Start With A Win - Interview with motivational speaker and purple heart recipient Tony Drees

Starting point is 00:00:00 At top of the 12th floor of the Remax World Headquarters, you're listening to Start With a Win with CEO Adam Kantos. And top of the 12th floor, Adam Kantos here, CEO of Remax with Start With a Win. Today, we've got producer Mark with us. How are you, Mark? I am doing fantastic. Thank you. I'm so glad you're fantastic.

Starting point is 00:00:22 I try. You know, every day, I just try to be fantastic. All right. All right. Well, that's good. You, every day. I just try to be fantastic. All right. All right. Well, that's good. You start with a win, man. That's right. All right.

Starting point is 00:00:28 So, and we also have a very special guest with us here in studio. We have Tony Drees, Executive Director of Veterans Passport to Hope. Let me tell you a little bit about Tony before I introduce him here. He's an Army veteran that was severely injured during Desert Storm nearly 30 years ago and has become a life coach and motivational speaker. Welcome, Tony. Glad to have you here. Hey, thanks, Adam. Thanks for having me. And you're no new guy to this podcasting thing. You've got your own podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:56 Shock and Awe 2.0 also, right? That's right. I have a co-host. Her name is Taber Lee, and we're fortunate. We call it Shock and Awe 2.0, Saluting veterans with grace. And what we really do is take the opportunity to talk to various nonprofit veterans organizations that are having great impact in the community and collaborating our resources. That is so cool. So, I mean, you've got, I mean, it's tragic. I mean, you're an American hero. Thank you so much for your service. Uh, um, purple heart, uh, awardee. And I mean, you've, you've undergone 74 surgeries in the last 27 years with the last surgery to completely remove your right leg. And you, you brought your amazing service dog with you here today. Um, she's like the size of a Clydesdale,

Starting point is 00:01:40 uh, baby pony, baby pony. Yeah. Her name is Diva. She's a 125 pound Italian Mastiff. She's called a Cana Corso. Oh, wow. And she's just, I mean, unbelievable animal. And I'm sure she's the love of your life as well. She is the love of my life. I'm pretty protective. We're pretty protective of each other in our own ways, but yeah, we've gone a long way together. That is so cool. So Tony, you speak at schools, corporate events, benefits, and you really inspire your audiences with the three rules to live by. What are the three rules to live by? The three rules are no lies. No lies means not things like, does this dress make me look fat or do these jeans make me look fat? No lies

Starting point is 00:02:23 are about not perpetuating the lies of what you can or can't accomplish that someone else put on you. Wow. No excuses is about never giving up seeking your personal expertise or your personal happiness, your personal purpose, whatever it is. Never quit is the last rule and said the guy with 74 surgeries, right? Wow. Yeah. Inspirational. Those are incredible. Are those things that you've lived your life by or have those kind of, kind of played their way into the situations that you've come through? Certainly. Adam, like everyone else, I don't go around necessarily preaching at people. I just share, like I've messed it up a bunch of times out there, right? Like trying to kill it it with the right intentions, but trying to kill it, sometimes you make big mistakes. And so what I've learned over my life is that there's

Starting point is 00:03:10 a guide or a set of principles you can use to navigate any adversity. And so I began trying to put those together, the common denominators, and that's how I got to the three rules. And then also to my best practices of success. Take us back through the story of Tony. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you come from? How did you find yourself to where you're at? Man, I got a long, crazy story, but the long and short is I'm from Grand Forks, North Dakota. I served in the military for almost six years, and I was involved in the deadliest scud missile attack of the Gulf War. Wow. I was fortunate that I was able to stave off amputation four different times. And after about 58 surgeries, I was able to jog out of the hospital

Starting point is 00:03:51 on a leg that they wanted to amputate. And so that was the beginning of like my first 15 minutes of fame or whatever. I was in People Magazine and New York Times and all the publications of the time as a war hero. So what's going through your head at that time as you're fighting that battle? What are you thinking as people are telling you, hey, you're probably going to lose your leg or no, you're not. We need to do another surgery.

Starting point is 00:04:17 What kept you going? That's what kept me going. I was in a situation where they told me that they were going to cut my leg off. And about the fourth time, I just said, no, you're not. And they looked at me and they said, why? And I said, because I made up my mind. And so what I need from you guys is tell me how.

Starting point is 00:04:32 And so once they shifted their mentality, then they had the tools. They just told me, well, you got to do this, this, this, and this. And so I tried to double it. So you just removed those limiting beliefs and. I didn't believe them. I didn't envision the rest of my life with no leg, at least not at that point and I didn't believe them. I, I, I didn't envision the rest of my life with no leg, at least not at that point. I was 23 and I looked like this, right? Yeah. So I wasn't ready not to those of you on the podcast world. Uh, Tony is like completely

Starting point is 00:04:56 ripped. So, and I'm 51. Oh man. Yeah. Right on. Yeah. Yeah, man. I mean, that's, that's cool. I mean, it's, you know, you, you definitely, you definitely have made your decision up on how you want to live your life. Right. And that's the point that when I work in nonprofit, when I speak with kids, when I'm out inspiring people with my life story, with my life's pain, with my life's lessons, I share with them the common denominator is you get to choose. Only you.

