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What's Next | Interview with Beast Games Winner Jeff Allen
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In this captivating episode of the Uncommon Wealth Podcast, host Phillip Ramsey engages with Jeff Allen, winner of the inaugural Beast Games—a monumental contest hosted by YouTuber Mr. Beast with a historic $10 million prize. The episode unravels the thrilling experience of participating in such a vast-scale event, Allen's strategy and emotions during the competition, and the profound impact winning has had on his life. The conversation seamlessly transitions from the spectacular to the personal, offering insights into Allen's journey as a father and his mission to harness this newfound attention to advocate for rare disease research.
From discussing his initial career in medical device sales to his transformation into a notable media figure, Allen shares the serendipitous events that shaped his path, including the pivotal role his family has played throughout. Listeners are invited to contemplate the importance of faith and resilience as Jeff recounts his faith journey which was deepened by his son Lucas's rare diagnosis. The conversation is laden with themes of perseverance, the power of faith, and the pursuit of purpose-driven goals. Jeff offers a genuine glimpse into how he plans to utilize his winnings beyond personal gain to support families confronting the challenges of rare diseases.
Key Takeaways:
- Jeff Allen transitioned from a career in medical sales to becoming a content creator and advocate, having won the $10 million Beast Games hosted by Mr. Beast.
- Jeff’s journey is deeply rooted in family values and faith, which played a crucial role in his life, particularly when coping with his son Lucas’s rare disease diagnosis.
- Despite the daunting odds at Beast Games with 1,000 contestants, Jeff was able to maintain composure and make strategic moves, ultimately securing a life-changing victory.
- Winning the hefty prize has sparked a new mission for Jeff: investing in research for creatine transporter deficiency and supporting other families navigating rare diseases.
- The experience at Beast Games fostered lifelong friendships and reinforced Jeff’s resolve to turn personal successes into meaningful, broader impacts.
Notable Quotes:
- "Finding the beauty in the bumps. You think things happen, and good is going to come from it."
- "Lucas brought the light of God back to me."
- "You can really see somebody's character when things don't go your way."
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Purpose
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker
We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
Host & Guest Introduction
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello and welcome everybody to another episode of the Uncommon Wealth Podcast where I'm your host, Philip Ramsey. Today, we have the one and only Jeff Allen on the show today. Super excited for this guy. His bio is this. He has two amazing boys named Jack and Lucas.
00:00:42
Speaker
He's married to his love of his life, Jennifer for 10 years. And ah fun fact, 831 is one of his favorite numbers. Wonder why. Did we miss anything, Jeff? I think that's it. No, i ah you covered the the basics and obviously we can get deeper if you want.
00:00:56
Speaker
The most important things. That's good. Yes. Okay. So the real reason why we got connected is there's a small thing called the beast games. And this guy right here won it out of a thousand people. It was the biggest cash prize winning, um, up to this date, I think ever in any kind of game show, Jeff is a winner. So I thought it would be really fun to just kind of unpack all of that.
00:01:18
Speaker
And Jeff was, he has way more than just winning up ah ah game
Jeff's Family & Inspiration
00:01:23
Speaker
show. I'll just say that. So I wanted to kind of unpack that um and also kind of get the thought behind what he wants to do next.
00:01:30
Speaker
He has a little bit of scratch to be able to kind of put something intentional to it. And so he's really on this uncommon journey and, you know, it's a good start to 2025 for you So Jeff, Thank you for being on the show, man. I appreciate it. I'm sure you're doing a lot of these, but it's fun to be able to hear from your lips of what happened and kind of your perspective, because I have a feeling a lot of people don't know exactly what you went through and you have a story to tell. So first off, let's talk about the most important things, your family. Tell me about them. Cool. Yeah, no, thanks, Philip. I'm happy to be here.
00:02:01
Speaker
i um um My family today is is amazing. I have two two young boys, um ah nine and seven. um The nine-year-old was kind of like my Beast Games coach. He introduced me to Mr. Beast. like I didn't know much about Mr. Beast, and started watching videos with him.
00:02:17
Speaker
um And then my his little brother, Lucas, has a rare brain disease, just kind of one of a few hundred in the world with this rare disease. And so he was kind of my inspiration to get on the show. So my, if it wasn't for my sons, I would never have found
Career Background & Beast Games
00:02:30
Speaker
Mr. Beast or applied for Mr. Beast, Beast games and ultimately wouldn't have won what's crazy. $10 million. dollars So $10 million was the winning $10 million. dollars But you didn't know that the time is only five. And, uh, for those that have seen it, you get what happened it for those who don't watch it and you'll see what happened. But okay. So what did you do before beast games? Like what was your career in your profession?
