Today we will have Joe Kramer, a West Point graduate, former Army officer, and the founder of Ruck On. Listen as he shares his exciting story and thoughts on how he has gone through the process to achieve success with his belief + action= results equation.
Episode Highlights:
3 Key Points:
Quotes:
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Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal.
Speaker:We imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
Speaker:Hi I'm Scott Tucker.
Speaker:And welcome back to veteran while secrets, that quote is from the
Speaker:author of Gates of fire actually.
Speaker:But this particular quote comes from the war of art by Steven Pressfield.
Speaker:And it's a mantra that I hold near and dear to my heart because I think it's
Speaker:all about belief for the longest time.
Speaker:My belief.
Speaker:The story I was told was about falling into line.
Speaker:Get good grades, go to a good college, happened to be West point.
Speaker:So therefore military college.
Speaker:And then you go to get a good career as an officer in the military follow orders,
Speaker:check all the boxes, go to the right trainings, the right schools get deployed.
Speaker:Don't get don't fuck up.
Speaker:And You can basically hit your 20 years and be good to go get that pension.
Speaker:And then, use that Westpoint network to go find that, wall street gig.
Speaker:that was a belief I had.
Speaker:And even when I realized I don't quite fit into that role of, as I was.
Speaker:Entering year six on active duty.
Speaker:I thought, I think I'm an outside the box.
Speaker:I'm not the leader that our soldiers need in the military.
Speaker:I need to be doing other stuff.
Speaker:I Frankly, I wanted to be a foreign affairs officer, but.
Speaker:Doesn't matter when you're in the army, you gotta check all the other
Speaker:boxes first, as a matter where you could actually be more beneficial.
Speaker:They'd rather have you just sit in a random chair, but
Speaker:we all know how that works.
Speaker:That's how bureaucracy works, once you don't have to live in the
Speaker:bureaucracy, why do we believe that?
Speaker:That's the only way.
Speaker:That's what we're told it's my parents did.
Speaker:It's what the guys who retired or got out of the military before me, did,
Speaker:they're getting good jobs they're getting paid, but are they happy?
Speaker:And what is the belief about who they are?
Speaker:They're working at an Amazon warehouse, is that their belief of
Speaker:what they're meant to do, who they were meant to serve in this lifetime?
Speaker:See when I got out, no rhyme or reason stumbled into the career
Speaker:of being a financial advisor and the old school traditional sense
Speaker:and didn't know what it was about.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Makes sense.
Speaker:I can take these exams, get these licenses and therefore I'm now an expert.
Speaker:And that's not true, of course, but even people who are many years into
Speaker:this, into the financial planning industry are only, they have a belief
Speaker:system of, heck even the certified financial planner, has to believe.
Speaker:The, I think it's six steps or six things of that.
Speaker:This is how you do financial planning.
Speaker:And if you're certified, this is how it is for everybody.
Speaker:No it's the belief.
Speaker:If you're only talking to the folks who want to stay on the
Speaker:frugal, save 20% for retirement.
Speaker:One day put 70% stocks, 30% bonds, buy some Dave Ramsey style strategy
Speaker:and you will be successful.
Speaker:So for none of that's true, there's absolutely nothing that can prepare
Speaker:for what's coming this next.
Speaker:Did anybody know the iPhone was coming.
Speaker:Did anybody understand artificial intelligence?
Speaker:The, heck 20 years ago they thought the internet was a joke.
Speaker:There's articles written about how it's just a fad.
Speaker:The world is changing far too rapidly to believe that
Speaker:anything that we've been told.
Speaker:Is a good predictor of our future.
Speaker:The craziest thing about the financial planning industry.
Speaker:And this is when I realized it was all just a scam and, people trying to
Speaker:justify their existence because they got sold themselves to be, advisors
Speaker:for a firm when really they didn't realize they were just being salesman.
Speaker:That's why the industry has a 95% turnover rate because people
Speaker:come in believing they're going to be helpful and give advice.
Speaker:And then they find out it's.
Speaker:Oh, no, you just got to slog away call and annoy all your friends and give them
Speaker:the same standard cookie cutter advice.
Speaker:That's basically going to justify, buying our products and services.