Starting point is 00:05:23 You get to choose. It's not over until you say it's over. I love that. And that creates hope, which takes me to your organization, Veterans Passport to Hope. Tell us about that. It's a great organization. Thanks for asking, Adam.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Veterans Passport to Hope is a 501c3. It was established in 2012 by our founder, Shane Schmutz. And I came on as executive director after receiving an award from them. It's called the Mort Marks Award. Mort Marks is a local hero here that served at the Battle of the Bulge. Oh, wow. They gave me that award for service in the veteran community. I got to speak for them as their keynote speaker.

Starting point is 00:06:02 And then I liked their mission well enough that they, in March of 2017, they hired me as executive director. Amazing. Well, congratulations on that. And thank you so much again. I mean, you've given so much to our country and to freedom, and we appreciate that sincerely. So I want to give a shout out as much as we possibly can to Veterans Passport to Hope. Where possibly can to Veterans Passport to Hope.

Starting point is 00:06:25 Where can we find Veterans Passport to Hope online? It's veteranspassporttohope.org. The easy one is vp2h.org. And I'll tell you military. Victor Papa to hotel.oscarromeogolf. Copy that. Roger. All right. That's a solid copy. All right. Um, so how, how is a VP two H helping veterans today? Uh, we have a very unique, uh, situation in that we have a

Starting point is 00:06:55 three pillared mission. Um, so we don't do any services. Our mission is one of advocacy. So we do things like this. We get out in the community and let other people know, A, what we're doing, what the problems are, how we're solving them, and how they can also be a part of the impact. Then the next portion is cooperation. When I got injured, there was only like five major veterans organization. Now there's probably, if you type in the word veteran on your browser, it'll go straight off the screen. Well, what we want to do is instead of competing against each other, we want to collaborate those resources so that we're all going the same direction, which is solving the veterans issue. And then last thing is fundraising. Give us your money. Please write a check for veteranspassporttohope.org because what we've done is developed a pathway and infrastructure.

Starting point is 00:07:43 So we're an accelerator of your funds. We're accelerator of your resources. Oh, that's fantastic. And there's so much confusion for those seeking assistance. So you are really kind of... Streamlining, we hope, the process. And so how we do it is we don't give services, but we give the recommendations of the top organizations that are doing what each genre of the veterans plight is. And then further, we have a rigid we're known for our grant process. So all the money that we raise, we have a stringent grant process. And I don't mean it braggingly, but all the executive directors, they bemoan to me about it. And so that means that you as an investor and our company, which happens to be

Starting point is 00:08:25 representative of all these veteran organizations can know that even the folks getting the benefactors know that it's hard to get money from us, but the way you get it as being the best in your genre. Awesome. That's amazing. Now you have a term called a transition expert. Yeah. What is a transition expert? If you stop and think about it, Adam, your life is completely about change. If you accept it and you have a think about it, Adam, your life is completely about change. If you accept it and you have a way of navigating that change, then you're okay. If you fight it, then you get to have a tougher life. And so once I was able to understand that at a young age,

Starting point is 00:08:57 I started learning instead of how to fight what happens in my life, I take it all as an adventure, and I teach other people how to do that while connecting with their purpose. That's amazing. Now, your purpose, does that have anything to do with your superpower? It does have to do with your superpower most often, or how you can accomplish your purpose. You use your superpower on the way. So do you believe everyone has a superpower? Absolutely. What is your superpower? My superpower, I don't like to tell people because I don't want them to think that if they have the same

Starting point is 00:09:26 one as me, that theirs is the best. Oh, I have the same one as Tony. So I don't want them to think that each person has a superpower. So yours is unique to you. The clue is it's most often what people accuse you of or say at you. You're so this, you're to that. You always this, you never that. If you take that and flip it 180 degrees, the reason why people say that is because

Starting point is 00:09:49 they don't understand it because they're not that way. But if you understand it because you're that way, use that to your advantage. That's your superpower. I love that. So Tony, we have a set of questions called the fast five here on Start With A Win. So I want to dive into those real quick. How do you, I mean, man, you are a machine. So, uh, how do you start that machine? How do you start your day with a win? Every day when I wake up, I start with, um, statements of gratitude.

