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Tactical Wealth is the podcast built to empower the military and veteran community to take control of their financial future.
From navigating the military to civilian life transition, to launching businesses, growing your income, and building long-term wealth, each episode brings you real stories and actionable insights from those who’ve gone from boots on the ground to building lasting wealth.
Hosted by Kaj Larsen, former Navy SEAL, award-winning journalist, and mission-driven entrepreneur. Kaj successfully co-founded a financial technology company and sold the company in 2024. The podcast features hard truth conversations with successful veteran entrepreneurs, CEOs, and top financial experts.
Whether you're still in uniform or already charting your next chapter, this podcast gives you the tactical tools to lead with impact in your finances and beyond. Let’s get tactical.
Tactical Wealth is a Gebbia Media production, brought to you by Siebert.Valor, a military-focused initiative from Siebert Financial. The Tactical Wealth podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Siebert Financial. This podcast does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy any securities. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
For more information and disclosures, please visit siebert.com/disclosures.
00:00:04:06 - 00:00:20:06
Unknown
We were convinced that we were going to kill bin laden, but it was a question of whether or not we were going to live, because we were definitely going there. You kept building businesses upon businesses, right? Your time is a lot more valuable than the money you're getting paid. You're worth a lot more. And if you give something away for free, no one's going to pay for it.
00:00:20:07 - 00:00:30:12
Unknown
No one's ever learned from success. They learn from failing. And he said, why do you want to be in me? I said, I want to be a sniper. He said, look no further. The enemy is all your doubts, all your fears, and everyone back home that told you you one couldn't have to do this. Keep your head down.
00:00:30:13 - 00:00:45:15
Unknown
Keep moving forward. When you feel like quitting, quit tomorrow.
00:00:45:17 - 00:01:07:19
Unknown
Some people wait for opportunity. Others fight for it. Welcome to Tactical Wealth, the show. We're disciplined. Service and real world experience become pathways to financial power. I'm your host. On each episode, we bring you the stories and the wisdom of those who have gone from boots on the ground to successful careers, from military to wealth, and how they've done it.
00:01:07:19 - 00:01:18:12
Unknown
So you can apply those insights to your own mission and your own life. This is tactical wealth, from military to money.
00:01:18:14 - 00:01:46:08
Unknown
Today's guest needs no introduction in the special operations world. He's been on some of the most prominent missions, including the lone survivor mission with my good friend Marcus Luttrell, the Captain Phillips mission, and probably the most important mission that the US military is engaged on since World War two. That's Operation Neptune Spear, the hunt for bin laden. He has over 16.5 years in the Navy.
00:01:46:10 - 00:02:10:14
Unknown
He's been on over 400 combat missions. More importantly, in the subject of today's talk, and probably lesser known than his more illustrious military credentials, he is an extraordinary entrepreneur. He's launched multiple companies, and he continues to have outsized success in the entrepreneurial world. Rob O'Neal, welcome to taxi. Well, thanks for having me. Good to have you brought to be at the House.
00:02:10:15 - 00:02:37:05
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. You know, what's so funny is like, I know you. And then as I started to, like, look into, like, more stuff, I realized, like, there's there is so much more to your story than, like, the public facing persona. Like, yeah, lot goes on the. I've learned two things. One of the quotes I'm stealing from someone. First thing is just get good at the easy stuff.
00:02:37:05 - 00:02:53:23
Unknown
And then my favorite quote is wherever you are, be there. So if you make yourself available, stuff can happen. That's just the way I found it, because most of the stuff I planned, including training missions, combat missions, they never go exactly how they're supposed to go. And as you've seen, when it's going perfectly, that's your problem. Yeah. Like, okay.
00:02:53:23 - 00:03:15:00
Unknown
Everything's fine. Other than what's about to happen. So just be there and just. I think it's important not to get discouraged. Whatever you're trying and remembering that. And I'm giving I'm literally speaking, giving myself my own advice right now. No one's ever learned from success. They learn from failing. I've never met a CEO that just says, well, knock that out on one try first time every time.
00:03:15:02 - 00:03:30:00
Unknown
Am I working? Buds might keep you from getting your butt kicked, but yeah, just learning from failure and making yourself available, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Just you got you got to stay in the fight. Yeah, it's crazy, like we're friends, but we're friends from the Seal teams and beyond. Like, I don't actually know your your origin story.
00:03:30:00 - 00:03:50:02
Unknown
Like, how did you get to the Seal teams? You're from Montana, right? Right. Montana. Long a long lineage of great frogmen from Montana. Eric Ulrich, Ryan Zinke. Right. Yeah, they kind of paved the way. Does every Montana seal end up at Devgru? Two of us did. Three. Right? Three? Yeah. Sorry. You and all. I didn't count myself. Yeah.
00:03:50:04 - 00:04:11:22
Unknown
And then I went through sniper school with a guy from Montana, and I met a couple here and there, but, I mean, it's all it's always the same thing, too. It's like we're supposed to pull veterans, but with frogmen, we just run into each other. Yeah, well, I ran into a fragmented Butte, Montana, that actually, after he got out, went to school there, met my sister, and he she somehow it came up Navy Seal.
00:04:11:22 - 00:04:25:06
Unknown
And she said, well, my brother's a Navy Seal. And he obviously was like, yeah, sure he isn't. She said, yeah, he'd like to meet you. He goes, I'd like to meet him. And we met. Like we set up a meeting and Maloney's Bar in Butte, Montana. And the conversation, no kidding, went like this. Hey, I'm Rob, Hanna marshall.
00:04:25:06 - 00:04:41:13
Unknown
And he goes, well, for you. I said, 208. What about you? And he goes, 161I said, Scott, he was in 161. And he goes, yeah, we're in the goon squad together. And like legit. Yeah. That's all it takes for anyone lying about being a Seal. Just we're going to catch you. It's so amazing. Yeah, yeah. It's amazing that people still do that.
00:04:41:15 - 00:05:00:05
Unknown
Well, it is too. What's like lying about anything too if you if you. I remember one time before I was married, I was talking to a woman in Virginia Beach. I was a brand new guy at Seal. Team two were just out, and I wasn't saying Navy or anything. And she said, what are you doing? I said, I am the produce manager at the Hannaford on Shore Drive.
00:05:00:06 - 00:05:17:17
Unknown
And she said, no, you're not. I am like, well, that's weird. Busted. I'm not walked right into that one, okay? I lied about being the protest manager. I'm actually a Navy Seal. Yeah you are. Yeah, yeah. And you follow up one with another, bro. You know what? Mine was in bars in San Diego. I'd tell girls that I was.
00:05:17:19 - 00:05:36:20
Unknown
Remember the Coronado Bridge. They used to do, like, three lanes in the morning and two lanes at night. I used to say, I drove that machine that moved the lane from, like, one side to the other every morning and every afternoon. Really good job. Yeah. You ever get you ever try the blimp pilot? No. Combat blimp pilot. The funniest part of that was talking them.
