You're a Warrior Whether You Like It or Not — 40 Years in the Trades with Rodney Swarms

Meeting with Nathan Spearing-20261031_095949-Meeting Recording (1)
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Rodney: [00:00:00] how you doing

Nathan: today, man?

Nathan: I'll show you that... Doing well. I'm in the, uh, in the barn office. Check this out. Michael, Michael made us this, uh, very fancy zip conference table. And, uh-

Rodney: What's, what's it made of?

Nathan: Zip sheeting.

Rodney: Okay.

Nathan: And then he's got his workstation there. Yeah. Eli's got his workstation over there, and then I got mine here.

Nathan: And, uh, got the Starlink out in the yard so that we're online down here too, not just at the house. So-

Rodney: Well-

Nathan: It's, it's quiet down here too. I- I can get a lot of work done

Rodney: Not to be outdone, I got four monitors and two computers running. Nice. So, a friend of mine, Nathan Spearin, helped me set some stuff up.

Rodney: Although- Nice ... I will say that, uh, Merlin is officially dead. Um-

Nathan: Oh, yeah?

Rodney: Well, I just don't mess with... Claude has done so [00:01:00] much now that I don't even need Merlin anymore, so, and, uh-

Nathan: Yeah. Well, I, I'm gonna blow your mind with some Grok Bot here pretty soon.

Rodney: I got Grok Bot, I just haven't stuck into it.

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: But, so

Nathan: let me ask you- It's essentially, w- like, when you and I were doing OpenClaw stuff in January, February, we started basically all the major, all the major people had a lot of control over what you could do, and the agent stuff wasn't mainstream.

Nathan: Right. And so all the major people, which is, is, you know, free, free market, but all the major people came up with, um, options that are very much like OpenClaw. And so Grok Bot is essentially, my understanding is it's running, basically you got that MacBook Air, we put OpenClaw on it.

Rodney: Yeah.

Nathan: Um, Grok Bot is running on a virtual machine, which I've set up for people before.

Nathan: But that just comes [00:02:00] out of the box, like when you install it and set it up, it's, it's on a virtual machine. And then what everybody was concerned about with OpenClaw was how much access it had, which made it powerful. Well, now with Grok Bot you can, uh- The GrabBot you can, um, you can, uh, give it access with connectors and things like that.

Nathan: So, um-

Rodney: Well, how do

Nathan: you,

Rodney: how do you... I mean, every week somebody's got something new. How do you fo- follow the winning horse, I suppose?

Nathan: Let me, uh, let me see if I can get, go to my laptop and microphone here and show you the window that I got here. Um, and what I sa- I, I guess for me, I like it, you know? I like as soon as that something comes out...

Nathan: I'm, I'm not even keeping up, honestly. I guess that's the first side is, like, you can't keep up. It, it, it's a full-time... [00:03:00] There's, there's social media accounts that are literally their entire business model is, um, trying out all the new stuff and just talking about all the new stuff. Yeah. Like, "Hey, I just got this.

Nathan: I tried it. It's the greatest thing ever. It's gonna change humanity forever." Yeah. "And if you don't do it right now, if you don't get your subscription-" You're behind. "... then you're gone. You're gonna be-" Mm-hmm "... in the permanent underclass," blah, blah. And you and I both know, like, all those guys, none of those guys know how to put in a, a, uh, four-inch line to get poo out of their house.

Rodney: Mm.

Nathan: Um, and so it essentially, like... But, like, the conversation you and I have been having this whole time is that we as business owners have to be able to leverage the efficiencies with it, but I think the se- the v- the reality that you and I are still having to get up from the desk and go out and build stuff and put pipe into the ground and make sure you don't cut the electrical [00:04:00] service or the cable line or whatever, and for me, like, making sure that I don't scratch their wood floors while I'm tearing the wall out and putting the beam in, like, those kinds of things still have to be done, but we still also have to invoice people e- efficiently and communicate efficiently and create contracts and, uh, scheduling.

Nathan: So-

Rodney: Who, who are you facing when you're talking? 'Cause you're not looking at me

Nathan: I have my, uh ... So you were asking about, uh, tripods. Let me show you real quick. This is, uh, basically like I got this little GorillaPod here.

Rodney: Oh, okay.

Nathan: And I just stick my phone in it, and, uh, it's off to the side here. 'Cause ba- basically, I'm trying to hide my, uh, storage- Oh

Nathan: here. That's all right. 'Cause the bar is also our storage, so- It's, it's a- ... I'm trying to get the sunrise.

Rodney: You saw

Nathan: me making my bed,

Rodney: right?

Nathan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. You saw me making my

Rodney: bed, right?

Nathan: Yeah, you [00:05:00] gotta ... What is it? Hang on one second. What is it that's like, start your day by making a bed?

Rodney: Uh-huh. Yeah. Oh, the, uh, Navy SEAL, which we don't, we don't listen to those guys.

Rodney: Um-

Nathan: Yeah ...

Rodney: hey, uh, Gabriel, you guys get all the gas cans and the diesels, take them up to the, uh, place, get them fueled up, bring them back, put them back where they go. And I'm not going on the high shelf, I'm going on the bottom shelves, okay? And then come back. I'm talking with Nathan right now about your future, son, so.

Nathan: He doesn't even know yet. He, he- He has no idea. Hey, is he, is it, am I on speaker? Is he still there? Tell him to come here.

Rodney: No, he left. I shoot him

Nathan: a like. Don't come back. It'll be worth it.

Rodney: Gabriel, come here. Nathan wants to be r- I mean, Nathan wants to talk to you. Get him, Nathan.

Nathan: I'm gonna get him, for sure.

Rodney: Moron, we can see you right there. Yeah.

Nathan: Hey. Hello.

Rodney: What's up?

Nathan: Do you acknowledge that your father is a Jedi master- ... on, like, so many levels?

Rodney: That's a bit much. You don't have to answer that. It depends.

Nathan: Yeah, see, that's why I brought you in here. It doesn't depend. [00:06:00] He

Rodney: is.

Nathan: All right?

Rodney: Uh,

Nathan: that's- It doesn't depend. It doesn't depend.

Nathan: He's your father and he's a Jedi master. It de- I, I guess it could depend on whether or not you're using your brain or not. That's what it could depend upon.

Rodney: I,

Nathan: I would say

Rodney: yes. That makes Gabriel a Padawan then apparently.

Nathan: Yeah. So. Y- y- y- you think you're ready, but you're not ready yet. It's coming though.

Nathan: He- If you

Rodney: listen to the Jedi master- He's a Padawan first class. Yeah. There you go. He's a Padawan first class, so.

Nathan: I

Rodney: was talking with Michael

Nathan: about- He wants to get married ... about it, and, uh, he was talking about how the Jedi are evil, so. He thinks so. What? Yeah, I gotta, probably- Unbelievable ... gotta talk to him about that.

Rodney: Yeah, but remember- But ... he's the one that has family at home without nurses and doctors, so.

Nathan: Gabriel wanting to get married is good motivation though, you know what I mean?