Starting point is 00:10:18 I am so blessed. I've had 74 surgeries. So I said, thank you. I wake up, I'm like, oh, we get to go again. Right? Like we get another day to go get them. That's awesome. Yeah. Somebody continues to invest in you. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. And then I get to invest in myself the rest of the day after that. I already won. That's it. Yeah. I love that. I love that. So a favorite book, uh, the magic of thinking big by Dr. David A. Schwartz. Oh, wow. And why? Because it really harnesses the power of belief, which is one of the many things that I feel very strongly about. What you believe is what you'll achieve. I love that.

Starting point is 00:10:53 Mindset of abundance. Yeah. Incredible. So do you have a favorite quote? It's a military quote. and it says, if your actions inspire others to dream, to learn, to live or become, then you're a leader. That's an amazing quote. I mean, just, it hits your heart. It hits your heart. Who inspires you? My children inspire me. Plain and simple. To live around me is incredibly difficult. Trust me. I've been trying it for almost 52 years,

Starting point is 00:11:26 but to live, um, and not in a shadow of me and still have their own accomplishments and understand their own purpose and have their own, uh, navigation tools. They got it already. So that makes, they inspire me every day. You can learn so much from watching your children. Absolutely. If you try, if you, if you're open to it. Oh yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you know, you look around society and so much people kind of ignore their children. They don't, they don't really wrap their arms around them or really, you know, touch their heart with theirs. It's, it's so cool to see that you're, you're calling that out and, and thank you for being such an amazing parent. Thanks, man. I try and they don't always agree with you by the way,

Starting point is 00:12:02 but at the same time, they've got it. So it's good. That's right. So I have one more question. I want to circle back to one of your key, key points here, but what one key to success would you give someone who wants to be where you are today? Manage your beliefs and you can manage your results. Ooh, manage your beliefs and you can manage your results. I love that. All right. So I want to get back. I mean, I love these three rules to live by. Okay. Brief, brief overview once more, one more time. What are they? No lies, no excuses, never quit. No lies, no excuses, never quit. How did you come up with that? They were hard. Like this, this stuff that I teach, people have to understand it's my life story. My no lie story, a short paraphrase of it. It was basically when my adoptive mother

Starting point is 00:12:50 had to save me from some words that were said in public that were really humiliating to me. And what she said to me was, Tony, I heard what they said to you. And I heard what they said about you. And I know what they did to you, but the life's not fair. She said that, but the good thing is life's not fair. So whether that's you or not, from this second on is all the way up to you. That was life changing. I stopped living the lies that people put in my head about you're not this, you're never that you're always this. And I stopped at that instant and I never lived like that again. Wow. And no lies. That is, is that something that helps you through these, you know, 70 plus surgeries and, and the, the words that, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:33 the limiting beliefs that the doctors put on you or the time, the limited beliefs of doctors. Um, that has been one of my biggest medical obstacles is that when I do require care, I have to go convince these guys of the patient that I am. Otherwise I don't let them treat me because they wind up hurting me. Oh, wow. Yeah. They, they want to treat you their way instead of the way that I know I'm the expert at this. Thank you very much. It's your body, your practice, and I'm living it right this, right? So, wow. No lies. That's, that's amazing. All right. No excuses. A second one. Where'd that come from? No excuses is about the pursuit of your own expertise. My adoptive dad taught me that. And what he basically said, he was a man of great service to the community. Obviously,

Starting point is 00:14:15 he adopted a bunch of children. He had seven kids. I was the oldest of seven. Five of us were adopted. They had 27 years and 28 foster kids that had through throughout those years. And the thing that he said is start with something that you really like, get so good at it that you're the expert. And by the time you do that three or four times, you can really start to help people. You won't have to look for them. They'll look for you. All right. And the third one, never quit. Of course. I know that's something that's instilled in your, in your mind in the military, but is it beyond that, that you, you had that? Yeah. I've had that from the get-go. Um, my, my background actually before being adopted was pretty rough, pretty abusive. And so I had in my

Starting point is 00:14:55 head that I was supposed to be doing something. And so when I have in my head that I'm going to do something, you can't, you can distract me, but you can't stop me. And so I knew that drive wasn't for naught. Unbelievable. I love it. I mean, just sitting here with you is so inspiring and how you put that into Veterans Passport to Hope and what you do to inspire people through that relationship, through your organization is unbelievable. So I want to remind everybody, vp2h.org, the easy way to get there. And certainly, check out Tony at hashtag superpowertribe.com. Superpowertribe. I love it, man. Thank you so much for joining us on Start With A Win. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much.

Starting point is 00:15:39 You're an inspiration, an amazing leader in the community. Keep doing what you're doing. We love you. Thank you very much. And ladies and gentlemen, please don't forget to look Tony up online. We really support this guy, support this organization. Don't forget, start with a win. Thank you so much for listening to Start With A Win. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to check us out on iTunes, subscribe, rate, review the show, five stars. That helps us reach more people and get the word out. You can follow Adam on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember, start with a win.

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Start With A Win - Interview with motivational speaker and purple heart recipient Tony Drees

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