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Episode 44: The Uncommon Path to Ninja U with Scott Behrends
178 Plays6 years ago
Starting any new business involves a leap of faith. But the reward is that you get to use your gifts to do something you’re passionate about. When you are aligned with what God has gifted you to do and what you are passionate about, even though it’s not an easy path, the burden is light. We see it again and again in our work with entrepreneurs.
That’s why we are so excited to talk with guest Scott Behrends. Scott took what might seem like a quirky passion – an interest in athletic training based on the obstacle courses and the general mayhem of American Ninja Warrior – and turned it into a business.
We talk with Scott about the power of niching down, clear communication, and what it takes to build a business while keeping your day job. It’s never been easy, but in those moments when he got nervous about the path forward, God pushed him through the doorway and on to the next steps. That’s when exciting things can happen in our lives, and we talk with Scott about all those peaks and valleys along the way.
Scott married his high school sweetheart and has 3 kids (occasionally more because they are also a foster family). He attended the University of Northern Iowa and studied Personal Training, but then changed his major to Computer Science. He keeps up with all things tech and has worked in IT since graduating.
Scott fell in love with ninja when he first saw American Ninja Warrior. It was the sport he always wished existed as a kid (he was a climber)! When his sons kept making obstacle courses in the backyard & timing themselves, Scott recorded them & uploaded one to YouTube. “Backyard Ninja Kids” was born, and it now has over 4,500 YouTube subscribers & over 7,000 Instagram followers. Scott and his sons (Ben & Jason), daughter (Lia), and wife (Lindsey) have enjoyed being part of the ninja community.
Scott and his two business partners recently started Ninja U, a gym with the vision to encourage, educate and engage kids of all ages.
what you will learn in this episode:- How to grow your passion on a budget
- How to shift a hobby into a business
- Why niching down is the smart business move
- The time investment it takes to build a business
- The importance of choosing good partners
- Why building a business is likely to be one of the most challenging times in your life
- How God expands your capacity when you need it most
- How to be open to the unknowns as you prepare your business for the future
- Why the burden is light when you are in alignment with God’s purposes for you
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Transcript
Introduction to the Uncommon Life Project
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams about living an uncommon life, but how we define that dream is very different for each of us. And for most, it's a lifelong pursuit. Welcome to the Uncommon Life Project podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living that life or enjoying the journey to get there. We're going to also give you some tools, tricks, and tips for starting or accelerating your own efforts to live an uncommon life.
00:00:27
Speaker
A life worth celebrating and savoring. Please welcome your hosts, Brian Dumhurst and Philip Ramsey.
00:00:34
Speaker
Hello and welcome everybody to another episode of the Uncommon Life Project. I am your host, Phillip Ramsey. And I am Brian Dewhurst.
Meet Scott Behrens: Passion and Purpose
00:00:41
Speaker
I can't wait to get in the show, but here's why I'm excited is because this person that we have, I'll just kind of say his first name, his name is Scott, has this mindset shift that we are trying to get all of our clients to understand and adapt and adopt, I would say. And so this mindset is if you did what you love to do every day, when would you want to retire?
00:01:03
Speaker
And the answer is never. And so this person that we're on the show, let's introduce him. Brian, you do the intro way better than I do. So go ahead and intro him out. And also I want to say thank you for rating, subscribing and rating our podcast. It really means a lot. We're trying to get to a hundred by the end of the year. We're getting close. So continue to do that. Ask your parents to do it. Ask your kids to do it. Buy cell phones for your kids. Do what you got to do. We're getting to a hundred. Do what you got to do.
The Birth of Backyard Ninja Kids
00:01:30
Speaker
All right, I'm going to try not to go into radio voice here, but we have on the show today, Scott Behrens, and it all started with an obstacle course gym, then the backyard courses with how-to videos. And I think you were calling it at that point, Backyard Ninja Kids. You built videos, courses, and we ran all to encourage others to do the same.
00:01:49
Speaker
encourage others around you. It's okay to fail. You don't need fancy equipment. Chase your goals and do what you love are the words that Scott Barons lives by. And now he is running the business, Ninja U. And welcome to the show, Scott Barons, everybody. Welcome so much.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah, thanks for having me. It's great. Not only is that bio amazing, but you have a wife of 15 years, you have three kids ages 12, 10, and four, and you foster your foster and infant. So congrats, man. I think it's great. I love what you're doing. And you're getting on this craze of this American Ninja Warrior. That's let's be honest. We all want to be on. We all want to be on it.
