Ever faced a crossroads where the choice was between easy money and sticking to your morals? Our esteemed guest, Chris Lee, takes us through his remarkable decision involving a Michael Jordan jersey that set the tone for his life in entrepreneurship. A family man and devout follower of Jesus, Chris embodies the essence of integrity, and in this heartfelt session, he unwraps the layers of leadership where honor is paramount.
This installment isn't just about the guiding principles of business; it's a candid journey from the beginnings in a humble garage to the heights of a solar industry powerhouse. With Chris’s insights and my own 'COAL' strategy—Culture, Offering, Accountability, Leadership—listeners get an exclusive look into the framework that drives company culture, employee loyalty, and customer satisfaction. The chat takes a turn towards resilience as we unravel the life lessons from my personal bankruptcy and how those dark days fuelled my mission to assist other businesses in finding their path to prosperity.
Wrapping things up, we're not shying away from the tough stuff. Chris gets real about the emotional and financial turmoil following his business's downfall, and how vulnerability became his source of strength. It's a story of redemption and the power of relationships over financial gain, culminating in the triumph of repaying the faith his family placed in him. Join us for an episode that's as much about the spirit of leadership as it is about the strategy, where you'll leave with a renewed sense of what it means to build a business rooted in integrity and human connection.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it on social media and tag Ken Joslin.
Ever faced a crossroads where the choice was between easy money and sticking to your morals? Our esteemed guest, Chris Lee, takes us through his remarkable decision involving a Michael Jordan jersey that set the tone for his life in entrepreneurship. A family man and devout follower of Jesus, Chris embodies the essence of integrity, and in this heartfelt session, he unwraps the layers of leadership where honor is paramount.
This installment isn't just about the guiding principles of business; it's a candid journey from the beginnings in a humble garage to the heights of a solar industry powerhouse. With Chris’s insights and my own 'COAL' strategy—Culture, Offering, Accountability, Leadership—listeners get an exclusive look into the framework that drives company culture, employee loyalty, and customer satisfaction. The chat takes a turn towards resilience as we unravel the life lessons from my personal bankruptcy and how those dark days fuelled my mission to assist other businesses in finding their path to prosperity.
Wrapping things up, we're not shying away from the tough stuff. Chris gets real about the emotional and financial turmoil following his business's downfall, and how vulnerability became his source of strength. It's a story of redemption and the power of relationships over financial gain, culminating in the triumph of repaying the faith his family placed in him. Join us for an episode that's as much about the spirit of leadership as it is about the strategy, where you'll leave with a renewed sense of what it means to build a business rooted in integrity and human connection.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it on social media and tag Ken Joslin.
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of as the leader grows. I've got an amazing guest for you guys today my good friend, chris Lee. This cat is, he's done it all Family man loves Jesus. Master of culture. Keynote speaker. Just told me he traveled 45 days in in January and there's only 31 days in the month. If he he he poured into about 10 million people. Two nine figure exits. Runs a mastermind, runs a coaching program, amazing wife, amazing kids. Chris Lee, what's up, my friend?
Speaker 2:So how man excited to be here, let me. Let me just correct no, 45 days, it was 17 days, but I appreciate the exaggeration.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, you do work, you do work that hard, my friend.
Speaker 2:Appreciate it, thank you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude. Well, talk to me real quick. Just backstory for everybody who's not, who's listening to my podcast. We just recorded your podcast and we get on right here real quick. So I want to talk about something that has nothing to do with what I want to talk about, and that's that. That's that, michael Jeffrey Jordan Jersey you have hanging behind you. Why that Jersey?
Speaker 2:You know, this, this Jersey is actually very significant to me, actually the way I got it, and so, first of all, I love Michael Jordan greatest of all time, you know, fantastic ball player, but that's, that's not the reason I hang these, this Jersey, back here. So this, this Jersey, signifies a time where I could have been dishonest in winning a competition and I and I chose not to, and so I I used to compete in sales competitions my background's in the door to door sales space and in 2012, I won a very large competition. I ended up winning a Range Rover. It was really cool and, you know, largest incentive I've ever gotten in in sales. And the very next year, I was in a very similar type competition 256 man bracket and I, I, I make it back to the championship and I'm up against this guy named Frank Brown, and you know there was a.
