Ted Rykoski with Sandler Training, Kevin Harris with All In Or All Out Ministry and Daniel Tillberry with GracePoint Insurance Advisors

Intro: 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 fund raising. 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 Pruitt.

Brian Pruett: Good, fabulous Friday. It’s another fabulous Friday. And we’ve got three more fabulous guests. So if this is your first time listening to Charitable Georgia, this is all about positive things happening in the community. And this is the first time I am running the board today. So there may be some good things. There may be some bad things we’ll find out. But all in all, it’s a great day. The weather is cooler. It’s nice outside. So fall’s right around the corner. So as I mentioned, we got three fabulous guests this morning. And our first guest this morning is Mr. Daniel Tillberry from GracePoint Insurance. Daniel, thanks for being here.

Daniel Tillberry: Absolutely.

Brian Pruett: So last week I had Daniel Cox from Goosehead Insurance and I told you, Stone, that I like the phones, that you can do the the rings particularly and Daniel Cox’s Goose. When Daniel Tillberry calls me, it’s Amazing Grace. So, you know, that’s cool. So why? Because of gracepoint insurance.

Ted Rykoski: Oh, yeah, Sorry, I’m a little slick.

Brian Pruett: We’ll talk to you in a second. Kevin. Just stay in the corner. Yes, sir. So, Daniel, if you don’t mind, share a little bit of backstory. You’ve got some great back history. I know you were in the ministry for a while, but you had a weight loss journey, and it’s leading into passion for what you’re doing. So if you don’t mind, just share your story.

Daniel Tillberry: Yeah, absolutely. So who where do you begin on that? That’s a that’s a that’s a good one. So yeah, like you said, I started out in ministry. I felt a call to ministry in younger years, came to know Christ. And I’ll never forget the day. It was November 4th, 1998. I was nine years old. Um, is that a one? Is it church? And from that day forward, God has just radically rocked me in multiple ways. Oftentimes just hit me on the back of the head like, come on, dummy, let’s, let’s get to work. But you know, it’s okay. So I went through high school, went through college in in high school and college, worked a lot with youth ministry in college. I actually went on staff at a couple of churches, worked in youth ministry for about four years and just loved, loved that time there. Since then, God has kind of called me away from vocational ministry full time, but it has really kept my passion in being able to the heart of a servant and really, really worked towards where I am today and bringing out that servant leadership and servant servant mindset. So really where that is has led me in multiple things, but my family’s a huge piece of it. I can’t say I’ve gotten anywhere without my wife. Number one, it’s the Lord. Second is my wife, who who keeps me stable and constant at all times. And though she probably doesn’t doesn’t always agree with that, she is absolutely the compass that keeps things pointed north and and keeps things going.

Daniel Tillberry: So throughout that she’s been been with me in ministry from day one. We actually met through ministry, a youth pastor or college pastor back in the day came from her church, who was her youth pastor, and we ended up meeting through that fun story with that. But the at that time I was training to be a officer in the military to stepped away from that. That’s a whole nother story, but got to do a whole lot of fun, fun training and stuff in college with that and then walked away and went full time ministry after that in the ministry went from from vocational to in business after graduating, graduating, graduating with business degree from Kennesaw State, and then really felt like God was leading me into business and taking ministry through business. And from there, I’ve just had a passion to. Change the business world for Christ. And it’s been a journey. But bringing leadership back into the business world, we talk about business and leadership all the time, but what we what we miss a lot of times is, is the business world as a whole. I truthfully believe has a void that a lot of business people chase nonstop and they believe it. The at the root success will get it and success by Western culture. We believe that that’s that’s money, finances and growth. Right. But what we realize, if you really take a step back and look at it is true success is in service to others.

Daniel Tillberry: And that’s where we find our true happiness and joy and not just being happy, but truly being joyful in it. And that’s what I’ve learned in the last couple of years that I chase the success. Success meter was pretty good at it and in years past. But then when I stepped away from the corporate world and came back to back to insurance full time and opened my agency, I decided that we were going to have a people people first mindset. And I think you’ve heard from almost day one. My my motto is people over profit. And that that motto just rings rings true that we focus on people, not policy numbers. The insurance world as a whole has has gotten like business as a whole, has gotten in the mindset where it’s all about money. And though money’s not a bad thing, it it can bring out some just real evil in the world and bring out the mindset of just I’m here to to complete a task and not focus on the relationship and how I can actually help. So from day one, I’ve looked at how can I actually look at the people that I help and the conversation that we have, Where is the impact going to last? It’s not about, yes, there’s protection there that I’m offering so I can be there in some of the worst times of their life.

Daniel Tillberry: But beyond that, where are the times that they’re at right now in life and how can I help them now instead of waiting to win? The house burns down, you know, both metaphorically and physically is you know, if we don’t open up those conversations, the house might be burning spiritually right now. And that’s that’s a passion for me is protecting everything physically. But then beyond that. So beyond that, like you said, I had a weight loss journey that that’s been a been a part of it. So we were joking a little bit ago that I’ve got a face for radio and I believe that 100%. But I jokingly say now I’m less than half the man I used to be. And that is absolutely true, physically and and otherwise. You wouldn’t look at me today and know that at one point I was at least 420 pounds, and that wasn’t that long ago. I had bariatric surgery in August 19th of 2020, and since then I’ve lost 247 pounds. And it’s been a rocking roller coaster ever since. But what I found in that that the fun thing about that journey is I’ve got to experience a lot of different people with it. My journey has been different than a lot of people. It’s a lot of negative connotations and surgeries and those kind of things. And it was it was to fix a health imbalance that I had I didn’t know that I had.

Daniel Tillberry: And I fought it for ten years. It fought it really my whole life, but didn’t know that I had the the hormone imbalances that I had. So that mixed with a whole bunch of other things caused the the weight loss and we couldn’t get it off. So it literally that the day after surgery, within three months I was down 100 pounds. And it was we got to a point after about nine months of you know, down over 200 pounds, you were like, all right, when is this roller coaster going to stop? And how do you stop it starting to freak out a little bit. And I remember calling the doctor’s office and saying, hey, when should I be worried? And he looked they came back and they were like, yeah, when you hit 160 pounds, you know, let me know. And I was like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 420 to 160. That seems crazy. And they were like, Why? I was like, Well, first off, I haven’t been 160 probably since third grade, so, um, that’s terrifying. Um, but I just I realized that it wasn’t about me and that that took some, some getting used to that. There was a lot of pride in it. That was the reason I didn’t, didn’t do the surgery up until that point as well. There was a lot of pride in it that I could do it on my own and realized that there’s a lot, a lot of need of community around me.

Daniel Tillberry: And as I. Leaned more into the community and support around me, I realized that the reason that I did it was for my family, but ultimately it was for me and I missed that piece. So as I got about about a year after surgery, I walked through the bathroom one day and kind of scared myself because I didn’t know who was in the mirror. Still to this day, it’s kind of freaky. You look in and you’re like, That’s not that’s not who you used to be. And and really relating back as I think it’s funny that I was teaching a class at church the other day, and I believe the Lord has used my surgery and my weight loss journey to just speak back into me, to say, you’re not the man you used to be because I am guiding you to be the man I want you to be. And that’s really just kind of set heavy on my heart. And it’s really given me a new passion to to step forward and say, okay, well, where where do you want me and what do you want of me? And it’s no longer about, you know, not just how I can serve, but how do you want me to serve God and kind of go from there. So it’s been it’s been fun. I’m really excited. I feel like we’re at the precipice of something amazing and I don’t know what it is.

Brian Pruett: That’s awesome. I’d love to be that because I like to food too much, so you can tell. So but for those of you, for those of the listening that may not know, can you share what the surgery you had? What is it like?

Daniel Tillberry: Yeah, absolutely. So the surgery itself, there’s a couple of different versions of bariatric surgery you probably heard of like lap bands. It’s basically just a band that constricts the ability to eat. Doesn’t really do anything as far as the size of your stomach. There’s the gastric sleeve, which literally cuts your stomach down. There’s a gastric bypass that literally bypasses your stomach and goes straight to straight to your lower intestine. And that and what each of them do is either restrictive or malabsorption in in the whole system. So basically what it does is the restrictive is literally what it is. It’s restricting you from what you can eat. Malabsorption is, which is what the gastric bypass is. It doesn’t allow you to process the food and pull as much nutrients out at one time. So it alleviates the overeating ability because it passes through the system a lot faster. What I had is called a duodenal switch. There’s a more fancy term than that I can’t pronounce, but it’s a it’s a modified surgery. It’s the shorter term is called a C.T.. It’s a newer, newer surgery that that was approved actually back during Covid. And that’s how I knew God was in the works because that was not the surgery I was going to get. It was about a week before my surgery, scheduled date when Covid hit, and it shut everything down. So I didn’t have it. It was that was in March. I didn’t get to have the surgery until August. And during that time, my doctor got board certified for the surgery that I had. That was the one I wanted all along.

