Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Good day, everyone. Welcome to Abraham's Wallet. This is the podcast where we unpack biblical wisdom for stewarding your finances, leading your home, and building a legacy that honors God. I'm your host, Steven Manuel. And today we're diving into something that every dad with big dreams has wrestled with. That's that itch to step out in faith and start something new, even when the steady paycheck feels like handcuffs.
Our guest today is my good old friend, Michael Beausjour. He is a rock solid dad who is living proof that you don't have to quit your day job to launch a thriving business. I met Michael in college. This is going to be, I think, maybe 15 years ago. I'm guessing I was part of his life when he was a younger, less experienced man.
God gave him a wonderful wife and started building a family with him. Michael now has nine children.
Count them, nine.
And he leads a great framing business called BoCo here in Cincinnati. If you've ever been called to create and provide and multiply like the patriarchs, but the how keeps you up at night. How could I ever start my own business? How could I ever lead something? This episode is going to be for you.
Run your home and your dough like a biblical boss. Michael, you're in a. You're in a hotel conference room because you are doing a. A hockey tournament out of state with your sons. Is that, is that right?
[00:01:42] Speaker B: That's correct.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: How's it going?
[00:01:45] Speaker B: It's going great. We won the first game.
Feeling good.
Ozzy's playing in Detroit and then Manny's got games in Ann Arbor. So tomorrow's gonna be interesting.
I brought my brother Pat with me.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: A little adult support for the, for the hockey trip.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah. And driving.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Well, I was telling the folks, Michael, that many people have wanted to know the full story of your incredible transition from full time employee at a corporate job into where you are now, which is a guy that runs his own successful business. It's a transition that a lot of people would love to do, but it seems very difficult to do. So I'm going to have you just walk us through that entire process, if you will. And I'd like for you to just go back to the days when you didn't have a powerlifting body, you had a golfing body.
And I think of you working at Procter and Gamble and would you walk us through a typical kind of before day? So when you had corporate meetings and I don't know if you took much of that stress home. I remember you. I remember the house that you lived in as newlyweds. And what, what, what was life like then? And what did you want that you didn't have?
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Yeah, so I, I started my career at an advertising company called Epifio and got that job through an sfl.
I would say the two, like, big threads is God's goodness and his provision for our family, like, kind of through my professional life.
And my then friend that I worked with at Starbucks, Sammy, who's now my wife, she, she got saved at a Bible study, and then we went to just found another Bible study for her to keep maturing. And that's where I met the owner of this company.
So I started my career in sales there.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Worked there for five years, which was Jeremy Pryor, right?
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Jeremy Pryor and Steven. This is Maury.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Yeah, this was Jeremy's old business. I think our people are pretty familiar with Jeremy.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Okay. And then I worked a year at the Inquirer, which was the worst year of my life.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: This is the Cincinnati newspaper, which was super liberal. And what, what, why was that so painful?
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Well, I was brought in as, like, the digital guy. And so I was, I really didn't have any, like, you know, real authority to do anything. I had to pair off with the other account managers who sold paper ads, and nobody wanted to work with me. So I was just kind of like. There was one guy out of, like, the six account executives that took me in, and we really blew up his business.
But it was just, it was just very frustrating. I had to wear a tie to work, had to be in my cubicle.
But that's kind of, I mean, that's kind of the, the professional career that I had is I just took whatever job that could make money so that we could keep having babies.
And it didn't matter if I liked it or not. I just went to work every day with a smile on my face.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: I remember you saying, I don't know if you first time you felt this was at the Inquirer, but I remember you saying at some point to me, man, I, I, I can't exist sitting at a, at a desk in the same spot all day long. I just can't do it. Do you remember thinking that?
[00:05:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure, yes.
And, you know, like, growing up or, you know, starting my career at Apithios around people like Jeremy and Steven, I, I was fully aware of, like, the entrepreneur, you know, stuff, and I wanted that. I just didn't have any ideas. I mean, over the years, we tried a bunch of different things.
I tried my hand at being a Landlord, which I hated. But I did have two doors at one point.
