Episode Information
Episode No. 52
Host: Justin Deese
Website: www.JustinDeese.com
Email: Justin@JustinDeese.com
Service World Promo Discount Code: FREEDOM24
Summary
In this special 52nd episode of the Freedom Blueprint Podcast, Justin Deese celebrates the podcast’s one-year anniversary. Reflecting on the journey, he shares the significant moments and achievements over the past year, from partnering with Leap Partners to personal milestones such as his alcohol-free journey and numerous speaking engagements. Justin also talks about exciting upcoming events, including a keynote at Service World Expo and a live podcast stage appearance. This episode is filled with gratitude, personal growth, and future aspirations.
Takeaways
- Reflecting on a Year of Growth: Celebrating the podcast’s one-year milestone, filled with meaningful interactions and feedback.
- Partnering with Leap Partners: The positive impact of selling and partnering with Leap Partners on professional and personal fronts.
- Alcohol-Free Journey: Insights into Justin’s decision to stop drinking, its challenges, benefits, and its impact on health and family.
- Speaking Engagements: Enthusiasm for public speaking, memorable experiences at various events, and anticipation for upcoming keynotes.
- Future Prospects: Excitement about upcoming engagements, particularly Service World Expo and live podcast events.
Chapters
- 00:02 – Introduction and Celebrating One-Year: Reflecting on reaching the one-year mark and initial thoughts.
- 00:52 – Year in Review and Upcoming Events: Overview of the past year and exciting upcoming events like Service World Expo.
- 03:17 – The Journey of Starting a Podcast: How the podcast began nine years ago and the influence of John Lee Dumas.
- 05:40 – Partnering with Leap Partners: Details on selling the business and partnering with Leap Partners.
- 06:46 – Alcohol-Free Journey: The decision to stop drinking and its personal and professional impacts.
- 09:08 – Supportive Family and Personal Benefits: How the alcohol-free journey impacted Justin’s family life and overall health.
- 11:30 – Speaking Engagements: Experiences and excitement about public speaking events.
- 13:45 – Live Podcast Stage and Future Plans: Anticipation for live podcasting at Service World Expo and other future plans.
- 13:45 – Webinar and Book Updates: Updates on the book “When Your Business Partner is Your Spouse” and potential future releases.
Keywords
Plumbing, HVAC, Air Conditioning, Electrical, Contractor, Freedom Blueprint Podcast, Justin Deese, Kristen Deese, When Your Business Partner is Your Spouse, Leadership, Growth, Positive Mindset, Business Strategy, Home Services Industry, Speaking Engagements, Leap Partners, Alcohol-Free Journey, Service World Expo, Live Podcast, Personal Growth, Professional Development.
Transcript
Justin Deese (00:02.496)
Welcome to freedom blueprint podcast and this is a pretty special episode. This is episode 50. Two and for all you math wizards out there, the show comes out once a week. So 52 means we’ve hit our one year mark. I want to talk a little bit about that, but before I get into to all the details, really what I wanted to do today is I wanted to kind of go through kind of a year review. This has been a big year.
not just for us, but the family and personal and professional. it’s just, it’s been a big year. And I thought, what a cool way to celebrate, to hang out with you guys and talk a little bit about it.
Justin Deese (00:52.766)
Welcome to freedom blueprint podcast. And this is a pretty special episode. This is episode 52. And obviously for a show that comes out once a week, that’s 12 months. That’s a year anniversary. we’ve got a little bit. So actually the podcast is a little over a year. there was a small gap in between there and I’ll, talk about that in, and a little bit later, but listen in this episode, I just wanted to talk about really some.
some really amazing things that have taken place and events that we’ve gotten to go to and just some high level stuff that’s happened over the past 12 months and the amazing opportunity that this podcast has really, really given us. And it’s, it’s neat. I figure what the heck, man, let’s talk about, some cool stuff. So some other things too, we have some big stuff coming up. So depending on when you’re listening to this, if you are listening to it, when it goes live,
Then service world expo is around the corner. And if you don’t have a ticket yet, check out the show notes, there’ll be a way in there to, to save some money when you get a ticket, but, Chris and I will definitely be there. And we’ve, we’ve got some neat things that we’re able to do and getting to do at service world. And I’m, I’m really just a pump to share the journey, with, with everybody. So to kind of think about reflecting on this journey, what’s crazy is.
