Building Character Through Life Experiences

Hey everyone, welcome to episode 176 of the Antler Up Podcast!

On this week's episode I was joined by Chad Sylvester of Exodus Outdoor Gear.  This was a great conversation with Chad and one that I haven’t had on the podcast before.  This isn’t like the last time Chad was on where we dove deep into whitetail strategy.  This time around we dive deep into life and how we can be better individuals.   

Kicking this episode off, Chad talks about his upbringing and the life experiences he went through by working on his family farm at a young age.  We went from this experience, spending time with his grandfather a lot, who helped mold Chad for who he is today.  I think a lot of us will share similar stories like Chad.  Then we get into the older years when Chad was going through his college recruitment for football and playing at the next level.  This opportunity was unique for Chad because he was able to learn and grow from this and you will hear why and how.  We also get into building mental toughness, being “present” with our families and taking our health seriously.  Again, something totally different than what I have put out on the podcast before and I learned a lot from Chad over the years and he is a successful businessman and great friend.  I appreciate Chad for coming on and having this conversation with me. Check it out and let us know what you think!  Enjoy this fun episode and see you next week! 

Thanks again for all the support and best of luck out there and Antler Up!

Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant outdoor content!

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Antler Podcast, brought to you by tethered the world's best saddle hunting equipment, and we have a fun show for you today.

On this week's episode, I was joined by Chad Sylvester of Exodus Outdoor Gear. This was a great conversation with Chad and one that I haven't had on the podcast really before. This isn't like the last time Chad was on where we really dove deep into the wide tail strategy. This time around, we dive deep into life and how we can be better individuals, a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better friend.

So kicking this episode off, Chad talks about his upbringing and the life experiences he went through by [00:01:00] working on his family farm at a young age. We went from this experience spending time with his grandfather a lot, who really helped mold Chad for who he is today, and I think a lot of us will share some similar stories like Chad shares.

Then we get into the older years when Chad was going through his college recruitment for football and playing at the next level. This opportunity was very unique for Chad because he was able to learn and grow from this and you'll hear exactly how and why. We also get into building mental toughness, being present with our families, and taking our health seriously.

Again, something totally different than what I've put out there on the podcast before, and I learned a lot from Chad over the years, and he is a very successful businessman and a great friend. Appreciate Chad for coming on and having this fun conversation with me again. Congrats on the eight year anniversary of Exodus Outdoor Gear.

Also wanted just say thanks again everybody for all the continued support. If you like what you hear, go leave that five star review over on Spotify or Apple, iTunes, wherever you listen to, and also type in that review. [00:02:00] That helps me out a lot as well and wanna say thanks for everybody coming over to the tether booth, introducing themselves.

Really appreciate it, really grounded man. I, and I really appreciate those of you that are tuning into the podcast really means a lot. So thanks again everybody for your continued support. Go crush it this summer with all your chores, all your whitetail chores that you have coming up. So let me know what you guys wanna hear, what you wanna see.

Have a good one, aunt Laura.

Tethered is a team of saddle hunting fanatics with a passionate addiction to whitetail hunting, designing and engineering products. To be a more efficient and confident hunter tethered produces the most mobile, stealthy and safest elevated hunting gear on the planet. Built by saddle hunters Ford the saddle hunter.

Head over to tether nation.com to see for yourself what exactly I'm talking about.[00:03:00]

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So use code. Au at checkout over@exodusoutdoorgear.com. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to this week's episode of the Antler Up podcast. I'm joined on the other line. Good friend of mine excited to have this discussion because it's, I think it's been long needed for me personally and for our listeners for the Antler Up podcast I got chat Sylvester on from Exodus.

Chad, welcome back to the show, man. Thank you for having me back. It's it's always a pleasure chatting with you. I know sometimes it seems like it's probably few and far in between, especially on my end. I get sometimes I get 7, 8, 9 text [00:06:00] messages in the morning and it takes me a little bit to get back to everybody.

But yeah. Thank you for having me back on. Look forward to Look forward to the chat. Absolutely. And when I ha you know, I've had Cam on now a couple times. I've had you on a couple times. I'm missing Jake. I gotta get Jake on the on the horn here one day. So we'll have to get him on and talk to him.

Chad, real quick before I told you and just to throw it out there, this isn't going to be a. Tactical hunting, really hard ended podcast episode. We're gonna just talk a little bit about life and determination and just about being a better person, how to improve and just go down that line and but before we do that, Unbelievable sales going on, and I'm, I know this will be sound real Homer ish but I do want to congratulate you guys on your eighth year anniversary.

It's a tremendous feat, not only because of one running a business and what we've endured as a world that has humans over the last couple years, and I could only imagine running a business and if you haven't done so in the people. Give those last couple episodes a a listen from Chad and Jake on the [00:07:00] Exodus podcast, where they talked about a q and A one and then a recently their eighth year anniversary One.

It's just you get another little insight into the business life of what they've done accomplished over the last couple years. Chad, congrats. Long-winded, long-winded congratulatory message, but I wanted to just say congratulations to you guys on that. Thank you. It's humbling to see the support that we get across the board with, from our customers, from the industry from brand partners, from other authoritative figures in a space like yourself.