00:02:29
Speaker
It's a blast. It's a blast. It's like a kid in a candy store for me. It's amazing and it's just like a jungle gym on steroids. What a better definition. There's no better definition really than that. How did you start down this path? When did you tell Lindsay like, hey, I got this idea. Love you, but hang on. Here we go. Yeah. It started about three years ago. My boys,
00:02:57
Speaker
Uh, you know, we're a little too shy to play team sports, but they were, you know, super athletic. We played all the sports in the backyard.
Balancing Passion with Family and Faith
00:03:04
Speaker
Um, but they didn't really want to sign up for anything. So I was literally struggling with that. At what point as a dad, do I forced my kid into doing something that I think he will like, or do I just let him do what he wants to do? Uh, and I was literally struggling about that, you know, preparing about that.
00:03:25
Speaker
And, uh, he came home from gym class and they were doing obstacle courses and I thought, man, I loved obstacle courses. Um, you know, especially in gym class, gym class was my favorite subject in school and recess and recess.
00:03:41
Speaker
You got two brothers in that. That's right. But yeah, so then we started making obstacle courses in my backyard. And for literally years before that, my mother-in-law kept telling me, you should watch American Ninja Warrior. You would be good on this show. And to be honest, unfortunately, I didn't listen to my mother-in-law because it's another TV show and I don't like TV. And I just tuned it out because of that, unfortunately.
00:04:06
Speaker
And, uh, so we just thought, well, man, this, we watched American Ninja Warrior and we're like, wow, this is exactly that. That's what we're doing in our backyard now. And it kind of, I mean, it all kind of happened about the same time blended together. Yep. And, you know, so my, my boys were about nine and seven at the time, and I wanted to teach them how to be a positive influence on social media, uh, you know, and be that light of the world and just go out.
00:04:32
Speaker
And, uh, so about that time, you know, it all came together at the same time. It was just kind of an aha, like let's start this account called Backyard Ninja Kids. Uh, and my wife actually hates our mission statement for some reason, but it's to encourage, educate, and engage kids of all ages. She thinks it's super cheesy and she's mostly accurate.
00:04:53
Speaker
But uh, but it's exactly that you know, we didn't even say it's about ninja We don't you know about encouraging educating and engaging kids to get up and do something they couldn't do the day before Yeah, now I want to be honest with you. So you work at a church, right? You love the lord your fellow brother. Love that scott and uh, so you were continuing to do that as you were building
00:05:15
Speaker
Yes, ninja you or backyard kid ninja kids. Yeah So how did that play into I think I guess Lindsay's how you that's your wife's name Sorry, I don't know if I've mentioned that yeah How you led her down this path? Did you was that a hard conversation? Was she on board from the beginning or I mean you never told her like hey I'm gonna quit my job and do this a hundred percent, but I'm gonna slowly get this up and going How did that process work for you to?
00:05:44
Speaker
Cause I think there's a lot of things, and this is what we say on many, many other shows is like without the support of your wife or your spouse, I don't know if you should go down these uncommon paths and, and how to actually lead your wife or spouse, probably spouse is better word. Um, through that is I think an art and one that I think we can really learn from. So that's, I think the point where I'm coming from this question. So talk through that point.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm still in the learning phase. But realistically, it was, you know, we all just kind of agreed it would be a good creative outlet for the boys.
00:06:18
Speaker
Um, you know, and my vision was, you know, it could even be, uh, depending on where it all went, it could be a job for the boys in the future or, um, you know, I didn't really have a lot of people were asking me early on, what, what about when they're not kids anymore?
Transforming a Hobby into a Business
00:06:35
Speaker
What are you going to call it? I'm like, well, it's your kid at heart. I don't know. I feel like I'm a kid. Yeah, I don't know. It's just, uh, you know, so I wouldn't say that I thought too much ahead of it. I just thought this would be kind of cool. And, um,
00:06:48
Speaker
But I think conversation wise, so I think my wife just kind of assumed it wasn't going to amount to that much. And so the hobby, it was just a hobby, you know, and a side project. And then it started consuming more and more time. And, you know, I wanted to kind of get regular schedules out there for videos and all that. That's obviously key. And so, you know, then I'm waking up super early in the morning and
00:07:15
Speaker
Um, and my wife's, it was, it was more, um, my wife's dream and mission to want to foster. Um, so she was walking with me and my vision and passion and I'm walking with her and her vision and passion. And we're just kind of walking together and obviously they both impact each other and family and all that, but, um, you know, and we both fully support and agree with it. Um,
00:07:43
Speaker
So, but that we also became foster parents that same year. So, uh, yeah, looking back, it's, it's actually kind of crazy when you start thinking about all the stuff that we threw into our life that year. Yeah. Um, and, uh, it really hasn't slowed down since. So backyard, you started with backyard ninja kids.com, right? Okay. And then how much financially did you put into that?