00:05:36:22 - 00:06:01:06
Unknown
Talking the person with whom you're speaking into the the ejection process. Because the cockpits on the bottom. So you got to go through two. So we wore these big necks because we have these used Kevlar spikes. So when we eject you through right. The blimp that's usually when you get busted for lying. It's amazing. Like this. You'd be Don Shipley's like swansong, like his next career is like instead of talking about fake Navy Seals, he's talking about fake Navy Seal professions.
00:06:01:07 - 00:06:24:19
Unknown
Yes, that's a good idea. That's pretty fun. I read that, yeah. We'll see. Yeah. Because we've heard this typical one's the door gunner on the space shuttle. Yeah, yeah. Pilot blimp pilots. Damn good. So how did you become a seal? Why did you become one of those things where life happens around you when you're making a planet? And I was playing college basketball, and I was going to get an MBA and not playing in the NBA, I was going to get a master's work with my dad.
00:06:24:20 - 00:06:40:06
Unknown
And then it was it just came in different relationships, different time in life. We've all been to where it's time to leave town. And I was in Butte, Montana, playing college in Butte, Montana, and I had two friends that joined the Marine Corps. So they were two years old with me, so I figured I had time to leave town the easiest way out of town to join the Marine Corps.
00:06:40:06 - 00:06:59:20
Unknown
And I went to do that. I had seen Full Metal Jacket, so I get it. So I literally went down there and the marine recruiter wasn't in the office, but it was one of those places where there's four separate offices for four. But the two Marines I knew said the the Marine Corps is a joke. They said, you might not know this, but the Marine Corps is actually part of the Department of the Navy.
00:06:59:20 - 00:07:13:04
Unknown
It's just the men's department that marine recruits not there. So I went to the Navy guy to ask him where he was and if anyone will know. You will. And he said, why do you want to be in Reno? Said, I want to be a sniper. He said, look no further. And I remember thinking, this is exciting because it is like, you can leave now.
00:07:13:04 - 00:07:29:05
Unknown
Three hots in a cot. You're going on venture. I'm like, I don't know how to swim. I'm from Montana, but he's a professional recruiter. Why is he going to lie? And I just signed and then he showed me what a seal was and that's when it got serious. But that was like, what, 97 595. Right. And I left in 1996 January 96th right.
00:07:29:06 - 00:07:49:18
Unknown
And prior to that, had you heard of the Seal teams? Because we weren't really prominent in the media that I did see Navy Seals, the movie with Charlie Sheen, very accurate. The greatest movie ever made, 100% accurate. I actually okay, here's my argument. Prove me wrong. I'm like veteran with a sign proved me wrong. Navy Seals from 92 with Charlie Sheen or whatever captures our culture better than any subsequent movie.
00:07:49:22 - 00:08:04:02
Unknown
I think some guys from Denmark helped with that. I think that Man City Braun, I got to give him a shout out. He's the guy that did the jump off the bridge from the moving car. Yeah. So he. You mean the bridge that I used to move the. Yeah, the dividers on. Yeah. Remember that scene in the movie though when he jumped out of the movie cross?
00:08:04:03 - 00:08:21:13
Unknown
Yeah, I guess Eddie Bronze, a friend of mine too. And he's been Sheen's stunt double forever. But he said, I guess I wasn't there, but he said when they were shown in the script, he'd said, all right, I'll do. I'm doing this once, so get all the. He jumped out of a moving car and even before that way to enter the water was cool.
00:08:21:15 - 00:08:37:04
Unknown
Yeah, he said it sucked. But he part of the history. It's a big bridge. Huge, huge bridge. That's a real stunt. Oh, yeah. Probably got a real stunt. That's not AI. He actually jumped the same canyon that Evel Knievel failed that he made Eddie Blount look him up. And he's a stunt man. I'm not a team guy. Yeah.
00:08:37:05 - 00:08:55:13
Unknown
Stop, man. Good for him. Sounds like a stud. He reminds me, actually. So he has to look started like Sheen. And actually, this is kind of funny. We mentioned Marcus. The trailer. Marcus and Morgan are twins. And with Eddie, Brian Morgan was my swim buddy. But. Yeah. Yeah. And with Sheen, like. Like Morgan. Okay, all due respect to Marcus, Morgan is a good looking twin.
00:08:55:13 - 00:09:13:04
Unknown
And Marcus always says, well, Morgan is a good looking one. I got the rest. Same with Sheen. She's good looking in Eddie Bronze. Yeah, you can see it. Oh, my God, I can't wait to excise that clip. Send it to the boys, send it to the literal brothers. Watch them fight. Oh, fight. They fight. They used to really fight.
00:09:13:04 - 00:09:31:20
Unknown
Like back in the day. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So. Okay, so you enter the Seal teams, you go through 208. This is all pre. Nine. 11. What were what was the early part of your Seal career like? Well at first it was obviously training and I didn't think I was going to get through. The only thing I knew was you can't quit.
00:09:31:20 - 00:09:50:00
Unknown
And it was reinforced. I'm kind of getting doing the quick version, but obviously you take it day by day, me and by meal during first phase. But right before Hell Weekend instructor said, you're about to go to war for the first time in the enemy is all your doubts, all your fears, and everyone back home that told you you weren't good enough to do this.
00:09:50:01 - 00:10:09:17
Unknown
Keep your head down. Keep moving forward when you feel like quitting, quit tomorrow. That's it. So that was it. And then, you know, hell week. First phase. Dive phase. It doesn't get easier. Hell, we as you know, it's not the hardest part. But then I remember Monday of graduation week, they're like, yeah, go to dental, go to medical, go to get your service record.
00:10:09:18 - 00:10:26:12
Unknown
And I'm like, what's going on? Like we do? I'm like, what? What does that even mean? So yeah, just you keep doing. Then I picked the East Coast because there's not going to be a war. And the closest thing we have is Bosnia. I'm going to be a young Navy Seal. I want to go find Bosnia even. And I thought that was fighting.
00:10:26:13 - 00:10:44:02
Unknown
Yeah. So I went to team two and and it was cool to see guys like Drago, Scott, Neil come back like with their Sarajevo team guy t shirts and shit like that. And it was just neat. And I learned a lot there. I learned that Navy Seals will do ocean swims every Tuesday regardless of the weather. So ice swims are fun, but it builds a camaraderie.
00:10:44:02 - 00:11:03:16
Unknown
I learned morale really early on that I think Navy Seals are successful because morale is high. I mean, even when even when we had to drop the hammer, it's kind of fun because you always got a swim buddy. I remember checking into two. I met Don Shilton, one of the first first deals. I met big, big Don Shipley, and I remember flying against the wall.