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah. So, um, I went to school for business, um, you know, 20, 20 some years ago. in Cali? No, in Ohio. So I was born and raised in Ohio and went went to school to high university, played football there.
00:03:04
Speaker
like this Wait, you were on offense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You, you, you didn't run the ball. Were you the quarterback? Oh, ah no, I i'll play wide receiver. Yeah, you did. Okay. Sorry.
00:03:17
Speaker
ah love that. No, it's good. Did you, did you play yourself? Yeah. I play a little football. I'm the quarterback though. So, like Oh, sweet. Yeah. Awesome. I love it. um I did. I was just texting with my quarterback a couple of days ago.
00:03:28
Speaker
But anyway, I, um after that, like a lot of people who were in kind of in athletics, you know, got into sales and um medical device sales. So the orthopedic surgeon for the football team is like, Hey, come shadow me for day.
00:03:42
Speaker
I did it. I'm like, Oh, this is cool. So then I got into into medical device sales. I was in medical device sales and sales leadership for about a dozen years. Which is not easy. Like that's pretty cutthroat. It's cutthroat and like you like it's it's a doctor you're talking to. like So you can't BS. These people are the smartest of the smartest, the creme de la creme. So I was super fortunate to have some doctors and nurses who like looked at me and kind of go, okay, you're young, you're green, I'm going to teach you. And fortunately, I was a sponge and had some amazing doctors to kind of and shepherd me through learning about it. So I was in orthopedics for a little bit and then went on the cardiovascular side, which I loved. um
00:04:17
Speaker
So working with mostly interventional cardiologists. And then when I moved out West um about 15 years ago, I kind got into a little bit more of tech, med tech, healthcare care tech. Sure. And um just did that for literally my whole career, healthcare care sales and sales leadership.
00:04:32
Speaker
And ah just before Beast Games, I was leading a sales team and I got laid off, you know kind of funny. Oh, really? oh interesting. So it's, uh, and it's kind of, this is one of my mantras is, you know, you're finding the beauty in the bumps.
00:04:45
Speaker
You kind of think things while they happen and knowing that good is going to come from it. And so like, if it wasn't for me getting laid off last April, who knows if I would have had the goal to apply and go tell my boss, like, Hey, I need five weeks off.
00:04:59
Speaker
So, yeah. So that was one thing I wanted to talk about. Like, what was the conversations between you and Jennifer before? Like, Hey, I want to start, I'm going to go try this. like I could be gone for five weeks. So, so my, my wife, and we've been married 10 years, um, 11 years this October. And, um, she's awesome. Like we are, we are, we are a fantastic
Marriage & Financial Lessons
00:05:17
Speaker
pair for one another.
00:05:18
Speaker
Um, I'm a little bit more spontaneous and adventurous and she is structured planner. And so for me, when I was going to apply, I'm like, okay, I can't tell her I'm doing this until I'm in, because like, if I really tell her, she's going to start thinking about logistics. Okay. Who's taking kids to Who's going to babysit here when I'm traveling here? Like, um, I just didn't want her to go through that exercise until it was for real.
00:05:40
Speaker
So once I told her, she kind of like looked at me as like, Hey, like, I know this is an awesome platform for, to go talk about Lucas. Cause that was the aim is how can I talk about my son's rare disease?
00:05:51
Speaker
But she goes, if you're going to do this, You better win it. Yeah. yeah thing And so like, that was just, and that's just my wife. She's, um, she, the perfect balance of support and challenge you want as a partner, like tells me I'm doing great, but also will poke me in the chest. Like, Hey, come on.
00:06:07
Speaker
yeah Um, yeah i know You don't know anything about the show, but let me tell you something that's like a common theme about the show is people, I kind of, we we say step off of the uncommon path is when they start going down a different way to build wealth.
00:06:21
Speaker
And one of the common themes, Jeff, is that without their spouse, there's no way they could be where they're at. Like that is a common theme that, i mean, without the support men and women of their spouse, like no way could they do it. So yeah.
00:06:35
Speaker
it Right in line. And when it comes to wealth, like, like in I was making way more money than my wife when we met, but for some reason she had more money than I had.
00:06:47
Speaker
Like she knew how to budget and to how to be smart with her money. And so like, it was one of our first kind of exercises of vulnerability in a relationship where it's like, I'm going to show you all my, all my credit cards and stuff. And I'm going to ask you for help. And hopefully you don't run.
