JW Rayhons
JW is often referred to as authentic, growth-oriented, and values-based. He is also a business owner, Financial Advisor, Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, and board leader. In these roles JW has had the opportunity to effectively coach clients by helping them discover, acknowledge, and embrace their deepest drivers of success; in other words, their strengths.
JW is the founder and president of Rayhons Financial. It has been his life’s work to help others both embrace their current place in time and to proactively plan for their future happiness. Experience has confirmed that JW’s coaching and career expertise lends itself well to business owners, executives, professionals, community leaders, and other individuals looking for guidance and training in their pursuit of a values and strengths-based approach to their well-being.
Rayhons Financial is consistently ranked in the top 7% of investment firms within Cetera Financial, one of the largest investment advisor networks in the U.S. Gilbert, Arizona, is a community with over 260,000 residents. He has served as Chairman of the Board for three organizations and has enjoyed coaching basketball for over 450 young athletes.
JW’s ‘Gallup Top 5 Strengths’ are Achiever, Developer, Positivity, Responsibility, and Empathy.
“When you look for the good in someone; you’ll find it.”
Episode Transcription
This episode is sponsored by Gilbert Independent. Your valley. net dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a nonpartisan newspaper, an online site that covers your town's institutions development and events. Subscribe and follow your valley. net daily to stay up to date with the latest local news. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and Modern Moments wedding and event venue and produced by Sleepy Time Studios. Sarah, the boys are back in town and this is why I'm nervous.
This is going to be interesting for sure. It is. Today's guest is a man with Midwest roots but has called The Desert Home since 1997. He embraces opportunities and experiences whether he's coaching youth basketball, catching up on a good read or cruising his Harley through Arizona's Mountains professionally. He's a Gallup Certified strengths coach, financial advisor, serves on several boards and nonprofits throughout the community and is known for his genuine positivity and empathy. His motto is be bold, stay strong and enjoy those who know him can tell you.
His greatest source of joy is his family, including four kids, a son in law and a grandson all before the age of 45. Please welcome our good friend Jw Rehan Jws in the house. This is going to be fun. This is going to be fun. Yeah, lets the stories begin. But before we begin that, let's get with what we call rapid fire. Would you rather travel to the past or to the future future? Hm. What is your hidden talent? Do you have talent? What is your hidden talent?
I don't know if I have any talents. Well, what is a hidden one? Hidden one? Riding a Harley? Oh, ok. That's stumped. You already. How sir? Would you rather attend a hip hop or a rock concert? Let's go hip hop. Have you ever lived abroad? No, no, no. Ok. What is your go to snack ice cream? Oh, I thought you were gonna say almonds. So it's gonna look. So usually it ice cream before food. What is an appetizer? What makes you hopeful? The future? They like the outlook.
What's going on now? What's going on in the future? Are you more of a thinker or a doer? More of a doer? If someone were to play you in a movie? Who would you want that to be you? Ben? I wasn't gonna say present company. I mean, come on. What is your favorite pastime or hobby? I'm just gonna go with playing basketball. Notice he didn't say good at, but that's his favorite one. All right. Last one. Glass half full or half empty, full figured that would be the case.
Want to start your own podcast, whether it's a business, personal, internal or hobby podcast. Sleepy Time Studios can help you with everything you need to get your podcast recorded, edited posted and shared with the world. Get started on the podcast of your dreams at Sleepytime studios.com. Mention guiding growth and get 10% off any podcasting package at Sleepytime studios.com. Alright. So let's begin this journey, shall we? We're going to go to Iowa? Ok, let's go because I'm pretty sure is that considered living abroad? I should have asked that earlier.
I know you tell us some might consider that not even living. I don't know. Well, you know, some people call it heaven. That's true. Yeah. Ok. But that's where it all began, right? I haven't met that person, but if you say so, ok, tell us about it. It's a bunch of farm country. Yeah, that was where you were born though, right? It was, no, I was born in Iowa, just a small farming town in North Iowa. Uh but it's, it is, it's a great, I mean, Iowa's a great state.
You'll hear people talk about how good the people are in Iowa. Uh but I did move away from there because I didn't like the winners. I didn't, I didn't plan on doing farming or, you know, manufacturing work either. What did childhood look like for you there? Well, we moved around a lot. So, um, childhood wise it was basically Iowa and Arizona back and forth and a lot of moving, I think we figured out, I probably went to three different elementary schools, two different junior highs and three different high schools.
