Blaze Your Own Trail - You Were Born to Fly with Daniel Gomez

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

About Daniel: Daniel Gomez is an Award-Winning Motivational Keynote Speaker, Business Coach, Corporate Trainer, Executive Coach, and Podcast of the Year Recipient. Daniel speaks and coaches at events all over the world! Daniel Gomez has over two decades of experience in the arena of Leadership Development & Team Building, Sales Training, Customer Service, and Coaching. He is the International Best-Selling Author of "You Were Born to Fly", a book written to inspire and give people the high-performance habits and confidence needed to be the leaders of their own destiny. Daniel’s high-energy and ability to unlock the untapped potential in people have made him a highly sought-out trainer for top organizations including the U.S. Air Force to develop their officers. He gives organizations the success principles, leadership skills, and champion's mindset to develop and build a winning team. Daniel is a true professional and easy to work with! In this episode we discuss: Daniels upbringing Getting into sports His love for sales Some pivotal moments And much more! Connect with Daniel: https://danielgomezspeaker.com/ Text Confident to 26786 to receive a FREE Gift Connect with Jordan: LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanjmendoza/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/therealjordanjmendoza/⁠ Clapper: ⁠https://clapper.vip/jordanjmendoza⁠ Join my Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/linkedintrailblazers⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.blazeyourowntrailconsulting.com 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.

Are you ready to find out how to blaze your own trail? Welcome to the Blaze Her Own Trail podcast with your host, Jordan Mendoza. In this podcast, Jordan interviews people from around the world to find out about their journey to success. If you're looking for valuable content with actionable advice, you've come to the right place. And now your host, Jordan Mendoza. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. and I've got a very special guest today.

His name is Daniel Gomez, and I'm going to give him a second to tell you who he is and what he does today. Hey, Jordan Mendoza, man. Thank you for having me on your show, brother. I've been excited all week. I've had all my calendar since last week, man. And Daniel Gomez is who I am. My brand is Daniel Gomez inspires.

And, man, I just love people. That's who I am. When I almost lost my wife four years ago to breast cancer, I'll tell you what I changed my hope perspective of how I live, breathe and what I do. And at the current moment, man, I'm blessed. We won podcasts of the year last year in 2020. We have an award-winning speaker academy called Stickershock, Speaking Academy.

We've been speakers from all over the country internationally. So it's epic, just really showing people how to become that professional speaker. I'm an award-winning business coach because no business survives without revenue. I don't care if you're selling pancakes, donuts, or you're selling blenders, whatever you're selling. So I'm just real, man. I'm here to serve your audience. So let's do this, man. I'm excited.

Awesome, man. Well, hey, thank you for that intro. And we're going to get into all the amazing things that you're up to a little bit later in the show. But my favorite part, brother, is I like to rewind. I love to give the audience context into Daniel. So let's rewind. I'm talking adolescent years, elementary middle to high school. So what kind of kid were you?

Where did you grow up? And were you more into academics? Were you into sports? Let's give the audience some context. Man, well, it's funny you asked that because in my book, Sticker Shock, I talk about when I was a kid on a playground. And it's like you're, you always want to be that first kid picked, right? I'm talking about great school, man. But the reality is this is I was a chubby little kid and I wasn't always the first one picked.

I wasn't always a second one picked. I wasn't always a third one picked. But as I grew older and went to middle school, I knew that I didn't, I knew I wanted a girlfriend. And I knew that I needed to do something because my sixth grade year, I was in band. And of course, it's not too athletic. So when I became here in the States, you got to be right in the seventh grade to play football. So when I became a seventh grader, man, I did everything I possibly could to lose weight. And by the grace of God, I did.

But I didn't realize by that time, man, the time I could have to overcome a lot of challenges in my own thinking that I wasn't that overweight that'll get anymore in Jordan. So that I remember that's the first inclination of grade school, right? Playing basketball, but never being the first one pick, man. Yeah. And what a lesson to learn, right? You learn that, hey, you know, if you want to be picked in a different place, right? There's things that you have to do, right? You've got to show them, like show them what you're worth, right?

