Imagine cashing the last of your savings just to make ends meet. What would you do with those life lessons?

James welcomes guest Bezan Morris, who shares his journey from a former Naval Academy graduate to finding his way in Corporate America.

Bezan shares his revelations about the near rock-bottom experience of cashing in savings bonds for basic needs after a rough job and getting caught up keeping up with the Joneses, and how his path not only had challenges but also significant transitions, such as his shift from working with prominent names like Amazon and Chewy.com to embracing a career where he now leverages his experience to guide others financially.

Throughout their talk, James and Bezan touch on the importance of stepping outside one's comfort zone, overcoming ego, the perils of rushing success, and the pressing need to reconnect with present responsibilities over chasing future aspirations.

To connect with Bezan, you can visit: https://www.raymondjames.com/volitionadvisory

Key Discussions:

Support systems for veterans, and the importance of finding mentors

• Personal Financial Pitfalls and Insights
• Career Evolution and Defining Life Changes
• Leadership Philosophy and Team Dynamics
• Attitude Towards Success and Ego
• Impact of Culture and Social Media on Career Perspectives
• Personal Struggles and Resilience
• Leveraging Military Leadership Experience to Corporate America

Like that was

So how much money did you have in the bank?

We had, at that point, less it was $1,000? Maybe. Maybe scraped together. Yeah. Yes. You know, I I, I tell again, lesson learned. Right? Like, I look back and when you get that mortgage preapproval Uh-huh. Like, that's the bank saying, hey. We're we're willing to lend you this, you know, because because Yeah.

Really take a look at that number.

Yeah.

I really understand, like, if I'm doing that, like, what do I have left to eat? Yeah.

Welcome to Business Blind Spots podcast where we learn about successful people and their journey towards success and the mistakes and road bumps that they experience along the way. Today's guest is Bazon Morris. He is a financial advisor out of the Volition Advisory Group through Raymond James. Good morning.

Good morning. How are you, buddy?

I'm good. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. You ready for the big day? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So, I I asked how you've been doing lately because I know you are on the board of the. We're Yeah. Nonprofit here in Fort Worth, and the big gala is coming up. It is. Can you can you talk about the gala?

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty excited about it. So, yeah, every year, it's a big black tie fundraiser, up on the top floor of the Fort Worth Club. We take over the whole floor and just have a great time. The organization itself has been around, you know, going on its 11th year now and, you know, raised 1,000,000 of dollars for for veterans. And, one of the they're they're big reasons I got involved in it, 1, a 100% of donated dollars go back towards veterans and helping veterans. So, you know, if somebody is even if they're submitting payment through PayPal, we cover as the board, we cover that cost.

So just being able to to to look at someone and go, if you give a $100, a $100 goes towards a veteran, like, that's super powerful. And, the other was, back in, I guess, it was 2019. I think, general Dunsford was the speaker, and he was the commandant at the time. And I was like, I looked at a picture Chairman. Chairman. Oh, was he chair he was chairman. That's right. You're right.

And, it's like I looked on online a couple days later, and I had reached out to another board member who shall remain nameless and didn't respond to me. But then I saw this picture, and I looked. I was like, I gotta get involved with this. Like, how did these guys get get the chairman to come down to Fort Worth Mhmm. In February? Like, it just didn't make sense. So, you know, got on the board a couple years ago and been wrangled in and suckered to do more every year.

You're doing an amazing job. Oh, I appreciate it.

Amazing job.

Dunsford was probably one of my favorite guests. Neller Neller's speech was fantastic.

Is that right?

Because we had the year before that, Neller was, actually acting. Okay. And he showed up, and he had all his secret service people with him and advance party, and it was it was pretty cool. Yeah. That's awesome. Very excited to have you on here because I know your story is inspiring to me, kind of your your journey towards success, what you had to overcome post military, and I also like really, the conversations you and I have had about self mastery and some of the things that you've really purposely tackled, about yourself, and I'd I'd love to talk about that.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think it'll it'll help. I'll give it kind of, like, professional track. Right? Like, so allow me to knock my ring. I was a naval academy grad. Right?

I'm surprised you didn't wear your shirt.

I'm surprised it took, like, 3 minutes in, and you haven't mentioned it. Like Well, you know,

I have some future naval academy guests that I want on here. So Right. You know, I gotta play nicely.

Don't talk too badly about Camu U just yet.

Just yet. But it's coming. Don't worry.

So I graduated. I took my commission in the marine corps. I was artillery officer, had a couple tours in Iraq. Was there in 03 for the invasion. In 04, I was assigned to a strike group staff and went back. Little time in country, but then actually spent a lot of time out on the Arabian Gulf doing doing operations out there, which was really interesting, just kinda seeing seeing things operate at that level. I got to spend the night out on an oil rig, or it was a a exercise that we did. We didn't end up spending the night, but we were out there all day.

And, literally, like, you're standing there, and it's like, oh, look. There's Iran. Like, That's interesting. Yeah. You know?

Well, at least you're not around there today.

That's right. That's right.

So it's really cool that, you know, whenever we met after a couple of conversations, we realized that your was it gun group?

My my battery. Yeah.

Your battery was specifically responsible for saving my butt. One of many.

One of many. We we were

in some some stuff, and, I just it's really funny how things kinda circle around to that

Yeah.

After the fact. You know?

Yeah.

Every so once in a while, you know, I'll be like, oh, man. It's based on he he did that thing.

It was amazing. So Yeah. That was that was an experience. Yeah. Tell me about it.

So why, why the Naval Academy?

So when I was a kid, I'm the youngest of 3 brothers. So both older brothers. My oldest brother is 10 years older than me. So as I was he he left the house when I was 7. Right? Graduated high school, went on to college, and so as I was about 10, 11 years old, he had just kinda started his naval career, and he ended up serving in the Navy for 30 years. And seeing, like, his experience now granted, this was the late eighties. Top Gun had just come out. Cold War was ending.

