As The Leader Grows with Ken Joslin

Austin Cheviron | Turning the Tide: From Welfare to Real Estate Success

• Ken Joslin

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Have you ever wondered how someone can turn their life around from being on welfare to becoming a top real estate agent in just a few short years? Today, we have the inspiring Austin Cheviron with us, who shares his incredible journey from struggling at age 28 to achieving phenomenal success by age 32. Austin opens up about the pivotal moment at a free clinic that sparked his transformation and the vital role of having a clear vision, effective systems, and impactful mentors.

Mentorship can change everything, and Austin's story is a testament to that. He reveals how Brian Buffini's content initially served as a distant beacon of hope and guidance before he found direct mentorship. In this episode, we discuss how integrating faith into all facets of life and business has been instrumental in Austin's personal and professional growth. Hear the touching story of a client who became a profound spiritual mentor, steering Austin toward a balanced and fulfilling life. This chapter is all about the influential power of mentors who provide more than just business advice.

Balancing business success with personal well-being is no easy feat, yet Austin has managed to do just that. He shares his approach to maintaining a 38.5-hour workweek to ensure quality family time while running a thriving real estate business. We explore essential themes like tracking time and resources, embracing core values, and the transformative power of a giving mindset. Austin's personal anecdotes, including the stress-induced health scare that led him to re-evaluate his priorities, offer valuable lessons on achieving a life of impact and purpose. Join us for an episode filled with heartfelt stories and practical advice for anyone looking to achieve both personal and professional fulfillment.

Welcome to the ATLG podcast I am your host Ken Joslin, former pastor turned coach & host of CREATE, the #1 Faith-based Entrepreneur conference in America. My mission is to help faith-based entrepreneurs become the best version of themselves by growing in our Core 5: Faith, Health, Relationships, Business & Finances. You can get more information as well as join our FREE Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/676347099851525

If you enjoyed the podcast, come join our FREE GSD Community of hundreds of entrepreneurs & a ton of FREE Content including CREATE Conference recordings with Ken, John Maxwell, Gary Brecka, Ed Mylett & more. growstackdrive.com/free

Speaker 1:

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of as the Leader Grows. I am your host, Ken Jocelyn. I got a treat for you today. Ladies and gentlemen, I've got my good friend Austin Chevron. This guy runs one of the top coaching organizations for real estate agents in America. Not only is he a coach of real estate agents, but he also is a top real estate, one of the top real estate agents in the country and in the Midwest.

Speaker 2:

Austin, good to see you, my friend. Thank you, Ken. Thank you, Ken. Love hanging out with you here again.

Speaker 1:

Hey, do me a favor, take a minute real quick and just tell our audience a little bit about you.

Speaker 2:

Okay, Quick story. I'm 40 years old, married 17 years, two kids, 14 and 11. So that's the cornerstone of everything I do. Everything's based around my faith and my family. So I want to start with that. I think what's good for the audience to know is since I was six, I've been surrounded by real estate agents because my father's been a real estate agent. So that's 85% of my life has been around real estate agents. So when we get into why I do what I do, it's a lot because of my childhood and what I've learned and the people I've been around. So I was licensed at 20. So for 20 years I've been licensed.

Speaker 2:

At 28, I was on welfare At 32,. I was one of the top agents in the state of Indiana. One of the top agents in the state of Indiana. 33, I started training and coaching real estate agents. Once people figured out like I knew, I had an idea what I was doing, which is pretty cool. 36, ran one of the top teams in the country and we are just all in with impact now.

Speaker 1:

I love it. So talk to me about. There's a lot of transitions in that story. 28 years old and on welfare, like. Take me back to 28 year old Austin. What was, what was that journey in that season in your life, like?

Speaker 2:

no vision, living day to day, um, no goals, no faith was. Faith has always been my um. My faith right now is, is beautiful, it guides me, it helps me that I don't even have to make decisions because the decisions already made, you know, like there's no decisions, but back then it was like a little seed. I had all these little seeds inside of me that needed to bloom, and it wasn't until I had my second kid and I remember, uh, uh, telling my wife that hey, we, uh, we're going to collect welfare on this one.

