What GenXers stuck in corporate can learn from a 22-year-old former D1 athlete who walked away from the easy path, found his purpose, and chose to serve others—even when it was uncomfortable.

I like to connect the dots and showcase what's possible if we break out of our comfort zones

🔑 In This Episode:

• Why Conrad left a full football scholarship (and $250K in value) at Kansas to find his true path
• How he walked on to Iowa State’s Top 25 basketball program after not playing for 3 years
• His role as the team’s “Chief Energy Officer” and how he brought discipline and heart into everything he did
• How struggle, loneliness, and discomfort became the fuel for transformation
• The importance of self-awareness, emotional honesty, and earning your identity
• Why he’s building a speaking career focused on pouring into others—and how that fills him with purpose
• How he structures his solo life post-athletics and why discipline still anchors him

✨ Why This Episode Matters for GenXers:

• If you’ve been telling yourself it’s too late to start over… listen to this episode.
• If you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to make a move… listen to this episode.
• If you’ve been going through the motions… this is your wake-up call. 🫵

Conrad may be GenZ—but his mindset, energy, and willingness to act despite fear is a blueprint for anyone ready to take back control.

Brett’s Take:

“This episode hit me. Conrad’s honesty, discipline, and self-awareness are things most of us spend decades trying to develop. But more than that, he took action. He walked away from safety and toward purpose. GenXers—we can learn a lot from that.”

🔗 Connect with Conrad:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conradhawley

• Just Google him—he’s easy to find and open to speaking engagements and collaborations.

Hey Conrad, welcome to the Corporate Escape-y Podcast.

Thank you, Brett.

No, definitely looking forward to this one and long time listeners will know that I am a cyclone supporter and you are cyclone number three that's that's coming on the pod and but not for maybe the reasons folks think right because Your story really intrigued me. You just graduated right last May Okay, and I'm gonna have you get into your story in a second but may

Yep, last May.

You're just doing some really interesting things and I really want to show people what's possible that even without a ton of experience, the only thing that's holding you back is yourself, right? So that's kind of teasing the episode a little bit, but for the audience, why don't you just share a little bit about your background, what you're working on now, and I'm going to take you back in time a little bit.

Okay, well, my name is Conrad Holley and I'm from Kansas City. I played a year at on the Kansas football team as a quarterback and I quit and then I learned, you know, how to move forward through that journey and I lived in Colorado for a little bit and I was working jobs and I was a bit lonely and I decided I want to be on a team again. So somehow I wound up at Iowa State men's basketball for three years and and now I do.

motivational speaking in Kansas City and then sometimes in Ames and Des Moines, but really I'm flexible to go anywhere. And then I do a private quarterback training and basketball training as well. So really three things. I do some mental coaching, which is virtual like this. So just trying to build the mind for younger athletes and whatnot. And yeah, that's pretty much what I'm up to.

Yeah, and the nickname is the CEO and may not be what our normal corporate listeners are thinking of, why don't you explain the nickname?

Yep.

Yeah.

So the nickname is the Chief Energy Officer and it was my job at Iowa State to essentially make sure that the group, the practice, the games, anything had a ton of energy. And if anybody was being a Debbie Downer or a victim, it was my job to pull them out of that and inspire my team to have the best day every day because they need to worry about doing their job. And I can help them do their job better if I can be the best teammate, the best friend,

the best kind of, know, hype man for them. And so that was my job every day and it was very tangible, which I appreciated.

And that's awesome. And I think maybe we'll have you as our community CEO, right? Cause all of us go through the process of, of, you know, being the victim and having down days it's natural. But, but again, what I really found interesting about your story is you embrace that role. We're in the age of what's in it for me, right? You know, as early as junior high, you start seeing some of these kids that I want the social media following. It needs to be, I need to be in the best light or I'm transferring the portal.

yeah.

And you embraced, well, one, you embrace that role, but two, you left a scholarship at Kansas to basically walk on at Iowa State, right? Where you took on, if I read that right, student loans, right? As part of the process. So you, you actually really made an investment in yourself.

yeah. Yep.