Daniel Tillberry: So just seeing that progression happen was even cooler and looking back on it now. But basically what what the surgery I had is, is a mixture between a gastric sleeve, which is takes the stomach, which your stomach is about the size of a two liter bottle and it cuts it down to the size of about a medium sized banana in size. And then they cut the bottom part of your stomach where it connects to your upper intestine and they moved it down my upper intestine about 50%. So I’ve got a malabsorption as well as restrictive surgery built into both. So it kind of satisfies both. And really what I’ve learned is everybody asks me that the big question, well, what can you eat? And does it cause problems? And yes and no. So the diet is really if you think about the food pyramid and what you’ve always, always been told you should you should be eating, you know, 4 to 5 meals a day and good snacks and good healthy stuff. That’s literally what I eat. I have I have very little restrictions that my body has has thrown against me. And it’ll tell you it’ll tell you instantly what you should not eat. It’ll give it back to you. But it’s, it’s been good to kind of see that and, and kind of walk that journey. So it’s, I love talking to people about it, giving my story with with how it works and, and telling people how beneficial it can be. But there’s also times where it’s not a good fit and it’s good to talk, which I think.

Brian Pruett: Is important, like you said, to talk about, because, you know, people, they try diets, they try different things, and you got to find what’s right for you. Absolutely do it. And so talk to as many people as possible. Talk to Daniel and you know what works for you. So continuing with the servant heart, you’re getting ready to go on a mission trip, correct?

Daniel Tillberry: Yep, I am. It’s. It’s actually my first international mission trip. I’ve served all around the country over the years. You know, domestically. But it’s the first international trip. I’ve been super excited about it, going to Nairobi, Kenya, and we’re going to be serving in the a little bit in the slums of Chimera, which is an enormous slum of the world where don’t quote me, but I think it’s a couple million people in like a three mile square. I mean, it’s it’s a tiny place with way too many people is basically what it runs down to. So we’re going to be doing some some different service in there, washing of hands and feet of children, passing out some shoes for a couple of days, doing some pastoral training. And then we’re going to be flying out to the outskirts of, I can’t remember, somewhere in the the countryside of Kenya. And we’re going to be doing some mission projects out there where our church is built, a widows and women’s shelter and center out there. And we’re going to be finishing that. The mission trip itself is a construction trip, so there’s 12 guys going. We’re going to be basically the pack mules and and service hands of of the project. So it’s going to be going to be a lot of fun, get to experience things. But I’m looking forward to it and and getting to see it. It’s been interesting to see the first time I’ve ever had to fundraise for this type of of trip, but it’s it became real. I got I got our flight information yesterday so it’s it’s ready we take off October 20th so I’m t minus I guess a month and five days. So it’s it’s exciting.

Brian Pruett: So you mentioned the fundraising part. So other than praying for this trip, how can people help?

Daniel Tillberry: Yeah, absolutely. So obviously the number one would be prayer over over myself one for for my diet it would be a huge one. I’ve not only have I never eaten Kenyan food, but that mixed with my surgery can cause some some interesting dietary needs over there. So we’re going to be watching that closely. So that’s a big one. Pray over the team, pray over the people there that our impact can be can be good. But then also financially, I’ve got a support page that that I can I can send you Brian but it’s a it’s a journey over there. And I want to say it’s it’s $1,800. I think it’s what our, our goal to fundraise is and that’s going to go not only to the flight and the food and the housing over there, but also the building itself to help finish that. So definitely prayer is number one. But if there’s gifts or somebody wants to give, I’d love to. Love to be able to take that.

Brian Pruett: Yeah. You want to send that to me? We’ll help you push that out for you. So absolutely, we’ll get to Gracepoint here in just a minute. But you talked about going through your journey and leaning into community and that’s one thing we talked about all the time on the show is is positive things in the community. So why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Daniel Tillberry: Absolutely. So one one, for me, it’s it’s two things. The great commission itself, you know, Jesus, Jesus told us we have to go into all the world and make disciples. But one of my favorite verses of the Bible is Acts one eight and that you’ll be my witness in all all of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. And if I want to live true to that, I have to be involved in my community. Um, and not not just because I want to see the world change for Christ, but also because if I’m not in the community, I can’t be a servant and I can’t help people in any way, regardless of religion. I mean, take, take religion out for everything. If I can’t be a by definition of a good person without being connected to people. So it’s that connectional ministry connectional relationship that matters to me. So I dive in as much as I can in the community. And the other part is, you know, I grew up here, I want to see this community changed and and really this community be a place that not only people want to be, but are passionate about being here because because it’s a difference than around the world. I’ve heard of places that, you know, neighbors don’t know neighbors. And that happens around here. But, you know, in the south here, we’re we’re different in the in the fact a lot of people come down there like it’s it’s amazing how friendly people are. And I’m like, I look at some people, I’m like, I don’t know if they’re friendly or not, But but I look at it, I’m like, maybe I’m just used to it.

Brian Pruett: Don’t let them sit in Atlanta traffic.

Daniel Tillberry: It’s not friendly there for sure, but it’s it’s too it’s just that difference. It’s that thought process of you can’t be connected without being involved and you can’t get to know people. If it’s about relationships, you can’t build a relationship without sitting next to people that that shoulder to shoulder time is is powerful. You know, for men, it’s, you know, just sitting next to each, you know. Say anything. And for for the ladies out there that they’re obviously a little bit different, that they’re designed a little different. They like they enjoy talking. I can do that, too. But, um, you know, it’s it’s one it’s just I like to sit shoulder to shoulder and just enjoy people. It’s a lot of fun.

Brian Pruett: So we also talk a lot about the power of networking in here. And I know you and that’s how you and I met was networking groups. And I had one of our mutual friends on Matthew Payne was on here the other day and we talked about C Suite for Christ. I know you’re involved in that as well, but can you share a positive story or a testimony about networking?

Daniel Tillberry: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, I can, I can use Matt for, for instance, you know, Matt, Matt Payne with C Suite for Christ. I get to sit on the board with him and really I, I think for me, sitting on the board and helping them kind of develop that ministry is really just me being a sponge, soaking up the knowledge and the wisdom that the other board members have that I wish I one day can get to and they may not see it that way, but that’s absolutely how I see it. If I can be a sponge and be half the man, some of them are half the with the ladies, the prayer warriors they are and just the people and the passion they have. If I can if I can be a quarter of that, I’ll be better than I’ve ever been. So it’s one that with C Suite for Christ, I’ve gotten to know Matt really well and just him and his wife Buffy, understanding who they are and their passion they’ve become. I don’t even know if they know I feel like this, but it’s they’ve become really mentors to me and really seeing how they live out. Um, Mike with ETF Solutions is another one there where he he boldly challenged me a couple of weeks ago to in a conversation he was like, you know, if you, if you love you love God, why don’t you say it in your conversations? And I was like, you know, that’s an interesting concept.

Daniel Tillberry: He goes, I can tell by talking to you that it’s there. But he goes, you know, grace point. You’ve told me your, your your name with Grace Point. It’s obvious that that you live in in that. But where where is it he goes, for example, when Mike talks about ETF solutions, he says, you know, ETF Solutions is a is a faith first family, family oriented environment. And I was like, you know, that’s true. That’s exactly who I am. So that networking, he’s challenged me in that so that that that’s become part of my conversation. I’m not perfect at it by any means, but I bring it out and I tell people like you may, it may not be a fit to work with me just because we do things a little bit different. But what I can do is, is I’ll help educate and I’ll help help you go wherever you need to go. And I’m passionate about that. But that’s who I am. I’m faith first, family second, and then relationship third. And I keep it in that order on purpose because it helps stabilize me to where I need to go.

Brian Pruett: So Grace Point, that’s a good, good segue to talk about Grace Point. So first of all, tell me how the name came about.

Daniel Tillberry: Yeah. So Grace point itself. I wish I could tell you it was some miraculously gift, God given name. It is in every business that me and my wife have had. And we have a couple. We’ve sold one we started out with years ago. I’ve told you we owned a bounce house company here here in Atlanta, and it’s a fast growing bounce house company. We sold it. It’s called Uplifting Rentals. It’s a play on words on purpose. We wanted to show our faith in it, but we also not that we wanted to hide it, but we wanted to. We wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t be detrimental to people, not of faith. But we wanted to show them we are faith, faith based, but also that we’re here to serve. Uplifting. Reynolds came out with that because one, it’s funny, know you’re a bounce house you’re uplifting. But it’s also that was part of our culture is we wanted to uplift people. Grace forward into Grace Point same thing when we were open up the agency, it was I looked at, looked at my wife, Lacey, and I said, I want this to be a the name itself. I want to show our mission and our vision and our mission and our vision is is simple. I want to be a point of grace in my community and be a light to everyone around me in whatever that means. And not not just in, you know, spiritual or religious way, but just in a simple way.