Rodney: That's, hey, that's got him fired up, man. That's got him big time fired up. He's, he's, uh, trying to learn everything, asking questions, trying to, trying to get married quickly, which that's exactly what I would do, [00:07:00]

Nathan: so.

Rodney: Yep. Good for him. So, but anyway, uh-

Nathan: Well, and in a way, like, he doesn't need a whole lot. Like, they can live in a, live in a drawer, you know?

Rodney: Well, I think unfortunately he has the, the zeitgeist, you know, of the world. You gotta have everything ready. You gotta have a house, you know, big TV, two big cars, and all that.

Rodney: And they're gonna miss out on the, the, the struggling that, that comes with marriage if, if they think that way, and then they're gonna have different struggles, right? Yeah. So, or create different problems.

Nathan: So. You, I, I did that, um, podcast interview with a 24-year-old guy that has a framing company, and then he bought a irrigation company, and he basically started at 13 doing alfalfa farming.

Nathan: And, um, it was so good. But he was saying, you know, we, we ended up talking about, um... He just talked about how much he wanted to get married so mu- so badly that he just worked [00:08:00] 15 hours a day, you know, and was putting money away. And-

Rodney: Yeah ...

Nathan: he had, he had, like, you know, 100 grand of cash or whatever, and he bought a trailer and all the framing tools required to launch a business with his, his, um, his friends.

Nathan: So I'll, you should make sure you give me Gabriel's number. I'll text him a link to it, 'cause that's- Uh ... I literally, um, have kinda transitioned Life on Target to be discussing blue collar, like getting b- blue collar business owners on. And specifically I, I put out on X, I was like, "If you're, if you're in your early 20, late teens, early 20s and running a blue collar business, I wanna talk to you."

Nathan: 'Cause I think that- Yeah ... there can be this, this, uh, belief that the boomers got all the wealth, and there's nothing a young guy can do, and he's trapped, and he can't buy a house, and all the, you know, the evil political overlords or whatever. Um- But there's, you know, and even [00:09:00] just within your own family, like the fact that you have this business and Gabriel's working in it and learning and he's, you know, not being given it without proving himself, you know, and building that, uh, capacity.

Nathan: Um, 'cause that, that's what I, I posted recently about

Rodney: Well, Gabriel and Eli, and I would say Michael, and I would guess Jude, are the exceptions to the rule. And my, my thing is, Nathan, if guys come to work and they can say, "Yes sir, no sir," and do what you ask, they move to the head of the class. That's that.

Rodney: But what I'm finding is, I'm getting- Show, show up on time- Show up on time ...

Nathan: and

Rodney: do what you're told with a good attitude Yes sir, no sir. Yeah. Yes sir, no sir. You're gonna, you're gonna make top dollar in whatever blue collar job you're in. It, it may take you three whole months to get there, but you'll rise immediately to the top.

Rodney: It happens all the time. But unfortunately they're a v- they're a rare breed, and I don't, I don't pat us on the back. It's by God's grace that, you know, He's given us some understanding of what [00:10:00] raising a young man looks like, and I've certainly failed in many areas. But what I've seen, the biggest problem is I'm bringing guys in to work and They don't have the background of, "Hey, if you say you're gonna do this, you should do it."

Rodney: You know? "If you say you're gonna be on time, you should be on time." They don't, they are getting beat up by the world. They've had no start, so we're having to, we're having to coach them and tell them things and teach them lessons that their parents should've been teaching them 20 years ago. So- Yeah

Rodney: they're behind, but they can catch up. That's, that's the beauty of it all, right?

Nathan: Well, and I- Yeah ... Michael and I have been talking about how we think that the, the homeschool boys are gonna be the population group that we go after hardcore because they, like, uh, they at least have a somewhat strong family structure.

Nathan: Now, in my mind, the, a lot of homeschooling, uh, boys have been around [00:11:00] mom a lot.

Rodney: Yeah.

Nathan: And so you look at 'em and you're like, "Man, dude, like you're not ready to fight the Crusades at all." "But, like, your age dudes were doing that back in the day." Right. "You were ready to go to war and defend- Right ... the country and all this kind of stuff, and so you're soft."

Nathan: And, but the, it, it might be some bumps when you bring 'em in to start smacking 'em around a little bit, but then you say, um, you know, "Hey, we're paying you while you're doing it." And I think that it will awaken in them something that it, even if it's dormant, the right guys. You know? And you'll be able to sort through those pretty quick to be like, "Hey, man, like if you wanna go back to, um, you know, Chick-fil-A or something like that," which they pay great and they got great training, but like let's talk about the upward vertical of that, you know?

Nathan: And how difficult it's gonna be to get your own Chick-fil-A store.

Rodney: And then- Well, it's like one in 10,000. I, um, I got a buddy who owns one and it's, it's- Yeah ... pretty hard to get a Chick-fil-A store. [00:12:00]

Nathan: Yeah. Yeah. But what, what, what are the, the odds to be able to come and work underneath a successful Blue Collar owner, and then go start your own either, you know, uh, office, like, you know, for the plumbing night.

Nathan: Like, "Hey, go start plumbing night, Winston-Salem. Go start- Yeah ... plumbing night Greensboro." And, and, and w- like we've talked about, too, being able to kinda inherit or get the benefit of having... How many ladies do you have answering the phone, uh, and doing- Oh, five ... dispatch? Five. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rodney: Yeah.

Nathan: Yeah, so fi- and, and there's probably the ability for them to take on a little bit more with that.

Nathan: A whole lot

Rodney: more.

Nathan: Yeah. So, you know, the having those, some of those kind of, uh, infrastructure things in place and coming up with a, arrangement. Once the owner believes you're not gonna go out there- And destroy the brand-

Rodney: Right ...

Nathan: and mess things up. He's gonna s- and, and there's probably gonna be some, you know, 'cause you know that you, you have some issues with the brand [00:13:00] that you gotta deal with on your own, you know, when you come and, you know.

Nathan: But I just, I think it's wide open for, for guys that wanna do it, and guys that are willing to, to spend. And if you think about it, five years in, five years going, four years going to college, if you just put four years into working and expect that you're just gonna take, kinda take what is given to you and crush it- Mm-hmm

Nathan: for four years, like at least you're making some money. And, uh, that one particular guy that I interviewed said, you know, even if you're staying at home, just start putting that rent away, whatever you'd be paying. 600 bucks- Yeah ... a month, 800 bucks a month, just make sure you're putting that 800 into an account.

Nathan: And so if you're doing that that whole time like you're paying rent and you're putting it in an account, at the end of four years, you have a down payment, you saved money, you learned the skills, and you're there. You're ready to go. Um, you have 40 grand, you know, in a bank account, and that's- Well, [00:14:00]

Rodney: if you think about it, Nathan, it can be a 300 or $400,000 swing, 'cause you can have 100,000 in a bank account and you're not in debt, you know, 200 or 300,000- Right

Rodney: for education, so that's a, a huge jump. But let me back up a little bit, because you said the word willing. They have to be willing. Anybody can do it. I'd say it's o- the chances are 100% you can be successful. 100% if you're willing- Yeah ... to do what it takes. I think the biggest problem is these young men don't know that they have, that they've been God-given abilities to be warriors, to fight, to step forward, and to, to break these barriers and provide for their homes and do all of that.