Yeah, yeah, I mean

It's it teaches you a lot when you pay to be somewhere every day and You're not guaranteed a spot there and Your whole entire job that day is to make someone else be better and you're paying to do that and so That was that was really pretty cool It was a huge blessing and all the stuff I've learned at Iowa State as far as just You know how to be a better teammate how to be a better leader how habits are involved within your day-to-day

And just like the how to deal with adversity has been a total blessing so I don't view life as a like super transactional and you scratch my back I scratch your back you give me dollars I give you something else. I like to go more into helping and serving other people because I believe that's my calling and Yeah, it's been cool. The loans will take care of themselves. Hopefully

Yeah. Well, it will, it'll work out. Right. But the beauty of this is you kind of had a vision, even though you didn't know what it was, you knew something wasn't right. Right. And that's, that's kind of remarkable at an earlier age, to then have the discipline to then know Iowa States known as a, at least under the current coach, right. Have a very structured, what's the best way to define that process driven program.

Yeah.

It's a military culture, Yeah, I love it.

Now, were you, is that kind of the background you came from and you fit right in or was this something you had to adapt to once you got there?

no, I was, I wouldn't say I came from that, but I, I'm not scared to get up early, get yelled at. you know, put

someone else's needs above my own that doesn't bother me any and so I enjoyed it a lot and I love how disciplined it was and how routine oriented like I basically did the same thing every single Monday through Thursday for three years my life and I love that as far as just being able to as far as not talking about you know maybe like personal wise but just working out like hey at 10 a.m. I'm doing this every single day and I and I never skip and it builds consistency and those habits that

built up through that program show up for me in my day to day life when now there's nobody yelling at you and nobody holding you accountable and the only person is the man in the mirror and you can't cheat him. So it's been a good time.

Yeah, I know. think that's absolutely right. And I think we were talking a little bit offline at the end of my corporate career, it was going through the motions and it was the same day. was Groundhog Day every day, right? But working for somebody else, not doing my own thing. And I know this audience is, if they're listening to this podcast, probably 90 % of them are in that spot right now thinking, man, there's gotta be something. This isn't what I'm meant to do anymore, but...

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This is all I've known and again, part of bringing on folks like you is to say, Hey, here's, here's what's possible, right? You don't have 25 years experience, but yet you're in business for yourself. You're following what you thought was your purpose, right? To, jumpstart this.

Nope.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I believe I was called to serve people and to pour into people and if anything be a teacher or a friend or a big brother because I know my favorite People in life have been my favorite teachers my favorite coaches people I view as big brother and so I love to do that for other people And then just to inspire other people and I've found that you know through the training stuff Which I'll do like on weeknights and whatnot. I can do that with young kids and I can teach him. Hey

You know, life is not about all the Instagram videos you see of all the cool basketball drills or what you see Patrick Mahomes do on TV.

It's about being Tiger Woods, which is 500 three foot putts a day, every single day until you get amazing at it. It's pouring into your teammate even when you're not the man. Or if you are the man, it's your job to step up and lead your team and win. And so I get to pour into people that way. And then when I get the chance to go talk to teams, businesses, even communities, I've talked to an entire community before.

And that was awesome to be able to inspire people that, no matter if you're the best, you're the worst, you can provide value, you can use daily habits, you can learn how to be a leader and everybody's a leader and you can learn how to give and be the best teammate you can be to help your team be better. Cause we're all on a team and whether that's your family, your friends, if you're in a relationship, you're on a team with that person. And so my calling is to be able to pour into others.

about that message and then learn from those people. And you're right, I don't have 25 years experience. I've been doing this two months. It's stressful as heck. I have no idea what I'm doing and I've learned all these skills that I've never been taught before. But that's awesome because like you said, offline.

You can do anything you want in life. once you make the decision of, know what I want to do. I know what it takes to do it. Can I stomach the struggle that it takes? Because in my opinion, the bigger the struggle, the better reward. You have to have struggle in life in order to get to where you want to get to. And anything that you didn't struggle that you got, you probably don't value it.

And I know that through these last two months, like there's been plenty of time and like, man, how am I going to pay for this? How am I going to pay for that? You know, you know, I'm financially stressed. I don't have as much free time as I like. I can't do this. I can't do that, but it makes you better. And eventually you get to the point where I'm like, okay, bring it on. Now I'm ready to pour into other people. Now I'm ready to help. And I think that gets you where you'd like to be. Yep.