Whether that's stepping up your game or what you did is you decided to step into fitness and work on your craft, right? Because I think that's something that's super important in life is that you have to put in the reps no matter what it is, right? Yeah, no, you do. And I think so many people, you know, I love what you just said because the reps equals preparation, right? Reps equal preparation. And many people, it doesn't matter what age level you're at, whether you're in grade school, junior high, high school, college, there's always that reps that you got to put in. But the thing is, the higher you go and success, the higher you go in elevation, it's a more stressful, more, what's the word? It's a more challenge rep because guess what? You need to be stronger. And most people don't work on the integrity, the strength of their foundation.

And that's why when you get a little bit of success, it collapsed into the pressure of it, Gordon. 100%. So let's talk high school. So your goal was to play football, right, in seventh grade. So you ended up playing and did that carry in through the rest of middle school in the high school? Man, I tell you what, I was a monster in eighth grade, did fantastic. Ended up moving to San Marcos, Texas, which is about an hour. away at San Antonio.

The thing that happened to me that was no bueno man. I met a girl and got in love at a young age, gave up sports, gave a football, and really just didn't really care. The good thing about playing sports in football in particular was I've been working out for the last, I would say, 35 years of my life because of football. So that's something that stuck with me. And I see my son, right? My son, I've instead that in my son and my daughter.

So I think what happened to me in high school, it was great. I wasn't voted most likely to succeed. And you always wanted to fit in after a while, right? But I would say this is that through those high school years, you know, we were very misfortune where we were, we weren't, we didn't have a lot of money, we didn't have a lot of wealth. And just really those hardships that I would do, right? I didn't really have the nice car at high school.

And, you know, I had a work all summer long to say, but for my first, my first car was a pentone. And my dad would laugh at me because he goes, man, my, your regos worked more than your car, son. So it was just, it helped. me to appreciate the success that I've had now in life. So I tell you what, I don't come from great beginnings. I come from many beginnings, but it's really taught me to appreciate and never forget where I'm at. But at the same point, though, I don't reference my point of references in who I was then. It's who I am now because I think so many times we have the wrong point of

reference. And we always go back so far back that it hinders us to be going forward where God wants to take us in life. Sure, absolutely. You know, I think it's important to reflect, but not to have that define us, right? Not to have that be the end-all, be-all. I was similar. I grew up food stamps, you know, pink lunch tickets, free lunches at the parks during the summer. You know what I'm saying?

My first car was a 1985 Nissan 200 SX that I spent 600 bucks on and it was a stick shift. I didn't know how to drive a stick shift. You know what I'm saying? But you get what you get, right? And what you learn during experiencing that type of

adversity is it gives you tough skin, right? It shows you that, you know, you can make it, right? And you can look back and reflect and say, man, like, when you experience that, you get to look at life through a different lens. You know, you get to look through a lens that some people don't get to experience at all. Well, you know, talking about that, I never forget this one memory I have is it was after football practice. And I don't know if it was seventh or eighth grade, but I was there. And one of the guys said, hey, man, what are you going to do? for dinner. I was like, oh, no, I'm just going to go home, right?

Just kind of as good as we, because we didn't have anything to do. I was, me and my brother were living together at the time. He was, I can't wait to go to fun truckers and go get a big burger. And he goes, man, don't you just love those floodruck burgers? And I played it off. I remember that because I was like, I said, yeah, they're good, right? Never had one of my life to eat. Yeah, we just, I was not, we, my luxury was having, instead of having baloney, right?

We had actually a nice ham sandwich. It was a luxury for me. But I never forget how I felt that day. I've never shared this with anybody in person, family member, no one. And as I talk about it, as that story came back to me as in podcast and it was, dude, I felt like crap, man. I felt this little, felt small. Sure.

And I said, never do I want to feel that way again. And I didn't know what that meant at that moment, but I knew that I had feeling that that was probably one of the lowest points of my life because I lied just to see. it in to say that I've had a certain burger. And I said, never again do I want to feel like I can't afford something for myself or I couldn't say my family because I was I was burglary like 13, 14 years old. But it's a feeling that's impressed me to always strive to do a little bit more. Yeah, yeah, it's something that's sticking on chip on your shoulder, if you will, right?