Daniel Tillberry: I want to be something different so that I can bring light to an industry that is viewed as dark. And that’s an industry problem as as a industry, for the most part, the I wouldn’t say we get a ten out of ten. You know, when when people talk about insurance and financial services, it’s they’re not like, oh, yeah, I really want to talk about that. That’s one of my passions. And though it is for me, I enjoy it. It’s it’s probably a three out of a ten if at best for most people, and especially right now with with the market the way it is, you know, rates always going up and and you know a lot of people don’t understand why in those kind of things it it when we looked at the name we said we want to make sure people understand that it’s a service first because the industry as a whole years ago used to be service oriented. You used to know your agent, you used to your agent used to be somebody who would come over and have dinner with you and make sure things were done right. And I would love to have dinner with anybody that wants to have dinner with me. I can eat, I can hide some groceries. But it’s it’s one that that’s the mindset we wanted to bring back. And we wanted to we wanted to make it truly a light in the darkness and radically change the world. We also have a passion for I’m a Dave Ramsey endorsed local provider and and though that doesn’t mean a lot to to most people, what we do with that is we have a passion.

Daniel Tillberry: And and I’ll be honest, I stole this from a good friend of mine up in Missoula, Montana, and he said it was okay. But his mission and vision for his agency is to end financial crisis in America, starting with one policy at a time. And I’ve adopted that into us. And that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to I want people to understand their protection so that it’s not if it’s when people come after you. We know that because if you drive down the interstate, look up at the billboards, how many of those are, you know, lawyers that are ready to come come after the insurance companies? Right, Wrong or indifferent? There are times where that’s absolutely necessary and I forward customers to them. But that’s a big reason why the industry, why the rates are going up and everything that’s happening. So in that it’s not if it’s when and how do you properly protect yourself? And if we’re going to end a financial crisis, we have to understand what financial services and what financial health means. And that’s where that came from. So going back to the name itself, we were coming back from a business meeting where we were starting our agency and on the way back and we sorted through hundreds of names. And one one thing we always do as as business owners, we’re smart enough to know before you can pick a name, you got to make sure you have a website that works and not only a website that works, but a website that can be spelled out so people actually go to it.

Daniel Tillberry: So as we we had some great ones, but every one of them was either taken or that people are not going to be able to to do that. So we were actually driving by and GPS took us in the mountains of nowhere, north Georgia, and we rolled by. And as we rolled by, there was a church on the left hand side of the road. I’ll never forget it. The steeple had a bright light shining out from the top of it, almost like a lighthouse. Um, and the sign was illuminated. It was like the only thing in this area in the middle of nowhere. And it just said gracepoint. And I looked at Lacey, I said, Look that up. And Gracepoint Insurance.com was available. And instantly we knew. We said, that is the name. And we said. That is, you know, actually, I haven’t thought about it until right this second and never really put the two and two together of the light and the steeple being a lighthouse. And I just talked about wanting to be the light in the darkness. And that’s that’s interesting. But that’s exactly where where it came from. And that’s that just speaks to who we want to be and how we want to serve.

Brian Pruett: So you guys are a broker, right? Insurance broker.

Daniel Tillberry: We’re an independent agency. We represent about 30 different companies directly and access to dozens and more. The way the insurance market opens up. So there’s literally nothing we can’t do. There’s always an option out there. It’s the difference between like a captive captive market, like a state farm or an American family where they’re good in certain things. We have options outside of that, which was the other reason why we wanted to go independent. Um, so it’s we specialize in commercial and one of the things we do is churches and nonprofits. That’s a passion we have because those are industries that are usually left in the dark and also don’t have a budget to usually pay for stuff. So it’s where we can where we can usually help step in.

Brian Pruett: And that’s another reason he’s here, because I want him to talk to you. Okay.

Daniel Tillberry: Well, that’s good to know.

Ted Rykoski : Yeah, I’ve been set up. Yeah.

Daniel Tillberry: Okay. Yeah. So it’s one that if I can educate, that’s. That is primary. I tell everybody, I don’t care if you do business with us or not. I mean, I would love to. One, I want to know who you are, how I can serve you. And then if I can, if I can do business with you, that’s just a bonus on top. But if I can help educate you, I tell all my customers I’ve had a couple here lately with how bad the market is, and if you haven’t got your renewals yet, just hold on because it’s just close your eyes and don’t look at it because it’s it’s painful. Um, but I’ve had a couple call me and they’re like, we don’t want to leave, but we’re finding savings. And I talked to him. I’m like, Listen. Do you understand what you have now versus what you’re going to? And are they the same? And we’ll walk through it and there’s a couple of them that they’ve they’ve sent me the new quotes just to cross check. And I’m like, Yes, you need to go with this. And they’re like, Why would you tell me that? And I’m like, Because it’s best for you. Like, that’s my job is to educate you. And if my education takes you somewhere else, then good on me. I did my job because that’s what I want. I want I want you to be able to protect your family. And if that if you know the rates that we have aren’t the best out there, then that’s fine. We want you to be in the best situation possible. And, you know, long term, they may come back. The market’s going to get better ish somewhere sometime. So it’ll be fine. It’s an election.

Brian Pruett: Year. It won’t be this year.

Daniel Tillberry: It’s it’s probably going to be 20, 25 or after. But yeah, it is what it is. It’s, it’s just what we sit in. Education is fun and I kind of geek out on it a little bit. So it’s, it’s all right.

Brian Pruett: So you guys also do personal though other as well, right?

Daniel Tillberry: We do personal personal right now that that’s the market that’s probably harder than anything just because there’s a lot of you know for instance in the since January of this year we’ve had eight carriers in the state of Georgia either back out or cut off completely nationwide. Insurance, for one, is not writing any new business nationwide right now. So it’s it’s very difficult to get anything done. And really what’s causing that is, you know, lawyers, tort reform, contract law, a bunch of different things that can really only be solved under the gold dome down in Atlanta. Um, but, you know, that’s a that’s an internal debate. We won’t get into the politics of it, but it’s what it is. It’s bureaucracy that that causes those those issues that then reverberates back on, you know, the policyholders themselves. So, you know, educating people on that. It’s just it’s a tighter market than it’s ever been. Usually what happens is when the independent market is tight, the captive markets, like the state farms of the world, are usually open and it’s usually like a pendulum that swings back and forth. And this is the first time in 14 years of me doing this that it is. It’s like the thing is stopped right in the middle. Like it is not moving. No side of the business is good. No side of the business is bad. It just it is rough and tight everywhere. And the hurricanes that are coming through, the storms that are coming through are not helping the claims situation. So it’s a it’s a multitude of pieces where you’ve got that plus inflation. You’ve got like ten different factors that usually happen at different times. So you might see that 3% increase a year normally and everybody’s used to, you know, small increase because you’ve got one factor playing at a time. Right now you’ve got all of them. So you’re seeing increases that are 15 to 20, sometimes more percent, and you’re like, What is going on? And you’re like, I wish I could explain it better than that. But it’s it’s just the current world we’re living in, right?

Brian Pruett: So you guys you’re not are you’re not only licensed in Georgia, but you have other places you can work, right? Yep.

Daniel Tillberry: So we are all over the southeast, um, everywhere but Louisiana right now. Just because Louisiana is is a very, very tight problem market right now. Uh, but but all over the southeast. And then we’re in Michigan, Iowa, California, Texas, we’re we’re scattered. I think it’s 14 different states we’re in. So we go where where policyholders need us to be, really.

Brian Pruett: So I’ll give a shout out for him because my mom had a friend who was moving from here back down to Florida and was having trouble finding something. And Daniel took the time to talk to her. I don’t think it worked out with her then, but.

Daniel Tillberry: We ended up forwarding her down to a good friend of mine down in Florida, and he was able to help her out. So it’s that’s the other part of it. Going back to networking is if I can’t help, I’m going to find somebody who can. And because because we don’t want to just have you out there and not not knowing what you’re doing. It’s that’s what we’re licensed to do. That’s that’s what we’re here to help.

Brian Pruett: So real quick, I want to ask you if you can share just some free tips on all three, if you don’t mind. Something maybe for personal either home or auto, either one, something for commercial and something for nonprofits. If you can make it real quick on.