Yeah. And you're in control, right? Cause I think that's one of the biggest things I've found again with the folks that have have escaped corporate, right? Cause we wouldn't incorporate it's it is every person for themselves. You are on a team, but for the most part, you're, you're trying to survive, keep your job so you don't get laid off. And it's just, you're not working for yourself. And I found most people still, even though again, Gen X were in late forties, fifties.

Yeah.

still want to work hard, right? It's not a matter of hard work. It's just, are we doing? Who are we doing it for? And what are we going to get out at the end of line? And the other thing that you mentioned, you figured out early, almost to a person of folks, I probably had almost, I know I've had over a thousand conversations with people. It is that go-giver mentality. It's right. How do I give back? How do I teach? How do I share with others? Which again,

Yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

20 years, we were in a corporate box, right? They just keep you don't rock the boat. Don't make mistakes. Do your job, go home, get paid. And in hindsight, I look back and like, what the hell was I doing? It was the right thing to do. And like I said, now we're trying to get people to say take a chance. It's it's not as risky. I almost argued it's more risky staying in corporate, right? Doing things you're not happy with and getting there. But

Yeah.

The one thing that I thought was interesting or many things, obviously, but going back to your, your, your football days, you knew that you, you were going to want it, wanted to walk away or it just wasn't right for you, but that would have been the easy path, right? You, you, four years, you, you get, you you move into corporate America, get your job, et cetera. what was the moment you just knew that wasn't your path and how hard was it to make that decision to say.

I'm out.

Yeah, that's a great question. So when I was at KU, I went there and I kind of knew from like right in the beginning, like maybe I don't necessarily love this because when you go play college sports, like the dudes who stay there for four years, they love it because it is not, it's not high school sports, it's not youth sports. It's a job. It's a more, it's well over 40 hours a week on top of being a student.

And so it's a legit thing. And so I kind of realized, know, hey, I might not necessarily want to be able to, I might not want to do this long-term or like the whole way. And so I'm getting ready towards the end of the year. was like, I'm going to finish the year out and...

And I knew I wanted to quit, I come from a super big football family. so my stepdad played in the NFL for many years and my mom loves football. My little brother is a stud football player. And so like we just live, eat, sleep and breathe football. That's all it's talked about at dinner. And so that's just how you do it. And I decided, I was like, man, I know like this is going to break their heart. I know I may get judgment. I know it may be hard to come home.

And I know that I'm giving away 250,000 bucks, just point blank on a good degree. But I knew I had something inside of me to where I'm a problem solver. And no matter how down and out I am, I just have that confidence that I'm going to figure this out. And I'm going do my very best. And if I can't figure it out, I'm going to lean on someone else who's better than me to help me. And so I quit.

And I kind of got like, you know, booted out of the house or like, you know, you're not going to keep living here and eating and staying for free. Like you need to go do something. So like, okay, dang. So I moved to Colorado and when I started living in Colorado, what I had learned about myself at KU was I was obsessed with others attention, others approval, social media followers. I wanted a blue check mark so bad on Instagram. I wanted attention when I would go out into town. I wanted an IL. I wanted

coaches to notice me and everything was just about me and I would lie a lot and I would hide things from other people and I would look in the mirror and just be like you know I'm telling people all these things but I don't do these things myself and I'm telling people they should do this and I don't live this way myself and I am a

You know, I'm wanting all these things, but why? Why? was due to my own insecurity. And so I sat there for about five, six months.

And I just kind of went to war with myself every day and the more hard it was and the more uncomfortable it was and the more I had never done this before, the more attracted I was to it. So was like, you know what? I've never been selfless. I'm going to try it out. I've never been mentally tough. I'm just going to do stuff that mentally tough people do. I've never been a great teammate. If I ever get the chance again, I'm going to be the best teammate who ever lived. And I've never done any of these things. I don't know how to do it, but I'm going to figure it out. And so I did that for like six months.

And I grinded and I grinded and I grinded and I was lonely. mean, I was 19 years old and I would go to work every day with 40, 50, 60 year old people, which there's nothing wrong with them, but we don't speak the same language. And yeah, and, and you know, that's just different stuff, different, different, I didn't have any peers. I didn't have any friends. and I grew to miss that and I miss being on a team and I miss being challenged. And so, it was, it was super hard, but.

