Right About Now with Ryan Alford - The Best of Motivational Business Stories with Michael Bayer, Bobby Maximus, William King Hollis, and Cody Byrns

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

Welcome to The Radcast, where we bring you the latest and greatest from the most successful and motivational entrepreneurs out there! This episode features a star-studded lineup of guests, including international speaker and bestselling author Cody Byrns, fitness expert and speaker Bobby Maximus, transformational coach and bestselling author William King Hollis, and two-time New York Times best-selling author and founder of Cast Centers, Mike Bayer.Get ready to learn from the best as these incredible entrepreneurs share their secrets of success and teach us the power of proper motivation. Whether you're an aspiring business owner or simply looking to up your game, this is an episode packed with inspiration and actionable takeaways you won't want to miss. So tune in, listen, and get inspired!Key notes from the episode:Bobby Maximus emphasizes the importance of self-care and realistic goal-setting in order to reach his ultimate goal of helping as many people as possible. (00:16)Mike Bayer helps people overcome addiction, depression and anxiety through becoming centered and identifying their best selves. (10:00)William King Hollins discusses the power of dreams and motivation, drawing inspiration from influential figures in order to create unity throughout the world by involving people in wholehearted activities. (22:34)Following a life-threatening car accident, Cody Burns embraced hardship and used his experiences to inspire others through motivational speaking, juggling, and comedy. (33:28)This episode is packed with information, wisdom, and passion and we know you will get a ton of value from this.To keep up with Michael Bayer, follow him on Instagram @coachmikebayer and his website https://castcenters.com/To keep up with Bobby Maximus, follow him on Instagram @bobbymaximus and his website https://teams.joinladder.com/program/bobby-joeTo keep up with William King Hollis, follow him on Instagram @williamkinghollis and his website https://www.kinghollisspeaks.com/To keep up with Cody Byrns, follow him on Instagram @thecodyburns and his website http://codybyrns.com/Subscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RadicalHomeofTheRadcastIf you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, Like, Share, and leave us a review!  If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

You're listening to The Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. We're getting fit today, folks. I'm joined by Bobby Maximus, fitness expert, author, speaker, just a badass, rad-ass dude. What's up, Bobby? How you doing today? I'm great, man. Really appreciate you joining us. You've got a lot, you're at Men's Health, you write for, write, speak, you do a lot of things that are out there and everybody can find. We'll tell everybody where to find you here as we roll into the podcast. Yeah, so I always joke that I'm a seven-year-old with a credit card. And I say that because I'm basically living a dream come true. If you would have asked me 20 years ago, if I would be doing what I am

now, I would have told you it's not possible. But through a series of fortunate events, I guess, and the way the world's unfolded, frankly, like Instagram's helped me a lot. Facebook has helped me a lot. You know, got to give a shout out to MySpace back in the day, helped me a lot. Like build a platform to where I am now. I grew up in a very blue collar environment. My dad drove a train for a living. My mom was a nurse in a small town, lived in a town of what, 1800 people, grew up very humbly.

You know, we didn't have a lot. And I was bullied fairly heavily until I was 15, 16 years old. It culminated for me in an incident where four kids beat me up and broke my collarbone. And it left me kind of scared and feeling helpless. Anyway, when that collarbone broke, something snapped inside me. I didn't want that to happen anymore. Started trying out for sports teams, could not make the basketball team. Could not make the football team. Could not make the soccer team. I couldn't skate. Couldn't play hockey. But the wrestling team didn't have cuts. So I started wrestling. Exercise really changed my life. Without exercise, I wouldn't be where I am.