00:07:04
Speaker
And she, she, we got on a budget and like literally tracking every dollar spent because I was, I was making enough money where I should have had money saved. Yeah. Right. Cause like, she loved me like no one else in finally, she taught me more about finance than anybody else. And she's, that's awesome.
00:07:20
Speaker
Does not have a financial background. how'd How'd you guys meet? Um, kind of like, uh, we kiss meant like we, um, I just moved out to California. i went to this, I was driving up the coast to, from San Diego to San Francisco, stopped in a a church that I've been to like a non-denominational church. And I see this girl and i'm like, Oh my gosh, like, who is it? Like, I'm just like, yeah, i loved rid west I'm like, you are you a movie star? Um, we didn't say a word to each other, like literally didn't say a word.
00:07:49
Speaker
Three weeks later, we are 500 miles away, like ah three hours north of San Francisco. and she walks by me at this personal development course and goes, saw I saw you at church a few weeks ago. I'm like, that's her.
00:08:01
Speaker
So it's like ah divine, you know? Yeah. So it's, um and that was, geez, almost, ah almost 15 years ago. It's awesome. Okay. I want to get into all that too, but I feel like my listeners are like, you're
Beast Games Experience
00:08:14
Speaker
an idiot, Philip. Like ask them all the questions you want to about beast games.
00:08:17
Speaker
So let's talk about how intimidating it is because there's a thousand people. So let's, from your words, tell us what beast games is. So at least some of those listeners that haven't watched it knows what it is.
00:08:29
Speaker
For sure. So I'll start with Mr. Beast. So Mr. Beast is the largest YouTuber in the world. They have like 370 million subscribers, put out amazing content. Some of it is kind of Jimmy Donaldson, the the the main guy who puts himself through kind of challenges, you know, seven days in solitary confinement, seven days in a bunker, or he puts people through these challenges that are...
00:08:51
Speaker
kind of elementary on paper, but are pretty complex and cool when you watch them. Just an and an amazing content creator and philanthropist and now kind of business. He has a giant kind of a chocolate company called Feastables.
00:09:04
Speaker
So he loves to kind of push the needle and said, hey, like I want to create the largest competition reality show ever. And the, the, the price going to have $5 million. dollars And I want this to have a thousand people.
00:09:18
Speaker
So I think it broke like 44 Guinness records, which is crazy. So he just, love he loves having giant spectacles. So for me, um kind of like Willy Wonka, I would say a little bit, right. By the way, he's like Willy Wonka, Walt Disney. He, he did a Willy Wonka themed challenge. If you find it on YouTube where he gave away a chocolate factory, he's crazy.
00:09:39
Speaker
um But yeah, he's ah he's super, super talented, committed to his craft. And he wanted put on the biggest game show. I see it like online to apply. And I apply that process like just put your name on and see what happens a little bit. I mean, ah a little bit more kind of nuance than that. Like it's you you complete a video, you record a video. And again, I've never done content creation. i don't edit.
00:10:02
Speaker
And so i just did it on my webcam and it was pretty vanilla. And then you kind of have to do some social media background checks, some um health and wellness checks, an interview, kind of a little, I imagine like a little bit of a psych check to make sure you're not crazy.
00:10:17
Speaker
Um, but it was, it was a handful of calls and ah a bunch of forms to fill out. And then when I got, when I got in, I was like, oh my gosh, like, I don't, I literally don't know anybody. So I'm going into this thing. Don't know a single soul.
00:10:29
Speaker
Um, and I was like, like when I got there, I'm like, what am I doing here? Like I stick out like a sore thumb. Yeah. Yeah. You were definitely different in that crowd. It's good. Um, was it intimidating having the cameras on you the whole time?
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, I w I wasn't. I wasn't used to it, you know, and like you look around and you see some people like, oh my gosh, like I asked them what they do. Like, oh, like they have multiple million Instagram followers who or are content creators. Like they know how to have sound bites and talk like I'm going, oh, what do I say?
00:10:58
Speaker
You eventually get used to it. Yeah. Right. Have you watched the season now that you're done? Oh, yeah. Okay. How do you feel like you were portrayed? Because I feel like if you're being videotaped as long and and as many times as much as you were doing that, they can portray pretty much any character they wanted to. Does that make sense? Like you pull out for five weeks, you pull out your worst characteristics and you're like, yeah, that guy's a villain.