00:08:08
Speaker
because i think that's probably the where i think a lot of spouses are like what what what's your passion again yeah honestly hundreds of dollars at most i mean okay not talking some money you know camera and actually i think i even started the first few videos on my phone i still record most of my videos on my phone i bought a few cameras over the years but i mean we're not talking much crazy
00:08:34
Speaker
You know, you know, you don't you don't need a whole lot. So that's true. What I invested most in was time. You know, the time creating graphics, creating videos, editing, all that. This is something that Brian and I talk an extreme amount of is that was part of your history. That was part of your experience that you were good at is doing videos and media and content right with the church function or maybe not. I don't know.
00:09:01
Speaker
Not necessarily, kind of. So I'm actually an IT guy. So I make sure that the people who are good at videos, it can get on the projectors and across the network and all that. But I'm not great at the creative side.
00:09:18
Speaker
Um, which has actually been really cool lately. I've been able to see my kids, um, kind of explore that and adopt that. And they're way more creative than I am. Um, so that's been yet another cool piece that I kind of hoped for someday. Yeah. But you didn't force it. Exactly. My son Ben. Yeah. You want to learn how to edit? No. Okay.
00:09:38
Speaker
Be great if you did you save me time, but that's okay But now I mean now he's waking up in the morning and he'll just go and edit dad I'm so excited to show you this video You know, and he just does it because he wants to not because it's a job. So that's pretty cool That's great. What an experience for him to for sure
00:09:58
Speaker
Like in our podcast, we talk about the seven sources of residual income. And I think, you know, my kids, we all have kids that are kind of similar ages, but my kids are big into YouTube. We actually started a YouTube channel for my son. It's kind of
00:10:12
Speaker
You know, he's just something he didn't continue with, but can you walk our listeners through the shift from this being a hobby to like a business or monetizing this and like what those different milestones were, where you were getting income from or what you were trying to drive to step into this as a progression?
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah, um, so again, I never really had a long-term goal Um, but I would say back here ninja kids really hasn't made us much money. I would say Um, but it did make us well known in the ninja community which then you know My kids were able to be on american ninja warrior jr Probably because of that I was able to be on ninja warrior probably because of that. We were able to open a ninja gym probably because of that
00:10:57
Speaker
So it just kind of snowballed, right, the opportunities. But I would say, you know, you have to have
00:11:07
Speaker
hundreds of thousands of views to start making a decent amount of money on YouTube. Um, but the, uh, I will say we are super niche, right? We are, you know, kid focused and Ninja focused. So I have a ton of Ninja kids and families following our channel. Being that niche, if a company's out there, which there aren't a ton, but if companies out there trying to market to
00:11:32
Speaker
ninja families you're the guy i'm i'm a pretty good target so we have you know we haven't got money but we have got obstacles and.
00:11:44
Speaker
you know, Ninja holds and different things to, uh, you know, product reviews on, you know, um, so not a ton, but you know, it's starting. Yeah. It's so counter to what people think when you start a business is niching down. And I love that you did that. And it's scary to do that. Cause you always want to have this bot broad stroke of all the people that you can. Uh, but niching down is actually a very smart thing.
Realizing the Dream: Launching Ninja U
00:12:10
Speaker
So kudos to you.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah, going through that. Yeah. Oftentimes I wonder if I'm too niche sometimes, right? Yeah, I get it. I get it. It can be bigger, but at the same time. Yeah. And I think you have to build off of something. So do one thing great, niche, niche, niche, and then you can start kind of opening up that market. So when did you start going into Ninja U? That's like your gym. Yeah. That's your physical presence. Yeah. So that stuff like that. Yep. So, um,
00:12:39
Speaker
Long story short, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to open a gym.
00:12:44
Speaker
So I actually went to college as a personal training major. I wanted to open a gym being a personal trainer. Halfway through I changed, did a 180, went to computer science. Mostly due to jobs and opportunities and realistic. Am I really going to open a gym in my 20s and all that? And then fast forward, you know, so it's crazy to see how, you know, this door's open and here it comes, you know, that passion comes back.
00:13:11
Speaker
I've always been into fitness and so then so I mean part of backhand industry kids was like wow we got to you know do this in our backyard but then the first gym we went to was about you know the closest gym was handful of hours away four or five hours away.