Speaker:And I believe that was all true for a while.
Speaker:And until I, I told I've told the story on the podcast and my book, Veteran
Speaker:Wealth Secrets of The favorite client of mine, who I thought I was giving the
Speaker:right advice for, but she wasn't happy.
Speaker:Or that time I was on a beach in Thailand, afraid to be communicating via my iPhone
Speaker:with clients because I was afraid.
Speaker:They'd find out I was.
Speaker:not in my office.
Speaker:And what, a shame that I had to feel so bad about myself and my
Speaker:identity, here I had done the things I thought I was supposed to do.
Speaker:I got good grades.
Speaker:I was state lacrosse champion in high school and I went to West point and
Speaker:became the officer and served over in Germany, went to Iraq and, I thought
Speaker:my resume was going to look good.
Speaker:And then I realized when I put it all on paper, I just look like everybody else.
Speaker:We all look the same.
Speaker:Same goes for MBAs certified financial planners, PMPs, they're
Speaker:all just labels were commoditized.
Speaker:And it, it really messed with me for a number of years because I
Speaker:had this mentor who was the top.
Speaker:Quote / unquote advisor in our firm, but he was only the top advisor because
Speaker:he was bringing in the most income.
Speaker:He was making half a million dollars a year and live in this lifestyle
Speaker:of travel and moved his whole family to Italy and living in a penthouse
Speaker:and beautiful cities in Italy.
Speaker:And And, I'd go visit and, I was more or less independent I had once I had
Speaker:made more than I made as a captain in the army, I thought my belief
Speaker:was, Oh gosh, okay, this is my limit.
Speaker:This is good enough for me, it was all face.
Speaker:It was all based on, what's your salary, what's your annual.
Speaker:that's what we all get told.
Speaker:And a couple of things happened.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:I'd see the misery of the limiting beliefs that our clients had because
Speaker:it was all about, am I saving enough or do I have to work longer?
Speaker:And maybe I can get one day to do the things that I like doing, or
Speaker:frankly didn't even cross their mind to do the things they liked doing.
Speaker:And they told themselves they had this belief that, I'm now
Speaker:with this government contractor.
Speaker:I'm good to go.
Speaker:Hopefully Friday comes around.
Speaker:I can go watch sports on the weekend, 10 years later, it's the same story.
Speaker:And yet the guys giving that advice on how to manage the money
Speaker:in that situation, living in a penthouse in Verona, Italy, me.
Speaker:I was younger, single, no family.
Speaker:So I'm just taking any moment I can to be bop around Europe or get down to Brazil or
Speaker:do some sort of crazy travel experience.
Speaker:But I could, because I had set Up that situation for myself.
Speaker:I didn't go into the financial planning industry thinking I got an office and
Speaker:everything, but I didn't limit myself to that mainly because I just, I hated it.
Speaker:I didn't have it.
Speaker:I didn't believe in it for the longest time, but I saw my mentor
Speaker:and he just loved the idea of giving financial advice and telling, really
Speaker:it was an ego trip, especially given the amount of income he was making.
Speaker:And finally, as I, moved back to the States, I've been living in Germany
Speaker:for a long time working this way.
Speaker:And I moved back to the States.
Speaker:I was just really lost and depressed.
Speaker:I realized I didn't want to follow this path of, living a lifestyle,
Speaker:but then giving this mediocre advice that, gosh, you can Google
Speaker:and YouTube, that stuff like.
Speaker:Why aren't we teaching people to live the way we live instead of inviting
Speaker:people over to hang out in your penthouse and Verona, Italy, as you're
Speaker:inviting the clients over and acting brilliant, we're just showing off
Speaker:instead let's teach them how to do it.
Speaker:, If that's where they want, why is it's gotta be a vacation for them.
Speaker:If it can be a lifestyle for us, why can't it be a lifestyle for anybody?
Speaker:That's advice.
Speaker:That's financial.
Speaker:That's what I realized.
Speaker:That's the real wealth building opportunity.
Speaker:Wealth is not about money.
Speaker:It's about your time.
Speaker:It's about how you seek your to exist in this world, how you find and serve
Speaker:those whom you're meant to serve.