Not a big deal.
We did a coffee business.
We tried a buying and selling business on ebay. We tried a sleep training business.
So I think for people who are looking to make that transition, you know, I would just say keep trying because it never ends up how you think it's going to end up.
After the Inquirer, I got hired on at P and G. My, My friend Steven Sesler, he w. He, who was a longtime PNG executive, showed me exactly how to interview.
So he really helped me kind of hack that I got that job was at PNG for four months. Then my brand was divested to a company called Cody, which is a beauty company, very liberal beauty company. And I worked there for five years.
The first two years were in an office, and then it became a work from home job, which was, I think, a step up from the cubicle.
But again, I'm, you know, the, the. The things that are happening as I'm thinking about doing something different is I think to myself, my kids are never going to be able to work with me in this job, you know, and I, I want to at least have something that I can give them an option to. The other forces at work were the. This was around the COVID time. There was all kinds of mandates about what I had to do. I got into a situation where I was getting pressured to sell, like, LGBTQ branded things to, like, teenage girls. I was selling.
Talk about doing something just to make money for your family. I was selling nail polish and makeup and hair color to Kroger. So that was my job.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: And I remember when the, as the, as the sun was setting on that they were pressuring you to do, like, marketing of, of nail polish to men, Isn't that right?
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so there was a time, there was a time where I went to HR towards the end of my career there, and I said, hey, I want a accommodation. I talked to a lawyer and stuff, and I just said, I'd like an accommodation. I don't want to sell this, you know, LGBTQ display into Kroger. And they, they granted it to me. And then the next year, the guy that created that display from the Walgreens team moved over and became my boss. And he was a guy that was married to him, to a man.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Oh, boy.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: And I thought.
And basically made the transition before I had to present that or do anything, but they were going to make me do that, so I left before they did that.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I have to kind of Give as context for you, Michael, that you are such.
I mean, for the Myers Briggs Fans, you're an ENFP.
So I have long called you Tigger, Mr. Energy Guy, who now do physical labor.
You just told me before we started recording.
You know, I. I got my lift in this morning. I was so excited that you do this physical labor. And your wife still says, michael, we have to make time for you to be in the hockey league because you just got to get this energy out somehow. So I think of that guy trapped behind a 9 to 5 desk, frustrated. Not just at sitting behind a desk, you're frustrated because you guys are having kids. You're. You're fast forwarding in your mind to how could my children possibly be involved in the work that I do here? It can't happen.
And the. The sort of spiritual and value culture of your company feels so divorced from your heart. So you've got all of these pressures at play, and you think to yourself, I want to be. I want to be involved in some business. I'm putting words in your mouth. You correct me if this isn't right, but I want to be involved in a business where I get to be the boss and I'm making decisions. I want to.
I want the work that I do to at least be in line with my values. And I want an opportunity for my children. And I think I've heard you say, specifically my sons to come alongside me and work. Are those. Are those all the kind of pressures at play at the time?
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That's a good way.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: So what do you do?
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Well, I think you just keep. You keep moving and you keep trying stuff.
What happened to me, I was very fortunate.
My best buddy lives right next door to me, and he is a general contractor that builds homes called Five Daughters Construction. His name's Ross Dykstra. And Ross was the singular voice, voice in my life going, buddy, you can do this. You can do this. On my birthday one year, he gave me $1,000 as seed money. Before anything happened, he said, I believe in you.
And so he ended up actually, really.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: The, The.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: The thing that got the ball rolling was I.
I was going stir crazy during COVID Working from home. Everything's locked down. So I framed a shed in my backyard, and I just loved it. I loved every minute of it. You helped me stand the walls.
Yeah. And I was so sad when that ended. And so I went to Ross and I said, dude, do you think I could pick up some hours with your framer? And so I started working for a Guy named Oscar Lopez.
I would work, you know, very sporadically, but he would pay me 17 an hour. He said, you can't work and not get paid. He's a great guy. I still, I still am partners with him today. I still work with him today.
