Lindsay Esterline with Bible How-To Podcast and Alex Morales with Precise Soccer Academy

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and resources. We put the fun in fundraising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruett.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good fabulous Friday. It’s another fabulous Friday. And if this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia, welcome. This is all about positive things happening in the community. And we’ve got two fabulous guests. This morning. We were supposed to have three, but one of them is stuck in Chicago. So Walter, we’ll get you on when you get back, buddy. Um, all right, I’m excited about this morning because this doesn’t usually happen. We have a little small community, and, um, we are all Deventh Day Adventists, which is kind of cool that we are all in the room together. So it’s kind of interesting how God works on that. So, uh, our first guest this morning is a friend of mine from my church, Lindsay Esterline. Welcome this morning.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:01:19] Thank you for having me. I’m very excited.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:21] So, uh, we’ll get into why I asked you on, because I think what you’re doing is pretty cool, too. But, uh, because you started your own podcast. And like I said, we’ll talk about it in a second, but you have a pretty cool, uh, interesting background and woven in a lot of things. You were a teacher, you’re a writer. You’re, uh, all kinds of stuff. You had a restaurant, a food truck. Yeah. Um, but if you don’t mind sharing a little about your background, then we’ll talk about your podcast.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:01:44] Yeah. So, um, you’re right. I’ve kind of had, like, a schizophrenic career. Um, it’s it’s like I never grew up and never decided what I really wanted to do. Um, but I’ve been in a little bit of everything, and I have to believe that that’s because, um, God has a very unique plan for for me and what I’m supposed to be doing right now. And I think it has culminated in the podcast that he put on my heart to start. And so, um, I started off in college going for a degree in advertising, um, and then never used it, um, and then decided I wanted to be a teacher and, um, got a master’s degree in education. And so that’s given me an opportunity to just be in front of people and have to share information, um, with people in a way that they are engaged in, understand. And, um. Yeah. Little people are are. Our special, right? Um, to say the least. And, um, I did largely second grade. And so to to keep a second graders attention all day long and keep them, um, learning, I think has has been, uh, an important step in, in my journey to trying to communicate the gospel and share the Bible with people through through this podcast. And, um, yeah, I’ve even owned a food truck and a restaurant and, um, we, we had to close those doors right before the pandemic. So God blessed us in that area, right? Like, we we got out, um, before everybody got hit really hard.

Brian Pruett: [00:03:35] Um, it was a specialty restaurant, too, right?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:03:37] Yeah, it was a vegan and gluten free restaurant because I am vegan and gluten free. And I was like, there has to be a place for me to eat in this town. Um, but yeah, we just we were we were also passionate about sharing health message, um, with the people of Atlanta and, um. Yeah, restaurant business is just a really hard business to break through, especially when you’re going to be super niche like that. Um, but yeah, we we eventually saw that door closing and then like I said, the pandemic hit and my husband ran across an advertisement, um, for our church conference looking for writers. And, um, like I said, uh, my background originally starting out in advertising, was supposed to be a copywriter. And so he was like, you were you should really just go for this and see where it where it ends up. Right? Like, what are you going to do at home all day during a pandemic anyway? Kind of a thing. And I’m like, yeah, you know what? You’re right. I need something to do. I need something to occupy my brain because obviously I’m all over the place. Right? Um, so yeah, I went through the, uh, process of application to, to be a writer for our church and got the job.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:05:00] Got it, uh, you know, narrowed all the way down out of hundreds of people. Um, got to be on on that call list and have just been working as a freelance writer. Ever since. And then because of that experience, just writing for adventist.org and, and other um, entities of our church like Hope channel. I just, you know, realized that there was a need for like. Helping people in a very practical way. Like we put a lot of resources out there, even just other Christian churches put a lot of resources out there for, um, reading about the Bible or having a devotional, but they don’t really give you any practical steps on how to study the Bible for yourself. Right? How to, you know, devotional life is very important, right? We need to spend time daily in the word, and sometimes we only have five minutes to get through that because life is crazy. But I really, truly believe that we need to set aside some time on a regular basis to dig a little deeper.

Brian Pruett: [00:06:11] So we’ll talk about more of the podcast in just a second. But for those people who are listening who may not know about the seventh day Adventist, uh, faith and belief, can you talk a little bit about that? And then also, you mentioned the Hope channel and people may not know what that is either. So can you share a little bit about each one of those.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:06:27] Absolutely. So um, the seventh day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination. Um, we believe in Jesus. Um, so we have a lot of faith and fundamentals in common with the Baptists and all of those things. But we do diverge in a couple of different areas, and one of those obviously being the seventh day Sabbath. Right? It’s right there in the name, um, we believe that the fourth commandment is very explicit about what day we should be worshiping and setting aside that time on a weekly basis to, to spend with, with the Lord, reconnecting with him, um, just resting in the assurance of salvation and just actually having a physical rest from the grind, right? And reconnecting with friends and family and, um, setting aside some opportunity even to do some charitable work to serve others. Um. And so that’s probably the big the big one that separates us from the rest of the the Protestant church. I mean, if you want to know more details, you can absolutely check out Adventist. Org. They just revamped all of the fundamental beliefs so that you can kind of see where, um, where we land on some of those, uh, Bible doctrines that are out there. And, and then, of course, if you listen to the podcast, we, we stumble into some of those as well, because, you know, when you get deep into the, the word of God, you’re going to you’re going to run across some of this doctrine.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:08:06] And that’s why we have so many divergent beliefs on so many different topics in the Bible, because people have landed in different places based on different scriptures that they’ve studied. And, um, you’ve got to be able to figure that stuff out for yourself, right? What is the Holy Spirit putting on your heart in specific? And that’s why I feel like it’s such a passion of mine to get people to to study the word on their own and make their own choices. Don’t don’t just go with what the Baptists say, because you were raised Baptist, and that’s what you always learned. And I had to go through that even as an Adventist. Right? I, I ended up landing back on the Adventist platform. Um, but there was a there was a time in my life that I had to really, um, do some introspection about whether or not this is what I believed, instead of whether or not it’s what my mom believed. Um, and that’s just what stuck with me, because that’s the way that I was largely raised. And so, um, yeah, that’s kind of the spark, right? That set me.