Rodney: I think that's, I think that's where the real battle is at, is convincing these young men who they are in God, and letting them, letting that warrior come out and do what it does. You know, whether it's providing- Why, why do you think

Nathan: that- ... for the family- ... that they are struggling with that or don't know or?

Rodney: I know why they are. Because most people are so busy chasing the two cars and the, you know, the [00:15:00] three-story house or two-story house and the, and the vacation home and all of that. And this whole generation's getting raised by the internet. We know how smart the internet is, right? Yeah. Um, all those reasons.

Rodney: And n- very few parents stay at home. Very few parents are homeschooling their kids, although that's growing. You know, I was at a public school event last night for football. Good, one of my kids that I coached for years is gonna go to D1 baseball, and he's an excellent football player, and I was just looking at all the other kids.

Rodney: And, you know, I'm trying to remember 40 years ago when I was in high school. It is the Wild West out there. And I know we were the Wild West during our time, but they're, they make us look tame, and we had a lot of problems.

Michael: Yeah.

Rodney: Um, things that parents are just not watching and, and, um- And teaching

Michael: Yeah

Rodney: So, but I think we li- I think we Christians tend to live in a bubble You know, ours, but I wanna get out of that bubble and I wanna get into the [00:16:00] community and, and I wanna get into the hearts of these young men and say, "Look, man, I've been there."

Rodney: You know?

Nathan: Mm-hmm.

Rodney: Dude, I grew up dirt poor, no Christian background, you know? Only God was a curse word that was used multiple times in my family.

Nathan: But, uh- Yeah. Well, we read, we read in Ecclesiastes that there's nothing new under the sun, you know? And I think that it, it... the, the way the evil one does this is he changes shape and form and comes.

Nathan: So the, the fact that these lies are being propagated on the internet is not new. Like, that lie was being told in the garden by the serpent to Eve, you

Rodney: know? It, it's not new. It's not new. But saturation, and I know there's nothing new under the sun, but the saturation is- Mm-hmm ... unbelievable. It was not... We had no, we had no internet back in the, in the '80s, and even before television and so on and so forth.

Rodney: So the devil's got a, an upper hand right now. Now, I know we win in the end, but he is absolute- he's a genius marketer, I hate to tell you. He is a- Yeah ... genius marketer. To, to get us to question whether or not a [00:17:00] man should be going into a woman's bathroom is genius marketing. It's evil, it's wicked, it's despicable, but it's genius on his part.

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: You know?

Nathan: Yeah. Yeah. And you tra- tra- trace that back, I think, to what we were talking about, is the reason why, um, that marketing campaign is working right now is because it started before with, uh, not understanding what God created men and women to do. And that, you know, we look back into the, the, the feminist movement and the multiple waves, which I'm not super expert on it, but the, the reality is, is it is that same lie where God, uh...

Nathan: where the serpent comes to the woman and says, you know, "Are you really supposed to bear eternal souls- Yeah ... and ch- and create them- Yea, hath God said ... and raise them?"

Rodney: Yeah.

Nathan: Yeah. Exactly. Has God, has God really said that you should keep, keep the home and raise future generations for God's glory, [00:18:00] or should you...

Nathan: or, or, or really is your glory found in that cubicle or being that paralegal out there working for another man, you know? And, and, oh, do, do you really... should men really be the ones that are fighting wars? Like, you're, you're strong. You, you do CrossFit. Yeah. Like, you should be on the front lines just like any man.

Rodney: Yeah.

Nathan: Uh, even though, uh, one, uh, one, one particular sex has some, some stuff that makes it hard particular times of the month to be on, uh, at war. Easy enough. Like, you sh- you can do it, you can do it. You can do it. Well, yeah. I mean, uh, oh, we'll give you a pill for that, and then you'll be good, you know? Like, and it's just, it's, it's so many layers there.

Nathan: And- Well- And, and it, it... I guess that's the side of it, too. I'm, I'm super excited that you're gonna wanna get into the- The media side because in my mind I, I feel like, uh, I'm like, "Well, when I, when I'm 60 I'll be smarter, [00:19:00] um, and I'll do media then." But I also just wanna talk with you 'cause y- I call you up all the time.

Nathan: I've been calling... How many years have I, have I been calling you up all freaking out about my business, and you're like, "Nathan, calm down. Is God still in, in control or not?" Mm-hmm. You know? Um, so-

Rodney: He is still in charge. You know, and going back just a second, Nathan, you know, uh, Satan being a, a, a master marketer, master manipulator- Mm

Rodney: master imitator, all of those things, JF God said- But we the church, we bear the responsibility. God's given us, God's given us the power to overcome. Mm-hmm. We have nestled into our churches, we have grown into our compounds, and I've had that mentality before, and that's not, that's not what Jesus would do.

Rodney: Jesus is out. He walked ... Man, he walked all the way to Tyre and Sidon. He walked all the way over to the Decapolis and that areas there. He got out to the world. He didn't just stay in the temples. And he was called to, to, to, to preach to the Jews, but he still got out there and, and spoke to everyone else [00:20:00] at the same time.

Nathan: Well, and, and all the pastors were freaking out and saying, "Who, who ordained this guy? What denomination is this guy?" Exactly. "How come he ... " You know? And, and tried to discredit him, and that's, that's the side of it too, is the m- master, master marketing in the sense that the ch- the, the established, uh, religious leaders of the day were practicing

Nathan: They were not practicing a true faith. And so, and, and how awesome God was to be able to ... I mean, Jesus just put his finger right on ... You know, when you read what he's saying, you start to understand. Like, he's, he's literally saying- Mm-hmm ... like almost the most provocative thing that he could have said to that religious leader at the time, and he put his finger right on the pulse that, you know, the things that, that the Jewish sect was, was, was elevating above God's law, and the way that they were, you know, slicing and dicing things in the kingdom.

Nathan: It's, uh ... You know, I, I think, I think it's, the time is right for a, for a, for, for the, the plumber prophet. You know [00:21:00] what I'm saying? Like, I think this is gonna be your X handle, The Plumber Prophet.

Rodney: Yeah.

Nathan: I don't know about

Rodney: that. You know, Jesus, he went after the religions of the day, but he also had to straighten out the thinking of the Christians of the day, right?

Rodney: You know. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. "Have you not read? Do you not understand? How long have I been with you?" Mm-hmm. You know, all of these things, Jesus, to us Christians, he's telling us, "Look, you're not getting it."

Nathan: Mm-hmm.

Rodney: And that's ... I was thinking about that this morning, man. Lord, what am I not getting? What am I missing?