Speaker:So you can have meaning and passion around it.
Speaker:And so that's why that quote, I'll read it again.
Speaker:Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal.
Speaker:We imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already
Speaker:are and become it, who are you
Speaker:Outside of all the labels you put on through your life, for me.
Speaker:It was when I finally, after I gave myself the permission to be
Speaker:like, I don't know what I'm looking for, but I'm going to find it.
Speaker:I look back to who I was before the military.
Speaker:The thing when you're a kid, when you're a lot more carefree, what
Speaker:were the things I was good at?
Speaker:What I was doing was moved me forward was a lot of, it was
Speaker:being super creative innovate not artistic, but just weirdly creative.
Speaker:I build these forts in the forest and, figure out ways to sell stuff
Speaker:to my neighbors and I do all sorts of comedy routines on a whim.
Speaker:It was just wild stuff.
Speaker:And as I tapped back into that side of myself, I was like,
Speaker:Oh, I already am this person.
Speaker:I already have these passions.
Speaker:Why can't I tap back into it, given all the other things I know now, And so that's
Speaker:when I realized this is who I ought to be, and guess what's happened along the way.
Speaker:I saw all sorts of other things and that's really, my passion now is to inspire
Speaker:others, to give themselves the permission, to find out who they already are.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll leave it at that for today.
Speaker:Hey, make sure you subscribe to the podcast, please rate and
Speaker:review, share it with a friend.
Speaker:We're early on in this looking to grow.
Speaker:It.
Speaker:It's really all based around my new book Veteran Wealth secrets you can get a copy
Speaker:on Amazon, of course, print and Kindle.
Speaker:But first three chapters available totally for free on our website, usvetwealth.com.
Speaker:Or you can go directly to better VeteranWealthSecrets.com.
Speaker:Yeah, we'd love to chat.
Speaker:There's also a bunch of stuff on our YouTube channel, another
Speaker:place we're looking to grow.
Speaker:So if these messages that I'm putting out here resonate with you, we'd love to
Speaker:connect with you more and build more of a community around here of like-minded folks
Speaker:who are looking to really take control
Speaker:and create the opportunities today and create the autonomy.
Speaker:Any one of us can have in these modern times, especially given the realities.
Speaker:What we've seen in the last 12 months has I speak this and early 20 21,
Speaker:whenever you're listening to it, this is a message that will continue on.
Speaker:This is for anybody at any time in their lives.
Speaker:And they're looking to be better than they were yesterday.
Speaker:And how do you keep that momentum going forward?
Speaker:That's what the Veteran Wealth secrets.
Speaker:Book's all about.
Speaker:And that's what this show is all about.
Speaker:And on this particular episode got an interview we want
Speaker:to share with you as well.
Speaker:Joe Kramer founder of rock on really inspirational, just a real
Speaker:passionate young guy, unfortunately medical reasons wasn't able to
Speaker:finish out his military career, but.
Speaker:No one wanted to be creative himself with a young family and not just
Speaker:have to, yeah, he's got a job.
Speaker:He's got to put food on the table for his young family, but that
Speaker:didn't stop him from trying to create financial opportunities
Speaker:from his hobbies, his passions.
Speaker:And, he's just chosen one thing, but already in the time that I've known
Speaker:him he's told me, he's said, Hey, thank you for sharing this world with me,
Speaker:because now as you're dabbling in it, as you're dabbling in these skillsets,
Speaker:these modern skillsets stuff, you don't get at an MBA degrees and things
Speaker:you don't get at corporations as a job, they don't teach these things
Speaker:exactly what we're doing right now.
Speaker:Podcasting writing books.
Speaker:Learning communication, persuasion, how to network, how LinkedIn
Speaker:is really the biggest wealth building tool ever invented.
Speaker:In my opinion, tell people about stocks and bonds.
Speaker:That's not how you get rich.
Speaker:Jeez.
Speaker:All right, I'll leave it at that.
Speaker:Hope you enjoy the episode with Joe.
Speaker:We will see you next time.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:welcome back to veteran wealth secrets.
Speaker:I'm Scott Tucker.
Speaker:And this is the show where we.