Speaker 2:

And that was like the wake up moment. So, uh, just I would say that the biggest thing was a lack of vision, a lack of guidance, a lack of spiritual faith. Um, it wasn't. I wasn't a bad person, by any means. I was trying to do well. I lacked a vision.

Speaker 1:

So what in that changed? Where did the vision come from? What was the aha moment, light bulb moment that got you from hey, we're going to do welfare with our second kid to three years later, four years later, you're one of the top real estate guys in the whole state of Indiana.

Speaker 2:

The day it hit me, I was at the Super Shots Clinic. I actually drove past. I was going to a funeral on Monday. I drove past the clinic and I took a picture of it and dad goes hey, there's your clinic, because he listens to everything I do. And when I was at the clinic getting free shots, my wife's like, hey, we'll just take them to the doctor. I'm like honey, that's 300 bucks a shot. This is free. We need the free stuff.

Speaker 2:

Um, I remember being at the clinic, ken, and the lady asked me where I worked. She's like what company do you work for? And I told her my real estate company. She's like I've never heard of that. I'm like not my problem, lady, I'm just here to get free shots. Yeah, she thought I was a doctor and really I was just a person on welfare trying to get free shots for my kid. And that was the moment in which it's like, hey, the world's perceiving you as this for some reason, but the reality is you are not operating within your talents and your abilities. And that was like the shock and awe moment for me. It's like this has got to turn.

Speaker 1:

What were some of the steps you took after that, like you leave there, what were some of the things that were going through your mind? What were some of the first steps you did to be able to get out of where you were?

Speaker 2:

The first thing is I found a. I found a mentor and guide. Well, let me back up. The first thing is I needed a vision. So I realized as I. What I do now is I train people on how I do and did what I did. That's my whole life now. So I have to go back and re-figure it out, and for anybody that doesn't journal, I'll say this like I have the only reason I was able to do this is because I write down every day my thoughts, and so I could go back through my thoughts, ken, and say yeah how did I?

Speaker 2:

do this, and it was three things I found. One, I had a vision. Two, I created a system and process that I operated off of. And three, I had a guide, I had a mentor, and those were the three things that I found that made me become who I am A vision, which was when my son graduates high school. I got to be financially free, I got to be free of time and free of location. I'm very clear on that. Yeah, those were the three. Hey, I'm here today. I got 17 years to get there.

Speaker 1:

So so give me a little bit about the first mentor. How'd you find them? How did that come about? Were they hesitant? Did they look at you and go no bro, or did they see in you what the people at the free shot clinic saw in you?

Speaker 2:

So my first mentor I didn't, I didn't meet and talk to for realistically nine years after I at it. So my mentor was. His name was Brian Buffini. He was in the real estate business. I studied him, I watched him and I never talked. I never got to even talk to him until.

Speaker 1:

So you're saying your first mentor wasn't somebody you even knew. You didn't have his phone number. No, this was somebody. A podcast, an email list You're just devouring content. Listen, guys if you hear anything today, you don't need to know a John Maxwell or a Brian Buffini or a Brendan Burchard or a Ken Johnson or an Austin Chevron or a Brendan Burchard or a Ken Johnson or an Austin Chevron. You just need to get in their orbit and their content and their spirit and the things that they're giving you will help you turn that around.

Speaker 1:

Talk to me about Brian Buffini, like when, in the process of kind of in his content and doing what you're doing, did you go. I'm a different dude, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So here's what I found it wasn't just about business, it was about life, and for me, what I found by working with real estate agents my whole life is, if you just focus on your business, your life's shallow. There's some business is just a small piece of life, really, not even it's a way for impact, but so small again. And so he focused more on life and it's like okay, well, if I can fix me, then I can fix the business, and so that was one thing I appreciated about him as a mentor. It was more than just business, because I needed that. For me, I needed to become the man. I needed help with my vision and my goals and what's important in my financials. And what I found is, when I got me right, the business was easy.