Rodney: What ... I've got so many voices speaking in my head. I got the Holy Spirit living in me. What is it you want me to do? And he's been driving me towards, towards young men, towards helping them out, not because I have the wisdom. I'm on the same journey as every, every, every other man is on. I may be a, a rotor or a, uh, a foot or two down the road ahead of people because of my age, but I am

Rodney: You remember the story in the Bible where you had the three lepers? Mm-hmm. There, and they were in, they were being in the, uh, uh ... What did they do? A circle of the camp. What do they call that? [00:22:00] The co-

Nathan: the leper colony?

Rodney: No. Well, it was three lepers and the Assyrians had pulled up and they had wrapped around

Rodney: What do they call that when they ... Well, I can't remember the word, when they wrap around the, uh, whole camp. The J- Jerusalem. Siege. The siege. Yeah. So they have a siege going on. So these, these lepers are sitting outside the camp, they're between the two armies, and they're like, "Look, man, if we stay here we're gonna die.

Rodney: We're gonna starve to death." He says, "If we go over to the enemy's camp, we- maybe we get something to eat. They might kill us either way." It is what it is. Better than starving to death. And so they walk over there and they find out that they're, they've already gone, they fled. The Lord has, has brought some, some movement over there, and they, they've left and the whole camp is empty.

Rodney: Remember that story?

Nathan: Mm-mm.

Rodney: Oh.

Nathan: I gotta get in my Bible

Rodney: more. I can't remember. Anyway, they go over there. I'll, I'll send you the text on it. They go over there and they start eating everything, and then they start taking the gold and stuff and they start hiding it. Look it up real quick. [00:23:00] I'll look it up. I can't remember

Rodney: the, uh-

Rodney: Isaiah or Kings

Nathan: All right, I got it.

Rodney: What is it?

Nathan: 2 Kings. 2 Kings. Okay. 2 Kings. Yeah. I gotta pull up the, the King James and read it. There you go. Or you know, am I allowed to read the ESV in your presence?

Rodney: I would love to hear the ESV, so

Nathan: I'm going to the context now. Let me make sure I got it here. Uh, Se- 2 Kings 7:3. So now there were four men who were lepers at the- Yep

Nathan: entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, "Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say let us go enter the city, the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we will also die. So, so now come, let us go into the camp of the Syrians, and if they spare our lives, we shall live.

Nathan: And if they kill us, we shall, [00:24:00] um ... We kill us, we shall but die." So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians, but they're ... But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there, for the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of the chariots and horses and the sounds of the great armies, so that they said to one another, "Behold, the King of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egypt, of, of Egypt to come to us."

Nathan: So they fled away at, in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.

Rodney: And one- So let me pick it up there. Let me pick it up there- Yes ... Nathan in the RSV, the Rodney Swarms version, right?

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: So God basically puts in their minds that the, there's something going on, and they all flee.

Rodney: And you know- Yeah ... from your military that the old military, they would always bring all their treasures with them. They didn't leave- Yeah ... the treasures back. The treasures were always in the camp. So [00:25:00] they flee. They leave the food, the horses, all the treasures, the weapons, everything. And these four, I said three earlier, these four lepers show up and they start eating, and then they start taking the gold and the silver, and they start going and burying it, which is exactly what I would do.

Rodney: Yeah. It's like- Yeah. ... we got unlimited, unlimited funds, right? Yeah.

Nathan: We- we are- And- ... we are the four richest lepers that-

Rodney: Yeah ... ever were. Pretty mu- Yeah. No, probably not a, n- probably not a great future being a leper and being rich. However, you would definitely do that. But my whole point is they finally said, "You know what?

Rodney: It's not right that we're sitting here doing this. We gotta go tell somebody else."

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: And l- that's how I see myself on a journey. I am one leper telling the other lepers, "Look, there is this. There is unlimited value. There's unlimited hope. There's everything you ever wanted. Everything that your heart's ever desired is available through Jesus, through His way."

Rodney: Yeah. And that's, that's ultimately ... You know, we gotta tell the story. Whether they come or not is totally between them and the [00:26:00] Lord, but we've got to go out and tell the message. Hey, these guys left- Well, I guess,

Nathan: like, the, the temptation could be who are these lepers that are ... Like, they're just trying to get us to open the gates.

Nathan: They may be spies. Let's stay up in here-

Rodney: Exactly what the king said Yeah, read on. That's exactly what the king says. Yeah? Yeah. And so he sends a guy out and he says, he says, "Man, as far as I can tell, there's the swords and the horses, the saddles, everything is just strewn everywhere. There's just a trail of, of, of material left behind because they're fleeing so fast."

Rodney: You know? Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: But I am a leper just trying to tell the other lepers, "Look, man, this is really good news. Uh, you're not-" Yeah. "... gonna believe this, but, but it's here." So-

Nathan: Well, I, I think that the... one of the reasons why, and this is, this is a critique that I have watching the Christian, uh, space, talking about, you know, what you should do, is I think it's a self-licking ice cream cone.

Nathan: Because a lot of these Christians are [00:27:00] online, are trying to make money off of their content. Right. 100%. And so ultimately I'm like, all right, if, if your goal is to just make more money from this, it's kind of like a, a mega church pastor. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, you got your private jet, you got your whatever.

Nathan: Like, are you really a leper? Are you really somebody who can, you know, tell me what is going on outside the camp and how to be effective and how to not die from famine? Right. And, and, and so that's, uh, you know, and, and essentially that's one of the reasons why I've dialed back, you know, life on target and, and social media and stuff is because like, look, you know, if I'm trying to put all this stu- this energy into, um, putting out content, my construction business doesn't do as well because it takes time, you know?

Nathan: And it takes, you know... And I guess, I think I can get back to you're saying, "Hey, I want to put some media out. I want to do whatever for me." It's, it's the least polished. It doesn't matter how polished it is. It doesn't matter that you have all the sexy microphones or the [00:28:00] studios or whatever. First of all, your audio sounds great right now.

Nathan: I don't, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's... You don't have to, like... And we just dial on a, a, a Teams call, hit record. This is recording. It's transcribing. Yeah. Yeah. I can dr- drop this into a service and have it clip the, the conversation easily and, and just that's the AI side of it, is essentially you and I are having a real conversation with each other.

Nathan: It's benefiting us. It's encouraging. Well, it's, it's always encouraging me. You're saying it's encouraging you, but I'm always like, "Nah, I think you're just being gracious," and... 'Cause I'm, I'm, I'm super happy to learn from where you are. And the way that I would articulate it is, is you're saying, "Hey, I'm only a couple feet down the road.

Nathan: I got it." You're... I think you're miles down the road. Mm-hmm. And what, what we're trying to do is, is, is... How old are you again? 69? 60? I'm

Rodney: 62. Whoa, whoa,

Nathan: whoa, whoa,

Rodney: whoa, whoa, whoa.

Nathan: I knew it. Um, you know. I knew it wasn't that high. I just did it. Um, you're 62. I'm 43. [00:29:00] The way I see it is in our conversations is you're trying to say, "Nathan, I got off the road here and I got down in that ditch and I hung out there in that ditch too long."