So just motivate you and keep pushing you along. That's awesome. So you didn't go into football. You fell in love is what you said. high school. So, um, so what happens after high school? Did you have aspirations to go to school? Did you go to college? You know, did you start working? What was your route there? Man, you know, I became angry. I was upset because like I said, work out. I kind of developed that I don't give a crap attitude, right, which isn't a good one to have. I got accepted to University of

Texas here in Austin and but I didn't, I couldn't afford it. So it was even though I had the approval letter, I didn't really, I didn't really, um, I, I didn't really, um, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I can't say that I didn't want to go to school because I think there was a part of me that wanted to go. But I'm not, I was an A-B student, you know, top percentage of my class, but I didn't have that desire. All these around me, they were like college.

And I look back now, right? I see them now and, man, they're overweight. They're unhappy, been married, divorced three or four times. And the people that have voted most likely to succeed. And through that hardship of being angry, it just really sometimes not caring that fueled me to really just do what Daniel wanted to do in a good way. And I didn't really listen to what people told me. So I just took a job, started working at this company called planning.

Really my fate kind of got developed because the owners were Christian. And that's when I realized that kind of God's hand was over me. And even though I was reluctant to it, I didn't really embrace it away. I think being there for almost 10 years after that, decade of work and learned how to, they send me to school. I got my horticulture degree and just as I evolved, right? Because what we don't realize, Jordan, is the whole journey of life is the journey of becoming. You either become who you're destined to be or you become who you weren't destined to be. And most of us, we settle because we don't want to push those through those

challenges and make it stronger and better and we become better. And I say that because my brother, he ended up just killing himself through the inside, right, through envy and bitterness. Because he never got over our mom passing away. Yeah. And sorry to hear about that loss. You know, lost my mom as well, you know, in 2012. So not an easy thing to deal with. And I think an important thing to bring up, Daniel, is that, you know, we all do deal with grief differently, right?

You know, I remember having to be the backbone for my brothers who, you know, some of them, it seemed like a couple of years where they just weren't themselves, you know? And for me, I felt like I had to be strong and I had to show up. You know, but even myself, I was, I was down in the dumps, you know. For me, you know, because I look at life through a lot of positivity and I try to shine my light bright. But, but man, losing somebody, especially a mom, you know, not easy, you know, not an easy thing to not an easy pill to swallow. Yeah, and I would speak to your audience right now. I will tell him, you know, it's never easy when you do, use a loved one. But you got to keep living, though.

I tell you that, ladies and gentlemen, because I saw my brother harbor that resentment, harbor that just that bitterness. And it ate them, it literally ate him from the inside out. And he would say, how can you be so happy? I'm like, well, we can't stop living, right? I mean, we can't. And I think so many times we do have to give ourselves permissions to grieve and to cry, and especially out there, right?

I don't know how you think of this, but especially Hispanic men, we have that machismo that we're taught, don't cry, right? Be tough. And it's like, no, book crap, you gotta cry. You gotta release those emotions because the more you suppress it, the more it just eats you up on the inside. So I encourage your audience right now. Allow yourself to cry, man.

Allow yourself to just grieve because the worst thing you can do is pretend nothing's gone wrong. And the next day, you know, you're dealing with that stuff 10 years from now or 20 years from now. Yeah. You know, it's, and it's, it's one of those, you know, caught between two stones type of things, Daniel, right? Because it's like, it's super easy, it's super easy for us to say, but when we're in it, you know, when we're in the doldrums, when we're in those dark moments, sometimes it's, it's so hard when you can't, when you can't see that light, but I think you're 100% right. You know, you've got to keep moving. And for me, it was when I started to share my mom's story, you know, this is a one. woman who was born with one lung in the 50s.

You know, back in a time where there wasn't all this fancy stuff to operate on people with. And basically they told her she wouldn't live to 18 and she wouldn't be able to have any kids. And she ended up living to 54 and having five boys, you know. So I learned a lot of lessons through seeing her strength in the lens that she looked at life through and wasn't a victim of her circumstances. You know, but it wasn't until I looked at her story that in, really needed to start sharing it to shine her light brighter, that really helped me come out of a dark place. Yeah, and you're right, because doctors only know what they know. There's a,

there's a greater power. We don't realize how powerful our mind is, right? God gave us one of the most powerful computers that ever is, which is our thinking, our mindset, our brain. And I can relate with everything you're saying, I relate with it, because when they told my wife four years ago that she was never going to be able to do a push-up or a pull-up or workout, and I say that because she was into CrossFit, into working out. And when she had her reconstruction surgery after her breast cancer, they really, her foundation of her breast were her lap muscles, right? Her back, her lats.