Why, why Iowa and Arizona back and forth. Um, my dad was in construction and so Iowa because that's where we were from Arizona because you could do construction year round here. That's right. Yeah, lots of opportunity out here. And were you an only child? No. Um, well, yeah, three brothers, three of us. And, uh, my dad raised us for the most part. Yeah. If you can imagine what that kind of household was like, lots of hair, I'm sure. Except for when our dad shaved it off, you know, because we couldn't afford to go get haircuts, a bunch of buzz cuts with thick glasses.
So, what was high school like back then? So, I'm curious his birth order though and then we'll get into high school. Where do you fit in, in the brothers? Now, Ben has a question for you. This is so much fun just to be like, you know, back and back and forth, back and forth. Well, the more interesting question was what was high school, like, high school, high school was a lot of fun for me. It was mostly sports, uh, sports and working. But, uh, basketball was always my favorite to play baseball is what I excelled at the most but it was a lot of work and also, um, it was, it was interesting because, uh, freshman year I look totally different than sophomore year basically.
So, prior to sophomore year, if you can imagine, you know, the short geeky, skinny dorky looking kid you could find with leftover clothes and big old thick glasses. That was pretty much it. Then sophomore year I got contacts discovered lifting weights and, um, even grew like an inch or two. Wow. Yeah. Which still only put me at 22025, but an inch or two off 220 was pretty good. Now, you were mostly into baseball. That was kind of your thing, right? Yeah, like I said, I loved basketball. Um, I did great at basketball but I excelled more at baseball.
So I started playing varsity baseball as a sophomore starting pitcher. And were you settled by then? Were you in a specific high school? Yeah. Sophomore through graduation. I was at the same high school in Garner, Iowa. Yeah. How many kids are in your graduating class? Just to kind of put it in perspective. It was a huge school. We had 21 kids in our graduating class. 24 kids, freshmen through, probably dated every girl in your class. Uh, we're not going to talk about dating in this podcast. Well, we could go there.
You gotta remember. This is a small town Iowa. So you didn't always want to date the girls that were in the same town that you went to school. We had to go like 2100 miles to go to the next town or something like that. But we can do dating on a different podcast. Well, we got a show coming up and then, alright, I got it. But talk to me about the coaches then because one of the things I'm always curious in this show is who mentored you, who guided you in those things.
So do you do any of those coaches back then? Come to mind? They're like, and that one really kind of inspired me or kind of helped develop me in a way that you can see today coaches. I was, I was fortunate, I had some pretty good coaches. Um, most of the way playing sports, the first coach that comes to mind, I mean, my dad was, my dad was probably the best coach we could have ever had, especially as kids. And then outside of my dad, then, um I had a basketball coach when I was about junior high age.
Uh I was actually here in Arizona and he was extremely influential in my life at that time. And then from high school baseball standpoint, our varsity coach, he was pretty influential in my life as well. But then coming out here, uh after high school, I actually had, I played on some competitive baseball teams out here and from just guys that have had more baseball experience than me. I probably had great coaching just in the mentoring of other players coming out here. Yeah. So let's go back to your dad for a minute.
All right, let's talk about what made him a great coach. And what of, um, his parenting have you carried on to your family? That's a great question that I really appreciate. And so, um, one from like a sports coach standpoint, there was a few things, one is he, he was gonna push you, you knew he was gonna push you hard, you knew that uh he was gonna want the best out of you. And he did it in an encouraging way. It was never in a way of um, negativity.
It was always in a way of like encouragement, positive, um really focusing on how you could be just the best player you could possibly be uh from a life standpoint that gets into a whole another set of topics because, um, I mean, think about it, he grew up farming in construction. So he was a hard ass and he was, he was hard on us, but it was actually what my brothers and I needed. Uh We always knew we were loved, we always knew we were cared for, but it was, it was a tough life growing up too.
You want to talk about being 225 years old on that Greyhound? This might be one of those dad lessons. So, um, my parents did. My, my, uh, my mom left when I was 100, my brothers were younger than that. And, uh, for any of you listening, um, you know, thinking about a boy at 225 years old, sometimes you can think your big stuff. And that was certainly me in a certain moment when, uh, I was in an argument with my dad and I thought I was big stuff. And so, uh, we were, it got pretty heated and I took a swing at him and rather than putting me through a wall, he just looked me straight in the eyes and he goes, I think it's about time to go see your mom.