Maybe I can help people through exercise. And earlier on, I talked about liking MySpace and Instagram. It was kind of the dawn of that social media, internet, website world where now you weren't just a trainer in a small little box working for 80 bucks an hour. You could actually reach a lot of people. It was the experiences I had fighting, the psychological battles, the wins, the losses, the failures, the successes that set the table for me helping other people right now. So it was like really good on the job training for what I do now. I don't think fighting is unique or special because you got to understand as a fighter,

we're desensitized to that like you might look at a fight as throwing punches and stuff me i look at throwing a punch like someone would look at kicking a soccer ball or stick handling hockey more scientifically if you will or strategically it's part of what you have to do but i don't think your average person understands the pressure of what a professional athlete is under. You know, a lot of body weight type things, and you have spoken about that. I mean, is that part of the foundation of simplicity of what you can get done without a lot of complex machines? You know, the reality is, is the pandemic really helped me cement that because all of a sudden there were a bunch of people that had to figure out how to work out

at home and they didn't have a gym anymore. You know, for a while I was aiming to more of the people that had access to all the equipment and stuff. And when the pandemic hit, it was, you know, for me, like here, I've been doing all this body weight stuff my whole life. This is a perfect time to show people what's up with it. I do see that you incorporate a lot of mindset stuff, you know, because it seems, and I think that's really smart. And I think that's the bigger challenge with people is the mental challenge as much as the physical. I mean, we think we try to overcomplicate things, but a lot of it's up here, right? 100%. The mindset is everything. And to give you an example of what I just talked about with

simplifying things, if all you did was work out twice a day, every day, you treated it like brushing your teeth. That's what I call it. You brush your teeth twice a day, every day. You treated it like brushing your teeth. That's what I call it. You brush your teeth twice a day, sometimes three times a day. You should work out two or three times a day. It's just self-care. If you woke up and just did randomized stuff in the morning for an hour, it actually went at it hard and did that at night, you'd be one of the fittest people on the planet.

That's just a fact. The physical part of doing that is not actually difficult. It's just showing up and doing it. But the mental aspect of showing up every single day, twice a day for my case, 27 years, that's what crushes normal people. And that's why they're not successful. They don't have the mental willpower, the capacity, the obsession, the self-love to even begin to understand what that looks like. Is it just some people that are never going to get over that hurdle? Or do you feel like in the coaching that you do and working with people and what you see, can anyone change?

Or are we truly, some of us just completely screwed? Out of a hundred people, there are 10 who just do the right thing all the time. It's probably actually less than 10. It's probably one or two, but just are wired for success and they want to be excellent in every area of their lives. Then on the other hand, you probably have 10 or 20 people that will never accomplish anything and they are beyond help. Then there's a whole bunch of people in the middle and they can go either way depending who they're exposed to, who they're around, what hand life deals them. I think they can be influenced by a multitude of factors. There's no supplement for bad food, shitty work ethic, or a lack of

sleep. If those things are not in place, supplements are not for you. You need to get that through your head. The reality is supplements may help you. The number, depending on the day you ask me, changes, but it might help you 1%. It might help you 2%. It might help you 5%, provided those other things are in order. So I just got to make that clear. Don't think you're just going to go to the first forum website or you're going to go to whoever else you're going to go to and you're just going to buy a bunch of stuff and magically you're going to wake up looking like Dwayne Johnson. Like that's just not going to happen. For you, the business of training, online training, the marketing of your business. I'd love to get some insight, you know, like how it has changed that, how it's opened

things up and you know, what, what does the, your business look like? In terms of my business as a whole, my goal is to be as authentic as humanly possible. I'm a real person and I want to humanize myself to show you guys that I have the same struggles that other people do. I don't just work out in a gym all day. And I think for a while, that's how the fitness industry was marketed. Like anyone who was fit was this vision of perfection that just didn't have a real life, that only ate broccoli and chicken breast and just worked out like a machine all day. And it's interesting with social media because different people, some people do better on Twitter. Some people do better on Twitter. Some people do better on,

on Instagram. Some people do better on Facebook. I'm an Instagram guy. I love Instagram and it works the best for me. I do email, uh, probably about once a week. I have an email base, uh, website, and then the whole thing with marketing. And I'll say this as bluntly as possible, the best marketing on the planet is to just become as famous as. Just facts. Like, here I am putting out all this content. It's great stuff. I'm writing for Men's Health. I'm doing emails.