Daniel Tillberry: Just tips and tricks. Yeah. So on the personal side, definitely Right now, if you haven’t, just like when we came out of the recession of oh eight, oh nine, everybody really needed to check their their reconstruction values on the homes and those kind of things. You absolutely need to do that where in 2009 we we were over insured a lot of times now we are grossly underinsured. So the market as a whole typically adds anywhere between 10 and 20% to your homeowner’s value. So if you’re, you know, say you’re at 500,000 now, your renewal might say 540 on it. The problem is, is those natural does not necessarily mean that you are insured properly. So ask for a review and double check those coverages. Yes, it’s going to. Go up a little bit, but the last thing you want to do is have a fire in the house and be underinsured and then hit coinsurance and not have 100% replacement cost value. So that’s that’s number one right now. And it’s an industry issue. The industry is aware of it. They’re just not doing a good job fixing it. Um, the, the commercial side, the next one you wanted to talk about really in, in business, I mean, everybody talks about just simple general liability and property on those worker’s comp. The, the simple stuff. But really what I found on that side is a coverage that most people don’t pay attention to is professional liability. It doesn’t affect every single industry, but professional liability is absolutely key. So professional liability and we know it as doctors and lawyers, right? It’s it’s errors and omissions or it’s malpractice insurance. That’s what professional liability is.

Daniel Tillberry: The industry has changed the name. It’s the same thing. Um, a lot of industries need it and they don’t understand it. Like if you work with kids, if you’re a counselor, if you don’t have sexual abuse and molestation, you are opening yourself up to a massive lawsuit just just for the indication that you could be accused of it, whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent. That’s the world we live in. And and there’s we run across it all the time. And it is it’s cost costly, but at the end of the day, you got to you got to weigh the difference of is it too much versus what’s the exposure you have. And that’s where the education piece comes in. Educate and then you decide from there what is best for you. Um, churches and nonprofits, a big one. The churches side International liability if your church is is a gospel preaching New Testament church where you are active and you are sending mission teams out and you don’t have international liability, that’s a problem. That’s a big problem. You need that. You also need, again, sexual abuse, molestation an on there. Unfortunately, that’s not something I wish a church ever had to have. But it is vital in today’s world. Pastoral counseling, those kind of things. Nonprofits on the back end, same thing. Depending on what the nonprofit is doing and the exposure they have, it’s vital to make sure the general liability may not be the coverages, extending the right coverages to your. Personal business. And that’s what when you get a contract, that’s what everybody asks for. Nobody understands what they’re actually asking for. It’s a problem. It’s a big problem.

Brian Pruett: So awesome. Thanks for sharing those. So if somebody listening wants to get a hold of you to talk about your services, how can they do that?

Daniel Tillberry: Yeah, it’s you can call the office anytime. (678) 224-9333. You can go to our website gracepoint Insurance.com fill out the contact form there or you can email us anytime. You can email the team. You can email me directly at daniel@gracepoint.com or you can email us at quotes@gracepoint.com. It goes to the whole team. So multiple ways. Just if you have any questions and again, we’re not here to sell. We’re here to help. So whatever we can do we’re we’re there for you. Awesome.

Brian Pruett: Well, Daniel, thanks for coming and sharing your story. And what’s your passion about what you’re doing? Don’t go anywhere. We’re not done with yet, but we’re moving over to Mister Ted Rykoski from the Sandler Training Group. Ted, thanks for being here this morning. Thanks for having me. So again, everybody that’s in this room are friends of mine. So that’s another reason I like doing this because I get to hear stories and and become friends. So Ted and I met, I don’t know what, 12, 14 years ago at Marriott, a business association.

Ted Rykoski : Closer to eight.

Brian Pruett: Yeah. Well, I like, you know, it’s like the fish you catch, right? It’s the like the make it bigger.

Ted Rykoski : It feels like.

Brian Pruett: 14. Right, right, right. So you are have a story of overcoming. You’ve actually overcome cancer twice. So if you don’t mind just sharing a little bit of your background, your story, and we’ll talk about Sandler here in a little bit.

Ted Rykoski : So the story specific cancer. Yes. So it was interesting. 2002 had surgery and got diagnosed with cancer just two weeks after I got married. So a little bit of a journey. There was radiation daily during the week for a few months, and I was all clear free to go and that was back in I was living up in the Northeast, moved out to Arizona a few years later and I was in my 30s, a male. Of course, I didn’t see any doctors, so I didn’t and go to any doctors. And after being there for a couple of years without seeing a physician getting my annual physical, I had problems even drinking water. So I went to go see a doctor and my wife had seen and I got a he gave me samples of something for. I’m cured or something like that. I knew it wasn’t that, but with my history, he sent me for an x ray and Cat scan, and the x ray showed cancer and lymph nodes in my chest. So it’s 2006. It was four years later. The cancer traveled through the lymph nodes. So that was radiation. No surgery because it was in the lymph nodes of my chest. I didn’t want to take the lymph nodes out, but blasted me with chemo. So I because of the size I was and it was. You know what the classify that as stage three or because it traveled I got more than a regular dosage anybody else would have. So it was about six months worth of cycles of chemo and wrapped up. It’s coming up on 17 years now. So October of 2006. And knock on wood, since then, everything’s been great. We’ve got a 14 year old son happened naturally. So yeah, I got nothing to complain about. It was a journey. It’s still feeling the repercussions of it, but yeah.

Brian Pruett: Awesome. Well, so somebody may be listening who may be going through what you went through. Can you give them a little a little advice of what you know, some hope.

Ted Rykoski : Uh, you know, I was surrounded by people who were looking out for me. I will tell you that, especially a second time around, I shut down. I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to be bothered. Really. I slept a lot of the day. It was probably 12 to 18 hours on any given day. I was working, but only half time. I was part time disability for that time and I literally just hung out with the dogs. My wife basically knew exactly what I needed and supported me, but I had friends and family around me that they gave me a lot of support. Talking about community earlier, without that community, I don’t know that I would have gotten through it like I did.

Brian Pruett: So that brings. I’ll go and ask that question then. So because you had that community, why is it important for you to be part of the community?

Ted Rykoski : Wow, that’s a great question. I don’t know that I do a good enough job, especially listening to Daniel earlier. I don’t know that I do a great enough job at that. I, I believe I’ve learned quite a bit, especially over the past eight years and having the business, it’s humbled me. So what I attempt to do now is help others. So it’s although I’m in a business, there’s a lot that I do that goes above and beyond what’s in the business just in helping others. And it’s a lot of times it’s people I’m working with who I’ve I’ve made the mistakes that I see them making. And the last thing I want to do is, is try to tell them what to do. But it’s really asking questions to help them figure out the things that quite frankly, took me pain to realize and understand and learn. So. I think what I do with community now is much of that as I possibly can. And frankly, it’s with a 14 year old son. There’s a lot of doing that as well, making sure that he’s on the right path and making sure that he’s not making mistakes that I made.

Brian Pruett: All right. Well, I mean, I will say you’ve helped out a couple of things that I’ve done. You seven years ago or one of our whole sponsors of the golf tournament, you’re doing it again this year. So I know you’re positive and trying to help other people that way. And we’ll get into the business of what you do and helping people that way as well. But let’s talk about the networking piece, too, as well, because that’s how you and I met. And so I know at the time, you know, that particular group, there were some negatives, there are some positives. But can you share a positive testimony about networking for you?

Ted Rykoski : I frankly, the people I’ve met through networking have been fantastic. I’ve got clients through networking, not people I’ve networked with, but introductions I’ve made through other people. Frankly, working with somebody we both know very well currently. Great guy. I think a lot most of the people I’ve met here in Atlanta and before having my business, I was on I was on an airplane every single week. So I knew nobody here until I opened my business. And the people I’ve met have been through the networking like where we met and a lot of open networking around Atlanta through clients and through connections. It’s I wouldn’t have what I have now without it.

Brian Pruett: Well, you actually with your business, which we’ll talk about but you’re you’re also go out and speak and you I mean that’s part of your business is training. So tell us a little bit about Sandler and what you do.

Ted Rykoski : So we help businesses. We’re traditionally known in the sales world. We help sales organizations ans we help businesses with the sales process. And typically it’s solopreneurs up to international organizations. Typically they are already successful. They’re doing what they do well, but they recognize that they can be doing better. So we help them with that no matter what it is. And for some organizations or people, if they’re looking to grow the organization, just making sure that they’ve got the right people, that they’re bringing on somebody who can fit the organization and making sure that those people in the right positions are in the right places. So it’s kind of the bringing the right people on the bus and making sure they’re in the right seat. I’ve heard that analogy before and I’ll use it, but that’s a lot of what we do and making sure that when they bring those people in, that there’s a path for growth so that the organization can grow and they can grow as people and professionals as well.

Brian Pruett: Can you share a little difference? I mean, because there’s other organizations, organizations out there that do training and stuff. So like the Maxwell Group, you’ve got Sandler, you’ve got other groups. What is the difference for you guys versus some of the other groups that are out there?

Ted Rykoski : I can’t speak to what they do. I know that and I will say this with Sandler as well. We’re a worldwide network. There’s over 200 people like me around the world are licensees and delivering services, and I’m quite different from many of them as well. But the work that I do with clients is I’m best off if I can get to know the organization very, very well, what they’re doing, what they do well and where they’re, I’ll say, broken or can improve upon when I’m allowed to come into the organization and get close enough, it’s where I can have the biggest impact.

