1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:06,169 Adam Outland: This is Adam Outland for the Action Catalyst and today's guest, horridly needs an introduction. 2 00:00:06,260 --> 00:00:10,160 He's the co-owner and co-founder of Magnolia, a company. 3 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:19,490 He runs with his wife, Joanna, which has grown to include signature products and home decor to real estate construction, and now its own television network. 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:24,950 You've seen him on Hgt B's Fixer Upper, and seen his books on the top of the New York Times bestseller. 5 00:00:25,820 --> 00:00:33,440 , but Juan, before any of that Chip Gaines was selling books door to door and hustling just like every other up and coming entrepreneur. 6 00:00:33,710 --> 00:00:35,240 So Chip Addie. 7 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:35,960 Yeah, chip. 8 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:37,340 Great to, great to finally meet. 9 00:00:37,340 --> 00:00:41,690 I think, uh, it was kind of a funny common connection just getting started. 10 00:00:41,810 --> 00:00:45,680 I'm listening to NPR or some interview and I hear about somebody. 11 00:00:46,055 --> 00:00:57,815 Having done this crazy college summer job that involved large educational tones, , and a lot of door knocking, and that was part of my background as well. 12 00:00:57,815 --> 00:01:05,885 So I, I felt compelled to start our conversation there because I heard that you, you got, uh, school of hard knocks was part of your, your story too. 13 00:01:05,955 --> 00:01:07,305 Chip Gaines: That is a fact. 14 00:01:07,305 --> 00:01:07,875 Yes. 15 00:01:07,875 --> 00:01:22,815 I was at Baylor University and, uh, handsome young upper grad came and approached me in this amazing way that, you know, is only only I could do cuz I was a bit, well I still am a bit of a arrogant, you know, self-confident fella. 16 00:01:23,145 --> 00:01:26,145 And so I was like, oh man, this kid's just picked me out of the litter. 17 00:01:26,145 --> 00:01:28,065 You know, I'm gonna do great things with this kid. 18 00:01:28,065 --> 00:01:30,375 And boy, I mean, he had this beautiful shirt. 19 00:01:30,850 --> 00:01:32,740 Monk blanc pin in his shirt. 20 00:01:32,770 --> 00:01:35,650 And I had never seen anything like this, you know? 21 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:50,380 And my, most of my college friends were, if you were like me wearing overalls and boots and you know, out fishing, and was just a total idiot who, you know, thought about school about two times a week and thought about everything but school about a hundred times a week. 22 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,490 But this kid, his name was Sterling, even his name sounds cool. 23 00:01:54,490 --> 00:01:55,090 I'm surprised. 24 00:01:55,090 --> 00:01:55,750 I remember it. 25 00:01:56,055 --> 00:02:02,985 He was a sharp looking young man, came and told me about the possibilities and I mean, I was, I was hook, line and sinker. 26 00:02:03,075 --> 00:02:05,025 So I was like their prime candidate. 27 00:02:05,265 --> 00:02:09,225 Adam Outland: Well, this becomes a, a theme for you and a funny recruitment story. 28 00:02:09,225 --> 00:02:14,805 You go in, you end up selling books, and then fast forward you end up neighborhood laundrymat, lawn milling service. 29 00:02:14,805 --> 00:02:17,805 So entrepreneurship to some degree, I think ran in your blood. 30 00:02:17,805 --> 00:02:20,355 But how do you get sparked to go do these things? 31 00:02:20,355 --> 00:02:25,305 What, how did, how does your brain process that decision and go, Hey, that sounds like a great way to spend my costs, 32 00:02:26,115 --> 00:02:27,105 Chip Gaines: No doubt. 33 00:02:27,105 --> 00:02:33,495 I think my parents kind of, when you think about like a perfect storm, my parents had a lot to do with that evolution. 34 00:02:33,495 --> 00:02:37,435 You know, I think I was, a lot of it, you know, it's kind of the nature nurture argument. 