Speaker 2:There was an opportunity that I had to be dishonest where I had some, so and it was within the interesting thing was within the rules of the game, like I could have justified it.
Speaker 2:So the way it worked was with we were installing home security systems, we'd sell them, get them installed and as long as you only had like a certain amount of cancellations, like a certain percentage. They actually contributed to your overall score and I had no cancellations, and so I had a few people that were willing to actually get the system installed and then cancel, and it would have technically, like I said, been within the rules. But you know, I've always been a big, a big believer in that. You know you get what goes around comes around, and and you know, if I'm going to operate in the gray, I'm going to get the gray in return. And so in that moment, I chose not to, not to win that competition, in that, in that method. And this jersey was the runner up prize, and so it was. It was second place in that competition. And so for me, whenever I, whenever I look at it and I think about it, it reminds me of when I chose integrity over dollars.
Speaker 1:Dude, I love that. What was the first place price?
Speaker 2:That year. So it was actually a different company than when I won my Range Rover, for it was like like an 85 inch TV and then like a five day vacation at like this super high end resort in a few different things it was like. It was like a 15 or $20,000 package, but yeah, so I took, I got the jersey instead.
Speaker 1:Walk me through. I love that. I love the character and the integrity of the piece is huge. Walk me through that lesson You've you've founded, built, exited two nine figure companies. Walk me through the principle and the lesson and the things you learned with that Jordan jersey that helped you become an amazing leader and build two phenomenal companies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean really the principle that's like no amount of money is ever, ever worth sacrificing your integrity for and no amount of recognition, prizes, fame, whatever it is, because ultimately, who I am is really the only thing that goes with me after this life and throughout this life. Right, money can come and go, recognition can come and go. I mean, we see it happen all the time that somebody's famous for 15 minutes and then they're off off the shelf and you know, I never want to be the person that is like trying that. That, you know, is a piece of crap that accomplished a few great things. And so, yeah, it's always just been my good moral compass in building my businesses and making sure that I take care of my customers, both my internal customers, which are my employees, and my external customers, which are my end users of whatever product or service I represent.
Speaker 1:And so yeah, I don't know where that was instilled, chris. Where'd that come from? Because there are a lot of we talked to, we talk a lot, and there are a lot of entrepreneurs that were the shortcut of that in two seconds and not thought anything about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, my, my parents were always great examples, you know, of just being someone, of integrity and my faith you know like, for me, faith and family are above all else.
Speaker 2:And yeah, like it, just you know I saw it happen over and over again growing up that my, my parents chose their faith, they chose their reputation as people of integrity, time in time again, over over money and so, and the cool thing is, I actually believe since I'm a pretty smart dude and you know how to make money that that it actually works to my benefit, that more, more people are actually attracted to me because I'm a person of integrity and that I actually make more money because of it.
Speaker 2:And so, you know, throughout you know a lot of a lot of people outside the sales culture believe that salespeople are trashy and slimy and everything else, and I'm a believer that actually the more integrity, the more upfront and straightforward you are with customers, the more success that you'll have.
Speaker 2:Like there there's like this level of like mediocrity and you can get above mediocrity with dishonesty, but then you can get above that with like true integrity and so, and so I've always prided myself in being that person that sells with integrity, builds with integrity represents with with integrity because you know and it's funny because you know it's being it's more and more difficult in the day and age that we live in to be to be a liar. We live in the information age where people can quickly fact check you and so it comes out in a bites a lot of people in the butt when they, when they lie to people or they, they operate in the gray or whatnot, and so I just never wanted to to be in that position where I get fact checked or someone's like wow, I can't believe he did that, or whatever it is, just because, yeah, who I am and what I represent means way more than any type of money.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, man, the peace and the building to be able to lay your head down on the pillow at nighttime, knowing you lived that day with character and integrity and that you did exactly what you said you were going to do is huge, huge. Walk me through. So you built. You built two huge companies. Walk me through the first. The first company was solar company. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they were both in the solar industry. The first one was with me as the main founder. The second one was me as a consultant that helped to strategize, but I had equity in the business. I was a co-founder of that. I wasn't in the day to day operations, but but yeah, so it's interesting I actually consulted another nine figure exit that I didn't have equity in, but I did help them get, get going with their strategy and everything else, and they ended up exiting for the next nine figures. So I've created a pretty good blueprint for success.