Yeah, right.

Like the times where I felt the most down and out, like I can't do this, like I can't pull through, have been the most best times and the most rewarding times. And that goes back to struggle and reward.

And that was a struggle, quitting and kind of having an identity crisis and kind of being judged by a lot of people. Because when you quit football and you go in there like as the man and people think you're so cool, then I realized I didn't have as many friends as I thought I did. And all the people who are being nice to me saying nice things, well, they're all talking trash on me now. And that hurts you too, if you don't know who you are and how you feel. And so it was hard for sure, but...

It was totally worth it and I wouldn't change it for the world. Wouldn't change it.

Yeah, I think that it's such a good point because it'd be most people would just say, ah, the easy way is I'll just keep working and figure out. then all of sudden, you know, 15 years have passed and you're even more unhappy doing something. But, but what I thought again was, interesting is, and that's why I loved having people on this podcast that do different things. You didn't just go, I'm going to go find a team. You could have gone and found something local, right. And joined you're like, no, I want to walk on to a top 20 program, right.

Yep.

Yep.

and you hadn't played basketball in what three years at that point. So maybe just talk briefly about how, right? Because this is where I tell people that unless sometimes you'll incorporate, see unless it's right in front of me, I'm not going to do it. I'm like, no, there's, there's paths. You just got to find what that path is. So

Three years, yep. Yep. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, mean, that was super, that was a super weird thing, honestly. So like in the beginning of May, before I went to Iowa state, I enrolled like the second week of June at Iowa state. So in the beginning of May, six weeks before I was shooting hoops at a gym I worked at because I worked three jobs. I worked at a gym so I could work out for free.

I worked at a clothing store because they had good hourly wages and I worked at a restaurant so I could make some tip money and I could eat for free. yeah, yeah, that's what I would do. And I was shooting hoops at the gym one morning. I was like, you know what? I can play in the NBA. Like I could do this. Like this isn't that hard.

Smart.

And I was like making shots and you're dreaming when you shoot hoops you dream. And that's one thing that I love about being a human being is just like always be that kid who has dreams and then go take action on the dreams. And that's not to say that all your dreams are going to come true or you deserve to have them come true, but you'll get closer through time. And so, I was just dreaming. I told my dad, I was like, dad, you know, I was a decent player in high school. I played on a really good AAU team that has a ton of connections. Like,

What could we reach out to them and say, hey, I want to walk on somewhere or I want to play at a smaller school for free college. And I'm not like a good player at all, but I'm very competitive. And like my college coach, TJ, he gave me great advice. He said, how do you make your team win and the other team lose? And I took that to heart. And so I could figure out how to do that. So I knew I could provide value.

And so he reached out to a bunch of schools and then Iowa State got involved. And I would say it was like, Hey, we don't have a walk on spot filled. We need a high energy guy. We need a practice dummy and we need a guy who's going to be a good teammate. And I was like, well, I've never been any of those three, but I'm the man for you. And, and so I had this, assistant coach there. name is Kyle Green.

Yeah.

He would call me every Wednesday night and I would be working and I would tell my coworker like, hey, I need to take this call and I'd like still be on the job. So that was bad of me, but it was cool. And I would take the phone call and I would sit outside. It was Jack's Outdoor Goods in Fort Collins, Colorado. And I would sit outside and he would ask me all these questions and he just wanted to learn all about me. And of course I'm trying to sell myself and put my best foot forward.

And so he was like, you know what? think we're going to do this. Like you're, you're, we're speaking the same language. So was like, okay, cool. So TJ called me and he was like on the cyclone bus tour and this is like late May. And he was like, Hey, you know, tell me about yourself. So I just told him and he was like, why do you want on the beat? Why do you want to be on the team? And I told him.

And I'm trying to put my best foot forward. And he said, OK, sounds good. See you in June. So I was like, oh, sweet. I'm on the team. That was pretty easy. I didn't even send video workout footage, nothing. They just knew I was 6'5", and that was it. So I got there. And I just tried to provide great energy. And I would just be crazy. And I'd be a great teammate. And I'd play really hard when I went in. And I would just try to get to know them, because I didn't know anything about any of them.