And by the grace of God, you know, about a year ago, she did 20 push-ups when they said she wouldn't do one. So your mind is so powerful that when you really, really believe in something, there's nothing that you can accomplish you can't do, Jordan. 100%. 100%. And so you work. Let's just go back for a minute.

You work for the organization 10 years, right? So you learn a lot. What did you do after that? Is this when you started to go into your speaking engagements and things like that? Or did that happen later on? No, that happened later on. But this time I was about 26 years old. And actually, at that moment, my mom passed away and I was 10 years old.

And then at that moment, I was 26. So my dad got diagnosed with cancer. And I'll never forget, I was real close to my dad because he's the one to pretty much raise me. And I was put in a situation where my money couldn't save me, my job title couldn't save me. And not that I was wealthy and rich of 26, but we did have an I said on nest at that age level at that stage in our life. And I resigned for my job to take care of my dad. And I really thought that God was going to heal him. And he lived a year, they give him a month, but he did the whole year.

and it was just a lot of growth happened in that moment and I just, I would see how my dad, no matter what, as me being his son, even though he was in pain and going through chemo, he just, he was so resilient. And I think in that season of our life, we opened up a pinata store, we had a retail store that we would sell to supermarkets

and we'd sell pinatas, those little party favorites that people hit and stuff in celebrations. And after he passed away, I lost the desire. So that was my first foot into actual entrepreneurship for about a year. And I'll tell you, it wasn't a failure. I learned so much about myself. I learned so much that I said, heck, if I can sell pinatas, what can I not sell?

And after that journey, after my dad passed away, I'll admit I got depressed probably for about two months or so. My son was born like 21 years ago. And I gave myself time to grieve, talking about grieving again. I think somebody out there listening needs to give themselves time to grieve, right? I think they're not dealing with that. So it's not somebody for your studio audience listening right now. But I would say that after that, I went into the automotive industry,

and that's where my life changed, right? That's where I really realized that I can make $100,000. Back in 2003, when 9-11 happened, I was making six figures, when six figures was about a quarter million dollars now to me. But just being successful in sales, I think that's what really helped me to be successful in business now where I'm at, because I understand business. I understand numbers.

I understand sales. I understand communication. And more part of all, I understand people, right? Because you need people. People, the biggest mistake that a lot of businesses make is they put profits before people. And you got to put people before profits. That's why they're true success. Yeah.

No, I 100% agree with that. So you had your first business. You shut it down, but you learned a lot, right? Which is important, right? If you're learning, then it's not a failure like you said. And then you got into automobes. motive sale. So I would love for you to give context into what the training is like for someone to be able to sell cars, right? And also give some context on what type of vehicles that you've sold.

Because in the car business in 03 to make six figures, you're probably having to sell a decent amount of cars. But I'm going to assume as well that the training to be able to get that position, they probably had to put you through some type of workshops and training, how to overcome objections, you know, things like that. So I'd love for you to give some context on that. Yeah, well, you know, talking about just automotive, right? Or sales in general, it's, especially in the automotive industry, you see back in the day, right, I'm giving my angel labels, newspapers,

and you would say, 100,000 in automobile industry, and they, you know, when I became that manager after three or four years, you see the people that come in and, yeah, I want to make this money, but many people want to make the money, but they don't want to put into work, like you said, the reps. But one thing that I realize is I would study people, and you talked about this with Meyer Briggs, is that personalities come into play,