And somehow we went down to the Greyhound bus station in Tempe at the time and he convinced, he convinced the gate agent to sell a ticket for a 23 year old kid to go on a Greyhound bus from Phoenix to Philly. Uh So that's, that was what happened literally within two hours after that, we walked out of there. He used a pay phone for any of you that know what a payphone is he called my mom. And it basically just went JW is gonna be on a bus, he'll be there four days from now at uh midnight.
You better be there to pick him up, click and I was on a bus. What do you think you discovered about yourself at that time? And then looking back at it? Yeah, I think it's been more reflection because at the time, just in the moment, like all of a sudden I'm on a bus and if you've ever traveled on a Greyhound bus, you don't stay on the same bus at every single city you get off that bus and you figure out what next bus you're supposed to be on.
And so one of the greatest lessons that I learned that has absolutely carried and, and made me part of who I am is the fact that there were a lot of people that cared for me along the way that didn't have to, they didn't know me. They had no reason to care for me. And between bus drivers, greyhound workers, other people just riding on the buses. Um There were a lot of people that always made sure that I was on the next bus and that were looking after me and I know that's been part of why I just love and enjoy caring for others.
What did it look like when you got there? How long did you stay? I only stayed six weeks. Um I only had to be there a few days to realize it was better for me to be back with my dad and my brothers. But um I had also, you know, was a little hardheaded at 23 years old as well. And so I figured no, I, I'll prove my dad that I was right and that, you know, this will work out. But, yeah. Did it change the trajectory of your relationship with your dad when you got back?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, one just from a respect standpoint but also, you know, just the relationship and the bond that we had, we already had it before. But it was even stronger after that because I also had to take a Greyhound bus by myself back to Arizona from Philly. Yeah. And then your brothers thought, well, I'm never doing that. Yeah. Being the oldest sometimes. Yeah, being the oldest sometimes you get to be an example for others. And uh, yeah, neither one of my brothers ever ended up on a Greyhound bus.
Yeah, I don't think either one of them ever tried swinging at my dad either because they both, they both witnessed it and they both witnessed what happened afterwards. But I was, I mean, my dad wanted to make sure we were prepared to be independent and all three of us started living on our own before we even graduated from high school. You can only imagine as a parent, um, what he was going through trying to balance and navigate that on his own too. So, yeah, becoming a parent sometimes makes, makes you appreciate your parents even more.
You definitely see it from a different lens when you're on that side, for sure. So I'm curious, you said this earlier that, um, you knew right away or a long time ago when you were younger that the farm life and uh construction wasn't for you. But growing up in that it had to be hard not to have that be part of you because I know you, I know from knowing you, you had to do a lot of that kind of stuff. Right. Yeah. And it was, I mean, doing that kind of work was extremely influential.
Um, part of it was influential in knowing from a labor standpoint, like a physical labor standpoint. Um Knowing that I didn't want to do a job that, that was that physically labor intensive. Um because I could see what it did to people's bodies and I mean, it'll wear you out. Uh But I also felt like I did enough of it as a kid that I didn't want to do it as an adult, but I will share with you one of the things that um I realized is I didn't want to work for someone else.
I didn't want to work for a company. Uh seeing, you know, at that time in construction, it was common for, you know, contractors, they'd hire the laborers that they needed for a job. And if the, when the job was done, they'd lay them all off and then the laborers would be looking, looking for work right after that. And so, um that helped me realize early on I knew I wanted to own my own company. I just had no idea what it was gonna be, do you think at that time it was, um, that you needed that sense of security that maybe they didn't have.
Yeah, interestingly enough. You know, a lot of people, I think growing up, you think? Well, I'll get a job with a good company and that's the sense of security. But we saw something so much different than that. We saw working for a large company didn't give any security whatsoever. And so it was almost like without realizing it, I was learning that you could create your own security by creating your own company. But also the other side of that is that, uh you're taking a risk on yourself, like you have to create your own security.
You can only count on you. That's right. There was no option to fail. And I learned that very early on. I'm sure any, any business owners, any entrepreneurs that are listening to this podcast, uh, they all know yet you're taking a risk on yourself and, and many times there's no option to fail. And your dad was kind of an entrepreneur too because he, he did a lot of independent jobs. Right. So he was always kind of finding his own work and doing a lot of things. I know he worked for other organizations time and time, but he, he kind of probably brought that a little bit and you as well.
I'm sure. Oh, absolutely. In fact, I mean, that's, that's part of it because he was never short on work. I mean, he, he was exceptional at what he did. He was exceptional as a, as a carpenter and a craftsman and a journeyman. And um so he was never short of work. And I think that's part of what my brothers and I saw too is if, if you, if you get really good at your craft and you serve people well, then you're going to have plenty of work.