I teach seminars, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I have a fair size following. If I could become a movie star, oh my God, I would have 30 million followers. You turn that attention into scalable businesses and different things that leverage the audience. Build the audience and then you build the business. Bobby, what's the future hold for you, brother? What are some of your goals? I mean, what's down the path for you? There was a time that I would have been hesitant to say this, because of self-confidence. I want to be famous. And I don't know how I'm going to get there. I

don't know if that's getting into the WWE. I don't know if that's getting into movies. I actually just filmed a movie. I don't know if it's like into movies. I actually just filmed a movie. I don't know if it's like being on the men's health cover and working more, but I want to help as many people as I can, because I really think that if I didn't found exercise, I wouldn't be here today. No one would know who I am. And I've seen it change my life, but I've also worked with people that exercise and some self-care, some self-love, some sports psychology work has improved people's lives from top to bottom. And to help the people that I want to help, I need to build an engine. I have that attitude because I have failed. There has been so many

times in my life I thought, this is the thing. I finally got it, and I've fallen flat on my face, and it's failed, and it hasn't. So to be decided. Yeah, well, every failure is a learning lesson, right? If you treat it that way. Be ready to be transformed, my friends. We've got Mike Bayer on the show today, two-time New York Times bestselling

author, transformational coach, founder of Cast Centers. What's up, brother? Welcome to the show. Hey, man. Feeling pretty rad today. Hey, you got to. You're on the Radcast. I kind of avoided for, and I still avoid the title of a celebrity life coach. Life coach. I've been trying to call myself everything under the sun and then when you try too hard you end up with these titles that don't even make sense anyways but we'll get into that but i grew up in orange county california i'm the youngest of three uh was very driven towards basketball i I never did well in school. I got held back twice. And I had dreams that I was going to play college basketball and, I don't know, one day get married and I guess have kids and go to Disney World in Orlando.

It's the American dream. Yeah, I take that trip to Hawaii once a year. But for me, I, for whatever reason, just wasn't that into women. And I thought that eventually, as we get older, we suddenly get really attracted to the opposite sex. And I didn't even know what being gay was or anything like that. I literally knew of the Village People and the TV show, or at the time there was RuPaul. And I was both of those two existences I wasn't that bonded with. And so I just thought I was weird. I thought I was very weird. And so I overcompensated with going with the homecoming queen to the high school dance and

captain of the basketball team and vice president of the school. And then when I wasn't doing that, I was doing drugs and I was doing a lot of drugs and I love drugs. And I don't necessarily think because I hated myself for being gay is why I did drugs. I just loved getting high. A lot of people do this. Like we all know people like this that are like, I'm getting sober. That's the last time I'm going to drink like that. And then you see them a month later and they're like, no, I'm just doing wine. I'm not doing the hard stuff. Or I'm just, I just quit out weed or whatever it is. And so I didn't know how to stop.

And eventually at 22 years old, I went to treatment for the final and last time. And I've been sober over 19 years. And I started working in this profession of mental health. I've owned a treatment center for over 15 years and it went from me working in crises with addicts and alcoholics to eventually coaching and helping artists, entertainers, and it's just, it keeps unfolding. It sounds like you had a different experience than some people I've heard. Like like you thought the switch was just going to come on.

It didn't sound like you were necessarily running from something you were aware of as much as you just thought, OK, I'm going to eventually be like everybody else. Yeah. Like I thought this is like part of the progression of like growing up. But it is it is really confusing in our childhood years, you know, dictate how we operate in our later years, whether it's in business, whether it's having deep beliefs that get in the way of us thriving in our life. Unless we really go back and look at kind of what happened and connect some dots, we end up just creating that same fabric, but with different characters as we get older.

Obviously starting the cast centers and the treatment centers. And I mean, was that, it had to have been fueled by your own experiences, right? For sure. Like I got sober, I was a counselor, then I did interventions for many years. And then I wanted to create a place where in the psychiatric or psychological world, there's something called the D I think it's the DSM five now and everything is a diagnosis. Well, a big reason why there's diagnoses is two part one is so that people can have a roadmap potentially. So if you're labeled as, let's say, chemically dependent, that they can look at the different criteria and go, you are a drug addict or you're an alcoholic. And the same thing applies for so many different types of issues, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and so forth.

personality disorders, and so forth. The other is so that insurance, you fill out on the form and you say, this is their diagnosis, so that insurance will pay. What I've kind of realized was we were getting dictated by the insurance world. They were dictating like length of stay and how people could get help. So I wanted to create a program that helped people with everything from depression, anxiety, addiction, or they could all be on their own islands. And so that's kind of what my vision was when I got sober. Because the place I went, you just basically were like, yes, I'm a drug addict and my life has become unmanageable. But like all the other underlying issues were kind of just, we're going to deal with that later. And years later, I just had to go to years of therapy.