00:11:03:17 - 00:11:19:21
Unknown
And then you served with his son? Yeah. So you served with both generations as I was DJ, team leader. No way. Yeah, but just having him come in and listen to the banter, and I'm thinking I thought I was funny. This is next level comedy. And then Shipley's like, well, you know, it's 10 a.m.. Who wants to go to the chief club for beer?
00:11:19:22 - 00:11:37:18
Unknown
I'm like, okay, I'm home. Sounds about right. And then we just did that and we deployed. She did like a UConn to point it out. No, no, I did a marg on the USS Austin, which is an Austin class LPD, meaning it's the first one. Yeah. So crossing a flat bottomed boat across the Atlantic with nothing but men.
00:11:37:19 - 00:11:53:19
Unknown
Just again though, the humor this the humor that comes out. And so we know a couple of things here. My first real missions Ron Albania and that was was I mean, that's the first time I saw Seal team Six guys too. There was a threat from the on a on award ceremony, and I just finished sniper school as a new guy.
00:11:53:19 - 00:12:11:02
Unknown
So I was like going to watch tower, watching the ceremony, thinking, this is high speed as Navy Seals get. Yeah, yeah. Well, those were the good days. They shoot dive, jump club, you know. Right. And yeah, we got a good train like you train. So then you're at two for how many platoons for. Well I do three at two and then one at four all the way through.
00:12:11:02 - 00:12:27:03
Unknown
Nine. 11. Yes. But the one deployment at four was they had this big shift in the matrix where Seal team two becomes Seal team four, and we literally had guys passing each other for building the building instead of just putting the signs out. Yeah. So we got sealed for the crap building with the crap showers. Yeah. So I did one deployment.
00:12:27:03 - 00:12:48:11
Unknown
There was a team two deployment at team four. And then I screened before that and qualified for selection. 2004 was the first time. And even when we invented Iraq, I was overseas on the USS was Sal did a lot of Navy stuff. Yeah. You're like a real sailor. Well, I did a marg, a strike and a marg than he ucam somewhere in there and even going into invade Iraq in 2003.
00:12:48:12 - 00:13:04:19
Unknown
Something happened in Liberia and they had to turn the market around for a civil war. So you had to swim into Liberia, which is awesome, right around March, because you ever pay attention to the dangerous marine life briefs? I never do, except when I'm swimming under the west coast of Africa. It's like, all right, I'm gonna be a ditch.
00:13:05:00 - 00:13:24:03
Unknown
I love hearing that. You shouldn't run into a saltwater crocodile, but if you do 25ft long or whatever. No, man. It's like super. I was supposed to teach combat diving to the Liberian special forces in air quotes, special forces or super special, depending on how you want to do it. Fascinated with that. They had an amazing dive locker when I showed up.
00:13:24:03 - 00:13:44:00
Unknown
Pristine perfect. Looked brand new because it was never been used. It never been used. Yeah, it's like I have this French assault rifle to sell. You never get fired and only dropped one yet. So I literally showed up to teach combat diving to the Liberian special forces. They. And what I realized when I got there is none of them actually knew how to swim.
00:13:44:01 - 00:14:10:17
Unknown
So I did six weeks of swim lessons in a lake with the Liberian special Rawkus. Yeah, outside of Monroe. What year was that? 2007 or something like that? That's and five. I'm not even being sarcastic. That must have been a blast. It was amazing because those guys are great. They're great. Great. Not the Civil War crap. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're civil wherever I when I was playing basketball, my the center, my center for the Montana Tech or diggers was from Monrovia.
00:14:10:19 - 00:14:30:04
Unknown
Zeke bamboo. First seven footer I'd ever met. Montana. We don't have a lot of seven footers. Big wonderful guy to Liberia is amazing. Well even when I checked into Seal team to my first platoon chief, Bob Brennan, I said to him, yeah, my center was from Liberia. It's in Africa. And those old chief goes, I know where it is.
00:14:30:05 - 00:14:49:10
Unknown
Yeah, let's give the people their red meat. Let's give them their bread and butter. You show up at Seal Team six. Yeah. And you basically arrived there in the middle in the beginning of the war. Yeah. When we when I first was affected by the war was when Neil Roberts was killed and that was Red Squadron. Roberts. Yeah.
00:14:49:11 - 00:15:06:23
Unknown
And I and he was one of the first dudes I met at Seal team two. Also, Fifi was I mean, he was known as just the the hardest, funniest, best. You will give you advice like he took me and a guy Richmond, me and Richmond went to Arby's with Fifi because he wanted to tell us about Seal team two and just just a great guy.
00:15:06:23 - 00:15:26:10
Unknown
He was always there, complete. I went over there and then I was packing a parachute right after Anaconda, and that's the first time I heard the first time I ever heard the question that I hated. Did you know so-and-so? Yeah. And it's like, what do you mean? Did I know is that I don't know what would happen. And then you know him and John Chapman and then so then I went over to team six and it was just checking into water.
00:15:26:10 - 00:15:41:17
Unknown
And after selection, it is like that was the first experience that bullets are flying this way now. And, and I remember guys coming back from Afghanistan saying two things. Well one, everything that we've been training forget because that's jungle tactics and.
00:15:41:19 - 00:15:54:22
Unknown
To keep your head down or something like that. It was it was like, this is a serious fight. We're in it. And that's when it got really serious, too, when guys were like, okay, this it was cool to be a Navy Seal. Is it going to be cool to really go fight now, which most guys. Yeah, that's what we're here for.
00:15:54:23 - 00:16:16:05
Unknown
Yeah. And I think people don't realize in that era like 2003 all the way through like 2012, basically the op tempo for you guys was so extraordinarily high. Three months on, three months off. Well, then we switched to form for months. Sorry for well, no, we switched to that because we get more time at home. Right. So they'll give an additional squadron to us and Delta and then we'll get more time at home.
00:16:16:09 - 00:16:32:09
Unknown
Allegedly. It just turns into more deployments. And I mean, it was an opt out on being in that generation. We really we got after it. We had Afghanistan in the beginning. We got Captain Phillips. Iraq was popping off. I was over there in zero seven by the best summer of my life. Just because if you're if you're a Navy Seal, you want to be on kill missions.
00:16:32:09 - 00:16:47:04
Unknown
And we were hunting Qaeda the whole time. And then, you know, I was on the base when Bob Bergdahl walked off that morning. I was there. We went after him 90 plus times. I, I held the ransom in his in my hands. We're so close to getting him. And then the bin laden rain. I mean, just all right there.
00:16:47:05 - 00:17:02:21
Unknown
Buddies of mine, same generation. My one of my buddies was the lead jumper to rescue Jessica Buchanan from al-Shabab. Jumped into Somalia after the bin laden raid. Whenever one of my buddies was in my wedding was the sniper, the rescued Richard Phillips. And it's just the same core group of dudes. And you know it is wherever you are, be there and make yourself presentable.