A, how you communicate with the salespeople and staff. But more important of all, what's your mindset like? It doesn't matter. I've trained over and over, Jordan, but the thing is this is that if you don't have the right attitude, if you don't have the right mindset, if you're not, we don't have that resilient mindset and you don't have that attitude of, right, of just getting back up when you're knocked down and thinking positive and expecting the best,

you're not going to win in sales. You're not. You're not going to win in the automotive industry because it's not a question of when I'm not going to sell a car because there's going to be days that you're just not going to happen. But you have to have the positive mindset and the mentality to say that, okay, this is just making me stronger. Okay. I didn't sell a car already, but I got a chance to practice today and to really seize a good and everything. So I would say that that is a patient is right, have the right attitude

and then be have the right mindset and then skills come into play because I know many salesmen that have the right skill set but their attitudes suck and they wouldn't sell anything, right? Something went wrong and right after they got derailed or B, they hit some resilience and right away they gave up and well maybe this isn't for me. And the thing is in the automotive industry

is you have to, you have to, you have to grow. And most people, I think not just in the automotive industry, but in life, they don't want to grow because they've never been taught to grow, Jordan. So I think that's the first context that I would give. A, attitude, B, resilient mindset, and C, you have to choose to grow. And then that's when the skill set of cells and the training of that really comes in hand because now you're open-minded to receive because me and you can talk to what we do in the

face and train, but if they're not receptive, it doesn't do us any good. Yep, 100%. Yeah, no, I think those three ingredients are super important, you know, and if we want to get granular, because I think this would be helpful, especially, you know, if there's some younger folks listening in that maybe want to get into sales, especially if you're doing face-to-face folks, a couple key things, you got to smile, you know, for one, right? Eye contact, and you've got to have a positive attitude. Like, if you have those three ingredients, it doesn't matter what you're selling cars, right?

If you're a, it didn't matter. You could sell anything. I've sold everything from windows to doors to, um, newspaper subscriptions. I've sold it all. And the days I did the best is when I had a great attitude, when I look my perspective client in the eyes, right? When I was relatable, okay? All of these are ingredients that are going to help you be successful.

Now, you're not going to be successful if you don't put in the reps, right? If you try to talk to one customer and you get negative. and you go sit on the curb, guess what? You're going to miss all the other customers for one, and people are going to read it all over your face. It's almost like a scent. You know, it's like blood in the water to sharks when you have a bad attitude.

People can almost feel it. Yeah, and I love what you said, right? Because this is what I teach. There's so much power in our smile that we don't realize that. Like, you, now as I travel more and more, even these last three or four years, it's like, it makes me how many people look mad in the airport. It's like everybody looks all angry, mad dogging it, and then you smile and smile is contagious.

Yeah. But the main thing is this is a smile disarms your potential customer, your client, your prospect. But more importantly, a smile opens a wallet to your customer. That again, a smile, it opens the wallet, the purse of your customer. And think about it this way. I always say this in my trainings, right? When you go to a restaurant, you've never been there. And the customer service is amazing.

and they're smiling and giving you everything you need. The tips are a lot bigger. Well, guess what? The tips are a lot bigger in life too when you just learn to smile because a smile is disarming. A smile is engaging and most of all a smile says, you know what, Jordan is approachable. Daniel's approachable.

And if you can't be approachable, you're not going to get any sales that way at all, Jordan. 100%. 100%. It reminds me of an acronym I learned in 1999. I was 18 years old doing business to business sales and the acronym was PMA equals OPM. And what that stands for, folks, is a positive mental attitude equals other people's money. Right?

Right. Isn't that 100% true? It's exactly what you just said. If you have a great attitude, people are going to like that. They're going to relate to that. 99% of the reason why people buy is because of you. Yes. Because it's not the product or the product of service is great.

and they might need it or like it, but if they like you, man, it's over. Exactly, right? I always say that before they buy any product, before they buy any service, they're buying Daniel, they're buying Jordan, they're buying our smile. And most important of all, they're buying our enthusiasm. If you don't believe in a product or service that you're offering your potential client, if you can't get excited about what you're selling, about what you're offering, right? I don't want to say selling that's fulfilling that need. But if you can't feel that, if they can't feel that passion that you have for whatever you're doing, that product and service, how do you expect your customer to feel that passionate about it?

So, excitement, excitement, and enthusiasm is contagious. And I agree with you 100% on that, Jordan. Awesome, man. So let's talk after the automotive world. So how long did you spend in there? I know you mentioned 03. When did you exit? And then what did you do next?