Speaker:Want to talk to active duty military people going through transition veterans,
Speaker:business owners, wherever you might be affiliated with the military community.
Speaker:But those who recognize, Hey, we're in a modern time, looking for the new
Speaker:tips and tricks, how to fit in and not just necessarily following the
Speaker:masses and excited to, And announce again, or talk about, again, that
Speaker:my book launch we had last week on Amazon, you can always get it for free.
Speaker:The PDF version of veteran will secrets.com but put it out on Amazon for
Speaker:the first time, just in the Kindle version for now, but had almost 200 downloads
Speaker:and just the first couple of days.
Speaker:That was pretty cool.
Speaker:Excited to see where that goes, but ultimately that's why I'm excited to
Speaker:have today's guest on, because some of the philosophies I talk about in the
Speaker:book and the ideas we talk about, Hey, where, how do we build the skillsets
Speaker:to tap into the modern economy?
Speaker:Our guest today has been doing that.
Speaker:It's been fun to watch Joe Kramer welcome to veteran most secrets.
Speaker:Joe is the.
Speaker:Founder of rock on.
Speaker:He's also a freelance journalist he's especially sometime, graduated West point
Speaker:2016 had they were per it seemed like they were purging many classes for looking
Speaker:for medical discharges in a lot of ways.
Speaker:I just know so many people from that era that were medically discharged.
Speaker:And so all of a sudden you're thrown into the the corporate world much sooner.
Speaker:Than you were expecting.
Speaker:I'm sure.
Speaker:And I know the transition times is a lot quicker and of course you're
Speaker:going through the medical process.
Speaker:Really tough time looking forward to hearing about those challenges
Speaker:and how you overcome them.
Speaker:But I think ultimately you've you, as you've come up online, you've shown how
Speaker:to implement of these things that I'm always screaming from the mountaintops.
Speaker:Hey people, we gotta do this.
Speaker:So Joe, I'm excited to hear.
Speaker:Your story and your thoughts on how you've gone through this process.
Speaker:Just, since we've, since I haven't gotten to know you in
Speaker:the last year or so, but yeah.
Speaker:Tell us a little bit about how life is for you right now, what you're up
Speaker:to especially given the context of yet another pending lockdown I'm sure.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So things are going pretty well for me right now.
Speaker:My wife and I are both working full time.
Speaker:Actually now at the same marketing company I do content marketing,
Speaker:she's involved with payments
Speaker:and so they were laying people off, but then you expanded
Speaker:in your corner in the market.
Speaker:That's probably a discussion for, it could be another show about a lesson
Speaker:that I learned there about Always doing your best, like your personal best and
Speaker:not, based off someone else's metrics.
Speaker:But the standard Sergeant,
Speaker:exactly.
Speaker:Because I do know for a fact that had I had, I just met the standard
Speaker:and not done my personal best.
Speaker:I would not have the job that I currently have.
Speaker:Which has given me a lot of tools, skills, and experience that, that have helped me
Speaker:in other areas of what I'm trying to do.
Speaker:But three, three kids at home actually expecting number four any week now.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then, like you said I'm the founder of rock on which.
Speaker:In this situation, the lockdown and everything, I've been able to
Speaker:pour some more time and effort into it and really build it out from
Speaker:when it was, an idea and a blog.
Speaker:I think the first time that we really crossed paths and then a little
Speaker:bit of sports writing on the side.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Let's just dig right into that.
Speaker:I want to have you talk a little bit more about ruck on, obviously
Speaker:there's a fitness component there yet.
Speaker:There's a uniqueness to.
Speaker:That, and I think that's, we go back to, what do we always talk about,
Speaker:Hey, no matter what business you're in the sales and marketing business.
Speaker:And I want to come back to how your skill sets play into that now, but for now
Speaker:more specifically about Rocana, you're a hockey player you're doing sports writing.
Speaker:Obviously there's been, errors of to CrossFit to, to everything, but I just
Speaker:take us down the journey of, what you saw as an opportunity for rock on.
Speaker:Eh but maybe also what it meant for you personally, as you were essentially
Speaker:trying to take advantage of, let's just call it the modern economy
Speaker:and position yourself for that.
Speaker:I think you saw something there.