Like, he showed pictures from his deployments, and it's like, this is the life. Like, why would anyone not wanna go do this? And then when my middle brother started looking at schools, I would go with him just he was 4 years older than me, so my parents would take me on the college visits, and we would go see schools. And my middle brother was smart. Like, he could've gone full ride to Yale. He had an ROTC scholarship to go there. He chose the Naval Academy, and I remember going on a visit with him and just, like you know, it's like it's like that moment, right, when you walk somewhere, when you're in in a room, like or you meet a certain person, you just go, like, this is it. This is what I wanna do. Mhmm.

And that's how it was for me in my first visit there. Yeah. I remember getting in the car, and my parents even said like, my mom asked, what'd you think? And I piped up from the back. I'm like, I love it. I'm in. When when do I start? She's like, I was talking to your brother. Like, you're like, you're like, shut up. Like, you're in the 7th grade.

Like

Is that pretty rare though for 2 brothers to both go to the Naval Academy? Isn't it hard to get in?

It's it's, so it's, you know, the academic and and the physical piece. Right? You could imagine. Right? You gotta pass all the physical. I think probably the most challenging and unique part is getting the congressional nomination. Mhmm. So, you know, writing to your congressmen or senators, and there's other programs where you can even get, like, vice presidential nominations. But, you know, just having to reach out to those folks because they have allocated spots every year, and they they can state by state, by their district, by each academy. So depending how many they've got at West Point or Navy or Air Force, then, you know, that all.

So that's the the uniqueness of it. Right? Like, what what makes the application process different from TCU or Harvard or Stanford is that's probably the most unique piece, and every congressman has their own way of doing it. Some of them you you interview. You know? And, like, South Dakota, you're gonna interview with the congressman. Like, you're gonna go to his office and probably his or her office and sit there and talk to him. In New Jersey, there was a panel, so I sat with, like, 6 a couple of them were reserve navy and then, like, a couple other grads, and they kinda grill you about yeah. And you're a teenage kid. Right? So there's only so much experience.

Very different than, you know, later on in life, but, you know, and they're just trying to get a sense. Is this the type of person that we want out of our district representing us?

Hence, for a kid, though. For

yeah. I it was I I felt like I just remember, like, you know, I was I was a senior, so I just turned 18, and, like, I have no experience. Like, what what do I know about the world? But yeah. And and maybe that's what came across, and they liked it. You know? It's like, oh, you're you're willing to, you know, shut up and listen. Like Yeah. You'll do great. Yeah.

Just take orders. You'll fit right in.

It'll be great.

Yes, sir. No, sir.

That's right. Yeah. I did that, and then it was the marine corps. And and even that, like, as I started to get closer to you and selecting as a school, I knew that the marine corps was what I wanted to do. I didn't know what in the marine corps, but I knew that that was it. I didn't wanna I didn't wanna drive ships. I didn't wanna be Maverick. I didn't wanna fly airplanes.

I didn't wanna be on sub.

There's only 1 Maverick.

This is true. But, yeah, then it just, as, you know, go went through the process, got my commission, and then as I got closer to that, the more that I got to meet other artillery officers, it was like, that's that's what I wanna do. Mhmm. And, you know, I've I've I've told my kids, so, like, friends and family, like, it it is a 9 year old boy's dream job. I run around the woods and shoot really big guns all day long. Like, hell, yeah. I love it. Hell, like Sign

me up. Sign me up. Sign me up.

Right? Even right now, you're like, man, that sounds pretty awesome. Like So

you're rethinking some life choices. I'm in good shape. I could probably I could dig back in there, you know, drive hard.

So, yeah, did that. Again, couple tours. I ended up all said and done. It was 3 deployments in 4 years. I had been married. I was married, but I'm still married, but, I just knew, like, at that point, this was now late 04, 05, and I'm, like, I I don't wanna keep doing this. I don't know if it was foresight or just looked down the road and went, I I don't wanna miss. This was no longer the the military that in my mind, right, this romantic vision of, hey.

I got to do this really cool thing. Mhmm. You know, going to combat was was an incredible experience, but it was also, hey. There's this is gonna keep happening. This is gonna keep going. This was not Desert Storm. Right? We're not done in 45 days. Like, we're this is gonna be a lot longer.

And, again, kind of referencing my brothers, now they were senior in their careers, and I was looking at them and their families. And that same brother, you know, who had the really cool deployments that I remember hearing and seeing pictures and all that, had now had to move his family 5, 6 times. Like, my nephew was I think he was 6 at the time, and he lived in 4 different states. Again, fast forward, he's got friends all over the world. Right? Graduated high school and jumped on a plane and flew to Okinawa to spend a week with his buddies out there. You're right. Like, that's pretty unique, right, being able to do that, but growing up, like, it was always somewhere else. It was a different state.

It was moving here. Dad's gone on deployment, and I I just I didn't want that. I didn't want it. So, my wife was fantastic about it. She was very clear. To this day, she'll even say, like, whatever you do, I knew what I signed up for when when you and I were serious and when we got married. Like, I knew, like, I could be a marine wife. I get that.

If it's not what you want anymore, we'll we'll figure it out. But it was never put on me. You know, you have to. Right? It's me or the core. It was never that, and she was she's adamant about that. And I think that's probably, like, one of the things, like, you know, when we talk about, like, you know, blind spots, like, have those discussions in life beforehand, right, before before you step into something about, you know, if if and and you've you've heard. I know you've had, like we've talked about it. Like, buddies whose wives came to him and were like, I'm out.

Yeah. I am not doing this anymore. It's been x number of deployments, so you've been gone all these days, and and that's it. And, you know, that relationship completely falls apart. Like, that's one of those things I feel very fortunate about is but that's been that's kinda been the practice in our marriage even since is that, like, hey. If we're gonna go try something, right, we talk about it. We figure it out. If there's something we're concerned with, we but, ultimately, we're gonna support it.