So for addiction like that, like someone's a date, what is alcohol or crystal meth or whatever it is? Like, is it just an all or nothing thing? Like, is that why you like, you truly have to be,

I mean, I don't know if you do even drink. I haven't. No. So, but, but you know, is that a trigger? Like, is that the problem is like, there's just no, it's all or nothing. For me, like recovery is a loose garment and everyone has to find their fit.

And I'm very much a believer in people figuring out authentically for themselves what makes sense. Some people, they went through a tough period. Other people, it's like they got that personality where it's all or nothing for me it's just not worth it and i think that um for a lot of people it can be a phase but the challenge is a lot of people think it's a phase and then they completely lose it and so uh i think it's really understanding for oneself what is that line. And, you know, they say Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

And a lot of people who should not be drinking at all keep doing it over and over again. The typical alcoholic, like I'll use these labels, doesn't get sober for about 25 years. So by the time they start drinking till about 25, maybe 30 years later, they don't really reach that point where they have to do much because maybe of health issues, you know, consequences. I do think it's interesting that it just led you there. I mean, what you did all of this, it had nothing to do with who or why you did it for. It was more the greater good. You're, you know, you're influenced. You've gone through it.

You want to help others. You want to treat the whole problem, not part of the problem. But what what got you into call it the celebrity circuit entertainment circuit? entertainment circuit yeah i never realized that i would have the ability to help more people by going on a big platform i always was kind of like well why would someone want to go on television even though i worked with these people like i understood it for music um i understood it for actors but i kind of just didn't want to be seen. And I didn't want to speak at events. I didn't want attention. That was never on my vision board or in my thinking of like, oh, this is that next phase. But I feel like when you keep doing great stuff and you're really passionate about what you do

the bet even better circumstances come into the mix when you're not trying to control it or force it and that's just been my experience it's like you know help someone as much as i can out of that just comes other opportunity hey you know you want, you want to fix yourself, you fix others. Firmly believe that, you know. Somehow that's how Dr. Phil ended up in my life. I would never have thought that's how, but, you know, he has the number one daytime television show and he's taking me under his wing. And my reach is so much bigger where I'm hoping that I'm able to do some really cool projects. And it doesn't have to be in Kurdistan.

But it kind of forced me to realize, like, no, Mike, you got to if you want to do this stuff that you're really passionate about. You have to have a little bit of currency, like you say. Yep. And, you know, and every growth is always starts with discomfort, you know. Yeah. And you're right. and you're you didn't want the attention you didn't want all of that you wanted to do good you want to do all that but then you said okay well attention brings opportunity but it was it's been uncomfortable pushing you know to grow and to make decisions and do everything that it takes to be an entrepreneur so what's the biggest realization you've had about yourself in this?

Probably that I had what it takes to do it. I mean, I'm a confident guy, but you have self-doubt, you know, when you start something like this. And I had grand ambitions, and, you know, we're just getting started. We've got a lot of green pasture ahead. You know, this is what we do often when we feel like we're not very good at something, is we look at other people and we compare ourselves. And it's not that we compare ourselves necessarily and go, God, they're so good. Sometimes I was looking at speakers and

I was like, God, they're so cheesy. You know, like, I don't want what they have. I just don't want what I have. You know what I mean? And it's like but that's a way of trying to diminish ourselves or not feel like we're good enough. And then suddenly you start speaking enough and then you're like, well, I actually kind of do like it because we were afraid when we think we're not good at something, we shut down. when we think we're not good at something we shut down and the reality is like sometimes like you're saying the discomfort is when we grow and that that's really that resonates with me because i i it's a good reminder it takes time and uh same thing with building brand and building companies like everybody wants everything yesterday know, we live in such a immediate, you know, immediate gratification world. Yeah.

