The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the intricate journey of entrepreneurship, as exemplified through the experiences of our esteemed guest, Joel Kansanback (The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the intricate journey of entrepreneurship, as exemplified through the experiences of our esteemed guest Joel Kansanback. We delve into the nuanced aspects of building a successful business, emphasizing the significance of fostering genuine connections with individuals and understanding the internal transformations necessary for external accomplishments. The dialogue navigates the complexities of the finance and insurance industry, elucidating the critical role of training and adaptability in achieving sustained success. Moreover, we explore the challenges and triumphs encountered along the entrepreneurial path, providing invaluable insights for aspiring business leaders. As we engage in this enlightening conversation, we aim to impart wisdom that will empower others to embrace their entrepreneurial aspirations and cultivate meaningful ventures.. We delve into the nuanced aspects of building a successful business, emphasizing the significance of fostering genuine connections with individuals and understanding the internal transformations necessary for external accomplishments. The dialogue navigates the complexities of the finance and insurance industry, elucidating the critical role of training and adaptability in achieving sustained success. Moreover, we explore the challenges and triumphs encountered along the entrepreneurial path, providing invaluable insights for aspiring business leaders. As we engage in this enlightening conversation, we aim to impart wisdom that will empower others to embrace their entrepreneurial aspirations and cultivate meaningful ventures.

Takeaways:

• Entrepreneurship necessitates a profound understanding of both external markets and internal motivations.
• Successful entrepreneurs often prioritize training and development to ensure consistent results and performance.
• The journey of entrepreneurship is often fraught with setbacks, yet these failures can yield invaluable lessons.
• Building relationships with clients and understanding their challenges is paramount for long-term success.

An enlightening dialogue unfolds as the host, Adam Marburger, welcomes Joel Kansanback , an esteemed entrepreneur in the automotive sector. Their discussion delves into the intricate journey of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the necessity of internal fortitude and resilience before embarking on external ventures. Joel recounts his formative experiences in the automotive industry, highlighting the significance of finance and insurance—a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of vehicle purchasing. The episode meticulously unpacks the evolution of Joel's career, illustrating how his foundational training laid the groundwork for his eventual success in establishing a prominent company, ADG. Furthermore, the conversation navigates the challenges inherent in entrepreneurship, underscoring the importance of maintaining integrity and fostering trust within teams, particularly in high-stress scenarios. This in-depth exploration serves not only as a testament to Joel's achievements but also as a beacon of guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to navigate their own paths with purpose and clarity.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Pat Ryan and Associates
• ADG
• Auto Trainer

This is Adam Marburger.

And this is humans that build real conversations with real people, not just about what they've built in the world, but what had to be built inside them first.

No hype, no shortcuts.

Just humans doing the work.

Humans that build.

Real people.

Real work.

Welcome to Humans that Build.

I'm your host, Adam Marburger, and this show is to celebrate entrepreneurship and those making an impact in the world so we can help others become better versions of themselves.

I'm joined today with a very special guest, Mr. Joel Kancbach.

Welcome to Humans that Build, my friend.

Thanks, Adam.

Great to be here.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah.

What part of the country are you in today, my friend?

You know what?

I'm in Fort Myers, so we're kind of snowbirds.

I'm generally Minnesota in the summer and Florida in the winter, and that suits me just fine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we're going to talk all things entrepreneurship today with you.

You've got an exciting journey that you've lived and you're doing quite a few things still to this day.

So let's talk.

I want to really kind of start with, you know, your automotive career because you built a very, very large company in automotive.

You've experienced an exit a lot of people don't get to experience.

But let's, let's start with your path into retail automotive, if you could kind of share that story with us.

I was very fortunate to get on basically immediately with Pat Ryan and Associates, which at the time was, you know, far and away the leader in F and I training and development, f and I products.

And because their focus was on training, it was a great place to be as an employee because we got great training.

And so that really was a lot of work.

But it set a great foundation for the rest of my career.

Yeah.

And you've got here, you know, the F and I industry.

So if you would explain exactly kind of what the F and I industry is and what it does if you don't.

Yeah, exactly.

So, so basically, F and I stands for finance and insurance.

It's that last step when you go buy a car and then they usually kind of put you in a room and there's a guy or gal that offers you.

They arrange the paperwork, they arrange the loan, and then they sell you things like extended service contract, gap protection, pain interior protection, key protection, this sort of thing.

And it's a profit center.

Right.

And so the model is.

And I wasn't unique and we weren't unique.