And sometimes, I know we were just talking a little bit off air about goals and accomplishments and, et cetera. But every year when we hit that anniversary mark, we do take some time to reflect and just say, not that we've made it, cuz I don't think that's a thing, but it's always good just to get the guys together in the office, say congratulations, you guys are doing a great job.

A quick pat on the back, reflect for five or 10 minutes and then, get back on track. But thank you very much y'all. Hey man, anytime. Keep doing what you guys are doing because it is a to me, I think it's an industry standard as far as what you guys are doing on a lot of [00:08:00] different situations, whether it's in, obviously the trail cameras, but the other pieces of gear that you're dipping your toes in and doing a phenomenal job in.

So I'm excited to see what the future holds. I know you. You gave a little quick little baby introduction and I don't even know what it is for 2024. Four, so I'm excited to see what you guys will be doing with that, but move forward with this kind of discussion. Chad, I guess give for some listeners that Okay, great.

Yeah. Eight years you've been doing this, I know just from doing a little bit of research and knowing, knowing you now for a little bit I know this wasn't your, You weren't always in the hunting outdoor industry. I guess talk a little bit about. Oh, let's go way back.

Let's even jump even way before I'm at my situation where I'll be 36 next month. A lot has transpired in my life that made me the person that I am today. A lot of that was because I was raised. A lot by my grandparents. Parents divorced and played sports of a lot of my friends parents helped raise [00:09:00] me and all that type of stuff and learned on my own a lot.

So I guess let's rewind even further back to the high school days maybe, or just your upbringing in a sense of, what kind of help mold your personality of like where you're at today, if that makes sense. Yeah, definitely. And I'm glad that we're, I'm glad that we're doing this and we're, and we've set the tactics and strategy stuff aside, right?

Yeah. As you get into the, this hunting realm and spitting out content, there's so only so many tactics and strategies you could talk about without it being some type of regurgitated spin on the way one person does it versus the next person does it. So thank you for Yeah.

Going out, going on a limb and recording this type of content. But to answer your question Or to put some input there. My upbringing was probably similar to yours, so divorced parents single mom, remarried. I don't know. I was probably four or five. Spent a lot of time at my grandparents and primarily probably I look at my grandfather as.

As much of a fa father figure as [00:10:00] anybody. Had dairy farm, second gen. Yeah. Second generation farmer. And with my mom and stepdad just working like. We weren't poor, but we weren't living high on the hog by any means. So there wasn't like, we have a babysitter. It was like you're getting shipped off over to the farm and you're just gonna hang out and do whatever they're doing.

Yeah. And I'm talking like 4, 5, 6 years old, like pre-kindergarten, preschool, if they were plowing or discing or planting, like you were riding on the tractor and you were stuck there all day. And that's just the way that it was cuz we didn't have a choice. But as as. Being raised in that environment.

My grandfather had several, I wanna say entrepreneurial ventures. Okay. And I say several, that's probably several per year. He's constantly tinkering inventing things, starting different businesses, and most of them failed. Every once in a while, one would stick to the wall. But I always thought that in my head I just, I guess re remember like looking up to him and seeing like how he could [00:11:00] make something from nothing and the vision that he had and how he thought like outside of the box, and I always was inspired, but like that, the ingenuity that he had in his mind and specifically as a farmer and as a business owner, I can't remember.

Him one time telling me, and this is like later in life, I'm skipping a big section here, which I'll go back, but I remember being over and I don't know what we were doing, working in the shop or welding on something or putting something back together, whatever the case was. But I remember him saying, if you want a good life, you can go work for somebody and you can have a house, you can have a family, you could pay your bills and you could be a re, you could have a really good life if if you're smart about it, but, You're never gonna have anything unless you work for yourself.

And like I didn't as a 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 year old kid, I didn't really know what that meant. Yeah. But it was something that always stuck in my brain. And now I reflect on that and completely understand [00:12:00] what he was saying there. And he's talking about. Not necessarily having money, it's, but having the opportunity to have freedom based on your choices essentially is what he was getting at.

Yeah. Always looked up to my my grandfather in an entrepreneurial fashion in a business fashion. And the way he carried himself through life. Like his word meant something, his handshake meant something. And when he shook your hand or said something, you could just take it to the bank cuz it was gonna get done.

And also just, The SOP would like just outwork anybody, like one, one of those guys at 4:00 AM to nine, 10 o'clock at night every day. Didn't like, cuz he loved the process. He loved what he was doing. So I was always inspired by him. But going into, my story a little more back into high school, as a kid being on a farm, just normal country kid we were involved in sports a lot.

And I grew up like wanting to be two things. I wanted to grow up to be a professional football player or cowboy. That was as a young kid, that was it. I [00:13:00] can remember being fascinated by Bo Jackson and like his athletic abilities and, the Nike commercials and then Michael Jordan and, these famous athletes.

But I was fortunate. That I did have some athletic ability gifted by God, and combined with a pretty solid work ethic. Got recruited to play college football at a pretty high level. And I came from a school that graduated 70 kids. Wow. So very tiny school. But for whatever reason, we had two years, and this is the late nineties, early two thousands where we had, three division one athletes in two grades.