00:11:24
Speaker
I didn't think they did that with you, but I'd love to hear from your perspective. yeah I mean, ah clearly my edit was great. Like I was the winner. and ah Right. but But even how it went, like, and again, um that i I hate saying this because I sound like like I'm tooting my own horn, but that that was how I played the game.
00:11:41
Speaker
Like I wanted to play the game super fair and honest and kind went it the right way. So like I felt like they portrayed me Um, that they showed all my colors. Like even I, I got fired up in episode eight, you know, going at JC.
00:11:55
Speaker
Um, there was times where I was calm. So, i mean, I feel like they showed all my colors. They probably could have showed me being a little more awkward on camera in the first few episodes, but I'm glad they didn't do that. Yeah. Was it fun to watch it with your family?
00:12:08
Speaker
It was so fun. ah It was, uh, and they, they kind of tell you like, Hey, cause it was awesome. You know, like, again, I am in my forties to do this as like, it's like summer camp, like for five weeks, put the phones away, you get to build relationships. So it was like the time of my life winning it was the icing on the cake.
00:12:29
Speaker
So like they kind of tell you, like when you watch this thing, you're going to feel all these feelings again. Like it's going to as fun as being in it. And it really was. It was just super cool to watch it with friends and family and to kind of be on the journey with them.
00:12:42
Speaker
That's cool. So they probably couldn't, you couldn't tell anybody you won it when you got back, right? Yeah. I was fortunate that my wife and my oldest son were there when I won. So I was able to like talk about with them, but like, I didn't tell my mom, I didn't tell my dad. I have four sisters, none of them knew.
00:12:56
Speaker
And so I kind of had to like, how do I weave? Yeah. That's a little tough. Yeah. And fortunately, like what I told people at the beginning was that, Hey, like, yeah, it just, I went a long ways. I went a long ways, but like the $5 million dollars wasn't in the cards for me.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yeah, right. Because it wasn't. It sure wasn't. It sure wasn't. Okay, so let's talk about the downtime and logistics of it. Because five weeks is five weeks. We get to see like the games and like all the action, highlights but the But the viewers don't get to watch the downtime, right? The things that you had to endure as they set the train back up.
00:13:32
Speaker
Literally. Yeah, totally. It's there's a lot of like, and again, this is my first show I've ever been in I don't, um, I'm not on TV sets or movie sets. so I like, I don't know what really goes on, but there's a lot of waiting.
00:13:47
Speaker
Yeah. It was a ton of waiting, especially when there's a thousand people. Like could think about logistics of feeding a thousand people about, Hey, we're about to start recording this challenge.
00:13:58
Speaker
Make sure everybody's gone to the restroom. Uh huh. So the the logistics, especially when there's so many contestants were just super challenging. And the the staff, the team Amazon Prime, the beast team were awesome.
00:14:09
Speaker
okay But got it got a lot more fun and exciting when it gets to less people, like 21 people or less. It was just super cool because we all know each other. We're kind of all, um we we know what we're there to do. We want to win, but also understand that like the sooner we get our stuff together, the the sooner they can start filming. like That's right. That's right.
Faith & Family Journey
00:14:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:30
Speaker
So this is, what was your, let's, so now you're at this point where you pick number six, the case, which was fricking brilliant, by the way, I watched it again last night. Cause I was like, I just got to watch this again.
00:14:44
Speaker
Fascinating. And even Mr. Beast, Jimmy was pretty surprised about that. ah To this day, it had to be God thing. Like, so let's talk about your faith and all this, not only your faith in the beast games, that's fine, but also your faith just in your whole entire uncommon journey.
00:14:59
Speaker
How has that played a factor? Obviously you got your wife out of the deal. So who are, yeah, no, I mean, I mean, it is when he looked back and and this is one of the things that like, I have trained myself to do is look back at these things that ah seem challenging or seem kind of, I can't believe I went through that and find the good that came through it.
00:15:17
Speaker
Um, And so, you know, I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school, one to 12, and then um kind of got on, started seeking, like, a kind of got into, read Autobiography of a Yogi and kind of looked at Self-Realization Fellowship.
00:15:33
Speaker
um Believe it or not, I actually visited Maharishi University in Iowa. Oh, really? Fairfield. The the the flying Maharishis. I was looking at my guy. I was just in this place. like I want to get go back to school. So I went it's the only time i went to Iowa. um It was pretty ah pretty campus.
00:15:51
Speaker
um So I've always kind of been a seeker. And then um when my son Lucas was diagnosed with this rare condition, I called one of my friends, Miriam, who... it's just probably the closest to to God or to faith. And they said, Hey, like can you teach me how to pray? Like i need to learn and pray again.