This actually started about nine years ago, the podcast. And, and I think about the saying of when’s the best time to plant a tree 20 years ago is typically what they say. And really the truth is, is the best time to ever do anything was yesterday. And, over the years, I, I got the chance and opportunity to connect with a guy named John Lee Dumas, man, almost nine years ago. And if you’re a, if you’re a podcast nerd like me,
You know who John Lee Dumas is. He runs entrepreneurs on fire, which is one of the biggest podcasts out there and has been for almost a decade. And, I, I never could quite pull the trigger and I think about it now. And I always told myself time, you know, I didn’t have the time. I didn’t have the whatever. made every, every excuse I could. And what’s crazy is finally I got to a point, when I finally
Justin Deese (03:17.369)
started working on this podcast that I made a commitment. said, you know, I’m going to do it and I’m going to keep doing it and I’m not going to let anything get in the way. And, I’m, I’m, I’m glad I made that decision. Now I say that, and I also had something that got in the way a little bit. I get in the way is not really the right term, but I had something that paused it for a second. And, again, I’ll get in that in a minute, but, you know, over, over this 12 months, the podcast, get
Amazing feedback from people. we’ve got really good, I don’t know, KPIs. I’ll call it. I get a lot of amazing feedback from people and there’s people that have been on this journey with me from day one. And, if, if you’re that person, thank you. your support means. it means a lot to me and, and, even if this is the first time you’re listening, welcome. glad you came and checked it out.
All my information and contact information is always in the show notes. So if you ever have anything for me, feedback question, want to talk about anything that we talked about on the show, fire me an email. I’m, I’m usually pretty easy to get in touch with. So let’s dig into the pause real quick. Let’s start with the pause that happened of the show. So originally we launched, I want to say it was may of 2023. And, when we launched it,
I was, I was rocking and rolling, but then in September we ended up selling, our, business. We, we owned paradise home services, Chris guest, Mandy guest, me and my wife, we, all owned paradise home services in Navarra, Florida. And when we, when we launched the business, we, knew we were going to sell it. I mean, we, that was always part of the plan. We sold it much faster than we kind of anticipated. And it worked out great. We, we found a really good partners.
Again, we weren’t planning to even sell it when we sold it, but we met, we met, we met lead partners and we met some of the people from there, John and Patrick who’ve all been on the podcast and they were just amazing. We felt like they were great partners. So we ended up doing the deal, working with them. And I, and I put a pause on the podcast because obviously I wanted to be, you know, respectful of time and you know, all that kind of good stuff. And I was sitting down with John one day, the CEO. I said, look, you know, I was doing this podcast.
Justin Deese (05:40.212)
I really would like to ramp it up again. And he was just so supportive and my gosh, I think that’s amazing. And I got to check it out and he’s become a listener and it’s pretty cool. that paused it for a little bit for a couple of months while we were kind of going through that transition, making sure everything was good to go. And now here we are 14, 15 months in and it was a very, very good decision that we made to partner with them.
The business has changed a lot for the positive and, and it’s just cool. It’s cool to see it. It’s cool to watch it grow. I’m now getting to work on the, leap side for, the, main, the main company side, helping a little bit with acquisitions. And it’s just, it’s been fun. It’s, I know a lot of times people ask me, how’s it going? And that’s using my answer is fun. Like it’s, it is a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work, but it is a lot of fun.
Justin Deese (06:46.845)
So one of the other big journeys that I had, and this is, this is really more personal. Well, I say it’s personal and I’m sure it has, there’s been positive influx, positive impacts on my, professional side as well. But last year I started a alcohol free journey and, it was a little bit weird. I was having some medical issues. I’d kind of gone off and on where I was, I always call them cleanses. I’m like, I’m going to go on a cleanse and I would cleanse for a week or two.
and, really I went to the doctor and they’re like, you got to do all this stuff. And I wasn’t, I wasn’t ready in my life to start living out of a pill bottle yet. or at all, quite frankly, I’m kind of weird. I don’t even like taking aspirin. So, so yeah, so I decided, I said, you know what my, you know, with, with what I got going on, I’m busy enough without the distraction of it. And I, I stopped, I stopped,
stop drinking alcohol. that was, that was tougher than I thought it was going to be. I think it gave me pretty good reflection to realize that maybe I was drinking more than I should have been. Right. And everybody’s got their own. I’m not here bashing anybody who’s, who’s drinking or it’s not, it’s none of that. This was a whole personal thing for me. I, I, man, I love a good craft beer. I love whiskey. love bourbon.