Speaker 2:And but yeah, so launched launched my business out of my garage in 2017. And this was after many years already in my career. I was 13 years into my career doing sales and marketing and management, owning other businesses. Most of them were just mediocre and some of them are failures none of them massive successes but I learned a lot and was taking notes along the way, and so when I when I finally launched out of my garage in 2017, I had an exact strategy in which I was going to go to market and you know, much of that was centered around investing in the right things, not not robbing from the business too early to satisfy my own ego and and then ultimately building a good culture with a great offer.
Speaker 2:There's, there's four things.
Speaker 2:So I'm writing a book right now called the Founders Core, and I talk about, like, the personal core, and then also the Founders Core, or the business owner side of the core, and and the business core.
Speaker 2:In order to keep the energy flowing in a business, the fire has to keep rocking, and the way you keep fire rolling is you add coal to the fire, and coal stands for culture, offering accountability and leadership, and so you know those are the things that that I've become best in class at is driving great culture perfecting an offer from a standpoint of like, where I'm positioned in the market, how it's being marketed, how it's being sold, and then the accountability aspect, with with proper KPIs, and then the leadership, the leadership aspect. And so those are my focuses whenever I, whenever I go, look at a business now, because now I consulting firm, where we invest into businesses and consult for equity and those type of things, and we always look at those core four of where, what are they failing in and how, where can we add value? And and as long as there's some weakness in one of those four, then I know that there's there's value that I can add to an organization.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about culture, because culture is like the buzzword right. Oh we got great culture, oh, we need to build culture. At what point, chris, in building businesses and not being successful, did the light bulb go off and you have the aha moment of ha? Here's what it needs to look like and here's the steps that I need to take to be able to create it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, after my. So my first business resulted in a personal bankruptcy lost everything. It was terrible. And after that I built small little businesses and I realized that I sucked at culture and there was an aspect to that I was missing and I didn't necessarily know that it was culture. And so when I went, I went for four and a half years.
Speaker 2:I went and worked for three other companies and specifically with the intent to study the CEOs and exactly what they were doing, and one of the things that I recognized immediately is like they created this, like diehard culture. It was like a cult, right Like the root form of culture, and where people were drinking the Kool-Aid, super excited about showing up to work. There was a different energy, different vibe. And so then I started studying. Okay, like, how are they creating this? Because, to your point, culture is a buzzword. Most people know what a good culture feels like, but they don't necessarily know how to design it. And so, you know, one of the things I did was started studying from mentors and reading books and studying these CEOs and really like taking notes of, like, how do I create culture by design and not default, because most people, when they're running a business, their, their culture is just created by default. Whatever happens happens, you know, sometimes it's good because they're naturally good at it, but other other times they don't pay attention and then just goes downhill. And so I actually have created a 10 step process to make sure that you design a perfect culture.
Speaker 2:And you know, just kind of going through some of those things like, first and foremost is like it's like the foundation of what, why you are building what you're building, and that has to do with your mission and vision statement. So mission mission is does not is ambiguous to an industry. Right, you can, if, like, for example, my, my business. Our mission statement was building a brighter future for our people. Yeah, brighter, had a little bit of a tide of the solar industry, but but we could change industries, change strategies and that mission could continue to, to drive, and so, and you know, and then what does that mean?
Speaker 2:Brighter future we're creating a better future, we for our people. Our people are our end users, our employees, right, like that's our whole. And then the vision is actually like more industry specific of exactly what you're trying. What is the northern star that everybody's going to try to accomplish? And for us it was becoming the largest solar provider and the gold standard of of this, of the solar industry, and and so that was what we were always striving for rowing the boat towards everything like that. So that's like foundationally where you have to be, so let me ask.