00:17:02:21 - 00:17:16:04
Unknown
A lot of it has to do with luck. Just right, right place, right time. I mean, there are plenty of team guys, I'm sure you know, two of that just didn't quite. But just because you can't chase the war, we always said that, right? You can't change what to when it first start. I got to get to Iraq because it's going to be over soon.
00:17:16:10 - 00:17:38:07
Unknown
Because there's never been a Warren near Mesopotamia. Right. And then two decades later, here we are. So, look, I don't want to talk about about it odd that much because, like, look, you can read your book, The operator, you've talked about it a bazillion times. You're super honest and transparent, like what I would like to focus on from a business perspective, from an entrepreneurial perspective.
00:17:38:07 - 00:17:58:01
Unknown
And I want to get into your entrepreneurial journey. What is it about your time at Seal Team six and then specifically about like, being such a public figure on the most high profile mission since World War two? Are there things there that laid the groundwork for your future success on the private sector? I think it's positive and negative.
00:17:58:02 - 00:18:16:06
Unknown
The blessing and a curse being from the Seal teams, because the positives are the team atmosphere, the ability to solve problems rationally and communicate with each other and have the difficult conversations when they need to be had. It's it's nice to make sure someone's happy and stroke their ego, whatever. But we can also knows a complete sentence and even in debriefs.
00:18:16:06 - 00:18:30:12
Unknown
I don't wanna hear how great you are. Tell me what you screwed up and we'll try to adjust it there. So you come from good effective communication, problem solving, stress management. The issue is though, you did trust people and then you get the private sector, not the case. And I'm not trying to I'm not trying to say the private sector is bad.
00:18:30:12 - 00:18:48:00
Unknown
I'm just saying a lot more me, me, me. In the private sector, a lot more people are just trying to get ahead of themselves. If you just took a second and work together, it's so obvious. Success could be better. But a lot of people aren't that way. Yeah, I've always said this. Like I've said a couple things when I transitioned out is one.
00:18:48:01 - 00:19:06:17
Unknown
Like I always felt like in the Seal teams, I had like pack of sled dogs, right? It was like the Iditarod race and my job was to pull the reins. But mostly people were like running, sprinting forward. Yeah, right. But in the private sector, it's more like playing polo. Horse polo for a high falutin reference, where you got the little whip and you got to whip them a little bit, right.
00:19:06:18 - 00:19:31:20
Unknown
That's actually true. I remember after I got out, I was doing some consulting on tactics and stuff like that, and there was a platoon from team ten in Montana, and they were staying in my hometown, and I was up there and I was working with the contractor up there, something weird. We had a like a psych ward hospital that was completely run down, and they were able to do mount training, their military operations or terrain close quarters battle in a big old hospital.
00:19:31:20 - 00:19:47:09
Unknown
That was cool. Anyway, we were sitting there in the classroom getting a brief on something. Someone from the platoon came in and said, hey, there's a thing we got to do. I'm going to need someone. Whatever. Platoon gets up and leaves to help, and some of the people I was working with that were from people were civilians were like, what was that like?
00:19:47:09 - 00:20:06:09
Unknown
He didn't pick anyone out. Like, everyone just went and worked. I'm like, yeah, well, something needed to get done. Yeah. And it didn't make sense. It's like, well, yeah, team guys just did it. Yeah. Or when some needs to be done. Oh, no, it's already done. Yeah I've struggled with this a little bit from a leadership perspective in the private sector is you know in the team's like it's completely mission oriented.
00:20:06:09 - 00:20:26:08
Unknown
So you try and rally people around a mission and then you sort of assume that like people are motivated by the mission. Assume so. Yeah. Yeah. But in the private sector the incentive design is different. Look how it's ingrained in us too. As soon as you get done with the the nastiest, smelliest mission, the first thing you clean is the team's gear, gym gear versus pressure.
00:20:26:09 - 00:20:48:22
Unknown
Yeah. And by the way, the mission is not over till you're out of the shower, right? Because I've even seen dudes that the old run by the. It's not a drive by can't drive, but a run by nine bagger in the showers. You're really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nine of them coming. All right. So on. I think obviously bin laden is is central to your story.
00:20:49:02 - 00:21:15:16
Unknown
And then it provides a foundation for some of the stuff you do in the private sector. If there's and it's well trampled territory. So I don't want to get into it here. But what's, what's the most important thing for people to know about the bin laden mission? And the part that, for me is most interesting is, like you and I have talked about this when you guys launched like there was no guarantor of success, true, with any mission, but even more so true with this mission.
00:21:15:18 - 00:21:31:05
Unknown
We were convinced that we were going to kill bin laden, but it was a question of whether or not we were going to live, because we were definitely going there. And even President Obama said afterwards, I was never 100% convinced bin laden would be there, but I was convinced you could go in and figure it out, come back.
00:21:31:05 - 00:21:45:00
Unknown
So we knew we could get in there. We said no, we'd get out because there was a lot of variables to get in there. But I think the most important thing about the mission is, especially with the targets at the agency, it doesn't matter who you are, we will find you and we have guys we'll send right to your house.
00:21:45:00 - 00:22:00:06
Unknown
That to me was cool. Even when Biden's Seal team six, it was cool because yeah, I mean, you know about Seal Team six and we'll come get you. But who don't you know about? But okay, so you guys load up the hell you load it up from bad. Right. Like you left from J bad when you first step onto that Hilo.
00:22:00:07 - 00:22:19:11
Unknown
Like there's a point of no return, right? Like what's going through your mind when you get on the helicopters are bad. Honestly, it was how cool everybody I was with was just because I and even guys later said they were pissed at me because I remembered to bring one of those try folding chairs, the little hunter chairs, so I could sit in the heat because we're all kind of bunched in there.
00:22:19:11 - 00:22:35:19
Unknown
So now I'm just a little bit. I got Cairo here and cheese was there, and I'm just looking at because I'm trying to keep my mind off the 90 minute flight because we could get shot down. And there is there is space in your head, like, do what do you feel at it first or just gone? But it's worrying about a missile is not going to stop and I have enough to worry about.
00:22:35:19 - 00:22:48:21
Unknown
I'm not going to worry about that. So I'm just looking to do it. And I'll never forget the guy I looked at right next to me, off to my right, because Kyle was off my left, put on, put his headphones on and was listening to music and fell asleep, which was awesome. And the thoughts? I mean, even the sense of humor.
00:22:48:21 - 00:23:05:04
Unknown
You can't lose your sense of humor ever. And we've seen in the darkest times comes the darkest, best humor. But I remember looking at my buddy thinking, you're asleep on the ride to Osama bin Laden's house. And then I laugh because the thought process of what I would say to him is, you have ice in your veins, and I actually see why women find you attractive.