Rodney: Mm-hmm. "

Nathan: And if I would've just got out of that ditch and stayed on this track, I would be way farther than I am." And I can look back at my last 10 years as a construction contractor and I can say, "If I wouldn't have got off in that ditch doing podcasting as much as I did..." Now, look, the Lord uses it for what it's using, but my...

Nathan: I literally have my family living in a bus- I have all this land, I have all this debt, I have this business that's floundering, all this kind of stuff, and I'm at a... I'm in a, a high rent, uh, office recording podcasts. I'm like, "What am I doing? Cancel my rent, stop podcasting, get on the construction company," you know?

Nathan: Yeah. And, and in a sense too, like, I've got Michael coming on now, it's like, "Hey, I need to be able to build this business so where more can happen without me doing it all," and, [00:30:00] and, and I can go back and I can say, "Look, please, if you..." I started my business at, um, I was 40... I was 33, you know, and I'm 43 now, you know?

Nathan: I, I wish if we could tell a 23-year-old, "You can do..." Like, there's no reason a 23-year-old can't start what I started at 33- Yeah ... except for their mindset. Like, I have a mindset that I closed with and destroy the enemy, and so me closing, closing deals for construction, me taking risks, like I had to, you know, you not, you know.

Nathan: My risk was financially. I was, I was paranoid. I wasn't getting that first and 15th direct deposit, you know, that, you know, I was... I had to figure out, "Oh, shoot, I was paying myself this whole time. I gotta... I don't, I didn't take any taxes out. I got, I owe a big tax bill right now," you know? Mm-hmm. And all these things that, you know, this account is not the one I should be using and, you know, oh, I didn't have the right contract and now I'm in a lawsuit.

Nathan: And all these things that I could say, "Here's the things you need to do. You can do it at [00:31:00] 23. You can do it at 18. You gotta be really w- willing to take the hits. You gotta expect," specifically as a Christian, this is... I was literally going through this with cl- with these clients that I got. You know, they wanna take our time, they wanna take our attention, they wanna take our money because that's how the evil one can get at us, that he can go in and manipulate these clients that don't know the Lord, and they can steal our energy and our joy that should not be coming from that project going successfully.

Nathan: Sure. It should not be coming from them liking us and thinking well of us. It should be coming from the Lord seeing what we do and, and glorying in the fact that He sees our heart, sees what we're doing. But, you know, then it's like George Bailey says, "This money comes in a little bit handy down here," you know?

Nathan: So I think there's this tension of, hey, ultimately why do we do this? It's the Lord. But also, here is how you're effective. You know, here is how you go out and take dominion [00:32:00] and you get wealth for yourself, not, not for your... not because you want the American dream, but because Proverbs says, "A wise man leaves an inheritance to his children's children."

Nathan: That inheritance is not just the heir- inheritance of the faith, which I think it's primarily that. We want to see our grandchildren raised up- Bending the knee to Christ, obedient to him, but it's also, "Hey, here's a plumbing company that I have to, to do..." How many years have you been a, a plumber?

Rodney: 31 now.

Nathan: 31?

Rodney: Mm-hmm.

Nathan: Dang.

Rodney: Yeah. So- I'm now getting old. I'm getting old ...

Nathan: 30, so you were, you were, uh, 31 years old- Yes. Yeah ... when you got into plumbing. Yeah. So about the same time. Yeah. 'Cause I mean, literally, like- We're really close ... it overlay as far as timeline- Yeah ... is so similar. And you keep telling me, even though I don't feel like on the day to day that I'm way ahead of where you were, it doesn't feel like it.

Nathan: I can't imagine what Rodney was going through year 10 if I'm ahead of where you were.

Rodney: Nathan, I, I have been in debt a half a million [00:33:00] dollars before, um- I have been in, I have been in some big projects where we were gonna get ready to buy some land, and it was, uh, it was with some baseball. We were doing our baseball at the same time, our baseball, uh, the Hack Shack.

Rodney: So we had the Plumbing Knight, and then we had a separate business called the... It was a baseball facility, and we had a big leaguer in there. And we were getting ready to buy about $250,000 worth of property, and we spent $16,000 trying to buy it, and were never able to buy it and just got blocked every single way.

Rodney: And I, I thank the Lord it did as I look back, 'cause we would've went under had I gotten that- Mm-hmm ... property based on the other things. So, but-

Nathan: Well, I can look at similar property, that property we were looking at out in Carthage. We were trying to buy just hundreds of acres. I can't even imagine what I would've done with that.

Nathan: Right. It would've killed me. I got 54 acres now, and it's five minutes from everything. Mm-hmm. And if I would've been 35 with 10 time or five times the acreage or whatever, I would've been... And it was more debt then, too. Like, I can't even imagine- Well- ... trying to do it, you know?

Rodney: A [00:34:00] cou- a couple of thoughts about, about that.

Rodney: The, uh, C.S. Lewis, I'm pretty sure C.S. Lewis said, "Don't expect old heads on young shoulders." Mm-hmm. So you and I have to learn, unfortunately, the hard way, but we don't have to. You and I are a little thick-headed. There's just no question about it, and I, I, I admire what you do, and you've got, you've got the gift of gab I've never had, you know?

Rodney: But we have, we have the same drive as far as getting things done and whatever it takes. You know, we're gonna, we're gonna get it done. So we, we share that. But it would be so wise, and the, the world does this, if you wanna be a baseball, a great baseball player, a great pitcher, you don't just go read a book.

Rodney: You go get with a great baseball pitcher, and he coaches you how he does it. You wanna be a good, great door kicker or great sniper, you don't just go read the books and go figure it out on your own. You can, but boy, if you had, if you had the best of the best next to you, if you had a coach next to you. I wish I would've known the value of...

Rodney: That's why I think that, um, [00:35:00] franchises are, are really good. They take a lot of the small things you never think about. You mentioned taxes earlier. The franchises have all that stuff built in there. I think they're, they're great, a great learning tool. You're having to learn everything from nothing. You, you- Mm-hmm

Rodney: started out of the back of your, uh, Suburban. Wasn't it a Suburban you had?

Nathan: I had a-

Rodney: The white,

Nathan: white- Well, yeah, I, I went, like, it was just a truck at first, but yeah.

Rodney: Yeah. But you're literally learning ev- you're building a company out of the back of a truck. You know?

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: Done. I mean, that's where I got, I got a, a apron, a tool belt, a hammer, some nails, and you start knocking on doors and saying, "Hey, man, can I help you?"

Rodney: And that's literally how you started. I started... I got a terrible story. I'll tell it quickly. I bought a old van. It was like $200. That's all I could afford, just getting out on my own. And it said, it said, "Plumbing service," and it was Frank Israel's company, and he, he had sold me the van. It was a piece of junk, but it was a van, and I could put tools in it.

Rodney: And I didn't have enough money to spray paint the, the side of his van to get his name [00:36:00] off, so I took, uh, uh, a white garbage bag and put it over there, and then duct-taped the white garbage bag on both sides. So imagine a red van going down the road with this white thing just taped out on the back.