00:16:07
Speaker
So she kind of reinvigorated my faith and, um, based in kind of the old Testament and the Torah. And so I kind of just fell in love with the Torah, but I, um, my aim is to, to get close to God, to get close to the creator. And, um, I'm not kind of assigned to a specific route or technique to do it.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, so let's talk about that. So you're married, what, four years? And then your first child comes? Is that right? Or three years? No, not even that. it's um We were together that long. we Okay. we were um Our first child came year and two weeks after we were married.
00:16:42
Speaker
Okay. Yahtzee. Yeah. That's great. Uh, pretty, it's a, it's, it's, it's a different paradigm shift, right? When you become a father, I would say.
00:16:53
Speaker
So tell me, tell me kind of that kind of transition for the first child. And then, and then let's talk about Lucas. Cause that was a little bit different. And when did you find out that like, oh, there's something a little bit off here.
00:17:04
Speaker
So let's talk about, let's talk about Jack first and we'll go into your second son. Yeah. So, um, Jack, um, yeah, i mean, we, we, we were, we were married a year in the jackcoms and and, um, you know, I had no clue what it was like to be a dad. Like I knew I wanted, I mean, I came from a big family. i had four sisters. I knew I wanted to be a dad, but I didn't know what it looked like.
00:17:25
Speaker
Um, but it was awesome. Like, I mean, I, and I literally thought in childbirth, like I'd be sitting in the corner texting my family updates, but I was like, we were in there like the, the, the labor was amazing. Like I, I always thought it was cliche. Like, oh that's one of the best days of my life.
00:17:41
Speaker
I get it now. Like, like, like you see life come from nothing. You see my wife's hips like move. And it's like, oh my gosh, it was amazing. So, um, Jack was a sweet boy, kind of a, you know, he kind of, he kind of looked like an old man when he came out and he just kind of grew up into this handsome boy. And, um,
00:18:01
Speaker
he's ah he's a sweet little kind of righteous kid. Super, super blessed. That's cool. Okay. Then, then Lucas comes, here comes hot Lucas. Let's go.
00:18:12
Speaker
Yeah. And Lucas, Lucas was 20 months later, you know, um and um normal, normal birth, everything, normal labor. And, um, just a beautiful, like, like he can like came and we're like, Oh my gosh, this, this is the most beautiful little thing we've ever seen.
00:18:29
Speaker
And then kind of fast forward eight months, we just started noticing he was developing different, developing different than Jack and to kind of couldn't sit up. Wasn't very verbal. Wasn't crying.
00:18:42
Speaker
no And um we just knew something was off. And that kind of started our diagnosis journey. And that journey, we hooked them up to a ton of machines, did a ton of tests.
00:18:55
Speaker
Some doctors had some ideas, some doctors had no answers, so they were all wrong. And then fast forward, I think it was like 20 months after, um we we get diagnosed finally after calling in every favor with any doctor to help us try to find an answer.
00:19:11
Speaker
You got diagnosed with creatine transporter deficiency, which is a rare brain disease that you're our bodies make creatine naturally. um you know Everybody probably should be taking creatine. It's even good for the normal person's brain, but it goes in the blood. And once it gets to the blood brain barrier, there's a transporter that brings it in and that transporter is defective. So his brain doesn't get the creatine it needs to function, develop and thrive.
00:19:35
Speaker
you Pretty devastating for you and Jennifer, I'm sure. like How is that? How'd you process this? like and yeah It seems like the faith probably had to play a pretty big role of that.
00:19:45
Speaker
Yeah. it's um I'm the sales guy. I'm the optimist. hey like Hey, he's probably just delayed. It's no big deal. where He's going to catch up. Jen is very pragmatic. like And so, you know eventually, and then so we we get the diagnosis and it's kind of like, ah yes, we now know it. And then we go and Google it and we're like, oh,
00:20:05
Speaker
shes no there's no therapy There's no therapy, there's no treatment, there's no cure. So um you go into this mode where, you know, I think I probably surrendered a little quicker than Jen and surrender doesn't mean I give up. It just means I, this is what it is and what do we do with it?
00:20:21
Speaker
And so, yeah, I think faith ah but So believe it or not, like my faith wasn't that strong when Lucas was here. Lucas brought me faith because of his diagnosis.
00:20:34
Speaker
I reach out to my friend and I start just, I just start reconnecting with my faith. It was always there. i always believed in God, but it wasn't, I wasn't practicing. And so the beautiful thing is Lucas kind of brought me it.