The model in our industry generally is that dealers select a provider and then that provider for those products.

So they're like an independent insurance agent.

When the dealer selects their provider, that person that has, that company has value adds.

And so they'll say, I'm going to help you with training, I'm going to help you with recruiting, I'm going to help you with compliance, I'm going to help you with compensation plans.

And the value propositions are sometimes very, very similar and sometimes they're quite different.

And so it's a fun space to compete in and it can be very lucrative because you're earning a commission on each individual piece of paper that they sell each product.

And so when a dealership has high volume, that means many opportunities to sell our products.

And part of what's fantastic about the whole thing is generally we're very aligned.

So what we want to accomplish and what the dealer wants to accomplish are usually pretty darn identical.

And so there's no friction there.

Usually what we're trying to accomplish in terms of driving better performance so that more profit is made in the department supports him or her and it supports our needs.

So that's finance and insurance.

Yeah.

And I want to kind of go back in time a little bit.

I do have some kind of put you on the spot questions I wanted to start with, but I want to go back in time before I hit you with a few of these questions.

Let's go back to Joel can some back.

You know, you're a young boy, you're in middle school.

I mean, I'm betting here you didn't have dreams and aspirations of training f and I people.

Right.

So, yes.

What would that look like?

What were, what was your, what did your future look like when you were in middle school, high school?

Where did you want to go?

What did you want to do?

Yeah, I would tell you that if you went all the way to middle school.

I grew up on a farm.

The aspect of the farming that I was drawn to was the livestock.

So I liked the whole cattle and horses thing.

And that probably looked to be my future.

And then my family lost the farm and had to sell.

I had to switch schools and I had to kind of reframe, change where I go to university.

But you know, my dad was, you know, farming is an entrepreneurship.

Right.

You're self employed.

And so, you know, my mom's whole career, she was an Avon lady and recruited for Avon.

And then after farming, my dad went into real estate, selling farm and ranch and so, you know, the notion of working for yourself and having control of your destiny always appealed to me.

And what always, I always had a problem with was working by the hour.

So trading time for money, Even as an 18 year old, I didn't like it, you know, where I'm trading time for money and I have no control over the outcome and I'm just accepting what, what you're willing to give me.

So the 302, an hour that I made at A and W as a cook, they bring me in from 4 and leave me at Send Me Home 7.

So for my three hours I'd start at $6 and 6 cents or I'm sorry, $9, $9 and 6 cents.

And from that they're going to subtract FICA and so forth.

So not a very exciting proposition.

Yeah.

So I, I love asking entrepreneurs a set of questions I'm about to throw on your plate here because I just like to hear the response because we're all, as entrepreneurs, we're similar, but we're also different.

Right.

We all experience different things in our lives.

And so I want to talk about, I'm going to, I'm going to give you a couple, you know, short questions and you can respond how you feel, how you feel fit to this.

All right, So I hit a wall.

When, you know, I'll tell you.

Where I've had problems in my businesses is generally I would be considered kind of like a players coach and you know, have these individual relationships with people and know what their hot buttons are and we're aligned.

Right.

I want them to be success successful.

They want me to help be successful from time to time, you know, under stress or in a high pressure situation.

If I ever found myself mimicking the hit him over the head with a hammer, yell, throw a phone thing, which I haven't done for a very long time, it seems like it, it kind of breached the trust and it kind of broke the opportunity for success and it unwound a lot of goodwill.

And so I just abandoned that as a strategy.

So, you know, if you have an underperforming employee, you know, we can, we can kind of work them to conclusion and either get them successful and pointed in the right direction or get them off the team.

The losing your temper and uncorking on somebody, it just doesn't work.

They don't hear what you're saying, it doesn't change their behavior, it undoes anything good you had in place prior to that and it for sure doesn't set the stage for future Success.

Yeah.

I'm going to echo what you just said with, especially with today's younger generation, yelling and screaming and throwing a fit with today's younger generation.

Yeah, no bueno.

Next question for you.

When I am stressed, I, you know,.

I'm a regular workout guy.

So you know, I'm probably in the gym five to seven times a week and it does a lot for me.

Stress management is a big part of it, but I just feel better and so I would say that that's my healthiest solution.

You don't want to have cocktails be your stress management solution.

But yeah, and I also love to put play golf.

So I'm, you know, kind of streakish where I might get out two or three times a week for periods of time and then, you know, like all of us might go months with none.

But that's also a good, good way to let loose.

So you're saying the gym is a better option than a Manhattan?

Yeah, I thought you were going to say the gym versus the gym beam and.