Speaker 1:let me ask you a question. Let me back up and stop you back up just a little bit. What were some of the things you did, like action, things you did as you're building your team, because you talked about, like the, the Kool-Aid culture, like you wanted to build that. What were some of the things that you had to do every single day that relied on you and your senior leadership team to be able to build that kind of culture?
Speaker 2:So kind of kind of going along. Like you, you have to have this mission and vision first, right. If you don't have a mission and vision, you have nothing to get people to buy into right. And then that also goes with core values, like you have to have anywhere from three to seven core values that you have dialed in that they say this is who we are, what we represent. And so to give you an idea of like things that we would do on a regular basis, core values are not just something that we have on the wall, but it's it's taglines in our emails, recognition on a regular basis on who's representing a certain core value. You know, giving awards out for those type of things. But also hiring, firing, promotion and recognition were all based off of our core values. And so, like, when you're sitting down with somebody and you're seeing if they're falling short, you would measure them up against the core values. So so there would be KPIs.
Speaker 2:So in Jim Collins book good to great, he talks about being on the right. The right, the right person in the right seat on the on the right bus. The right bus is your organization. The right seat is the actual job title that they have. Right, like what they're doing on a daily basis. And the right person has to do with the core values, and so sometimes you have somebody that aligns with your core values but is in the wrong seat. They're not performing on their KPIs.
Speaker 2:So when you're analyzing somebody in your organization, you analyze them up two things One are the KPIs associated with their. So KPIs are key performance indicators and and are they? Are they measuring up in that particular, in that particular position? And then two, are they the right person? And by the right person is do they align with my core values? Are they falling short? Are they? Are they always? Do they always strive for excellence? So like, for example, our core values were synergy, outside the box thinking, love of family, generosity, excellence and no excuses. And so you would go through those six core values and you you would say, all right, does this person always demonstrate these, sometimes demonstrate these or never demonstrate these? And you go through them. And if you ever find somebody that's not the right person, I don't care how good they're at their job, you've got to get rid of them.
Speaker 1:Right, like and how hard was that for you in that process, Chris? To have somebody that was good at their job or somebody that you liked, but they could not emulate or model the core values, and you had to make a tough decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, those are. Those are the toughest decisions we have as business owners. One is when you have the right person but in the wrong seat and there's no seats available for them. Right, like they just don't have a skill set that applies within your organization, but they're awesome. Right, they're incredible at the core values or the, or the opposite. They're like let's use a salesperson, for example, they're awesome producer in sales, and you're like they're generating so much money but they're freaking negative, or you know, they show up to work late or whatever else. Like you've got, you've got to.
Speaker 2:As a business owner, you have to make a decision that I don't care how tough it is, I gotta make. I gotta make these type of decisions. And and they are difficult, like you know, my first fires or were the hardest, yeah, cuz I hadn't owned a business for about four and a half years and so I hadn't really had to fire anybody. Yeah, and and so that that was very difficult, but it was early on. Like principles that we operated by is like we only keep people on the bus that are the right people and so, so that is like absolutely necessary to to building, building a great culture. And then there's all the, the extracurriculars. Like Consistency is the number one driver of culture.
Speaker 2:Like if you decide you're going to do something within your business, you have to be consistent about it, because if you say, hey, okay, now on we're gonna be doing this update, meaning every Monday at 9 o'clock, and you do it this Monday at 9 o'clock, and then you miss next week, and then you miss the week after and then you miss the week after, right, people are just like out of this person's just this. This business owner, he, you know, doesn't heat. There's no consistency, he's not a man of his word or whatever else. He doesn't do what he says he's gonna do, and so then, anytime you make changes or you come up with something else, they're just gonna take it with a grain of salt. The biggest thing with consistency isn't perfection, it's ownership of the truth and so we can use the same example.