Speaker 1:

It's unbelievable. You know we just finished our elite mastermind here in Atlanta. I had 72 very high performing, faith-based entrepreneurs and I just had lunch. I just had breakfast with Eric Weir. Today, eric funds all the top golf builds. He's got his own hedge fund. He funded Facing the Giants War Room movie, like all those Christian movies. He's got his own hedge fund. He funded facing the giants war room movie, like all those Christian movies by the. He funded all those things. He's funded a ton in Hollywood. He's funded a lot of of country music, singers at the very beginning, nascar, all kinds of stuff this guy's done.

Speaker 1:

And our conversation today. You know what he said he goes. I said give me your takeaway from being there this weekend. He spoke during the business section but I said give me your takeaway and I wrote it in my notes right here. He said this is what he told me today. He said, ken, he goes.

Speaker 1:

Faith was integrated throughout everything you talked about. It just wasn't about faith, health, relationships, business and finances. And it wasn't one of those things where you came and you talked about business and you prayed over your dinner. Faith was woven through when you talked about business. Faith was woven through when you talked about health, when you talked about relationships, when you talked about finances. It was an integral part of all of those things. So, brian Buffini and that took you from what to what, at what point in that journey? For you, austin was the first person that you were like this guy's coaching, this guy is my coach, he is my mentor. That was somebody that wasn't just a, somebody that was at a distance, that you were just consuming content that a distance that you were just consuming content.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so it was actually one of my. One of my clients became my mentor and cause I was seeking a spiritual mentor that year and just so happened. I remember I sat down at this guy's house and he said Austin, your, your sales pitch is good, you're listing presentation, but on average you sell a house in seven days and I think mine's going to take seven years to sell because it's just so unique. It's already been on the market two years. And he goes why would someone like you want to take this property? And so I try to study people before I interact with them. I've learned that's a good thing to do.

Speaker 2:

I read your book before in honor of you and our conversation, our time. I read your book before I came here and so I studied this guy and what I did is I wrote down a date on a piece of paper. Ken, when he asked me, he goes why would you want to take this listing? I wrote down a date, I slid it over to him and his wife goes what's this? And he looks at he goes hang on, honey, I think I know what this is. And he goes to his office and he comes out with the plaque, and the plaque was the mayor of that city named a day after him, a whole day because of who this man was.

Speaker 2:

Well, long story short, I ended up selling his house in about a year and a half and it was a sad day after that year and a half, and that time he taught me how to become a great man of faith. He took the seed within me and helped it blossom. So I would say I would give that man a lot of credit. I actually, when we got his listing, when I got the offer on his house, I didn't want to sell it because I talked to him every week for a year and a half, because that was what I did. I call you every Friday and we had a great conversation. It was never about selling his house. It was about him as a man stewarding me as a younger man and making sure that my decisions were in alignment with what was important.

Speaker 1:

I love how you said, and he recognized it it wasn't about selling the house, it was about so do you still have a relationship with the guy today? Yeah, yeah, of course. When he sees you today, can you? What kind of fulfillment do you think he experiences?

Speaker 2:

It. It reminds me of a book called the acres of diamonds, which is we're always looking for something and it's and it's already there. You know, I was looking for a spiritual mentor at that time and it was there within my listing. I didn't even have to go anywhere. It was already there, ken. And so the book Acres of Diamonds is about a guy who wanted to become. He wanted the fulfillment of riches, so he sold his property and moved out to the, I think, san Francisco area to search for gold, and his land had the highest reserves of jewels and gems on it ever. And the theory is the concept. If I can just seek with what I have within me and the people around me, I have everything I need.

Speaker 2:

And so stop not looking for a kin. Kin's right here in my corner. Why am I looking for someone else? Ken's right here in my corner. Why am I looking for someone else? He's right here. Why don't? I just utilize the people that God's given me in my life, compared to searching for new people. It's like that was a beautiful thing that I had a realization of.

Speaker 1:

So good. I just looked the book up on Audible so I just got it. So I'll probably. I've got about three or four head of it, but I will definitely put it in there. So you're 28 years old and you're on welfare. You're going to get free shots for your kids 32. I think you said you were one of the top real estate agents in the state of Indiana.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, closed 88 homes that year.

Speaker 1:

Talk to me about what 32 year old Austinold Austin would have said to 28-year-old Austin it goes.