Man, I was in the automotive industry for almost 20 years. And when I left there, it's just, I was at work one day. By this time, I was running Chevrolet dealership, U.S. dealership general GMC. And my wife called me at work. I couldn't understand what the heck she was saying. She was crying. And all I heard was the words come out breast cancer.

And at that moment, my whole life changed. But little that I realized up to that point that God had been preparing me for the next stage in my life, even though I couldn't see it. I just remember driving home. And as I was driving home, it's like God was saying to me, the check engine light in your life had been set on for so long, you've just been ignoring it.

Because sometimes we do get that next level of success, that prominence, and our ego and my ego, my pride just swelled up, and I think I couldn't see it. So it was a place that I had to just really reflect on who I was. But I'll tell you, Jordan, I didn't like who I was, to be honest with you. It took a lot of work. I'm still working on myself. the never-ending process. But I can say that I had a choice where my wife had made a decision

to have a double mastectomy. I could have hired somebody to take care of her or I had a man up and do it myself and I resigned from my job to take care of her. And following that, that's where Daniel Gomez inspires was born, our brand. And I said, that said, I want you to be a motivational speaker. And then everybody thought I was crazy. But as they say in show business, the rest of history. Hey, that's awesome. And man, you know, I already knew before you said it that you were going to leave because you'd already proven that with your dad, right?

You had already, you'd already been on this journey before. And so you were ready. You were battle-hardened, right? And, and of course, it led to this next thing that now you're inspiring people all around the world, you know? So sometimes, you know, our... mess becomes our message, right? Yeah.

I know you heard that before, right? So, but it's so true. Sometimes the hardships, the adversity, I mean, I'm, I'm a big believer that it gives us strength, you know? It really strengthens us and prepares us for what's next, right? Getting us ready for battle. Yeah, well, the one thing that most people don't realize is every, every disappointment purifies the soul.

Let me say that again, every disappointment, it purifies the soul. And as your soul is getting purified, you get stronger, you get more resilient, but also you become more grateful and compassionate. And I think as I was disappointed time and time again, it just really showed me that, hey, anything is really possible when you apply yourself and stuff's going to happen. But one thing I love about what my wife said, when all this happened to her, she never played the victim mentality. She never said, why me? my wife's attitude was why not me yeah that's powerful and i said what excuse though i have as a man right what excuse do i have as a leader of my home as as as a husband as a father to feel sorry for myself if my wife is getting up and doing the reps and she went back to the gym she went back to working

out and the days that i didn't feel like i guess going forward in business because we have those days i had those days i'll be honest with you i have a i have a quote that i say is that you're not not a true entrepreneur until you spent the day in the restroom and you were not in 99.9% sure that they were going to quit and go back to your job but you didn't and she inspired me so many times when I needed that inspiration that motivation that's awesome man yeah it sounds like she's ridiculously strong and you know and and really uh showing you how strong you are right uh as as well having having to you know go through the journey together so uh so So tell the audience a little bit about your show.

So you get inspired to launch this show. And so, you know, what's the context of everybody? I'm sure it's finding people that have inspirational stories. Is that a little bit of it? I'd love to just have you give some context. Well, what happened was when I was running the Chevrolet dealership, I would put these high schools and I would give out these Chevrolet awards. And I didn't really think anything of it.

And one day the principal said, hey, you want to say some words? And I'm like, no, I don't know what to say. And as I went back and sat down, right, I would, I give up the award. I said, I really don't have anything to say. And God said, what are you doing? You do the sales meetings all the time. It just look at it as a big sales meeting. And next thing, you know, I had 300 young teenagers yelling to screaming.

I'm a winner. I'm a champion. I love myself. I believe in myself. And it was epic. It was awesome. I got an email like two weeks later saying, who is this card guy, right? Who is he?

And I was like, oh, what did I do? And they said, tell him. I said, thank you. My son has never been the same. Because I would go out and I would give out these Chevrolet caps just as a for marketing, right, of our brand of our leadership. So when I, when all this happened in the Kingful Circle that I resigned for my job and God put it on my heart, I actually found that email. I printed it up. I kept it with me. That's how much it touched my heart so much. When I went to my tie rack, that email was there and I read it and I just cried Jordan.