But yeah, there was just a lot going on and I thought, you know what? I’m going to, I’m going to pump the brakes for a minute. And I didn’t have a plan other than I’m going to pump the brakes and I’m going to watch how this affects my health and pretty quickly my health, health things that I had going on started to improve. One of the biggest things was, man, my sleep. Holy cow. My sleep got so much better. Again, it took a couple of weeks, but man, it, just, it got,
It got better and I started sleeping really good again. And it’s pretty amazing what happens when you start sleeping good. And I didn’t, I didn’t even realize that I was, I had a problem with sleep. Like I just didn’t ever sleep a whole lot, but, I didn’t realize what I was missing with all this good sleep. So, that was great. My wife joined me in the journey as well, which certainly that makes it easier, to have a, you know, a partner that’s not, that’s not drinking as well. Cause
Justin Deese (09:08.943)
You know, self -control may not be, you know, like one of my strongest things I got going on, but, that was good. I’ve seen a lot of physical, mental, emotional, personal benefits. I will say, you know, obviously I kind of wish I would have started this journey earlier. I do have younger kids. I said, well, they’re not younger now. One’s, you know, 19 in the, in the Marine Corps and one just started her senior year in high school. But I’ve seen how it.
has changed them as well. It’s a totally different story. I won’t get into it, but kids watch, right? Kids watch, they pay attention, they see what you do. And I think our daughter has taken notice and I think that’s made a very positive impact on her life and how she handles social situations. Cause you know, the truth is a lot of times every social gathering is revolved around alcohol. So.
And that was not, not an exclusion for me. That’s, mean, that’s how I grew up. That’s, know, everything revolved around anyways, I’m going to move on. Cause I could talk about this all day and I don’t, I don’t, I don’t think you came here to hang out to talk about that, but anyways, it’s been a really positive journey. if anyone has any specific questions again, email me, I’ll be happy to help. There’s a, there’s an app that I use. I think it was called, I am sober, pretty cool to see milestones and reminders of, know,
Hey, look what you’re doing. Hey, here’s a year marker. That was a, that was a pretty cool. Six months was a really big one for me as well. So some of the other positive things that have gone on this last year is we had a lot of speaking engagements this year. I think we had in total probably probably eight different speaking engagements, which is pretty awesome. Including a couple of keynotes. We, we did a couple of keynotes. We have another one coming up.
for Service World Expo. We’re actually getting to do the opening keynote, Kristen and I are, which is really cool, man. It’s cool to be able to focus on helping the people that are attending get the most out of their time together and finding their tribe. But if you’ve ever read our book, we talk a lot about finding your tribe. So we’re gonna get to talk about that, which is phenomenal. And this podcast, this podcast is gonna be on the podcast stage.
Justin Deese (11:30.057)
which is pretty exciting. It’s funny because I love speaking at events. And I love it because I love the energy. I love the automatic feedback, the instant feedback. I like reading the room if you’re onto something or if you’re not. Like I just, dig that energy of speaking. Now we’ll say that has been a challenge with the podcast. Cause a lot of times if it’s just a solo episode, it’s…
head to camera, right? As me talking to a camera or to a microphone and, you know, there’s not a lot of vibe. Like you can’t read the room or, know, you can’t, so it is, is definitely a different art form, which I was not expecting as much, but it is different art form, but the podcast, I’m going to get to do it on stage live. So I’m going to get to have some of that feedback and I’m pretty pumped about, I’m pretty pumped about it. I’ve never, I’ve never done a live podcast before, so that’s,
Gosh, that’s gonna be pretty exciting. One of the other cool things we got to do this year is we got to do the keynotes, the main keynote for Roto -Rooters National Conference. And that was cool. That was a lot of new people that we haven’t met before. A lot of times throughout the industry events, it’s a lot of the, you run into a lot of the same people, which is great. We have a ton of friends in this industry.