Speaker:So anyways, just walk us through because it hadn't, you're only out
Speaker:of the army for less than a year or less than a few years, really.
Speaker:And I know you've had a few.
Speaker:Different job opportunities.
Speaker:You've got that you've experienced.
Speaker:So you've seen a lot in a short amount of time, and yet you want to start a
Speaker:whole new fitness movement, like Holy cow, Andy got a fourth kid on the way.
Speaker:Like what, what causes that?
Speaker:I think as I was leaving the military and going through the transition It
Speaker:really opened my eyes to what you have been preaching for a while now, which
Speaker:is we're at an age now, especially, for veterans and it really for anyone you're
Speaker:not confined the way you were in the past, with the internet and the way It's just
Speaker:so easy to acquire new skills and then put them into practice around something
Speaker:that you have an interest or a passion in and build yourself up and establish
Speaker:yourself as unique and an authority.
Speaker:And I didn't dive.
Speaker:Right in, I know some people do the, I'm quitting my job and, I'm
Speaker:just gonna, will this to work.
Speaker:I wasn't necessarily in a position to do that, but what
Speaker:I did realize is that, Sure.
Speaker:I kinda need to grind out, a nine to five to put a roof over my head, take care
Speaker:of the family, but there's so much time.
Speaker:And especially now given current circumstances there's a whole lot
Speaker:of time outside that nine to five that you can put to use learning
Speaker:various skills and just putting.
Speaker:Getting your feet wet, doing whatever it is you want to do.
Speaker:And so that's something that I just started doing is w with rucking I saw,
Speaker:I guess I'll shoot back up as to where the whole rucking and rock on came from.
Speaker:Because after getting out of the military, I started to.
Speaker:Put on a little weight and just I fell out of it, fell out of shape
Speaker:because, I didn't have the time or the money for a gym membership.
Speaker:And so I was spinning my wheels like what do I do?
Speaker:How do I, stay in shape I had.
Speaker:And after a while, and I came across GORUCK and they have these monthly
Speaker:rucking challenges and I'm like, Whoa, Why didn't I think of that, just put some
Speaker:weight in a backpack and, walk around.
Speaker:It's something we did in, doing the military all the time.
Speaker:And so I started doing those monthly challenges and I started up a blog that,
Speaker:just, that was the first iteration of rock on was just me blogging each month about.
Speaker:Things that I thought about as I was rocking and thought
Speaker:might be, helpful or useful
Speaker:at that time, would you say it was strict hobby?
Speaker:Like you didn't even understand you were, would you just say, Hey,
Speaker:I'm learning this skill set of logging or was it more just passion?
Speaker:Honestly, I, it w it was probably mostly just hobby, but maybe subconsciously
Speaker:a little bit like Hey, you blog about this, maybe something will happen.
Speaker:But I think when I really started thinking about Oh, Hey,
Speaker:there's a real opportunity here.
Speaker:Is after I've been, blogging, a couple months and I would share, pictures of me,
Speaker:it's 19 degrees and snowing and I'm out there rucking and I'd have friends and
Speaker:neighbors there's that would ask me from time to time Oh, Hey Joe so how's rucking
Speaker:go in, And a couple of people even reached out and then they're like, dude, can
Speaker:you like, w what's this rucking all out?
Speaker:Like, how are you using it to stay in shape, can help me out.
Speaker:And that's kinda when I started to realize that, there, there
Speaker:was something there and that, I.
Speaker:As a veteran, as someone with military experience, I took the whole, rucking and
Speaker:using it to stay in shape for granted.
Speaker:And I could possibly provide value by sharing what I know and what
Speaker:I learned, with other people.
Speaker:And instead of making it a blog, just for me, setting up an Instagram page,
Speaker:a Facebook page, a YouTube channel and sharing it with as many people as I can.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's nice.
Speaker:When you feel like you have that.
Speaker:Oh, this is what they mean when they're, everybody's always I want to help
Speaker:somebody and it's it's I think until you.
Speaker:Internalize it one way or the other, either you have your own epiphany or you
Speaker:just see something, of other people do it, something, we all have this drive in
Speaker:us hopefully to serve in some capacity.