Right? Like and that's, you know, that's that's a huge thing. That's and what I the reason I say that is that it's given me also it's been having the confidence knowing I've got that support system to go do other things. So I I got out of marine corps. Right? Again, now, like, look on the other side of the coin. I was an artillery guy. All I did was run around and shoot big like Yeah. What did I have to bring to corporate America? And this was 5. So I had just gotten on LinkedIn.

Facebook wasn't really a thing. It's still a couple years out. It was old school resume writing and, you know, keep it to 1 page and do this, and it's gotta say this. It's gotta be in this font with this weight paper to it. Like, this was Mhmm. This was my transition. In doing that, like, that was the realization. Like, man, what do I have to bring? What do what do I have that's valuable that anybody can use? And I was really lucky.

I had a, it was an instructor at the academy who we'd stayed in touch with, and he kinda reached back out, and we connected. I kinda told him about what I was thinking and doing, and he had gotten out of the Navy. He actually went to Harvard, got his MBA, then was working for GE, then started his own consulting business. So he came

to Harvard instead of TCU? What is wrong with that guy? Questionable judgment. Just kidding.

But he, he he really helped guide that and, like, helped me to frame that. So it's something that I've I've taken. I feel pretty passionate about, and I I still get hit up on LinkedIn or from other friends. Like Mhmm. Hey. This guy's getting out. Can you talk to him? Absolutely. Right? Like, it help those veterans kinda frame what that looks like and and give them a reality check too.

Right? I I was probably like so many other junior military officers to the JMOs. Like, I'm gonna get out, and there's just gonna be a line of people waiting to write me a job offer. Like, yeah, it doesn't doesn't happen. Like, you've got to it's my first experience of really understanding what sales was. Like, I had to I had to sell myself. I had to sell who I was and what I brought to the table and what was the value add that I had to someone. So, all that to say, like, my wife has supported me through all of that. They

do a the military still does a really bad job of transitioning you over to the civilian sector. I know the marine corps especially especially in the infantry arm. You know, like, congratulations. You're in great shape, and you carry a pack and kept the level ahead.

Yeah.

Good luck. Good luck in the civilian sector, which is very cutthroat in its own way.

Yeah. I think I think we're getting better.

Mhmm.

I think there's more avenues.

And What do you mean we? Do you mean

We we the I I think the services as a whole are

are No. It's because of people like you and I.

Yeah. And that's, like

I get hit up twice a week at least. Okay. Let me take a let me take a look at your LinkedIn. Alright. Here's here's 5 introductions I I think I'll make for you that you know, don't blow it. Yeah. Just keep your mouth shut and listen. Didn't mean to interrupt you.

But No. No.

I I think and you also have programs like, you know, there's a 100 of them out there, Hire Our Heroes, 4 Block, Vederati. Like, all of these are they they all have that

Campaign and

Yeah. We could we could probably, like yeah. Pull up LinkedIn, and we'll Yeah. You can go through a handful of them, and it's just find the one that's right for you that makes the most sense and be able to get to it. But, ultimately, those are still things outside of the army, the marine corps, the navy. Like, it's not their job. Like, they don't necessarily wanna set you up for

It's not their job.

Transitioning. So Yeah. It it's a I feel I I get it. You know, you can kinda see both sides of the coin, but, yeah, it still sucks when you're sitting across from someone or somebody's about to retire after a 20, 30 year career and they go, gosh. I don't I don't know what I don't know what I can do. I guess I'm just gonna go be a gym teacher.

You got out you got out as a captain? I did. Yeah. Okay. So if you if you've never served in the military, a captain, especially an infantry captain in the marine corps, you have to be a stone cold savage, and also you're hurting what can only be described as idiots. Right? And so how how many Mondays how many Monday mornings after weekend leave did you come back and someone got married? Someone the the joke is someone bought a Mustang at 26% interest. Right. Right. A 10 year old car

And a brand new tattoo.

And a brand new tattoo that's outside of regulation, by the way. Did you take that kind of savage mentality? I say savage with all compliments for me,

because that was

the same way. Did you take that attitude into corporate America?

Yeah. And there there's definitely some lessons learned

in How that worked out for you?

How that worked out for you. For for all the things that wearing a uniform helps helps Mhmm. You know, creates those traits. Right? Like, being on time. Mhmm. You know, showing up early Yeah. Places, being detail oriented, you know, listening to instructions and following instructions. Like, all of those things will help you and helped me as I started.

There was also the piece of how do I relate to someone else? How do I how do I understand their experience? Now I I will say that, and I I know you and I have talked about this before, like, the leader I was in uniform was so different outside because of those lessons I learned wearing the uniform. Like, I I go back so I grew up in New Jersey. It was really insular. Like, you you big Irish, Italian, very Catholic community. Some families had been in that hometown for generations. Like, it was very insulated the way that I I grew up. And I realized it later on. I didn't really realize it.

And even at even at the Naval Academy, we're all high achieving. We were all top 2, 3 percent of our high school classes or, you know, like, you you were all high achievers. Everyone was in great shape. They're we all kind of thought the same, right? We all wanted the same things. And then I get in the Marine Corps and you realize, like, very quickly, not everyone is there because they wanna be there. You know, it while it's not official that the judge will make you enlist, it's enlist or prison.

Yeah.

There were a couple guys who were like, hey. Here were my options.

My my little brother. Yeah. And I had a I had a couple of those guys in my, in my assaultman section. One of them was a kind of a ended up being kind of a crappy marine, and the other guy was amazing. Was that right? Yeah. Incredible.

And for me, that was my big that was my Like, oh, man. Like, there are so many other ways to get to this point in life. Mhmm. Like, I have to be better about opening my eyes to that. I have to be better about being understanding and compassionate to that and what that looks like, and that was a struggle. Right? Like, why is everyone not like me? Why is everyone not as fired up or as disappointed or as excited about x? And really understanding that, like, I had to connect with people where they were at. That was a really big lessons, you know, just to understand leadership and, hey, Lance Corporal, like, you know, Lance Corporal Schmuckatelli, infamous Lance Corporal. Right?

