Kyle Kingsbury Podcast - #352 Fighting For Your Children's Future w/ Tim Kennedy and Matt Beaudreau of Apogee Strong

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

First recording in the new crib yall! Tim came out to the farm and got to see what we’re doing out here, including the outdoor gym. We got in a nice pump for the cameras then settled in for a convo ...with his business partner in Apogee Schools, Matt Beaudreau. It was an honor to have Matt in the convo, via zoom… So for the video watchers, unfortunately you don’t get to see him. We’ll run this thing back though for sure. They lay out a beautiful picture of the parallel education system they have constructed so far. Enjoy it and send it far and wide to your teacher and parent homies.   Go snag Tim’s book at Amazon or a signed copy from his website!  "Scars and Stripes" -Tim Kennedy    Connect with Apogee Website: ApogeeStrong.com  Instagram: @apogeeprogram  Tim Website: TimKennedy.com  Instagram: @timkennedymma  Matt Instagram: @mattbeaudreau    Show Notes: "The Collapse of Parenting" -Leonard Sax  Shawn Ryan Show #100 Tim Kennedy - Green Beret Sniper / UFC Fighter Apple Spotify The Hannah Frankman Podcast: Tim Kennedy - Why Does A Soldier Start A School   Apple  Spotify    Sponsors: Wild Health Head to WildHealth.com/kkp for 20% off your membership cost and make sure you have “KKP” applied at checkout.   Happy Hippo Kratom is in my opinion the cleanest Kratom product I’ve used. Head over to HappyHippo.com/KKP code “KKP” for 15% off entire store Bioptimizers To get the ’Magnesium Breakthrough‘ deal exclusively for fans of the podcast, click the link below and use code word “KINGSBU10” for an additional 10% off. magbreakthrough.com/kingsbu  Lucy Go to lucy.co and use codeword “KKP” at Checkout to get 20% off the best nicotine gum in the game, or check out their lozenge. To Work With Kyle Kingsbury Podcast   Connect with Kyle: Twitter: @KINGSBU  Fit For Service Academy App: Fit For Service App  Instagram: @livingwiththekingsburys - @gardenersofeden.earth  Odysee: odysee.com/@KyleKingsburypod  Youtube: Kyle Kingbury Podcast  Kyles website: www.kingsbu.com - Gardeners of Eden site    Like and subscribe to the podcast anywhere you can find podcasts. Leave a 5-star review and let me know what resonates or doesn’t.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome back to the show, everybody. We have a special episode today. It's a very special episode, the return of my brother, Tim Kennedy. And this was the first, this was the inaugural, the first ever podcast at the new crib on the farm. And because it was the first, why not try to do something we've never done before,
Starting point is 00:00:22 which was have a face-to-face interview along with an online interview simultaneously. So we got Tim Kennedy back in the house. We were face-to-face. It was awesome. Got to do a little workout with him and his oldest daughter, tour the land, get to show him everything that we've been up to for the past couple of years. And his main partner in Apogee Schools is Matt Boudreaux, who is phenomenal, a guy that I've heard so much about, haven't met yet until this point, and absolutely fucking love. Just a solid human.
Starting point is 00:00:52 We talk a lot of things that go beyond children's education in this, that go into adult education, and really what values look like and what we should be fighting for. And so in that way, I know this podcast is for everyone. At the same time, you may not have kids yet, but you may be an uncle or an auntie, or you may be a mentor and things like this will come up. They'll come across your field.
Starting point is 00:01:16 What should I do with my kids in public school? Are there other options? And what's really cool now is that there are lots of other options. And it's not because Uncle Tim's coming to the rescue. It's because you're going to go to the rescue. You're going to come in and learn what it means to teach Socratically, to build an education that's centered around the entire family, what it means to build the whole family. And what is the number one thing, this is fucking great because Tim mentions it in the podcast. And it's also, I just listened to this in a book by Dr. Leonard Sachs. I rarely listen to fucking parenting books, but this one was too good to put down. It's called The Collapse of Parenting. It's an oldie but a goodie from 2012 or somewhere around there from Dr. Leonard Sachs,
Starting point is 00:02:01 who has a PhD in psychology and is a family medicine doctor. And he is absolutely brilliant. And I've mentioned him on this podcast before, another podcast, but I should say, he quotes the same study that Tim did. And I'm not going to give it away right now, but if there was one thing, one trait that you could look at in a kid and ask, will that trait equal financial stability when they're older? Will it equal job success when they're older? Will it equal happiness when they're older? Will it equal successful relationships in marriage and otherwise? Was there one trait they could look at? What would that one trait be? Would it be intelligence? Would it be athleticism?
Starting point is 00:02:47 Would it be charisma? What would it be? Think about that. Chew on that while we listen to this podcast. Fascinating fucking thing here. So love this one. I will run it back with the boys at some point. And I am leaning heavily towards starting an Apogee school and really thinking about that. We love homeschooling and there's a lot of positives to that. And at the same time, if you know what time it is, you recognize that community building is of the utmost importance and community strengthening, super important. And even though I can guarantee my kids' education, I'd really be nice to guarantee a community's education. It would be really nice to guarantee a larger group of kids because the
Starting point is 00:03:33 masses, the masses are the masses. The masses will always be the masses. And if your kids are in public school, that's on you. That's not on anyone else. It's not their decision. It's your decision. And I want you to know there are other decisions. Many people cannot afford to, nor have the time, nor have the ability to homeschool. And I fully understand that. So schooling becomes a very important option.
Starting point is 00:03:57 And a lot of private schools are quite expensive. So like, where do we meet in there? A lot of private schools are also super woke and teaching the same crap. You don't want them to learn at a public school. Enter Apogee, enter Tim Kennedy, enter Matt Moudreau. You guys are going to love this podcast. And again, if you don't have kids, don't worry about it. There's plenty of gems in here for all of us with or without kids. There are many ways you can support this podcast. First and foremost, share it with somebody you
Starting point is 00:04:20 know. Obviously, share it with a parent. That makes the most sense. We'll link to things in the show notes. Special things to look out for in the show notes are Tim Kennedy's podcast he did with Sean Ryan. Sean Ryan's quickly become one of my favorite podcasts to listen to. He has several of them that are awesome. Absolutely love that dude. Would love to podcast with him at some point, but in 100 episodes, somehow this dude is just blown up and he's likely way beyond my reach. That said, he's fantastic to listen to and he does very long form, meaning even longer than Rogan's. And he did four hours and I think 45 minutes with Tim. A lot on what Tim writes about in his book, Scars and Stripes. We'll link to that in the show notes. Tim did his own Audible. Highly
Starting point is 00:05:02 recommend listening to that. But at the very least, check out this podcast with Sean Ryan and Tim. There are some just, whew, man, detailed and real-life scenarios in there that I think people should be aware of because, as I've mentioned before in this podcast, we kind of get locked into these bubbles within bubbles. And life goes a certain way for us. And we don't necessarily think about all the shit that's happening in the world because we don't want to. It's too much to hold. And yet there are people in this country who have been there, have been firsthand on scene through war, through combat, through everything you can think of. And Tim's one of those guys. And Tim remains an awesome fucking human. He remains centered around his family. He remains a guy who finds
Starting point is 00:05:53 balance amongst extreme entrepreneurship. I think he's started like six companies or something like that, all of which are doing great. So he fascinates me. He's a friend, but he also fascinates me. And check out that podcast. We'll link to it. We'll link to Scars and Stripes. We'll link to Apogee Strong. If you're interested in any part of this conversation and you want to learn more, Apogee Strong, we mentioned it at the end of this, but you can check it out now. They have a documentary where Matt's featured. You'll get to know about him in a lot deeper detail. And if it's something you want to learn because you want to have the skills necessary to be a mentor, to be a guide, not a teacher, but a guide, or maybe you are a teacher and you want to be a better teacher, you want to add some of the guide mentorship qualities that
Starting point is 00:06:37 Tim's talking about and Matt are talking about, you can take a year-long program with them online. They have one for fathers. They have one for mothers. They have one for teachers. And I think it's phenomenal. I'm going to jump in on that. One of my other homies who helps run this farm, Eric Vaughn, he's going to jump in on that. So we're very excited to take this a little deeper and support this show by supporting our sponsors.