Rodney: Anyway- Yeah ... I didn't know this till a couple years later, but everybody called me the guy, the plumber with a diaper on the side of his truck.

Nathan: Diaper. Yeah.

Rodney: Yeah. So, but it had... If, if I would've been smart enough to join up with somebody who knew what they were doing, that would've saved me eons of, of time.

Rodney: But Anyway. Yeah So I, I, I want

Nathan: to s- I'm excited, I'm excited about, uh, just me. I guess, I... We... Real quick thing I thought about when you're saying, "Hey, you wanna be a sniper, you wanna be a s- a b- baseball player," whatever. I think, um, pretty quickly people can realize whether or not somebody is just reading the book and repeating what they read or- Sure

Nathan: whether they're... And that's the thing in the internet is I think, and I don't, I don't think necessarily young men, but just like [00:37:00] when you... If you watched a guy that was talking about plumbing that really didn't have a plumbing company. Right. He's just... He's, he's maybe a private equity guy that's bought three or four plumbing companies, and he's trying to tell you how to start it.

Nathan: He didn't do the time in the trenches- Right ... you know? And I, I had a, uh, a friend send me, uh, a verse that he, he, he told me this pretty early on, I think you and I have talked about it before, but it's in Exodus, uh, 23, I think. Uh, it says, "But little by little, I will drive them out before you until thou increase and inherit the land."

Nathan: Yeah. And I think that that's just a, a, a biblical principle that i- and the reason why is, is if, if God drove out all the Canaanites and, and the Philistines- 100% ... and stuff, then those orchards, those, those houses, those... They would become overwhelmed by wild animals. You couldn't even steward the wealth that is there for you.

Nathan: So in a sense, it's letting the, these, the, [00:38:00] the heathens steward this wealth for you until you become, uh, enough people, your descendants, your children, can p- go in and possess this. And I... That very thing is happening right now, and I, uh, like all this, this wealth that exists in America is our, our children's to take because...

Nathan: But not immediately. It's, it's- Mm ... they're gonna have to, they're gonna have to go and take it little by little, and the Lord will allow us to inherit it as we are able to steward it faithfully, not that it... in a way that it will be getting taken over. And so I think that- Well- ... I'm excited because I think that, um, this movement- Say

Rodney: that part again.

Rodney: Hang on, Nick. What's that? Sorry to interrupt you. Say that part again. As-

Nathan: The,

Rodney: as we are- ... we are able to steward it. Steward it. That's the key. That's the key to- Yep ... everything because if you're given something for nothing- And you're not ready for it, it's gonna destroy you, it's gonna ruin you.

Nathan: Yeah. So- So like we, we were talking about this with my family [00:39:00] about how all these people that win the lottery are, are within three to five years- Yeah

Nathan: the exact same financial state they were prior. Yep. Why is that? Because they got all this wealth that they didn't know how to steward, you know? They didn't

Rodney: learn

Nathan: anything

Rodney: by it.

Nathan: And it was all, and I mean, ultimately it was all on the back of th- of theft, you know? Mm-hmm. 'Cause the majority of the people that are playing the lottery don't have the, the enough money to make it that month, you know?

Nathan: And, and even reading in The Psychology of Money, that's because that, that little glimpse or that hope that they could have that they could get the big, big payout is literally a, a dopamine hit for them, you know? It's that, that belief or that hope, "Oh, I could be a millionaire. I could be whatever," instead of saying, "Look- I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna ask Rodney if I can be the guy that mans the shovel for him, you know?

Nathan: And, and, and within two weeks, money's getting deposited into my account.

Michael: Mm-hmm.

Nathan: And I, and, and the reality of going in and, and driving out the, [00:40:00] the, the inhabitants of the land that the Lord said he would deliver into your hand. And what did they do at first too? They said, "Oh, they're big. They're too strong.

Nathan: They're whatever." And, and there were only two, two guys to 12, you know? And- Yeah ... in my mind-

Rodney: Two out of

Nathan: 12

Rodney: leaders ...

Nathan: I'm, they were the- Leaders. These aren't- I mean, they, they these were- Yeah, these were the best of the best ... these were the... Yeah. You got, you weren't a slouch that got s- selected to- No ... go across into the, the Promised Land and spy it out.

Nathan: You were-

Rodney: Yeah ...

Nathan: the strongest dudes, the fastest dudes. The, the- Respected. Yep. And, and you all came back and said, "We can't do it." And-

Rodney: They pa- they paid for that, didn't they?

Nathan: Yeah. Well, and, and I think a lot of Christians read that story and they're like, "Yeah, I'm a Caleb, or I'm a Joshua", you know?

Rodney: Are you really?

Nathan: I'm gonna look at the fruit of your life and say you're not. Mm. I'm gonna, I'm gonna... I'm reading that story and I'm thinking, "Shoot, I don't wanna be that." Like, but I'm- Mm-hmm ... I know in my business in these times, like, literally today or last night, I'm having a, a, a very hard [00:41:00] conversation with clients that don't wanna pay fair market.

Nathan: My, the, literally the rate that I charged them for every other thing I've done so far, now there's, they're changing things and I'm like, "Here's how much this is gonna cost." And they're flipping out, you know? Yeah. And they're talking about how I'm setting them up for this and blah blah, and I'm leaving with a knot in my stomach, you know?

Nathan: And, and I'm like, "This is ridiculous." And I'm, I'm one of the 10 of the tw- then the 12 in that particular moment. I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, God, they're not-" Right ... "gonna pay me." Right. "We're gonna have a lawsuit. They're gonna be... They're attacking my character. They're wanna..." And I'm getting all bent out of shape, and I'm getting fearful.

Rodney: And you're not big enough to handle all of this, Lord.

Nathan: Yep. Yeah. Right. And, and, and to come back and then, you know, honestly I come back and I'm short with my wife, I'm short with my kids. Mm-hmm. I'm, you know, and, and I, and I'm literally in that moment, it's literally like the, the, uh, rooster crowing for me.

Nathan: Mm-hmm. You know?

Rodney: Mm-hmm.

Nathan: And, and God's like, "That's why I'm giving you [00:42:00] this, to show you that your character still needs to be san- you still need sanctification." You know? You need to not, uh, uh, be like, you know... 'Cause the temptation can be to just nu- numb yourself to it, to, "I'm gonna go grab a couple beers.

Nathan: I'm gonna go, like, I'm gonna be a jerk. I'm gonna withdraw. I'm not gonna lead my family faithfully." And I'm seeing myself in that seat and I'm like, "Shoot." There you go. Like, the rooster crows, you know, you denied me Mm-hmm And, and, and, and stop being such a, such a Israel, scary little Israelite at the, at the Promised Land, and g- get up in the morning and take dominion, you know?

Rodney: In one word, Nathan, it's unbelief, and that's why I'm only two feet ahead of you. I have the same things with my customers, even still today. You know, I'll g- I'll literally get on, got a, a crazy customer on the phone, I'll literally, "All right, Lord, I need your help. I don't have what it takes." And [00:43:00] within three minutes, "We don't want you.