Brian Pruett: [00:09:10] And so the Hope channel, I mean, it’s on the direct TV, you can get it on direct TV and other places, but that’s an Adventist based network, right? Yes.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:09:17] So it’s a TV, um, network. They also have presence online. So you can go to Hope Dot study and find all kinds of Bible study resources there. Um, yeah. Devotionals even like games for kids. They have their Bible Heroes game. That looks really cool. By the way. I don’t know if you’ve checked it out, but they like really tried to go after like that comic book vibe to keep the kids attention. Nice. Um, so I have been, uh, doing a little bit for them. They have a program that comes on weekly, um, called Bible Help Desk, where you can actually send in your own questions and they’ll invite guests, right. Like so PhD Bible scholars that will come on and answer those questions for you. Um, so it’s a it’s a really cool idea. Um, so yeah, I encourage everybody to check out Hope channel and of course Adventist org if you have any questions about our denomination in specific.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:16] Right. Well, that leads into your podcast because you name your podcast is How to Write Bible, how to Bible study. Is that.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:10:21] Right? Yeah. It’s um, it’s called Bible how to and this season is how to study. So that’s what we’re focusing on right now. So Bible how to study. And you can go to Bible How-To dot com and find out all the information about what um, my little family ministry is trying to do. Of course we have the audio links there for you. I’m also on YouTube, and so you can find us on any of those platforms that you like to listen to. Um, Spotify, Apple, Google. Right.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:57] Awesome. Yeah. I encourage you guys to go listen, because one of the things is it’s not just you talking. You do bring guests on too, that I’ve noticed in some of the episodes and the people that can, you know, share their, their experiences and ask questions and that kind of stuff. So I think it’s really cool. So a couple of questions for you. Um, since you have the marketing degree, the background, the owning your own business. So we talk a lot on this show about, uh, getting involved in the community and networking and that kind of stuff. And so I know you’re big involved in community, especially with the church, because you do a lot of stuff with the youth and the young adults and, uh, things of that nature. And that helps because you’ve got three kids. Yes. And and, you know, number three was kind of a surprise. Uh, but, um, why is it important for you to be a part of the community?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:11:44] It’s important to me to be a part of the community, because I think that’s what God is asking us to do in in his word, right? Like in order for people to take you seriously when you share your relationship with Jesus, they they have to know you a little bit at least, right? I don’t. I don’t want to knock anybody, but I’m just wondering how much success the people who stand on the street corner and yell repent! And and, you know, swing their Bible at the kids at the college campuses where there’s just no relationship there. I wonder how successful they really are in getting anything other than those viral YouTube and, you know, TikTok clips that we see floating around there where the kids are confronting pastors with, you know, hard questions and things like that. And I’m not saying there’s not a place for that and that there might, um, not be some people who who just need that kind of confrontation to, to, to wake up to the message that is being presented there. But I just, I feel like working in the community gives me an opportunity to build relationships with a lot of people and a lot of different people. Um, so the other the other important aspect of it for me is just not getting locked into my little bubble.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:13:07] Right? We get into an echo chamber on our social media feeds and and things like that. And, and we don’t see the perspective of others. And when we don’t see their perspective, then we kind of just, you know, get locked in to a way of thinking that sometimes doesn’t turn out to be very healthy. And I think we see a lot of that going on in especially the United States right now. Um, and, and so I just I’m also just a very outgoing and gregarious person. So I just really like being out there. Um, I feel like the young people minister to me more than I minister to them, because I just really enjoy being with them. And, um, I’m just really excited that they let this middle aged lady hang out with them. Um, so yeah, I just feel like it’s about building relationships and showing people that you care about them. And when you are able to express that on a real, tangible level. Then when you get an opportunity to share Jesus with them, they take it a little bit more seriously. They at least give you the respect of hearing you out. Right, right, right.

Brian Pruett: [00:14:20] Well, and you talk about relationship building, and that’s what I believe fully about the networking aspect of it too, because you got to build those relationships, um, and let people know and don’t make it about yourself. You know, you want to learn about all about the other person. So, uh, I don’t obviously, right now you’re not able to do this because you got the little one still at home, and, um, you work from home and all that stuff, too. But have you had an opportunity to pass to do any networking with any other of your businesses or jobs or anything like that?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:14:47] I did a lot of networking with the food truck and the restaurant, because there was a couple of food truck coalitions that we were a part of. Um, because not only were there benefits for paying those dues and having access to their special lots and, and things of that nature, but they were also working very hard to lobby, um, the Georgia state government in order to make running our business a little bit smoother. Um, unfortunately for us, our business doors closed before some of those advantages came to fruition. So they’ve made it a lot easier for food trucks to operate in Georgia in the past couple of years. And I’m so excited. Um, for our friends who are still in the business that have that, um, that weight lifted, right, right. Because it was also a financial burden. And I think it was part of what contributed to us closing our doors was just not being able to financially sustain some of the requirements that were out there. Um, so networking is important on a lot of levels. I mean, we learned a lot from other people who had been in the business for for years. They gave us some great advice, um, that helped us, um, avoid a few mistakes. Right. We still made plenty. But, you know, so having somebody watch your back and looking out for you and and just being excited about, uh, sharing, sharing their wealth of knowledge and, um, helping another person to succeed is, is is really a blessing. And, um, yeah, we’re still in touch. Even though it’s been years, we’re still in touch with a lot of the the folks out out there that are still running, um, their food trucks. And we still try to give them business whenever we can. Um, so.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:38] Well, that’s important too, because you talked the relationship and you guys, as you mentioned it, friends. Right. Because you make friends that are lifelong that way as well. So, um. And it’s kind of interesting because until a couple weeks ago, I didn’t think about this when another guest, I’m asked the same question about asking a positive share, a positive story on networking that might have benefited this person. And she started talking about all the events they were involved in. And I never thought about it this way, but networking is everything you’re doing doesn’t have to be a networking quote unquote event or, you know, uh, meeting or whatever. So, um, I wanted to ask you this too. So you’ve you’ve owned your own business. You you’re currently doing this podcast. So this is a two part question. Uh, give somebody who might be listening some advice on if they want to start their own business, what they should be doing and looking at and things of that nature. And then anybody who might be thinking about doing a podcast, there’s a lot of podcasts out there, a lot of people doing podcasts, and most of them don’t make it. Um, you’re fairly new at this, but I, you know, but so, first of all, if you don’t mind, just share those two pieces of advice. And then I got a couple other questions for you.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:17:46] Okay. So the first question was advice about running a business. Okay. Um, I think it’s really kind of trite or cliche, but you just have to be prepared to put in the hours, um, especially if you don’t have the money. Right. Money helps a lot in a lot of ways. Um, just, you know, life experience will give you that. Um. But. Right. Like I couldn’t afford to hire a manager sometimes. Um, line cooks would, you know, just dip out on me? I mean, you’ve got to you’ve got to invest all of the time before you open the doors just to research where you want to be, what your business is really going to be about. Um, how much money is it really going to cost you on a daily basis to keep your doors open? I mean, there’s just so much footwork and research that goes into it before you even get started with the actual like, physical implementation of, of the business. Um. Yeah. There’s just there’s so many things. And it’s because I’m. I am all over the place and I’m spazzy. Like, my brain is running a mile a minute trying to answer this question. And I think, like, there are college courses out there on running a business.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:19:14] And so I’m not going to be able to give you everything that you’re going to need in, in this moment right now. Um, but I think the biggest takeaway for me is just you’re you’re going to have to be fully invested. And that means long hours. That means you’re risking your financial stability a lot of times because you want to make this thing happen. You’re looking at the goal. Um, so. Just really keep your eye on your goal and and create a plan with action steps that will get you to that goal so that when you’re having a hard time and things aren’t going according to plan, you can sit down and recenter yourself on those action steps and that goal and hopefully, you know, refocus yourself so that you’re positively motivated to continue to execute your dream. Right? Right. Um, I mean, sometimes the writing on the wall says you like, you know, what happened to us? Like, it’s not going to work out. Um, but I believe that, uh, God was with us through that process and that that experience has been valuable, um, for me and my family since then.