35 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:44,775 You know, was I born this way and it was gonna happen one way or the other, or was I nurtured into it and, and my parents had so much to do with it. 36 00:02:44,775 --> 00:02:49,095 So the bottom line, I, I honestly, to even as a grown adult that is. 37 00:02:49,850 --> 00:02:54,230 Got quite the mileage under his belt and done lots and lots of things. 38 00:02:54,230 --> 00:02:59,630 The thing that I am so thankful about it as it relates to my life is just the fullness of it. 39 00:02:59,690 --> 00:03:12,950 You know, as a 50 year old guy here in a couple of years, I think about this often, really, now that you're getting into this kind of halfway point, maybe the 50 yard line of your life, you're just like, man, what was it all about and what was it all for, and what was the purpose of all of that? 40 00:03:12,950 --> 00:03:18,030 I have lived multiple lives, but to try and answer your question, it. 41 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:27,280 I was built different, you know, my parents thought I was gonna be a pastor when I was a kid, and, and then I got into gambling as a, as a college student. 42 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:33,820 So they were like, maybe not, you know, maybe, maybe they, unless there was a ga you know, a, you know, a river boat pastor. 43 00:03:33,820 --> 00:03:42,220 You know, if that's a thing, I may have qualified for . If that was a poss, if that's a possible career path, maybe I could have done that. 44 00:03:42,685 --> 00:03:44,785 You know, my, I was just different. 45 00:03:44,785 --> 00:03:47,125 You know, I would answer the door when I was a little kid. 46 00:03:47,125 --> 00:03:52,645 My mom said I'd always run and look for money, and it was somebody trying to sell a candy bar or something. 47 00:03:52,645 --> 00:03:56,455 So I've always had kind of this sympathetic, empathetic kind of a big heart. 48 00:03:56,455 --> 00:03:59,335 And so I was always looking to help people in that sense. 49 00:03:59,575 --> 00:04:03,645 But then when you flip the script, and now I'm the person knocking on the. 50 00:04:04,205 --> 00:04:06,035 I was built for that kind of thing. 51 00:04:06,035 --> 00:04:13,145 You know, I mean, I, I grew up in, in a, in a pretty normal suburban Dallas, Fort Worth kind of suburbs, uh, neighborhood. 52 00:04:13,145 --> 00:04:19,535 But I was always selling, you know, lemonade at some local, you know, lemonade stand. 53 00:04:19,535 --> 00:04:27,905 My sister and I were constantly mowing grass around the neighborhood, and so we were always kind of starting these little quasi businesses, even as young kids and. 54 00:04:28,830 --> 00:04:33,630 Uh, when Sterling tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I wanted to sell books for the summer, I really did. 55 00:04:33,630 --> 00:04:36,480 I mean, most kids kind of shy away from that thought. 56 00:04:36,485 --> 00:04:37,350 I swear to you. 57 00:04:37,350 --> 00:04:43,380 I was drawn to it like a mo to the flame, and then really God's kind of opened the door multiple ways. 58 00:04:43,380 --> 00:04:44,610 I went to my parents that. 59 00:04:44,965 --> 00:04:54,234 You know, back to my point about them being a kind of a catch 22, they were very normal and, and somewhat entrepreneurial, but not just crazy entrepreneurs. 60 00:04:54,234 --> 00:05:05,034 Dad worked for American Airlines up in the Dallas Fort Worth area, so he was in a traditional corporate job, and my mom was, was either a stay-at-home mom, a portion of my life, or worked at a a, a company. 61 00:05:05,064 --> 00:05:12,984 Ironically, this has a little tie to Southwestern's roots, but a company called Word Incorporated that started in Waco of all places. 62 00:05:13,395 --> 00:05:20,025 Of course I wasn't from Waco, didn't live in Waco, was never thought I'd live in Waco, but Waco for sure is my hometown. 