Starting point is 00:06:57 These sponsors make this show fiscally possible. And before we dive into them, I want to tell you a little bit about Fit for Service. Fitforservice.com is where you can find out everything what we're doing. I've been in this game as one of the head coaches for Fit for Service for over five years. This is our sixth year. We just changed it over to Fit for Service Academy. And there's so much we're doing differently here. We have listened to the crowd and we are making the classes smaller groups. So we've got 40 person cutoff. Right now I have 20 people in my class in the physical, which is everything on health and wellness. Everything that I've learned for the last 20 years from mentors like Paul Cech and all the deep dive I've taken through the paleo world, speaking at Paleo FX, becoming buddies with Rob Wolf and Mark Sisson and many
Starting point is 00:07:41 others. The things that I've learned, the great things that I've learned for the last couple of years from Jack Cruz. All of that rolled into one punch. Aaron Alexander, Dr. Kelly Sturette, mobility, you name it, it's included. There's no stone left unturned. And because I've worked with many of the best professionals in the world, guys like Dr. Michael Ruscio, who's going to return on this podcast very shortly, who is one of the world's leading gut coaches and doctors on gut health, I am a concierge within this group. So if there's something I can't handle, I will ship you off to the very best in the world to make sure that whatever's ailing you, you are able to come back 100% and
Starting point is 00:08:15 be the best version of yourself for whatever you need that to be. Whether you want to be the best mom possible, whether you are an entrepreneur and you want to start a business, you need energy for that. You need physical energy and vitality for that. And the physical is the most important place to start. If you're on your any choose your own adventure and fit for service, start with me in the physical. We're opening up for trimester two right now, which is going to finish in September in Sedona. You do not want to miss out on that. Sedona is its own magical place. And, you know, we've, like I said, we've been doing this for five years. We know exactly what we're doing with the big group. And we certainly know what we're doing now with
Starting point is 00:08:49 small groups with this more focused education. Check it out, fitforservice.com. And go ahead and look, just scroll through there till you get to physically fit. That's what I'm teaching. And we'll deep dive all the things you want and more in that program for 13 weeks. Then we meet up and we go through five days of transformational practices with every group and get to meet and build community of like-minded individuals. All right. Our first sponsor today is a company called Wild Health. These guys are awesome. Wild Health is generously extending Kyle Kingsbury listeners 20% off the cost of membership with code KKP. Head over to wildhealth.com slash KKP and use code KKP at checkout.
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Starting point is 00:11:36 that I felt better in the past from using the ice bath, but having this data point as another reason to say yes to that, that's all I need. I need a little shove sometimes just like anyone else. I need a little encouragement like anyone else, and I haven't missed an ice bath since our call. Whether you have a specific health goal like weight loss, body composition, or improved energy, or broadly want to optimize your health and prevent disease, Wild Health tailors a care plan with lifestyle-first interventions rather than pills and prescriptions to, in the simplest sense, help you live longer. Maybe you're a slow caffeine metabolizer and need to avoid that afternoon cup.
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Starting point is 00:20:03 age verified. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Without further ado, my homies, Tim Kennedy and Matt Boudreaux. Now we've got our bearings and we're juiced up here. I did want to say, you know, refreshing, rehashing what we already went over for the crowd for the first time. You know, I've been buddies with you since I moved here to Texas, knew you from the UFC obviously before that, but I've become much closer working with you. I've had a blast learning from you. And I think what you're teaching is some of the most fundamental and necessary things we could ask for from your hunting program, basic skills and survival to how you provide as a man for your family, things that I've had a natural inclination and drawn
Starting point is 00:20:44 towards. Most people don't necessarily even know where to look to. And you're teaching people these how you provide as a man for your family, things that I've had a natural inclination and drawn towards, most people don't necessarily even know where to look to. And you're teaching people these basic things. You're teaching people how to save lives. If there's a gunshot wound or more likely on my farm, a skid steer accident, right? And my fucking arm gets ripped off. I need to know how does my son prevent me from dying in the field, right?
Starting point is 00:21:00 So we've been going over stuff like that. And it's been awesome. And it allows me to sleep at night. It makes me feel better at night. And then at the same time, we've seen the world change so much in the last fucking four years and not for the better. And perhaps it always was that bad, but now it's been revealed to us in a way that we can no longer look away from. And heard you, you've been on this podcast multiple times, but you were phenomenal on Sean Ryan's podcast. I'll link to that in the show notes.