Yeah.

We've all worked with them. Am I gonna be the guy that continues to rail on him because everybody else rails on him, or do I need can I be better? Can I understand him? And may he may never be marine of the quarter, but at least let's get him to formation on time. Let's figure out what we need to do to get him here. And that that was lessons learned. Right? Like, you know, falling into those same traps, or am I gonna try and do something different? Am I gonna try and connect to someone and understand them differently? And that helped me as I started to then get into the civilian workforce. There were a lot of those moments of, hey. Do I really understand what this person is going through? Mhmm.

Right now,

it doesn't it doesn't mean that you're a rollover. You're a pushover. Right? It doesn't mean, hey. Just, oh, you have problems, so I'm just gonna back. Yeah. It's okay. No. You there's still a level of accountability, but how to approach that and how to explain it to someone.

Like, hey. Here's the expectation. You're not meeting it, or I'm willing to help you, but you've got to help yourself.

Mhmm.

Right? Having that hard conversation with someone, that those skills came directly out of that experience.

Yeah. Where'd you land?

So we, wait, when I I don't know. You and I have talked about, like, you know, your experience, but, like, you know, for us, it was either we're gonna go where the job takes us and love where we're at, or we're gonna move somewhere and go figure out a job. We took option b. We loved the Phoenix area. My wife had some family out there we had gone to visit, and we just we every time we went, we're like, man, I could see myself here.

I love Phoenix.

So that was it. We just we planted our flag in Phoenix and said we'll we'll go figure it out. Mhmm. And my first job out of the Marine Corps, I worked for Toll Brothers, big homebuilder. Homebuilder. Yeah. Yeah. And I was a assistant project manager for them and, really just learning construction.

You know? I I I kinda joke. Right? Like, I spent the 1st 6 years of my career blowing up buildings and then the next couple years trying to build them. Like, you're trying to figure this out. And, it was a really cool experience. It it yeah. We were up in North Phoenix. I was working on a a development out there. I was with them for about a year.

I then had the opportunity to go over to a commercial contractor. So Turner Construction, big big commercial contractor based in New York. They did some big projects out there and then specifically the jobs, I worked at an Intel facility, so a chip making facility out in, Chandler, Arizona and then ended up at the airport for a little while. And Phoenix Sky Harbor was putting in this was, again, you know, 2,000 2006, I started with them. I was with them for about 3 years, and they were putting in all the baggage handling systems, a 100 percent x-ray systems. Like, it was all post September 11th money coming in to all of these entities. So specifically Massive grants

to Yeah. Yeah.

To just go in, expand the terminals. Phoenix as a city was growing, so they needed more capacity and then putting in all the baggage handling systems. So, like, I have I've crawled all over those systems, you know, been under the under the runways and all the tunnels where bags, you know, will miraculously disappear in your travels and kinda understanding that whole system. Did that for it was just just shy of 3 years, and it was in 2009. So 2,008, you know, the financial crisis happens, and housing just takes a dump, particularly out in Phoenix. Like, we were one of those markets super overinflated, and then in 09, I got let go. So lost my job. So, again, learning experience there, like, what do I do?

Was that did you have any, forewarning of that? Any heads up?

Looking back on it, the red flags were all there. I just had to look around, but I was putting my head down and going, well, if I just keep working harder, it won't it won't be me.

Yeah.

It'll be someone else.

See, that's that old military mindset. Just outwork the person next to you and and the cream will rise to the top, and you'll be

okay. Right. Right. Yeah. At some point, the the division just got small. Right? Like, the our office like, people started leaving, you know, every and for whatever reason, he would call someone on the office phone, but, like, on speaker. So, like, if you were sitting at your cube on a Friday afternoon and you heard, hey, James. You know, this this is Rob.

I need you to come down the office real quick. Everyone knew. Everybody knew because every time that you heard that happen Yeah. That person was gone Yeah. That day. And, then that was my day. Hey, Faizon. Can you come down to the office?

Did you have both of your kids at this point?

No. I just had one. K. It was just, my daughter. So she was born in 08. It was just after her first birthday.

Oh, god.

Yeah. It was, early October. She was born in September, so early October 2009.

Okay.

I had made all all the mistakes that so many people make.

I bet.

I bought a house I couldn't afford. I lived a life and spent money on credit cards and were upside down there, had had no savings. I was I was that statistic. Right? If the if I had a $200 emergency emergency, I don't think I would have been able to pay it. And, like, I lived that way. I got caught up in we gotta buy a house. We gotta do this. We gotta we gotta you gotta you gotta meet all of the wickets.

You gotta go hit all the checklists. That's the only way to succeed. That's the only way to go get it there. And losing my job at that point was was the low. Like, that was

So how much money did you have in the bank?

We had, at that point, less it was $1,000? Maybe. Maybe scraped together. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I I, I tell again, lesson learned. Right? Like, I look back and when you get that mortgage preapproval, like, that's the bank saying, hey. We're we're willing to lend you this, you know, because because Yeah. Really take a look at that number.

Yeah.

And really understand, like, if I'm doing that, like, what do I have left to eat? Yeah. And it sounds it sounds foolish. Right? Like, you would you would think that the education I had, the the way that I grew up, you would think I have my head on straight. Like, I would I would know that. But I got caught up.

Mhmm.

I got caught up in trying to do what everybody else was doing around me and thinking, like, well, that that was the way to do it. So, you know, I lose my job. I had I was a couple weeks away from actually vesting in my 401 k, so half of my 401 k. So, again, like, even that half was, like, from what I did over the 1st couple years, like, I'm not getting that. It was a it was a 3 year vest cycle, and I was short of that. So I wasn't getting that. My wife was working at the time. She was, she ran her personal training business, but it wasn't enough.