00:20:45
Speaker
Lucas, Lucas, his name means bringer of light. And he literally brought the light of God, lot of creator of back to me. That's really cool. So you win, you win beast games.
00:20:58
Speaker
Whammy. Like what was your initial thoughts? Was it just like blackout? Totally. Oh my gosh. When you open that case, you didn't really look at it. You're just like, yep. Yep. That's pretty much what happened.
00:21:09
Speaker
It was great. and well Yeah. that That last day, the last challenges, I was remarkably calm and I didn't, And the the level of certainty I had that it was in six was like, unlike anything I've ever had.
Winning Moment & Aftermath
00:21:24
Speaker
um it was, it was bizarre, uh, and beautiful. So like for me, like if if there's a behind the scenes on episode 10 that John Ushay has on YouTube, it's awesome. If you haven't seen it, I encourage you or any viewers who've watched these games to watch John Ushay's BTS and,
00:21:40
Speaker
They kind of show Jimmy and the team yeah um kind of explaining the last challenge to me and Tawana number 830. And so we we each got to open the briefcase before to see what happens when you open it. And so we saw that a light comes on.
00:21:54
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Yeah. So I, um, and so when I did that, like I was, again, my eyes were affixed on Tawana 830 and i knew that if I saw a light, I won. So I opened it up, I see the light and it's kind of like, oh my gosh.
00:22:10
Speaker
Yeah. and then yeah but And then you hear Mr. Beast, you hear Jimmy kind of go, oh, and so like, it was just, it was surreal. And at the time i kind of jump onto the money accident I don't mean to slide down. i just was falling. So I had to slide down it.
00:22:25
Speaker
And then looked down and I see my wife and son, Jack there. And I thought they had already gone home because they were there for episode eight. So I had no clue. So like I was so many crazy things that happened.
00:22:36
Speaker
It goes from a lot of emotions, 5 million to 10 million. actually went on the first try. My wife and oldest son are still there. And it's like at this time, it's like seven o'clock in the morning. We started filming at nine o'clock at night.
00:22:49
Speaker
Oh, wow. It was all an ideal on ideal. Oh, wow. Yeah. yeah It was a real money. I had to ask that. my i yes and it's It's crazy. So like literally there was $10 million dollars of real us dollars. Like he had, like there was, don't know, like a dozen or 20 armed security guards there. Like, cause like, again, yeah, things can go South.
00:23:11
Speaker
It's cash. Yeah. Unbelievable. I loved your son. He's like, are you gonna get all this home? it's a Great question. It's, um, And then then if you, if you, uh, on the behind the scenes, there's some more kind of ad libs from him, but yeah, loved it. Like that, to get all this home?
00:23:26
Speaker
So sweet. I think, I think it was a Jimmy was like, Oh, we'll we'll wire it. So that's my first question. So you were an initial reaction when you won. And then what was your reaction when that $10 million hits your bank account? ah It's crazy. And, um, so the, the $10 million dollars doesn't hit until after the final episode is aired. So this was filmed in August and September.
00:23:45
Speaker
final episode was aired in February. So there's five months of, marinated, you know, it's like, yeah, you plant a seed, you know, it's going to grow or your fingers are crossed that you're actually, it's going to happen.
00:23:56
Speaker
But when it hits me and like the fact that it was 10 million and not like with taxes withheld. Yeah. Right. Just wild. And it's not like they called it. It's not like they called me and said, Hey, did you get it? It was, Hey, we're going to wire you this money tomorrow.
00:24:10
Speaker
Yep. I look at my bank. I'm like, it's there. Make sure those account numbers are right. so Let's talk about taxes. How do you prepare for that? You just set them aside because that's, it was really nice. It went from five to 10 million because then now you can actually take home five.
00:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, no. And so, you know, the the the ultimate aim for us is how do we make sure that Lucas is cared for? um and then how do we help invest into research to make sure that, you know, other families have a ah treatment? You know, the ultimate aim is can we can we find something where the our kiddos are are have a therapy for creatine transport deficiency? So for us.
00:24:47
Speaker
there's a lot of things we need to consider. Like, so, um, and, you know, tell me a little bit more about kind of, um, you know, uncommon wealth, you guys, you're a financial advising. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So you'll do all of that.
00:24:59
Speaker
So, so for us is like, uh, we will have a tax liability. The question is how much do we put into a donor advice fund or, yeah good or a, um, or how much should we donate this year to a kind of a, the, the nonprofit, or do we create a new foundation?