Starting point is 00:21:25 That's a deeper dive than we're going to get into today. Also introduce you to our homie, Hannah Frankman. Love that podcast and really love what you guys are doing with Apogee. And we've discussed it a little bit before, but having listened to you on Hannah's, I realized like, I want to get you back. I want to talk with you and Matt. I want to break this down and And really trying to recover what was lost in this first part of the conversation. You grew up, I didn't realize this until I listened
Starting point is 00:21:49 to the podcast with Sean, you already grew up in a Socratic education. You already grew up from a homeschool style. My wife had a more traditional homeschooling. I don't think it was that Socratic. Her mom had five kids and was just busting her ass to make sure they had some education. But everyone I've met from a homeschool background, Jesse Elder, James Schmachtenberger, you know, who started Qualia, Neurohacker Collective, Daniel Schmachtenberger, some of the fucking smartest people in the world
Starting point is 00:22:14 were homeschooled K through 12. And that's not what you hear in the media, right? It's just not. And then hearing about your background, Matt, you know, being a Bay Area guy and stuff like that, but having worked in traditional schooling, having recognized the problem with it, and I think that's what you,
Starting point is 00:22:29 I started recording right as you were talking about this. Some people think that what we're to do while we're here is fix broken systems. We're not gonna fix the Fed. We're not gonna fix the US dollar. We're not gonna fix public education. If we don't create a parallel system that's better, then we run into real issues. And so it's what you guys are doing now that I think is a real solution. So talk about your background, what brought you into this and a bit of the
Starting point is 00:22:54 problems that we see and how we solve those problems. Yeah. For me, I think anybody that's coming in with purpose and direction, motivation to a problem, recognizing the problem that is a broken system, a system that isn't producing. It's been broken since its inception, since Rockefeller said, hey, I want labor. You know, I don't need geniuses. I don't need innovators. I don't need creators. I'll get those from my people that go to school systems that we privately fund, but I just need labor. I need tax mules. And that's the beginning of public education. And then since then, it's just gotten worse and worse and worse as different ideologies have seeped in
Starting point is 00:23:30 and kind of taken over where there is no effort of creating a product, the product being these young, beautiful minds that are able to do something meaningful after school. Of course, there's exceptions and outliers. And there are absolute geniuses that are sitting in those seats and it's being schooled out of them. And for me, I was a kid that was taped to chairs. I was paddled by teachers and principals. I was told by administrators that I can't come back to school unless I'm on medication. My parents, thankfully, love you guys, pull me out and I just start skipping grades and graduate from high school early, graduate from college early. I'm in grad school and 9-11 happens and the wheels are going. I just needed challenge and purpose
Starting point is 00:24:19 and direction and motivation and movement. And the wheels were always spinning, but they weren't spinning effectively or efficiently. And I was very blessed and I have four beautiful kids, but there's a big gap in age between my older daughters and my younger kids. And I was able to have little case studies about like how private or public or homeschooling is working with each of them. And then I meet Matt, you know,
Starting point is 00:24:44 and Matt has had, while very dissimilar experiences, we have very shared values and perspectives about what's going to work. And our worlds kind of collide as, you know, I'll let him tell his story of ultimately how we then bump in and start Apogee. Yeah, man. Yeah. And this, it is that shared perspective, right? Where we, where we start everything, different experiences, but shared perspective and, um, you know, that perspective. And I, and I know before when we were, when we were chatting, I was talking about seeing this from the inside, right? Seeing it at, as Stanford, seeing it as a public school teacher, private school teacher, administrator on both
Starting point is 00:25:22 sides, seeing it there. And then ultimately not being able to do that one for myself and two for my family. But I actually tell people that that recognition of the game start, I remember very clearly starting kindergarten at four. I was, and I'm a November baby. So I start kindergarten at four. I remember being four or five years old, sitting in that kindergarten class and they put us in these groups and they gave us different colors. And I remember very specifically being in the red group. And I remember looking around going, okay, we're doing a reading exercise. That group needs the
Starting point is 00:25:53 most help. They need a little less. They need a little less. This is the group that is the best readers. We're the best readers in the class. Interesting. Okay. There's a game going on here. I remember seeing that then. I remember specifically by eight years old, which is how old my son is right now. I remember by eight going, I've got this school game figured out. I'll never get anything less than straight A's and I don't have to try a lick. And it was true. Dude, I did not get, I got straight A's throughout school.
Starting point is 00:26:23 Am I smart? I guess. Sure. No smarter than other people. I just figured out the pattern and I figured out how to play the game. And that was true. Dude, I did not get, I got straight A's throughout school. Am I smart? Sure. I guess. Sure. No smarter than other people. I just figured out the pattern and I figured out how to play the game. And that's great until you get done with school and life goes, okay, cool. Now it's this game. And you're like, oh shit, that's not the same game. Like that's the biggest problem. I'm like, I'm real. Wait, do I do school more? I'm like, I guess I'll go to college and do this again because I know how to play this game. I'll get my straight A's there, and then I get done. I'm like, and it's a different game still.
Starting point is 00:26:52 Damn it. Right? Like, where do I go? That's the biggest beef, man, is we've intentionally got this different game. Both of you guys, high-level athletes, high-level fighters, you guys learned to fight by doing what? Hey, fighting. Right? guys learn to fight by doing what? Hey, fighting. You learn to fight by fighting. You didn't learn to fight by playing tennis. Well, tennis is an individual game too. And then you go, no, it's different. This is a different thing.
Starting point is 00:27:21 So why not give our young people a microcosm of what the real world actually wants, actually demands? It's so logical on its face that most people freaking miss it. But part of this, because they're attached emotionally to the ideology of what we've been told school is supposed to look like. Right. And so that's where, that's where we come together and go, look, man, people need these real experiences. We need to bring the families together, make sure all of them are having these experiences and let's move them all forward together with that like-minded tribe, man. Um, so that's where I came from. That like-minded tribe was, was something that really resonated for, for both of us. Like we, we all, all of us men here, we love, we love our families, um, and would do anything for them. Um, I, I think we also recognize that as time goes on and our children get older, we have less
Starting point is 00:28:06 influence over them and our ability to affect change in their life wanes day by day as they age, which means that the people around them, their coaches, their teachers, their friends, their peers, our colleagues, our community, our village, our tribe, those people have more and more influence over them. And when Matt and I are struggling with, okay, we have identified the problem. George Land, sponsored by NASA, did a study about a bunch of geniuses. They started measuring kids from three to five.
Starting point is 00:28:44 Their definition via NASA was, they're gonna give these kids problems and can they solve these problems without the solutions that were given to them? So like, here's a bunch of things that can solve this problem, but can you think of something outside of this to fix this? And initially, 100% of the kids could be like, yeah, I'm gonna go open that jar
Starting point is 00:29:01 using that thing over there, which wasn't given to me, but that's gonna work. Or I'm gonna smash it on the ground, which wasn't given to me, but that's going to work. Or I'm going to smash it on the ground. That wasn't given to me, but that will work. The longer that they went to school, the less ability they had to problem solve, to critically think, and ultimately to use anything outside of the resources that were physically given to them.
Starting point is 00:29:20 They were given a number two pencil. They were given a piece of paper. They were given their test sheet, and they were supposed to do this ABC thing. And they got schooled into this is how I'm supposed to think. You know, what Matt just said is as school progresses and they get done with school and they look at the real world and they're like,
Starting point is 00:29:36 I can't operate in this real world. So I'm gonna go back to school because that's what culturally and peer pressure wise I'm being told I need to do. But then they just school me more and they indoctrinate me more. And even worse, I become indebted to the system. 10, 20, 50, $100,000.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Then I graduate with a student loan, but I still have no useful skills or the ability to critically think. So we've known that this doesn't work, but we've perpetuated this broken system since Rockefeller to today, knowing that it doesn't do anything besides produce a broken product. And the kids these days are so brilliant and so beautiful, and they're so being screwed. And there's just so much more for them and there's opportunity. And that's what this is. Yeah. I love this opportunity. And just to rehash some of, you know, a lot of people that are, that if you're listening to this and you have your kids
Starting point is 00:30:37 in public school, there's an era of, it's not that bad, you know, or yeah, we just give them extra on the side and things like that. And there's a way you can kind of skirt that. But the truth of it is you listened to, you know, I turned you on to Leonard Sacks, a PhD in psychology, family physician, fucking awesome speaker. He wrote the collapse of parenting. He also wrote a couple of books on the differences between boys and girls back in 2012, when it was kosher to talk about shit like that. And, and understood very well as a family medicine doctor where parents were trying to scapegoat their parenting onto other things like, just give my child the medication
Starting point is 00:31:12 so he can do well in the shitty system where he doesn't wanna move. And if you give him the medication, he actually will fit into the broken system. No, it's changed the broken system. Figure out a way to make it work for your kids so they don't need medication. That's an an important piece and so many other things in there uh and i i really you know you guys have really thought through what that actually looks like
Starting point is 00:31:32 you know and growing up in a socratic education you know when we brought we've had baron waldor for the first year and i thought i wish i fucking had this school you know i wish that i got to work you know with with in ways that that you know they well they're like well you get to now you're gonna do it with him yeah you know and that idea hit until 2020 and they said all right online education wear mask and i was like you guys you're doing this all wrong like no steiner would be rolling over in his fucking grave right now if you knew what you guys were doing um but to unpack some of that you know, how important it is for the parents to be involved in the child's education and that it becomes a part of the family communication around the dinner table, that it becomes a part of everyone's lives. And talk about the different components that you
Starting point is 00:32:14 guys have brought together that you know work and that you know are going to be gifts to the kids in the long run. Yeah. First is, it's nobody's responsibility to raise your children, but yours, like their values should come from you. Punishment and discipline, encouragement, passion, love, creativity, like you made them. It is your responsibility. And the idea that I'm going to hand that authority off to anyone else, even worse into two people that think that they are in positions of authority over me is the most un-American and so far from the values that I want for my family. It makes my blood boil. No one is going to look at my beautiful three daughters or my beautiful son and be like, this is what you're going to do with them. The thought that somebody would even think to say
Starting point is 00:33:10 that to me, I'm going to burn your world to the ground is what I'm going to do. I'm going to get to choose what's best for my family and I'm going to get to choose what's best for their future and ensure that I've had a great successful life thus far. I want them to be a thousand times more successful and more happy and more fulfilled than me. That's the point. And I know for a fact that nobody can do it better than me. So I want that.