00:13:30
Speaker
we finally went to a trip to st louis went to a gym down there and we just absolutely loved it that's when it was kind of like i think. Could our area be big enough could we do this sure the wheels started like kind of turning for sure as a reality then you know obviously it popped up early on of.
00:13:50
Speaker
can we do a gym and you know do we want that for our family but it wasn't until we went to one that really it made it click. Did you go to that gym with the intention of like
00:14:01
Speaker
seeing if this would be something for your family and community or did you just go to like, we're just into ninja stuff. Just a ninja. Yeah, just a ninja. Okay. Just a ninja. We didn't go in with a business mindset at all. We didn't try to re-engineer, reverse engineer anything. We just went to go have fun and fun we had.
00:14:20
Speaker
We're like, wow, I want this for other kids and families. You know, awesome. You know, it's funny. Drive four hours to do it. Yeah, exactly. Where are you located, Scott? Cedar Falls, Iowa. Cedar Falls. Wonderful. And I love that you did. You didn't really care. Like you were just that passionate about what you wanted. You didn't really even do that much market research. Just like, let's build it and let's hope they come.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah, kind of. I mean, obviously, we wanted to be smart with our resources. But yeah, we, we figured we were big enough. And, you know, most of the gyms were only in major cities or, you know, like Minneapolis, you know, St. Louis, Chicago, those are the three closest. So, so we were pretty small compared to those. But we thought, you know, I think there's enough, you know, families around here and all that.
00:15:08
Speaker
How do you choose your partners that you want to partner with in something that you're so passionate about and you know that probably you can't do it on your own? Yes, that was the number one thing was I knew I did not want to do it on my own.
00:15:21
Speaker
Not only because I learned from Backyard Ninja Kids that social media presence never ends, number one. And then once you have doors open to a business, when I go on vacation, I want someone else that could take that emergency call that's local. But I knew our families would have to click. And I don't know, I would say I almost kind of like silently
00:15:49
Speaker
somewhat interviewed people and talk to them about the business just to kind of see where they interested and why were they interested and how are they interested. Um, but I will say that was, that was a struggle for me of like, um, you know, cause you kind of start opening the door of like, Ooh, maybe this could work. And then when I realized like, I don't think we would click very well to be honest. Uh, and just to kind of have that conversation, like, you know what, I don't think it's going to work out.
00:16:20
Speaker
That was really hard for me. I'm not a confrontational person and it felt confrontational even though it was probably more me but it was definitely hard but I knew I needed to pick the right person long term for my family and for the business and someone who is somewhat opposite of me.
00:16:40
Speaker
you know big picture even though i'm in front of the camera and you know i can kind of talk as an i.t. guy compared to other i.t. guys i am naturally an introvert so i needed someone that's not necessarily introverted and is you know used to businesses or you know so um so yeah i i don't know i'm i don't necessarily have a great answer but i knew i just had to pick the right person for our family and
00:17:10
Speaker
you know, pray about it and finally found the right person. Yep, and you have three other partners in yourself. Two other partners, yep. Two other partners. Okay, three total, there it is. Okay, cool.
00:17:21
Speaker
And then what is your hours in the day? Since you obviously work at the church, what is like a typical day look like hours wise for you? Are you like waking up at five, coming back at 11 o'clock at night? Talk through that. Yeah, that was literally the schedule for a while. Waking up super early, staying up super late. It was more like staying up until two or three and then going to work at seven or eight.
00:17:45
Speaker
and as we're building out the gym and doing it all over again, that was a solid six months to a year of our life. So that was a long sprint, probably six months realistically.
00:17:59
Speaker
Um, so that was a long haul, uh, very taxing obviously, but now I've actually, as of may, I dropped a three quarter time at the church, uh, which has really helped, uh, mostly give me back some family time and that added less pressure, I guess.
Juggling Responsibilities and Growth
00:18:18
Speaker
Um, you know, my church job is very flexible and I'm grateful for that. So I can kind of come and go as needed, which is also a huge benefit for my business. That's only.
00:18:27
Speaker
like five blocks away from my job. So now my day kind of looks like I come to work for you know anywhere from you know four to ten hours at Orchard you know and then most evenings I'm available for the gym and I only coach a couple nights but then you know weekends are big, weekends are usually busy at the gym.