Speaker 2:I say we're gonna start doing Weekly update meetings at 9 o'clock, and I do it the first week. In the second week I miss. Now what most business owners would do is they would just ignore it and they would either either Start it up again or they would just stop doing it. Right, they, but they're never going to address the actual truth that the fact is that they missed the second week. So the biggest thing that you can do as a business owner is own the truth. And so you come back out. You're like hey guys, we screwed up. We didn't do our update meeting like we said we were going to do on Monday, the 9th. We were going to pick it back up this this next week and we were gonna do our darnest to do it every every week. And then, whenever you fail, you own it Right. Like that. That's literally just a Super easy secret sauce and building a great culture.
Speaker 2:People want transparency, people want the truth, they want to know that, like that, they can count on you. And then, when you fail, you're going to own the fact that you failed and you're gonna, you're gonna get, try to get back up on the horse, and so so, like those are, those are key values. You know other things, like just consistent efforts. Like you know Me, I'm a big like interaction and energy guy. Every single morning, going through and giving high fives to every single person, telling them good morning, how are you, how was your, how was your weekend, how was your day? Just a good opportunity to connect, and that's like a level of consistency, see, that created from when we had five employees in the garage to when we had 400 people showing up at our, at our headquarters, on a daily basis, and and so that was an investment that I would do on a consistent basis, and I Mean there's so many, there's so many things that go into Building great culture, but, like those are some of the foundational things.
Speaker 1:I love that. So the culture stuff you talked about the coal. Can we talk about some of the stuff that happened in your first bankruptcy? It's some of the deaths you had to pay back Because we talked earlier about about character and integrity and one of the things that I loved about your story that you shared with me. And then I sat and watched you on David Chan's podcast Talk about some of the original investors in your first company that you had to file bankruptcy on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, originally on my very first business I want, you was 24. I was very, you know, self-deceived. I thought I was gonna be an incredible entrepreneur because Previously I'd been successful in sales. I'm like I'm already doing everything that the business owner does, like why don't I just go and do it myself? You know, I was a highly trained technician but I wasn't an entrepreneur, and so I could sell ice to an Eskimo and Include the. Those Eskimos included my father and my father-in-law. So my father-in-law invested a million dollars into my, my first business, and he was a successful dairyman. And then my dad, who was a school teacher and just been a very disciplined investor throughout his life, invested about two hundred thousand dollars in my business and To, just over two years later, we we found ourselves in the heat of the, the 08 meltdown. We launched a business in 08. So 2010 into 2010.
Speaker 2:I couldn't pay my bills, made a lot of poor decisions, did a lot of things for ego, brought on bad partners. I did things to impress other people from a standpoint of my offer. We wanted to be the cheapest in the market and pay the most to our employees and all the just terrible things, and yeah, so ended up ended up losing it all and had a file bankruptcy. January 2011. January 26, 2011. So it's been been 13 years, right about now that that a file bankruptcy had less than a thousand dollars on my bank account.
Speaker 2:Car Reput on in my driveway you know my third baby was on on its way. You know life was life was raw at that point and you know it's an extremely difficult time where you know I had to go and you know having family involved as investors is a terrible idea. But but, yeah, I had to, had to take ownership and you know, for the longest time, that was very damaging to to the relationship with my father-in-law. My dad was a was a champion. Yeah, he took it, took it like a champ and how hard was that for you, chris?
Speaker 1:to have to go to your father-in-law Because I mean, I would imagine your dad as your dad but having to go to your wife's father, knowing that not only is it the father that's gonna be disappointed, but I hurt my wife's father, right, I mean you through that conversation, that's yeah, extremely hard man, it sucks like.
Speaker 2:You know. I went to him in tears and you know I still remember you sitting on my couch and I said, dude, I, you know I lost it all. It's gone like I'm filing bankruptcy and I Don't know how I'm gonna repay you. I do know that I'm going to figure it out, but right now there's there's really no way out.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, he didn't take it very well and you know, we spent four or five years not on really good talking terms and On the flip side, my dad, which was equally as difficult to talk about, he, you know, he looked me in the eyes and said don't worry, son, I know you'll make it right. So, like that, that vote of confidence and you know, just in my corner and you know, going going back to like being being someone of integrity and that wasn't driven by money and that didn't value money more than relationships. You know that that was something that I learned at a young age and it was continued to, to be taught to me as an adult that no amount of money could could ever be worth sacrificing what's most important. And so, yeah, my dad, my dad was awesome through through the whole process and yeah, walk me through that.