And I think the scariest thing for an entrepreneur is if they don't reflect and look at themselves. And, you know, because I do think some people just aren't cut to go lead like they're not because they don't have self-awareness. But at the same time, I think that you're right, like part of the growth and part of the pain of it all, even if it's a little bit is is expected. Are there a couple you talked about it like common techniques that you use, you know, with people and trying to get them in the right mindset. I find it's really helpful to help someone figure out who their best self is. Being able to bring that part of themselves into every business meeting, bring that into when they're

performing, I find is a really helpful tool. I also like to help people figure out their anti-self, that part that gets in the way, the part that we can't stand about ourselves. And I find that it can help people conceptualize, you know, if someone is going to have a difficult conversation and they're like, I'm really worried about what they're going to, I would say, well, what is, what would your best self do? And nine times out of 10, they're like, well, my best self would say A, B, C, and D. And I'm like, there's your answer. It seems simple but it works it's important to get centered like when i say centered it's important to like regulate the body um and get your nervous system to to chill and to take time

just to be in the moment and it's again it's simple and breathing but we have to be reminded to do the most simple thing that literally allows us to just get back into the moment we're talking wisdom today my friends we're talking motivation we're talking to william king hollis what's up my man man what's going on mr rye alfred man so man motivational speaker author of best the best gifts start from the bottom let's um king let's just let's start from the bottom man you know a kid from pontiac michigan man uh mother was a heroin addict my dad was a career criminal um ran the streets i bounced around from from house to house, you know, like a lot of inner city kids trying to understand who we are as young men, trying to understand our place on this earth and

what really matters and what don't. A lot of people don't realize growing up in the inner city, you see drug dealer uncle, drug dealer cousin, drug dealer brother, and everybody goes to the penitentiary. And the only thing we remember about making money is selling drugs. So we step in a place and it becomes a life cycle. And this doesn't matter if you black, white or yellow. This happens in all places. I've been some places in Florida where I saw different differention people selling more drugs than anybody. What I understood about my life and what I wanted to do for my life, I wanted to change

that demographics in my community. I wanted to be a greater version. And I realized this, when a tree dies, sometimes you got to let it die. And this can be the family tree. Sometimes you got to let it die. And this can be the family tree. Sometimes you got to let it go and you got to replant a new tree. You got to nurture it better. You got to love it better. You got to appreciate it better.

So it can grow and be something that you want it to be. It's something that represents you. Sometimes people think about it and look at me. Look at this 32-year-old kid from Pontiac, Michigan, the son of a heroin addict. How is he inspired in teaching these people? How is he touching these people? He's not saying the most profound thing you ever heard in your life. It's not that.

The voice is an instrument of God. This is when I discovered my purpose, King. I went to a Tony Robbins conference. Tony Robbins said, walk past the gold. He walked to the silver. He stopped at the bronze. Spoke for a second, turned around and talked to the silver and gold. A whisper came in my head and it said, who speaks to the broken? Who speaks to the poor, who speaks to the people that cannot give them anything but a word of inspiration

saying I made it because of you. I said the only way a man can change this world, he must be willing to give without getting anything in return. That's the sacrifice a man must make to make a change. And our duties in this lifetime is to live full and die empty. And you're speaking to these people and you're talking from a place, not that I'm higher than you. I'm talking from a place that I'm in the fight right with you.

from a place that I'm in the fight right with you. I'm chasing my dream right with you. And people tend to listen to people that's in the grind with them because God said, well, if you focus on the broken, I will take every pain that you ever had in your life and I will remove it from your body and I will turn your pain into strength. A lot of people don't know when they're on the edge, that's when all the strength is being made. The way I look at every event when I step on the stage,

I look at a million people standing on their legs. I got 45 minutes to talk these million people off this 10,000 foot ledge. I don't want one person in the room. I want the entire room. That's my mission. So when I go in and I speak, I bring something totally different. I studied Earl Nightingale. I studied T.D. Jakes. I studied totally different. I studied Earl Nightingale. I studied T.D. Jakes. I studied Les Brown. I studied Jim Rohn. And you know

what? We put all that, we brought all that all up in one ball. And now you got William King Hollis. Somebody that don't need no pen, no pad, no sticky notes. Give me my topic.