And that's when God says, I want you to speak. I want you to be a moment. So really my journey as when I came out and retired and started my business, it was straight up motivational speaking. I didn't know what I was going to do. How was going to go about it? But I knew one thing. I wasn't ready. But I knew that I could self-trained because I had sales train for many years, right? But the more that I stepped back and I said, just self-training, I ran the leadership.

I had 100 employees. I understood business. I understood leadership, team building, communication, and all these things were like, wow, I do all this. And I'm like, so I was more qualified than I realized, right? We always, we're always keep, we always have more than we realize within ourselves. And as a journey started, I just really started going out there knocking on doors, selling my training. And people came on and I went to God, John Maxwell certified. So through this, I became a paid professional speaker speaking at the United States Air Force.

I talked to my big break came through. And I shared the stage live with Les Brown, with Tom Bill U from Impact Theory. And then I went and shared the stage with Orp Riley and some other amazing speakers. But I say that not too impressive, but to show you that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. And when God is with you, there's nothing that you can't do. And as COVID came around at the time in 2020, we also host our own events. I have, we have about three or four live events, big ones throughout the year. But as COVID came and we just had our big night event, our business accelerator conference, March 5th of 2020, the two weeks later the country closed down.

I lost $40,000 in picking gigs. And at that moment, 90% of my revenue, 8% to 9% was speaking. So I had to do something. And I had been practicing my podcast and then God said started. But this is what I want people to understand. No matter how much success you have in one area of your life of business, whenever there's a new chapter or a new idea, everybody has doubts. It's acting in spite of those fears and doubts.

Let me say that again. To be truly successful, you have to invest in yourself and take action in spite of that fear and those doubts to creep in. Because they would say, Daniel, you're only going to listen to your podcast. And next thing you know, by the end of the year, we had Martin Victor Hansen, we had Evan Carmichael, amazing people, Donnie Dumas on our podcast and we want podcasts of the year and it's just been a, it's been a blessing ever since, man. So it's just really a podcast about entrepreneurship. And if, you know, kind of like you, I let the conversation slow because of God wants to

speak, I let them move and it's, it's all good, right? The main focus is confidence, business, entrepreneurship and just inspiration and motivation. Yeah, that's awesome, man. I love the journey and I love what you said, you know, you realize that you have. more to offer people you know because especially when you work in corporate America you work in the corporate environment you're you're only worth what they tell you you're worth you know I was there 15 years I was the 100 K guy you know I'm saying plus bonuses and the six weeks vacation and that's that was what I

was defined by and I didn't realize that I had it in me to go out on my own but I had to take that risk I had to take that lead I had to go blaze my own trail. I mean, that's what my show is all about. And if I'm not going to do it, how can I expect my audience to go and do it? You know, and I think when we find out things that we're passionate about and we find out what our purpose and life is, man, you've got to go after that with reckless abandon. And I love what you said.

It's not going to be easy. You know, entrepreneurship is a lonely game. But if you keep getting up, you know, if you keep waking up and you keep putting that work in that effort, man, the fruits and the freedom that comes with it are so rewarding. Yeah. You know, think about what you just said right now. You were making over $100,000 a year, six weeks vacation. And that's, I would say that's 80% to 90% of people's dream job.

It would never leave it. And then next thing you know, they're not happy there anymore. But they tolerate it because A is a title and B, just a complacency, right? Commonality. We always go back to commonality. But I admire what you said because people need to hear that, is that you might have that cushion job. You might have that big desk.

You might be Mickey more money than you ever thought, maybe 50, 60, whatever that amount is to you. But I can tell you when you become your own entrepreneur, when you become your own boss, that's epic right there. And I want to let you know that don't let the comfort of your level of success that you're at, even though you never thought you would achieve it. And this is the big excuse that I hear all the time, this, Jordan, is that, well, I've done better than my parents. Great. I'll go leave a legacy