Brian Pruett: [00:20:37] Well, the other the other thing I might add to that, before you answer the the other question, uh, is I also think that you need to, um, because I’m doing this with my business as well, is learning, first of all, how to say no, but also not sacrificing family. Um, uh, you know, you talked about it, and it’s true. You do have to work long hours and stuff like that. But I think you also have to a point where you know what family takes precedence even over some of that work hours. So would you agree?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:21:00] I would agree, and I think that’s part of the reason that we decided to close, because we got ourselves into a position where the financial risk was going to start affecting our family in a way that, um, was uncomfortable for us. And the the time investment was getting to the place where, you know, I’m, I’m deciding between my business and my children and, um, it just it was it was a really uncomfortable spot. And, and we had me and my husband had to sit down and decide, you know. What what we needed to do moving forward in order to maintain an appropriate balance. Right. And and we just decided that. We can’t do this business thing anymore. And in. Be successful family.

Brian Pruett: [00:22:00] Right. So I just thought of this while we were talking about it. Uh, how old are your daughters?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:22:05] Oh, you’re going to tell on me? Okay, so I have a 17 year old, a 12 year old and a two year old. Right. So I had a Covid baby. Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:22:14] So that’s what I was thinking, right? Because we talk about all the time about how God works in mysterious ways and talking about it wasn’t the right time for your business. Right. And then God blessed you with your surprise.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:22:26] Yes, yes. Oh my goodness, she is such a blessing. But sometimes I just wonder about God’s sense of humor, right? Um, I don’t recommend having a baby in your 40s, but it’s what happens, right? And, um.

Brian Pruett: [00:22:44] Well, if God wants it to happen, he’s going to make it happen. Oh, yeah.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:22:47] Yeah. I mean, we made efforts to avoid this from happening, and, um, he worked around that because. Right. She was meant to be here.

Brian Pruett: [00:22:56] There you go. All right, so let’s go back to that other question about people. Again. There’s all kinds of podcasts out there. And people just they want to talk. It doesn’t matter what they want to talk about. So they start podcasts. So um, if somebody is thinking about, again, you’re new into this because it’s what, month? Two months?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:23:12] Yeah, we launched in October and I’ve never done any kind of podcasting before this. So I mean, I guess I’m a testament to how God is going to put something on your heart and equip you to do it.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:23] So if somebody’s listening and thinking about starting a podcast, what are some things I mean, obviously. People are out there and they do it as a hobby and they don’t make any money. And most people try to make some money on this kind of thing. So what advice would you give on that?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:23:39] So I started out with a book. It was called Making Noise. I believe I’m I didn’t look at it before I left the house, so I don’t remember the name of the author. Um, but he was the author of this particular book, was an experienced in the radio business and the podcasting business for many, many years, working like New York and, you know, had a lot of success. And so, um, there’s a ton of very good advice in there about content, for sure. Um, so you’ve got to know what you’re going to talk about, because people are going to be looking for a very specific, uh, topic. Right. They, I don’t, I don’t know, too many podcasts that are out there that are just like, we’re just going to talk about whatever we feel like it today, you know, like, um, so, so people are looking for niche material, um, when they’re looking for a podcast. And so you’ve got to know what your material is going to be, and then you’ve got to know whether or not you want to be the guy talking into the microphone all by yourself, or whether or not you’re going to invite guests. And what that means. Right. As far as setting up schedules and who do you want to talk to and why do you want to talk to them? Um. So I think finding your your your niche or your niche however you want to pronounce that is super important because you’re going to build the rest from from that idea out. Right. What what is my podcast really going to look like? Because this is what I want to communicate to the world right now. And so that book is going to be an excellent resource, um, for helping you just kind of map out that what your big idea is.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:25:33] Um, as far as the actual execution of, you know, editing it and putting it out there in where people can click on it and actually get a hold of it and listen to. Um, I, I, um, have no experience with editing audio and video because I’m also on YouTube. Um. So that is just. That’s an expense for me because I don’t have the actual technical knowledge to do that. So that’s the other aspect of starting a podcast. Like, are you trying to do this on the cheap and free and you don’t care if it’s a little bit messy because you don’t have the technical skills to make it a little bit smoother for your listeners? Or are you going to invest your money, um, in, in making this something that, um. That is a little bit more professional sounding. And so I went the second route. Um, and like I said, this is a family ministry. So far I have not been picked up by a larger entity. I’m really hoping that that happens pretty soon so that I can, um, make any donations, uh, tax deductible for folks out there. Um, but we haven’t we haven’t done that yet. So every, every time I produce an episode that comes out of my pocket, my family’s pocket directly because we’re just that invested in, in making this thing happen because we feel like this podcast, this the mission of our podcast, which is, is sharing with people how they are going to get into the word for themselves. Is that important? Um, well.

