo, thank you so much for coming

on the show. Keep blazing your own trail. Until next time, folks, I'll see you soon.