Brian Pruett: So can you take us through that? So what’s kind of a day like for you, for a client? I’m sure it’s different for everybody, but what’s a normal, typical day look like?

Ted Rykoski : Great question. So today, typically, I would have been training this morning at 9:00 and I moved that training out to 2:00 this afternoon. So I’ve got clients that are around Atlanta will be dialing in by Zoom and we’ve got a weekly training. So it’s just an hour and a half and those are professionals and a bunch of different positions and solopreneurs COO for for an organization. But I spend time at a client where I’m spending time in the office pretty regularly now, working with them side by side in their day to day operations, just getting an understanding of what they’re doing and helping them out. And sometimes it’s just slight nudges over a longer period of time just to stare them in the right direction. And for others it’s I’m there once a month or once a quarter literally is different. For every single client. There are no two that are like, it’s really based on what they need and what I can offer to them. And very much like Daniel, I’m not the right fit for everybody. And the sooner that I can recognize that through having a conversation with somebody, either them or myself, recognizing that I’m not the right fit and maybe there’s somebody better. I don’t work with everybody.

Brian Pruett: So. So you also you also offer seminars. I mean, you came and spoke, what was it, last month at our learning table with just the Cardinal Business Club monthly luncheon that we do and try to help business owners learn different things about business. But do you do seminars as well? Right.

Ted Rykoski : So, yeah. Workshops, seminars, speaking engagements. If a business organization or a networking group is looking for somebody to talk about something within sales, do that. I’m doing fewer boot camps than I did before, but those are typically it’s via Zoom again, typically about 60 to 90 minutes on a sales topic where I’ll invite people who could be prospects, but I’ll put something out there on LinkedIn and post an event. I’ll post it on Zoom. It’s typically one topic on sales or sales leadership.

Brian Pruett: So everybody is actually a sales person, whether they say it or not. Right. So can you give us a little nugget on a sales thing that you might talk about?

Speaker5: Um.

Ted Rykoski : Well, last month I did the first five minutes of a sales call, and it was focused around what salespeople can do to maintain control of the call, maintain control of the conversation. I think salespeople quite often hand over control to the prospect. And it sounds like that’s a bad thing to to maintain control of the call. But it literally is a sales person’s job to understand whether or not that prospect is a right fit for the sales person salesperson is a right fit for that prospect. And and the steps that we talked about and it literally is things like the upfront contract just setting the right expectations. It’s it sounds like it’s very complicated, but it literally is talking about how much time do we have together, how much time do you have for me today? And if I was expecting 60 minutes and you’ve got 15 minutes because you’ve got a scheduled appointment that we didn’t talk about, but I know that up front and then talking about this with the upfront contract defining what happens at the end in the beginning of the conversation. So what? Yes. Means what no means and literally eliminating that. What’s the one thing you don’t want to hear as a salesperson at the end of a conversation? So it’s three bad words which are think it over. You don’t want to think it over. So, yes, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re handing over a credit card or signing a contract. It may just mean we’re talking about what’s the next conversation look like, Who needs to be involved and when and where is that?

Brian Pruett: And it’s funny because everybody was like, well, I don’t hear the word no. A lot of times I’d rather hear the word no than let’s think it over.

Ted Rykoski : No is yes is best, no is second best. The worst is think it over.

Brian Pruett: So I shared this a couple of weeks ago, but I got first got in sales. Everybody was like, I can’t believe you’re a salesperson. How do you handle? No. And it’s because I’m used to it, right? When I was in college, I asked every single girl out and that’s what they said was no. So it really but I think the most important thing for sales, it’s all about establishing the relationship, right?

Ted Rykoski : It’s step one, bonding, a rapport. Yeah. It’s that bonding rapport is you earn the currency of that relationship, which is trust. Without that bonding report, there’s nothing else.

Brian Pruett: So do you just work in Atlanta or are you able to work nationwide or.

Ted Rykoski : Great question. So I am able to reach out to anybody within the state of Georgia. But when I’m invited in elsewhere, I happen to be speaking at a company’s annual conference in November. That’s in Louisiana. That doesn’t happen often, but it can be. If I’m invited elsewhere, I can work elsewhere.

Brian Pruett: Okay. So I’m just curious. I don’t know that you and I have ever talked about this, but I’m, you know, especially giving the world of sales. How did you choose this particular. Career track and then jump into the Sandler part.

Ted Rykoski : So you talk about the career track of sales. That was completely by accident. So I went to school at a small business school in Northeast. I grew up in Connecticut, went to a small school in Rhode Island. Nobody here has ever heard of it before. And I went for marketing. There were no sales majors back then. Today you’ve got schools like Kennesaw State where you can actually major in sales, and there’s a few schools around the country where you can do that. I went to school for marketing, was thinking about maybe I get into advertising. I knew sales people. My father was 80 years old and is still in sales. He’s been selling for as long as I’ve been alive.

Brian Pruett: That’s all you told me about him? That’s pretty awesome.

Ted Rykoski : He still goes out there every day, and he’s. He’s basically hanging out with his friends all day. But. But he’s still selling. And I there was somebody who I knew who I worked for and he pointed it out. It was it was very simple. Doctors make a lot of money, but the people who made more money than the doctors were typically salespeople. So that caught my attention. And when I got out of school, it was the early 90s. Nobody was hiring for anything. And I went back to work for a trucking company that I worked for during the summers, during school, and it was just working the docks, loading and unloading trucks. And that was my first opportunity in sales. So it was before anything that you have today LinkedIn, cell phones, GPS and a map. They gave me keys to an old Buick and they said, Go out and sell. And it was called the milk route. Monday you’re in the city Tuesday and you’re the city and it’s knocking on doors and sales. Back then, it’s what I learned is go out, meet people and you take people for lunch. You drop off donuts and bagels and sooner or later you get the opportunity to sell something. And literally that’s the way I sold for about ten years. I ended up in transportation for a decade, spent a little time in operations, and I ended up working for a national trucking company. And the first year I was there, my territory blew up. I ended up I didn’t exactly land this client, but I took a small client and grew them exponentially. They were in computer networking and it was right around Y2K is just it was 1999.

Ted Rykoski : Their their account just skyrocketed and my territory blew up because of them. And when it came to the race point in the year, I got $1,000 raise on my base salary and it wasn’t commissioned sales. And I saw everything that was going on in technology. I was like, This is not the role for me. If I’m going to work and succeed, I need to make some money. And I was looking for something in technology and I didn’t land that job until after Y2K came and went. It was 2000. October of 2000 ended up in software licensing and that’s where I got my introduction to Sandler. So was 23 years ago. Sandler taught me a process on selling that wasn’t the knocking on doors, delivering bagels and donuts and, you know, the crossing the fingers and hoping that it lands. And it worked me through a process and that’s that’s what I took from that. And then that kind of lends into the story where I met my wife moved from the Northeast to Arizona to North Carolina, Then here I end up in a variety of different roles, a variety of different industries. So from transportation to software licensing was temperature controlled, packaging of all things medical oxygen for six years, background screening, and then then in marketing, digital marketing. And that’s where I actually reached out to somebody I knew from the software licensing days who was involved in Sandler was going to have that person come in and work with the organization, and that conversation evolved from them coming in to work with me, to me, leaving my role to take the dive and go into Sandler for myself, which I did.

Brian Pruett: So another way for a good sales. I always hear about this and I’m terrible at the sport, but a lot of sales get done on the golf course. Are you a golfer?

Ted Rykoski : The last time I golfed was actually before I got diagnosed a second time back in 2006. So 17 years ago, I’ve been a top golf. But other than a driving range, no.

Brian Pruett: I’m good at the miniature golf. We could just start having sales on miniature golf. Yeah. Yeah. So. So I want to ask a little bit because I’ve done sales for almost 30 years myself and I know some people who are very motivated by straight commission. I am not one of those. But can you speak about, you know, maybe. What you look like doing a commission sales job, strictly commission versus having that safety net, I guess you would say, of a base and commission.

Ted Rykoski : So the strictly commission, it’s it’s scary. Some some days Daniel spoke about having the support of his wife. I am the same person. If my wife was not supportive, she could have told me two years ago, go get a job and I would have had to get a job. So she’s been my foundation, my rock. She’s really the reason why I’m still doing what I’m doing. So I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. But the the flip side of that coin is when you land, you know this, when you land a new client, the feeling there’s no better feeling than landing that client. And when you have a series of those and you have successes and you’re able to grow that the growth that you can have and the success that you can build is fantastic. And it’s very, very different than my transportation job where I blew things up and did not get the reward I felt I deserved. You are paid exactly what you deserve to get paid when you’re strictly commissions. So if you’re working hard, you can make a lot of money.

Brian Pruett: So what about the. The draw aspect I’ve always draw to me is very, very dark.