00:18:55
Speaker
Um, and then I'm available the other nights to kind of come in as needed or come help coach or whatever's, whatever's needed. Sure. Sorry. I'm like blowing you up, Brian. I'm like just pounding them with questions. So how was your marriage in your, in that six month period when you're long hours and where were you at in the foster care? Yeah. Um, yeah. So the hardest part was when, uh, you know, you get a newborn baby and the baby,
00:19:25
Speaker
Um, due to circumstances is born super early and they need to be bottle fed every few hours. And it's not, it's not just shove the bottle in the mouth, right? It's like, you have to hold them a certain way. Otherwise they choke and you know, so was that the same time period? Shut your mouth. I know. Right. So, and my wife is a saint and mostly took care of the babies at night.
00:19:54
Speaker
And and i mean during the day i mean i mean you know yeah yeah realistically you know i'm cuz it's not all sunshine and rainbows right. Because in order to get a rainbow yet i have a storm of some sort.
00:20:12
Speaker
Um, but yeah, there was definitely tough where it was almost like, why am I chasing my passion? You know, I talked about the two passions and we're helping each other, but then it kind of felt like we were pulling each other apart and we're each chasing our own passions. Yet we both needed each other. Yeah. Going in different directions almost. Um, and then you throw the, you know, kids in there that, you know, you're spending time with them as you're building the gym and they're at the gym with me.
00:20:41
Speaker
you know, sweeping the floor, but that's not quality family time. Yeah. Um, kind of like, like Jim Gaffkin said, it's kind of like you're drowning and then somebody throws you four babies. Exactly. That's exactly right. Um, so that was definitely some of the hardest period of my life. Sure.
00:20:58
Speaker
Uh, you know, but, um, yeah, I mean, somehow we were able to just push through and, um, you know, point out and have a conversation about, are we walking in different directions and what do we need to fix this and resolve this? Nice. Um, which are hard conversations. Cause it was almost like, which one of us are going to drop passions or change? Yeah. Ooh.
00:21:19
Speaker
Cool. So what'd you learn in that and where you got, how did you resolve that? What did you guys end up deciding? Yeah. I mean, there's not like an aha thing, you know, that I can share outside of, you know, uh, stay patient.
00:21:33
Speaker
Keep having those conversations and make sure you're actually doing something to resolve the problem. It doesn't and it's not going to happen overnight. You know, I would say even me backing off three quarter time finally in May, almost a year after we opened the doors of the gym and almost two years after, you know, getting the building.
00:21:56
Speaker
I would say that is the point when we're constantly trying to get to a point where we want to be. We're still not fully there, but to find that balance. That was another huge step of like, well, I'm going to take a reduction and pay at the church, but it's going to be worth it.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah yeah yeah i think there's a lot of micro things across and some bigger things across that the time frame there that you have to you know keep. Keep working towards the goal yeah i think to you know we meet with a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners and can you talk about how god expanded your capabilities not only you but some of your wife.
00:22:39
Speaker
You know, and we get a lot of people that like, I want to try something, but you know, kind of that limiting belief or fear mindset. How did God expand you?
00:22:49
Speaker
as a leader and as a husband and as a father through this to kind of handle these, these waves. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great question. Um, I would say it's been pretty insane to look back and assume why God did certain things in my life. You know, you never fully know, but, um, so I actually had a very well paying it job at a university, local university, university in Northern Iowa.
00:23:16
Speaker
And I took another job that was a slight pay cut to go back to working for an IT firm Then which prepared me for a pay cut and then took a massive pay cut to go work for the church, right? So that was one little increment of my journey of how God kind of prepared our family for this where it's gonna be another shift in money change in money and how you just have to let go and Trust
00:23:45
Speaker
Um, you know, I, I mean, it's not just like throwing darts in the dark, obviously. Um, it's, it's a plan that we knew was right. But even though it's, you feel like sometimes you're like, is this really right? Um, and I, I honestly explained going into the business.
Faith and Leadership in Business
00:24:03
Speaker
Of like I was literally all these doors were opening found the right business partner found the right building found the oh my gosh Everything and i'm like i'm still going Yeah, this is a massive because it's a massive commitment and i'm just such an overthinker um, which is why my business partner's key because he can just make decisions in the blink of an eye um and in their good decisions, you know, and that's who I needed but um
00:24:32
Speaker
so I literally explain it as if I'm still in the doorway like holding on and Finally God just you know drop kicks me Doggy kicks you through the door If I have to force you and it's it's been good but and then I would say you know, I
00:24:57
Speaker
Looking back, you know, some people in my life thought I was crazy literally almost taking a 50% pay cut to come work at the church And they might be partially accurate But at the same time though our church is very leadership focused and training up the next generation of leaders and I will admit that over the last nine years working at the church. It's insane the leadership training I've gotten
00:25:27
Speaker
I've had over the years just by, I mean, almost organically, just because of how the church functions. Yeah, just refining to refine the process. Yeah, and we hosted a leadership conference and different things. But yeah, I so that has all just, you know, prepared me to be this business owner that
00:25:47
Speaker
has the right focus, hopefully, right? And I'm not 100% focused on the money. I'm focused also on the people, both my employees and the people that come into the gym and how we can change their life. For sure. And they are going to come to you so you can impact them. And they're looking for guidance. They're looking for coaching. It's just a cool story. It's like your mission field, yet the people are just coming in in droves, letting you be missional. They're paying you to be missional.