Yeah, yeah.

Manhattan should not be your standard go to stress room.

That long term outcome.

Yeah.

So current entrepreneurial state.

So now I don't, you know, I.

Think two things come to mind.

The biggest one is when you're naturally lean toward being very entrepreneurial and having a lot of ideas and you're wanting to build new things.

I challenge myself to say who's the integrator who's going to execute on my big idea?

Because I know when it comes to details and getting in the weeds and doing the push ups, it's not a strength for every project or every new business.

I have to surround myself with people that have that skill set that they gravitate to that it's not being mean, it's them getting to do what they're good at.

And so I would say as far as avoiding hitting walls or when I hit a wall, I want to make sure that I don't do anything unless I've got integrators involved.

The other one I was going to say is not trying to start five things at once.

I think, what's the expression?

If you want to build a bridge, you don't start five of them because you're never going to get to where you're going.

And so you kind of have to teach yourself one at a time, make this successful, then you do the next one and so forth.

That's not easy when you're itchy to try all kinds of things.

So over the last, I would say six months, I'm starting to learn this word no.

I'm using the word no because I'm guilty of wanting to do all these things.

But what I've learned is you try to do all these things, you get none of them done right.

So that's right.

I'm finally growing up to where I'm just like, nope, nope, nope.

I'm focused.

It's hard.

Yes.

You want, you want to follow the bouncy ball, but yes.

So, all right, so now.

Okay.

Now I always.

Well, I do always make sure that I've got kind of a full plan.

So I think that the kind of going half cocked and jumping in, you know, I really do find myself kind of taking a beat.

Try to get more information for making decisions, try to ask questions before, you know, we get too far into things, and then really try to see the big picture.

You know, what's the rippling ramifications of your decision?

And so, you know, when some of us are super, super high urgency, and that higher urgency serves us right, and it does some positive things because we get more done in a day than most people or we get more done in a week and so forth, but it also makes you prone toward making snap judgments, rash decisions, or taking shortcuts.

And so, yeah, really, I've had to counsel myself to slow down.

Yeah.

So I would like.

I want to talk.

Unfortunately, we're not gonna have the time to talk about all your business interests.

I know you do a lot of things.

In my opinion, you might be the most serial entrepreneurial guy I.

And I, I want to dig in a little bit or lean into adg.

Okay.

Because that was your, your behemoth of a company that you built, Scaled, exited, helped a whole lot of people along the way.

But why did you found it?

What, what, what was, what was that?

When did you have that idea to start it?

It's probably scary to kind of jump off and do this.

So why did you leave Ryan and go in and do your own thing?

What was broken in the industry?

So there's two questions.

I want to know why.

Why did you do this?

And what was broken in the industry that made you feel like you should leave and go do this?

I think there's a couple things.

So I always intended to be self employed, you know, self employed.

Owning your own business is making the ultimate bet on yourself.

And so if you feel like you're a contributor anywhere you go and that you're going to win wherever you go, even if it takes time, then you're best suited to be on Your own, because you know, you can call your own shots and.

And ultimately reap the biggest rewards.

I did six years Pat Ryan Associates, then six years on the lender side.

So I did not go straight from Ryan to starting the agency.

I started ADG in 02.

And the original premise, which really carried us the whole way through, was really, really simple.

And that was, what if as a dealer, you could get the best of all worlds?

So historically, the big box providers would have great products and they would have great reinsurance, maybe, and they would maybe have great people, but there was no flexibility and their process was my way or the highway.

If you went with agents, you maybe had more flexibility in product, but they didn't have reinsurance expertise or they didn't provide fantastic training.

So our original premise was let's provide a best of all worlds scenario with a dealer where they can have a relationship with one person for a very long period of time and not worry about turnover.

They can have flexibility and a really comprehensive product lineup and you can change it on the fly if you need to.

Let's have the expertise on the reinsurance so they can participate in the underwriting profits of these products.

And.

And then finally, let's make training, the signature, the cornerstone of everything that we do.

So it doesn't solve every problem, but training is usually part of every solution.

And so focusing and emphasizing training was really important to us and it kind of became our brand.

We had an expression.

Yeah, there were trainers on our team, but everybody trains, so if you work here, you do training.

And that carried us a long way.

Yeah, you know, entrepreneurship, it's a sexy word.

People like to throw it around,.

But.

It's not unicorns and rainbows.

Right.

There's setbacks.

I know.

I'm still experiencing them.

What was one of your favorite failures?

I'd like to hear from you.