Speaker 1:You said the next four or five years were rough with your father-in-law Thanksgiving, Christmas, kids' birthdays, all this stuff. What did you learn through navigating through that next four or five years with your father-in-law about you and about your marriage?
Speaker 2:I mean, first off, my wife is awesome, right, like she always backed me and you know she.
Speaker 2:Obviously it sucked that I lost money for dad, but but yeah, like over the next four or five years, like I never wanted to be found alone in the same room with my father-in-law, just always ended up with awkward conversation and whatnot. Looking back, I wish I would have just been more upfront and you know, and like address the elephant in the room, you know. So I avoided a lot of the hard conversations initially and it's interesting, like for the longest time, I didn't want anyone to know that I'd filed bankruptcy. In fact, you know I'd lie about things, like you know somebody, somebody would be like, hey, what happened to your car? And you know it'd been repoed and I was like, oh, I sold it, you know, or just just just things like that. Right, really really avoiding the truth, and it's interesting. So I filed bankruptcy in 2011 and about 2014,. I make the decision that I'm gonna own what had actually happened to me and and once I became very free, sharing and giving of my experience, like it became very powerful And- Was there.
Speaker 1:Was there a moment, chris, or something that happened that made you go? Nope, I gotta own this.
Speaker 2:I don't remember an exact moment, but I do remember the very first time that I shared it publicly. I think the app at the time was Periscope.
Speaker 2:Yeah which people, which people were sharing live videos on. And I got on Periscope and I had a bunch of people that knew me on there and it was interesting. I remember there was this girl named Jenna she was. She was the wife of a guy that had worked for me at the time when my business went out of business and and I know they didn't like me at the moment, right, like business fails, he's out of job, right, they think you know Chris is screwing people. Whatever.
Speaker 2:You know, when you go through bankruptcy, people don't never see the one side. They think that somehow, like you stole money or whatever I don't know. But so Jenna's on this Periscope and I share, like everything, like my side of the story of like what led to our failure and bankruptcy and everything else. And I still remember, like her comment on there she's like, oh, chris, like I didn't realize how young you were, like, and it was actually, it was actually a good compliment, like, like, like she thought, like in those days that I was like purposely screwing them, but reality I was just baby Chris that was trying to figure out life and you know, and but that time when I shared that on Periscope, I got such an overwhelming positive response of like owning my failure, then I'm like I've got to start sharing this more, and so I turned it from being like something that I was ashamed of or I'd lie about to something that I like, embraced and used as a powerful foundation to be able to change my life from there on out.
Speaker 1:You know with that. But show people, show other people Like it's okay to be vulnerable, it's okay for you to share your truth so you can find healing in the change. So you start your solar company. It starts doing well, walk me through like was there a process in your solar company? You're like, yes, I'm going to be able to pay my father-in-law back and my dad back.
Speaker 2:You know, I always knew I would be able to pay them back. So, like that wasn't my main driver, like I knew, I knew I'd pay them back, right, like so, although I was looking forward to getting that monkey off my back, it wasn't the main thing. Like you know, by the time I'd started my solar company, I'd actually been fairly successful. But one thing I always told my dad and my father-in-law I'm like, look, I'm not going to pay you back a payments, like it's going to be one chunk and it's going to be after I take care of my family, and so, like I was making a lot of investments and things like that over time. But yeah, you know, we started taking off.
Speaker 2:You know we started at the end of 2017, 2018 was our first full year running business. We did, you know, 17 million in business that year. The next year, I think, we did 33 or 34 million, and then it just kept being a rocket ship. You know, 2022, the last year that I was the CEO of the business we did 233 million and you know it was just a really, really cool experience. You know, running the whole thing, building incredible people. We had over a thousand employees, built this amazing culture we ended up selling off to private equity. Just kind of a dream come true, you know, and yeah, it was just a phenomenal experience.