63 00:05:20,025 --> 00:05:38,924 Now I've, I've all five of my children have been born here and there was a real entrepreneurial guy back in the late sixties, kind of early seventies that started this company called Word Incorporated that ended up being basically a big time book and and record label back in the eighties and the nineties, and still even today, I think they've been bought several times since then. 64 00:05:39,409 --> 00:05:48,859 You know, when I went to tell my parents about this exper uh, experience that I had with Sterling was like, man, this kid was incredible and was telling me there's all this opportunity to make all this money. 65 00:05:49,099 --> 00:05:50,299 You know, what do you think? 66 00:05:50,359 --> 00:05:56,059 And instead of my parents being wildly skeptical, they had a few people that they each knew. 67 00:05:56,059 --> 00:05:59,719 My dad knew a few folks at American Airlines, and my mom knew a few guys that. 68 00:05:59,924 --> 00:06:06,884 At Word that had both had experiences through Southwestern and, and they both came back and were like, we think you should do this. 69 00:06:06,884 --> 00:06:08,174 We think this is gonna be great. 70 00:06:08,174 --> 00:06:17,655 And so the light bulb went off and uh, again, I was shipped off to, uh, Michigan and uh, it was like, uh, it was like I was built to, uh, to do this, you know? 71 00:06:17,864 --> 00:06:18,405 Adam Outland: I love it. 72 00:06:18,734 --> 00:06:21,704 Um, co couple of anecdotes and this will kind of lead to a another. 73 00:06:22,484 --> 00:06:36,645 I heard Larry Wilmore, uh, being interviewed on npr and he's part of the Bernie Mac show, was on The Daily Show with John Stewart and all this, and then he starts opening up about how he knocked on doors selling educational books as a fundamental part of his career. 74 00:06:37,005 --> 00:06:47,719 it's so, you, you hear all these different people and, and I remember talking to an athlete, uh, an f l athlete who said, everybody who's found some success in his opinion, Has a farm story. 75 00:06:47,750 --> 00:06:56,120 And what he meant by that was a story of like getting up super early on the farm, working the countless hours and just being instilled with that work ethic and Sure. 76 00:06:56,180 --> 00:07:02,810 While I think you could say the summer work you did was part of that, I think you'd say you, you literally, it sounded like spent some time on a farm 77 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:04,700 . Chip Gaines: That's true, that's true. 78 00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:06,770 Now I, I always try to clarify. 79 00:07:06,770 --> 00:07:14,780 We live on a farm now, and my kids will have the experience that, that we're, we're sort of describing when I was a kid. 80 00:07:14,870 --> 00:07:16,700 It couldn't have been more traditional. 81 00:07:16,700 --> 00:07:26,420 Literally a cul-de-sac neighborhood, uh, little town called Colleyville, Texas and mm-hmm . And, uh, it's evolved into kind of quite the metropolis in current day. 82 00:07:26,420 --> 00:07:33,390 But back in my day, you know, there's just a quiet, sleepy, middle class, little suburban town, right? 83 00:07:33,390 --> 00:07:35,830 Flat dab in between Dallas and Fort Worth. 84 00:07:36,219 --> 00:07:38,409 Very normal, very traditional in that sense. 85 00:07:38,439 --> 00:07:48,609 But, and this is the point that you're kind of scratching on, my parents both grew up in a little tiny town called Archer City, Texas, which is just outside of Wichita Falls, Texas. 86 00:07:48,789 --> 00:07:55,550 So Waco and Wichita Falls have just tons and tons in common and in the sense that to me, Because I grew up in the Dallas Fort Worth area. 87 00:07:55,550 --> 00:08:04,970 Waco feels like a small town, but when you are born and raised in Waco and you have lots of small towns around you, those small towns look at Waco as the big town. 88 00:08:04,970 --> 00:08:05,370 The big town. 89 00:08:05,375 --> 00:08:05,689 That's right. 