And I started, I started, you know, basically as working two jobs for a year and a half.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: And this is the magic moment that I, that we have to underline for people because I think that people who have, I don't know, they listen to family teams or they, they kind of have an Abraham's wallet kind of a worldview and they listen to somebody like Joe Freudenberg. He's got this idea to start up this pickleball business. And he snaps his fingers and what do you know? It's making a whole bunch of money. Wow, this was great.
This, this, this season in your life is really precious to me because this is where you sacrificed so much. Michael, you are doing a full time job, a corporate job. You would tell us, tell us the schedule because I don't want to get that wrong. Well, you'd leave that and then you'd go work as a, as a hourly laborer in an, in an industry you don't know where you don't have any background and don't know anything.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: Yeah, My, my first day on the job, it was a rain day. So people were doing punch out inside of a house and they said, Oscar said to me, he said, hey buddy, there's a pile of trash behind the house and I need it in the dumpster that's in the driveway. So for about six hours I trudged through the mud in the rain and took trash and filled the dumpster. Yeah. And so.
Yeah, what was that, what was that.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Schedule for that year and a half?
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So what happened was I would.
Well, one of the, one of the things that I did take advantage of in the corporate world is they had like eight weeks of paternity leave.
So when I really got jump started is I was home with my wife for three or four weeks and then I had about four weeks where I went and I framed full time with, with the boys.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: And, and then coming back to work, I said to my boss, I said, this is the, the first boss. I said, could I work 4 tens and then work, have a day off on Friday?
And, and I thought at least I'd get one good day in, you know, of framing. And she said, hey, I talked to management and we can't do that, but if you would like to start work at like 6 in the morning and get done by 2, you. You could do that. And I thought, that is. That's even better than I, I thought. So I started getting all my work done real early.
And then I would head out and I would work afternoons on a crew, Mexican crew that didn't speak English. I learned Spanish. Just. I mean, some of the greatest guys I've ever met, I'm still dear friends with a lot of them.
And we, I was just around the city framing houses, and it was one of the best times of my life as, as it got closer. And what was interesting is I was like, look, I can't do this forever.
And the idea that I had was.
And this is how serious we were about, about kind of getting out of the corporate race.
My wife and I were seriously considering selling our house and moving into something half as expensive.
Because if I could just make a few more bucks an hour, like, we technically could make it work for a couple years until.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: As a full time hourly laborer.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Yeah, until I could get my own crew. Then I could start getting my own jobs.
And, you know, my dream for this company was I would have a big crew and we would, we would frame houses and my wife was all in.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: And.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: But then she got kind of a word from the Lord that, you know, she's a very discerning woman. And she was like, you know, I really feel like as you do this, we're not gonna, you know, change our. Our, what do you call it, standard of living.
And so I was like, okay, well, we're not going to sell the house. You know, we're going to keep here and keep going.
And I had a conversation with my boss, Oscar, and this is just so funny because, like, you know, where I'm at now, it's like, it's just, it's humbling. Oscar. I said to him, hey, if you could pay me like $5 more an hour, I could quit my corporate job and I could work for you full time. And he was like, you know, buddy, I can't do that. But what you should do is you should start your own business and find me jobs. Jobs for the guys. So he. And I was like, oh, my goodness, that's genius. Like, I'll create like a brand and he will provide the labor. And so I would start working. I would work on a crew, but we'd have maybe two or three projects going on at the same time. And I would manage those projects. I would take a little cut, you know, and then pay him for the labor. And so that's kind of how it started taking shape. And so by the time I.
I left the corporate world, you know, I. Within six months, I had like six or seven jobs going on, and I couldn't. I couldn't keep wearing the tool belt.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Okay, so let's just go back to how. How these worlds are merging, that you are, where you're working. I don't know what it would be maybe four hours a night as a. As a framer, as a. As a man on a crew. Would that be right?
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I didn't work weekends either.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Okay, so you're working maybe 20 hours a week.