Brian Pruett: [00:27:14] So there’s people out there too who make try to make selling, you know, sponsorships, advertising, things of that. Um, have you thought about doing that? Selling? You know, you said being picked up by a bigger entity, but have you thought about selling sponsorships for your for your podcast?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:27:30] Um, yes and no. So I know that that’s an option for podcasts and, and the podcast medium makes it very easy for you to do that because you, you, you don’t have to like it’s just you like, you can put a commercial in your podcast if you want to, and you can make it however long you want or however short you want. And you know, whatever anybody is willing to give you in order to, to have that, um, space in, in your, um, conversation. Um, but for me. I’ve just been focusing on on finding a bigger sponsor, like, you know, a church, uh, some one of the divisions of our church, one of the, um, entities like Hope channel. Um, and when you’re going for something on that, scale, it. The machine moves slow, right? Um, and since we just launched in October, I don’t really have the listenership numbers to go after advertisers who just want a commercial spot. Right? Um, so unless they just really believe in what I’m doing and it’s more of a charitable donation than actually an advertising expense right now. Um. Then, um, I just I just feel like that that hasn’t been the route for me to take right now. And I’m hoping that as time goes by and I get that listenership built up, then it’ll be a little bit more interesting for people who want to buy advertising space on an actual episode. Right. So.

Brian Pruett: [00:29:03] Well, I’m going to also go touch a little bit on your freelance writing because that’s in essence your own business as well. Mhm. Um. Somebody. There’s a lot of people out there who enjoy writing. Um. If you ever read anything of mine. My wife and my mother tell everybody I have a very rare disease called chromophobia. I don’t use them. So you have to take one really long breath. Um, but again, that’s again part of a business. So how would you recommend somebody who wants to be in the freelance world instead of just writing for one person? Uh, what what advice would you give on something like that?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:29:35] So there’s a lot of resources out there on the internet now getting people connected. Um, you know, producers connected with people who need those products. And one of the websites that I use, and I am not getting any kickback for sharing any of this information, um, is called Upwork. Um, and I got connected through that job opportunity over, uh, the pandemic shut down where I got connected with the church, and that was the platform that they were using. And then once I was on that platform so that I could have a contract with them and a motive of payment and everything, I noticed that there was like a whole nother world on there of other people, um, who are sharing their freelance services as well as, um, people who are posting jobs for freelancers on, on that website. And there’s other websites out there that do the exact same thing. So just pick one that you’re comfortable with. Um, I think maybe because it was the first one that I ran across Upwork has been the one for me, and I want to maintain more than one site, um, or account. So that’s what I’ve been I’ve been using.

Brian Pruett: [00:30:56] And so for the I guess people may not, may or may not know what freelance is, but as a freelance you can you can set your own schedule, set your own kind of owning your own business to write you set your own schedule, set your own pricing right. Pick your own who you want, who you don’t want to work with, that kind of thing.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:31:11] Absolutely. So sometimes people request that I put in a proposal for work that they want to do, and I can I can read the description of their job. And if it’s not something that I feel matches my skills or something that I want to invest in, then I can say no. So I’m not working in an office, um, for somebody else right now. Um, so I can decide if that job is going to fit in my schedule and help me achieve any of my future goals, or even just something I find interesting.

Brian Pruett: [00:31:44] Right? Awesome. So again, share with somebody the folks again how they can find your your podcast. And then um, are there anything, anything else coming up. Any kind of. Fundraising things that you know that you want to share, that we can talk about.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:31:59] So you can find the podcast. The easiest way to find it is just to go to Bible How-To dot com, and I’ll have links to all the platforms as well. I mean, you can just listen right from the website, but if you would like to be linked to your favorite platform for listening and then you can click the follow button there. Um, we’re on YouTube and all of that stuff as well. So that’s, that’s the easiest way to get connected to us. Um, I’m also on a lot of the social media platforms. Um. As far as fundraising, I don’t have any fundraising endeavors scheduled at the moment. Um, like I said, we just launched in October and so I have just been this has been this is a one woman show. So I’ve just been, like, so bogged down in the details of finding guests and getting them scheduled and actually recording and coordinating the production and, you know, getting in touch with, um, those those larger groups that I’m hoping will pick me up. Um, that I haven’t, I haven’t really focused on fundraising in a really intentional way. Right. So all.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:13] Right. Well, Lindsay, thanks for coming on and sharing a little bit of your background and your podcast. Don’t go anywhere. We’re not technically done with you yet, so. Okay, we’re moving over now to Mr. Alex Morales from Precise Soccer Academy. Yes. Alex, thanks for being here this morning.

Alex Morales: [00:33:29] Thanks for having me.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:30] So you and I met, what, two weeks ago now, I believe. That’s right. Or maybe just a week ago. Two weeks ago.

Alex Morales: [00:33:36] What was it last week? What was last week?

Brian Pruett: [00:33:37] Uh, the carnival business club. And then I invited you Thursday to another group. And that’s when I found out you’re also an Adventist, which is kind of cool. So, again, it’s kind of cool how God works, but, uh, you have started a business in training, uh, youth, uh, in soccer. Um, and it’s because you have a passion for that. But I’ll get into that just a second. But if you don’t mind, just share a little bit of your background, and then we’ll talk about the precise soccer academy.