Ted Rykoski : It depends on how that’s set up. So eight years ago, I did not have any kind of draw whatsoever. There’s that. So I’ve got clients who who have kind of a non-recoverable draw because the. The time it takes for a person to build up their territory and start bringing business in. It’s not days or weeks. Typically. It’s months and quarters and sometimes years. So they will build that into their structure. I think every organization is different and every organization has got to find what works for them.

Brian Pruett: Can you explain? For those of us listening who may not know what a draw is, explain what that is.

Ted Rykoski : So so one example, there’s a client I won’t mention the industry or the client, but they will start their sales reps off at a very handsome salary and it’s six figures plus. Then after I believe it’s after two years, that salary comes down and it goes down to five figures. But over the course of that couple of years, this person should have built up enough clients. They should build up their base of clients enough where they’re bringing in enough business and commissions where it’s going to be more than what that original salary is. So it’s it’s simply money that supports that rep and keeps them motivated to make sure they’re going out and doing what they’re doing. So the other part that’s important of that is that that leadership within the organization that has that structure has got to be working with that rep to make sure that they’re doing the things that they need to be doing to grow their.

Brian Pruett: Territory well, and also some of those draws are set up where if you don’t make that money, you got to pay it back.

Ted Rykoski : Yeah, I’ve seen those. I don’t work with any of those types of organizations. But yeah, there are organizations that have that and yeah, you’re on the hook. Yeah. If you take anything, yeah, you’ve got to pay that money back.

Brian Pruett: Yeah. So if somebody listening wants to get a hold of you for either of your services or have you come speak, how can they do that?

Ted Rykoski : The best place to reach me is email me. It’s Ted Rakovsky rakovszky@sandler.com or just call me directly. (770) 722-4081.

Brian Pruett: Awesome Ted, thanks for sharing again. Don’t go anywhere. We’re not done. Thanks, Ryan. We’re moving over to our my first repeat guest. He’s a little fidgety over there because he’s hurting at the moment. But Kevin Harris, All In or All Out ministries, thanks again for coming out. Yeah, man, you were absolutely. You were back here in April, which that seems like very long time ago. It was it was a long time ago, but a lot has happened since April. We had your fundraiser event and some a lot of good things has happened. So first of all, share about all in all ministries. And then just a short synopsis for those who didn’t hear you last time of your story, why you started this ministry. And then we’ll talk about the good things that’s happening and things coming up.

Kevin Harris: All right. Short synopsis. Wow, man, I’m 46. That’s a lot of years to be in a short synopsis or whatever it’s called. Um, yeah. So, man, growing up, I grew up as a youngest of four boys and a great home. Dad was a principal, a superintendent and then principal of school. Then he became a pastor by vocational. And so I grew up in a great home. We, you know, ate meals together, prayed together to get old, things that you see on Leave It to Beaver and all that good stuff. It wasn’t like that, though. But, you know, growing up, being the youngest of four boys, I really felt like, you know, I always was referenced as Doug son, Gail’s son, Ron’s little brother, Craig’s little brother, Jeffrey’s little brother. And so never really heard Kevin. So for me, I was looking for an identity. And by the time I made it to high school, because elementary and middle school were kind of in the same building, my dad was a principal at elementary school, so it was like I couldn’t really get away from that. Even when I got in trouble in middle school, they’d take me to the elementary school. So but once I got to high school, which was across the cross town, felt like I’d, you know, make a name for myself. But that ended up, you know, hanging around the wrong crowd and being around the wrong people and and started drinking as a freshman in high school. And by the time I graduated, I mean, I wasn’t just drinking. I was, you know, doing drugs and anything else I could get my hand on. And so that pretty much started my addiction to drugs and alcohol. And and I went through, oh, man, I just give you the shortness, went through, tried college, didn’t work, spent more time raking pine straw at the police station than I did in class. So I figured that wasn’t a good fit. They thought it wasn’t a good fit either and told me so.

Brian Pruett: And give degrees in that either.

Kevin Harris: No, you don’t. Not not the degrees you need to make money, that’s for sure. So came home, tried that run around the same crowd man tried settling down and for a 20 year old settling down I thought that meant you know you find a girl, have a kid, have a family and and so tried that You know, we had one kid 11 months later we had another one had a little girl that was born a little premature, lungs wasn’t fully developed, had problems breathing on her own. After about two months, she ended up passing away and pretty devastating for anyone, regardless of age. But being so young and and in the midst of an addiction, you know, it didn’t fare well for me. So so that, you know, just fueled my addiction, you know, went. Through plenty of jobs, a few other marriages, things like that. And then I tried to get clean a few times. They would last for a little bit and then I’d relapse. And this last time, a little 11 years ago, I started doing something I didn’t think I would ever do. And that was one start using a needle and shooting up drugs and started doing that. And man, my my world come crumbling down really quick. Doing that ended up doing something again I thought I would never do. And that’s break into a church and I just didn’t break into any church. I broke into a church that my dad had pastored for 19 years and church I grew up in and everybody knew me.

Kevin Harris: And so, man, it was it was tough. I ended up going to jail while I’m in jail, you know, trying to figure out what I’m going to do. And, you know, because at the moment I was still in my addiction and still thinking, well, I’ll just get out of here, because the plan was I convinced my parents that if they’d bail me out, I’d turn myself in because obviously it didn’t take them long to figure out what moron broke into the church when you got a key, an alarm code. You know what I mean? So it so they figured it out pretty quickly and I thought, you know, I just going to run seemed like a good idea. But I told them I turned myself in if they’d bail me out. And and it’s probably I’m sure they’ve lied to me before, but they really lied to me this time because I thought I’d be getting out and, you know, didn’t. About a week later, I got a little care package while I was in jail with, like, socks and deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste. And I’m like, this is not a good sign. So I ended up spending some time in jail trying to figure out what was going to happen because I’d gotten in trouble before, but I’d always either got bailed out or figured ways out of it. And this time I was facing 16 years in prison.

Kevin Harris: And so so, man, I really trying to figure out how to get out of this one. And and man, the judge I went to, he man, he let me have it. But he also rightfully so, he also gave me an opportunity to do what called drug court, which is an accountability court where you get out. But you you know, you’re got a surveillance officer 24/7 drug test 2 or 3 times a week, got to get a job, go to court once a week to give an account for what you’ve done for the week and that kind of thing. And and and started going through that. At first I thought I’d just do the whole fake it till you make it thing. And but along the way it kind of clicked for me and realized that one, I’m not getting any younger, you know. And if you got in trouble in drug court, you’d go back to jail for whether it’s a three day sentence, seven day sentence, month sentence or whatever, depending on what you did to get in trouble for whether you missed a drug test, failed a drug test or or whatever. And and I missed one because I forgot to call the number. And and so I ended up having to go to jail. And I was in jail for my one year of being clean. And when I was in there, man, there were some of the same people that had been back to jail, some same people that still been in there since I was there the last time.

Kevin Harris: And man, it just kind of clicked that that’s not, you know, that’s not what I wanted to to be a part of. I didn’t want to this revolving door. And so I’m like, you know what? Maybe I should do better and and get things going again. And, you know, growing up as a preacher’s kid, you know, I grew up in church all the time. And and so I knew, you know, I’d had a relationship with God off and on. And, you know, when I was doing good, I was doing good. And when I was doing bad, I was doing bad. And, you know, when I first got locked up, you know, I can remember I remember a time that, you know, these guys were reading the Bible in their cell. And and just remember, God reminded me, man, I’m not done with you yet. And so I kind of stuck with that and, you know, and kind of remembered that after being there a year. And so God started giving me a heart and a passion to help others that have been what I been through. I enjoyed helping others before. I’d always been one for helping people and volunteering. And, you know, I used to cut little old ladies yards and stuff like that, you know? So helping people is nothing new. But I really started getting a passion for those that been through what I’ve been through.

Kevin Harris: And so, so that’s kind of what I started doing. I just do it off and on on the side. But I also, you know, when you’re doing that, you know, I get into the enemy, knows your weaknesses. So I’d get into jobs, you know, I start getting promotions, making good money, and then I’d start kind of teetering out of it. And then, you know, I’d be at a good job and I’d get let go or fired. And I’m like, What the heck? Man, I was doing good. But it was, you know, just a reminder that I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. And so I started a nonprofit called All In or All Out Ministries. That nonprofit is we help men who are suffering from a substance use disorder and, you know, trying to I’m in the process of looking for a house to be able to house these guys, but I still work with them one on one now, still try to give them another places until I get something going and and just trying to, you know, just help them, you know, working with one guy whose kids are with defects and trying to get them back and stuff like that. So so that’s what I started doing about a year ago. I was doing it still on the side, but I was working a job where the the guy that owned it knew what I was doing and knew that, you know, this was probably going to be short term and trying to figure that out.