You're learning how this goes. But I remember you saying along the way, the more that you got trusted by Oscar, you're starting to tell him, I think you're pricing this job wrong. It seems to me there's an opportunity here. Or why aren't the guys that are working here? They should. These should have more guys over on this other job. And you're seeing things. And I'm imagining that based on your training in business world, you're starting to think about how his business works, and you're starting to think about organization.
Just the way that the.
To maximize. Even the way that his sales work. And putting yourself as a layer between him and getting work seemed like such a natural solution not only to his problem because he's got a language barrier, and you can talk to these builders, et cetera, but also puts you in that. In that place where, as you said, when I'm going out and get jobs, I can take a margin before I hire the laborers, et cetera. So, yeah, all of those dynamics are very interesting to me.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I kind of approach it being. I want to be like a foreman. And he was going like, dude, you're not that good. And you have all these skills that could really, really help us, because there's certain things that, you know, access to. To financing. Like, these guys can't work a job for a builder who pays in 30 to 60 days, you know, and I can help with that.
They can't. They can't get jobs because they just don't have the language skills. They don't have, like, the know how.
So that was something that, with my background in sales, that was actually very easy for me.
And I mean, another thing, you know, that the Lord, you know, was looking after me was, you know, I came into the business in a time where mortgage rates were like 2% and everybody was just building.
And so every. Every company I reached out to, they're like, yeah, they have their normal framer, but they got too much work, they need another framer. And so was really, really, you know, providential, the timing of it.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Yeah. I just want to say that Mark Parrot is real big on this, that people have a very kind of Pollyanna idea about starting your own business. Or they think it should be a very simple and I should. You know, it's kind of a millennial fantasy that I could just step into a new arena and suddenly be the boss and be very successful. I just want to.
I think even people look at you, Michael, you're running a really successful business right now.
And I really want people to appreciate that.
Definitely in your 20s. I don't know what age has happened to you, but definitely in your 20s. I was told this years ago by a good friend, your 20s are for training. And I remember thinking, I'm 26 or whatever, I'm ready to lead. I'm great, you know, and not understanding. I should be getting training where I like. I really believe, I now believe that the greatest advice we can give to a young man who's starting into his work life is go to a place where you are going to be developed, where you can get skills.
Famously, in the book Rich dad, Poor Dad, Famously, Kiyosaki says that he went to Xerox because they had a great sales training program. And that's. He just like, I just wanted to get the training. And so I see that there probably wasn't a strategy on your part. As you said, you're just looking for a job. But what you were doing was you're collecting experience and skills and then later on you could apply those, that skill to doing, to working for yourself and doing things for yourself. I just think that's very important for guys because they see where you are right now and they think, well, I would like to leapfrog from an 18 year old into where you are and it's just not possible.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: That's a really good observation.
Yeah, I mean, I could, I mean, I had a lot of time in sales and actually specifically cold sales back when I was at Epifio. So I'm reaching out to these companies.
And then when I. My last assignment at Cody, I was managing a P L. So I. The, the way that they do it is I basically manage the entire business.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: That's correct.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: And so when I went out on my own, I knew, you know, I knew what I was doing in that sense. Like the sales, the part that I was not really aware of is just how the construction industry Works how framing works. And that to me was like the fun driving force of like learning, learning that trade. Yeah, it was really fun. But yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, there was a lot of, I mean, you know, my parents put me through college and I, and I took business courses and I, I worked for a long time in, in a business that helped, helps, you know, kind of push me where, where it was when it was go time. You know, I had the resources there.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: You've mentioned your wife, Sammy, a couple of times.
Was she always like, this is wonderful, honey. I'm so happy for you to be spending 80 hours a week at two jobs.
What was, was what was the hardest thing about bringing her along?
[00:23:04] Speaker B: There wasn't, there wasn't a hard part.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: She just, she agreed with the vision. She was all in.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: She's a great wife. Yeah, she, I always was like very work life balance, even, even when I was in corporate world. And, and I think honestly, like, you know, I mentioned we got eight weeks of paternity and every time people, other, other people would, they would take a week maybe, you know, and they'd be like, you're not going to take all that, are you? And, you know, I think, like, I didn't play that game of like, oh, I'm so dedicated to this. I, I did my job, I did my job well, but like, I'm not available on the weekend and at 5 o', clock, I'm, I'm, I'm done, you know, and that, I think that helped my wife. We had so much going on at home. I think that helped my wife trust me, so that when we did get into a situation where, yeah, hey, for the next year and a half, I'm going to be, I'm going to be like burning the candle at both ends. Like, she was totally fine with it.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. You built up trust with your wife.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: Because she knew that you were, she knew that you're, you were dedicated to your family.