Alex Morales: [00:34:02] Sure. Uh, I think I’m on the same boat. I think a lot of people are aware. Don’t know quite where your journey, what you want to do. You know you have gifts. God, God, God has given, given all of us gifts. It’s like, how are we going to do it in the best way possible to serve him? Um, I remember, you know, my brother is pretty, uh, successful with his computer science. He was someone that, at ten years old, was built a computers and was selling it to his teachers. And he was. That’s his passion. You could tell from the very beginning that’s what he likes. And just naturally, as a brother, you know, um, try to follow his path. And as I got progressed, I’m like, it’s not for me. I do like the, um, analytical, uh, thinking process of it. You know, I definitely am an introvert, so I don’t like being kind of around people. But funny story is, as we progress in my story, we’ll find out that that kind of breaks out. So I’m like, okay, I don’t want to do technical, uh, technology. What is it that I want to do? And then somehow, you know, I started off with McDonald’s and then found a call center job here in Kennesaw close by, and. It was 100% scripted. It was an opportunity where, you know, even with my Spanish, it wasn’t fluent at the time. I went to El Salvador, tried to enhance that a bit just to make sure that I’m I can speak to my customers.

Alex Morales: [00:35:28] Right. So that was quite a journey because as we continued. Howson was hanging on a cliff because my the way I was, um, handling the calls I was I knew the knowledge. I have the knowledge. I just didn’t, um, have the confidence to be able to deliver that to the customers. And what that means if a customer sniffs one lack of confidence, they’re going to say, give me my money. I know there’s a way to get a nickel out of you during the call, which. During that time, you know, um, all call centers have processes, so it’s not like the call center representative can go out the way and be like, here you go. They do have like a for some for some of the clients I’ve worked with, they have a process where it’s like one month, three months, six months and then go ahead and escalate. There’s nothing else we can do. And that’s process for each client, each, each, um, each company has its own process. But as, as we continue that journey, there was a supervisor during that time that saw something in me and got out of his way to make sure I was good. And so by that, he partnered me up with one of the top tier, um, call representatives or slash QA. You know, they were doing kind of a dual, um, um, enrollment there. Right there. I got to listen to her. She gave me good tips and I don’t know what happened after that.

Alex Morales: [00:36:51] I my delivery and all that pretty much transformed to where I was comfortable. Um, the client was happy. Um. The other she became pregnant. There was an opportunity for me to come in, and that was good, because the one that trained me was going to be her and I. And come to find out, like literally two days, three days before she got an opportunity within her, um, career path that she studied in college. And obviously I’m always happy for her during that time. Still am. Um, but I was freaking out because it was just going to be me, and so I had to pick who was going to be the person that was going to be the QA during that time. And we did. We have to we, you know, like you mentioned, we had to put the additional work to make it happen. Um, even though it wasn’t the career I wanted during the time, it’s it’s the same for everything. If you want to achieve and be successful, you have to give it all you can. So I remember staying up all night till 12 in the morning grading calls, and we’re here like there was a deadline. So it was Sunday to Saturday at midnight. Um, Monday, you know, it was Sunday to Saturday, Friday, midnight. So once it hits midnight and the requirements were met, then you missed it. So we were there. Obviously Friday we would have to make sure we finished first before because it was Sabbath for us on on once the sun goes down.

Alex Morales: [00:38:19] So that’s another thing we had to equate in the equation. Um. After that happened. You know, the contract with our, um, our client during that time was ending, and I’m like, okay, what’s next? And something happened where I was I think God has had helped me during that time with. The coaching and the development. I’m pretty creative when it comes to that. Being able to help, um, cater to whatever each person’s need is. And, you know, like, I’m a visual learner. Not everyone is. You have to you have to, um, be able to get creative to see how you can reach somebody’s mind and heart. So that way they can change. They liked what I was doing and the current people, the opera operation managers over there at the other company, the client, they liked what I was doing, and they brought me up and I was 21 years old during that time. So I think that kind of paved the road. Okay. I, um, it is not in the picture anymore. Now I transitioned into the corporate world. So from there, you know, that was the first, first set because I actually worked there twice. It was, um, quite a journey the first time. I think it kind of helped me understand how to deal with difficult clients, how to do client delivery, how to meet expectations and make changes. I think it went pretty successful. Um, I think I did have that problem that you mentioned, Brian, with, um, saying no.

Alex Morales: [00:39:46] And that kind of just overruled me during that time, and I just had to make a executive decision of what’s best for me, um, which was my, my health and my, my future wife and just doing what’s best during that time. So after I left there, um, actually went to, um, something completely different warehouse. And from there. That’s where I discovered my passion for soccer coaching. Um. You know, I was coaching because of my brother in law. He’s a lot younger than I am. He was at an elementary school, which is kind of combined with the middle school for the COBOL, um, elementary school over there in Calhoun, Georgia. So they asked me, hey, do you want to help out? And I did, and I didn’t think anything about it, just, hey, just let me just help these kids out and literally, um. One of the parents came up to me. They were like, hey, can you coach my kid? I’ll pay you. Like I don’t. You don’t have to pay me. I don’t I didn’t think about it like that. I just want to help. And once I think a couple sessions after that passed, they were like, you really should look into doing this full time. This could be your career. So I think it’s funny how sometimes people see the passion in us without us seeing it within ourselves. Yeah, yeah. So just kind of, uh, wrapping up that journey with the corporate world, um, due to financial, um.

Alex Morales: [00:41:16] Challenges of me trying to get a house or at a time, you know, I had to find something that obviously paid more. Um, so I went back to, to the, to the corporate world for a couple of years. Just recently left this year, actually. And I think, um, if I were to. Label. Like what did I learn from this time? Is my confidence, the confidence that I didn’t have the first time. So. That definitely has changed it, that that confidence has given me the courage to say no when I needed to. And unfortunately, when you say no, you disappoint other people and and you know things that doesn’t go that right way. But I do know that I can go with clear conscience that the way the approach I did it with was with God in my life. And I asked I asked him for my for his guidance of whether I should stay there, whether I should move forward. And he made it clear after I asked that. So I decided to do this full time. I’m here because I definitely want to give an opportunity that I didn’t get to, to the youth, um, as a seventh day seventh day Adventist person that we were talking about earlier. Um, the struggle with the seventh day Adventist community is that we can’t play on Sabbath. Um, wasn’t the best, but I was definitely gifted when I was in high school, and it just was tough to see.