There's not going to be a shortage of work. And so I just took that into a different field. So how do you end up after high school? Are, do you end up out here? Yeah. Yeah, I move, as soon as high school baseball season was done. I moved to Arizona and I had known that ahead of time that after graduation after high school baseball I'd be moving out to Arizona. Just, you just me at that time? Yeah. And what did that look like for you? I mean, it was packing up whatever I could fit in my car and driving out here.
And, um, I didn't, it's not like I had any savings. All, all the money I had when I came out here was just what I'd gotten for graduation gift money. And, um, it was all in baseball cards. There was, I still have some of those baseball cards. They're worth a lot of money. They're supposedly worth a lot of money to buy them. They're in a closet in a box and they have been for a while. But yeah, that's what it looked like. Moving out here was just whatever I could fit in my car.
Um, a little bit of money that I got from graduation. And, and what was your plan? Like? Did you have a plan for yourself? Are you going to school? The original plan was, uh, I'd been accepted to a SU and so the original plan was I was going to come out here. I was gonna go to a SU and then, uh, I got the first bill for a U as an out of state student and I had no idea how I was gonna ever possibly pay for that.
And so I went to, uh, MC C Mesa Community College and their tuition was significantly less. They didn't care where I lived or where I came from. And so I looked at two different costs of college and it didn't take me long to figure out I was going to go to MC C instead. And what did those years look like? I mean, what were you, did? You know what you were pursuing and study? Where were you living? What did life look like? Uh, not your typical college life?
So I, I worked, uh, two full time jobs while going to school full time, plus a third part time job. And that was just so that I could cover the expenses to live in and, um, for anybody that knows the area, basically, I lived in a, uh, well, first I rented a room in someone's house that just had a door in the back that I could, I could live in the back room. And then from there I lived in a rundown duplex off of Mesa Drive and Broadway.
Uh, if anybody knows that area and, but that's all, that's all I could afford at the time, even with a couple of jobs and going to school full time. So it was, it was mostly just that, that's what life looked like at that time. And, um, I did have the opportunity to play some competitive baseball but I wasn't getting paid for it. It was just because I want to keep playing and I was coaching youth basketball at the time too. So I guess when you pile all that up it just meant I, you know, didn't sleep much and you have a lot to do. Yeah.
That's exactly what college life is like. Sounds like a typical college life actually working that many jobs. I don't know. I don't know, working that many jobs but I was going with no time they were sleeping from what I understand. Other people have other reasons for. No, that's fair. I don't know what you mean. Sarah? Do? You know what he means? I'm not sure. Ok. Well, if you, if you don't have any idea what that is, I mean, it probably doesn't exist. Yeah. Look it up Google.
I know what you, I know what your social life probably looked like back in college. So we can flip this interview around if you like. So tell us during that time, if there was anyone around on that one there, Sarah, you're welcome. Who influenced you during that time? And who are you meeting here? And how did they impact your life? I get it. You're the host, not me. Is that why you turn that around? I'm much more comfortable on the question side of this than being interviewed.
So, um what was it influential? Who in your life was influential? Who'd you meet during that time in your life? Yeah, I think, you know, one of the greatest lessons at that time was just the importance of really getting to know people connecting with people. Um because I, I don't know that I could pinpoint any particular person but moving here and not really knowing anyone uh finding out that, you know, the, the opportunity to build relationships, the opportunity to get to know people that was the greatest influence and, and not even realize that's what was happening.
Um But there again, I mean, if we relate it back to an earlier story, it was realizing there's other people looking after you, even when you don't realize that they are. And so whether that path is guided by um you know, a spiritual being, depending on what your beliefs are where that path is guided by others. Um, but I think sometimes we have people around us that they, they, they see something in us that we don't see in ourselves. And I certainly had that happen a lot and there were several people that could see something in me far more than what I could see myself at that time.
Uh, but that's also, I mean, I, I started Ray Han's Financial, the first company, uh, while I was still at Mason Community College. So I was 20 years old. I didn't really know what I was getting into. Uh, but I started that first company and I often say ignorance was probably my greatest asset because I didn't know what I was getting into. Uh, but at the same time, um, it was just a matter of really getting to know people. Well, was there anyone in particular that moved you into interest in financial advising?
It was actually a group of business people. So one of the jobs that I had while I was in school was managing Pizza Hut restaurants. And so there was a group of business people that would come into Pizza Hut. It was actually one of the dine in pizza huts over on Gilbert and Baseline back when they still did that back when they still did that. And even then there wasn't that many anymore. And, uh, so regular business groups coming in and just the opportunity to visit with people and ask what they do and what they did and what they enjoyed about it, what they didn't enjoy about it.