Rodney: Don't ever call us again." You know, just totally m- just totally- Yeah ... trying to control things that are God's to control, you know? If these customers wanna act that way, that's, that's their problem. You know, I can't... I don't lean on customers for my, for my safety, for my security, for my provisions. I don't lean on them for anything.

Rodney: Although, I far too often do lean on them. Does that make sense? Yep.

Nathan: Yep.

Rodney: So, but Anyway, well, man, I've enjoyed this conversation, but I've gotta roll, brother. So-

Nathan: Yeah. Uh- Well, I'll, I'll, uh, I'm gonna... I'll export it, and I'll send you a link where you can just download all the cool clips that it makes. It'll put captions on it and everything.

Nathan: And, uh, and then you let me know, because I'll start, I'll start posting it and tagging you, and let's get everything that I've... All those years that I was staying up late and, uh, and podcasting or whatever, I stu- I, I have three or four people that listen. [00:44:00] And so, you know, I'll funnel them your way, and we can talk about- Sure

Nathan: you know. Yeah. Well, y'all- It's a couple hundred that listen to the podcast. Yeah. But it's, it's, it's, you know, I, I... I'm excited just for the sake that I get to talk to you-

Michael: Oh ...

Nathan: uh, a little bit, maybe regularly, and we can figure out, um, how to be an encouragement. And I, again, this is hopefully something that, from the podcast perspective, my mindset is if, if Eli could listen to this and be, uh, and Gabriel could listen to this and be- Sure

Nathan: encouraged in the Lord. Yeah. And then even our descendants can go back and listen to about how we were struggling through those daily tasks, and they can see, oh, you know, these, these giants- Pretty, pretty normal ... uh, yeah, these giants to the faith, to us, or, oh, the, you know, my tombstone's over there in the family plot.

Nathan: And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm food for worms right now. Yeah. Like, okay, I understood how he was thinking about as he was trying to take dominion where he's at, [00:45:00] and it could be an encouragement. And if our sons are encouraged by it, if you and I are encouraged by the conversation, there's gonna be at least two more people out there on the internet that will be as well, so.

Rodney: Well, if we can get our own children to go out and plant seed, there's infinite reward on that. And I- Yeah ... I would encourage you, you and I are in two different, uh, sections of life, two different, what's the word? Generations. Two different times, seasons. Seasons of life. Yeah,

Nathan: seasons.

Rodney: You know, you've still got young kids at home.

Rodney: They've got to be the primary. So I don't want this to be something that, that gets you hooked in. You know, we can have these conversations driving down the road, you know. I wanna think on some subjects and stuff, and I'm, I wanna learn from you because- I have p- I have really fought all of this, uh, i- internet stuff, the Instagram, the Facebook, all of that stuff.

Rodney: I fought it, and I finally said, "You know what, Lord? It's a tool that I need to get out there and start getting in the war." You know, there's so many- Mm-hmm ... voices in the other side, I need to get out there and get your voice out here the best I [00:46:00] can. So that's-

Nathan: Well, I think that, the Sermon on the Mount where it talks about to shine your light, uh, you put a lamp on the lamp stand so that- Right

Nathan: it gives light to the whole room. And, and, and this, and the church and our families should be cities set on a hill that people see and say, "I wanna go there-

Rodney: Right ...

Nathan: because I don't know what's going on there." And, and so there is, that's not an excuse to just l- you know, fall into the Alice in Wonderland hole that is the internet, but this is a, a means by which we show God's blessing to us.

Nathan: This is what God is doing, this is what God has enabled us to happen. And, and that's why I like having people in my life that know and see the real fruit and what's going on in my life, so that if what's going on in the internet doesn't match, you know, come up here and kick me upside the head. If I am getting, falling down the rabbit hole and putting e- too much time into it, then s- then grab me up by the scruff of the neck, you know?

Nathan: Yeah. [00:47:00] And I guess that's what my thing is, is, is the fact that I could fire this Teams call, I can hit record, I can, I can hit en- end the meeting. The rec- the recording's there, the, the thing's there, and I can just give this to AI and say, you know, slice and dice it. It's a real conversation, um, that we had about real things, and the actual publishing and the processing of it is not overdone.

Nathan: It's just get it out there. If it helps you, if it doesn't, whatever. But the, the goal would be that the, the conversation and the content is, is good enough that people will, will, uh, you know, p- look over the fact that I'm in, uh, an old barn right now with, with some AirPods instead of, you know, in that fancy studio that everybody has, you know?

Nathan: And I, I'm gonna get in here and I'm a... My goal today, what are you doing the rest of the day? My goal is, is get some more advertising campaigns going on on Facebook and Instagram for the construction company, and to build [00:48:00] out, uh, a bunch of portfolio pages that show our past work because I, I only have, like, 10 or 12 jobs on my website, and I'm trying to make it where it has all the, a bunch of jobs that show what we can do.

Nathan: The, the, the, all the different services so that, um, there's, there's a lot more proof when a customer clicks on the website to see all the stuff that we do, and it's also getting served up better to when they're searching on AI for construction companies or when they're searching on the internet that it, that the- The professional a- advice and stuff that we have that I have actually written and put out is there, um, to help get us more money, so.

Rodney: So let me, let me show you real quick what I am doing. I don't... I want to show you something real quick I've, I've created here.

Nathan: Uh-oh, Michael's here.

Rodney: You're Michael?

Nathan: Yeah, what are you doing?

Michael: Uh, I was gonna grab my trailer, but the key's not for the trailer.

Nathan: Uh-oh.

Michael: It's locked.

Rodney: You working for your wife? [00:49:00] Hmm. So let me pull this real quick.

Rodney: I'll try to share this with you. Hey, Michael.

Nathan: You're in my headphone, but-

Rodney: Oh ...

Nathan: I'm on a call with Rodney right now. He, he reached out to me this morning and was like, "I want to start putting out some blue collar advice for men, young men, because I'm thinking that young men are lost or whatever." I'm like, "Get on the ph- phone with me right now and let's record it."

Nathan: So- Hmm ... he's a really, he's way smarter than me All right. Hang on one second.

Rodney: I'm pulling this up, pull this up here for

Nathan: you. He knows. Michael says he's w- he knows that you're way smarter than me.

Rodney: Uh, I would doubt that. So- Yes, sir. That's- I'm just older. That's, that's all there is to it ... different trades. So let me see how I can share this here real quick, um, Nathan.

Rodney: And by the way, I've gotten a lot better. And hats off to you. You've really helped me jump some, uh- Training

Rodney: I know. Took me about four minutes, but huh. All right, so here's the thing.

Rodney: Over here is [00:50:00] my big five for 2027. You asked me what I'm doing.

Rodney: I want, I wanna tell you. I got my big five. So I wanna build up the leadership team. I know for a fact that if my team is not, if my leaders are not great, then we're not gonna be great. You with me? And now, then my second is to build up apprenticeship program. We've already got about half of it done, but I want it to be complete.

Rodney: We have our Golden Knights Maintenance program, then we have AI implementation. I'm meeting with Rima Web Monday. Are you familiar with them?