Think for a minute.

What was one of your favorite failures?

That short term was a tragedy, but long term you learned from and grew from.

If you don't mind sharing one of those.

Yeah, I think this will answer the question.

I had a sales circumstance where I had an opportunity for a very large client and we got a long way through the process.

And right near the end, when I thought I was having a chance to sign this piece of business, the decision maker said, you know what I love about my current provider?

They have a process for everything.

And that stuck with me.

Right.

Because they were able to provide him solutions and have answers to situations.

He's basically saying, it doesn't matter what I have What I come up with, where I'm at, they've got a process for it.

And that forced me then to go back and look in the mirror at my company and say, can we say that, you know, how consistent are we, how professional are we?

And do we have a process for all the major things that happen inside of a dealership that bump into our department?

And I think that carried us a long way.

So I didn't get the business, never did.

You know, it'd be a better story if I came back three years later.

But I did learn a great lesson that I think helped propel the business.

Yeah.

So kind of fast forward a little bit here.

You know, you went out on your own, you built adg, but then you packaged it up and you sold it.

What was your motivation?

You know, what was, what was the motivation to sell?

And then outside of that, like, what's next?

Like, what are you going to do?

What was your idea?

What are you going to do after that?

Yeah.

So I think that a lot of times people build businesses with the intent that they're going to sell them at the end.

And what happened in our journey is these things went from very low multiple businesses to very high multiple businesses with lots of competitors wanting to buy them.

So it kind of got to the point where I didn't really want to sell.

I loved what I was doing, loved my team, didn't want to give up my control.

And I was, I think, 51 at the time that we sold.

And so that was not an easy decision, but the money was so significant that it's kind of not just life changing for me and my immediate family.

It's more like generational wealth change.

And so at which point then it kind of feels selfish to not take advantage of the offer.

And so that's how that decision was made.

But it wasn't made lightly.

And for sure there were days that I regretted it.

But by and large, it turned out to be a great thing.

Yeah, well, it was huge for the industry.

And I'll tell you right now that there's a lot of competition in today's market.

You know, my question for you is what really separates?

You're still super plugged in.

What separates, you know, the good agencies from the not so good agencies?

What are the main characteristics?

You know, it's a, it's a fabulous question.

And I heard somebody say it this way.

The best agents fall in love with their customers problems.

And so it's the offering for car dealers in this example is, you know, there's there's people that go around and rep products, and it's both mostly product features and price.

And then there's a huge set of competition that I call a service agent.

And a service agent is capable of everything.

They can recruit, they can train, they can do compensation plans, they can help you with process and workflow, but they're not looking to do it.

You have to ask them, you have to kind of nail them.

Nail them, pin them to the wall and say, I need your help on this.

They would say, well, I bring in a trainer once a year and, you know, you can come down to the hotel and hear them.

They're not in there looking for training opportunities.

They're not in there selling them on the new spiff plan.

They're not in there selling them that they need a new pay plan.

They're not in there helping with customer interactions and observing the process.

So I think that's the spectrum is that if you're really committed to the riddle of driving these results for the dealer and what a great landscape to do consulting in.

Right.

I mean, the customer experience, generally, they hate it.

Most dealerships are underperforming.

If they're performing, they probably have customer satisfaction issues.

So there's always something we can be working on and helping them get better.

And like I mentioned earlier, I mean, I just love how aligned we are.

So when we can drive results for a dealer and it helps us, everybody wins.

So you built this behemoth of a company, you sold it.

But, Joel, you're still working like, so you're still in these other deals.

Why, why motivates you, though?

Because you could literally just sit on the beach every day, play golf every day, travel the world if you want.

Why are you still in it?

Explain that.

Yeah, I think we've all heard people say that they were a miserable failure at retirement.

I love having control of my time and having flexibility, but I really can't turn it off.

My mind's always kind of going on what could be done and what the possibilities are and where can I fit in.

So now I'm really careful about what I say yes to.

And so I'm looking at things where I can make a big impact without having to put in, you know, 40 hours, 50 hours a week.

And so, yeah, I have to be really careful about what I say yes to, because if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it, and I don't want to do it halfway.

But I also, like I just said, I don't want to put in 50 hours.

So I kind of pick and choose and I want to do things that are interesting.

I want to work with people that I like working with.

You know, there's no reason to be surrounded with people that you don't enjoy.

And so that's why I'm still in it, right.

I'm still a people person and I want to have contact with folks and I want to work and succeed and win with people that I enjoy working.