Starting point is 00:33:34 And I know Matt wants that. And I know every single parent in the Apogee network wants that. And with that, cool. How do we give them tools? And then this brilliant dude comes along and it's like, well, let's actually create a system and a process to be able to do it. That's the whole thing, cool. How do we give them tools? And then this brilliant dude comes along and it's like, well, let's actually create a system and a process to be able to do it. That's the whole
Starting point is 00:33:49 thing, man. It's like, what? So yeah, beautifully, beautifully said, man, the intentionality we need, Kyle, you, you laid out so many of these conversations that we have all the time. It was like, ah, well, I went to school and I turned out fine. Did you, did you really? We can, we can unpack that too. Let's debate that a little bit, but also let's go ahead and assume that you did turn out quote unquote, fine, fine sucks. Nobody go, Hey Kyle, how's your marriage? It's fine. Oh shit. We need to talk. Right. Right. We need to talk dude. Cause fine is not, nobody wants that. Nobody wants fine for themselves. They don't want fine for their wives. They don't want fine. We don't want fine for our kids. There's no way, man. I don't
Starting point is 00:34:27 want fine. I want thriving. I want optimized. I want to be intentional around those things. And look, I am all for, I get it. When parents are like, shoot, okay, this is going to be hard. We didn't understand this yet. Now there's both of us that are working out of the homes or I'm a single parent and I don't know. This is going to, man, I have empathy for that. I understand. And I'm glad to like, let's talk through what are your options?
Starting point is 00:34:50 How can we start moving in the right direction? Like, that's great. I get that. The parents that are like, nah, they're probably fine. Man, I got nothing for you. I want to optimize. And this conversation I had yesterday with this professor and he's's a really, really good guy, and I'm thankful for him. But the whole concept of yes and, he's like, yes, parents, of course, parents should educate.
Starting point is 00:35:13 But they can still go to public school and then do other things when they get home. Okay, sure, you can. You can play the game that way. Also, I could send my kid to McDonald's for two meals a day and then offset it by having them come home and have a really good, healthy meal. Right. But you and I both know that's not the way it works, man. You're poisoning them a little bit here and then help. Like it doesn't like counteract it. That's not the way it works. So that's my, that's my issue with that mentality is that you're like, all right, I'm going to go here where the habits are obedience, blind obedience. The habits are
Starting point is 00:35:50 being around, you know, some in a socially funky system that doesn't get mimicked anywhere else. The habit is I'm going to hand the pen over to somebody else to write my story for me, tell me what to do, when to do it. This is important. And by the way, this is prescribed for every single human across the board, which is apeshit crazy on its face anyways. Like, dude, I'm not good with those habits and then bringing them home, right? So let's make a system that is a microcosm of what the world actually wants. And let's make sure mom and dad are on the same journey, right? So we talk a lot about like meta skills. What are meta skills? Meta skills are things that are always going to matter for all humans at all times. There's actually not that many. And even as the
Starting point is 00:36:29 world changes, these things are going to matter. It's going to matter to be able to collaborate and have good conversations. Like what does that actually mean to be able to communicate? Like we actually have to define that. What does good communication look like? What is the purpose of it? Because that's always going to matter, no matter what's going on. Our physical bodies are going to matter. Our health, our physical health, that's always going to matter. Okay, cool. Well, then we need to make that a tenant of what we are doing and how we are doing that. What are those meta skills? So our campuses, the individual verticals of the mentorship programs and how those all come together. They're based around those metaskills, Socratic conversations and logic and debate and
Starting point is 00:37:10 rhetoric, actually looking at what critical thinking is. Schools love to say it. We're making critical thinkers, are you? Okay, cool. Critical thinking means you're thinking about your thinking. You're actually earning the right to have an opinion because you can argue against yourself better than anybody else can. You can take a look at your own views and go, here's how I could dissect that a little bit and actually counter like you're willing to do that. And you're brave enough to change your mind if you got new evidence around something. That's what critical thinking looks like. We're not doing that in schools, but that's a tenant of what we're building into all of our programs. So that critical thinking, the speech, the debate, the physiology, the physical side of things, making sure we understand intentionality around physical health, processes and themes around projects, big projects, actually solving real world problems that matter, entrepreneurship, apprenticeships, getting out in the real world, having jobs on campus, operating with an economy on campus. All of these systems are directly transferable to the game that they're going to be playing when they're done.
Starting point is 00:38:18 This will be the first year that we've opened the floodgates to affiliates. With year one of a school that then we transitioned into this model. So as Matt just explained some of the characteristics that are in this approach to, I hate using the word education because it's just raising children to be what their potential could be. And I guess that's what education is supposed to be, but it just isn't.