And it’s always cool to run into somebody, you know, and, this one was different because we didn’t know anybody there. And, you know, a couple of people had, obviously they say, Hey, we got your book and it’s great. And, but we didn’t, we didn’t know anybody. So we got to make all kinds of new friends, which I always appreciate doing. And it’s, it’s always fun because, know, everybody’s on their own journey and everybody’s in a different place. So it’s, it’s always fun, but yeah. So service world this year.
I know I said this earlier, but I’m going to put a note in the show notes that talks about a promo code. So if you’re going to go and you haven’t got your ticket yet, use the promo code. I think it’s freedom to four, but definitely go to the show notes and check it out. Plus if you do it, they’re like, this came from the podcast. So they’ll want to have me back to do another live show, which by the way, side note squirrel, there is some pretty awesome.
Justin Deese (13:45.106)
it’s not just this podcast that’s going to be on the stage. There’s going to be, I’m going to actually pull it up to make sure I give everybody a shout out. Cause there’s some solid podcasts out there. my buddies, Tersh and Josh from service business mastery. They’re going to be doing a, doing a podcast show on there. That’s going to be on Wednesday. And then HAC secrets revealed. That’s pretty good show as well. They’re going to be doing one. David Heimer is going to be doing profiles and prosperity.
This is the service nation podcast, and then it will be powerful women of the trades, which is another phenomenal podcast to be doing. And then there’s one that’s going to be service nation news with Tom Peregrino. So it’s going to be pretty cool to see a, a live podcast stage. can’t wait. I’m honestly honored to be able to do the anything, you know, it’s, it’s always, honor and a privilege for someone to ask you to, you know, present at one of their.
Events, know, it’s a, it’s a lot because anyways, it’s, fun. I love doing it and this is going to be something new. And I always like doing new stuff. I just, that’s just how I’m wired. like, I like to learn and try new things. And if it works, it great. And if it doesn’t, that’s fine. We’ll go back to the drawing board. one of the other big things that’s happened this year is with our book, when your business partner is your spouse. you know, we launched this book in 2020 in the middle of a pandemic and.
which we, we may have another release. I’m not sure if my wife wanted me to say that or not, but if you know that, then I know you listen to the show, but, but it’s interesting because we started the book about four years before we released it, maybe three years. And we just, we just kind of got hung up, hung up, hung up. We got a coach and she was phenomenal. She got us to where we are. Like she got, she got the book ready to go. And then we were, we were starting to work on the cover and it was during the pandemic and
getting pictures and getting photography and getting a room to do it. We just, couldn’t find it. And so finally, I get this question a lot. Why aren’t you guys on the cover of the book? That’s why we’re not on the cover of the book is because we just got to the point where I said, you know what? We, got to release this. Let’s go. Let’s, let’s put it out there. And so we just, we had somebody design the artwork and we sent it out because we just didn’t want to delay it anymore. plus it was our 15 year anniversary and we thought like, what a cool time to.
Justin Deese (16:11.403)
to release the book was on our anniversary day. The book has done better than I could have ever imagined. It’s pretty awesome. And this year has been no exception. There’s been, you know, it’s kind of cool when people buy a book from you, you know, you’ve got all this written word down that you’ve spent a lot of effort and energy into. And, you know, with the book too, it’s a lot of digging up old, old stories that sometimes we kind of scratch our heads and we’re like, do we really want?
We really want to share this with the world because that was pretty bad. And that was, that was the nice thing about a writing coaches is they’re like, it’s, it’s, that makes it relatable was when you, when you’re vulnerable and you share. And, we did. So if you’ve read the book, you know that if you haven’t check out the book, it’s on Amazon. It’s on, you can go to Justin Deese .com or Kristen Deese .com and there’s a, get a copy of the book or it’s on audible either way.