00:23:05:07 - 00:23:28:08
Unknown
Like, and again, I'm over here, night vision, just giggling to myself. If I live, I'm definitely going to tell a story because look how good we is. And seriously, I wake up before, make sure you know, headphones back in the old thing and then let's go kill us on villain. That gets just really cool. And even because the mission went wrong right off the bat, and I was supposed to be on the rooftop at first, but they dropped us off outside because the first helo crashed in the front yard.
00:23:28:09 - 00:23:41:00
Unknown
We got in somehow, but it's because we were good at the basics. If the guy in front of me goes left, I go right, that's it. And then just getting in the house because of where I landed, my guys are already in the house and I'm looking at them knowing we could blow up because now the house is probably rigged.
00:23:41:02 - 00:23:55:10
Unknown
Didn't stop anybody knowing you could but slow a smooth, smooth as fast as I could panic, but that's not going to stop. And you knew where the bedroom was because you ran the compound before? Because you guys. Well, we knew the exterior and we didn't want to know the interior. Two things I would always tell you. You don't want to.
00:23:55:12 - 00:24:08:23
Unknown
That's why you master the easy stuff. Don't talk to yourself into an ass whipping. I don't want to know as soon as I enter the door if it's a left or right turn, I'll just figure it out. I don't want to know. There's five men and ten women and 20 children. Tell me how many people you see, and I'll figure out what they are when I get there.
00:24:09:00 - 00:24:25:11
Unknown
I'm not going to assume that's just because it's a burka. It's a woman. I'm gonna figure it out. But don't waste my time with the wrong stuff. So. And all we knew was the woman that ran the bin laden team was 100% right on everyone inside. And she said there will be stairwells. And on the first one, you run into Khalid.
00:24:25:12 - 00:24:43:17
Unknown
And she was right. And then she said, if you ask him, you get a shot at the big guy, which I just think is totally cool. And again, it's right time, right place, right? There's no reason that that your fire team was supposed to be there. It's just the way everybody sorted in the house. We were supposed to be on his balcony.
00:24:43:18 - 00:24:57:07
Unknown
Mighty. So we're going to faster up onto the roof. And the best that we came to with was we could either drop the rope and sort of faster up onto the balcony, or we could just jump onto the balcony. Let's just jump and to the point where we're planning, like snipers trying to do some weird Overwatch. We're jumping down.
00:24:57:07 - 00:25:13:04
Unknown
There should be a glass window and he'll run. And the guys on the roof on the stairs will get him coming this way. And I even joked with the guys outside like, he's going to pull some lever and a big escape slide like an airplane. We'll go to the alleys and land right in front of you and your side.
00:25:13:04 - 00:25:34:01
Unknown
You're going to kill bin laden. We're going to go. He's going to blow up, but we're going to kill him. So you see him bang, bang. Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo! Bin Laden's dead. Like, what's going through your mind? Well, now we can get out of here. Yeah, we were some when I went into his room. It wasn't bravery. It was.
00:25:34:01 - 00:25:46:22
Unknown
The guy in front of me. Was brave for sure. When I turned, though, when I squeezed, I was the number two man. When I squeezed his shoulder, it was. I'm tired of thinking about it. Let's get it over with. He's going to. There's a suicide bomber there in there somewhere, and I just I'm over it. And I just wanted to get.
00:25:47:02 - 00:26:04:05
Unknown
And he was, I think because he and I did talk afterward, I think he was thinking, we can beat him if we go now. We got to go fast, which is, you know, what an ending. It's so funny. I, I'm so glad I never thought about the squeeze before. Like, for people who don't know, we obviously, like, squeezed before we enter a room.
00:26:04:05 - 00:26:26:13
Unknown
But, you know, sometimes depending on whether you're high porter, low port, like sometimes it's the butt squeeze. Somehow I'm really glad that it was the shoulder squeeze pre bin laden and not the butt squeeze I was always the shoulder guy. Yeah I mean the leg will work. I was always here I don't know I just thought legs seemed more like an ass man I'm going to ask Matt, but what I mean, and even that's part of the communication with the high port.
00:26:26:13 - 00:26:43:13
Unknown
Low port with the same thing. Because we would run, because we're always trying to develop new tactics. And one of our I don't want to get too much into tactics, but keep it simple. Turning a corner. Whatever, cam, I saw that bullshit. I say, here's the new rule don't shoot someone who looks like you. Yeah, and so you can put your gun at someone cool on fire.
00:26:43:14 - 00:27:02:22
Unknown
Fine. Don't pull that trigger. Make sure you know you're shooting. And that's big boy rules. Crazy. But I mean, it keeps it easy. Crazy. I don't need to knock this and know the challenge replies like, oh my bad. Sorry, cash. That was loaded. That was I had a hollow point in your face. You complete the most important mission since World War two.
00:27:03:00 - 00:27:27:01
Unknown
You come home. I make the argument that the Seal teams are fundamentally different post 2011 post Neptune Spear than they were prior to we. I think there was we have this ethos in our community of like the quiet professional and we still struggle with this, right? Are we the quiet professional? Are we the quintessential professional? How much of like our knowledge should be in the public domain?
00:27:27:01 - 00:27:47:13
Unknown
And how much is this kind of like what I would call an older school belief, right. Like, but I think after bin laden, there was no more putting the genie back in the bottle. We were so thrust into the public spotlight that forever thereafter, the Seal teams would have to figure out how to operate in the public. To mention, I would argue that we did that not very well.
00:27:47:14 - 00:28:08:22
Unknown
As a community, we still fight with ourselves about it, but for better or for worse, I think that that's the inflection point, and we became a public facing entity there on after. We're not good at winning. We had Captain Phillips. We've been rehearsing that since 1980 and never done it. But that's a lot of time to rehearse. You know what we never rehearsed?
00:28:09:03 - 00:28:24:23
Unknown
How do you get the guys home stock over there for three weeks? You know, and then with I think the bin laden raid changed, but I think the culmination of the bin laden raid and extortion one seven was really got us because now we're planning missions. We're not sure how to deal with it. Now we're planning funerals. We just lost 1000 years of combat experience, whatever it was, and maybe not a thousand years.
00:28:24:23 - 00:28:46:17
Unknown
A lot of combat experience going to places and then the names out there. Yeah, it definitely was since Vietnam. I mean, we do. We did Grenada. We did Panama. Yeah, a little bit of Desert Storm. I mean those guys in there but never Seal Team Six. Yeah. And it changed our our culture and our community forever. And I think that's just the reality.
00:28:46:17 - 00:29:12:12
Unknown
But so so now you get out you decide to transition out. All of the sudden you're very famous. You write a book about your experiences, you're very famous. How do you then decide to transition that into entrepreneurship? Was it like, hey, I'm not going to go work as the GM on the Coca-Cola factory floor? It was a weird it's weird because I know for seals, I know for a lot of Special forces.