Speaker:Otherwise I'm not quite sure what we're all here for, but what's, what's the
Speaker:kind of one main thing you want to share.
Speaker:Th with our audience that, maybe it's that thing you wish somebody would
Speaker:have told you earlier or along the way or whatever it is you figured
Speaker:out that's kept you kept things going
Speaker:I would say the first thing is I actually have a lot to, to thank you for just,
Speaker:for continuing to shop out in tops, that.
Speaker:This is, the modern economy, this isn't, you don't just have
Speaker:to stay stuck where you're at.
Speaker:And the other thing that I've realized is that as I have different visions for
Speaker:what I want to do with rock on and as.
Speaker:I'd say with each passing week, each passing month, I have new
Speaker:ideas like, Oh, I could do this.
Speaker:Oh, I could do that.
Speaker:I started to reflect on
Speaker:assesses that I've had in the past.
Speaker:And I realized, when I was three years old, I knew I
Speaker:wanted to go to West point and.
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:It's, I guess it's kinda hard not to want to do something like
Speaker:that when, your earliest memories are your dad being an ATM leader.
Speaker:Greenbrae and he went to West point.
Speaker:And so if you want to be a cool bad-ass like to do but I started to
Speaker:realize, growing up, From the age of three people would ask Joe, what
Speaker:do you want to do when you grow up?
Speaker:And I always say, I want to go to West point.
Speaker:I want to be an army officer.
Speaker:And
Speaker:it's, I was just going to say, I remember I went for the firemen to stage at
Speaker:one point I wanted to be a bagpiper.
Speaker:Just completely off the wall.
Speaker:So good on you.
Speaker:You seem to what you want and focus on it.
Speaker:Yeah, and I guess, I'm sure you could pull up all kinds of stuff.
Speaker:About the power of visualization and belief and everything,
Speaker:but I believed early on that.
Speaker:I want to go to West point and that's what I'm going to do.
Speaker:And, I guess I didn't really think about it until, I reflected, but
Speaker:every, almost everything that I did.
Speaker:For, for 15 years, until I was old enough to go to West point the actions
Speaker:I was taking were putting me in a position to be able to go to West point.
Speaker:I was, I played sports as a kid, I played hockey all the way through
Speaker:high school and then even, played on the club team at West point.
Speaker:I was involved in an Eagle Scouts or boy Scouts and became an Eagle scout.
Speaker:With my parents help I made sure that, my grades are always
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:And so th think it back, it, and that's kinda that equation that I shared,
Speaker:the belief plus action equals results.
Speaker:I thought about that as that's my proof of.
Speaker:Hey I believe something and put in the work for 15 years and made it happen.
Speaker:If I, if I start to visualize and believe these, goals or ambitions that I have
Speaker:with rock on are things that I can attain.
Speaker:And I put in, the daily actions of making those a reality.
Speaker:It might take 15 years, but it might take a lot less than 15 years to make.
Speaker:Those things happen.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The difference I could see, I think a lot of kids, growing up, they have
Speaker:this idea of what they want to be.
Speaker:But we get caught down this college trap.
Speaker:I think, luckily you, your college was the thing you want to do.
Speaker:You want it to be, so you didn't, you knew how you're going to
Speaker:come out of it at the end.
Speaker:And yet, Clearly, if you're planning to go to West point since age three,
Speaker:you might've been planning for more of a career in the military.
Speaker:And yet now you've got to apply.
Speaker:I love that statement.
Speaker:You believe plus actions equal success because at this point, Now in the, in the
Speaker:military world get told what your beliefs are, get told what your actions are,
Speaker:what do you see, Hey now you're creating your own beliefs or you're finding them
Speaker:or changing them or manifesting them as you're seeing things that like, Oh,
Speaker:it's not always this way all the time.
Speaker:Or maybe I can try this or that.
Speaker:What are you doing right now with those beliefs and actions to manifest, Hey,
Speaker:what might be five, 10, 15, 20 years.
Speaker:That's the one thing we know about entrepreneurship at any.
Speaker:Any realm whatsoever, as long as you don't quit, there's going
Speaker:to be some level of success.