And so, um, in visiting with some financial advisors that were coming in at the time, uh, I realized that might be a way that I could help people and also start a business. And that's really all as simple as that sounds. That's how it started is looking at that and seeing it as a profession that I could probably really have a significant impact in people's lives and, and build a business around and then create a great impact. Yeah. Um So when did Ben come into the picture, profits start going up?
That's probably the question, Ben likes to take credit for things, doesn't he? I, I would have no knowledge about that either. Uh Th this is, this is actually a great story. So I had had a client that recommended that we get involved in, in our local chamber. I had no idea what a chamber was at the time. Um I was about four years into business at that time. And so I said, well, I might as well just start with the Gilbert Chamber because that's where we live and that's where our business is.
And so, um Ben and I ended up at the same networking event and uh Rocket Media was in his home at the time, just started his company uh at the time I was in fact, I think we had a, I think we had an executive suite office or something like that in downtown Gilbert. I think at that time, if I remember the timing, right. But, uh, we, we kind of hit it off and then we thought, let's just get an office together. And so we got an office together and operated both our companies out of that office.
And then we started, you know, really getting to know each other, building a friendship. We had some cabinet meetings from time to time to strategize. And so then from there, we both built our companies. Yeah. So, yeah, Sarah, it was kind of before the chamber. It was like in the chamber was really, really good back then, you know, worked really well for us. Is it getting hot in here? You feel anything? I feel fine. I wish all of you listening could see the look on Sarah's face right now.
Edit, edit, edit. Now the chambers evolved. You're saying Ben was influential in your life. He was one of those people that you really grew with. That's where this interview is going is we're trying to help Ben feel really good about himself. I'm trying to collect my money at the end of this podcast. There must be some fundraising going on right now. Hey, I'm a nonprofit, whatever it takes. That's right. And if you're listening, you should make sure you get involved in the Gilbert Chamber there. You go, I appreciate that.
JW. I didn't say that but I heard, yeah. Yeah. No. So we, we had a lot of good connections back then. That's kind of, I think we both grew our companies at the very same time. We were kind of in the same points really. And he's a little few years ahead of me on that. But I think growing in development we both have a lot of those same challenges and, you know, uh it was nice to have a, a cohort to was it, you know, when you're up at the top of a company and of course, it was just us, right?
So you're kind of a lot of those same problems and you're like, who can you talk to? So I'm curious because JW, I'll say you were young when you started this and you said that obviously you didn't know what you didn't know at the time. Um What do you think were some of the greatest lessons learned as you look back at, at you starting out and really taking some big risk. One I would say is overcome your fears. Like we like the stuff that we sometimes make up in our heads to be fearful of, especially as a business owner, um, power through that.
Like, like really start to see a head, um, and overcome those fears. Take some, take some II, I prefer to take calculated risks. Uh I, I tend not to, you know, I tend to be pretty thoughtful and take calculated risks. But that's the first thing that comes to mind is um, work through and power through your fears and, and really see the value that you're creating and then try to create as much of that as you possibly can. Yeah. Do you, is there anything you would tell yourself if you could go back and talk to yourself back then?
I would uh so I don't know many people in that may not know this part of the story. But really for the first seven years that Ray Han's financial existed, we really didn't have any other team members um directly, you know, we had indirect team members where we were utilizing and I was utilizing the resources of other expertise and some of the investment firms that we worked with. But in terms of starting to build our own team really didn't do that till about six or seven years in.
And so one thing would certainly be start building that team earlier on and it's risky, right. There's costs involved. You start to take on the responsibility of other people and their families and, and um I know some business owners myself included, we really, we really take that responsibility seriously. And so, um it can look scary and it can look hard and it could look risky. But that would be one thing for sure. Start building a team earlier on, uh lean on people for what they're strong at, try not to do everything yourself.
Um, put some trust in other people and do that as early as possible. But that's where I would start as far as advice from early on when I look back on it. Uh, and don't get me wrong. Ray Hunts Financial and Joshua Development. Both our companies are in outstanding positions now. And even as I think back at Rayon's Financial, those first few years, if we had started building a team earlier, I can only imagine where that put us today. Uh, 25 years in what do you, what do you think stood in the way of you doing it earlier?