It was she was doing fine, but it wasn't enough for us to

Like supplementary.

Yeah.

Yeah. You

know, again, one child, no money. The low point was having to take physical savings bonds that my parents had had given me as a child that had not matured yet, that I had to walk into, you know again, as much as that moment of walking in the Naval Academy for the first time has burned in my head, this one is too. Mhmm. Right? I walked into a Desert Schools Credit Union in East Mesa, Arizona and had to cash in those savings bonds. And I remember the young girl behind it, name was Maria, and she said, these aren't mature yet. And I had to look at her and say, I need money for groceries. I need money for diapers. Like, cash those.

And, you know, sat out in the parking lot and cried my eyes out for 45 minutes. And, you know, and at that moment, it was like, this can never happen again, and all the all the dark things that come with that, right, you know, all all of the experiences that I had gone through and to say now after all this, I can barely afford to feed my family. Like, I am I am below worthless.

Let's talk about that because a lot of people that the organization we mentioned at the the front of the program are in life circumstances like that, like, that you described. And so very fortunate to be able to help them out and get them through that period, but you didn't have an organization like that to help. So on paper, naval what was your degree?

I was a political science major.

Okay. Well, it's a terrible degree, but,

engineer or anything.

So so Naval Academy alumni, decorated marine captain, multiple deployments, proven leadership skills. So on paper you were an asset to any company that they wanna snatch up, but in reality you were sit say rock bottom?

Yeah.

Okay. So you had the pity party, got it all out. What was the next step? What'd you do? Where'd you go?

The,

I I don't mean to be disrespectful at pity party. I mean

No.

No. Yeah. No. No. Real man cry.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it was, yeah. It was it was a low point. Right? And and, you know, to put it bluntly, like, yeah. I thought my life insurance is more than than my life right now, and my family would do better without me. Like, those those all came up, and my daughter is 15 now, and I still tell her, like, she saved my life because I just remember, like, sitting with her and thinking those things and then going, how can this child grow up without her dad? Like how terrible would that be? So it was it was like, alright. I gotta do something else.

So moved on, tried to hit the hit LinkedIn and the job boards and do all those things. Had a job, worked for a roofing company for about a year. It was my first foray into a sales position, and, I absolutely hated it. Do,

door to door?

No. It was, it was actually so my role of this company was based up in Ohio. They were a national firm and they, I was in their government sales. So I think they just saw, like, military. Oh, he can sell to the government. So it's a government is a special vision. Special ring of hell. Yeah.

Like, it is it's a long sales cycle. It was hard to do. We didn't have to find territories. Like, there were all sorts of things. I was miserable. I was on the road. RFPs? Yeah. RFPs.

If you could even get that far because depending on who was writing the RFP, it almost kinda directed it to a certain company, which wasn't us. And it was a traveling position. I was selling nationally. So I was I was on the road all the time. I put 90,000 miles on US Airways, and I'd only been with the company 10 months. I mean, I was all the time. And September Labor Day, weekend in 2010, my, my wife called me. I I'd flown back to our headquarters in Ohio on a Sunday Sunday afternoon, and I was supposed to spend the week there.

And she called me Sunday night. We were talking. I could tell she was upset. You know, finally got it out. It's like my daughter woke up from her nap, and daddy was gone. And she's just been miserable, and and I'm like, I again, like, this is the whole reason I got out of the Marine Corps. Like, I didn't wanna do these types of things. Like, I didn't wanna miss this, and I went in that week and gave my notice.

Like, I I I can't do this. Still no net. Barely making it but at least enough to pay the bills and and keep things going. And then in September 2010, I had a buddy, and this was also my first foray into really understanding networking and the power of my network. Mhmm. He was a Naval Academy grad, but a year younger than me, but we knew each other. He reached out and said, send me your resume. I work for Amazon.

We're opening a brand new building in Phoenix. Like

Nice.

This is Providence right here. Like, I don't have to move. So So the first question was, like, in my head, like, it's Amazon. They sell books and CDs. How hard could it be? I have not been a lot on Amazon. Again, 2010. Right? Yeah. We're just kinda

It's just getting warmed up.

Really discovering what Amazon was all about. And in my interview, I just remembered walking around and going, like, crap. They sell a lot more than DVDs and books now. Yeah. That's the only reason I ever went to that site, and you started to to realize it. And that put me on a path. That position opened up doors for me that that were truly life changing. I spent the next 6 little over 6 years, 7 peak seasons with Amazon.

So growing in that network and understanding it in ecommerce and all the different facets of that organization, That's what moved us here to Texas. So my wife is originally from Oklahoma. I met her in artillery school as I was traveling across the country, and we got we had the opportunity to come to Texas. And it was like we we jumped on that and got to grow within that organization and understand it and kinda I still kinda geek out over it. I've got friends who are in either still with it with them or with other ecommerce platforms and just kinda talking to them about, you know, their their bin setups and how their algorithms are working and what their pick paths look like. But after a while, like, Amazon Amazon we could probably do a whole podcast on Amazon War Stories.

We'll we'll book that next.

We get a handful of guys. You will you will hear some some incredible stories from from that. But that's just it was a life well, I left Amazon and then I went to chewy.com. Mhmm. So I had the opportunity to continue to progress there. Not that it was all smooth sailing.

Buy Chewy?

Amazon Chewy? No. Chewy was bought by PetSmart.

Oh, okay.

And in fact, like, what led to that so I'll back up a second. Like, my time at Amazon, while it was great, was also not all smooth sailing. There were definitely moments where things didn't go right, and I really started to understand at that point, like, how I how I operate or how I react to things Mhmm. Is gonna drive the environment that I'm in. Mhmm. And specifically, like, when I was at Amazon at 1 year, I just had a really rough year. And long story short, I got promoted probably a year year and a half, maybe even 2 years earlier than I should have and got put into a role. I thought I was ready for it.