Kevin Harris: And when I was here in April, I was still working for them full time. And and I went to them. Try and do the math here. I think it was April. I was supposed to quit at the end of April and I was going to do the ministry full time. And I told him, I said, I feel like that’s what God’s calling me to do and got to the end of the month. And I’m like, Hey, I was just kidding. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that. Chickened out. And so but then I really felt it and, and and realized, you know, at the end of January, what is it? Maybe it was it was March and then April. The end of April. No, end of May. There it is. End of May. I was going to quit and I got looking at the calendar the last day of that month fell into June a little bit on June the 2nd, which was would be my 11 year anniversary. And so I’m like, all right, well, that’s a good enough hint for me that, you know, this is what I need to do. And so I stuck with it. So starting June the 5th, which was my seventh year anniversary of being married, longest marriage, by the way, of all the rest of them put together. Throw that in there.

Brian Pruett: But probably thinking that too long.

Kevin Harris: Oh, yeah, yeah. That’s what I was thinking when you said 12 years friendship. And he said, Hey, that’s like a marriage to me, man. It feels like 12. It’s only been eight. But yeah, so, so that’s what I’ve been doing since June the 5th, man. I’ve just been, you know, having conversations, making contacts, networking, you know, we did the event that took some time getting set up for that and doing that. And so that’s what I’ve been doing, man. I wrote a book, I guess, two years ago, maybe. I don’t remember now. Maybe. I think it released last year about my story. So I have that. And, and now I’m just I’m just trying to figure this thing out and see what doors open and see what what we can do.

Brian Pruett: So we’ll get into some of that stuff here in just a second. But I wanted you to talk about other than why you said you like helping people and especially now, why is it harder for you to be part of the community?

Kevin Harris: Oh, man. You know, other than like Daniel was saying, you know, obviously it’s it’s who we’re called to be, you know, is to help others to love your neighbor and to do that. But for me, most importantly besides that is it’s part of my recovery, You know, by me giving back, by me helping, that helps me to stay clean. That helps me to stay sober. Because I was there and. Sorry, Holly. Dude, I wasn’t going to do this. I knew you were going to say something, man. You say it all the time. But I mean, it just it’s a reminder that I don’t want to be there, but also a reminder that there’s hope. And if I can instill that in them, that’s what drives me.

Brian Pruett: And first of all, don’t apologize for that, because I’ve never seen anybody more passionate than this man right here of what he’s doing for folks and trying to do for others. Because, you know, and I’ve worked with a lot of nonprofits, you know, that’s what I do is help do fundraising. And and there have been some nonprofits who just didn’t give a darn, you know, wouldn’t even do anything to help for their own event. But you talk about sales, Ted, this guy went door to door to help get sponsors for our event. I mean, he was blood, sweat and tears this thing. So and I kid would joke with him all the time, but I made him cry four times the night of the event.

Kevin Harris: And he said that probably on this show, I don’t know, at least six times. And I knew that. That’s why I think it’s just a sympathy thing to get me back, because it keeps, you know, bragging about.

Brian Pruett: I wanted to make him do it again. So that’s commitment. Yes. So since then, first of all, talk about, well, let’s go to the networking piece. You started networking when you were starting this. So what what positive stories share about a positive story for the network since you’ve been doing it?

Kevin Harris: Gosh, I mean, every time I feel like I go into one of the rooms and networking, man, I talk with someone, one who, you know, is in a position where they can help me out. Maybe not just financially, but help me out as far as a connection to someone. And it’s because of those the networking of people that’s connected me to so many people that’s opened up doors for, you know, donations for and just conversations of of being able to help other people. Because I mean, the reality of it, if you look at it, man, everybody has somebody in their circle, whether it’s family, friend, coworker, that’s been through an addiction or going through an addiction. And so and those open up conversations for people to see that one. There’s hope when I go around, talk to schools and stuff, man, you talk to the kids and and more times than none, man. I get more kids coming up to me about them talking about their parents and it shows hope for them that there’s hope for their parents that are going through addiction more than the kids actually having an addiction in school. So, man, I can’t think of anything specific as far as just a story, but it’s the people that I’ve met is just just opened up a whole world, one I didn’t even know existed. I’ve never really networked, you know. Well, not legally networked, but but I’ve been on that side of it. So it was just a whole new world for me, man. Just to see one. It’s a family in there in these rooms of networking and just see man. And a lot of it is more about these guys talking about, you know, it’s more about the people than it is the business. And because that is what I mean, we’re people. We all got to share this space here on I guess we call Earth, if you can still call it that. But so yeah.

Brian Pruett: You you had talked about that you wanted your facility to be in Bartow County. You also mentioned at one time wherever God leads you, but you when you stand up and talk about at the CBC, a lot of times you share some heartbreaking stories of somebody who is just OD’d, especially in Bartow County, as you’re still wanting to be in Bartow County.

Kevin Harris: Yeah, I think so. That’s where it seems like the doors are open. And again, I’m not opposed. If God opens the door somewhere, it seems like it’s right now in Bartow County. You know, I’m involved with the community as far as get a report of the overdoses every week and we had five last week there was out of them and it’s starting to get the more where it’s really starting to get bad is parking lots and those are hard to go out and pass out information, give out Narcan and stuff. And except for maybe the convenience store owners or whatever. So we’re starting to go set up in parking lots and just give out information and stuff like that. But yes, it’s heartbreaking, man. We had a guy that we were helping and found a place for him and they they were waiting on a bed to open. And while we’re waiting on that to bed to open, he passed away of an overdose. And so, man, it just breaks my heart to know that, you know, people are dying waiting for a bed to get help. I mean, he was committed, wanted to get help and waiting on that bed and and, you know, his addiction got the best of him while he’s waiting. And so that’s just heartbreaking to know and see.

Brian Pruett: All right. Well, so, again, since you were here, a lot of it has happened. We’ll talk about the event in a second. But you’ve had a van donated to you. You’ve had the. Donated to year of the Van. So share a little bit about that.

Kevin Harris: Yeah, man, it’s crazy. So this is how. So the van was given to me, man. I was. I was out doing some. I think we was getting ready for a ride for recovery. And I was driving the whatever the route for the for the motorcycles to, to go and figure it out. And I get a call, man, they said, Hey, you got this van. And it’s just been sitting here, you know, a matter of fact, you know about it in 98 from your brother who was in the car business. And we, you know, want to know if you wanted it. And I’m like, heck yeah, man. That’s what I’ve been praying for, looking for. And and then the company I work for was new beginning signs. Who does raps, does signs and stuff. And, and. And they were gracious enough to wrap it. And for me and the ministry and so it’s amazing. I didn’t drive it today mainly because I got to go get a trailer and get some stuff for Mobilize Recovery tomorrow. But but it’s great, man. This thing runs great. It’s, you know, older and all my kids and this thing, you know, works better than they do, if I’m being honest.

Brian Pruett: Well, let’s talk about the event that we did, because it was a pretty big success. And I didn’t realize, well, you and I sat down and talked in April about what you wanted to do and my idea of a locker room chat and you jumped on that pretty quickly. And and then if you told me I had forgotten. But this was your very first fundraiser. But let’s share about the event.

Kevin Harris: Yeah, definitely. The first time I’d ever done any kind of fundraiser, you had the idea of having some professional athletes coming in and and talking and doing like a Q and A and and I’m a huge sports fan, So I mean, it was a no brainer for me. I think I told you that day I’m like, I think that’s the one we’re going to do. I may have to check with my board, but I’m pretty sure that’s what we’re going to do. Um, so yeah, it was the first time and so, man, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to do. All all I knew was to do was we needed money to put the thing on and to make it happen. And so, man, I just went around and talking to the different businesses, asking for sponsorships, man, asking. We ended up getting all the food donated. Chick fil A, donated sandwiches, you know, like nails, bagels, donated the drinks. A noble man donated the desert rock Mark Steakhouse donated the sides. I mean, it was just amazing to see, man, that’s what networking does, you know, to be able to get these connections, not just because they give you free stuff, because they want to be a part of the community also, and they want to see great things done. So just being able to do that and get the sponsorships and just be able to put the event on for the community.

Brian Pruett: Well, and it was kind of cool because you had now I will tell you this is that was the first time I ever put that particular kind of event on. It was a brainchild that I’ve always wanted to do, but I’ve never done it. So it it was a test. Thanks for being my test, dummy.

Kevin Harris: I’m used to being a dummy.

Brian Pruett: But it was pretty awesome because I think you had three females, at least one of them being your wife, one being a title sponsor, and I can’t remember the other one was, but who was kind of concerned about the event. And then afterwards, all three of them said, Man, that was awesome.