Her, her and the family.
And that your first concern, even when you, when there was seasons where you had to work a lot of hours, she understood. This isn't because I love work, because I have a vision for my family. I'm trying to get somewhere that that costs us in the, in the short term.
Would you, would you say that that time when you were working two jobs, was that the hardest pivot or was it when you quit your job, was that the scariest moment?
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Yeah, that was the scariest moment.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: And it was getting to the point where and you know, it was getting to the point where, hey, you've been doing this for a year. We need to make a decision. You know, what's, what's going to, are we going to, are we going to fold or are we going to jump? And my wife and I did like a, I think we did like a 40 day, like liquid fast. No, I think it was like 30 day liquid fast. As I was praying about making this decision and the Lord spoke to me in that the thing I was worried about is like, hey, I got my seventh child on the way.
I have a very cushy work from home job that pays okay, and I'm going to go be a laborer. Is that what we're doing here? I had know, honestly, a lot of business friends that I really respected were like, you're crazy. Don't do that. That can't work. My parents were, you know, rightfully very concerned about the situation.
And I remember, I remember one day, my quiet time, I was reading, I think it's Psalm 37, 25. It says I was once young and then I was old. And I've never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.
And I cried all the way to the job site that day in my car. And I knew that we, we're going to do this and the Lord is going to provide for us. And you know, I, I think like that's the thing I just love about God is he's not looking for us to be like perfect people. He's looking for us to be crazy about him and, and, and crazy in our belief towards him.
He can do anything.
And you know, honestly, the second scariest moment in my business was this, this January when I hired my brother.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: Because, you know, it's one thing for, it's me and my family and, and you know, my kids. But my brother had a, had an eight year career at TQL before he came over. You know, so he was leaving, he was leaving a lot and.
But it's been great. He's been doing an excellent job and it's having the camaraderie has been, has been really great too.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: The camaraderie of having your brother working with you?
[00:27:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Because it was kind of a, I was kind of a solo, solo show.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Okay, so you, you started up.
I'm gonna go find work. Oscar's gonna be my first foreman. You, you just, you start in there. When did you know, hey, this is working.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: Another God thing was I was signing, I was getting ready. I quit, I Quit my job in November of 21.
And my company actually gave me a month, a month paid after I left, which I thought was very, very generous.
And that fall, we were getting ready to go to school and my, my buddy James Lipsey said, hey, I'm. I'm building. You're starting a framing company. I'm building a house. Why don't you frame ours? So he connected me with his builder and, and they, I, I got hired to, to frame his house. And that happened right then when I quit November. This company was basically like a brand new company. And I think we did, over the next two years, we did like 35 houses for them or something like that.
So the moment where I was like, hey, this is going to be great, is I had James's house going. I'm watching them poor. Three more foundations down the street.
And then I have a big house in Indian Hill that we're doing.
And I go, hey, we need more guys. And Oscar's like, I'll get you more guys, man.
And, and so I think, you know, we had like three, three houses going at one time. And I thought, this is just unbelievable. This is amazing. And then by that summer, we were doing like eight houses. And I remember talking to Ross about this going, man, what do I do like?
And he, his answer is always, hey, you got to make hay when you can. You know, I said, should I turn some, some of this work down? No, keep going.
So it was. Yeah, it was pretty, pretty soon. Like in the first, like six months. I just thought, hey, I think we have something here.
This is something I like doing.
It's making money. I think in my first year I made triple what I was making at. At my old job.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: What, in your first year?
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: Wow.
So. So where do things stand right now? Can you tell us?
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Well, here's one thing I wanted to say too, is. Yeah, there is a.