Alex Morales: [00:42:38] That I wasn’t able to help my my, my teammates out, especially when they play Sabbath. Um, they needed me. They, um, maybe sometimes they won, sometimes they lost. But they it felt good because they they really cared about me. They wanted to wanted me to be part of the team from my side. It was like, man, I want to be there because I’m I’m wanting to win a game, wanting wanting to win a trophy. But now looking at it, um, I’m proud of that. I’m proud and happy that my parents gave me that discipline that I needed to give that sacrifice for God, because the Sabbath is a very important thing for us. Um, it’s really we were studying about this, um, on Saturday, actually use advantage org to come up with some of the material for the youth program in the afternoon regarding Sabbath. Um, it’s a way. It’s one day of the week where we give up completely. Our business, our personal lives, our our friendships, at times being able to buy stuff. And. That right there just shows how much you trust God. Because Sabbath is. If you were to open a food truck on a Saturday, you know how much money you can make. If you were to do a lot of things on a Saturday, you can make so much money. But that sacrifice is just a way for us to show how much we have our money on God, that he’s going to return that blessing to us.

Brian Pruett: [00:44:02] Right? Well, and there’s all kinds of adversity out there. And I think, you know, I’ll be saying that, you know, as an Adventist, we have to come with adversity, right? Because as you just mentioned, you know, because I’m my original goal as a sportsman, I wanted to be a sports announcer. Well, you’re not going to start out at the top on Sundays and call the NFL games, right. You have to start at Friday nights, Saturdays, and again because of the Sabbath. Not going to do that. So to me that’s an adversity. And God will work out whatever your path is if you let him. We’ll do that. So, um, I want to ask you, so, uh, same thing. I kind of asked Lindsey because you’re very passionate about the youth and helping them. Um, why is it important for you to be a part of the community?

Alex Morales: [00:44:42] Well, originally I thought about something that I think was selfish was I want to leave the blueprint of when I ever whenever my time is to leave the world. I wanted to leave my blueprint. But then I started reading the Bible and it influenced me. The story I was reading during that time is that everything we do needs, needs to be for the glory of God. And so. I want to be an example. As much as I don’t believe I am like, I don’t believe any of us are worthy to even be servants of God. But he chose. He died for us and he chose us to serve him. I do believe that it’s important for us to be, um. The chosen people for him to give that example to the community, just like she had mentioned. How likely is it for someone to be out there giving signs? I mean, maybe it has some subconscious impact, but when you’re within the community and people see and you’re able to interact them and show them, I think that’s what’s the best thing. And you can still reach the you can reach people from TikTok. You can, you know, do podcasts, you can even be out there. But, you know, it just gives you an advantage to really touch people’s heart.

Brian Pruett: [00:45:54] Right. So you talked about coming from corporate world into starting your business. I think most everybody who’s an entrepreneur probably did that at one point in time. Um. So I’ve got a couple of thoughts on that. The first one is on the networking piece. Um, again, it was just last week you came to Castle Business Club. Have you done any networking prior to that?

Alex Morales: [00:46:14] No. I actually was planning on going there for some time now, and. I don’t know, I just because of the corporate world, the jobs 9 to 5, it just doesn’t work out. I know, um, one of the guys, Axel, he literally just came there and left and we didn’t get to talk much like we wanted to. But, um, I think that’s I think if the 9 to 5 job wasn’t the the obstacle in that case, a lot of, a lot of more people would have gone there.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:41] So you haven’t had a chance to experience any positive. Well, I’m not going to brag, but you got to meet me. But any positive things from networking yet? So if the more you do it, you will find out how powerful it is. So, um, talk a little bit about that transition. How is the transition from going to a corporate world into being an entrepreneur?

Alex Morales: [00:47:03] Scary, but peaceful because you’re literally putting all your faith in God, which you shouldn’t be scared of that, right? Um, you’re just scared of your own own own own strength and work ethic, making sure that, um, you’re able to keep on track of of things that’s going to generate the money you need to put food on the table. Um, and what was the other question? Sorry.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:29] Uh, well, just from transitioning from the corporate to the entrepreneurship. So, uh, while you’re thinking I’m talking about that, and we were talking about the sacrifice of not sacrificing family. Um, that’s one thing, too. I think you have to have, uh, as if you have a family, a very strong spouse to believe you and back you. Right? Would you agree with that?

Alex Morales: [00:47:51] Yeah. Yeah, my wife definitely has my back. I mean, she is working 12 hour shifts at the hospital, and she’s even willing to come out, come out and help me out whenever I need. So that definitely helps me have that confidence that I have a wife that supports me and definitely has the same belief. Um, what I was trying to say earlier is, is that from the corporate world, you have someone managing you and the paychecks are consistent versus when you’re an entrepreneur. If you don’t if you’re not in that financial stance to do that, then yes, it becomes challenging, uh, stressful. But the way I see it is, I’m stressing for something that’s going to be mine at the end of the day, that’s I’m building up for, for for God, of course. Right.

Brian Pruett: [00:48:31] All right. So go ahead and get and we’ll get into the to the soccer academy here in just a second. But go ahead and give some advice for you, even though you’re still fairly because you’ve only been doing this. How long how long did you start.

Alex Morales: [00:48:42] Started in 2019 okay. Um, Covid hit and then, um, kind of gave up the passion. And then my tax advisor was like, you should open back up. This is it’s not, um, something that many people are doing. It should generate good money. I would even put my kid in the in the academy. But something I would recommend for anybody that’s doing any sports, um, type of business, because you cannot you can also do this with football speed and agility. Basketball. I think that’s, um, very popular nowadays. Um, with the soccer, um, community in the United States. At some point it wasn’t popular. And, um, we’ll see in the next few years that’s going to grow drastically. But the advice I would give is just come up with a business plan, do some research. There’s actually some resources from some guy named Ben Nabors that I used. He actually teaches you it’s a course that he has. He has different options, whether it’s like a community based or a personal base, um, kind of course, training that he he went through the process and he’s a pretty good resource to do that. Um, that’s an option, obviously. Youtube, um, look for a mentor that has done it. Maybe you can partner up with them, things like that.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:57] So that’s kind of, uh, what you mentioned the business of sports business because sports is a huge business. People who don’t believe that. Must be under a rock because it is a multi million dollar business. Um, whether that’s from peewee leagues to T-ball to, you know, even just soccer academies and everything else, sports is a huge, huge business. Uh, all over the world. So, um, I just wanted to point that out. So, um. All right, let’s talk about Precise Soccer Academy, where all do you train? What what age groups and what can people expect with your with your academy? Yeah.