Thinking I couldn't afford it. It, it, it was a lot of financial insecurity at the time of man, I don't even know that I can afford hiring a person. And so it stops you, it stunts you, but that was a fear. It was, it was probably more fear than it was like legitimate lack of financial security. So it just goes back, overcome some of those fears and really see the opportunity involved. I know that even as you're growing your business, you're also growing a family and managing that.
And I know that's always been your first priority. How do you, what advice would you give or how did you, how did you manage your way through that? Yeah, learning the hard way. So here's what I would share is, you know, a lot of people talk about balance or they talk about, you know, work life balance. I think it's more regimen, like, what's your routine? What's your regimen? Um, and where are you keeping the most important things, the highest priority? And so one of the things that ended up being outstandingly successful for me that I wished I would have learned earlier on when it comes to that is the boundaries you place around your time and it doesn't need to be a standard, it doesn't need to be, you know, just the norm of what everybody thinks of, you know, just during the week or 9 to 5 or whatever it is.
It's, it's more of saying, ok, if, if your family is a priority, then schedule those things first, like what's most important for you to be involved in be at, for your family, make sure those are the priority, those are on the schedule and then operate your business or, um, your work schedule around that where you can. Uh, but then it's really looking at, ok, if that's the case, then, um, how do you also communicate that? How do you communicate that to your family? How do you communicate that in our case to our clients?
Uh But one of the best things for us that I did was said, I'm only gonna do client appointments between normal business hours, normal traditional business hours. And prior to that, I didn't have those boundaries, I'd meet with anybody at any time. And interestingly enough, our business grew quite a bit when we started saying now we're just gonna meet with clients during normal business hours. And yeah, there might still be an exception here or there. But then it's a special exception and that was helpful in making sure that family stayed is greatest priority.
But we still had Jack and Jim meetings after hours just so, you know, Jack and gym meetings could be after hours. But even then we made sure that it didn't interfere with, you know, important family quality time just made it easier. So it's gonna be so many questions come out of this podcast. People are gonna begin to wonder what's really happening around here. When did Joshua development come about and why? Yeah, I appreciate that question too because um it was, it was not really my intention to start a second company that really was something that happened by saying yes to an opportunity, even though I had no idea what that would mean or what, what I would get into.
And so, um because of Rayon's financial and because of being involved in the community because of being involved in the chamber, there were things that I always had the opportunity to get involved in um much earlier on in life than a lot of people. And one of those was serving on boards. And so, um with the chamber board, it was actually specifically the Gilbert chamber board, I had the opportunity to serve as chair of that board um at a fairly young age. And that was because Kathy saw something in me in, in terms of leadership, regardless of what my age was, regardless of what my business experience was.
Because at that time, everyone else around that table was more experienced and more successful than I was one of those board members who was the CEO of an organization came up to me after one of the board meetings and asked if we could have breakfast. And that breakfast was specifically because she asked if I'd be willing to work with her leadership team. And I knew enough about her leadership team to know that she wasn't talking about budgeting and finance. And interestingly enough, it was, it was probably one of the great compliments I'd received in that she said, if you can do with my leadership team, what I've seen you do with this board, that's what I have in mind.
And that led to the launch of Joshua development that um in that first kind of working with an executive leadership team, all I did was simply go, ok, well, how much can I learn about this team? How much can I learn about what will give them the next performance edge, keep them at the top because they were already high performing as it was. And really, if you want to know the truth, bringing in some of that you know, coaching of sports. And when you try to take various players get the greatest chemistry you possibly can with those players and elevate their performance to get at a championship level.
That's kind of what we did. And then within a couple of months, there were three other CEO S that called and said, hey, we heard what you did with this leadership team over here. Would you be interested in, you know, working with us that led to the launch of Joshua development? Um There was also an outstanding mentor that I ended up again, sometimes God or whatever you believe in, just puts people in your life. And, and that happened to me in getting a chance to meet a gentleman by the name of Ron Willingham at the time and he was in a later part of his life and um didn't have near as many people around him as he had prior to that because he had experienced extreme success and timing wise.
Um It worked out for he and I to build an outstanding friendship and he mentored me as a facilitator and a trainer and an executive, you know, coach and, and performance trainer. And that led to a whole another set of opportunities that um grew Joshua development from there again during that time. What do you think you, as you reflect on it? Um You've named some, some people and some individuals, but um what are lessons learned for you Well, so specifically at that moment, um I do believe that sometimes we're given some lessons, um, whether we ask for them or not or, or sometimes we ask for them and we get lessons, whether we want them or not.