I love that you said something earlier that you do not do any deals unless you have somebody that's true integrator that can take your, your crazy ideas and actually make them happen.

So my question, and I'm asking this question for those out there that are similar to you, that they have these ideas but they need somebody to help execute.

So how do you find those people to help execute?

Where are they at?

Yeah, I think it's a good question.

You know, the.

Some, you know, and let's agree that when you're brand new and you're just starting your business, you have to be kind of self aware and know what your strength is.

So your strength might be the details and structure and follow through, but you're not really a salesperson.

And so then you really got to kind of be honest with that.

And instead of spending months building out spreadsheets and processes and not having any customers, that's a bad idea.

And conversely, if you're just selling, selling, selling and there's nobody there to catch the balls and deliver on the promises that you're making, that's a big deal.

I would encourage people to kind of start with their own context, go through their own.

Who do I know who's in my Rolodex or my phone that fills the needs of being either process oriented, detail oriented.

I think you also in that integrator role, they're kind of lean toward bringing it back to earth.

That can be a little bit negative.

And that's okay, right?

Because it balances you out.

But you also don't want somebody that's completely going to be a defeatist and drag you down and you know, take you to negative places when you're trying to, you know, succeed as a new business.

Yeah, I've got to, I, I love talking about the future generation.

You know, this show humans that build really.

I highlight entrepreneurs to share their story with the whole purpose to, to, to give a nugget or two out there for somebody that's stuck or somebody that just needs to jump off into the deep end.

So what would you tell you know, a 22 year old out there, a 23, 25 year old that wants to start a business.

What, what, what advice would you give them?

Some baseline advice.

Would you give somebody starting a business today?

Yeah, it's a great question.

So my advice is going to be probably pretty contrary to everything that's out there.

You know, I hear people say that if you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life.

And they'll say, you know, why don't you look at your hobbies and why don't you match something to your hobbies and you know, that can be your career.

And with the young people specific to your question, I see a lot of people trying to invent, you know, literally invent something that doesn't exist.

And in most cases we don't need inventions.

Right.

We probably need the next iteration of something that's already out there.

And I think that innovating versus inventing makes a lot more sense.

But the other thing I would say to the 25 year old is the likelihood is that they probably should put their head down, find the field that they're good at, find something that they can succeed at, and then they'd have a clear path to what they want to do.

It's pretty young and obviously we know all the stories, right, of the wildly successful entrepreneurs that started at 25 and built these billion dollar companies.

But for every one of those, there's 100 that failed or a big number.

And so having a little maturity, having a little longer wheelbase in your field and then being able to have kind of a clear path on what the innovation is and what it is that you're going to do a little bit better.

I mean, I think, Adam, if you just think about sandwich shops, right, you know, so we had Subway and we didn't feel like we needed anything else, right?

And then came Jimmy John's and now Jersey Mike's is kind of.

Jersey Mike's is the best, by the way.

I'm just throwing it out.

Right?

But is anybody sitting around?

We didn't need anybody to invent anything, right.

It's just the next iteration a little bit better sandwich because the bread's fresher or the ingredients are fresher or we like the way that they package the selections.

There's bigger opportunity at that in terms of entrepreneurship than there are in trying to invent something that doesn't currently exist.

Yeah, that's great.

You know, I want to talk a little bit.

By the way, congratulations.

You just wrote a best selling book.

The Future of automotive finance and insurance.

So what I want to know is what, what, what motivated you to a write that book and what has been the response and what's changed in your life since you decided to write it?

Now it's truly a bestseller.

Yeah.

So I would tell you that I've always been interested in what's next and what's the future, because I always wanted to help my clients and I was always focused on training.

You are always trying to kind of identify the problems that they don't see yet and kind of what the light, the room so we can see what's there and try to identify the bus that's going to hit them that they don't even know about yet.

So looking the future has always been an interest of mine.

I found myself, after I left the company that acquired me, having a lot of time on my hands and not wanting to retire and go away and, you know, just play golf every day and land the beach.

So the writing a book was first of all fun and interesting.

It was a great challenge.

It was a great stimulus and makes a person think it's fun to do these types of things.

Right.

So I'm getting lots of interview requests and speaking engagements, and so that's been a real pleasure.

And then hopefully that then puts me in a platform where I can make good decisions on where I want to go next and where I want to apply my time.

I don't think I'm going to go back to working 50 to 70 hours a week ever.

And so then it makes you really selective about what you choose to put your time.

And then the books really, I think, provided me a platform to have more opportunities to choose from.

Yeah.