Alex Morales: [00:50:31] So home base would be Cartersville, Georgia, off of Bartow County. I’ve gone to Calhoun right now just focusing on that area, um, expanding a bit in Rome. I’ve done that before, but just right now I’m accepting private sessions semi private, and then once I get the that community down, I’m open to expanding and in different locations. Um, just trying to I’m wanting to work with different coaches. That way I can give them an opportunity to do something they love, just like as I do. And, and I want to share some some of that versus competing with them. You know, we can all be competitors and then try to see who can get the most kids. But it’s easier when you have a community base like a podcast, you know, work with people and, and things of that nature.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:16] Right. What age groups do you work with?

Alex Morales: [00:51:17] Um, 8 to 15.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:18] 8 to 15.

Alex Morales: [00:51:19] Yep. But if anyone above that, it’s open. I’m definitely open to that. I do like the personal training. So at some point, college students, I do like, um, coaching the, um, more at a more advanced, um, skill set. But I know that the parents will, um, be willing to invest within the ages of 8 to 15. Unfortunately, once you reach the high school, you think you know it all. And that’s the thing. If you don’t, if you’re not, if you’re someone that’s not known to the community, then it’s more likely than that. Some some of those students won’t trust you, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:51:54] So take us through a typical, I guess, maybe a day for, uh, maybe a parent that’s listening about what to expect, uh, for their child in your academy. What what’s a typical day look look like.

Alex Morales: [00:52:08] From from a training session? Yeah. So a training session. I do a customized training, customized training session where we focus from the very beginning, um, 15, 10 to 15 minutes of agility. And sometimes I’ll combine that with ball mastery, where, um, agility is known for, for you to work on the footwork, the eye coordination, your foot coordination so you don’t get injured. You know how to cut side to side to trick somebody, juke somebody. Basically, um, I try to incorporate the agility speed with the ball mastery because they go hand in hand. Then we’ll transition into like 15, 20 minutes of passing drills. Sometimes I’ll switch it up. Recently I’ve done added like a special um, section where it works on cognitive reaction, um, where you can have a player facing against you and we’re not facing a face to face. Their back is facing the person with the tennis ball. So I will give them like a verbal cue, go or clap your hand and then throw the tennis ball at the same time to see if they can react and get it. So we’re trying to build athletes not just with one area. We’re trying to build them all together because they can be good with the ball, mastery and passing. But if they’re not good with, uh, with, um, everything else, with the, um, with running and the agility, then we do see that that’s a struggle for the youth.

Brian Pruett: [00:53:29] Uh, do you have any, uh, camps or programs coming up? Do you want to share on February?

Alex Morales: [00:53:34] Actually, yesterday, I spent a whole day while I was spending the day with my wife. Yesterday, I think Thursdays for now would be like my rest day where I can have that day with my wife. Um, planned the whole year for the next year already. I’m done with that. I’m working on building the calendar so I can give it to my customers already. Um, but the the most upcoming one, it will be in February 19th to the 20th. It will be a two day clinic.

Brian Pruett: [00:53:56] And where will that take place?

Alex Morales: [00:53:58] Um, slow location is to be, to be determined, but most likely it will be at Georgia Highlands in Cartersville.

Brian Pruett: [00:54:04] Okay. Um, are there opportunities for businesses to help support your soccer academy and if so, how how can they do that?

Alex Morales: [00:54:11] Yeah. Um, so actually offer some sponsor, uh, sponsorship packages, um, where depending on the, the tier of the package, you’re going to be on the uniforms, which we already got those covered. But we do have other ones such as bronze, silver, gold that they can purchase. And it offers a pretty good, um, value to it. We try to, um, target their marketing to our clients. And, you know, when we have the special events, we find that we we reach out new faces because it’s something quick, something they don’t have to commit to very cheap. And I try to make sure that, um, the top one I would say would be the social media and, and newsletter marketing. So, um, when I first started, I started off with three emails, three contacts. Now I’m almost up to 300 this year, so it’ll be direct resource for them to, um. Interact with my community.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:06] Okay. Uh, go ahead and share with somebody who might be listening, who wants to go to either get to talk about for that or to talk about your services for their kid. How can somebody get a hold of.

Speaker5: [00:55:15] You, how.

Alex Morales: [00:55:16] They would get a hold of you? Yeah. They can reach out to my personal number at (678) 956-3174. Or, um, they can reach out on my Facebook or Instagram. Instagram would probably be the a preferable, preferable way which would be instagram.com, um forward slash precise soccer academy. And you have a website. Yep. It’ll be precise soccer academy com okay.

Brian Pruett: [00:55:37] And I’m going to open a can of worms here because I think it’s this is just my opinion. But, uh, since you work with, uh, 8 to 15 year olds, you’re writing this way for the high schools, even though they’re kind of early. Um, but the nil. Everybody knows what the nil is, right? Name, image, likeness that they’ve gone through. And the college kids can now accept money before that. Well, it just passed in Georgia, the state of Georgia. The high school kids can now accept money. For their initial for the name engine and his likeness. And to me, that kind of takes away the passion and, uh, the love of the game. And even in college level, I think it’s kind of ruining that. And again, that’s just my opinion. So everybody out there getting mad at me just get mad at me, uh, for that. But working with high school kids, what are your thoughts on Nil, especially for the state of Georgia and high school kids now being able to accept money for that?