And I knew nothing about basketball. I still don't know much about basketball, but, uh, you know, I, didn't know anything about my coaches. didn't know their names. I had no idea what the program was like. I I was walking into a situation totally blind and I was like, you know what? I'm going to find the biggest baddest dude and I'll learn all about him. I'm going to become friends with them. And then all the other dudes, I'm going to learn all about them. And I'm just going to try and be the best teammate possible to them. And then the coaches, I'm just going to try to earn their respect by being a consistent dude who won't go away.

And so I did that for the whole summer and TJ did not talk to me one time, not one time. And I was like, man, normally the coach will talk to you. And I'm like, there's only like 12 of us. So I mean, like, dang, I figured he would just say, what's up by now. And we, we, we have a break in August. And so we come back from the break and you know, I'm getting ready to like start my sophomore year of college and all that.

You

and I'm sitting down eating one day get some extra workouts in at 2 cup which is our sorry here our practice facility and he says hey Conrad I just want to let you know I don't hate you and I was like dude I hey I don't hate you either man

And he was like, when I first met you and your first day of practice, I thought you were a phony and you were a fake. And then everything you did for the first week, I thought you were fake again. And I was like, no way this guy has this much energy and he's, and he's can be this good of a teammate. And I didn't say anything to you, but I was impressed with that. And then the whole summer was like a tryout. And I just want to let you know that you're on the team. And I was like, dude, I already thought I was on the team. I mean, I enrolled here. I'm in classes. got it. Like I live with people like, dude, I thought I was on the team. And so.

You know, that was a great lesson for me because like when I was at KU, all I wanted was the coaches praise. And then when I was at Iowa State, that was awesome to hear and it made my day. And it's still a great story. I like to tell it. It makes me feel good every time, but that's not why I was doing it. I was doing it because I wanted to be the best teammate. And so that's how I got to Iowa State. And then the CEO nickname came after that. And then I did that for three years. So yeah.

And that's awesome. And again, I think the give right give it expecting nothing thereof. And there's just a, it's going to come back. You believe in karma or whatever it is, right? It's, and I think one of my favorite, I think I heard or read a quote from one of your teammates, Trey King, you talked about, he transferred in every morning at six 30. You were Mr. High Energy greeting everybody.

yeah. yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Yeah, yeah.

Dude, man, it's, six 30 in the morning. Right. What are you doing? Chill out. But it's, it's funny since I've left corporate, I've taken more of that. I love the mornings now. Right. It is the energy you're getting up to do what you want to do. so like I said, I can, I can, and the thing is you walked into onto a program, right? So you're putting all those two, two parts that one that Iowa state actually takes that much care into who they're bringing into the walk on maybe all division one programs do that. would.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

It's it is not so when I when I I would struggle with some at times gratitude like man I feel like i'm doing so much for the team. Sometimes I don't feel like There is thankful but in reality that was my own fault and I needed to have more gratitude for being there because they get Thousands of emails a year from kids to join the team thousands. There are so many qualified people way more qualified than me who

I

want to do that job and want to be on the team.

and they don't get selected. And there's other stories of like when I was getting ready to go play basketball again, there was other schools who are interested and that I was being connected with and they'd be like, Hey, by the way, our walk on is booked up for five years. So like Brett trainer son, who is a booster at this university, his son's a freshman in high school at, you know, Damascus Catholic. Hey, we're just going to let you know that he's going to be the walk on in five years.

If he wants it, if not, we'll give it to someone else. And so it is definitely a political world and it's a, there's a lot of people who want to do that. And so they do take, they do take pride because just like any team, if you bring someone in who's not elevating your standard, then they're taken away from it. And you cannot have that on your team, especially from the worst player. And I was the worst. yeah, no, it's true.

Yeah.

Hard to believe, but yeah. And I think, you you talk about the athlete, you said at KU, right? You had, right. It's a full-time job. It's, you basically had a full-time job, but you were paying your way through the full-time job. And it's just funny how the view of how you viewed your role or what your destiny was at KU versus ISU. And it changed your mindset, right? I think.

Yep.

Yeah, I was, yeah.

Yeah.

Again, another lesson for folks that have been kind of stuck in the more corporate mindset for a while is right. Same, same athlete, different world and attitude is a, is a hundred percent different. all right. I'm Kelsey curious again from, we haven't had a ton of athletes come through, but I've always intrigued by the, the discipline that you've had to have right. Going through that.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah.