I have come to believe having a large family and having my own business, that responsibility is something that we as men should seek after. We should want more. More responsibility.
And the. When I went from being an employee to a business owner, I felt a tangible weight on my shoulders.
It's. It is a weight of.
You know, first time I ever had trouble sleeping through the night, I was, I was. You know, because I'm like, hey, what if Mario doesn't show up tomorrow, right? And I've. I've called a crane to meet him there and, and he didn't show up. And then as happened, they're going to be mad at me. There's no one else. It's like, I am the guy that takes responsibility. And, you know, when you're working a corporate job, you're. I mean, my biggest worry is like, hey, I just try not to get fired if something happens. My boss can take care of it, you know?
[00:30:36] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: And I think. I think it was like this very, very tangible weight.
But through having that weight, you're growing as. As a man and you're learning to deal with hard things.
And I think that's really, really, really important to our maturity.
Yeah.
Yeah. And so going back to your question now, we got.
We got into the commercial space at the end of last year, and so we're just wrapping up a very big commercial project.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: So how today, how many sites are. Do you have guys working at?
[00:31:17] Speaker B: I think we have, like, right now we probably have six or seven jobs going on that we're trying to close.
I think we have like four to five jobs starting next week.
So it's. It's busy. I mean, hiring my brother was good timing because he's.
It's been. It's been very busy this year.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: And just, you know, just give it. Just analyze this. We don't need to know what your salary is, but would you, would you tell us what you think the company's gonna net this year?
[00:31:51] Speaker B: Maybe like 600, 600,000 maybe.
Yeah, we, we did about 2. 2 million in revenue the first couple years or, sorry, first three years. And then this year we had a very large, you know, multi million dollar commercial project on top.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: So what are revenues going to be this year?
[00:32:12] Speaker B: It's going to be close to.
There's going to be close to 4 million. I think.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: That's unbelievable. So the Lord has been very faithful as you walked out in faith. You applied all these skills. It's not like you were naive.
You, you, as you took baby steps into this industry, you go, there's an opportunity here. You've got Ross cheering you on, going like, come on in. The water is fine. We need you.
And, and as you step into the space, you go like, not only are my dreams going to come true as far as my. My sons can come along.
And is that happening, by the way? Your son's ever been to a gym site with you?
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ozzy could load a dumpster better than most men I know. He's. He's a workhorse.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: That's awesome. So this dream is coming true and you're finding the provision for my family isn't just there.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: It's Totally there. But I'm also finding God is growing me personally.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I couldn't.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: When you're talking about the weight that's on you as a business leader, I just think of, like, I just think about how proud I am when I walk into your home, like, for dinner, and I think, here's Sammy that's made this amazing meal for all of these people. You have a large family. And I think my Michael's made all of this happen, you know, by God's grace. But I'm just. It's like when you sit down. I'll just. Just set this up for our, Our. Our listeners. When you sit down to, like, a Shabbat meal and you start to preside at a Sabbath meal and you open up God's word, like, there's not. It's not just heartwarming for me. Like, I. I can get even, get emotional and just go like, this is the kingdom that's happening in this home. And this man is so qualified not only to lead this home, because this is what you do every single day, but I think this is what the church. This is the kingdom of God is made up of families just like this and men who are just like you, who are walking out in faith, trying their best, trying to figure something out and what. And when you walk to. When you collect with other men. We did this week, got together with a lot of other men, and you walk into this room and go, like, these are other guys who are. They're paying the price with their lives to, like, take responsibility.
And like, those are the guys whose needs I want under the table. I want to talk with those guys and go, like, what the. An elder in the, in the church of God isn't some, I don't know, some theoretician who has memorized a lot of Bible verses Biblically. It's a guy who, I'll quote first Timothy 3. He's learned to manage his Oikos well. And that includes money. That includes disciplining the kids. It includes provision and protection for your family. Anyways, I just. I have seen for you the growth that happened when you got married. That straightened you out a lot.
And then the weight of kids like you. Your kids have so many needs. They eat a ton of food.