I, my plan was always just to, go play college football, go to school, get a job, and figure the rest out later. But it was like football was the thing that was gonna take me to the next level. Got recruited by a lot of Division one single A schools, big schools, Northwestern, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Maryland Minnesota, Northwestern, like a lot of big schools.

And ended up staying close to home at a one AA school. And I can remember [00:14:00] going to Youngstown State and going there with a chip on my shoulder thinking that I fell through the cracks and I was better than everyone else and I didn't belong there. I belonged somewhere that was better, which was a really a rude awakening because when I got there, you have a kid that's, multi.

Like multistate, Allstate, multiple years player of the year in this player of the year of that. And all of a sudden I'm on a team where I'm playing with guys that didn't even start in their high school, right? They're second string in their high school, but they're out there, running four fours and they're playing division one ball.

So knowing that your past didn't mean anything was a, was a rude awakening for me. And going into that, Mentally I was not strong enough or disciplined enough to take that environment and come out of it per se. So ultimately what ended up happening start hanging around the wrong people, had the wrong [00:15:00] attitude, had the wrong mentality, did not have as strong of a worth ethic in college as I did in high school.

And it led me to basically dropping outta school. Left football, left school to pursue. You guys are gonna laugh at this, but to pursue a rodeo career again, going back to that cowboy thing, I had met a guy in college that was rodeoing riding bulls professionally in A P R C A and I was like, I'm a good enough.

I could do that. But anyways. That decision leaving a team sport and going into a solo sport for, nine or 10 years, essentially all through my twenties. I rodeoed on and off professionally and amateur on the amateur side for 10 years. But when you're in front of that type of or that many people in that environment and there's no one else to point the finger to.

Ultimately taught me the most about myself. And I'm, even though that I wasn't any good, and I say that I'm not, I wasn't any good physically, like I'm a bigger [00:16:00] guy. I really had to stay disciplined with my work ethic and learn the foundations and the techniques behind it because it's more than just like grit your teeth and keeping your hand closed.

To be able to compete against guys who grew up on ranches or grew up west of the Mississippi and they were riding sheep when they were five years old. I didn't have that right. So that, that taught me a lot about myself and knowing and having, I guess the regret of, wasting the talent that I had athletically and by not, finishing out my football career.

It took me a while to let go of that regret. Okay. Honest, honestly, like I held that close to me for a long time and I've always used it for fuel or motivation. But now, like going through the hardships of Exodus in the first three years, man, like going through multiple acquisition's the wrong word, but like equity buyouts of partners and having partner conflict and things of that nature.

At one point, not having any money, not having any products, like [00:17:00] the first three years, four years of Exodus, it was the hardest thing that I have ever done. And the one thing I kept telling myself was, if you quit now, or you going to regret it tomorrow because of the football decision.

And Going through that. I feel like that is what brought me to this place and was, yeah, what was able to get me through those hard times. The early years of Exodus. You know what's funny is the one thing that I, that what you said, there's a couple things, but one thing that's really drawing to me is because of the same thing.

I played sports and I for coaching for a decade. It's so funny to see how. I use the term like we've the, I guess the term that's been tossed around in, in the coaching world is get rid of your cancers. And I know exactly what you're saying when you were saying about hanging out with the wrong crowd, cuz it's probably sitting there going why is he playing?

Or look at this kid doing this, and then it's yeah. And it just, it keeps spreading, right? Like you're going through that and you [00:18:00] build that. Mentality. Like you went from maybe going, you're like ready for college ball and then something doesn't go your way. And like you said, you're not mentally prepared at that young age.

We, during that time we thought we were on top of the world as a young 18, 19 year old individual. Okay, like I'll own it or whatever, we're not ready and. And for me, coaching like that was an important thing for me, especially during my last year where I made it a point where I got Jocko's book, like his leadership book, and I was like, Hey, we're gonna read this.

And what was awesome about it was the workbook and it was like a, basically a cliff notes of each chapter. So it was only like a page or a page and a half of kind of the main idea. And then there was like questions, like prompt questions. And instead of obviously as us as a baseball team, We just would reward it.

Okay. This is a great scenario that remember last year, like with the real toxic team that we had. Why how do we get past that? But, and to even build off of what you were saying about for [00:19:00] school and not being ready and regrets, my story was, is actually very similar to the extent of I the flip it.

You graduated with 70, I graduated with seven 50. I'm not, that's no word to lie, man. That's Northeastern Pennsylvania. I graduated from Hazleton area and to this day it's like even more now. But. With that, going to school, I was a good kid in school and never got in trouble. I was your average, student.

Never, didn't really apply myself. And now as a teacher, it's funny cuz when I teach health class, I said, you don't, I don't give homework. I give you a lot of time to work on things in class. I don't give you homework and. And I'll always throw in, cause I don't remember doing homework in high school, and the kids are like, what?