90 00:08:05,695 --> 00:08:06,020 You know? 91 00:08:06,470 --> 00:08:06,740 Oh yeah. 92 00:08:06,740 --> 00:08:11,990 And so my parents were brought up in a very rural, very small town. 93 00:08:11,995 --> 00:08:17,090 I mean 15, 1600 people I think is the total population of Archer City, Texas. 94 00:08:17,090 --> 00:08:21,110 And so there, they lived in that environment and my parents were the typical. 95 00:08:21,194 --> 00:08:26,174 Couple that, boy, they graduated from high school and could not wait to get out of that ecosystem. 96 00:08:26,265 --> 00:08:26,354 Mm-hmm. 97 00:08:26,594 --> 00:08:31,004 . Well then they have a son, chip Carter Gaines, born in 1974. 98 00:08:31,369 --> 00:08:32,150 Who didn't know it. 99 00:08:32,209 --> 00:08:34,369 Of course, I was just a baby in 1974. 100 00:08:34,369 --> 00:08:36,319 I didn't, you know, the world was my oyster. 101 00:08:36,409 --> 00:08:46,729 Uh, but my parents introduced me to that Archer City ecosystem when I was probably, gosh, I mean early, you know, obviously we'd go home and see family and Christmas and Thanksgiving. 102 00:08:46,729 --> 00:08:49,030 So again, I was a young man, but I'm telling you, when I was. 103 00:08:49,215 --> 00:08:50,835 6, 7, 8 years old. 104 00:08:50,835 --> 00:08:54,645 I remember it vividly like, wait, what This exists? 105 00:08:54,645 --> 00:08:57,015 Like this is a life you could live here. 106 00:08:57,015 --> 00:08:59,805 What are my parents doing in Dallas Fort Worth? 107 00:08:59,805 --> 00:09:05,505 You know, this is the most incredible place I'd ever seen . So, I mean, they got to where they would drop me off, obviously when I got older. 108 00:09:05,510 --> 00:09:10,725 So at the beginning it was just weeks at a time and, and a week here, week there, and that was it. 109 00:09:10,730 --> 00:09:12,215 But when I got to be probably. 110 00:09:13,135 --> 00:09:21,495 Freshman, sophomore in high school, I would ask my parents to let me stay the entire summer in Archer City with my, uh, granddad, who was jb. 111 00:09:21,765 --> 00:09:29,415 If you happen to have any relatives that are so cool that you don't call him granddad or Pappy, or anything like that, I mean, hi, his name was jb. 112 00:09:29,564 --> 00:09:31,064 At, at the, uh, gas station. 113 00:09:31,094 --> 00:09:39,944 He was JB at the bank, , and he was JB to his ac his own family, you know, around the Thanksgiving table, JB would you, uh, pass the mashed potatoes? 114 00:09:40,364 --> 00:09:44,474 And me and jb, boy, he taught me the ways of, of being a cowboy. 115 00:09:44,594 --> 00:09:47,415 And you wanna talk about, it was like hanging out with the Marlboro man. 116 00:09:47,415 --> 00:09:50,775 You know, it was like James Dean and the Marlborough man had a baby. 117 00:09:50,775 --> 00:09:59,145 It would've been JB Mog, my granddad, and I mean, just the coolest, baddest dude in the literal world and I that got deep in. 118 00:09:59,775 --> 00:10:16,665 And the irony that, that I keep talking about with the nature versus nurture, it's like, you know, it's like it was just part of who my parents were and they were excited to get out of that environment and kind of move on and, and do the next, you know, stages of their life and their, uh, evolution. 119 00:10:16,665 --> 00:10:20,594 Where here I was wanting to revert back to where they came from and. 120 00:10:21,300 --> 00:10:26,550 Uh, as soon as I was old enough to basically make choices and have money and do things that I wanted to do. 121 00:10:26,550 --> 00:10:28,980 I mean, I bought a little acreage here in Waco, Texas. 122 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:42,480 I had a little 10 acre piece of dirt and couple of cows and I mean, it was just fascinating how I was very adamant about sort of trying to live out that piece of, uh, my parents', uh, uh, background and, and where they had come. 123 00:10:42,999 --> 00:10:43,959 I actually sold books in 124 00:10:43,964 --> 00:10:44,469 Adam Outland: Archer City, 125 00:10:44,469 --> 00:10:45,010 Chip Gaines: Texas. 126 00:10:45,339 --> 00:10:45,729 No, 127 00:10:45,729 --> 00:10:46,569 Adam Outland: you didn't. 128 00:10:46,780 --> 00:10:47,410 I think I talked to 129 00:10:47,680 --> 00:10:48,430 Chip Gaines: all 10 families. 