My leadership team thought I was ready for it. I was not ready for it. And it was a it was a terrible year. And I was fortunate at the end of that year that I had a a general manager, a leader who said, you know, she in particular said, like, I still believe in you. And one of the things that probably saved my job, was I went one day and I just sat down and said, look, I'm struggling. Like, I I don't I'm struggling with this, this, this. Here's where I'm I'm not hitting the mark. I know it.

I don't need anybody in this office to tell me that I'm not there. All I'm asking for is help me get to where I need to go. And she gave me. She's like, alright. Here. Here's your path. Here here are the 2, 3 things. And I think I look back on that moment and I compare it to that young lieutenant who was the pound of fist on the table.

I'll just outwork someone. I'll just work harder. I'll just yell louder. And it was it was a turning point in that I understood truly being humble, saying I can't do this alone or I need help, and recognizing that in myself opened up a door that allowed me to continue to grow. Because I would I if I'd if I'd have fought it, I would have lost my job. What ended up happening was I actually got demoted.

Mhmm. You know? Sounds like the best outcome, though.

It absolutely was because it gave me a chance to step back to a role that was, I don't I won't say beneath, but more on level with where I where I was and take that role to grow it and be a bigger influence.

Mhmm.

And it allowed me to continue working there. I enjoyed the the company. I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the team. I enjoyed the environment. I just this role wasn't right at the time. So taking a step back, there's a little bit of shame. Right? Nobody wants to nobody wants to admit it.

Like most big corporations, right, someone can pull up your profile and it's like, hey. It says this. You know? In in my case, it says level 6. I thought you were a level 7 manager, and I would just yeah. Don't worry about it. Right? Can we

talk about that for a sec?

Yeah. Absolutely.

So you said how you react to, situations that controls your environment. Is that what you said? Yeah. Can you talk about that?

Yeah. So, when I got that notice, I sat down with Jim, and she explained it. She said, look. Like, you were just not ready for this. I see value. We see value. The leadership team still sees value. This is the best option.

Again, right, the the pride comes up. Like, I'm not gonna take the moment. Like, screw you. Right? I know who I am.

Mhmm.

But the outcome to that is, alright. Then here's your job. Here's your yeah. You're Yeah. You're done. Like, we you're not gonna stay in this role. I came back and talked to I I walked outside. I sat in my car.

I was kinda stewing on it. I came back in. I wanted to vent a little bit. She let me, and then she said, just take tomorrow off. Don't come in tomorrow. Just take the day off. Just process everything. And I remember going home that night.

I didn't want to tell my wife. Right? Again, shame. There's that pride that says like no. Like, I'm the man of the house. Like, I don't get I don't I don't get beat down like this, and then we went out the next day and we sat down and talked through it, and it's like as I was talking it's like what what am I so upset about? Right? I still get to be I still get good pay. I still get to be in environment around people that I like being around. I still get to do this job. Like, what am I really oh, my title changed.

You go.

It it was exactly like, this is just me. Mhmm. This is just the way that I look at it. This is the way that I'm processing this. I can take this kick and turn it into something good.

How old how old was your daughter?

This was in 20 14. So she was yeah. She she was 6, and we had my son then too.

Okay.

So she was 6, and he was 2. So yeah.

Maybe so a little too young to learn a lesson from what you're dealing with.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. They they wouldn't have captured at the time, but to your point, right, like, this has now kinda driven a lot of things as as I move forward as a parent. Right? Like, hey. This thing that's happening to you, like, you get to choose how you react to this. It sucks.

I'm not saying don't get hurt. Don't don't feel bad. Don't feel upset, but, you know, you get to choose how you react to it.

Yeah.

And that was really the probably the biggest lesson out of that is and

You know, this whole podcast was started to learn about other people's mistakes and what we can learn from. I think if god, I can list off a 100 business people and people that we would probably know that if they could conquer their ego or just set that aside, you know, they would be in so much of a a better position in life and in their career. You know? And and for men especially, it controls the one man of the household. I should be a earner. Or, you know, when you come to a veteran who did some pretty incredible things in in the military and they they think they're too good to do a certain type of job or work their way up. And we see it all the time all the time. I was trying to help this, lieutenant colonel. I was trying to mentor him along, help him figure out what to do after b school, and he would just kick down a lot of jobs just because the money wasn't right or the title wasn't right or the you know? Just get out of your way, man, just for a little bit.

I I can't remember. I think it was a podcast or something I had heard, and this has always stuck with me, and it's the example I I tell someone now. If you have an infantry battalion

Mhmm.

So that let's use this this lieutenant colonel as an example. Right? So he's the head of an infantry battalion, 350 people, 400 marines. They've got assets. They've they got a job to do. That ego would tell you, you know, upper management, maybe even c suite. Right? CEO level. Right? It can I can run a 400 person operation? Well, let's turn the table. Would you take a senior middle manager at a Fortune 500 company, pluck him out of it at, fill in the blank, GE, Walmart, Target.

Right? Would you take that senior level manager and say, well, you're pretty much equal to an infantry battalion commander. Go ahead. You can you can take that role.

Go ahead. Buddy.

We would never do that. No. We would never do that. Do that. But yet there's this mentality that, like, well, you know, I I did this, so I should be at that level. And it's like Mm-mm. You haven't done it. You haven't done the job.

Yeah. Would you take one of your lance corporals and go, well, yeah, you could run the battalion now. Go ahead. No. You would never do that. He has no experience. He there's a certain amount of expertise. You gotta understand the system.

You gotta know who to ask to pull financials. Mhmm. Like, you have none of that experience. Like, take a take that humble pie. Take that little that bite of humble pie and a little bit of humility and, yeah, maybe go down a level. It'll it'll help in the long run. And that's if

If I would have known that 15 years ago, my experiences would have been different.