Speaker 2:

It's funny. It goes back to the acres of diamonds, which is it'd say hey, kid, you have everything you need within you. It's all there. You just have to. You have to do better with what's been given to you. It goes back to the parable in the Bible you know, it's here for you, I'm giving it to you.

Speaker 2:

How well are you using your talents? And if you're not using them, I will take them away from you and give them to someone else who will use them. And so that moment at 32, looking back on 28, it's like you have what you need. You just need to go become with what's inside of you. And it's still the same today, at 40, for me, ken, I'm just trying to use what I have to the best of my ability. And and who do I need to surround myself with and what needs to be pulled out of me and what type of accountability? And how do I handle my, my money that comes in with the seed? It's essentially seed. How do I handle that seed properly, knowing that my, my money is seed? My decisions are seed, um, and? And how do I, how do I properly do that so I can keep growing and becoming?

Speaker 1:

I love that. I love that. Isn't it amazing, just in a three to four year span of time, how you can go from being the person that you were to your confidence at 32 had to been unbelievable.

Speaker 2:

You know, part of it's imposter syndrome that we, a lot of us, deal with, which is like am I, when I started coaching and training um? Right after that I'm like do I actually know what I'm doing? You know, like who am I to train these people on what I think I might know? If it works for me, how do I know it will work for someone else? But then it comes back down to there's an obligation. It's not what do I want to do. It's you have an obligation to pass this message pass what's working and pass what's not. And once.

Speaker 2:

I, once I changed the lens, can of. It's not what I want to do, and how fearful I am, and what will they think? Good or bad? Now it's an obligation, and so that obligation helps me fight through all the stuff in my head.

Speaker 1:

I love that man. So 32 years old, you've got one of you're one of the top real estate guys in the state. You said you closed 88 deals. If you know anything about real estate, that's unbelievable 88 deals. Tell me what the journey was like from 32 to like now. What were some of the? What were some of the highlights in that journey and not just highlights, as in successes, but what are some. What were some of the things you faced, some of the roadblocks or some of the things, the decisions that you made, that that just continued to help you grow along the journey.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, one of the things that I knew wasn't success to me was selling a bunch of homes and working a bunch of hours, Cause I've seen that my whole life and I knew that wasn't success. So what a lot of people don't know. They might see my stats on how many homes I closed and I ran a business by referral. So this wasn't like bought business. This was all earned business by customer service, which makes it even more of gold.

Speaker 2:

What people don't know is I averaged 38 and a half hours a week that year working.

Speaker 2:

And that, to me, is more valuable than the 88. And I only know that because I track my hours every day that I can. I just clocked in and clocked out, like a normal human being does at work. I did that to myself because I knew I wanted this success, this impact, but I wasn't willing to risk my family for it, and so I had to track it and monitor it, no differently than food or anything else you do in life. Like you want to lose weight. You got to track your food and see what you're eating and how much. It's simple, simple, yes, you do. And so that that was. That was a good realization that I not only won, I won twice, I won in my family and I won in business, and most people at best they win once, which is in business, but they lose everything else along the way their family, their health, their spiritual life, their finances, and it's like that's not really winning at all.

Speaker 1:

That's why we talk about our core five, which is faith, health, relationship, business and finances. And people are like well, shouldn't business and finance be first? No, If your faith, your health and your relationships are out of alignment, one of two things always happen. Number one you're either an ass and nobody wants to spend time with you, and you've got a business and you've got this money, but you're alone or, because your foundation is out of alignment, you lose the business and the finances that you worked so hard to create, because you're not the man or the woman that you need to be. You don't have the foundation that's solid enough for you to build something of that magnitude.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, when I hear you say that what I want people to understand is like you can't take away from me what I have. It's not possible. You might think of business or money. That's I can get that. That's the easy stuff. That's easy, you can't. You can't take away from me, I can only take it away from myself or some God can take it away, you can't take it away. There's no business thing that I can't go build. That's the easy part.

Speaker 1:

Why do you think entrepreneurs miss that? Why do you think that they think that? Like, that's the thing.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so let's go back to. I think it's. 80 plus percent of entrepreneurs fail in the first handful of years, and so the reason they fail is normally cash flow management. I would say it's not a lack of cash, it's cash flow management. Yes, money might be tight, but when you spend it all, no matter how much you have, it's always tight.