00:26:17
Speaker
Pretty sweet. Nice. I can totally relate to, you know, both my sons have not done the traditional sports route, but we have Olympic rings in our basement. We actually just bought some kind of ninja related holds, if you will, to put in the basement, create a course and
00:26:37
Speaker
So we've kinda pushed into that a little bit and we're actually pretty close to you so i can't wait to get our boys in your gym too so what are you looking forward to you know what what's on the horizon for ninja you and your family what are you excited about. I think i'm honestly excited for sounds crazy but. The the almost the unknown where i don't know where it's all going to go but i know.
00:27:07
Speaker
It's I mean, I feel richly blessed and I feel like you know, it's going to continue to
00:27:14
Speaker
you know, blossom into something. And I don't know what that is. I'm kind of walking hands open a little bit, whether it's other locations, you know, or who knows? I mean, we have a list of all kinds of things we'd love to do with our community. I mean, yeah, I would say it's kind of a cheesy answer, but I'm kind of I'm so glad you answered it that way, because we talk about this all the time. And I think in terms of faith,
00:27:41
Speaker
God wants us to be uncomfortable. Philip and I talk a lot about the Indiana Jones where he takes the step of faith in the invisible bridge or whatever. And that's where God wants us to be in our default state. And I'm so glad you said that because there's such a piece about what you're saying. I'm like, I don't know where we're going, but I trust God and I'm having a blast.
00:28:03
Speaker
And you don't fear that unknown anymore. I guess is what I'm gathering from the way you answer that question. I try not to. I mean, obviously, you know, I think. Yeah, exactly. And I kind of think of like, well, what if there's recession? Are people going to have extra money for this sport that's still up and coming? Is the sport? What if the TV show fails? Is that going to impact? You know, I definitely have those worries, but which I think is
00:28:31
Speaker
I mean, but at the same time, you know, there's going to be opportunities out there that make me uncomfortable and try to at least walk into them a little bit. Yeah. I think so often too, we meet, you know, we just meet lots of people I'm sure you do too. And just that, that balance of being comfortable and content.
00:28:53
Speaker
Isaiah is a Christian, and then taking these, I don't want to say leaps of faith, you know, but basically stepping out of faith to pursue these types of things that you feel God's calling you to. That dichotomy of those two worlds is very interesting, you know, and, and being able to push in with your faith with God in the middle of your marriage and your business.
00:29:14
Speaker
and trusting that unknown, I think it's just, I think it's something profoundly unique. And I'm just so encouraged by the way you're sharing that. And the reward is that you get to use your gifts to do something you're passionate about. And that is attractive to other people.
00:29:32
Speaker
It's just it just is there's a lot of people that just go to weeks we say what's for guys but they just drive to Wells Fargo every day and they're just waiting for retirement. We're gonna be saving this nest egg at that four percent match. And at the end of the day they are hating their life for six years until they can get to this unknown number that they can have enough money to then live off the rest life and then they're gonna do something they're passionate about.
00:29:56
Speaker
And for Brian and I, it's like, wow, I think you're missing the boat. I think there's an attitude or there's a mind shift change where you can start taking these, I'd say wise, discerning steps towards what you're excited about as you did, right? And I think you're right when you said, I took a step back in pay, but that was all preparing you for
00:30:20
Speaker
going into this whole ninja world, this ninja university that you're going into. Because if you are making a really good salary, the chasm is too deep. The chasm is too big that you can't even cross over. You can't even say like, how would I get paid? How would I support my family? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And sometimes we almost have these, I call them golden handcuffs on.
00:30:40
Speaker
For people that you know going to the nine to five and they make a lot of money for other people and they're using their gifts But not fully for the kingdom I say but yeah, yeah, it's really actually I'm actually grinning ear to ear because I mean you're literally stealing the words out of my mouth like the golden handcuffs at You know the university they're they're really nice handcuffs. Yeah
00:31:03
Speaker
You know, it's almost like do I do I keep grinding this out because you don't get paid a ton at the university But you the benefits are insane insane yeah, the matching and all that so for me to And I look back at that when I went back to that other IT firm that I first so I worked at this IT firm went to the university went back to that IT firm in the church and
00:31:29
Speaker
Well, when I went back to the IT firm, that little bump in pay was exactly what you're talking about. If I would have went straight from the university to the church, I think it would have been such a drastic change. I would have said no.