Who's this idiot? That's my teacher right now. Yeah. But anyway with that going to college, Chad, I wasn't ready man. I was ready to play baseball, kinda like what you're saying. I was, and I wasn't even like a big partier at all. Like I would socialize, what I [00:20:00] went through as a young kid, like with my family and stuff like that, I saw what kind of drinking and it just wasn't for me.

When I went to school with all that man, I wasn't prepared for classes. So I originally went for the health and phys ed, what I'm doing now, and it didn't go that route. And like my first test that I failed in an education class, I. I come my, I remember not really having my, a guidance really to anybody other than my sister, who was nine years older than me who did not finish college, but has a great career right now.

She just said, Jared, what else do you like? And I was like At the time I didn't have a girlfriend or anything and she's like, why don't you be like a guy that runs a casino, looked something up like that. Like you could just be a bachelor, make lots of money. And I was like, okay, sure.

And lo and behold, that fell into like country club management as well. Like in at Penn State. It was like the hotel, restaurant management. So I was like, okay, great, I'll focus on golf. Cause I was obviously with the baseball side of things. I liked golf at the time, you know a lot at the time. Went that route.

Worked some really high-end jobs at some really, [00:21:00] high-end golf clubs. But at the same time I wasn't happy and but those decisions from school, from work and everything along that route has helped me definitely become the person that I am today. And I wouldn't change anything. And I said it on a previous podcast before.

When we talk about being comfortable, being uncomfortable type of stuff, but the one aspect that I need I think I want to get better at is not being so comfortable with, and I know this is gonna sound weird, but Not being so comfortable with my back against the wall if say, times are tough financially or something else, like I always know there's a way and I'll, I'm most 10 out of 11 times I'm getting out of I'm coming out of it on top.

But I don't wanna be in that position, if that makes sense. So I'm just trying to be improve myself. But again, going back to the whole. What you've gone through and the decisions that you've made. Man I really wouldn't change anything from where I'm sitting at. [00:22:00] Yeah. It's interesting a lot of parallels there between our two stories, but it's also interesting and I, and you obviously are in the education system.

But when you. We expect kids as 18 and 19 years old to make a decision on what they're going to do for the rest of their life. It seems crazy, so bogus to me. It is. It's it is crazy. Yeah. And I don't think, I don't know how you fix that or I don't know either. I think, I don't know.

I think some of that stems from the lack of quality, and I'm gonna spin this. To my son, but like the quality of the lack of quality male leadership in the world, like I'm not a soccer guy, have never I can probably count on two fingers how many times I've watched the soccer game. Me too. That wasn't like the World Cup.

But we put my son in soccer this is a handful of years ago, and the lack of. And I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way because anybody volunteering their time to help youth or [00:23:00] coach youth sports, like they're not getting paid for, it's, the rest don't make any money, right? Like they're donating their time and sacrificing time from their family or what else?

Whatever else they have going on to help. But the the lack of male leadership in a competitive environment, teaching the kids to have fun, how to compete I don't, nothing about soccer, but I was so appalled by the, that not being a parent, like I had to step in and say, okay, like I'm gonna take these 20 kids, or however many it was, I think it was 20, it was probably more like 15.

But to show them how to be, show 'em how to have fun. What do you, I mean we were at a point where we were playing soccer games. Kids were scoring goals and like they would just walk around with their heads down. I'm like, Yo guys like, yeah, go high five. Somebody celebrate. Have a little bit of fun, like this is why you guys are doing it.

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You'll get $70 off a dozen of M T arrows just by using code au, so check it out over@exodusoutdoorgear.com while supplies last. Do you remember? Probably. I'm sure you would have a story. I remember one time playing in youth sports. I was still in elementary school and Alan Iverson was playing. I was a big AI fan and I had, I remember I was, it was in our championship game and I made this like layup, it was probably like the second basket of the game.

I remember running down the court looking at our crowd on the one, cuz it was just a one-sided bleacher just waving my hands up let's go. Like just being fired up, man. Like I don't see that, like nowadays, I almost feel like [00:25:00] some of these kids. Or there were times as a coach I probably was a little bit too lenient, but I'm like looking at it like, oh my gosh, when I was doing that, I, that's what, you thrive off that.

Now it's almost be quiet. You almost hear this stuff where they can't, I get it like it needs to be appropriate, but at the same time, yes, at the same time, it's Let them be kids. You know what I mean? That's the one thing where I feel like we're, as where I'm working right now, we're getting back to that.

Thank goodness we're getting back, especially in the phys ed things where we're playing certain games, I'm letting things go and I'm like, kids are being kids. This is fun. I'm hopping in and playing quarterback, all that stuff. But yeah I'm, I appreciate that you said that you've put in your time and saw the value of that because it is important, man.

So let's talk about this. So we talked a little bit about building that character, what about some struggles, man? Because again, like we, we alluded to a couple, but could you recall something that really, you remember that backup against the wall and you're like, there's either one way and it's only Ford and it's gotta happen or.

Like [00:26:00] it's the end. Or if you have an example that's great. Or what's your mentality when something is like a hard situation is about to come up basically. Yeah. I I don't know if I could recall a specific example like non-business or non-corporate related. But I can remember going through we, when we started Exodus, we started, it was not my idea to start this company.