Right. You

know? Instead instead of having to learn that, you know, honestly, really over the last few years, to kinda put that to the side Yeah. You know, things things would be a lot different. When I try to mentor, doesn't matter who they are. When I try to mentor them, that's the first thing. Like, hey. Actually, you don't really matter that much. I gotta be honest. Like, you're mad at your family, but you're not that big of a deal.

Right? You're just when it comes to working in corporate America, you're just a cog in a wheel. You can be that cog better than anything, and maybe you'll get to a bigger cog

one day. Sure.

But, does that make sense?

Yeah. Well and I yeah. I think it's just the realization that, like, you can control what you can control. Mhmm. Right? So whatever that environment is, right, whether it's this job or it's you know, if I'm gonna dig a ditch, it's gotta be a good ditch. Mhmm. Right? And it sucks, and my back hurts and all these other things, but if this is my job, I should be able to go execute it, and I should be able to do it better than than someone else. And kinda that I just go back to the humble pot.

Like, if you just if you can take a little bite of humility and understand somebody else's role, like Mhmm. That is eye opening, and it changed my career. Right? Like, change when going through that experience and kinda taking a step back and saying, okay. I wasn't ready for this yet. I'm I'm being given a second chance. Mhmm. Let me let me go prove it. Like most companies, you know, there's performance reviews.

So my performance review that year, no no surprise. In that level of managers, I was at the bottom. Right? No no surprise there. I would I was not surprised. The next year, it was like, okay. Well, if I'm gonna be this level 6 manager, I'm a best damn level 6 man. Like, watch out.

Yeah.

Right? And sure enough, a year later, like, top tier, ready to promote, ready to do these things, and, you know, it it was having that opportunity to just take a step back and go, I can I needed a reset? I needed to the the word I heard, a buddy of mine use was you just needed to marinate a little while. Mhmm. He just needed to sit back and marinate a little bit longer, and then, boom, you were ready. And that's what it and that's exactly what it was. So, like, conversations with vets, conversations with colleagues, like, don't be in such a rush to get to the next level. There is this mindset with people in general. Right? I gotta get the next wicket. I gotta get to the next level.

I gotta move from a to b. I gotta I gotta achieve. I gotta go faster and harder, and we can again, we could probably spend a whole Mhmm. Podcast on social media and and and what that's doing to for that mentality. Right? Like, oh, you know, it's a quick fix. You just gotta move. You gotta keep going. Like and I won't even blame social media.

Like, started at school, right, at the at the academy. From day 1, you're counting down the days till something. Mhmm. You're either counting down the days till the end of summer. You're counting down the days till graduation. You're counting down the days till Christmas break. And literally, like, as a plea, the freshman there, like, you had to know the day count. Oh, it's 35 days till this.

Blah blah blah. Like, it's, you know, all the silly little things that military schools make you do. Right?

Yeah.

Like so there was this mentality even starting then that, like, well, I gotta count down to something. I gotta I gotta count down to TBS, and then I get to artillery school, then artillery school is my first unit, then my first deployment, then I gotta go be the XO, then I gotta do I gotta do I gotta do I gotta do, and you start I did. I started to get into this trap of, like, I've just gotta keep moving. I gotta keep achieving. I gotta keep hitting the checklist versus On to the next. Taking a break and just looking around for a minute going, am I ready for this? Is this where I'm supposed to go? And, you know, marine corps and military, they have their own methodology, and it's worked for a couple 100 years, so god bless it. But as an individual, like, this is these were the big 's. These these were the big notices for me.

Like, man, I just I've there's more. I've gotta take take a minute and figure this piece out, and that's really what started to drive into a lot of that just personal growth around understanding who I am. Am I mastering something, or am I just checking a box? Mhmm. Am I and and do I need to master it? Right? That's the other piece is also understanding. There's people on a team or there's people in my role or other people that I can rely on that know that better than I do.

Yeah. So Well, that mindset's real helpful, also for bjjette. You know? Absolutely. Because if you're just obsessed with the next stripe or the next belt, you know, it gets real old real quick.

That's just because you're a sandbagger and you don't like to get promoted. Yeah. I'm not used

to get promoted. I have a few ways to get promoted. Thank you for calling me out on my own shit. Absolutely. Somebody has to do. Great. So and then we're gonna strike that for the record. Okay.

So so what was the next step? So what what happened with Amazon?

Yeah. I finished up with Amazon and had the opportunity to go over to chewy.com. So I mentioned that, and I went over there as the assistant GM and then the GM. So I ran that building for a little over a year down in Grand Prairie. Still in the ecommerce world. Right? Growing growing that. I went through the acquisition when PetSmart bought Chewy, so had an opportunity to kinda see what that looked like and and go through that process. And then this was, probably fall of 2018 and, no 2017.

Excuse me. My wife had a relatively major surgery. Kids were getting older. And I kinda, again, had that I had that self assessment moment. I went, alright. They're getting older. I haven't been on the inside of a gym in any form or fashion in years. I'm probably about £20 heavier.

Like, I knew my life wasn't going the way that I I wanted to. I wasn't. I couldn't go be a coach, and my son at the time was just about to turn 5. So he was just gonna start t ball and kinda getting into things, and my daughter was already in cheer and doing all this. And, yeah, I'll show up for the events, but, like, I'm not running them to practice. I don't know any of the coaches. I don't know these other peep like, I was providing, but I wasn't present. Mhmm.

And, my wife even again, this you know, we've been married, just over 20 years now, and she has these she has these nuggets where it's like she just what a great reality check where, you know, she sat me down. It's like, you're gonna kill yourself. You are going to work yourself to death, and, you know For what? We've got it yeah. For what? Like, we'll we'll figure it out. We've always we've figured it out. You know? Favorite phrase, we'll figure it out. We'll, like, you know, we'll we'll we'll see where this takes us. And, she had talked to me and, you know, I'd always talked about becoming an adviser.