00:25:14
Speaker
There's, um, a ton of stuff and then we kind of look at you know there's obviously tax exempt investments whether it's solar or whatever it may be um but so the first thing we did was hired a very good tax attorney smart and then and then also so so setting aside hey this is how much wealth or this is how money that we need to you know be paying taxes based on how much you're going to put into a donor advised fund and kind of going can we have that money work for us for nine or ten months so you look at different structured products yeah yeah
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah. These are things that I had no clue existed. Like, um you know, fortunately my, my wife works for a pretty cool company called ARTA, A-R-T-A. And it's a FinTech company that brings the tools of the Uber wealthy to and people who are accredited investors or even, you know, I'm now a qualified purchaser.
00:26:02
Speaker
So it's like, I didn't, I just had no clue. You could have structured products for nine months that are, you know principle protected anyway. that's what we're we're making sure that money set aside for taxes, but it's also ideally getting to doing a little bit of work for us. In time, because like, don't take this the wrong way, Jeff, but like $10 million dollars is a ton of money.
00:26:22
Speaker
But when you think about the other things, like it's not that much money, like it goes away quick. Like, cause one of your big things is like, Hey, I want to try to find a ah cure for Lucas. And I'm like, that sounds great. But like $10 million dollars is going to be like a beep,
00:26:36
Speaker
Well, yeah, well be it's true, but you you have to start somewhere. It's kind of like, hey, if you're really, really overweight and you got to lose 100 pounds, well, guess what? You have to lose the first one ballad one. So, yeah, I get it. I am not naive to think that, hey, we're going to solve this, but I understand that now that I have a platform and now that I actually have money and and I can...
00:26:57
Speaker
I can move the needle um and inspire others to do it, man, I think we'll get there. It's a matter of when. Right. Okay. So how has your life changed after you've won?
00:27:08
Speaker
How would you say, um, your content creator now? youre and Yeah, no but I mean, it's, uh, I mean, I was literally walking my son, um, in our wagon yesterday and someone yells out the window, Hey, congrats.
00:27:21
Speaker
You know, that's hilarious. So, you know, obviously getting recognized is interesting and and fun and, you know, but, uh, there's a lot of ways where life hasn't changed. You know, um, I still drive my minivan.
00:27:34
Speaker
Um, I, I, I'm not going to go buy a fancy car anytime soon. um but ah But I have a voice and I have a platform to be able to kind of tell my story, share my content, and ultimately kind of help spread the word about rare diseases, in particular, CTD.
Post-Win Opportunities & Relationships
00:27:52
Speaker
It's crazy how you didn't have a job and then you came back from beast games and you had a different, you have another job. as It's the one you get to create the uncommon one. And yeah. And I've always been kind of interested in kind of, you know, small businesses and entrepreneurial stuff. And but I was doing stuff. So I was, I was starting, uh,
00:28:10
Speaker
ah businesses and kind of between my layoff actually even before then kind of some side hustles. So it just needs to kind of go, gosh, like I truly get to create whatever I want right now. And, um, yeah, it's, uh, I'm in a super blessed situation.
00:28:26
Speaker
Have you been in contact with anybody from the show? Like, uh, contestants. Yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, it's, and and this is the kind of the biggest takeaway for me that I did not expect. Uh, in addition to winning $10 million dollars was how many amazing people I met is, you know, it's, it's like you go to work or you go to school and you become friends with people and then you go your separate ways. It's like, Oh yeah, I'll reach out to them once a year.
00:28:49
Speaker
Um, there's people who I talk to every other day and it's been six months. So it's like, that there was some amazing, amazing people who are very talented, good people, um Honestly, believe it or not, these games gave me a ton of hope for the future of humanity.
00:29:04
Speaker
Oh, good. Good. I was, I was thinking of like, it's, you're like in a pressure cooker. Like if you think about it, little bit like war. Like you're in this experience that is different than everybody else could have. Like i don't have that experience, but you you're in that experience with other people and it's a pressure cooker, right? Like, I mean, you were experienced at the same thing that other people. So I can see how relationships lasting relationships would last for for now and forever.
00:29:27
Speaker
But the person I want to just kind of quick highlight is to wanna like, Man, like you can really see somebody's character when things don't go your way. And she had a ah couple opportunities to like hit that button. And I think.