How does that translate now that you're out right because college was superstructured like you said you practice at this training table classes tutors Whatever that was now all of a sudden you're running your own show, right? How it is how does that translate and what was I guess where I'm really trying to ask you is what what what kind of process do you have now? Do you still have something you follow? Now that you're out, okay

Yep.

Yeah.

yeah. Yeah, so.

Uh, one thing about that I love about my family growing up and then playing college sports is like discipline has been forever. That's all I've known. And so like to, to this day, Monday through Thursday, I wake up 5 a.m. And I work out till about noon. So I'm working out recovering a run, lift, swim. So those three things, Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to noon, eat a couple of times, hydrate, do all that stuff from noon to three on those four days. I normally do work stuff or I'll meet

somebody for lunch or coffee or I'll network or I'll do some mental stuff, some breathing work, some exercises. I'm all into that. The weirder it is, the more I'm all in. And so I'll do that stuff. And then normally three to eight, I work Monday through Thursday nights and then Fridays I'll get up a little bit later. And instead of running, lifting and swimming, I'll just run and I'll do like a fun workout. That's like more hard and it's not strength training. It's like, you know, Hey, you're going to, you're going to do a hundred of these.

and hundred of that. So I'll do something like that. And then I'll try to take time for some fun stuff. then, you know.

I'll like spend time with my family and hang out with them and my friends on the weekend. And that's pretty much like Friday, Friday from noon until like Sunday at like four o'clock. And then I normally work Sunday to weekends are off physically and like resting, hydrating, recovering. And then I'll work like four to eight on Sunday nights. And then I try to go to bed every night by nine or 10 so I can sleep seven to eight hours a night. And it's still super disciplined and it's, it's, it's, but I understand

that not everybody can do that. Like some people have a wife or a husband or kids and stuff like that. And so you just have more stressors that you need to worry about. But for me, like really during that Monday through Thursday, I can focus in on if I fill my cup and I overflow me, then I can pour in other people. And this is what I need to do in order to do that. And so yeah, keep the discipline same.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. I think again, that's one of things I struggled with when I left, right? Cause corporate is very structured. Cause you're doing the meetings aren't all yours, right? 80 % of your day or meetings that you're invited to and projects you're working on. So when I went solo, it went from kind of having a structured nine to five. mean, nine, it's called nine to five for a reason. Then out, have complete flexibility, right? I can work out in the mornings late. And it was chaotic for me because I was getting nothing done because

Yeah.

there was no structure then I completely over indexed where I was basically scheduling every half hour all right this is the two hours for workout then I'm gonna do this that didn't work for me either now I've gotten to where I've got time blocks and it's set early mornings my highly productive time workout mid-morning and other so I again pointing out for the audience that if you're still stuck in this nine to five

Yep.

You

Good.

this is a good problem to have, right? That you can define the day the way you want, the way it works for you. what are you, we talked a little bit, you're doing some speaking, some motivational, you're also working with kids. So what's one, what are you working on now too? And what's the big goal? What's the big, what are you thinking?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so I want to.

I really get good at the speaking stuff and I love it. And it's the only thing in my life that I've ever found a skill in. And some stuff I've worked really hard at to get okay at and I've been able to do that. And other stuff I'm just not good at, which is the majority of things. But speaking, I go up there and I'm like, don't forget what I'm saying. Don't mess up my words. I can deliver a message. I can tell stories. I can interweave stuff and I can make somebody, I can engage people.

love to do that and so any and every opportunity and it doesn't matter you know if it's in Kansas City, Ames, Des Moines, Oregon, Florida, I don't care I want to speak to as many people as I can and I've given 30 plus speeches and so I'm really working on just getting some some video and some content out there and whatnot and stuff like that and then the stuff I do in Kansas City it's rolling it's doing its job as far as that stuff goes and I'll continue to grow that.

And then I do have a camp in Iowa State, a and like a Christmas holiday camp in Ankeny that I'll do this year. But other than that, I just love to speak and I want to do as much of that as I can. And it's, it's so, it's, it fills me with joy. Like a lot of people want to speak because of money.