It was not like I was. On a white tail lease with another young guy another, entrepreneurial spirited guy. I was getting ready to buy my first rental property. And anyways, his idea led to Exodus, what Exodus is. And when we started with him, myself, and my brother. I wanted my brother to be involved cuz that was something that had always been like, a close bond growing up the way that we grew up There was a point where he was my best friend cuz we did everything together.

It didn't, and I wanted him include him in this. And in 2018 with different mentalities around business, the work ethic, just three different [00:27:00] people. It's hard at being in business with partners. And I will say it's you know how hard marriage is, like you can't just be married and leave that sta like status quo.

Yeah. Like you constantly have to work at that relationship. And. Having a business partner is like having a second wife or a third wife. That's how much time it takes. Yep. But I can remember in 2018 buying those guys out because they wanted to do separate things, different visions, different, whatever.

And man access was not in a good place. Like we had very little inventory. We started this company with no money. Like we, we started with zero debt. So what we had in our pockets is what we started with. And we just said, we'll, f we'll figure it out. Yep. And I, that's essentially what we did.

But I can remember in 2018 after those buyouts with the company being in a bad spot, just like laying in bed thinking about how hard it was going bid to dig out of this hole. Like we had no resources we had no assets, and it was like, from [00:28:00] a, like c e o perspective, it's like you have to have that vision on what to do.

And like I didn't have the vision. I just laid in bed and I'm like, man, do if we quit, I'm gonna let down my family. Yeah. Who has sacrificed for two or three years for me to start this thing. Number two, I'm gonna let down every single person that's bought a product off of us. I'm gonna let them down.

And then three, like we have all these people looking up to us. I'm gonna let all these people down. And then I have the personal failure, right? This is gonna go on my resume. And I just thought as hard as this is gonna be like, let me just work tomorrow and I'll think about it again tomorrow night.

Yep. And like literally, I did that for days on end, like months. And all of a sudden, like things started to get a little bit better and it wasn't anything like, there was no silver bullet, there was no hack. We just did a little bit of work every day and that kind of changed the course of the ship.

Yeah. So like the [00:29:00] mentality about being in a bad place. I am a lot like you as I am very comfortable being like pinned up against the corner because there's only one way out, and that's through action. And as long as I have that reference in my head and know that you know your perspective on whatever is going on.

It's not as bad as what it is to you because somewhere else in the world, like somebody else has it way, way worse. Yep. Way worse. Yep. So just staying grounded and knowing things are about perspective. And then two, not being afraid to be like, use your words back against the wall. You just have to work to get out of it.

Yeah. I think one of my biggest things was a couple years ago this is year eight for me teaching. I guess I could say I've been professionally working since I've been out of college, since I've been 21 in a managerial role with hotel, restaurants type stuff. And then, Two, a year and a half, two years, I guess you could say, when I went back to school [00:30:00] full-time to, to get the teaching stuff.

But I remember my daughter was born like she was a year. My time for paying back student loans was about to come back, and here I am at 27 years old or what, 26, 27 years old. I'm married. We have a house. All, my, my student loan debt, my the bills, my daughter's, about to be one years old.

And finally a job opens up and it's this is it. And because I applied for other local school districts and my wife already was teaching right away out of college. So she's eight, she has eight more years of teaching on me. So when I would do these interviews I was always told you you're gonna end up being.

Where you want to be One day, sorry we chose a different candidate, and I'm just like, I just, I need this job. Like I can't substitute, teach anymore and be, so at one point, Chad, I was substitute teaching, I was coaching, I did personal training and I was working part-time still at the hotel.

All four things at one time. And. And this job came up middle of the [00:31:00] year for point, like five or 0.6 something of a contract. So contract's 1.0. And I looked at it like it's life or death, and this is this is either now or never. That's the mentality I had to take.

And if someone else was gonna get this job, someone would had to kill me, basically. And I prepared, I worked my tail off inter, like interview questions, everything. And it happened and I, I was not going to be denied. And that's just a mentality philosophy that I try to. Let kids know and like the senior talk will be coming out soon where I just say, listen, you're gonna have that darkest of dark day.

Everything's falling on top of you. You cannot do a single thing. And like you said, Chad, someone has it a lot worse, but just know. Tomorrow that sun's gonna rise and it might be cloudy, but that sun's up and through all that, man it's I couldn't, like I said, it just that mentality is something that y ebbs and flows for certain people and you just gotta,[00:32:00] go through with it, endure it and, push through.

It's funny, like on social media we have all these. Like memes and all these different cliche like motivational quotes that these different speakers spit out doesn't like whether it's David Goggins, Jocko who, whoever it is, right? When you boil down some of those cliche sayings, man, there's a lot of truth.

If you can draw some type of personal parallel Yep. To what they're saying and use that as fuel. People make fun of those memes. And like I said, the the cliche things, but like, when you boil it down like it's the truth, it is, it really is. Now here's a question for you.

You have children how many do you have? Two. Two. What are the ages you have? My son just turned seven and my daughter will be nine in July. Okay. So my daughter just turned nine. So we, you, So we're, we have that in grand scheme of things. And I remember early on, so my wife and I will be [00:33:00] married now, it'll be 11, 11 years this July.