130 00:10:49,119 --> 00:10:51,969 the fact you sold books in Archer City, Texas, man. 131 00:10:52,089 --> 00:10:53,109 Did it go well? 132 00:10:53,109 --> 00:10:55,780 I mean, welcoming community or not so much? 133 00:10:55,780 --> 00:10:57,369 Adam Outland: 100% wealth welcoming. 134 00:10:57,369 --> 00:10:57,729 Oh, great. 135 00:10:57,729 --> 00:11:01,359 Yeah, I mean, I think, uh, everybody invited me in for tea at the very least. 136 00:11:01,364 --> 00:11:03,430 And, uh, a lot of good conversations. 137 00:11:03,430 --> 00:11:04,930 A lot of people care about education. 138 00:11:04,930 --> 00:11:05,900 I mean, it was, yeah, it was. 139 00:11:06,585 --> 00:11:06,765 That's 140 00:11:06,765 --> 00:11:07,425 Chip Gaines: incredible. 141 00:11:07,425 --> 00:11:08,895 What a small world dude. 142 00:11:08,895 --> 00:11:09,765 I had no idea. 143 00:11:09,765 --> 00:11:10,455 That's amazing. 144 00:11:10,455 --> 00:11:22,425 Well, my parents are from that neck of the woods and I have, uh, fought like heck, trying to pretend like I was also, but you know, I was sort of, sort of adopted into it, if you will, as opposed to born and raised like my mom and dad were. 145 00:11:22,665 --> 00:11:22,755 I 146 00:11:22,755 --> 00:11:28,515 Adam Outland: see where that migrates in directly to what you do and have now and, and part of, uh, what you've created for. 147 00:11:29,540 --> 00:11:30,800 Chip Gaines: I couldn't agree more. 148 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:36,949 And southwestern experience knocking on doors in that literal sense kind of became that wake up moment. 149 00:11:36,949 --> 00:11:37,880 Can you do this? 150 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,300 Can you work harder than the guy or the gal standing next to you? 151 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:47,390 And thankfully, I mean, thankfully for me, the answer really became a resounding yes at the end of the day. 152 00:11:47,530 --> 00:11:53,410 All the greats have had to do something different, something that somebody else wasn't quote unquote willing to do. 153 00:11:53,740 --> 00:11:56,079 And we all want to throw rocks at them. 154 00:11:56,079 --> 00:12:02,199 And, and I don't mean to say this in a facetious way, but it's easier for us to say they got lucky or this break or that break. 155 00:12:02,199 --> 00:12:07,970 And of course, lo luck has some part of it and, and breaks fall for all of us positively and negatively. 156 00:12:08,334 --> 00:12:24,025 I mean, those folks that are born to wake up and born to do that hard work and that grueling, you know, I can literally think of a dairy farmer out there, you know, half awake trying to figure out how many of these, uh, barrels of milk they're gonna fill up before they gotta run to school and do the rest of their day. 157 00:12:24,025 --> 00:12:37,730 I mean, You know, when you think about those kind of somewhat odd or possibly romantic thoughts as it relates to work, you know, it does wake something up in some of us, and when that thing is woken up, it becomes like a grizzly bear. 158 00:12:37,730 --> 00:12:39,500 You know who, who wants to go and. 159 00:12:39,925 --> 00:12:41,965 And do great things, you know? 160 00:12:41,965 --> 00:12:57,865 And I guess once you kind of get in inundated with that or, or once the invitation of that idea has been kind of presented to you, it's fascinating to watch those of us that wake up from it and then those of us who, who are kind of nonchalant and are like, I don't really wanna be a grizzly bear. 161 00:12:57,865 --> 00:12:59,425 I don't really wanna wake up early. 162 00:12:59,425 --> 00:13:00,895 I don't want to take a cold shower. 163 00:13:00,895 --> 00:13:03,685 I don't want to be at the first store at eight o'clock in the morning. 164 00:13:03,685 --> 00:13:08,275 So that's a fascinating thought that all of us have that farm story and how. 165 00:13:08,890 --> 00:13:10,449 Looks different to each of us, you know, 166 00:13:10,790 --> 00:13:11,709 Adam Outland: so, so important. 