Speaker 1:

You're right, because normally what happens is, as you make more money, you just start adding more to your outflow, to your bills.

Speaker 2:

Yep, so I'm actually we're in the process of finishing up our wealth program right now. And what was interesting, I sat in a closet. I call it a closet. I sat in a bedroom for 60 days, which I'm a serial entrepreneur, I'm a go-getter it's hard to slow me down. And for 60 days I I'm a serial entrepreneur, I'm a go-getter it's hard to slow me down. And for 60 days I sat and I wrote everything I knew in my head about money everything.

Speaker 2:

What was the purpose of it and how did I think about it? And after day 30, I had this realization of oh my gosh, I don't know if my program's going to work. And the reason why is there wasn't one thing about making money in the program.

Speaker 2:

And called everybody up. I go I think we have a problem. They're like what's that? I go. I don't know if this is a good program. They're like why I go? Because it's not about making money. It was about your awareness of money and having a vision of it, and what does it do for you, what does it do for others, and then how do you manage it? It.

Speaker 2:

It was never about making it. I use this example right here. This is just so happened to be on my desk, ken. So you asked why do people have problems with cash flow management or just money in general? And when you get into business, everybody's teaching you how to make money right.

Speaker 2:

Hey, if in real estate, for example, hey, you need to hit the for sale by owners, you need to hit the leads, you need to hit the open houses, you need to work your sphere. Imagine this is the bucket of life. This is a great example. Here's your bucket of life and everybody's telling you how to put more water in your bucket. Do you know what the problem is with putting water in this bucket?

Speaker 2:

It's got holes in it, man, it's never going to fill and with putting water in this bucket it's got holes in it man, it's never gonna fill.

Speaker 2:

And so what do people? What are they training you to do? They're training you on how to put more water in this bucket, ken. The problem is is putting more water in the bucket takes it away from myself and my family and all these things, but at the end of 10, 20, 30 years, this bucket will never have water in it, ever, no matter how much I put in it, I can die trying. This bucket will never have water in it because it has too many holes. And he asked I've worked on filling the holes in my bucket and putting the water in at the same time, but I knew if I didn't fix the holes, there would never be any water, and water is what truly gives me the fulfillment. I can give water to Ken if Ken needs it. I can water myself. I have this. My mindset is now of abundance and not scarcity, and you start working. In that world. Things change quickly.

Speaker 1:

At what point did you realize the old Austin isn't there anymore? I don't have a scarcity mindset Now. I have an abundance mindset.

Speaker 2:

I learned it, so one of my other mentors was Tony Robbins.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, love Tony.

Speaker 2:

Love Tony. Tony taught me giving the secret to living is giving. Okay, it was. I did a lot of things right financially mindset and business but it wasn't until I started giving my money away that I changed my mindset. From scarcity to abundance is when I was willing to give is when it changed.

Speaker 1:

It's good.

Speaker 2:

So our wealth program is 22 modules. Our 22nd module is giving. Our 21st, at the very end, is inheritance, and then it ends with giving. After I filmed the giving module, I left. I went to Kroger, a grocery store around here, and then when I left, there was a homeless guy on the corner and the first thing that went through my mind is I have a five on me and a hundred. Okay, I normally always keep a hundred behind my phone, my key always it says emergency money, and so I go, pull my wallet out. I thought I had a five and I had a hundred. I didn't have any money and I knew I just had a hundred. I'm like this is all the money I have. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I have no more cash and then and then that's a natural thought, the reason I'm saying this, that's a natural human thought. This is all I have, it's scarcity. And then, thank God, I had trained myself an hour before that, so even the guy that trains on it needs to be taught and reminded. And.

Speaker 2:

I held out. I opened up my window. I said hey, guy, I got some money here for you and he was an older guy, he had a walker, barely could move, and I told him I go, you might want to get up for this. I said I got $100 for you. He goes, you got $100 for me and here's what I can. When I gave that money to him, I didn't have any more cash on me. I didn't have any more cash at home either at that time, like I was. That was my last $100. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But what it did for my heart and who I was as a human being. Far worth any more money knowing that I can go earn another hundred.