Speaker:Cause it's always, that's the whole point you're going to learn, then you're going
Speaker:to change and it's not as structured as we're used to in the military.
Speaker:So can you, can, you can dig in there a little bit.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:As you were saying that something that kind of popped into my head
Speaker:and, I guess if I'm a little off base or off track, feel free to jump in
Speaker:no rules on this car.
Speaker:But what it got me thinking about is something that I think was a big
Speaker:another kind of eye-opener for me was reframing my relationship and how I
Speaker:thought about failure because grown up.
Speaker:Knowing that I wanted to go to West point and then, at West point and then
Speaker:even in the military I grew up to be very afraid of failing of being wrong.
Speaker:And I think that's healthy to a degree, in the military, because obviously
Speaker:if you do, if you are wrong, if you do make the wrong decision, depending
Speaker:on what it is, a lot of lives and, or, equipment and can, be at stake.
Speaker:But I think, obviously outside of a combat environment, in a more day to day
Speaker:being a practitioner of, trying to be an entrepreneur and, you can afford to
Speaker:fail, as long as, you're not, betting your house or something and, losing it.
Speaker:It's okay to try new things and if they don't work out, then you just,
Speaker:okay what could I have done better?
Speaker:Or, what do I need to do differently next time?
Speaker:And so I think that's been something that's been big for me is.
Speaker:Being okay.
Speaker:With doing something that might be out of my comfort zone, getting whatever
Speaker:feedback, positive or negative and just moving on with it and not being afraid of
Speaker:being wrong, quote, unquote, or failing.
Speaker:So
Speaker:Yeah, no, I, that resonates with me so much because I remember, when I got
Speaker:out of the army and, could quote got.
Speaker:Labeled or took a job or started a career or whatever label I had as a
Speaker:financial advisor or planner or whatever.
Speaker:I just had that identity.
Speaker:And it didn't seem based on whatever parameters were set in place.
Speaker:Usually it was how much money you were making for the firm.
Speaker:I know you dabbled in this space a little bit as well, and it's just I'm failing.
Speaker:Doesn't matter how good I feel I'm doing.
Speaker:It was just really it's, screwed up, screwed with my head.
Speaker:Cause that's I'm doing the quote unquote thing I think I was supposed to be doing.
Speaker:But if I'm not making a certain amount of money or whatever, not getting the
Speaker:amount of clients, it feels like failure.
Speaker:And it wasn't until years later when I realized like you did,
Speaker:it's Oh, there are no definite.
Speaker:You kind of things that it's success.
Speaker:It's it's your belief, as you say.
Speaker:And so whatever you choose to believe as success or whatever that means take
Speaker:actions towards that then who cares?
Speaker:What definition, what anybody else thinks, that's kinda what
Speaker:I think about, for teaching are.
Speaker:What's the whole point of wealth management or financial planning.
Speaker:It's none of that matters if you're not, having a belief in some actions to it.
Speaker:So I might steal a little bit of that.
Speaker:I got to, I like that.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I love the, how that, how
Speaker:that manifested it was really, that was a recent I, it just popped in my
Speaker:head, like in the shower or something and I just rushed out to, yeah.
Speaker:That's a good one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's how those things happen.
Speaker:It's like, all maybe this is something I, write down one day,
Speaker:look at every day and build on it.
Speaker:And it becomes my little mantra.
Speaker:What's wrong, what's wrong with just go in your whole life, then all of
Speaker:a sudden, one day it comes to ya.
Speaker:We think that's weird in a way that, you didn't get your four years of
Speaker:this certification or whatever.
Speaker:So therefore your knowledge or your don't matter.
Speaker:When, in my mind, it's like, Hey, as long as I learned something today that
Speaker:could help somebody else tomorrow.
Speaker:Who cares, how it manifested.
Speaker:But so tell us a little bit about if we're talking, having another interview
Speaker:here in about three years or so.
Speaker:What what's life for Joe Kramer look like what's gonna happen, personally,
Speaker:professionally for you to feel like you're still building on that success or
Speaker:what are the things you're looking to?
Speaker:Whether it's building skill sets or.
Speaker:Or having some ideas in your business.
Speaker:I hate asking specific business go.