for your kids. And I'll tell you what, this first quarter of 2021, we had a record-breaking first quarter that we achieved numbers I would have never dreamed of. But it took time to get there, but I'll tell you what, I wouldn't change anything for the world. And just think about what we have accomplished in the middle over three years. I can't imagine what the next three years it's going to be like for you. Love it. Love it, man. Yeah. And, you know, it's so important for people to really let these things sink in, right? Because it doesn't matter what you're going to do. And listen, there's nothing wrong with working at a corporate job and getting to a certain level. You know, not everybody should be entrepreneurs, right? Like, there are people that that need to be

in those corporate environments. But I also want to tell you that if you have a dream, you know, if there's something that you want to do. My advice is do what I did because for about a year and a half, I did it on the side. I became a practitioner. I got good. I got clients. Like people actually paying me

before I made the leap. You know, because I wanted to assure myself that I could manage a full-time job and a podcast and a business on the side because if I could do that, man, I knew that I could take that leap and I could go bet on myself. So that's my advice for everyone

out there listening is if you have if you're passionate about something and you've got a skill set go actually do it go use that skill set go put in those reps go fall on your face because you know when you get to the other side and you fall it's going to hurt it is going to hurt there is going to be blood but you got to prepare yourself for that yeah but i love what you said and the reality is this is you said something that was key right there. You bet on yourself. And most people, they'll bet on other people first instead of betting on themselves.

And I want to encourage your audience right now, you've been feeling that tug in your heart, you've been feeling that idea coming on, and you've canceled that idea, you've canceled that dream that God put in your heart. This is your season. Your time is now. It doesn't matter how much you make.

It doesn't matter that. No one's going to bet on you unless you bet on yourself. And said again, no one is going to bet on you unless you bet on to bet on you. You heard Jordan just say that. Bet on yourself is when you bet on yourself, you can't lose. Think about it this way. How far have you come, right? Think about what you're at right now.

You've made it this far. The odds are in your favor that you're going to make it even further. So don't be scared to bet on yourself. 100%, man. I love that. And, you know, this has definitely been great learning about your journey. you are a true trailblazer, my friend, in all senses of the word. So I would love for you to just give the audience some parting words,

maybe one of your, another quote that you enjoy. And then also let them know where to find you. I know that you're going to be a great resource for everybody that hears this. People are going to be impacted in a positive way, just knowing where your character is, you know, living with your dad for his final days and being with your wife while she, you know, had to have a double mastectomy like, brother, that is all amazing. So keep up what you're doing.

And let's go ahead and have Daniel Gomez inspire the audience before you leave, man, and let everyone know where they can find you. I always go back to my quote on my book, right? You were born to fly as a name of my international bestseller. Because you were born for greatness. You were born for success. You weren't born to be mediocre. You weren't born to be average.

You were born. You were destined for great things. It's time to get out of your own cage. You get out of that jail cell that you put yourself in of complacency, of laziness, of commonality. And it's time that you start flying. You were born for success. Let me say that again, you were born to fly. And when you realize how much success you have within yourself, when you realize how much success

and with that untapped potential, there's nothing that you can't do. And I'm going to end with this. If God can take mold, stinky smelly mold and turn it into penicillin, what can he not do with your body? What can he not do with your life if you allow him to? This is Daniel Gomez-inspires that no one's ever told you they believe in you. I'm telling you right now, I believe in you. And what I want to do for your audience, Jordan, is I want to know,

to text the word right now, confident. That's C-O-N-F-I-D-N-T, text the word, confident to 267-86. And I'm gonna give you my free training, and those with my book, seven steps to fly daily. Seven steps to fly daily. It's a free, it's a training that I would sell for 149.

I'm gonna give it to your audience for free because I wanna add value. So text the word, confident to 26786. And that way you can get that free training that's gonna change your life because there's more inside of you. And the moment you realize, that you are worthy and deserving of success

is the moment you'll stop undervalue who you are. So stop undervaluing who you were created to be. Love it, brother. Hey, everybody, make sure that you text that word to that number. We're going to make sure that we put it down in the show notes as well. Daniel Gomez, you have inspired me, brother. I know you're going to inspire so many of our listeners out into the 54 countries that we've got them out there.

Thank you so much for coming on the Blaz Your Own Trail podcast. Hey, Jordan, thank you for having me, Michigan Doesa. It's been a lot of fun. I love your energy, man, and thank you so much again.