00:29:43
Speaker
Be different than what she was. And she was resolute. Like, I really got a lot out of her. Like, wow. good ah Good for you. She was my favorite. I mean, like, so, so her number was 830. Mine was 831. So we were literally right next to each other and episode one for like three greeting right yeah for three days in a row. I mean, that that first episode took like two and a half days to to film.
00:30:05
Speaker
So. I got to know her and she's what you see is who she is She is awesome leader, a great person. um yeah. And just always wants to do the right thing. Um, there was a point and for the listeners that she could have taken a million dollars and completely hosed a lot of people.
00:30:25
Speaker
She didn't hit that button. She was like, Nope, my credit, my credibility is, is not for sale. And I was like, well It's crazy. And then she did it again. so she did that in episode three, right? Did it in episode eight. Yeah. She's just right. She is. And then, she and then I think Jimmy had a really good question for Tawana at the end. Are you, do you regret not hitting that button? And she was like, no, no, it just wasn't my time.
00:30:48
Speaker
And she means it. That's the crazy thing is she's great. Yeah. So she's, um, you know, it was one of these things where when I got to know her, i kind of go, gosh, this is who I want to go against to the end. Like she is a formidable competitor. And it was just crazy to think that that's how and you were going to get it. Right. It was me versus her, which is, uh, it was great.
00:31:08
Speaker
Have you talked to her since? Yeah, so we had a we all got together, kind of ah had a reunion show that's also on Johnny Shea's YouTube, but and you know got to talk to her, got to meet her daughters, talked to her husband. So yeah, it was ah it was good to see but it's... yeah it's um i I hope she gets to do another Mr. Beast challenge and I hope she takes home some money.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be cool. Have you, have you found that people treat you different now or like do your friends like reach out? Hey man, I need some money. um Yes and no. I'd say the the vast majority treat me no different.
00:31:49
Speaker
um Yeah. There's a couple here and there who, hey, can you sponsor me for this? And, you know, and and believe it or not, like these are these are friends who I know well. And it's like, hey, like, you know what I'll sponsor is I'll sponsor someone to help you learn how to budget, you know, because like we've we've had these conversations for years.
00:32:07
Speaker
So it's ah it's more of like, I definitely want to help, especially friends, like, um because I've been in their shoes. I've been in their shoes where the the reason I think you have challenges with money is because you've never really tackled it.
00:32:19
Speaker
Once you tackle it, you see how it works for you. Your relationship changes and money in some weird way is just zeros and commas on a screen. Sure is. That give you peace of mind. So it's a tool.
00:32:31
Speaker
It's a tool. Yeah. So if you, if you, you kind of understand how it works and then how to work with it, that's what changes your life. a, not a handout. It's good. I love it. Okay. Looking back, would you do it again?
00:32:44
Speaker
Beast games? Yeah. Oh my gosh. yeah Absolutely. i encourage anybody who's interested. And by the way, season two right now is still accepting applications. Like I tell my sisters that they should apply. ah Interesting.
00:32:58
Speaker
Oh yeah. It was, it was an adventure of a lifetime. Again, winning $10 million dollars is the creme de la creme. It's like, you can't beat it. If I didn't win, I'd be
Conclusion & Gratitude
00:33:09
Speaker
saying the same thing. It was an amazing experience.
00:33:11
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah. Are you going to, are you going to sign up? No, absolutely not. Dude. I'm too competitive. I'm too competitive. That's that's that's why they need you. yeah They don't need me.
00:33:24
Speaker
My family needs me more. It's five weeks, man. That's a long time. yeah it will Or you could also just accept a bribe early on. Call him, come home with a hundred grand, hit the button. Boom. No, I'm Tawana on that deal. I'm not, my credibility is offered. I love it. Uh, is out in California. Where do they shoot it?
00:33:41
Speaker
Um, this one was mostly in Toronto and then the Island was in Panama. So, um, but, uh, I don't know where season two is gonna be filmed. Probably us s is my guess, but, um, yeah. Who knows?
00:33:52
Speaker
Jeff, thanks for one. Thanks for being so passionate. Thanks for being a guy that just didn't win $10 million, dollars but has a little bit more structure than just that. um I'm a huge fan, man. Congratulations. And anything that Uncommon Wealth can do to help you guys just kind of continue to so try to find a cure for Lucas and kind of promote you will do.
00:34:12
Speaker
But thanks for your time, man. I really appreciate it. No, I loved it. Really enjoyed it and happy to come back anytime. All right. Well, you've been listening to Uncommon Wealth Podcast. Until next time, go be uncommon.
00:34:25
Speaker
That's all for this episode brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.