And I'm speaking so I can get paid X amount of dollars for this many hours of work. But I like to speak because you get to go into a crowd of people who know nothing about you. And they've probably heard what you said a thousand times. And you're not going to tell them anything original. Yet every time I speak, there's somebody who just goes, Whoa, I cannot believe you said that. And you see their face light up and you feel it hit them. Cause that happens to me on my day to day life. Every day. I feel like somebody changes my life and I love it. I love it.

And I love being able to give that to other people. And that right there is like the best feeling you can have as a human being to see somebody, the light bulb go off in someone's head, know that you inspired them.

And then really after the speech, people will come up and have one-on-one conversations with you. Like, I spoke to a community the other day, and there was, let's just say, 16, 17-year-old girl came up to me, and she was visibly nervous to ask me her question. And she asked me a question on anxiety. And I was like, you know, first off, it's all good. I'm not going to judge you. I can tell that you're nervous. Guess what? I just spoke in front of all you guys this entire town.

I'm nervous too. And I was scared the whole time. You see my armpits, they're very sweaty. But guess what? know, how to deal with anxiety, you got to take action. So the things that are bothering you, you need to take action on. And that's how you crush it. And to get to see her walk through that, like I never would have got to talk to a 17 year old girl from Jessup, Iowa, had I not done speaking. Like that's why I love it. And so that's, that's my goal.

Well, and you need to be heard, right? I'm a big fan of different, right? Everybody's saying the same things, but when you've lived it already in your youthful life, right? You still have a long road ahead of you, which is awesome. But you stood out, right? You got on my radar just because of you were doing things a little bit differently. You're doing things you think you would wish more people would do, but they're not embracing it like you have at this age. had...

Yep. Yep.

Yep. Yep.

Yep.

Yeah.

somebody on the podcast, Greg Budansky, not too long ago, he's maybe a year or two, he left investment banking to open a gym. Now he trains kids, right? Pre high school and how to get them. Cause that's the purpose wasn't there with, with the investment banking and now he's doing it. So I appreciate you taking the time. Is there anything we didn't cover any other parting words of wisdoms for folks that are sitting in their cubicles listening to this saying, man, life's too short. I got to get out.

Okay.

Yep.

Well, yeah, I mean, I would just like to share this. Like, I know that I'm 22, so you may not, you may just be like, this kid doesn't know anything. You're 100 % right. But the second thing,

I mean, it's everybody's first day. I love that analogy. Like everybody's had a first day Everybody's been nervous. Everybody's been scared. Everybody's been tired everybody your problems are not specific to you and your worries and everything is not specific to you and a lot of people like to glorify their problems and they want to tell people about how hard their life is for a lot of times problems they create for themselves

Then they want to feel sympathy in order to feel good about their life when in reality we all deal with the same crap And I don't care if it's super bad or not very bad It's the same in our mind if you can be the person to shut that out Move without feel and chase what you know is serving your purpose. You're gonna live a super fulfilled purposeful awesome life, and then when you die

You're not going to sit there and cling to your bed, praying that you could do it over again. You're going to go home like a hero who's dying. And this is the end of your story. And I love that. And if you try and live your life that way, man, it's going to be a fun one. No.

It's never too early to start. And the last thing I'll leave on this why, yeah, you may be 22, but you know what you've done that 90 % of people don't do? You took action, right? You actually did. You went to Ames, you decided to do this where a lot of us just get paralyzed, don't take action. And we end up in the same groundhog day as we talked about. So Conrad, I really appreciate you taking the time, adding some perspective, adding some youth to this podcast. I appreciate it and good luck with everything. We'll keep.

Yeah, take action.

Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Brett. Yeah, yeah.

Post, we'll keep an eye on you, see what you're up to and you have to come back at some point and update us once you really get this thing rolling. All right, thanks, Connor. Have a good rest of your, wait, I've got to add, what's the best place for people to get ahold of you? Can't have you come all the way on here and then not promote where you're at.

Okay.

Alright, sounds good.

Just it's all good You can just reach out to me on LinkedIn look up my name Conrad Hawley. You can also google me I have my contact information out there. I'm not saying that in a cool way, but that's where you can find me Thank you. Thank you, Brett

It's out there, it's bio, the website, help make sure it's in the show notes. People can find it. So Conrad, appreciate it. Have a great rest of your day.

Thank you. Thank you.