00:29:12:12 - 00:29:28:05
Unknown
I know for a lot of military, when you're in the military, you get invited to the gallows, you go to the dinners, you go to the breakfast, you tell your story, everyone's interested. So it's like, well, when I get out, I'm going to sell a bunch of sunglasses. Everyone's going to buy them. All right. So and so I was lucky because that was your first venture.
00:29:28:06 - 00:29:44:23
Unknown
I don't know what. Oh, I didn't have a clue. I had nine months of terminal leave, maybe eight months of terminal leave, and that's it. And I remember even and again, I knew that I wasn't getting a pension. That's fine. I mean, I'm getting out for 20. That's part of the deal when I signed up. But you know what, I don't I never thought the Navy owed me anything.
00:29:44:23 - 00:30:05:09
Unknown
I don't think I owed them anything, but just traveling around wondering what I'm going to do. I learned that all the stuff I learned as a Navy Seal was applicable, and they people are interested in hiring, hiring someone that has the ability to communicate. If you can communicate your higher. And I quickly learn a lot of employers don't care about a college degree.
00:30:05:11 - 00:30:26:14
Unknown
A lot of employers think of college degrees. A waste of time. Now we've got to unlearn you. That plus $150,000 in debt for nothing. They want something. I've had CEOs, I had CFO, and I don't know why financial advisor said it to me, but that they would rather take a special operator and teach them the job in six months than someone they need a deprogram that even has a degree in their field.
00:30:26:14 - 00:30:50:17
Unknown
So I was fortunate that, I mean, even relatable combat skills that were at the time they were famous. I was able to talk about those, but not the missions. What got us there and why we were successful, and that's applicable to normal life. So just being able to talk about certain skills. So time management, stress management, team building, being leading and being led, being responsible instead of in charge, all that stuff and you can fit in.
00:30:50:17 - 00:31:13:16
Unknown
So I mean, I got there eventually I found out about the speaking circuit that people want to hear about this. So I was able to do that. And then along with the travels I met, people had just started different stuff, everything from the cannabis industry speaking agency that I'm starting right now. Apparel book sales are great, public speaking gatherings, just even discussions like this, talking to him, players about certain things that you can do.
00:31:13:17 - 00:31:35:03
Unknown
I mean, it's just yeah, I mean, look, there's there's no way you started with like a sort of more more of a platform probably than your traditional veteran transitioning out because you're a part of this, like high profile operation and team and unit and mission. But then you had to translate that into a brand eventually. Right. And you are the brand.
00:31:35:04 - 00:31:56:16
Unknown
What was what was like the first stop on that journey and was it successful? I guess the book was the first stop. The first stop was speaking. You speaking? Yeah, I would I was not telling people about the bin laden raid at all. I didn't talk about it at all. The first few speeches I had through the first two years, I've actually had clients call me back and say, we didn't know you on the bin laden raid, so we'd like to rehire you.
00:31:56:17 - 00:32:13:11
Unknown
So I started off speaking, which is speaking is funny because you can't really it's hard to market unless you're speaking at three. People in your audience want to hire you again and they tell their friends. So I started off, I think my first speech might have been November of 2012, and then two in December, then three in January, five in February.
00:32:13:15 - 00:32:38:18
Unknown
That's that's sort of picking up. And on the travels there, I just well, actually started the foundation. We started it called Your Grateful Nation that was didn't really give the mission statement. So it transitioned to the Special Operators Transition Foundation, which is transitioning special operators to the private sector. And that's so successful, it turned into pretty much a find the veteran, find out where he wants to live, then what industry he wants to be, and then make the introduction.
00:32:38:18 - 00:32:56:17
Unknown
And they train him and it's so successful. It's actually the Army sort of took over former Army guys and they're running it. And it's it's almost like everyone gets rope and they can do another just doing. It's like, look at you guys. So you almost have like a laboratory environment to study all these specimens invite me anymore. Think it's so awesome to see how great it is.
00:32:56:17 - 00:33:16:00
Unknown
It's awesome because they do events. They do the golf thing, they do the just whatever city is grateful. And a lot of veterans go, it's really cool. And you had no formal training in entrepreneurship, right? You just figured it all out on the fly, treated it like a mission. Yeah, I learned a lot of Navy experience prepped me for that.
00:33:16:00 - 00:33:30:18
Unknown
And meaning, I know how to ask a question, and I know if I don't know something, I can find someone who does. And you don't need to know everything. And the delegation of authority I learned the rule of three is in the military. Like you can do three things, and then once you get to a fourth, as we all know you got, you're going to need to hire someone probably.
00:33:30:18 - 00:33:49:21
Unknown
So yeah. And that's where I'm at now too. But yeah, I just started started working and then just with contacts and seeing what people want. So you go speaking, you do the book, then you decide to start a merch line. Right? The book came because of I donated the shirt that I wore, bin Laden's bedroom and the flag anonymously to the museum.
00:33:49:21 - 00:34:08:13
Unknown
And then I, Carolyn Maloney, was a representative. Is this a good thing? Like, here's a sweaty shirt from the well, that was funny. And it was clean at the time. And they actually had a cure. I was they brought Carolyn Maloney, the congresswoman had a group of donors whatever, in the river. And so she asked me to come in as I'm donating to give a speech.
00:34:08:14 - 00:34:26:03
Unknown
And they all everyone in there, I should have said donors, some donors, family members, a lot of family members who lost someone in nine over 11. And I was that's the first time on stage I've told the story, and I was watching the reactions and they were saying that it's the worst thing that's ever happened. There is no healing, sorry, there's no closure, but there is healing.
00:34:26:03 - 00:34:42:16
Unknown
And putting a name at a face with someone who saw bin laden is healing. And that's when I decided I'm going to. I have a journal. I'm going to edit it a little bit, give it to the Pentagon. I hired editors and a publisher and see what they think. And if they like it, fine. If they don't, I don't expect it.
00:34:42:16 - 00:34:57:13
Unknown
But they came back and they scrubbed a little bit, but it was good to go. So that was my first venture selling on the operator. And the operator sold a bazillion copies. Right. It was never a times bestseller. Yeah, I'm still selling it right now. I'm the only one that has hardcovers. You can't find it anywhere. Yeah, which is cool.
00:34:57:13 - 00:35:14:20
Unknown
And then what about the merch? I'm like, this is yours, right? Front towards enemy. I mean, actually, that's one of the early ways you popped on my radar. Besides, like, community stuff is like, I saw all your merch and I was like, this dude is funny. This guy turned his humor into a business. See, front door enemy again is keeping it simple.
00:35:14:21 - 00:35:30:06
Unknown
It's the easiest directions for anything. And Claymore mine is a pound and a quarter of C-4 with 800 ball bearings in front of it. It's directional, just like a bullet when the explosion goes off the projectile. It's also kind of the first like big boy tool you learn in the Seal teams, right? It's our first real demo, right?