Let me feel the energy of the room and I'm going to deliver a speech that you've never seen before. I don't care what topic you is. Let me tell you something. Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs has forgotten the child that laid on the mother's lap. The ones that got so high, they forgot about the days of walking miles to get a pack of noodles in college. They forgot about the days when the dream meant something, when they talked about it at the bar with their friends. They forgot about the essence of the dream.

So now they made it to the top, and now they're empty inside. That's why you see suicide among CEOs They lost their passion They have nothing more to fight for Because they forgot the first purpose To help the world You'll get all the way to the top

And you'll realize I've never helped anybody else. That's what God told me. Work for your purpose and not the money because your purpose will make you shine brighter than any individual that works, walks this earth. If you make yourself the currency, no one can ever stop you. Money can never buy you. Nobody can buy you because you are the currency and that's what i that's what i dream to be is the currency and the person that puts his money where his mouth is you seem to have so embraced social media though early i mean

you know youtube now with everything else like is that just innate in you like you saw the opportunity to leverage these platforms to build your brand my brother to this day william king hollis don't even own a laptop no no all i do is iphone i built everything y'all see from my iphone from the speeches to the to the pain and purpose video you see on youtube with motiversity all i did i recorded a video against a white wall non-stop a lot of people don't i freestyle all my speeches i don't write anything i'm just learning man like i said I built all of this, you know, without ever going to speaking classes or anything. I don't need those type of things. The main thing for me is just continuing to learn, man, and always being open to learn generation where a lot of older individuals see young kings and be like, yo, man, I want to see this young man be great. I want to see this young man be successful.

You know, I always say the most successful people are the most curious people and the most interested that absorb things. And I feel like there some something naturally magnetic about you in the way you take things in and then translate it in your own way that just that's your gift i i i mean you got a lot of gifts but that i'm hearing you talk i'm watching you and i'm seeing how you've you interpret things but then you make it your own. It's a real gift. You know what I have? I have a mentality of I cannot fail. I put everything into this. I put everything, my heart, my soul, my blood, my sweat.

I slept outside on concrete for opportunities. I put everything into this. When you put everything into something, you operate from a standpoint of seizing every opportunity that comes your way. Getting the Ambassador of Peace Award in Kingston, Jamaica. It was one of the greatest and most humble experiences I ever experienced in my life. Just being a kid from the inner city of Pontiac, Michigan, and being something like a folk hero in Kingston, Jamaica, amongst the people.

Where is it going, man? What's on the bucket list? My bucket list right now, man, is to create unity throughout the world, man. I want to do a tour called Pushing Peace Tour. My team is now searching for sponsors, people to, you know, just get behind me. Everybody know in the speaker industry, a lot of top speakers, they have a lot of sponsors. I have yet to get my first sponsor yet.

That's something I'll always reach out to just so I can start doing more events, mental health events for students around the country. The suicide rate is through the roof. With all the school shootings, the kids are traumatized. And I want them to know that it's nothing to fear, man. The only thing you must fear is the opportunities that you miss out on. Live life full and die empty. The kids must know who they are and what they represent and what they play in this generation, man. And my main thing is love. We got to spread love and inspiration. There's no topic. A lot of people get it misconstrued when they talk about booking me. It's not just students. It's life.