00:31:43
Speaker
But because of, and I was only at that IT firm for like a year, but you know, and then, then, you know, we're having those conversations of like, wow, have I changed jobs? Like, you know, three times in two years, this is probably not great for my resume. This is not great for my family. And we had to have those conversations. So that's really cool, man. But you're right. When the, when the change is so great.
00:32:06
Speaker
It's such a hard decision. Yeah. Well, I love it that Brian says, you know, we have this drum beat inside of us, the Jumanji drum beat inside of us. I love that you listened to it and then you acted on it. So in my personal devotion, we're going, I'd say our church too, is going through Joshua. And it's at the point where they need to cross over to the Promised Land.
00:32:29
Speaker
And basically, God tells Joshua to rally the troops. You're going across the river. And it's in flood season. And so the river is overflowing its banks. And Joshua still rides the troops and says, we've got to go. It's interesting. They have to step their feet in water before it breaks. Does that make sense? And God stops the river from flowing down. But it's interesting because I feel like myself and a lot of other people would be doubting it
00:32:55
Speaker
the whole time even to the point like i'm not i'm not put my feet in like that's not a good decision yet god. He parts the water like he stops the water and enjoy that they get to see what god does through them and through other people to step into the prize is very neat and so i question you is when do you wanna retire from what you're doing currently.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yeah, retire from what I think is, you know, the question I have back is, I mean, I love what I do. And I'll be honest. So this is, I'm going to try not to go down to rabbit trail here. But when I was at the university, I was stuck on retiring at 50. That was literally my goal. And those golden can cuffs allowed it. And it's to the point, it was so bad, to be honest, it was,
00:33:47
Speaker
to this day, I don't handle our bank stuff for my family. And I purposely only look at my investments once the year in January and then I'm out. So it's to that point where I had to just back away because that was my only goal was to retire and then
00:34:10
Speaker
Do what i have no clue but that was often the question for my wife what are we waiting for i'm like what is it about retirement now i leave the gym you know i left the gym last night at like midnight
00:34:30
Speaker
And man, I just, I was filled, you know, I got to talk with people, I got to train with people, I got to train my, you know, my, my kids and, you know, their teammates and man, I just leave just filled. Yeah, I don't know what I want to retire from first. That's right. That's right. Yeah, we'll see. I want to talk about this because this has kind of been profound. And in my walk with, with Jesus and just the growth of our business and relationship with Philip and I,
00:35:00
Speaker
But I heard, you hear about the yoke is light. And I never really understood that. And there's things that we've tried to do in our business where I felt like I was forcing it and it just went horribly wrong. And now there's things that we're trying to do and it's just like freakishly easy. And I've really been praying and reflecting on just the yoke is light when you're in alignment with God. And just so many different things that you've said in our short time today,
00:35:28
Speaker
was just like, you know, you just kept walking through doors and they were open. And it was just, I get this feeling that the yoke was just light with the path that God has put you on. And you trusted that. And as a business owner, does any of that resonate with you or can you speak into that? Well, yeah, just for, I'll just speak to that quick, Scott. Sorry to jump in, but like just yesterday.
00:35:48
Speaker
You left the gym at 12 o'clock at night or in the morning and you were fulfilled. Like a lot of people hear that as like, I don't want to work that hard, but you love what you do. So are you working or are you actually just being filled? So that to me is like that yoke when it's, yeah, that's work, but you enjoy it anyway. So go ahead.
00:36:08
Speaker
Where are you last night i because of the schedule you know i had to drive my boys home and then come back to the gym. Say good night and then go back to the gym right so i made a sacrifice of not being home with my family right so that's and put my voice to bed but at the same time yeah i was filled from the gym but.
00:36:30
Speaker
uh yeah i don't know i don't know how to answer that question but uh i i mean i can just think of so many things exactly what you're saying once you kind of step into it you know i mentioned i was stuck in that door until i got kicked through it and i mean there were so many things what i'll just give one example of like where we literally paused uh my business partner and i that were working on the building that night so just empty warehouse looking building is actually shoe store before us
00:37:01
Speaker
And we're trying to figure out where to put the warped walls. Okay. They're 14 feet in the air. Well, we realized, um, we started like, we kind of made out the plan. Then we started building stuff and we realized what's going on. The ceiling's not tall enough. And, but we already measured it. We thought for sure we measured it. Well, we did. And, uh,
00:37:27
Speaker
The the ceiling actually slopes we didn't really my She's oh where we put the warped wall. It was still like perfect the perfect height you can't quite climb on top of the 14 foot wall, but it's still high enough for one and where we Were we almost put the warped wall? We were almost gonna flip-flop this but the front of the building we actually had we built a mezzanine in there and
00:37:53
Speaker
That's where the ceiling's actually higher. So we're almost going to flip-flop this whole thing.