Alex Morales: [00:56:31] I do think I do agree that it can mess up the way they’re thinking they could play. I mean, you’ll probably have more kids trying to play sports now, because trying to get money and and money can definitely sour the heart. So, um, just the intention, I think it just really depends on the person. If they know, um, that money is just an item and not something that will, you know, make a huge impact. I think that would be ideal. But not everyone’s like that. Like I’m trying to picture myself at that age. I would just be like, yeah, I’m going to score goals so I could get more money. You know? I’m doing it just for that. I’m not doing anything for anything else. I think it’s an easy way out kind of thing, right?

Brian Pruett: [00:57:12] Yeah, I agree, I just, uh, I don’t know, uh, to me it’s just not a good thing. So, uh, one last question about your training and stuff like that. So obviously you work with kids who, uh, I’m assuming enjoy the game of soccer. Um, but you also work and train with these kids to, I guess, advance their careers in that game as well. Right? So help get scholarships and things of that nature.

Alex Morales: [00:57:37] Yes. Um, my first student will be getting, um, well, she actually got offered from Shorter University and got accepted, and she, um, even accepted it. She, she had offered three offers. Come in and then she accepted Shorter University also going to she actually was very kind and even invited me to the signing. So I’m looking forward to that. And I, I’m going to celebrate with her by inviting her and her mother, um, out to dinner to, you know, formally, uh, congratulate her. Um, but yeah, the idea is I want to build them up so they can at least get to the college level that way. Hurt their parents, don’t have to worry about the bill. I think that’s something that, um, didn’t favor, um, in my life because my parents were are immigrants. You know, they obviously have the documents now to work, but. I didn’t know they were always working, so I didn’t have that support. And, you know, money was tight. So I didn’t get that opportunity. I would have to just kind of just like right now I’m taking I would have had taken that leap of faith, which I feel more comfortable doing now versus before, to, to be be successful. So, um, it’s just giving them an opportunity to do that. And if they do go pro cool, it’s not my goal. My goal is to get them free tuition.

Brian Pruett: [00:58:54] There you go. That’s awesome. Congratulations, by the way on that student. That’s that’s really cool. All right. As we wrap this up, what I’d like to do, uh, is always have my guest share something, uh, positive, whether it’s a quote, a word, a nugget, some kind of a piece of advice to live today, what’s left of 2023 and beyond with. So, Lindsay, what do you got?

Lindsay Esterline: [00:59:14] Oh, man, I wish you would have told me beforehand.

Brian Pruett: [00:59:17] That’s why I told you. Listen to back episodes. It’s the same question.

Speaker5: [00:59:19] I’m sorry.

Lindsay Esterline: [00:59:20] I spaz, I spaz if you have one. Go ahead, go ahead. Yeah. So.

Alex Morales: [00:59:26] So the grassroots, um, which is, uh, an organization that teaches, it gives it gives out the courses and certification for coaching licenses. I went to one of their, um, courses for the 11 v 11 certification. They they said something to me that even as a Christian has helped me out. And I try to go by this, um, in all aspects of my life. And, and this is for business owners is definitely will help you out. So it’s a saying that says no one cares how much you know until they they know how much you care.

Speaker5: [00:59:58] Mm.

Brian Pruett: [00:59:58] Nice. Say that one more time.

Alex Morales: [01:00:01] No one no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

Brian Pruett: [01:00:05] Nice. All right. Lindsay.

Lindsay Esterline: [01:00:07] Yeah, that’s that’s a good one. And I think that’s why, you know, connecting in the community like we talked about earlier, is so important. When they know how much you care, then they’re they’re willing to listen, um, to the advice that you’re offering. So I wanted to find this Bible verse because it just it’s been jumping out of the page at me, uh, lately. And I’m actually going to post a whole blog around it. Nice. Um, pretty soon, but it’s found in Zephaniah 317, and we don’t read a lot of Zephaniah. Right. Um, but it says the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love, and he will exalt over you with loud singing. And I mean some of this stuff that’s in this verse. Is the stuff that is Christians. We we we all know this stuff, right? He’s going to save us and he’s going to give us peace. And and we we know that he’s with us, right? Even if it’s not a tangible, um, experience, but the idea that God is rejoicing over you and singing over you just really touched me, right? The fact that not only does he love us and want to save us, but he is. He’s he finds joy in us and gladness in us like we we make God sing. Right? And so I mean. That’s that’s just what’s been filling my heart. Um, especially for this past week. And, and I will be posting, like I said, a blog, so that I can share that with anybody who wants to find it. Just some other thoughts on that. I mean, there’s there’s a blessing in in numbers six as well. It’s the, the one that God gave Aaron to bless the children of Israel with. And in that one it says that God, you know, may God make his face to shine upon you. And when you think about a phrase like that.

Speaker6: [01:02:17] Um.

Lindsay Esterline: [01:02:18] You’re like, okay. Yeah, God is. God has glory, right? He’s luminous. Right? If he’s looking at me, he’s, you know, his face is. But it’s more than that. It’s about him smiling in approval at you. Like we have an American phrase about how your face lights up when you see somebody that brings you joy, right? Or when you when something good happens to you. And the idea, again, that God’s face will light up. When he looks at you is is just something that has just really hit for me lately. Um, just the fact that not only does he love you, he likes you.

Brian Pruett: [01:02:57] Right? And that’s pretty awesome because, you know, he he can do that in many ways, right? People are probably thinking, well, I don’t hear him, I don’t think. But he can do that multiple ways. I think about this. That’s a that’s a good way to just my buddy Bob Brooks who I have you guys, if you’ve listened, you’ve heard him on the show, but he is grew up in the city of Acworth, uh, a long time resident there. He is very passionate about the Horizon League and working with the special needs kids in the sports. And, uh, there’s a church there who just, I believe, celebrated over 100 years, and he did a lot of stuff that got done for free for that church to celebrate them. Anyway, yesterday he was named the citizen of the year by the Acworth Business Association. And I think that’s because God was smiling and absolutely, you know, things of that nature. So awesome. The other thing that I like to do is to thank you as a lost art these days. So, Lindsay, thank you for what you’re doing for everybody in general who just wants to learn more and have a deeper relationship with God. From your podcast, Alex, thanks for what you’re doing with the youth and the kids and trying to get their passion. As far as the soccer and everybody out there, let’s remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.