Starting point is 00:38:48 So we had a very shared perspective as to what some of those characteristics should look like. Matt, while currently running a brick-and-mortar school in Cedar Park, Apogee Cedar Park, Matt launches online mentorship, first with young men, then dads, now with women. And for the entire network of first affiliate schools that are gonna be opening, all of those of the hundreds and hundreds of people that applied to open one,
Starting point is 00:39:20 and I love you guys, I love the passion. We just had to be super, not controlling, but precise and exacting in who these first locations were. So we had to pick from people that we knew really, really, really well and had high confidence that they understood the mission so that we didn't have to hold the reins to each of these locations so that we could hand them off with confidence and they could have sovereignty. And that's the object, that's the goal, that's the mission is each of these locations could have complete sovereignty
Starting point is 00:39:51 over their own lives, their family's lives and their own education. So those initial schools were picked from the mentorship population. And then as we're moving into now looking at who's gonna be opening the next schools in 25, it's going to be probably four, five, six X. And again, we're going back to that same well and choosing from people that we know and have high confidence in their understanding of these values, this perspective, and this mission. Yeah, it's a big one. Hannah had asked you, how do you make sure the people that you're bringing in are of like mind? From a teacher standpoint, you talked about year one, having to get rid of quite a few teachers that wanted to teach rather
Starting point is 00:40:37 than guide. And from a parenting standpoint, like, all right, I want my kid to have this school for X, Y, and Z. And then there's a whole host of other things that the parents into that you're like, this, that actually doesn't fit, you know, figuring that out. You know, how do you figure that out when you're curating these things? And I think you alluded to that just now by hand selecting the best of the best that have come through. Cause you understand these are people of like mind that want the same things to go to their kids. They want the same things from the environment that they want to create the container that they're setting. Um, I think it's worth breaking that down though. You know, like, like talk a bit about what you've learned from year one through
Starting point is 00:41:15 year three and, and, um, and, and some of the criteria, you know, cause we, we just, I'll give you an example. We went to, um, it's a guy here. I want you to meet in Lockhart. That's awesome. He was a principal for a while. Great dude. Um, talked about, you know, he's wanting to open in his own school. And, um, of the people who came, half of them seemed like they knew what they're talking about. And quite a few of them weren't parents, which was, which was odd to me. And then there was a few that, you know, like if you go on their Instagram, they're, they're, they're supporting certain things that I'm like, why, but why do you want this then? You know, like why this, you should seem fine with public school with what you're supporting right now.
Starting point is 00:41:52 Yeah. Yeah. That, that process, man, is so what you just said, that process is so dang important in this, you know, I'm not going to pretend like there's any such thing as a panacea for this. If there was, well then hiring would never be an issue. Dating would never be a thing, right? Like you just automatically, you know who the right, but we're going to get pretty dang close because we're coming around shared values and proof of said shared values.
Starting point is 00:42:18 What you just said right there, you know, people can speak it. Great. Living it is different. That's why coming through the mentorship program over the, over the course of, you know, we work with these men and women for at least a year, you get to know them really dang well. You get to see what goes on. I get to talk to, Hey, I've got Kyle saying this and that's great. And then I get a conversation with Kyle's wife and I know if this is real, right. And I see what's going on in the community. So we're going to get as close as we can through shared experiences and conversations around that. But we come together around this Apogee code. So like when
Starting point is 00:42:53 we have this next batch of families that are potentially looking at opening these campuses, we haven't even posted this on social. I'm going to post this on social media here. I'll tag you, Tim, too. We haven't even posted this on social media I'm going to post this on social media here. I'll tag you, Tim, too. We haven't even posted this on social media. We've just done this internally and said, all right, we're taking a look for the next potential batch for 2025. We're going to do a discovery call. We're going to start the dating process this coming Friday. We already have 350 people registered just for that damn call. Damn.
Starting point is 00:43:20 Yes, sir. That's this coming Friday. I haven't posted on social. There's been no call to action. It's a movement. Very much. We have to go through this dating process. I tell the story of this young lady man that I had the good fortune of going out on a date with when I was a young buck going to Chico State since we're California guys. We all know So I went to Chico State for my undergrad, right? So yes, sir. So we're out there in Chico and I'd been wanting to go out with this girl for a while.
Starting point is 00:43:54 So I asked her out and we get to Madison Bear Gardens. We go there to hang out and she goes, all right, look, if we're going to do this, I want to be right up front with you. And she goes, she starts laying this stuff out. She's like, I love country music. I don't listen to anything else. She goes, I absolutely love any of the pageants, like the Miss America pageants and all. She goes, I love those. And I would expect you, if we're together, I would expect you to watch every single one of these with me. And when it's time for the Grammys or the Oscars or whatever, I don't know, one of those things, she's like, I straight up dress up and we do dress up like, like gowns, formal, and we're going to watch it like that. She threw it out there. Right. And I'm like,
Starting point is 00:44:33 dude, you are so rad for telling me that I'm like, here's 20 bucks. Enjoy your burger. Like, see you later. Like this shit's not going to work. It's not going to happen, but I'm grateful because you told me right up front. Yeah. Right. I'm out of here. Um, and she's, she's an awesome human. God bless her. And I think she's married and has some chump that's falling. No, I'm just kidding. No, that's some guy dressed to the nines on Oscar night. But I appreciate that. We're very much doing the same thing up front. Hey, look, here's who we are. Here's who we're not. Here's what we are going to provide. Here's what we're very much doing the same thing up front. Hey, look, here's who we are. Here's who we're not. Here's what we are going to provide. Here's what we're going to do. Here is the mission.
Starting point is 00:45:10 Here is where we're going. This is something that is going to be like, this is a boundary. We're not doing the, we're not going to pretend boys are girls and girls are boys. We're not going to pretend like we're here. There's some boundaries on some things, right? Here you go. And either that makes sense or it doesn't. we're going to disagree on all kinds of things from human to human in there. That's okay. But do you come together around what we call the, you know, the Apogee code, which is really the Bushido code, right? Politeness and loyalty and honor and respect and, and honesty, encouraging consistency, like those things. Do we agree there? Do we agree on the mission? Cool. Let's continue to go forward. And I'll show
Starting point is 00:45:46 you proof from Tim and I on how that happens. You show us proof too. And then if we can both agree and high five, cool, let's move forward. There's Angela's TED talk. She was talking about grit. And the APA did a study, American Psychology Association, on the predictor of success in life. They first looked at, they didn't move to characteristics. They were looking at culture, race, religion, IQ, grades as predictors of success. Meh, none of them could predict success.
Starting point is 00:46:23 All of them were flawed and nobody, and special forces selection. When somebody shows up to selection to Navy SEALs during hell week, there's no way that you can look across these people and be like, you know what? That guy has this thing. They found that the best predictor was grit. This weird word, grit. Grit is your ability to overcome adversity, to look at a challenge and tough and be resilient and push your way through it. And entrepreneurs have it, the most successful business leaders,
Starting point is 00:46:54 CEOs on the planet have it. And it is not gonna be given to you when somebody hands you all of the things and the system and a process and forces you to be a subject under the system and the end result of you being given the exact pencil, the seat to sit, the desk to sit, the paper to use, the way that you're going to look at this test, the way that you're going to understand the material that's being presented to you, the system and the process in which they're going to educate you with, the way that you're going to understand the material that's being presented to you, the system and the process in which they're going to educate you with,
Starting point is 00:47:25 the way that you're going to walk down the line, the way that you're going to get your food. And then at the end of all of that, you're going to have grit? No, you're going to be a lemming. And so if this is going to be our predictor, and as Matt was explaining, you have to abide by the code first. You have to believe in that. You have to understand the mission and the value.
Starting point is 00:47:47 And truthfully, I want imperfection in the system. I want not just a school, but on the individual level, I want Bear to be like, what do you mean you're not gonna tell me what to do? I'm like, no, no, I'm gonna give you the task, condition, and standard. I'm gonna say, you need to go and do this thing. Here's the thing to go and do it with.