167 00:13:11,980 --> 00:13:13,120 You mentioned the word luck. 168 00:13:13,209 --> 00:13:18,550 Someone had had shared with me a great acronym for the word Luck, that it stands for labor under Correct Knowledge. 169 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,550 When you're working hard, you tend to get lucky a little bit more often. 170 00:13:21,610 --> 00:13:22,540 Sure, yeah. 171 00:13:22,545 --> 00:13:33,880 And I think, you know, may maybe some of that applies because I can't help but, uh, admire that part of what you've angel and have managed to accomplish requires an extraordinary amount of work and you. 172 00:13:34,245 --> 00:13:41,535 See a, a glimpse of it when you're hammering out a wall on television, and that's just a, a speck in the myriad of businesses that you run. 173 00:13:41,565 --> 00:13:46,005 Um, you know, you're juggling an incredible family with, uh, project after project. 174 00:13:46,010 --> 00:13:49,875 You're, you're saying yes a lot when people bring things to you in the beginning. 175 00:13:49,875 --> 00:13:50,175 Right. 176 00:13:50,180 --> 00:13:52,275 And, and it all started with Fixerupper, so I. 177 00:13:52,805 --> 00:13:58,865 You know, your, your work ethic, I feel like has to have played a massive part of what you've built and the legacy you're creating. 178 00:13:59,195 --> 00:14:07,055 And the other thing I wanted to ask you about was actually, um, something that I think from my perspective has, has helped you as well, which is your, um, incredible sense of humor. 179 00:14:07,910 --> 00:14:09,850 Chip Gaines: Yeah, these are all great questions. 180 00:14:09,855 --> 00:14:15,500 I, I've been scratching at these, you know, I started thinking, where did I get a personality like this? 181 00:14:15,505 --> 00:14:17,060 What, what makes me, me? 182 00:14:17,060 --> 00:14:23,090 And, you know, Joe and I wrestle with this a lot, what we've landed on, and very generally speaking, not any. 183 00:14:23,329 --> 00:14:29,870 Uh, secrets to the universe, but, but basically we're all bits and pieces of people who have come before us. 184 00:14:29,870 --> 00:14:36,410 I think that's why these d n a tests have become so popular because everybody wants to know, where did I come from? 185 00:14:36,415 --> 00:14:38,750 What makes me me, why am I different? 186 00:14:38,900 --> 00:14:50,840 My beautiful wife is half Korean, so she's got a very clear path to a full Korean mom and a full Korean grandmother that we can touch and we can talk to, and they can talk to us. 187 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,280 You know, it's, it's, it's a little easier. 188 00:14:52,910 --> 00:14:57,590 For those of us on the other side of that spectrum, it's like, yeah, I think I've got some German in me. 189 00:14:57,590 --> 00:15:02,540 I think my parents once upon a time said there was something about French Canadians in their background. 190 00:15:02,545 --> 00:15:02,900 You know what? 191 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:04,250 What does any of this mean? 192 00:15:04,550 --> 00:15:18,080 So all this to say, it's just like this idea that we come from little bits and pieces of all these people that preceded us, and this is sort of a kind of a sad, somewhat personal story, but my dad grew up in this little town called Archer City. 193 00:15:18,230 --> 00:15:19,190 Yeah, my mom. 194 00:15:19,375 --> 00:15:21,055 Grew up in this great family. 195 00:15:21,175 --> 00:15:25,435 Her dad was jb, who was this mentor legend, like a bonafide. 196 00:15:25,435 --> 00:15:32,725 When I think of jb, a real heroic individual kind of pops into my mind when my dad's dad comes into mind. 197 00:15:32,905 --> 00:15:37,585 My dad like refused to talk about him as a kid and not in a real. 198 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:39,930 Bitter, angry kinda way. 199 00:15:39,930 --> 00:15:42,449 He just was like, don't ask, don't tell. 200 00:15:42,599 --> 00:15:46,619 We learned really quickly, like don't talk about dad and his upbringing. 