And at the time frame that you're talking about, specifically Sarah, I actually um went through an experience where I, I detached the retina in my right eye, which means I completely lost all the sight in my right eye. Uh couldn't see anything. It was just black and um the surgery from that. So it was a couple of weeks before having surgery, which means I couldn't see out of that eye at all for a couple of weeks. You couldn't tell from the outside. It was very Halloween like it was really cool.
It sounds bad, but nobody could tell like you can't see if somebody's detached their retina. But the surgery though, um the recovery of that surgery meant I had to lay face down for 2.5 weeks. And fortunately enough, um, we had a friend that used to be a massage therapist, still had a massage therapy table. So I laid on that face down for 2.5 weeks. Did you work the whole time? I did not work. It forced me to not work. I could still read books. Um, thankfully because of the way the pillow is on a massage table.
Um I set another table underneath it and would have books underneath there that I could read and it forced me, uh, it forced me to slow down, it forced me to slow down and really era evaluate what is truly important. Um You know, interestingly enough while we're having this conversation, I recently was just at a ST Vincent de Paul their annual breakfast. And you hear stories of people that put them into homelessness and put them into some really tough situations. And it reminds any of us in a moment's notice everything we place our security and can be taken away.
It's fragile. And so when it comes to gratitude and thankfulness, um that time period in particular allowed me to realize just how thankful I could be for a number of different things. And so that moment of reflection, that moment to slow down actually allowed me to get on a whole new trajectory after that. So slowing down actually allowed me to speed up. Do you remind yourself of that? Even today, every day, every day, I have a certain set of, one of the things that I enjoy saying is that we need to talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves because sometimes if you listen to yourself, all sorts of stuff can happen.
And um I've had, I had a friend, a close friend once that she used to, she used to say you don't want to be in my head because it's a bad neighborhood. And the reality is, I think that's true for a lot of people. Uh And so I do think it's important to talk to yourself more and you listen to yourself. And so there's a certain set of things that I say every single day. Uh And there's a prayer that I pray um nearly every day. And it's to remind myself to remain humble.
It's to remind myself to uh ask for forgiveness, to give forgiveness. It's, it's a prayer to basically say thank you for every success that you've given in all the ways that you've provided. Uh Please help me to remain humble. And if I ever need a hard lesson, give it to me. And sometimes I've gotten one Greyhound buses, a Greyhound bus losing sight in our, in our. But there's been some amazing things that have happened in my life too. I know you are always busy and you do give a lot back to the community.
And I'm curious how you actually have fun. Relax. What do you do to just enjoy life? Um I know you write a Harley. What else do you do that? Is that it? And I really do appreciate the recognition in this is not just to, this is not just to say this but, but part of that is because I really do enjoy, I really do enjoy serving. I really do enjoy being involved in the community, coaching you sports, serving on boards. That's, that's part of what does give me joy and energy.
Other things that I enjoy doing. I enjoy, you know, just training and working out. I enjoy going to church on a regular basis. I enjoy getting together with friends and family and just hanging out and having time to relax, even just getting some quiet one on one time, you know, with myself to read or to write, uh to reflect, to think all those are things that reenergized me to give me a lot of joy. Um This, I mean, I could go on but being busy is not healthy.
It's, it's making sure that your, your time is full of the things that really do. Um fill you up and bring you joy. Um I don't think busy being busy is a value. I think it's, are you utilizing your time with things that fulfill you and others? So as you look back on what you've built in your businesses and what you've built through the community and through your family, what would you consider to be your greatest legacy thus far? It's a hard question. Um I don't know because I, I feel like when it comes to legacy, you have to, you'd have to ask the people around that person.
Um I mean, to me, that's truly what legacy is. It's not, it's not the recognition you receive, it's not awards you get, it's not um what you think about yourself. It's what others think of you. It's how how you've influenced someone else's life or created value in someone else's life. So I don't know if I can answer that question. I, I think it'd be better to ask maybe people around me what that looks like. All right. So let me ask you this. What do you hope that your legacy will be?
I guess it's just that, um, in some way I was able to help someone else, you know, live a life that was maybe even even greater um, than they had imagined and, and maybe I got to have a small piece in that. Hm. So now let's go to the future. Ok. What's it look like? 33, 10 years from now? Where do you see yourself? Yeah, it's a time of the question actually because uh when we're, when we're, we're recording this anyway, we're coming up on the, on the end of 2024 we're in the fourth quarter of 2024 going into 2025.