Speaker 1:

Bro, I tell people all the time it's important for you. I heard TD Jake say this 20 years ago. He said I've never seen water flow through a pipe and the pipe not get wet. God wants you to. And I'm not talking now, listen. I'm not talking about operating abundance so you can buy another car or another watch or a Lambo or a boat, and there's nothing wrong with all those things. But that can't be the ends to the means or means to the end, like there has to be purpose in that. Part of that purpose is to be able to bless people when God says, bless this person, when God says, give them that hundred.

Speaker 1:

Some of my greatest stories ever. One of them was at Waffle House 20 years ago. I'd just come off of a Daniel fast for 40 days and I'm with a bunch of my students and we're at a Waffle House and I literally was two months out of. My wife and I at the time were she was a little bit over six months pregnant with twin sons and we lost them during the pregnancy. We lost twin sons and I had my 28-year-old and my 25-year-old. Now it was right in between them and that happened. Two months later I'm at this student camp, breaking my Daniel fast no meats, no sweets, no breads at Waffle House. I don't recommend it to anybody in the world.

Speaker 1:

But anyway, the server, the waitress, comes up and I had a hundred dollar bill and I heard the Holy Spirit go give her the hundred. My bill was like eight bucks, nine bucks, and I handed her the hundred dollars and I said God told me to tell you to keep the change. And Austin, dude, same way she started to weep. She says, sir, I don't know you, but I was in the back just a little while ago. I've got an electric bill in the morning that has to be paid by 9am. It's 60, some odd dollars and if I don't pay it they're going to turn my power off.

Speaker 1:

And I just lost my baby two months ago and, bro, I was able to not only meet that need for her but then share with her what happened in my life, how we had lost our sons and I was able to pray for her. But then share with her what happened in my life, how we had lost our sons and I was able to pray for her and she received Christ right there in Waffle House Because I had the financial means to be able to, for when God spoke, I had the financial means to be able to take care of her you had faith.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's faith. I was working with the lady today and I was telling her you'll never have enough money in your mind to give the way you live.

Speaker 2:

So the only thing I can advise you to do is to give away 1%, and I explained to her. There's a fruit that we always eat the seeds out of and I use this fruit in my speaking engagements and the training which is a banana. And a banana has seeds. Most people don't know that and seeds are meant to be planted later for a later harvest, but when I train most business owners, I use the banana. The banana is your commission check. It's your funds right now coming into your business.

Speaker 2:

The problem is is you keep eating the seeds out of the banana and later you have nothing now to show for it. So what I need you to do is to take the seed out, and I promise you you won't be any more hungry if you don't eat the seed. So good, I promise you you won't be any more hungry if you don't eat the seed so good, I promise you you won't even know it's gone. And so the banana is the one fruit that I keep finding that I can train people on, on how the you know they don't eat the seeds out of the apple. They get that Watermelon. We try to buy it without the seeds.

Speaker 2:

Yeah yeah, you know. But the bananas, the little black seeds in those, we all eat them. But that's not what it's meant for. It's meant to be cut open and take the seeds out and plant them for a later harvest. And so I explained to her just 1%, you won't even miss it. I promise you, you won't even miss it, just the 1%. And that won't change the person you are.

Speaker 1:

You've been like this journey every three to four years. It's just like another plateau and just God's going. Okay, now do this. How do you get used to those kinds of transitions in your life, or can you get used to those kinds?

Speaker 2:

of transitions. I don't think you get used to them. Well, what you get used to is the ability to make that decision. Hmm.

Speaker 2:

You. You won't be used to the what that decision's going to do to you and the people that are going to judge you for making that decision. We just shut down one of the top real estate teams in the country, just literally just closed shop. Okay, why? Because where we're going, that's not in there anymore. I believe we started the real estate team to be able to figure out how to help people build something without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a month doing it, and how to make the team work for you, compared to you having to work for it all the time. Once we knew what we needed to do then we just needed to document it to go train others. We didn't need the team anymore, and so we just put the doc, we documented it, filmed it, produced it, put it into our coaching and training and now I don't need the team. But people would say well, austin, why would you shut down one of the most successful, you know production per agent teams in the country?