And it's funny because man, it's, I almost feel like we're. We're better now than we've ever been, if that makes sense. I hope, and I don't want this to be like a therapy thing for coun like a wedding or marriage counseling, what podcast, but it's important to, that saying of happy life or happy wife, happy life, and in your position of running a business and doing really high end stuff and being.

Present in, in your children's life? Do you know what I'm saying? That's, yeah. Like my brother-in-law, what we're going, how, what we're just talking about. I knew what he dealt with when he was growing up. Again he's 11 years older than me, but. He's gone through some stuff and he, and where he's at, he's so successful.

He's my best friend. He's someone I look up to. What you were saying, like how your grandfather said certain words to you. There was one thing that Kenny said to me when I was in high school and in college, and he just said, man, if you could look at yourself in the [00:34:00] mirror and before you go to bed and be okay with that, what that reflection in that person then.

You're doing okay. Basically. And there are times where I wasn't okay with that reflection. And I think we all have been there and what we could be a better husband, dad, person, coworker, brother, all that stuff. But I guess like my question to you or to what I would like you maybe talk about is just, Your philosophy on how to just be a good person?

Cause I've heard you talk about on previous podcasts, like in your previous job, like you worked with some pretty crappy people, and I think we all do, right? But how could we as a society try to better ourselves to better each other basically? Yeah. That's a really good question. And I think it's probably.

It's probably different for every person out there, right? 100% personalities. I'll gravitate towards different things, but for me personally, and I'll touch on the family thing just for a minute. Yeah. I look at my wife as the biggest reason why Exodus [00:35:00] is successful, the company that we have, because she sacrificed behind the scenes with me being gone, like working two jobs, working 40 hours a week here, not paying myself anything cuz I'd pay other people to build a team.

Being gone from, when the kids were little, like I wasn't really around. I was around but not a whole lot. So now we're at a place where we have a team here. I, and I'm trying to pay back dividends to my wife for sacrificing so much. Bye. Usually at five o'clock or whatever time I get home, like the phone goes away, the computer goes away, and I just focus on the kids.

If I can't give my kids, four, three or four hours every night, and then the weekends what am I doing? To me, the. We talk about, everyone talks about leadership and I'm very big on leadership in leading by action, not just words. And when you think about what is the most important leadership role, it's it's the man figure, the manly figure in your household, whether that's a husband [00:36:00] and or dad.

And we all like to talk about all the problems that this screwed up world has, but it's like, What are you doing about it Exactly. Like what are you personally doing about it to make the world a better place? And if, to your point, if you can't ask yourself that question in the mirror every single night and answer it with some type of conviction, man, you like, you wasted the day.

Yeah. And you ain't getting the day back. Yeah. I just think that being someone that. You can respect making sure that your words have meaning by action. Making sure your hand handshakes mean something, like it's not, I don't know that it's really rocket science, right? Yeah.

Have a decent set of moral values and go about your business and conduct yourself in a respectable manner. Do the one thing that I've noticed. And what's extremely eye-opening. And I guess it's, it shouldn't be because we were there at one point, you know how much we saw and understood at our kids' age.

You, you don't realize how much they observe [00:37:00] and they feel and everything. It's crazy, man. It's not, it's scary. And you know why I think it's important to have these discussions because, we're, we all want to see each other and succeed at this life thing and. Whatever it could take to help.

Maybe someone could relate to this discussion. I think, can, could really be beneficial, to, this is probably to my fault and the guys at the office make fun of me cuz I'm a big like acronym person. Yeah. I'll spit out acronyms that, and they're like, when I don't know, the first couple years of having a team here.

Guys were like, I don't wanna say afraid, but they were tentative to to ask questions. Cause I would spit out a different business acronym or marketing term or something. And no one knew what the hell it meant. But no one would question you on it. Raise your hand. Yeah. Yeah. No one ever.

But one acronym that like I've always found helpful, whether it's on the personal side or on the business side, is Win w i n. And [00:38:00] this was something that John Haycock, the head coach at ysu pushed home in like our team meetings. And it was what's important now? Like in this very moment, what is the most important thing?

That you're doing. And like for me, I'm not a big multitasker type of guy. Like I, I just, my brain doesn't work that way. I like to focus on one thing, divert my attention to that one thing, and then accomplish that task or whatever it is, and then move on. But trying to balance work, life, family. And I'm not unique to the fact that I'm the only person that has a crap tongue going on.

Nor are you. Everybody has their stuff going on. Exactly. I think that. I think that if people could just slow down and think about. What they're doing in that specific moment in time and focus on that. I do think the world would be a better place. Yeah. So here's a word and I, we could talk about it on the fitness side.

Cause I know, like you said, being in, in sports and I know fitness is a big part of your life is discipline. [00:39:00] And like you were just saying, earlier when people look online, see social media stuff and the cliches and the memes and all that stuff, but I know you get up early and get that workout in and how does that help translate the discipline in, into obviously your workout routine to, obviously every day in life?