Kevin Harris: Oh, yeah, absolutely, man. And there was, you know, talking to a few other ladies that that were there and and I mean, they were just blown away that, you know, they were thinking, well, it’s a sports thing. You know, I’m here to support you and do that. But said that and it was just more it wasn’t even really about sports. It was just about man, the they talked about their coaches, the life lessons they learned from their coaches and and just stuff that you could, you know, everyday normal people can use in their own lives. So they were everybody was really impressed. And man, when I went around handing out the handwritten thank you cards because it’s a lost art, you know, you talk about that, but to the sponsors and stuff, man, it just it struck up great conversations of just being able to hear their feedback and and how it’s been, what, two months, man? And they’re still talking about it. And so I just think that speaks volumes to, you know, to what you do and how you put it on and, you know, getting the people there and everything and just how it turned out, man, just it spoke volumes and.

Brian Pruett: It was really cool because my my goal was to ask one question and then hoping that that would open up with the audience. And that’s exactly what happened. I mean, the audience was very engaged. We even had kids ask questions for the athletes, which I thought was cool. And we had a variety of different athletes there. We had a former professional soccer player who played back in the 80s. We had a rodeo guy. We had a guy who’s currently trying to be an Olympic wrestler and then football players and the biggest name there, Ronnie Brown. You know, of course, he and Robert LaVette were there and they played at Cartersville. And Ronnie was second overall pick in the NFL when he came out. So it was just awesome. So go ahead and share what we raised for you.

Kevin Harris: So we were able to raise after everything was said and done, man, if I’m being honest, we and the community really, really stepped up because we didn’t have to fork out a ton of money to put this thing on. And so we were able to clear $10,300.

Brian Pruett: So which is awesome. Yeah, amazing.

Kevin Harris: And keeps me employed for a few more months. Right. And talking about commission, man, you’d be nonprofit and raising your own salary.

Brian Pruett: So literally the man cried four times in the evening. The first time was when he walked into the decorations. Now I wasn’t expecting to see what the decorations were either. And we had a young lady by the name of Lois Hayes celebrations during a member who wanted to partner, and she was a former addict herself. And she blew it out of the park.

Kevin Harris: Oh, yeah, absolutely, man. I talked to her because when when you introduced me to her and told me, man, I got looking at her, her pages and all I saw were like, kids, birthday parties and stuff. And I’m like, Man, this is I even went to her because I was like, I’m like, look, I’m not trying to be rude, mean or anything I said, but it’s like going to look like an adult party, right? Like this thing you’ll be a kiddy party or nothing. Like we going to have blow ups. I mean, so but I mean, she blew it out of the water for sure, man. And she got there early that morning and she was literally running around from place to place doing the decorations. Man, she knocked it out of the park.

Brian Pruett: So then a funny story. Well, Kevin and I have become really good friends, and he picks on me all the time talking about making him cry. I just do it all the time now just to do it. But the day after the event, he calls me and goes, What are we going to talk about now? You know, because we were on the phone all the time, you know, up to the event. So what we’re going to do the event again. So, um, all right. So if somebody wants to learn more about the ministry, first of all, share the website. You also do a podcast, share how they can listen to that and share. How can they get your book to learn more of your story?

Kevin Harris: Yeah. So all in or all out ministry.com is the website. You can see the podcast, you can go to the podcast from there the podcast is all in or all out with Kevin and it’s on Apple, Spotify pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts. So you can go there in the books on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Kobo on those three platforms. So you can go there and do that.

Brian Pruett: So and real quick, if somebody is listening and wants to be able to help support you in any kind of way, what’s the best way for them to get Ahold of you?

Kevin Harris: Best way? I mean, you call my cell phone. It’s (470) 334-4911. It’s funny that I got 911 and my number for some reason that’s just works out. But for 703344911 you can do that and and I think the website you can go in there if you want to donate or we have a prayers list of things you can be praying for for the ministry because we are currently looking for a place, a house to be able to house guys currently in conversations with the church to possibly put some tiny home communities behind there. So hopefully that can work out and be able to do that. But since the event, the other thing, can I keep going? I want to say something real quick. Sorry. I know it’s getting long, but you know, the other thing the event’s done to people to see that, you know, that one, that we are here for the community, trying to help the community make a difference. Man, just open up doors of having those conversations of just in the community, man of other people who are looking to do something for people with, you know, low income housing was kind of the thing, you know, having those conversations and sparking them. But also it’s open up being able to get into the jail.

Kevin Harris: You know, I got to go to the jail yesterday. It’s funny. I didn’t realize a good reason. Yes, for a good reason. Man Door 99 is the door everybody prays to get out of when you’re in there because they they number the doors and everybody wants to hear open door 99 so you can get out. So I got to come in the reverse of it. But I learned that the guy running the jail now one, he has a heart for what I’m doing and a passion also and always has. Didn’t know that. But he also when he was in the before he started running the jail, he was in the warrants division. And I used to clean his office when I was in there. So it’s good to kind of see that connection, how that works. But able to go in there and take my laptop and be able to help guys and, you know, fill out applications to get them into places and until I can figure something out. But man, just to be able to do that man is awesome. And I think the event really opened the eyes to the community of the need and what we’re about. So well, we.

Brian Pruett: Had some pretty big players from the community there too, so that helped as well. Yes. All right. Real quick last two questions for all three of you. This question particularly is for both Daniel and Ted. So, Daniel, quickly give somebody advice who maybe thinking about starting their own business.

Daniel Tillberry: Ooh, that’s a fun one. My gut immediately says stop.

Speaker7: Oh, but.

Daniel Tillberry: No, really. I think about my uncle years ago when I told him, he looked at me. He said, One, you’ll never be able to make the money. In working for somebody else that you can work for yourself. And I thought honestly when he said that originally, I thought that was all about the money. And I’ve realized over the years as he’s kind of sat on the outskirts and just kind of kind of waited for me to to come to him, what he was not only saying was, Yeah, you can make as much money as you want to and you’ll never have as much passion in anything other than what you start your own. So absolutely, if you’ve got a passion and drive it. But also what he was saying is you’ll never have the ability to make the money, but also make the impact. So if if you’re looking at starting a business, start by what? What is your impact? Where do you want to go and what what impact do you want to make? Because if you don’t know what your impact is going to be, hold and wait. And once you know the impact, then drive is hard, fast and as as steady as you can. Because when when you know that and you chase that, it’s not not about the dream, but about the impact, the dream comes with it. And it’s awesome.

Ted Rykoski : Ted That’s some wisdom. I think the only thing I’d add to that is one of the lessons I learned is don’t have a plan B, burn the bridges, burn the boats, go after it. And you’ve got to have you got to be single minded. And what you’re going.

Brian Pruett: After here, my second person on the show to say that, that’s pretty, pretty cool. All right, Kevin, a question for you is, if somebody is thinking about starting a nonprofit, give them some advice.

Kevin Harris: Man. One thing I’d say, do it. But before you really jump, you know, start start reaching out to people who are doing something similar to what you’re doing because there may be something one you can partner with or two that you can you know, it may be a need. And if it’s something that you’re passionate about because nonprofits get driven by passion, nobody gets into a nonprofit and don’t have passion because I assure you they’re not getting into it for the money or to get rich. So just make sure they have a heart for it and a passion for it and you’ll know. And if you do, you’ll know exactly exactly what to do.

Brian Pruett: And I also think it’s very important because, you know, I can have a and I do have a passion for helping others, but I can have a passion of helping somebody with addiction because I’ve known people. But if you haven’t been down that road, it’s not as impactful as somebody who has. So last question for all three of you before we wrap this up. So I’d like for you guys to give us some advice or tips, whether it’s a word, a quote, a nugget, a positive word or quote for for people listening to take today and the rest of 2023 and beyond with. So what you got, Daniel?

Daniel Tillberry: Oh, I told my wife yesterday on it resiliency the the ability to be resilient and not only absorb but embrace Jill Serjeant years ago at boot camp told me embrace the suck Tilbury embrace the suck. And what he was saying is is embrace it because it’s going to make you better as iron sharpens iron. You don’t you don’t sharpen iron by light, easy strokes. You got to strike it and you got to be willing to get beat up. But understanding that your resiliency is going to make you better and make the people around you better, you go out there and do it.

Ted Rykoski : Ted I would have been that resiliency. But to add to that, I would just say the your mindset, make sure you’ve got the right mindset, you’re doing the right thing and having belief in yourself that there’s nothing more important than that.

Kevin Harris: Kevin I heard this quote listening to a podcast coming in here and it says There is no such thing as failure. It’s just a pit stops on the way to success. And I mean, you’re not going to get a yes without getting a no. And if a no, if a no hurts your feelings and, you know, deters you, then you know, you’re going to have a long, long, long life of failure because you’re, you know, you just got to overcome that and know that, you know, there is a yes waiting. It just hasn’t been the one you need and the right one for you.

Brian Pruett: So so the other thing I’d like to do as we wrap up the last thing is the thank you is a lost art these days. So, Daniel, thank for what you’re doing, for educating the folks of what you do and trying to help them. Ted, thanks for what you do for the businesses and trying to get them to where they need to be. And Kevin, thanks for what you’re doing for the community. So everybody listening, let’s remember, let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.