But it’s neat, know, a lot of people come up to us at the conferences or whatever and they’re like, I read your book. it’s like, it’s like reading my story, which is phenomenal. Cause you know, let’s be honest, running a business is not easy. It’s just, it’s not. Even if you know the steps and the, and the, the things is still, there’s a lot of moving parts that can make it a little bit difficult. So, but that’s another big gratitude that I’ve got for this year is, the, is the book still doing very, very well. And
That’s thanks to you guys who listen and buy it and invest in it. And thank you.
Justin Deese (17:48.126)
So really, as far as looking forward, well, let’s look back and then we’ll look forward. So this year out of 52 shows, I think we ended up having probably about half of them. had guests on maybe a little bit more. We’ve had some pretty incredible guests. Some of you guys have heard of some you probably had not heard of before. Some were people who have been on hundreds and hundreds of, you know, Tommy Mello has obviously been on hundreds of podcasts, Tersh.
Blissett. He’s obviously been on hundreds of podcasts, but then there were some, there were some really good gold, in, some of the podcasts that we had and some of the podcast guests that had never even been on a podcast before. that was, that’s really cool is, you know, the, the goal of this whole thing was just to drive value, right? So to help people, I know that, when I was early in my journey, I wish I would have had, well, I don’t even know. I don’t think there was podcasts when I first got started, but.
I, you know, I wish I would have been able to find a network of people and just kind of be a fly on the wall and listen to conversations. And, we just, we’ve had phenomenal guests who have done a really good job, not only, coming to the show and giving value, but also sharing, sharing to the world and sharing with their friends and their family, and people they know saying, Hey, check out this podcast. And that’s really helped kind of the flywheel effect to grow the podcast over the, over the last year and a couple of months. So,
It’s been great. And we got some really awesome guests that are going to be coming up in the future as well. it’s just, it’s, it’s only going to get better. That’s, I guess that’s my, that’s my big sticky point. It’s only going to get better. it’s like anything else you do in life. you got it. It takes a little while to get your voice. It takes a little while to understand, how you want to present certain things. And, and again, for those of you who have followed this from the very beginning, just in this year, I’m sure you’ve seen a significant difference.
in the show from the very beginning to now, hopefully for the better, because that’s our plan is just to constantly improve, to make sure we’re bringing the most value. This last year, we didn’t do a whole lot on video side, although everything is recorded on video. So this coming year, we’re planning on having a way more on YouTube and videos and doing a little bit more on social media. Heck, I haven’t even done a whole lot on social media.
Justin Deese (20:11.407)
I’m not great on social media. kind of go through those phases. right now. Okay. So right now we’re in election season as, as you know, if you’re listening to this at the time it’s coming out and, I don’t really want to be on social media. I, I don’t want all that in my life. I don’t want it messing up my mojo. So, I have a hard time being on social media. in general, sometimes I think it’s a fantastic tool. I think it’s a great way to connect.
but yeah, during election season, especially right now, it’s kind of a, kind of a toughie. So for me, I, I, try to stay clear, maybe that in the news a little bit to keep my, keep my future looking bright, regardless of what, what the news and everybody tells me is coming down the pipeline. anyways, so again, I just, I just want to say thank you. If you’re listening, thank you. Thank you for your time, your feedback.
your reviews, if I’ve put something on social media and you’ve given an engagement of any sort or shared or whatever, I just want to say thank you. it does mean a lot to me and, this show is here for you. It’s for you. So, if there’s ever anything that you want to hear or a topic for us to talk about, or a guest you would like me to have on here, this show is about you. So just let me know, reach out to me.
My email is justin at justindeese .com. So I’m a, I’m a pretty easy guy to, to track down, but, and my website, the website came out justindeese .com. So it’ll have all the podcast stuff on there as well, but you can go there and check it out. And again, if you got any questions or anything, you need anything, I’m here, but again, I can’t say this enough. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for, for listening and participating.
being a part of this community and really the words of encouragement that I’ve gotten about the show. It’s a, it’s a, it is a lot of work to put out a podcast. I certainly did not know that going into it. And I will say, I wish I would have done it 10 years ago when I first started to do it, but you know what? Can’t fix the past. All I can do is fix the future. So I’m going to keep plugging along. I’m going to keep dropping episodes on Monday. I’m going to keep driving value for everybody that’s, that’s going to take the time to listen. And again, I thank you all very, very much.