I think that And this is gonna sound like Jocko ish, right? Cuz the, on the motivation side or being motivated to do something for a lot of people like that only lasts so long. Including me. I don't like to get up at four 30 every single morning. There are mornings where I'm motivated to do that, but to do it every single day to achieve some type of obtainable results and doesn't necessarily have to be fitness, but until you get disciplined to do.

To have some consistency in that task. Like you're not gonna achieve success, and that doesn't matter if it's business hunting fitness it just really doesn't matter what it is. So I think getting in the habit of doing things consistently through discipline instead of only [00:40:00] doing it when you're moti motivated It gets you in the habit of doing things when you don't want to do them.

Yeah. And like on the, just in the business world, that's where we found the most success is just being consistent. Being disciplined with what you need to, what you know you need to do. Yeah. Spartan Forge stands at the nexus of machine learning and whitetail deer hunting to deliver truly intuitive and science based products that saves the hundred times spent scouting, planning, and executing their hunts.

You have deer prediction, journaling, and the best maps on any hunting app platform there is. Use code antler up to save 20% off your Smart and Forge membership@spartanforge.ai. That discipline word is huge, I think because if you are able to, it goes discipline, consistency and like the goals if you're, that's like a endless, seamless like little loop there, because no matter what you're doing, like you just said, it could apply to everything and anything.

Some of my. Favorite [00:41:00] best days are when I, Friday nights come and I'm a loser, and I'm sleeping by 9 45, 10 o'clock at night. But guess what? I'm up at like you said, 4 45 5:00 AM Coffee's already br brewed. I let the girls sleep in as much as they can. I come down here. And I might not have been able to edit next week's podcast or something like that.

And I know this is not, again, this is totally, this is my world, and it's okay, that allows me to get at least an hour and a half of getting this done and it's six 30. You know what I mean? Like the, today's just beginning basically for other people. And then I could go work out or I could do something else.

And by the time I'm done doing that, now the girls are up. They're done, they're taken care of. And now daddy's present. Now, Jeremy, the husband's present. What do we need to get accomplished for the day on that weekend or, once the summer rolls around, like daily or ha whatnot.

That's the, that's like the easy things for me. But then again, it translates into just everything. Then it just turns into checklists [00:42:00] of. Do you, do I have to paint the garage? Do I have to do this? And, when could I get these taken care of? So that way it, it works. And that it's the discipline, it's the effort and the consistency.

And the more you do it the easier that it gets as well. Yeah, I think on the physical side too everybody, I don't wanna say everybody, there's a lot of people that think ex your exercise routine or your training regimen is. Based around like physical attributes, whether that's the way you look, the way you perform.

But for me, there's a bigger there's a bigger mental reward, big time to working out than there is physical at least for me. And I think that's something that a lot of times people overlook, especially when they're first trying to get started. And maybe at first it is about physical attributes, but then, as you go down that path or that road, Like the mental dividends that a good consistent workout routine provides is like, dude, it's astronomical.

Yeah. What's crazy is all the studies that are out there [00:43:00] on this I mean it's through the roof as far as how many actual studies provide how. Your, your mood improves, your I don't know if it's the, I like your iq, but like your, they've shown like test scores wolf ray when you're on a continuous like workout regimen and basically all that stuff.

And there's been times, even when. If it's been a longer day, especially when again we're, it sounds like I'm in prison and during the summer with them, but like when I'm home and I we're doing things and I maybe did not get my workout in, my wife will just be like, go ahead, go work out.

And it's just she almost could feel the grizzly bear getting ready to come and she's go ahead out there. Just, I got it for the next 45 minutes, whatever. It's like, all right, great. You know what I mean? And not that now we're the age at nos and she's pretty self efficient. For a couple years ago it it was, you have to be a little bit more present in doing things.

And now it's go ahead get it in. And you know how she knows it. I'm like, whew. Thanks. I appreciate that. And and it's like a reward thing cuz she gave something and so then it builds on that [00:44:00] relationship side of things. But what kind of music are you listening to when you're going up out there at 4:30 AM to get you fired up?

And dude it depends, man. I have a very, if you opened up my playlist, you'd be like, what the heck is this? What the heck is this dude about? Man, there's days where I'll listen to I don't wanna say, I guess it's like metal or hard metal stuff. Yeah. Smash your head against the wall type.

Yep. Type stuff. And then there's days where I'll listen to m and m or Yeah. Late mid nineties. Rap, like Tupac and Biggie. Yep. But then I'll also listen to stuff like, Chris Knight and Red Dirt Country music. I mean it's just all over the place. Man. Dude, that's so funny cuz that's exactly how I am like one growing up in Northeast Pennsylvania there's a band.

What's crazy is they were a year older than me and I actually used to be in a band. I was the lead singer one time and Oh wow. And that was during that whole emo phase, how that was. So it was like a jack of all trades. I played sports, I was [00:45:00] in the hunting and everything like that.

And then next thing you know it, I'm grabbing a microphone and screaming my lungs out. But what was funny is there was a band that would play with us once in a while and they were coming from Scranton, Wilkes Bear area, and they were like, just, we were. I guess the pop punk back then, and these guys were a little bit more hardcore.