Speaker 2:

well, it's not serving my life anymore, ken so good and the purpose of a business is to support the lifestyle of the business owner, and this isn't what I need. My lifestyle is now to impact, and these 25 humans that I'm impacting is great, but now my message needs to get out to 25,000.

Speaker 1:

You know, I had a guy on my stage at create a year and a half ago, um, kyle Carnahan. He runs superhuman fathers out of, uh, southern California. He's in orange County. He's a firefighter. Well, he stepped on my stage. He's got like 18 guys in his superhuman father's kind of men's mentorship group on stage with him and he was standing there and he's still in the firehouse. So him and I are having a conversation We've got all these guys lined up on stage and he was asking me he goes, I'm really struggling on. And he was asking me he goes, I'm really struggling on. He said I'm really struggling on moving out of the firehouse because I love these 15 to 20 guys I get to make an impact on. And here's what I told him. I said you can make an impact on 15 or 20, or you could step outside the fire department and go and go across the country and make an impact on 15 to 20,000.

Speaker 2:

Well, you still keep them, so you go from your we talk about it and go across the country and make an impact on 15 to 20,000. Well, you still keep them. So you go from your, we talk about it, we go from the community. Right, right, ken, we talk about the community and then we go to the circle, and then we go to the corner.

Speaker 2:

You did read my book, not only read it, I took notes. That's exactly how I live my life too. So that's what that is Like hey, we're taking these people and we can keep them in our circle still Okay. But we got to grow this community, and that's important, I think, to know in life that as you grow, you have to understand how people flow in and out of your life. And one of my buddies, somebody I coach, great, great individual in life, he just he always says hey, when, when you move through life and you have people move through your life, it doesn't always have to be a divorce, it can be a celebration. And then, ron, are you ever listened to Ron Carpenter by chance? Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so Ron teaches me that people are in your life and they come in like I apologize, scaffolding. And when the building gets erected, which is you? Or me or the building they take it down, and it doesn't have to be a death or a divorce. It's a celebration that I don't need the scaffolding anymore and that scaffolding moves over somewhere else in life. It's just God putting them somewhere else.

Speaker 1:

I love that. It's just a season, reason or a lifetime. Those are the three types of relationships. They're there for a season, a reason, or some people are there for a lifetime. So where you guys are at now, man, you've literally all these different levels of success, from I'm on welfare to, in four years, I'm the number one, one of the top real estate agents, closing 88 deals to now I'm one of the number one teams and the number one of the top coaching organizations for agents to. We're going to shut the team down so I can focus on multiplication and not just the small Talk to me about fulfillment for you now, compared to just when Austin was the Lone Ranger guy closing 88 deals a year on his own.

Speaker 2:

Let me come right back to that, kevin. I'm going to do a two-part here. I think this is good for the audience to listen to. Two years ago, we thought I had a stroke. The words weren't coming out of my mouth, I was walking slow, talking slow. I went into the ER and I just remember sitting there, crying in the bed and just thinking this is it for me, like I'll never be able to do whatever I'm going to do again, and I thought, okay, well, that was a good run. I remember literally just crying, thinking that was a good run you had. You did what others couldn't in a short amount of time. Okay. And when I, after a whole day in the ER, ken, they said to me I said what's wrong with me? And they said nothing. And I go, that's not possible. I didn't just spend $50,000 and a whole day in here for you to tell me that I'm a thoroughbred. And they go. You really want to know what's wrong with you, austin? I go, yeah, they go. You have too much stress in your life. I go.

Speaker 2:

What do you mean stress? They go. How many companies do you run? I go. What do you mean stress? They go. How many companies do you run? I go nine. They go see. I go, but they're all doing their thing, they're all great and they go. How many houses do you own? I go 50. They go see and I'm like, but I never see them. And what I realized? There's a difference between good stress and bad stress, and I've worked really hard in my life to get the bad stress out.

