OSR 013: Nate Holzapfel Back On The OSR Podcast
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In this episode we will talk about:
Today we talk with Nate Holzapfel from Mission Belt Company. He was on podcast #3 and we had such a great time he asked to come back on for a second time. Nate Holzapfel has a great outlook on life. He always brings great energy, motivation, and stories to share.
Nate recently has been crushing it with the belt business. Within three weeks his company had over one million dollars in sales. Again he is not in it for the business. He is trying to help less fortunate families by providing them with funds to create businesses for themselves. Mission Belt Company has helped over 800 families with financial backing. The best part is that 98% of all the families that take the funding pay back the money within the first year.
After hearing how many families Mission Belt Company is helping I want to start some type of nonprofit, but Nate shined light on ways we all can give back without starting one. He told me that there are lots of companies that give back like Mission Belt Company does. Nate told me to just take a few more minutes to do a little more research on things I am buying. If I just find companies that give back I will be helping the cause. We can all help without starting a nonprofit. Every little bit helps.
If you want to contact Nate Holzapfel to speak at your event contact him at support@missionbelt.com
In this session you’ll discover:
-Mission Belt Company has helped over 800 families with funding for jobs.
-Be cautious of what you buy.
-Nate writes weekly articles at the Huffington Post.
-Things that are achievable for everyone: money, happiness, and loving life
-Believe in yourself.
-Don’t chase the money; the money will come.
-People are taking pay cuts to work at Mission Belt Company.
-How to get qualified people
-How to find what is important to you.
-Be yourself.
-Hire people who are smarter than yourself.
-Nice is the number one quality people look for in an employee.
-Try not to have an ego.
-Always be willing to grow and learn.
-In life there are no do-overs.
-Finding what you really want
-Get over your fears.
-You have the gifts to change yourself.
-It’s not too late to change.
-Be the best you can be.
-Write things down.
-Tackle the hardest things to do on your to do list.
-Don’t watch too much TV. Try to limit your watching.
-Dread nothing.
-Wake up excited each and every morning.
-It’s exciting to be alive.
-Time flies.
-Get after life and chase it down.
-Hang out with other people from different age ranges.
-Live your dream.
-When you find your passion you will find your happiness.
-Meet others outside of your social circle.
-By the time you understand something it’s going to be too late.
-How to build trust with others
-It’s not about the money.
-I don’t care where the car has been; all I care about is where it is going.
-You don’t have to make big changes to change yourself.
-Do something for others to make yourself happy.
Links:
Nate’s HuffingtonPost Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nate-holzapfel/be-yourself_b_3460777.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nate-holzapfel/living-in-the-past_b_3593057.html
[spoiler]You’re listening to Operation Self Reset with Jake Nawrocki. Now it’s time to reset your life.
What is going on, resetters? This is Operation Self Reset, and we are on podcast lucky number 13 and today we have a recurring guest. And maybe we will have him on every couple of months here. His name is Nate Holzapfel. He is from the Mission Belt Company. You guys can check him out on podcast number three and why am I interviewing him again ten episodes later? I thought, why not? It would be crazy not to. He had some great information to share with you guys, and again, he will provide some great content for you.