I had always said that I wanna be a financial adviser. I had a financial adviser, who who gave some good advice around it and said, hey. Go get profe I wanna do my 1st guy on the Marine Corps. And he pulled me aside and was like, listen. 1, you haven't saved enough money, which as I've already expressed couple years down the road came to absolute fruition.

Yeah.

And the other thing he said was, hey. You you know, your job experience so far was shooting big guns and chasing bad people. Go do something else. Really hard to go sit with somebody and talk to them about their business or their life savings or their family's wealth and Mhmm. Be able to have a meaningful discussion when you haven't done any of those things. Mhmm. So that's really what kinda started me on that path to to these other things. So, it was time.

It was you know what? We've we've financially, we got ourselves in a much better place. We had turned turned the ship 180 degrees. We had said, like, let's let's go do it. You know? And it was, so 2018, I left the ecommerce world. I left all the challenges with that and decided to go get my licenses and started as a financial advisor and, started with nothing. Started with 0, a book of 0 and just have continued to grow. And all of those life lessons, now I feel at least, you know, if I can pat myself on the back, right, have made me more effective when I'm sitting down with someone. Mhmm.

Like, you know, in that over the last couple years, you know, going through all the challenges of COVID and what that looked like as a parent

Mhmm.

What that is. Losing both my parents in my dad passed away in 2020, my mom in 21 through health issues and having to put my mom in a assisted living for a little while and moving them here out of Florida. Like like, these were all examples and, like, these little moments that I can now sit in front of somebody. You know, when you lost your job, yeah, I know what that feels like. I know where you're at.

Yeah.

Right? Hey. Let me go buy you dinner tonight because I don't want you stressing about it. Mhmm. Like Yeah. Let me go do that. Right? Let me, I would you know, you you you're gonna have to sell your house because, you know, you can't afford the payment. Yeah. I've I've been there.

Like, here's here's a here's a way to do it. Here are the terms that you're looking for. Here's how here are the people that you wanna go talk to. Mhmm. Here's how you explain it the next job that you go because it's gonna show up on your credit report. Right? Like, those experiences, I had to go through to be able to be more effective in doing that.

Mhmm.

And then as that job continued to progress, I had the opportunity. I met who are now my my partners, so Kyle and Bruce. And Kyle and I started to do some work with some clients. We really liked each each other, and as that grew, I got to know Bruce. And it's the more that we work together, it's like this was this was the the team that I was looking for. Right? Again, that self assessment. Learning to do this job and learning all the widgets and learning all the expertise and what are the doing analysis on certain things. Right? I might doing analysis on certain things.

Right? Not my jam. Mm-mm. But Kyle loves it. Right? Give Kyle a spreadsheet, and he's happy. Like, get out of his way. Like, that's

my help.

That's his well, yeah, that's his world. Like, Kyle would never be in this room. Right? He's like, no. No. Thanks. I'm good. You go do that. Like, understanding myself well enough to go, this is what I'm strong at.

This is what I'm good at. If I can leverage someone else to do this other piece, man, we can we can accomplish so much more.

Yeah. And it I mean, it's not a a career that I could ever do, but I I love the fact that I just picture you keeping young people or older people from ever having to sit in that car and having their personal rock bottom when it comes to financials. And sometimes it's inevitable. I admire it. Look, man. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for kinda talking about your personal struggles and and your growth. You've got a great career and a great reputation.

You've got a, a heart for service that I admire and respect, and, I wanna ask you, the same question I ask everybody. If someone's listening to this podcast and trying to figure things out or trying to learn from your experiences, give us one thing one thing to take with them.

Can I can I make it 2? Can I give you 2?

Yeah. You can give as many answers as you want.

The the the first one is get outside your bubble. I I tell my kids this a lot. I want them to go travel. I want them to go see other places. I wanna go see other the way other people live. Go get out of your bubble. Be be willing enough to go see how someone you may not agree with them, but be open and compassionate enough to go see it and go experience it and go understand it and see and take the goods and the bads from it. And you don't have to go far.

Mhmm. Right? Like, even in this area of Fort Worth and and North Fort Worth where where we live, like, there's still there's still some people who are in rough places. Right, in rough lives. Like, go go experience that. Go understand it. For me, and I think what most people will gain from that is you'll get a better understanding. Here's here's an example. Growing up in my hometown, I can remember one kid in school whose parents were divorced, and it was almost like nobody talked about it.

That is not the case for most, unfortunately. Right? We that concept of broken marriages and broken homes, like and blended families, I didn't have a great concept to that. How strange does that say to as an adult now? But, like, I didn't. So what are the challenges with that? Right? As a father, when you're trying to raise somebody else's kid or your kid is being raised by someone else

Mhmm.

And understanding that, like, that's that's that type of understanding again, you don't have to go far. The other one is marinade. Don't be afraid to take something and just soak it in for a little while. Really understand it. Don't be in such a rush to bigger, badder, better immediately. Give yourself the opportunity to really soak that in. I know, you know, my example at Amazon, right, like, that that's probably the one that I would hearken back to is that Mhmm. If I didn't if I didn't take that opportunity to just to take a step back and figure this out, like, who knows where my life would have been.

Right? I I would have continued to chase the bigger, better, batter. Like, take that moment. Like, don't be afraid to let things just marinate just for a little bit. You know, and that's it's hard to do. It's hard to do when you compare to everybody else around you. Like, you might take the extra 6 months or the extra year, but, man, if you can if those extra 6 months make you a 100 times better

Yeah. I love it.

Not a terrible thing. No. So That's

awesome, man. I I really appreciate you coming on and kinda talking about

your experiences. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. Absolutely. And it's it takes a lot to admit that you made some mistakes, and it takes a lot to to, be humble. And I admire that, and I thank you very much. For more information on the show and, mister Bason Morris, you can go to our show notes. All our links will be there. You can download this episode, like and subscribe at all the major platforms, Spotify, Apple, all the good stuff. I appreciate you.

Appreciate you, man.