201 00:15:46,619 --> 00:15:52,530 Well, his dad turns out and sorry if, uh, if I'm letting the cat out of the bag, uh, pops, I. 202 00:15:52,785 --> 00:15:55,094 I don't want this to be on a newspaper somewhere. 203 00:15:55,094 --> 00:16:00,135 And you'd be like, well, you know, we should have talked about this in advance, but breaking news, breaking story. 204 00:16:00,135 --> 00:16:02,775 My dad's dad was a real scoundrel. 205 00:16:02,834 --> 00:16:04,694 He was basically a conman. 206 00:16:04,995 --> 00:16:07,094 He was just a bad, bad character. 207 00:16:07,100 --> 00:16:12,035 And so when my dad was a young man, all he remembered about this guy was that he would come and go. 208 00:16:12,594 --> 00:16:18,265 In and out of their lives, and he would come in and out in these seasons of kind of desperation. 209 00:16:18,265 --> 00:16:23,395 So the dad would basically come back to the family and be like, okay, you know, I've had enough. 210 00:16:23,635 --> 00:16:25,045 I'm gonna turn over a new leaf. 211 00:16:25,050 --> 00:16:26,754 I promise this time it's gonna be different. 212 00:16:26,935 --> 00:16:31,614 And he would sell my family, my dad, his brother, and obviously my dad's mom. 213 00:16:31,670 --> 00:16:32,660 Who's an angel. 214 00:16:32,660 --> 00:16:34,640 So she's kind of the opposite end of the spectrum. 215 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,509 But this bill of goods and then the, these bill of goods always fell apart. 216 00:16:38,539 --> 00:16:40,610 You know, he would get back into his old ways. 217 00:16:40,820 --> 00:16:48,590 He would get run outta town, but he was a bonafide, he would write bounce checks, he was a conman, he was all these negative things. 218 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:59,160 So as we have fast forwarded now, my dad has gone to a few kind of that side of the family funerals as of late, and he's learned so much, not only about his dad, that he never. 219 00:16:59,620 --> 00:17:08,200 But also about his dad's mom and dad that he never met, never knew anything about his grandparents, and it just turns out that this guy actually was. 220 00:17:08,915 --> 00:17:24,875 Quite a character like in high school, was kinda like most likely to succeed and was gonna go off and become, you know, an actor or somebody that you know, you know, maybe, maybe wrote in the local newspaper because he just had this vivid imagination and all these great things. 221 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:47,705 And obviously life somehow, we still haven't gotten all the facts, but somehow turned my dad's dad in, in a real sour, sad, unfortunate direction, but, When dad and I joke about it now that dad's gotten a little more confidence in, in his ability to kind of communicate what if there were some good things about this man life just kind of turned him inside out and upside down. 222 00:17:47,915 --> 00:17:59,945 And so as I think about where did this come from, I, I have a pretty strong suspicion that my AB ability, you know, cuz when you think about it, it's kinda like the argument that there's a thin line that separates a genius from an insane person. 223 00:18:00,155 --> 00:18:02,255 You know, maybe the same argument could be. 224 00:18:03,115 --> 00:18:22,495 About a great salesman that's actually honorable and, and you know, full of integrity and happens to do a great job of selling a great product from that thin line that probably separates somebody like maybe a Bernie Madoff that ends up finding himself in this terrible predicament to where he's created this huge, enormous lie. 225 00:18:22,615 --> 00:18:26,125 And he's, he's the mastermind behind this terrible Ponzi scheme. 226 00:18:26,125 --> 00:18:26,245 You. 227 00:18:26,815 --> 00:18:31,675 Or was he a great salesman that, that somehow lost his way in that, in that process. 228 00:18:31,675 --> 00:18:37,975 So anyway, without going into, into too many rabbit trails, the, the bottom line is I definitely have always been different. 