But before we dive into that interview, I want to say thank you guys so much from the bottom of my heart for taking the time listening to this podcast. Last time we spoke I asked for you guys to send me an email and let me know if you wanted me to do a weekly podcast or a whenever podcast. I was trying to think of the other word, but I couldn’t think of it in time. So I asked you guys should I do a weekly podcast or should I just do it whenever? A lot of you guys out there wanted me to do a weekly podcast, and I was all jacked up. I thought, “Okay. I can do a weekly podcast. I’ve just got to really manage my time, and I’ll figure it out.” And then a couple of other people emailed me and said, “You know what, Jake? You do such a good job.” Thank you very much to the people that have said that to me. And they said, “Just make sure that it’s quality versus quantity. You don’t want to start pumping out these podcasts and the next thing you know it turns into a job,” and I lose the motivation and I lose the passion for trying to help you guys reset, transform, and change your lives. So I thought to myself, “Instead of forcing it out once a week and feeling rushed and feeling like I’ve just got to get it out there because you guys want a weekly podcast,” I thought, “I’m going to take my time. I’m going to provide some great, great content for you guys and try to knock it out of the park every single time.” So I’m going to do that instead of doing a weekly podcast. I will still try to provide a weekly podcast, but I’m not going to force it out if I don’t have the time. Just because I would rather be passionate and help you guys transform instead of saying, “Hey, this is Jake! Here’s the next podcast [02:33].” And then ten minutes later it turns into junk and then you guys leave me forever and I will never talk to you guys again. So it’s going to be kind of a random basis podcast here. So stay tuned. I will try my hardest to keep on pumping them out as soon as I can.
So to give a little background on myself here lately, what’s been going on in the world of Jake Nawrocki. Well, as with anybody and as with a lot of you guys out there, you guys have been emailing me a lot of the problems that are going on in your own lives. Now, I always say this, but I really want to be truthful when I say I ask you guys to email me issues or problems that are going on in your lives that I can try to help you with. And honestly, every time, every person that has emailed me, I have emailed them back and I always ask, “Thanks for the great comments or whatever, but I want to know what’s going on with you. What’s something I can help with?” and over and over and over again I have been getting comments about time management. It just seems like we never have enough time. And I can raise my hand, and I’m raising my hand right now in saying that I don’t have a lot of time. I feel rushed. I come home. I have a lot of things on my plate. I’m still going through the bankruptcy with the real estate business. I’m doing this podcast and the website, responding to you guys. I’m doing a promotional test here within the next two months, so I really have to be dedicated towards that and I have a new child and a wife to try to still be a good husband to. So I have a full plate, and I’m not saying, “Poor Jake.” I’m just saying I’m like you guys out there—a swamped, swamped schedule. So how can we manage our time better? So that’s one thing I want to really hit on in the next couple podcasts here about time management. And before I kind of go into detail about time management, I want to give you a quick little posting that I saw recently that’s something you guys can kind of take a bite out of.
Now, this is a weekly schedule, okay? So it states that you work an average of 40 hours a week. You eat, shower, travel, do general things around the house: that takes about 35 hours per week. And then you sleep about 56 hours per week. So how much time does that leave you for yourself? Well, that leaves about 37 hours per week to pursue your dream, whatever it may be, your passion, your own little side project, maybe exploring yourself, figuring out who you are, meditating, exercising, whatever it may be. So that’s just kind of a CliffsNotes version of time management and that comes out to 168 hours per week, so take it for what it’s worth. In that equation there, it’s saying 56 hours of sleeping per week. So that’s saying you’re sleeping about eight hours per night. Now that’s pretty generous considering I know a lot of people out there, especially myself, are not getting the full eight hours. And that’s okay. The key is just knowing how much time you really need to sleep. Everybody’s different. Some people can sleep off of four hours. Some people need the full eight hours. Some people out there—you know who you are—you need to sleep like ten hours just to be functioning in the morning. So if we can try to find ways to shave down some of those other time management areas and leave more time for us at the end of the day, that’d be ideal. That is a just a CliffsNotes version of how many hours per week we are spending in different categories: 56 hours in sleeping; 35 hours in eating, showering, traveling, doing general stuff around the house; and then we’re doing the 40-hour workweek and that leaves about 37 hours to pursue our own dreams, passions, what have you. So we will dive more into that in the upcoming podcast episodes.