It's entrepreneurs. It's that guy that lost that passion, that workforce that lost that passion, that lost that it factor that took them to the level that they are today. I just remind people I'm not no messiah. I'm like an alarm clock. I'm just a reminder of the greatness that lives inside of you that's all I am I'm not greater, I'm not better

I'm just a man chasing my dream just like the rest of these kings around the world but I'm willing to help other people on the way to the top that's the difference a lot of people believe you can't help people on the way to the top. That's the difference. A lot of people believe you can't help people on the way to the top, but that's the best time to help people because you're learning

and they're learning too. It's enough for success for everybody out here, every speaker. No reason to hate on each other. No reason to be against each other. It's one objective. One objective. other is one objective. One objective, bring love to a world that has lost it. We've got a radical story that I'm excited to tell. Welcome to the show, international speaker, bestselling author, Cody Burns. What's up, brother? Hey, man. You are. You are. I'm glad to be here with you. Hey, man. We're excited to have you. I think you have an amazing story of inspiration and just overall radicalness that I'm excited for all of our audience to hear. My story kind of begins like everyone's story back in childhood. And I had an amazing family, still very close with all of them today. I grew up in southern Indiana, right in the middle of a cornfield. And so you

kind of learned and find ways to entertain yourself. So I go to the circus and, you know, they, my family was, you know, they was enjoying it. Obviously I was, it was the first time I ever went, but there was one act that really stood out to me more than any of them, and it was this juggler that was down there doing all these tricks. And I remember myself wanting to learn how to do that. And so as soon as I left the circus, I started practicing. A few years later, I would go to a children's camp. And so all of us kids, we were there in this big auditorium, speakers on stage, sharing this message of hope. But at the same

time he was doing that, he was juggling. And so I'm like, get out of here. This is, this is cool to see how the two mix so well together. And something on the inside of me in that moment said that this is what I'm called to do. And so from a young age, I had a passion to give hope to people and doing it along with juggling and comedy and finding creative ways to get the message across. So I pursued that. And time I got out of high school, I went to a ministry training program in Rockford, Illinois, and I got my pastoral credentials. pastoral credentials. The same time working with kids on a weekly basis, I got to travel the country, do motivational speaking and using juggling and comedy, spoke at kids camps, conferences, all kinds of fun stuff. It was really starting to take off internationally. Up until the point of being 23 years old, I had spoken to thousands of children across the nation

and as well as teenagers and adults, but my audience more so at the time was with children. And then in May of 2013, my life took a drastic turn and I was stopped at a red light. And at this red light, everything goes black, almost as if I didn't exist. And when the first responders came to the scene by the the looks of it, they said, it's a fatality. So they had already called the coroner and assumed I was dead. And it wasn't until they saw my hand move that they would change their plans. And I'm glad that they did, because come to find out, if they didn't see my hand move, I would have probably been burned alive that day. But there's a powerful message in that because I think there's a lot of people in today's world, COVID world especially,

that have found themselves at stoplights. And those stoplights, maybe the career is no longer what it used to be, or maybe there's, you know, death in the family or divorce. Who knows? The list goes on where life as we know it suddenly comes to a complete stop. And we find ourselves in difficult circumstances, trapped in the heat of life. And I certainly was. And all that to say, there's people that have found themselves in tough situations. And no different than my hand, that little bit of movement, it changed everything for me. And I wonder what a little bit of movement can do for many individuals in their life. Maybe they have found themselves trapped, but I dare everyone to take a little bit of

movement and then see what may happen in their life. And it made a tremendous difference for me. When something like that happens, when you've been helping children, you're guiding children, you're involved, God's guiding you in some way, right? Or a lot, or every way. Did you ever question your faith coming out of that situation? Oh, man, you better believe it. And I think we're all human. I mean, at the end of the day, you better believe it. And, you know, I think that, I think we're all human.

I mean, at the end of the day, we're all human. And I don't care if you've got a pastoral degree behind you. At the end of the day, we're not perfect. We have our humanity that just comes through. And so naturally, I wondered why. And I think as a result of all of this, my faith has grew stronger. But it took time to get to that place. God has taken one of the worst incidents in my life and he's turned it around for my good.

But it boiled down to me making that choice to say that I'm not going to allow this to affect me negatively. to say that I'm not going to allow this to affect me negatively. And that's powerful because I had to realize I can't change. I can't change what happened to me. The only thing I can change is what I do today. That's what makes the difference. I ask everything, you know, has a purpose and a reason, and it's because I know there are people out there that have probably might be relating to the story

either for themselves and others. And, you know, I think it's important to hear perspective for how people kind of got over that moment. And I think you encapsulated it perfectly. It was a lot, a long road to recovering. But through all of that, I learned a lot about myself in life. And I think pain is one of our greatest teachers. And one of the most empowering moments for me was whenever I was in in-state rehab, I had gotten this garbage bag full of get well cards from all these kids that I had spoken to prior, a couple of years prior to the wreck. And it was Oklahoma city and everyone, get well, get well, Cody. You know, at the end of the day, we can all talk a good talk when life is going great.