Nathan: Yeah, you told me about them.

Rodney: Yeah Um, I'm supposed to come- I meet with them Monday. I'll let you know what they say and run it across you, mate. I, I would wish you could be there, but I know you got your own things going on.

Rodney: And then we're gonna pick, you know, 30 process systems that AI will help us implement. But my whole thing is, when I'm talking to AI here, Nathan I'm gonna s- all of my to-dos here have got to- Yeah ... align with these five. That is a discipline I don't have. I'm like you, I'm, I'm shotgun [00:51:00] sometimes. I'm chase the rabbit, I'm chase the squirrel, chase the Alice hole.

Rodney: I'm that guy. So I'm trying to, to dis- discipline myself to everything I do is focusing on these big five. Yeah. That make sense? Yeah. So, and then I've got, you know, I've got workouts, all this stuff over here. But I'm having AI, uh, track it for me. Every day I'll give it a report, and then it's, then it's gonna run a, it's gonna run a, uh-

Nathan: Score

Rodney: sheet for you

Rodney: a score sheet, basically. How are you doing? That type of thing. So, but anyway, I'm still working on it, but, but hats off to you- Well, that, it's, it's kind of- ... for helping me down that road.

Nathan: That's kind of the, uh, the EOS methodology too, right? You have that- Yes ... the, the core things that are at the front that you, that are essentially your, give you a understanding of whether or not, um, they, they should be a priority, you know?

Nathan: And, and, and you've been telling me you gotta focus on the, uh... You can only really focus on [00:52:00] one company. Stop getting distracted. Stop doing- Yeah ... like, y- we can't, we can't be doing 10 things at the same time, you know? And everybody will be like, "Well, Elon Musk," whatever. Like, Elon Musk has got tens of thousands of people working.

Rodney: Billions of dollars to pay people.

Nathan: Billions of dollars and, and, like, that's... You shouldn't be... You're not Elon Musk, all right? Like, you are a broke person who has too, spending too much time on the internet, and you need to get-

Rodney: But you do have Starlink. You do have Starlink on your, uh, roof there, so that's, that's a good step.

Nathan: Yeah,

Rodney: yeah. So.

Nathan: Yeah, dude, I, I'm, um, Starlink's getting a lot of my money, and it's, it's amazing- ... to be able to have, have it, have high-speed internet while I'm driving around in the truck, have it at the barn, have it at the house. Like, it's thousands of dollars to try to get wires run between all these different things.

Nathan: It's amazing. But

Rodney: for- Do you keep- Um ... on your truck, is that Starlink just thrown in the back there to pick up stuff, or do you have it mounted

Nathan: when you drive? I have a mount, but, um, w- when I... Well, the way that I [00:53:00] had it, I just had it mounted on the roof and the cable going in my door, and then I got a battery pack that can run it for, um, four days, um, without getting charged.

Nathan: But then that's plugged- Mm ... into my cigarette lighter that can charge it while I'm driving around. So-

Rodney: Yeah ...

Nathan: on a, in a given day I'll drop 10%, 20% as I'm driving around. And, uh, you know, that, that 10% drop is, is almost nothing, and it'll run a while. And I have it just, m- lately I've been putting it just in my s- my, uh, skylight.

Nathan: Like, I slide the skylight back, I just flip it

Rodney: this. Oh, that's a great idea. I got a moon roof. Yeah. I could do that. That's a awesome idea.

Nathan: I, yeah, I think

Rodney: that they're

Nathan: made- So let me ask you this. Go ahead.

Rodney: Does it help... Let me ask you this. Does it help with your cell reception? Can you use the internet for better cell reception?

Nathan: Yes, the, the problem is in the s- in the sand hills with these giant pine trees-

Rodney: Mm-hmm ...

Nathan: if you get into that tunnel where the pine trees are really high and your Starlink can only see a narrow band of the sky or, or big branches are over the street. Mm-hmm. So o- [00:54:00] oftentimes if I'm on a call, like a voice call, I'll just, on my iPhone I can turn Wi-Fi off on my iPhone, and it'll go through cell signal for a call.

Nathan: Okay. Okay. Um, and so, but then, you know, you toggle it back on when you're not on a call, 'cause it's, it's mostly- But it would- ... if you're-

Rodney: It would be rare that they intersect the same thing. I got no cell coverage and no satellite coverage. That would be, certainly happens, but it would be rare, correct?

Nathan: Yeah.

Nathan: And, and essentially if it's, it's like, "Hey, bad signal, you know, I'll, I'll call you back in a second." But if, if your iPhone is, says, like has the option turned on that you wanna use Wi-Fi for calling, then it will, it will use the Wi-Fi if it has it, and that's what I'm saying. If, if you have that on and your Wi-Fi's on, your, your iPhone's gonna try to call over Wi-Fi.

Nathan: And then, um, you know, like I- I'll be driving, specifically going down Midland Road in Southern Pines, 'cause those pine trees just dangle over. Yeah. If I'm on a call going down Midland, I [00:55:00] gotta turn Wi-Fi off 'cause it, it, it, it's, it sounds like you have a bad signal, but you got enough cell signal there. So- Yeah

Nathan: for me, I just like being able to send, uh, videos and photos and stuff to, to, um, to people. Um, you know, subcontractors or whatever, "Hey, this is where we're gonna be cutting this out," and whatever. If I'm at a job that has, you know, one bar or two bars and that video's not able to go out-

Rodney: Yeah ...

Nathan: um-

Rodney: Forever ...

Nathan: and then I'm writing code the whole time.

Nathan: My iPad, I got that open. I'm, I'm updating BlueCollarOS and getting features in it and, you know, having it, having it work, so. What are- I need to get- Tell me real quick what's your, uh... what you wanna, you were thinking about wanting to talk about. Let's, let's tease the, the audience that's still here with us what they, um...

Nathan: what, what subjects you wanna do.

Rodney: I just... My, my whole push is, look, you were created in the image of God, and God's got a plan for you, and you are a warrior whether you like it or not. Mm-hmm. And what does that look like? That's literally [00:56:00] the push that I want people to understand. Yes. Now, in, um, April, and I, I m- I'll ask you now, Nathan, uh, I need a speaker for, uh, a, a getaway, for a blue collar getaway.

Rodney: I'm gonna, I'm gonna sponsor it in, uh, Lake Waccamaw, which is by Wilmington, North Carolina.

Nathan: Yeah.

Rodney: Friday, Saturday. I want you, Eli. Jude can come. Um, and I'm gonna have hopefully 20 or 30 men there, and I wanna talk about what does God expect out of men, or what does it mean to be a man. You know, I haven't figured- Yeah

Rodney: all that out. You'll get, you'll get a copy of an email here pretty quick. Um-

Nathan: Yeah. No, I'd love to go, for sure.

Rodney: Doubt it. But anyway, my man, been a blessing as always, and I appreciate your time.

Nathan: All right. Have a good one, Roddy.

Rodney: All right. See ya. Bye.