Um There's some unique milestones that are happening uh right now for us. And so, uh looking to the future is one thing that um I would say is not even necessarily been one of my gifts when it comes to like clarity of future, other than the fact of just seeing opportunity, right? It's hard for me to not see opportunities all around, in fact, with where with things that have happened in, in, in and around me already that like if if anyone had told me when I was 20 years old, when I was at Mason Community College and I was first starting a company.
If anyone had shared with me, even maybe 1/4 of the things that have happened. Uh, I would, there's no way I would believe them. There's no way I would have believed, you know, most of the things that have happened in my life. Uh, since then. So looking at the future, it gives me pretty excited because I'm thinking if all of this could have already happened, imagine what the future is gonna look like. And I, I always think mostly in terms of impact, I mean, I even look at just, you know, the, the, the people that we've had the opportunity to work with, to serve to the communities we've been able to be a part of and now that's growing to where we're involved in other communities.
Uh I just see more of that. I see more of that impact. I see more of just playing some sort of significant role in people's lives, uh to help them achieve the things that they want to achieve, to help them achieve the lifestyle they want to achieve whether that's with individual people or companies. Um, I just see a lot more of that. Yeah. Do you see yourself slowing down at all? Not until I'm at least 100 and 25. Yeah. And that there's a funny story behind that when I was in high school for whatever reason, I don't even know where that originally came from.
But when I was in high school, I, I would, I would just tell all my friends around me. Like I, I don't even plan on slowing down until I'm at least 100 and 25. And I, like I said, I have no idea where that came from. But now when you look at some of the medical advances, you look at where we're headed and technological advances, uh biochemistry, things like that, that might actually be possible to live a good life that long as crazy as that sounds. Um You're making ben nervous.
Now, I like to get up in the morning. What are you talking about? Stay in shape, be healthy, keep a good, solid, strong line and who knows what will happen? So do you think it'll always be the hats of Ray Hunt's Financial and Joshua Development or are there any other hats that you hope to someday wear? There is such a smirk on your face right now. I have no, I'm not certain what you're talking about that's normal. Um I don't know, you know, I plan on doing the things that I can pursue with a great deal of passion and energy.
Um I, I, and even there's so I'll give you I'll give you an example. OK, this, this is where I'm dancing around your question, right? And so, but I'm gonna give you this example. There's a question I love asking high school kids or even kids that are early into college, as I say, and the number keeps having to increase because just we keep paying people more and more. But I'll ask them, I'll say if I, if I said I was willing to pay you $3 million and you can do whatever you want to do to earn it.
And the, these are high school kids. So I always have to say without it being, you know, illegal, unethical or gonna hurt somebody. But if I, if I've said I'd pay you $3 million you could do whatever you want to do to earn it. What would you do to earn it? And they come with all kinds of great stuff because what's happening is you're removing any other influence that's been put on their lives. They're just thinking about what are the things they enjoy doing the most because reality is that's what you're going to be most successful at.
Uh And you can, you can find plenty of different jobs and you can create jobs that fit where your greatest strengths are. What co what things companies do, you invest in getting better and better, stronger and stronger, the things that you're great at, and you're going to see success. Uh Interestingly enough, if, if you ask basically that same question in a different way, um and say, well, what kind of job would you like to get their answers change instantly? And I usually will ask those questions about a week apart.
You ask them the first one and they come up with all the stuff that they would enjoy doing. And a lot of it has a focus on other people. You ask them what job they want to do and it completely changes. And so for me, the future, um, it's still gonna be based upon where I feel I can make a difference where I feel I can have a significant positive impact and where I know it's going to be enjoyable to do. Um But I can also assure you it's probably gonna also involve what, what does the impact look like to others?
Yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you for that. Thank you for your time today. We appreciate spending time with you. It wasn't so bad, was it? No, this has been fun. We already knew ahead of time. It was going to be fun with the three of us in here. We already knew it was gonna be missed you. He was literally like a kid on Christmas when he knew you were coming. I won't, I won't deny that. That's true. You know, I will share. This was a little, I wasn't sure what the questions were gonna be and knowing how well the three of us know each other.
This was actually, you know, fairly calm compared to what I thought was going to happen in this room, we have witnesses and that's probably why. Ok. Well, thanks for being here. It's been great talking to you. Good catching up. I know our back here has enjoyed this episode and we have too, if you want these in your inbox, join our tribe, subscribe and you will get these as soon as they're released. We appreciate you listening, guiding growth, conversations with community leaders. Ben, let me ask you a question.
How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast? This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand whether you want to again be on the show, reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it.
We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.