00:35:30:07 - 00:35:46:23
Unknown
Like carry a Claymore mine on this mission. Even learn how to do the speedball. And I think what people don't realize, like, even if I touched your hat right now, it's embroidered. There's so many different ways on the claymore rail. It's like Braille. It's concave and convex in the dark. You can put it up to your head whichever way rolls.
00:35:46:23 - 00:36:04:06
Unknown
That's front. And it's very important. Front torn enemy. And on the back. What does it say back. Yeah. Don't point at yourself. And that's a basic rule. And that's in life. What's what's your problem. Why aren't you facing. So just get this simple. Yeah. So you got the book and then you add a merch line. Right. So you're you're almost like like a layer cake.
00:36:04:07 - 00:36:23:08
Unknown
You kept building businesses upon businesses, right? Like all based on this core. Yeah. I named the book The Operator because it's the life of the operator. I'm not calling myself the operator. I'm saying everyone who does anything as an operator, and this is how you get to where you're going. If a skinny fat wiki that can't swim from Montana can become a Navy Seal and bin Laden's bedroom, you can do anything you want.
00:36:23:09 - 00:36:39:19
Unknown
And so that's the life of the operator. And if you're doing what single moms and operator, you know, the garbage man is the operator, the Uber drivers and operate. And so it started off as, here's the life of the operator. And, you know, how do you fit in there? And then I that's kind of my brand. I started the operator podcast.
00:36:39:19 - 00:36:57:03
Unknown
And again it's not I'm not calling myself that. I'm saying this is what operators and it's turned into the merch line. The operator, I was asked one time at a speech, if you could go back in time and give 15 year old Rob O'Neal one sentence of advice what would it be for life? And my answer was ask her out.
00:36:57:05 - 00:37:14:19
Unknown
Tell me. Just ask her out. Yeah, but that turning to take the shot. Yeah. And so that's my my saying no, just take the shot. Always take the shot. And so just much like that. Take the shot. Front row enemy the operator. Yeah. And then ultimately you start cannabis business, right? The operator. Kana. The operator. Kanako. Yeah. That's.
00:37:14:23 - 00:37:36:07
Unknown
Where did that come out of? Well, because I have gotten into psychedelics for PTSD, I didn't get into it. I was introduced to it by other team guys. So veterans exploring treatment solutions send guys to ibogaine treatment in Mexico. I went there, the Navy is a big drinking club, especially in the Seal teams. And it was just it was not there for me anymore.
00:37:36:07 - 00:37:53:09
Unknown
Drinking was turning bad anger issues with drinking. So there's got to be a better way. Psychedelics helped. I don't want to drink. Having trouble sleeping. If it's positive or negative, the mind is just turning because I'm thinking of stuff. All the negativity. Cannabis helped me sleep and I was like, well, instead of popping pills the VA and the government give you, why can't you smoke indica before you go to sleep?
00:37:53:09 - 00:38:07:22
Unknown
Which helps me. And, you know, even as you know, in the Navy, if you try to get ambient in the Navy, they treat you like you're trying to get drugs, like you're literally you're an addict. They don't want to give it to you. You can get them private, but you can also smoke cannabis and you go to sleep, take a gummy.
00:38:07:22 - 00:38:25:02
Unknown
So I got into that. I got my license, which turns out trying to get a license with the US government. It's a pain in the ass, but we did that process and now we're selling cannabis. Yeah. And then even with the Operator Collective, which is our speaking agency, you basically decided at some point you're having success in these multiple businesses.
00:38:25:02 - 00:38:45:20
Unknown
You decided basically that, hey, it's also good to be the house, right? Like you're like, I want to build a platform for other guys, right? Yeah. But what I've run into and I've given over 1000 speeches, I've run into people asking me if I have similar speakers because the Seal mindset, the military and mindset, the never quit attitude, take the shot.
00:38:45:21 - 00:39:02:13
Unknown
They want their salespeople. They want their staff to hear it. And you have anyone else? I've been asked that. Who else do you recommend? And I'm like, well, I know a bunch of guys that can do this. Yeah. And what I've noticed to what's cool is even like Seal training every single dude, even when he has a different story, guys there quit have a very cool learning experience.
00:39:02:18 - 00:39:20:05
Unknown
But basically what deals, right. So I know a bunch of dudes that can they can talk about Hellwig or they can talk about the clothing line they started. They can talk about whatever they're doing. They can talk about it. So Operators Collective is a group of guys that we kind of offer whatever you want. Like we can give you an hour and a half keynote with one dude.
00:39:20:05 - 00:39:41:12
Unknown
We can give you however long of a Q&A or a panel. We can teach a CQB. We can teach you combatives, we can teach how to swim in Liberia if you want. No, I just I think it's amazing. And one of the things I like about your entrepreneurs journey is that you seem to take these skills that you have, and then you've been able to build this, like constellation, this cornucopia of businesses around them.
00:39:41:12 - 00:39:57:06
Unknown
And they're kind of cumulative, right? Like the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And your business is kind of interact with each other. And I think that's cool. One fits the other. Right. And was that part of some grand design or, you know, it's just just life. Just the life of the Navy's Forrest Gump. Yeah.
00:39:57:08 - 00:40:14:09
Unknown
Thinking about getting into shrimping. Yeah. Amazing. All right, well, we have this we have this section that we like to do here, I call it. It's like shooting steel. It's rapid fire. Right. So it's like stream of consciousness. Reticent to do this with you. First thing that comes to your mind, maybe the first censored thing that comes to your mind.
00:40:14:11 - 00:40:37:01
Unknown
I won't drop any bombs either. Do this. All right. Best investment you ever made, Tesla. Nice. Dumbest financial mistake not investing in the Thrift Savings plan the second I got in the Navy. God, thank you for saying that. Seriously? Yeah, I had a platoon chief that probably 5% matching contribution. Right. And he said, I'm gonna I'm I can't do this, but you will put in 2.5% of each year special pays.
00:40:37:01 - 00:41:01:04
Unknown
You'll never notice. It's all bar tabs. That account is worth $100,000 right now. Right. Didn't notice. Right. If I were to started 12 years before that, it would have been better. No. I remember when when I started the fintech company and I called you up, you're you're like, I remember when I started the Pin Tech company and I called you up, there was this moment where you're like, oh, yeah, I didn't even know I had this sitting in an account.
00:41:01:05 - 00:41:16:23
Unknown
Don't even log in. Yeah. And you had like 70 grand in the account at the time. And you're right, you're right. Couldn't even access something. When someone asks you to invest, it's not like you're you're not spending your money. You're putting it somewhere that's going to grow. And I, I guess there's spend too much time memorizing stupid dates and in school, which is worthless.