229 00:18:38,185 --> 00:18:39,655 I've always cared about people. 230 00:18:39,655 --> 00:18:44,515 I've always had this great kind of, uh, sense of sympathy or empathy, but I've also. 231 00:18:44,645 --> 00:18:53,764 Been very fearless in the sense that when I was a kid, I remember thinking in lunch, wouldn't it be funny if I stood up and, and made this proclamation? 232 00:18:53,770 --> 00:19:01,115 Or if I stood up and, and sang this song and see if I could get the whole elementary lunch to kind of sing along with me. 233 00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:08,555 And there's sort of dozens of these quote unquote chip stories kind of in my wake that, that, you know, I'm proud of in some ways. 234 00:19:08,555 --> 00:19:09,875 But, but it definitely was this. 235 00:19:10,850 --> 00:19:14,390 That my parents gave me such an inre, my sister Bo. 236 00:19:14,390 --> 00:19:21,500 Such an incredible chance, you know, such a great start in the sense that they were both incredible P people. 237 00:19:21,500 --> 00:19:23,870 They were great parents to my sister and I. 238 00:19:24,050 --> 00:19:26,330 They were people of faith, so they introduced us in. 239 00:19:26,585 --> 00:19:34,205 Into our relationship with God and, and how we view him even today, you know, as a, as a, as a, as a middle-aged adult. 240 00:19:34,445 --> 00:19:43,445 And, but, but when I think back about my dad's dad, sometimes I get a little smile on myself, uh, on my face thinking, you know, I bet some of my kind of wily. 241 00:19:43,650 --> 00:19:46,350 Kind of rambunctious, kind of crazy personality. 242 00:19:46,900 --> 00:19:49,860 Probably came from something in that d n A pool. 243 00:19:49,890 --> 00:20:03,360 But because I was, I was fostered in such a healthy way, maybe opposite of the way that potentially life fostered him, you know, I landed in this really great green pasture to where I love to create opportunities. 244 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:04,820 I love to build businesses. 245 00:20:04,825 --> 00:20:07,020 I love my wife, I love my kids. 246 00:20:07,020 --> 00:20:10,920 I mean, I'm kind of sold out in just about every category you could be sold out in. 247 00:20:11,190 --> 00:20:17,455 But bottom line, You know, I don't do it in this crummy, you know, uh, materialistic, right? 248 00:20:17,485 --> 00:20:18,295 Yeah, exactly. 249 00:20:18,295 --> 00:20:18,775 Kind of way. 250 00:20:18,775 --> 00:20:22,195 It's not like, you know, people say, you know, when is enough enough? 251 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:26,995 And for us it's never been about, you know, enough is it has nothing to do with it, you know? 252 00:20:26,995 --> 00:20:37,765 I, it's just opportunities and experiences and the next step that I feel like the next door that God opens, Joe and I are anxious to kind of burst through that door and kind of see what's on the other side. 253 00:20:38,270 --> 00:20:50,510 . And so, but when you think about family and business and faith and all these things kind of piece together, I, I do remember as a young kid kind of looking at the world and realizing I certainly was different. 254 00:20:50,510 --> 00:20:59,600 You know, I was different than most of the kids I grew up with, and not necessarily in a positive or a negative, but I just was, was anxious to kind of step out and take chances. 255 00:20:59,860 --> 00:21:07,940 And risk and fail and all the things that you hear about in some context like that, and I, I can only assume that probably comes from that side of the family. 256 00:21:08,495 --> 00:21:09,335 Yeah, I, I 257 00:21:09,335 --> 00:21:16,115 Adam Outland: love it, chip and I will continue our talk in episode four 18 of the Action Catalyst. 258 00:21:16,235 --> 00:21:25,115 So join us then to keep listening and don't forget to follow the Action Catalyst wherever you listen to podcasts, to get new episodes, bonus episodes, and more the minute they drop.