Speaker 1:How fulfilling was that for you personally to watch what you had built, and because I again, you and I have shared a lot and I've heard your heart a lot on being able to help families like the girl that was on your Periscope be successful and be financially sound and be in a culture that is amazing where people really genuinely care for the employees and you're not just somebody who's making me money and helping me grow my business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, it's interesting when you're a part of a rocket ship, like ours was, I mean, we were growing at 300%. When you're in the moment, you don't necessarily see it, you actually have to kind of remove yourself. And so every once in a while I would just like start reflecting and I'd like pull back. Maybe I'd talk to an outsider perspective and like, dude, you realize what you're doing, like and like it didn't even, it didn't even seem real in the moment. I just but then I, but every once in a while I get hit with something like oh, wow, yeah, this is awesome. Like we are, we are changing lives. We are providing for so many different families opportunities.
Speaker 2:Like some of my, some of my favorite experiences in running that business was like there was a, the lady in my company. She was in her sixties, been with us for about six months, and she comes up to me one day and she's like hey, chris, did you know that I've dropped 30 pounds since working here? I said really, and she's like yeah, it's all because of you. Guys just have such a great focus on health and taking care of yourself and everything. It's like it's naturally created a desire in me to go and live that life and you know, and so like.
Speaker 2:That's an example of fitness. But, like we, I get those type of things in relationships, in finances, in spirituality. You know people coming and asking for me to pray for them. You know, like those were always just like the sweetest experiences that I have, like where because my mission in life is not to provide a paycheck for people I think that's like a derivative of greatness, but it's like to really change people physically, economically, their associations in their society as a father, mother, brother, sister, and then their spiritual side, and like that, as we change and morph that whole human right, they become the best economic provider.
Speaker 2:or employer for your organization and yeah, I mean that's the center of my culture that I created and yeah, and those are probably the most like, the most fulfilling things were the things outside of the economic side.
Speaker 1:I love that. Talk to me about the day you went to your father-in-law and handed him a million dollar check.
Speaker 2:You know, it was actually cooler when I paid my dad off.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:My father-in-law. It was just kind of like a relief it's over, like here you go.
Speaker 2:Don't bring it up ever again type deal. I didn't say that, but but it wasn't some big like heaven's open experience, it was just like it's done. Yeah, With my father, you know, I cut a check and took my guy Levi. Levi was my employee number eight at my business. He actually has since left that business, is working with me now, Just guy that I love.
Speaker 2:He secretly was recorded on his cell phone and I went to my parents' house and brought out the check and gave it to him and just like tears of my eyes, tears in their eyes, and the thing that I put in the memo on that check was for always believing in me. And so, just like I said, my dad never doubted. And the cool thing was is like I paid him off. But throughout the journey I'd also been able to take care of him. I'd given him a truck, a nice truck. I had had him co-invest in real estate with me and helped him build nearly a million dollars in real estate portfolio, in equity and you know just other different things. But yeah, it was a sweet moment to be able to give him that initial investment back and just say thanks for always.
Speaker 1:How much of your dad's belief in you, or how much did it help your dad's belief in you, believe in people that worked with you and people that were on your team?
Speaker 2:So I guess I don't understand the question.
Speaker 1:Like how much of your dad instilling in you his belief in you, how much of that rubbed off in your belief in the team that you were building. Like you just talked about your guy who fell in love.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. Like, yeah, my dad was always there during the rough times. And, like, you know, when I went back to work for other people and I started knocking doors again and doing different things, like, yeah, my dad was my number one cheerleader, right Like when I won my Range Rover or, you know, won the Jordan jersey back here, like my dad was the first one calling me every night. And yeah, it just yeah, he was always there for me. So, like, how did that impact my team? Like, yeah, like I think without my dad and his just belief in me, I wouldn't have continued on the path of success. And because, like, when I was down in the dumps, there was really only three people that believed in me, it was my dad, my wife and my business partner Darrell. And like, outside of all those guys, like most people were telling me to go back to school, get a real job. You know, go. And.
Speaker 1:The old. Get a real job to the entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:It quit chasing the money. It's gonna keep eluding you, eluding you, so yeah.