And then a year goes by when we were like junior seniors, and they were, again, a year older than us. So when we were seniors, they were supposed to be in college, they weren't. And they're like, holy shit. They're going to the Warp Tour. Like they're playing on Warp Tour, they're getting this break, they're doing this.

And my friend st. He was a, he still is a phenomenal guitarist, but he He's yeah. He goes they're like gonna be legit here soon. I'm like, really? And it wasn't our taste of music, whatever, but did you ever hear of the band Motionless White? I have not. So they, they're like a really dark, heavy metal.

He me, heavy metal band. And there, there's one song. They have, it's called five 70, which is the area code that I grew up in. And you, that sucker comes on like arm day or squat [00:46:00] day or deadlift day. Man. I'm rocking and rolling. I'm lifting up the whole gym and when that sucker comes on, but yeah, I'm with you, dude.

I'm listening to Tupac Biggie. I'm listening to nwa, the old school hip hop stuff. And then I could throw on some chillers and Zach, Bryan and go as Yep. As calm and cool as c as can be. And, it's crazy, man. One thing that I do with my music selection, and this is really only when I'm when I'm training, but I'll find like a song right?

Where, and I'm like, there's more lyrics mean something to me. Yeah. Going back to the words thing. Yep. I'll try to draw something like, From a specific story in a song like tied to the lyrics. And then I will listen to that on replay for two hours. That's the one, like I'll listen to one song, let the lyrics like hit me deep, yeah. And just dive into it. Yeah. That's so funny. Cause I've, I always thought I was like, the only weirdo like that, Not alone. I'm not alone. No, that's good, man. Dude. Chad, I appreciate man, the, this discussion [00:47:00] and I hope you listening, the people listening, I hope you could just get something out of it and if Chad basically elaborated on a bunch of questions and just discussion, I wanted him to have, and you do.

You do throw some snippets of this type of stuff out there on certain episodes, and I love when you do, man and I really appreciate your time, what you're doing on a business side of thing and I appreciate what you're doing on this personal side of things as well. Yeah, man we're getting down into the nitty gritty of the crazy busy time for you here soon.

So giddy up, right? Yeah, it is. It's that time, like everyone dreads quarter one and quarter two. It's Once you get past Turkey season, June comes and like, all heck breaks loose. But that's what we wait for. Yeah. That's what we get excited about. So yeah, Chad I will say this, man. I consider you one of a dying breed and I, you're, from afar as a friend, I could say, you're a good person to look to, look at, see what you're doing, follow along, and you're doing things the right way.

And I, and it's I appreciate you putting snippets of it out there, and I [00:48:00] think people could really gravitate towards that and learn from it and try to be a better person and be a better individual. And I and wanted to say thanks for doing that. Man thank you, Jeremy, because I don't take that, those words lightly by, by any means, but I do want everyone to know, like I am just.

Dude, I put my pants on this. Yep. Just like everybody else. I'm nothing special. I'm, while I try to detest mediocracy, like I do think I'm a just a normal guy going about my business, but I do have passion. And I am driven. Yeah. By, by it. So that's what we sustained. Yeah. Dude. I that, and that's exactly what, that's the best part about it because you are, like you said you are a great individual of just like you said, you're normal, right?

You're you just go about it. You're us as consuming this 10 outta 10 people here listening are obviously gonna be hunters, right? But the grand scheme of things. You're just like us and just a person know that, like you said, you're passionate. And I think if we [00:49:00] all could take a little bit of that and see that, and no matter what it is, people just, go ab go about it and do it and go from there.

Absolutely. Awesome, Chad. Where could people find you fall along and all that jazz. On social, you can follow me or find me. I think it's Sylvester underscore Chat, Facebook and Instagram. I'm not tuned in there quite as much as the business stuff, but if e everything else at Exodus Outdoor gear.

Yeah. Wonderful man. And go give them the look right now and I'm gonna be selfish here, Chad. With that eighth year anniversary sale going on, use code au, it'll absolutely it's not gonna necessarily do something for me and put any money in my pocket by any means. It's just going to just for marketing things.

The guys have one, even for the Exodus podcast and other podcasts out there. It's just a cool little thing of just seeing how it's. Where are people listening to and seeing where Exodus is being heard. I appreciate that support for those of you that have either used the code already or plan on using it.

So thank you from so much for from me on that. But definitely check out what Chad and [00:50:00] Jake and Cam and all the rest of the fellows over at Exodus outdoor gear are doing because it's awesome. And I know a lot of people say customer service and blah, blah, blah, but I'm telling you right now, I've heard.

Amazing stories from people that I haven't even really, people I've one followed or, and some certain conversations. They do take care of you. Give Chad and the guys a call if something ever would come up or if you have questions. Cuz they're great man. And Chad, thanks again dude for this discussion.

Yeah, man, thanks for having me on. It's it's refreshing to talk about some of this stuff and get away from the whitetail stuff sometimes. I thank you. Thank you, Jeremy. Absolutely. All right everybody, thanks again. We'll see you next week. Till next time, aunt Loup.

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