00:41:17:00 - 00:41:34:01
Unknown
Instead of learning what an interest rate is, instead of learning about loans, student loans, stuff like that, and then when to invest when you should put your money somewhere else. If we've done nothing else good today, this is our greatest public service announcement to military folk. Yes, yes. Yeah. And get that the the used car dealerships right off base.
00:41:34:02 - 00:41:41:04
Unknown
They're about as trustworthy as the titty bars. Sorry. As the gentleman's club. Sorry.
00:41:41:06 - 00:42:07:08
Unknown
Is there a book that you read that changed your mindset? Well, walking point and point, man by patches. Watson. Right. When I joined the Navy, I had five months read those two and patches. Watson I actually met him at sniper school was legend Vietnam guy Seal team two. He really before I got there, gave me inside look at the human element of combat when he was talking about a Kasie medevac as they called the Vietnam was shot down trying to rescue when they all died.
00:42:07:09 - 00:42:22:16
Unknown
Just that moment of their families are going to miss them. And these are guys that came to get us, the team, the there's something bigger than us. Those are those really hit home. The old man in the sea. Yeah, I read that and I was shard. Davis was my English teacher as a freshman in high school, and she made us read that.
00:42:22:16 - 00:42:41:11
Unknown
I remember the the test, the quizzes she started giving us were so minute. They weren't stupid dates of stuff in history. It was what was the length of the line when he was pulling in the fish with his left hand? Just so you're paying attention. And that really hit me. The old man on the siege, by the way, was written in the biblical implications in And Then I was actually published by Simon and Schuster after that.
00:42:41:11 - 00:42:55:05
Unknown
It was pretty cool for me. So those three books, I guess Simon and Schuster did Old Man in the sea did Hemingway. That's. I don't actually know that. Yeah, and they did the offer. And I know we're peed on a tree in Key West. Oh, yeah, I had a beer there. One. You seen all the six toed cats?
00:42:55:06 - 00:43:11:14
Unknown
I love going down to his house there. That's. That's amazing. Yeah. We should just take the boat and and go there and nothing else. That's a shameless plug. You know, my sister just read this. I haven't told my sister that I bought the boat yet. My sister just read this book called Harvey and Have Nots. You know, why not?
00:43:11:19 - 00:43:28:13
Unknown
But. But before we wrap. Like what? What is the mission for you now, right? Is it have yachts? Like what? Like what's what's driving you these days? There's not an easy way to say it. I don't want my granddaughter to be forced to wear burqas when they're five. Saying that I was right. And I'd really love it to.
00:43:28:14 - 00:43:45:09
Unknown
There are two types of people in the country. There are wise people, and they're fools. And the fools divide themselves into categories. And once we start going that road, here's the different categories of Americans. That's when you get a problem, and that's when the bad people come in. And we're seeing it now, and it's so hard because of the messed up school system and the brainwashing that goes on.
00:43:45:09 - 00:44:04:14
Unknown
You can't convince someone younger than you that this has been tried before because they keep changing the names. This is a this is a great country. There's a lot of opportunity here, but it's slowly being taken away and you lose. The loss of freedom is silent until it's not. And then it's really loud. And then all of us, you know, it's the country is going the wrong direction.
00:44:04:14 - 00:44:17:17
Unknown
We have some of the right people in the right places, but we've also imported a lot of a lot of bad actors. And they're hearing they're voting. Yeah. And you better look around, take your head out of your phone, look around. When you're crossing this. Think of me next time the crosswalk turns to walk. And then you put your head down and walk across.
00:44:17:18 - 00:44:44:20
Unknown
Think about that bus that could just end everything. Look around you. Not every veteran can go from Montana right to a tier one operations, you know, to a tier one combat unit, and then have as much success as you've had in business. But like, what do you think, like people transitioning out of the military should be thinking about, especially if they're thinking about becoming veterans?
00:44:44:21 - 00:45:00:23
Unknown
Your time is a lot more valuable than the money you're getting paid. You're worth a lot more. And if you give something away for free, no one's going to pay for it. Agreed. And what's the what's the personal goal for you? You've had a lot of success, and I think people don't talk like people don't associate you with this.
00:45:00:23 - 00:45:17:18
Unknown
But I do because I'm your friend. Like you're also about spreading the wealth like you. You do a lot for a lot of other people. Like what's it all leading to? Eventually I'm going to learn how to hit a six iron. Okay. I was told to learn how to golf because people to do business, it's easier to get someone to golf into your office, which is true.
00:45:17:18 - 00:45:34:16
Unknown
But then they see you go, like, why would I do anything with you? Can't even get a ball that's sitting there. No, I just think there's a lot of opportunity for guys out there that have experience that they don't realize they have, and there are people I mean, like being a lobbyist in D.C., for example, is not knowing everything there is to know about politics.
00:45:34:16 - 00:45:51:01
Unknown
It's do you have a relationship with people? Can you get someone else that's willing to pay through the door? So what if you can do something, I mean, helping other people? That just gives me a pleasure. I like helping people. I like to see success. Plus, I know that it's reciprocal. But again, it comes back to time is money.
00:45:51:03 - 00:46:04:11
Unknown
If you can get someone in some, it's valuable to them. Don't give it away. Yeah, but like when you started the Speakers Bureau, like you could have done a million other things, but you called a group of us a group of your friends, and you're like, hey, this is a place like where we can all do good and we can all do well.
00:46:04:12 - 00:46:20:13
Unknown
Well, I, I want to do stuff that's cool now. Yeah, and that's cool. You know, we were just shooting here recently and just having guys back together. Yeah. Because the, the thing about the Seal teams and I was told this, I was told a couple different things. One was this is you're on. You're on a freight train that's moving 200 miles an hour.
00:46:20:13 - 00:46:41:16
Unknown
And you can stand as long as you want. Once you get off, it's going. And and that's, that's one tough thing because once you leave it, you don't have your team anymore. I mean, you have it. You got to look for it, but it just keeps moving. And I just want to do something cool with the guys. And I know that I had a boss, one of my commanding officers, when I first checked in to read squatters say that when we get out, if we work together, we'll all be millionaires, but it's never going to happen.
00:46:41:18 - 00:46:54:22
Unknown
I didn't believe them. I have for a while, but now I want to prove them wrong because we're going to work together now. Love it. Well, Rob, thank you for everything. Great to see you brought up. It's good to be on this journey with you. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. We're both going to be in the water soon.
00:46:55:00 - 00:47:15:22
Unknown
All right. Thanks for walking in with us today. Shout out to Siebert and Siebert Financial for supporting our journey. We'll be back next week with another powerhouse conversation. More founders, more builders and leaders who are playing offense in life and in business. Make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel for exclusive content and extended cuts of your favorite episodes.
00:47:16:00 - 00:47:19:06
Unknown
Till next week. Stay tactical. Stay driven.