Speaker 1:But you knew there was something inside of you that you knew that I'm gonna get this right, I'm gonna figure this out, because it wasn't about the money to you. It really was about the mission and the purpose that got it put in your heart.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah. I've always been convinced that God put me on this earth to change and impact many lives and millions of lives, and I've got a message to share with the world and inspiration to be, and so that's like my passion right now. Now that I've exited my business, I am sharing free education with the world through my podcast and writing books and speaking on stages and consulting, and you know like that's where I derive my purpose and I really am confident that I'm going to change millions of lives.
Speaker 1:I love that man. What's the biggest lesson you think you've learned through this process, chris, of being an entrepreneur? Maybe a couple of the top things that you've learned.
Speaker 2:So I think the biggest thing is like never work for an outcome. Work for like falling in love with the process. You know, forget about the fruit, forget about what the potential end result is like, focus on being come in the great tree that can bear fruit. You know I am a big tree guy. Many people on my podcast have heard me talk about this but you know I own Cherry Tree, I own Cherry Trees I plant, I have nine acres of Cherry Trees, 4,000 trees.
Speaker 2:And the thing about I love about a fruit tree is that you can do everything right. You can water it, you can fertilize it, you can prune it all perfectly. And the outside elements, whether it's a late freeze or a rainstorm or whatnot, can damage the blossoms or can damage the fruit or whatever else in where you don't get an actual crop. And you know, I think too often in life people, when they don't get the fruit, that they want the money in the bank account, the points on the scoreboard or whatever, instead of thinking, oh, like I just need to go one more season they're going to chop the tree down Because they think the tree is bad.
Speaker 2:But the reality is the tree was great, just the season was wrong, and so I, you know, just the focus of always doing the things to becoming a fruit bearing tree or tree that has the potential to bear fruit, and not time my emotions or my feelings to the fruit or the outcomes right and and I think I think that's what God really wants from us is just being, just being incredible tree and I love that.
Speaker 1:It's about the process. We talked about that earlier today. The joy is in the destination. It really is when you can embrace the process and you can learn to love the morning routine and the early alarm, the workout and all the stuff that really, that is really what sharpens you into becoming the man or the woman that God intended you to be, so that you can, in turn, have the influence and impact that you want to have and that God desires for you to have. Chris, what's the best way for people to get connected with you?
Speaker 2:So Instagram is a great route. At Chris Lee QB, like quarterback, the founder podcast is is one of the best places that you can come and learn from me. Have released 70 episodes. I think we have another 20 in the. You're a top 25 podcast in the country I think I saw yeah, yeah, so it's, I think, the top 25 or 30 in business and top 15 in entrepreneurship. Yeah, it's. It's been fun, really, really cool passion project for me.
Speaker 1:I love it, man. What are you excited about? What are some things coming up for Chris Lee that he is like super passionate about?
Speaker 2:And I'm passionate about. I host these really cool masterminds. It's like where I get most of my energy. I get 10 to 12 high performing entrepreneurs in a room for three days and we connect on a super deep level and those are the most enjoyable things that I do. I just finished one up in northern Idaho in March, heading out to my.
Speaker 2:I have this beautiful property in on the big island in Hawaii 25 foot waterfall. The property used to be owned by the king of Hawaii. It's where he had his own personal residence before he sold it off in 1860. It's just like a unique spiritual paradise that I that I get to go and spend time with incredible entrepreneurs and connect at a whole new level. So you know that's. That's some of the stuff that's top on top of mind for me. But yeah, we're we're building a, a course right now for the home improvement sector, which I'm really excited about. It's called next level home pros. Just finished shooting module to, which is a total of 57 videos thus far, and so we got four modules that we're going to be releasing and it's basically this this whole culture offer, accountability and leadership and how you take it and to scale your home, home improvement, home service product business and so pretty, pretty excited about that. That's. That's a lot of stuff I got going on.
Speaker 1:I love your heart, man. I love the way you love to pour into people and and really just be a light man and and help people become the best version of themselves. Dude, thank you for joining us today. Thank you, mr Ken. And you're welcome guys thank you for joining us on another episode of as the leader grows. I am your host, ken Johnson. We will see you next week.