00:37:59
Speaker
And I mean, there's kind of an aha moment of like, wait, the ceiling literally, and there's actually a drop in trusses too. It like literally drops one foot at a certain point. And that's exactly where we happened to build the mezzanine size. And we're just like, we look at each other like, this is not, this is not normal. This was planned. Um,
00:38:24
Speaker
you know it was we just paused and I think we literally paused and just said a prayer because it was like holy cow we can't that's cool we can't even you know it's like one in the morning it's pitch black yeah we're trying to paint I think we were painting the ceilings when it kind of hit us and we're like wow this is nuts
00:38:43
Speaker
Well, I have one more quick question because we're kind of running out of time and then Brian and I do a competition every month. It would be fun to go up there and do a ninja competition. But how did you do in the American Ninja Warrior when you were on? Uh, I did okay. Um, so the first night I got the buzzer.
00:39:04
Speaker
Uh, got up the warped wall, hit the buzzer. So then you record, uh, that city qualifiers I was on. So season 11 this past year. And that's Minneapolis. Tacoma, Tacoma, Washington is where, uh, they selected me to go.
00:39:19
Speaker
So after the first night this qualifiers and then you go to city finals the next night And that one I did well enough to qualify for vegas Wow, so the vegas finals so then I went to the vegas finals and totally made a rookie mistake on stage one out of four and My season has ended but at the same time I had an incredible experience and yeah, it was
00:39:47
Speaker
And it's humbling being able to just be out there and be healthy enough. I mean, to be honest, I'm 38, you know, to be healthy enough to be out there competing with 19 year olds. And, um, you know, I'm not making excuses. I'm being grateful for the health I have. Sure. Absolutely. So will you go back on it or is that done for you? I don't know how it works. Yeah. Yeah. So I will apply again. Everyone has to apply.
00:40:11
Speaker
and there's about 70 to 80,000 applicants and they choose 600. Well, Brian and I are two of those. Exactly. You should probably be eating us. 598 left. I was like a big baseball guy or tennis and you can make a mistake in those sports and you get another crack at bat or whatever. This sport is like, man, you make that mistake, it's see you, you're going home.
00:40:39
Speaker
Just that all that time for the year to train and be ready for that just the moment and to not and Then you're getting new obstacles thrown at you. You've got water involved. You've got all these other, you know, the lights got videos on ya
00:40:55
Speaker
That's usually the killer is the pressure and that's what got to me in Vegas. They had a time limit and I didn't practice enough courses timed in that amount of time. So I just rushed it. So that was my rookie mistake. But yeah, you're right. They walk you through the obstacles and then they say, okay, so-and-so's first, let's go. And that's the first time you see them.
00:41:20
Speaker
Game on. They walk you through them and someone demos it and they say, go. Jeez. Well, how do our listeners and I guess the listeners that you're inviting to this, how do they get ahold of you? If they want to get involved, tell them how they reach out.
00:41:35
Speaker
Absolutely. So I mean, if you just go to any social media platform and type in Backyard Ninja Kids or even Google, you know, our videos will come up and our Instagram account and all that. We post almost every day on Instagram and we try to do weekly video on YouTube at least. And then we we also send those posts to Facebook. So
00:41:57
Speaker
But yeah, otherwise, Ninja U, Cedar Falls, Iowa, I'd love for everyone to come and try it out and just come have fun with this new up and coming sport. It's a blast.
00:42:09
Speaker
I love it. Very cool. I love it. Very cool. Again, I can't thank you enough for one, listening to the drumbeat inside of you and then just passionate about what you do and impacting others because what you're doing is bigger than you. And I think that you are doing exactly what your mission statement is, although I think Lindsey would cringe at that. But thanks again for just your time. Thank you for Lindsey, for the support that you're giving Scott, your husband. And yeah, you've been listening to the Uncommon Life Project and I am your host, Phillip Ramsey.
00:42:37
Speaker
And I'm Brian Dewhurst. Thank you for listening. Have a good night. Thank you, guys. That's all for this episode of the Uncommon Life Project, 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.