Speaker:I planned to make X amount of figures by certain it's that's not what I'm asking.
Speaker:I was like, where do you want to see your growth occur?
Speaker:Right now I see two big things that I want to build on and grow that I
Speaker:see is setting myself up for am rock on for continued growth and success.
Speaker:And the first one.
Speaker:Being a lot of my content and everything up to this point has just been me putting
Speaker:it out there for free, whatever I've got.
Speaker:And I feel like the next step for me is, getting out there and actually trying to
Speaker:find people that are willing to exchange a little bit of money for me to help them
Speaker:a bit more directly, where they're at with their fitness, their nutrition, and.
Speaker:Personal development.
Speaker:And then the other thing that I'm really excited about that I've thought about it
Speaker:sat on it for a tiny bit and then realized that, if I really want to make it happen,
Speaker:I like, I need to take some action.
Speaker:The and I'm officially announcing it on my channels tomorrow,
Speaker:but I did hint that I might.
Speaker:Talk about it beforehand?
Speaker:No is I'm starting up what I'm calling the rucking supply drop.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And essentially what it's going to be is a kind of like a monthly subscription
Speaker:box designed specifically for people who.
Speaker:Are either already into rucking or want to get involved in, in, in Rocky.
Speaker:And so it'll be as a box that comes with like a monthly rucking challenge and like
Speaker:a patch or a coin as well as, a piece of gear that will help you as you're rucking.
Speaker:Whether it's some, heavy duty, boot socks, or.
Speaker:An attachment to go on your ruck, what have you.
Speaker:But I reached out the, I need to take some action, was reaching out to other brands
Speaker:that I know are out in the rucking space and seeing Hey, would you be interested
Speaker:in ha having your patches or your gear.
Speaker:Kind of put into this box and sent out to people on a monthly basis,
Speaker:businesses like it when you promote their stuff.
Speaker:It's so strange.
Speaker:I don't know why everybody doesn't do that.
Speaker:It's if you're, I don't know how to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker:I don't want to start a business.
Speaker:Guess what, if you help promote other people's businesses,
Speaker:they'll pay you for it.
Speaker:That's usually if you want to start somewhere, learn that skill.
Speaker:But no, I think that's a great idea, obviously.
Speaker:Yeah, anytime your partner and when you can learn from them.
Speaker:But you're also, sharing knowledge, resources with an
Speaker:audience, obviously that's the way to go, built up around using.
Speaker:The social media as, whatever that means the online tools
Speaker:to build a bit of a brand.
Speaker:It's it's been fun watching you do that.
Speaker:How, where do people assign?
Speaker:Is that ready to sign up for you to work on?
Speaker:They sign up for a newsletter or find you online.
Speaker:So if you go to WW w.ruck-on.com you can fill out.
Speaker:Any of the forms on any of the pages to sign up, with your email?
Speaker:Is that
Speaker:right?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Okay,
Speaker:cool.
Speaker:I would say the easiest way to get ahold of me and, obviously if you're
Speaker:interested in the rucking supply drop or what have you, I'm going to Instagram
Speaker:RUC underscore on underscore fitness.
Speaker:And then, I've got ruck on Facebook, YouTube channel.
Speaker:I try to keep do a good job of making sure whichever platform you land on.
Speaker:If you want to go check out what I'm doing on another platform, they're
Speaker:all, linked and everything, but
Speaker:because the hardware Instagram's your main platform.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And I know I'm as I'm.
Speaker:Feeling, the kind of my coaching program and the rucking supply dropout.
Speaker:I know the opportunity that exists when I re-engage on LinkedIn,
Speaker:because I know that's something that you brought to my attention.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:Honestly, I think, all social media is just depending on what you're
Speaker:doing and who you're, they each have their unique opportunity.
Speaker:It just happens to be a lot of veterans on LinkedIn right now.
Speaker:You're tending to communicate nicely.
Speaker:We'll see how long that lasts, but yeah awesome, Joe.
Speaker:Hey, really appreciate you coming on.
Speaker:And yeah, looking forward to seeing where things go with rock on and some
Speaker:of the other stuff you've got going on.
Speaker:Alright for everybody we will see you next show.