The weight of children and then the weight of running a business. And I just feel like. I'll just speak for you, for you specifically, Michael. Like, I just so trust you.
I feel like I could throw any.
Anything at you, you know, if we died and I. And you had to take my girl. I'd be resting very easy in my grave going, like, of course Michael and Sam are going to take care of our girls just fine. That's no problem. Because you've just proven yourself so trustworthy in your own roof. It's kind of like, I don't know, it's. You are such a great example of everything that we want for men at Abraham's Wallet in general. So I'm very excited.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: When we met and I was in college and you were pulling me out of the party scene, did you ever think we'd be here?
[00:36:22] Speaker A: Oh, and you had your Mohawk.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Oh, no.
I was thinking, boy, if we could get to keep this guy out of jail, that would be great.
And you had a dream of being a pro golfer. And I thought, I don't know that that's going to put you in a great place.
But you know what? God connect you to a wonderful woman and he straightened you right on out.
[00:36:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:49] Speaker A: So just.
We're almost done, but let me just ask, do you have any. You mentioned. I'm just going to review. You mentioned diligence, like just paying the price with. With your time and diligence. You also mentioned community.
You said, it's great to have your brother as an encourage to kind of share the load. It was great to have Ross to be an encouragement along the way.
I also have to throw in here that you guys have been very faithful at honoring the Sabbath, so that REST has always been present, even in this. Even in these stressful times. So I'm just going to throw it on you and say, do you have any tips for guys? I mean, I. I think of. There's so many specific people in the ABS community.
I think of our dear friend Mike in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, and he's got all these little side businesses, and he wants to. He wants to do the same thing, providing for his family.
What.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: What do you.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: What do you say to those guys who. They're in the middle of it and that's not quite panned out for them. They're in. They're in the thick of it right now.
What are the. What are the things that you go, well, you got to know this. You got to keep this thing down.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I think trying different things and going after them is, I think, really important because you learn a lot. You learn a lot more in your failures than you do in your. In the successes.
And I think if, you know, if God is leading you and you feel good about it, I Mean, you literally can't lose, you know, doing what, what, what God's asking you to do.
But I, Yeah, I mean, share. Share your vision with, with people around you. I mean, I had a friend, Lucas Cole, he gave me all the EOS training for free.
I just had to be at his house at 6am and that really, that really helped get me going.
And I think people are like, they want to help you and they want to see you succeed. You just, you just, you have to just do it. Like, Like, I think the thing that probably holds back most people is they just are afraid of the risk.
And it's, it really is an illusion. If you have something that you can make money with, just, Just keep doing it, keep going.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: Awesome.
Thanks for telling your story, Michael. You're. You're a huge encouragement.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: All right, thanks, Stephen.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: Well, fellas, if that conversation stirred something in you, I encourage you to not let it fade.
So if, if you feel like maybe God's calling you to get out of your comfort zone and, and launch something that's specifically for your family legacy, I encourage you this week to carve out 30 minutes to pray about that business idea. Sometimes just turning over our goals and thoughts to the Lord will give us fresh revelation. We'll have a, we'll have a thought of somebody that we should, should call or some steps that we should take to prepare.
I would encourage you to chat with your bride about this vision and maybe crack open, crack open proverbs or a fresh word from God on diligence, for instance, which Michael certainly displayed the idea, if you feel called to start your own company the way that Michael did, or he mentioned Ross Dykstra or I mentioned Joe Freudenberg.
These dudes that are all pursuing this thing that they want. We want our work to be meaningful for our family legacy.
You're not just building a company.
The idea is that we want to forge a family legacy like Abraham himself.
So that's why we exist. By the way, whether you feel called to start a business or. Or not, we exist to equip and inspire family leaders like you to. To lead Abrahamically in your homes. So come over to abrahamswallet.com we'd love for you to be part of our community at ur. You get an invite with a private invite into the community of ER by going to abrahamswallet.com support and being part of our team.
That is a wrap on this edition of Abraham's Wallet. I bless you guys to lead well and to run your home and dough like a biblical boss.