Starting point is 00:48:04 Figure it out, boy. You know, like, good luck. Better swear to you. And off he goes. Is he going to go figure that out? Yes, he is. Because that little dude has grit. He's tough. And just like my kids and just like the kids in our school, like those little heroes, at this juncture, they are starving for challenges. They're just like, give me something. Cause, and the, the brilliance and genius of the way that they figure out, especially as this hive mind that they are now, like Matt, you did not warn me what happens in those studios when those kids have created like their own systems and their own processes and their own problem solving and their own hierarchy. And like the guys in me have like almost no authority
Starting point is 00:48:46 in that room. You didn't warn me about that, bro. Could have told me that this is what happens. Cannot be stopped. They will like, they will solve anything. They will fix any problem and they will overcome any adversity. And that happens through this process
Starting point is 00:49:01 and it gives them grit. Worst thing that we can do is tie our kids' shoes, right? Like we take from them the opportunity to learn and address a challenge. No, they're not, cool, they're three. It's too hard. Cool, make them practice, you know? And don't get them the Velcro shoes.
Starting point is 00:49:22 Do it at two, that's fine. But at three, four, let them figure out that they Don't do it at two. That's fine but at three four Let them figure out that they can't do this thing and they're frustrated and they're laces and they're tripping and they're trying to tie it And then it's in a knot and then by four they do it the first time they didn't do it Perfect, but they did it Right, whether you're using the big loop in the little loop or you're going around the it doesn't matter They did it themselves and then you gave them this nugget, this opportunity to do something challenging
Starting point is 00:49:47 and that's theirs now. Yes, the small motor function. Yes, like intellectually that they were challenged and overcame this adversity, but you've just given them something that you can't take from them, which is they overcame adversity. They got a little bit of grit.
Starting point is 00:50:04 Or tie their shoes until they're eight. So good, man. And that, and, and Hey, here's the thing too. Kyle can give bear that directive and go, man, you're going to, you're going to tie it because we have grit. This is what we do in the Kingsbury household. This is what it looks like. And then as soon as bear hears Kyle go, ah, I can't because this person won't let me because I'm not going to push through. Ah, guess what? That's right. That's what, that's what he absorbs because he's going to become who you are before he does what you say. So he's watching that. So part of this whole grit conversation for the parents listening is understanding that it starts and ends with you doing that,
Starting point is 00:50:46 being that, like you have to be that example. That's why we're so intentional about the parents going to like parents get educated too in our school. Yeah. The young men and women are going to go to our campuses and mom and dad go through Apogee man and Apogee woman, because we do not want to disconnect. We don't want to talk about grit and growth and perseverance and consistency and embracing the suck and finding solutions and then going home to a family who has none of that going on. Right. And people, yeah, because we, no, we don't lose. The kid loses. The young person loses in that scenario. They're the one that loses because there's a disconnect. Right. So that's why it's, it's so fricking, so fricking important, man, for mom and dad to,
Starting point is 00:51:33 to embrace that and go through no other way to do it. My Rolo, my nine-year-old, he and I were talking about good and evil, good, good guys and bad guys, you know, and he's, and you know, we're, we're not what we say we are, what we do. And you know, our kids see everything. There, there's no way that they're the most, the most brilliant minds and at, especially developmentally, they're absorbing everything that you, that you most importantly do and demonstrate. You know, they don't, you don't say, Hey, okay, you're going to take this loop. You're going to wrap around this loop. Then you're going to take these two ears and then you're going to take the big ear around the little ear and then you're going to pull it. And that's how you tie a shoe, right? That's the words of it. They don't do that. You sit down and you show
Starting point is 00:52:15 that they watch you do it to your shoe. And then they learn how to tie a shoe. Similarly, like, no, be nice to women, speak kind to them, show them grace. We are big and strong and powerful. Yet you then use a heavy hand with your wife or you use a harsh word to her in front of your son. You just showed him what it looks like. You are what you do. And that is how you're teaching and raising them. So, and you are, none of us are perfect.
Starting point is 00:52:47 And that's okay. All of us are broken and that's okay. We're all in this together, but you have to be aware. And that is why it is so important. And that is why it is part of this Apogee process that the whole family has to be on board, right? It's not one dad sitting there rowing and the kids are sitting in the back. It's like, everybody has an oar and everybody has a position and everybody
Starting point is 00:53:10 has a place. And with that, the boat's going in the right direction, you know, and we're headed towards Valhalla. I love that. Talk about, I wanted you guys to break down to some of the entrepreneurship skills that you guys have done where there are winners and losers, right? And maybe not winners and losers in the long term, but in the game, you got to win and loss, right? And we've seen it with the removal of physical activity in schools. You know, maybe it's by design, but nefariously, or, you know, you create games where you don't keep track of the score anymore. It's like, what the fuck is the point? Kids want to know how much they scored. They want to know who won. They want to know.
Starting point is 00:53:47 They want it. That's why they're fucking playing the game. They want to win. And wins and losses are so important for kids to have because that actually does translate to the real world. There are wins and losses in business. There are wins and losses. People get fucking fired and let go.
Starting point is 00:54:00 You know, you have marriages that don't work. That's a loss. It's a loss for two people, right? And they got to move on and figure out a way to pick up from where they were and start something new. Uh, hearing you talk a bit about the entrepreneurship activities was, was awesome to hear how well the people who did well, but to hear about the kids that didn't do well was even better. Yeah. Um, you know, Matt, Matt has done this long time longer than me. I got, I mean, a million stories around this very thing, but I mean, that is,
Starting point is 00:54:30 we take a look every year at the, at the overarching, uh, journey for these young people, you know, specifically on these campuses and there's entrepreneurial endeavors, sales, marketing. There are all these, you all these competitions that are internal, just even in the verticals for our young men too, but on the campuses, man, the one constant project every year, year over year is the entrepreneurship project. You are starting a new business or taking your existing business into perpetuity every single year across the board, five to 18, doesn't matter. Like that is the one thing, because there are so many life lessons, so many skills there.
Starting point is 00:55:09 And so one of the things that we built in, in some of the campuses that I have designed before, and we are doing this this year as well, is we actually have a pre-entrepreneurship challenge where you're building a mock business first. And so then you're going to compete around this mock business. You're going to learn to read a P&L. You're going to learn to create a pitch for how much money you're going to need. And you're going to there is going to get a leg up when we go into the next session, which is you actually are bringing a product or service to market. You're actually going to launch a business. We're going to have a business fair, and you're going to get some advantages, including what is the space?