I do want to be respectful of your time.

I do know you have a tee time, so I'm going to land the plane.

I'm going to talk about something everybody's talking about.

I was at a conference last week in Las Vegas.

I believe you were there as well.

Yep.

Didn't get a chance to run into you.

Everybody's talking AI, AI this, AI that, this AI ever.

There's a hundred different AI companies.

Heck, we should start an AI company.

Joel, As a matter of fact, I think you are part of an AI company.

So let's talk a little bit about that.

What.

What intrigued you to kind of get into that first field and what are you doing in this space?

I'd like to hear from you on that.

Well, so.

So there's two pieces to that question.

Right.

So I think that people are generally right to be a little bit skeptical about AI And I think people are really slow in terms of really incorporating their life and letting it do what it's what's possible.

This is going to be massive.

That's not hyperbole.

This really is going to be huge and it's going to impact a lot of aspects of our life.

I think the biggest thing that I would encourage your listeners to do is to start thinking of the possibilities of what it can do for their business or their personal life.

So helping with scheduling, helping with managing their inbox, it's a lot greater tool for decision making than people give it credit for.

And so I think you have to challenge yourself to go out there and learn how to create prompts, learn how to have your AI ask you questions so that you can have better prompts and use it as ways to accelerate creativity instead of stifling creativity.

So you know, most commonly today, Adam, I mean I think people either use it as like a type of Google, like a search engine or they use it for cute things like editing an email or editing a newsletter or giving you a poem for your brother in law's 50th birthday that is just scratching the surface of what's possible.

And so I think you really got to challenge yourself to get in the pond.

You can't learn to swim from the side, so I think you do have to get in the water.

I don't know that anybody really learns from just reading books.

You have to take action.

The company I specifically made an investment in is called Auto Trainer.

And these guys are using software and AI enhanced software as a training tool.

So the first half of the company is really about allowing for role play and the role play is got all kinds of levels to it.

So we know because we're training company that repetition is the mother of learning.

And people don't learn watching it once or doing it once.

They have to do it over and over and over.

So in sales the choice has become I tried on my next hundred customers, which is very expensive, or I tried 100 times in role play.

And because you're now role playing with an avatar and you're on your device, it's a low threatening environment, right?

So a person can do it in the comfort of their own home, their car, their office.

And it doesn't have to be this scary thing where some authority figure is role playing with you.

So that's the first piece and it's really important.

But the second thing that Auto Trainer really does is for these finance and insurance offices that ingest their process of what you want to be done.

We then put in a microphone to pick up up to five different voices inside the office.

And so we get a transcript of that transaction, we get summary and highlights and things that we can work on.

And we also, as a added side benefit are speeding transactions and we're catching compliance issues.

So Autotrader is kind of a rocket.

It's a subscription based software, so a SaaS model.

And part of why they're succeeding is they've got the very best engineers.

So they're hiring their engineers from the bigs in the tech space.

And so every iteration of the software is just better and better and better.

Yeah, and I think too that, you know, those that are kind of, there's the innovators, the early adopters, and there's those that are skeptical.

And at the end of the day, AI is a thought partner.

It's there to help you make decisions.

But I'll tell you what I just recently learned and I'll share this with you because I think it's pretty cool.

But my coach Tennell had us create a board of directors.

So I've created in my chat, I've got a very strong board.

I've got Jamie Dimon, I've got Walt Disney, I've got Jocko Willink, and then I've got Marcus Aurelius.

So when I'm struggling with something, I don't not supposed to use the word struggle.

When I'm challenged, I can go forward.

And my board knows me very well.

Yes, board gives me, I get four different responses to the scenario.

And so that's stuff.

I mean, that's surface level to Joel.

I mean that's just surface level, you know, but it's brilliant what it's doing.

So I'll tell you this, you're making a massive impact.

Joel, I really.

I'm glad you took the time.

I just wanted to get you on here to just kind of chat through this.

Where can people find you?

Where can people follow you?

What environments on socials do you live on?

Yeah, so I'm joelcansenbach.com or you can find me on Instagram or Facebook, but LinkedIn's probably my preferred social if you're reaching out.

I thought you were gonna say you were a big TikTok guy for some reason joined.

Well, Joel, I know you've got a tee time, so brother, thank you for spending some time pouring into us.

You shared a lot of wisdom, a lot of nuggets here for those listening and watching.

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Humans that Build.

We will see you sooner than later.

We appreciate you.

Have a blessed day.

Humans that Build.

Real people, real work.

See you next time, Sam.