Speaker 2:

But opportunity brings good stress too, and so when you talk about fulfillment, I'm very careful now not to put too much opportunity in, so I can maximize the opportunity that I have, and to stop looking and to start just doing with what's here. And so fulfillment, fulfillment to me now is I said once to somebody I think I'm in my last job. You know I've worked through all these jobs. I think I'm in my last one. And they said well, explain that I go now I can just give and I can see myself being the guy reading the Bible on TV. You know how you always see the 70, 80 year olds reading the Bible. Well, I'm pretty sure they don't get paid to do that. I'm guessing it's a free service. I just don't want to be 70 or 80. I want to be 45, 50.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Might hit another message. So now I'm in the impact phase. So what is fulfillment? I'm living out the actual ability to give all of my talents and abilities, and I'm really aware of what do I say yes to. That takes me away from it. So anybody, if you ever want to get to excellence, you're going to have to say no to a bunch of things. A bunch of things that are doing really good, maybe, maybe even providing you a financial freedom in your life, like selling real estate. I went, I was doing really good, ken, and I stopped doing that. Everyone's like why would you stop doing that? Well, there's a bigger vision for me in my life that will fulfill me even more.

Speaker 1:

I love that. You know, I had a mentor 25 years ago, took me to lunch. He was a board member at the church I was a part of, I was on staff at, and he told me. He said, ken, never forget that vision comes cheap to a visionary. Your job is to figure out which vision to go after, and when you're a visionary man, you, the ideas will come and they'll come in waves. God, what do you have for me? What do you want me to go after? What is this? What is what does my life? And that and boy, there's an ebb and flow and transitions in your life as God takes you from one level to the next. Final question what are you grateful for right now?

Speaker 2:

That's a good question. That's a really good question. I'm grateful that I have the ability or the lens, that I'm mature enough to understand what I've been through in my life and how that has been a tool to help me to where I'm at today and to look at it as all of signs, vision. I'm grateful that I can see my life as a tool now to help other people and I can go through what I've experienced and not be necessarily emotionally connected to it, but spiritually connected to it and understand that.

Speaker 2:

You know there's a phrase of what if the worst thing that happened to you in life is actually the best, like I'm grateful that I can process that moment. I actually said that yesterday I put a picture of my mother's grave site, which she died when I was 16 in a plane accident with her fiance, and I put the picture of the tombstone on the grave and I just said you know, this was the worst day of my life and I'm very happy and grateful for that because I've learned so much. A response to my question, which is how could the worst thing be the best thing? And he said I went to the diner in which my dad used to eat his deli sandwiches. I went there and I only went there to remember my father and I met my wife there the first time. I went there.

Speaker 2:

And he's the only one that answered. I said what if the worst thing that happened to you is the best? We lost both of our parents on that day in an airplane accident.

Speaker 1:

And he.

Speaker 2:

he met his wife because of it, and so I'm, I'm grateful that I'm able to look at my life through a lens of not not regret or not any of that, but as a tool to be able to teach other people what I've learned, without being emotionally, uh, psychologically affected with I have this emotional burn, positive or negative, and see it more just as a tool to teach whoever's listening after me.

Speaker 1:

I love that man, I love that Dude. Thank you so much for your time, but I'm proud of you, man.

Speaker 2:

Thank you Ken.

Speaker 1:

I'm really proud of you, just watching your journey over the past couple of years and watching you make difficult decisions to be able to shut things down, to be able to let go of good, to be able to have great, to be able to go. Hey, I love my team and I love the impact and influence I'm having here, but, man, god, you've given me the opportunity to have impact and influence over thousands across the country, and that's a man, I'm telling you. Some people don't understand the weight of that decision, or the call or the purpose or the why, if you will. And, man, I just wanted to honor you for that, my friend.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, ken, appreciate it, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to impact today. You're welcome.

Speaker 1:

Guys, thank you for joining us on another episode of as the Leader Grows, my good friend, Austin Chevron. Guys, check him out on Instagram. Where's the best way for them to get you?

Speaker 2:

Austin Our website ChevronCoachingcom, or our highest followings on Facebook, you just type Austin Chevron and you'll be able to find me really easily.

Speaker 1:

If you're watching this on YouTube. It's right behind him on his window, right there ChevronCoachingcom. Go check him out, guys. Again, thank you for joining us this week on as Leader Grows. We'll see you next week with a brand new guest and a good friend. See ya.