Starting point is 00:56:00 What is the amount of time? We're going to have the news come in, and we're actually having your business come in and be the one that gets promoted because you won the pitch contest too. So how is that going to play? And then we'll track like, how did that progress go? Who got, you know, how much money did you actually make there? And then even for those that didn't win that, okay, cool. Well, Susie had a, a cookie business and, and so did Sally. And Sally made 10 times the amount. Why? Let's go back and reflect. What was that? Why did you make so much more than those kind of things matter? My own kids went through the process of realizing a couple of things. They did a very product-based service at one point and they didn't make very much money at all. And my oldest daughter,
Starting point is 00:56:43 who's built very much like me from a mental standpoint, was like, this sucks. I do not like losing. So next, I saw how much money they made. They made $500 on that Saturday. Nope. Okay. I want to buy a horse. I want to buy a horse. So next time she created something that was a digital product that not only could people could buy something there, but she was able to market it outside. My daughters bought horses at nine and seven. Damn. They bought the horses. Now dad had to figure out a place in California to hold a freaking horse or two, but they bought the damn horses, man. Right. And so then the next time they're like, Ooh, okay, cool. we got a taste of that how do we now hire somebody to less like this so they started but it they got fueled because first they got their ass kicked right and we've seen that for so many young people but win or lose those skills
Starting point is 00:57:37 again directly transferable man in the school side by, you have somebody that takes a, you know, during one of our sessions and we break our school year, our year round school into these sessions. And there's like an object, there's this objective during the session. Sometimes, you know, it's astrology. Sometimes it's, you know, learning as we just had the solar eclipse here. You know, we had a session that led up to it and Roka came in, everybody got cool glasses and we had no school that day. Everybody's job was to go and experience
Starting point is 00:58:15 this crazy total eclipse of the sun. Learn what happens with the, what do your chickens do? They got quiet. They got quiet as if it was nighttime and they're putting themselves up. The crickets started chirping. The birds got really loud.
Starting point is 00:58:31 And then they went silent. All the sheep laid down. Yeah, it was in the middle of the day, one o'clock in the afternoon. It was fascinating. And we knew it was going to happen. And then to see it real time, like leading up to that,
Starting point is 00:58:43 like the apogee, the crescendo, the climax, the whole entire thing was to see this total eclipse. But they got to learn leading all the way up to it. Cool. That was that session. Well, during the entrepreneurial sessions, we'll go and have a business fair, whether we're going to be at a farmer's market or we're going to be going to a specific business sales opportunity for young entrepreneurs, like a lot of different ways to play that. But this last one, we went to a farmer's market and while we've been now doing this for two years, there've been a lot of lessons learned. And it's really cool to see these heroes in the studio as a new person is coming into the studio and a young, a young mind's like, Hey, I'm going to do this thing. And all of them descend on them like, bro, that's not going to work.
Starting point is 00:59:26 But last year it was the coolest because they only had one year as their sample data population to look to. And Susie had this product and Jimmy had this product. Jimmy put in minimal effort, took it to sell, and he sold nothing. He had pieces of wood that he had shaped into guns and nobody bought them. It was pieces of sticks that he took from the backyard.
Starting point is 00:59:51 Susie had really beautifully and geniusly created these little micro things like kinetic sand. This other kid used the annual drops of all of the horns and antlers on his property and created like dog treats that he soaked in bone broth and he's selling and they're like, my dogs love them. We buy them, son of a gun. But in each of them, the time that Jimmy didn't sell and he was really, really embarrassed and Susie was crazy successful and the parents were brave enough to let Jimmy fail, they could have tied his shoes for him. They could have told him that nobody was
Starting point is 01:00:38 going to buy his thing. And credit to Michelle and Lauren and to the guides in the studio. They're like, no, just let it happen. Let him learn. He's not gonna come home with a star on the fridge every single day about how great Jimmy did at school. He's gonna come home with a super pouty face. He's gonna be embarrassed. He's gonna be pissed.
Starting point is 01:01:00 And he's gonna be a force to be reckoned with with his next product. But without the shame and the humiliation that goes along with the losing, like, do you remember not having your hand raised and standing in front of thousands of people? Yeah, I remember that pretty intimately. That's a pretty compelling, powerful motivator. We steal that from our kids. Shame on us. We steal that from them in school. We steal that from them in sports when we don't let them compete for a medal. When we say everybody did the same, we took that opportunity from them. There's no other way for them to learn it besides in play. And this is the time of life, you know, from like three to 18. This is play.
Starting point is 01:01:46 Like we are giving them the opportunity to give them the tools to learn grit and perseverance and resilience and creativity and collaboration and critical thinking. And this is that window for us to do that. And they do it at play. They do it in sports. They do it in school. And we just keep stealing everything from them, whether it's intentional or not. Like that's conspiratorial and we can spend times talking
Starting point is 01:02:09 about it. Maybe, maybe not podcast, you know, you know, but ultimately it's been stolen from them. And, and this is a way to give it back, but you got to take it back. Nobody's giving it back to you. The school is not going to be like, all right, here's your kids back. You can create a brilliant genius to go and change the world. Now you're going to have to fight for them. You know, like nobody's going to thank God. Some of these States are starting to do school vouchers and school choice and the money's going to follow the kids, but it's not there yet. Like Texas still hasn't got there. I think it's going to happen this year. I really believe it's going to happen this year. And that is just the tip of the iceberg of what should happen, which is all of the authority, which is money
Starting point is 01:02:48 and power should be given back to the parents about what is best for our children. 100%. I agree with that entirely. Have you guys noticed anything in your opening of schools where different states have different holes to jump through Like one of the reasons we left the state of California in 2017, Bear was a newborn, but they had just passed SB 272 or 277 that was mandatory vaccines for all kids in any education system. And I was like, I don't know what we're going to do. We haven't done it yet, but I don't want you to fucking tell me what to do. We're out of here. You know, and since then, you know,. And since then, our kids have thankfully never, never had that medicine, don't need that medicine, are perfectly healthy. And if you go that route,
Starting point is 01:03:30 totally cool, but it should be up to you. It shouldn't be the fucking government telling you what they have to do. Texas, from a homeschool or unschool standpoint, we have the ability to allow our kids to learn at the pace that they want. You know, we don't have to force them into a fucking pigeonhole of, you need to know this at six, this at seven, this at eight. And I know that is an issue for people in California or can be. So I'm just wondering, you know, like you guys have more success in different places than others in terms of opening these schools. And it's, you just got to know how to play the game. Right. I mean, that's, and that's, I'm very open and honest with all of our affiliate owners that that's what it
Starting point is 01:04:05 is. So yes, there is a different game to be played in every state. And Hey, by the way, the game for our affiliate that's opening in Vancouver, it looks a little different too. And by the way, the affiliate that's opening in Australia, it looks a little different for him. So it's all about understanding the game that is there. So, you know, when we have our affiliates and we go through that dating process and we figured okay he would you know these are the men and the
Starting point is 01:04:29 women that we're going to work with part of what we do after that is we go through a very specific training like they go through and it's not a training on you know again we agree on the apogee code like that's where we all come together right everything we are doing from the development of all the curriculum to the training of everything from the pedagogical side, but as well as from the business side and the operational side, it is best suggestions we can muster, right? Like that's how we're taking it. It's like, look, this is the best we can see it.