We can preach a good message. It sounds good. It tickles people's ears. But then when tragedy strikes and rubber hits the road, our faith, our message, everything that we're about is put to the test. And my faith in that moment, just as I shared earlier, about is put to the test. And my faith in that moment, just as I shared earlier, it was put to the test. But I had to practice what I preach.

And more so than words, our actions is what makes the difference. And so I had to think to myself, what am I going to act out in this moment? How am I going to be an example to these little eyes? Children watch us. They watch us. We can tell them to do something, but at the end of the day, it's how we're acting. They learn from our actions. What do you think differentiates people that become and embrace the victim versus people that become and embrace the other side of of taking a choice and putting action in their own hand i mean have you having gone through that now i mean have you ever distilled that

or do you know what what separates one from the other when you grasp that reality of how life is short and at the end of the day life isn fair for anyone. We all have our ups and our downs. All of us, we could sit back and we can play that victim card. It's certainly easy. But at the end of the day, pity, it can only get you so far. And at some point, you've got to put on your big boy pants and realize that this is my life. How am I going to live it? And what example do I want to set to

others do I want to be a Debbie Downer how do I want to be remembered somebody that give up that complained and bickered and was bitter at the world or somebody that you know what I'm going to get it back up and I'm going to keep pressing forward and I'm going to make something of myself and of my life you know once you were at a place of recovery, like where did it, where did kind of the, you know, building to the foundation and different things like that, but like what, what was kind of phase one for you? Well, there's, there's many steps in getting to the other side of something traumatic. And I tell you, my support group made a tremendous difference. Obviously I spoke in churches and I had a lot of pastors and leaders that were surrounding me, a family that supported me. Our surroundings

have a powerful impact on our lives. And I had to put myself in a good environment, a good environment, an environment that would encourage me, support me. And so if you want good results to come about, find those individuals that are producing good results and grab a hold of them, communicate with them, go do activities with them because you need that. We need each other. If you want to live an epic life, you apply these steps. So the E, the E stands for embrace challenges. Challenges will always present themselves at one level or another. It's just something we have to embrace. And then we have the P, which is provide perspective.

How can I look at this situation differently? What are the lessons I can learn through my pain? And then we have the I, which is implement change, applying those lessons to our lives. And then we have the I which is implement change applying those lessons to our lives and then we have the C which is celebrate celebrate your story celebrate the fact that you're here that you're alive that you have another day to live and out of that celebration we're serving others we're serving others and making a positive impact on the world around us and for me these are steps that I learned through this event and steps that I continue to live out on a daily basis because they do, they apply not only in our personal lives,

but they can also apply in our professions, our businesses. And so it's certainly something that I encourage everybody to grab a hold of and take action. I like it, man. I love, I love, I'm in marketing. I love a good acronym. As I heard you say that, I was like thinking it from both a personal level and a business level. And I was like, I see a lot of business practice there. It goes back to me. I think every I believe everything happens for a purpose. It's just something I've always believed in. I do have faith, but I've also just kind of been wired that way. And I hear your story and it feels like just, you know, whether it's a higher power or, you know, intestinal fortitude or whatever, but it feels like it's also purposeful. I look at, you know, life, it truly is a gift. And when you go through something so traumatic at a young age, you learn to appreciate life and you find out what is most important at the end of the day. And back whenever I was in my younger 20s, it was like some of the things I was worried about really aren't worth my time and energy. So I try to examine my life. And if there's things I'm getting frustrated over, I'm like, is this really worth it?

And most of the time it's not. And so I just focus on what is the overall good of what I'm looking to achieve in my life. And that is to bring hope. So I try to lead every area of my life by that. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the.rad.cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.