Starting point is 01:04:59 This is what we would do. And this is what we're laying out. Now, again, we want you to have intellectual freedom. We want you to have sovereignty. So take that, pick it apart, figure out what you want to do, play the game in your community, but we'll walk them through to, okay, here is your state. Your state says this. So do you want to operate as an official private school? Do you want to operate as a homeschool co-op? What does that mean in terms of finding a space, in terms of finding a location, right? In terms of what you can and cannot do in your particular county. We help them navigate that so that they can make the best possible decision. And the best possible decision is the one that ultimately has them not have to worry about
Starting point is 01:05:39 playing that freaking game. We want them to get past this part as quickly as you can so that you can do what you're here to do, which is to serve those families. I launched three campuses in California after SB 277, partially because I understand the game. So I knew exactly how to launch because my kids weren't going to be taking these medicines either. And I knew that was coming before SB 277 came. Obviously nobody could have predicted the whole COVID thing, but it didn't matter. We had set ourselves up in a way where not only did we not have to ask the families for that, we didn't shut down anything. And Newsom sent his little person at the time to one of my campuses. And I was like, Amy, I'm so glad you're
Starting point is 01:06:20 here. Thank you. I know you're here because you care about the kids. I think I heard you say something about closing down, and that's cute. But here's why we don't have to. I actually prepared something for you. Here you go. Enjoy yourself. And she was gone, right? And we had the police force was there, like, in our parking lot every day, just like, hell, yeah, thumbs up. Like, way to go.
Starting point is 01:06:38 So good. This is great. The kids need. So everybody else was shutting down. We expanded. Like, we had more kids, more families, more campuses. So everybody else was shutting down. We expanded, like we had more, more kids, more families, more campuses. So every state has a game. Yeah. We do have to pay attention to the game. Um, but we don't have to do it. That's, that's just, I think that was like a heartwarming
Starting point is 01:06:57 story hearing that, you know, it's just like, it's, it was so heartbreaking to know, uh, the, you know, we still don't even know to the fullness of the impact of what it meant to force masks on kids for that long, to shut kids down. I don't know a lot of people that went through it, but for the kids that had online education and then the parents had to sign a waiver to not watch what they were being taught,
Starting point is 01:07:22 I mean, that's fucking mind-blowing, but totally real. That's not like hearsay. Like that actually happened in quite a few places. I'm not letting people off the hook either. I know it's three years past now and we're supposed to forgive and forget, but I was like, no, no, you did evil.
Starting point is 01:07:40 You hurt kids. You put kids on a trajectory of depression, suicide, questioning their identity, non-productivity. None of them can find jobs. Lowest, highest unemployment rate for kids graduating from college post COVID. Lowest sex drive. That's right. Kids are fucking young people aren't having sex. Like that, that should be like their first indicator. Everything that young people should be doing, they aren't doing. And it's a direct reflection of what happened. And I think in a few years from now,
Starting point is 01:08:13 we're going to be looking back at the Fauci's as truly criminals. But right now, let's call a spade a spade and recognize that there was a serious problem that devastated children and lives and homes and be like, okay, what's the solution? Let's just be solution oriented and be like, that's not going to happen again. This is what good looks like. If that's what bad looks like, good looks like free. Free looks outdoors, plain, challenging, adaptive, problem-solving. That looks good. Cool. Let's
Starting point is 01:08:47 do those things and make sure that we never go down this dangerous road again and make sure that we can afford, as Matt says, he was a master of playing the game. I unfortunately had not connected with him while I was opening my own school. So all of the things that our campuses, these affiliates, I say, we use our in the wrong way. I want to make sure everybody understands these are not ours. These are theirs. This is a hundred percent theirs. They're the ones we're giving them tools. Matt is mentoring them. We're giving them problems that we solved and have experienced personally. And then there's a hive mind, a collective mind that are experiencing all of these struggles together and problem solving together as you should. But like, they're doing their own thing and we're just there to help them.
Starting point is 01:09:33 I didn't have him and I didn't have this community and I didn't have this network and I didn't have his mentorship. And I went, I opened in the wrong location and I hired the wrong people. And I did my books the wrong way. Like I have ran a dozen businesses, a dozen multimillion dollar businesses. I can run a school. I'm smart. I can do anything. Oh, the arrogance of this idiot as I now meet him like, where were you three years ago, man? You could save me from so much. But now all of the, again, like this is a micro case study for me. And this is like the best example of like, I got to make all of the mistakes. And now we can take all of those mistakes and be like, okay, this is not, this is what you don't do.
Starting point is 01:10:19 And then we get to give that to all the affiliates and all the owners. That's it, man. That's it. And we'll still mess that up. Yeah, for sure. We'll still make some mistakes. And we'll still mess stuff up. Yeah, for sure. We'll still make some mistakes. More so than others. That's something I love from Alan Savory's work.
Starting point is 01:10:31 It's called Holistic Management, and it's regarding regenerative agriculture. And he says, you make a plan. Number two is expect the plan to go wrong. Three, you observe the plan in action. Four, you re-engineer a new plan because it went wrong and you observed how it went wrong. And now you have a new thing on repeat for infinity. And I love that because it applies to literally everything. Dude, that's called education,
Starting point is 01:10:54 right? That's called growth. That's called learning. That's called like, that's how it works. I mean, that's it. That is, I mean, it's essentially, that's a scientific method, right? Until something becomes observable and repeatable, you just keep going, okay, new hypothesis, let's test it. Let's go over here. Like that's, that's what you want. You got to be curious enough to go, okay, well, why did something go wrong? Right. And you got to be brave enough to now go forward and make a, make a change. And that's, those are the two things that stick most people, but that's it. That's the recipe. So beautiful. It's been fucking awesome having you guys on here. If people are interested in this, I know you've got a long ass wait list and whatnot,
Starting point is 01:11:33 but where could people sign up to be a part of the mentorship program? Even if they're just maybe not interested in starting a school yet, but just want to get their feet in as a father or a mother to be a better parent, to be able to bring some of these tenants home to their family and start to have, you know, just a deeper connection with their kids in the hands in the education. ApigeeStrong.com. If you're looking for a location, there's a map that shows where all the schools are at right now. You know, there's 51, um, next year, you know, there's going to be 400, maybe, you know, like we're as, as fast as, as we can scale. Um, you know, we, we want to be able to hand reins off to people, but if you're looking at, if we're wanting to open a school, you know, people all the time are like, Hey, why don't you open a school? I'm like,
Starting point is 01:12:17 ah, you've already missed it, man. That's not how this works. It's why don't you open a school? I'm not opening a school for you. Like you've recognized that there's a problem. That's why you came to me. Now that you've recognized the problem, what is your solution? I will give you, I will help you with that, but I'm not opening a school for you. You're going to do it yourself
Starting point is 01:12:34 because that's the right thing to do for your kids. And if you don't want to do that, this is not the thing for you. And if that definitely resonated, go to apogestrong.com and start going through the mentorship program. So you understand these key values and characteristics that are part of the code. Then man, change the world. Yep. That's it, man. That's, that's it. And you go, there's a
Starting point is 01:12:56 little mini documentary there about what we're doing. You can see each vertical that stands alone. If you want it to stand on, if you just want to go, you know, it's just a dad right now, just a mom right now. But again, all all of it ties together they're all separate fingers on the same hand that's grasping freedom right that's that's that's how we look at it man so that's where to go um and if somebody's interested in uh jumping in that school process yeah you'll want to at least just start that dating process sooner rather than later because we've got a lot to filter through it's a good problem man so good well i'm fucking in i'll start the dating process sooner rather than later because we've got a lot to filter through it's a good problem man so good well i'm fucking in i'll start the dating process love you matt thank you brother it's been so great having y'all Thank you.

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