If you guys out there have any suggestions for good time management—maybe you have found the secret potion of utilizing every single second of your day—I would love to hear about it. I will try to compile the data and provide that in the next couple of podcasts here. So if you guys listening to this say, “Jake, that doesn’t even make sense to me. I have the secret sauce on how to utilize the most out of my day to the second.” If you could share that with me, that would be greatly appreciated. Send me an email at support@operationselfreset.com. And also, too, you guys listening if you have any questions for me, you need more help in a certain area of your life, I would love to hear your story. I would love to hear your issue, and I will respond to you. That is the honest truth. If you guys take a second, push the pause button on this podcast and email me right now: support@operationselfreset.com. Let me know what’s going on with you and I will help you out. I will help you out the best I can. So there you go.
So let’s dive into the content for today. So today we have Nate Holzapfel from the Mission Belt Company. He reached out to me. Lately, he has been doing the hustle. He has been traveling around, writing blog posts for the Huffington Post, going on 60 minutes. I don’t even know if he’s been on 60 Minutes, but if 60 Minutes is listening you should have Nate Holzapfel on there because this guy is in tune with understanding motivation, passion, inspiration, surrounding yourself with good people. I can honestly say this guy is a good friend of mine now because he and I kind of connected on multiple levels, and I think I’m going to have a monthly podcast with him. He just brings great energy to this podcast. I love talking to him, and I hope you guys love listening to him. So here he is, Nate Holzapfel. In the beginning here of the podcast interview, we kind of talk about the business, just checking up on things. And if you don’t know about Nate, he started a company called Mission Belt. A portion of the sales of his belts goes towards giving back to people that are less fortunate. He lends out the money to people to start their farms or businesses in countries that are not as, how should I put it, up-to-date like the United States. And when those people become successful, they actually pay back the loans. It’s a zero percent loan. It’s a great thing he’s doing. We talk about that and we talk about, of course, everything that has to deal with life. I hope you guys enjoy.
Hey guys and welcome back to the podcast. We have a returning guest. Second time on the podcast. His name is Nate Holzapfel. You know him as the cofounder of Mission Belt Company. I had him on podcast number three. He crushed it. He gave us some great information on just how to live our lives better, how to reduce stuff in our life, and how to let go of money, and it will come to all of us. So, Nate, man, welcome back to the podcast and do you mind kind of giving us an update of how the progression has been with the company since the last time we talked?
Yeah, sure, thanks. We are now a multi-million dollar corporation. We’ve sold boatloads of products, just absolutely insane. Way more than anyone thought we would ever sell, and it’s turned out to be just huge. And the list of stores that have called us and wanted to be added to our retailer list is so crazy I had to hire more people to handle all that and it’s just absolutely phenomenal.
For sure. Do you have a figure on how much you collected that you’re going to be donating to people in need, or you don’t have that figure?
I don’t know the exact dollar figure, but I know in the last three months we’ve helped over 800 families.
Wow, awesome. Awesome.
They’re gaining their own independency. They now have their own way of feeding themselves. What’s amazing is they’ll pay that back over time and then that money will just keep going out over and over. We have a 98% return rate on that money.
Wow.
And it just stays out there indefinitely. We never pull it back and so a dollar really isn’t a dollar. It’s 98 dollars over the course of a couple of years. So it’s phenomenal.
Yeah. For sure. And also, too, you’re helping people out. You’re probably the best bank right now out there for people like that.
Zero interest, no credit, and we don’t even require that you have much of an address, just a name and a good story.
Perfect. Perfect.
It’s a pretty good system for now.
So you don’t have to have your firstborn child cosign on the dotted line or anything?
No, in fact one of the things we kind of pride ourselves on is we look for people who really need the help.
Good.
We have our selection process. There’s no money being held back. All the money goes exactly straight to these people and we look for mostly women and people in underdeveloped areas where, to no fault of their own, there’s just no way that they’re ever going to get any money. Here in America a guy like you or a guy like me we can go out and work two or three jobs, rat-hole ten or 15-grand over the course of a year and do something. But in these places these people, I mean their dream is not to have a Porsche. Their dream is not to have a big house. Their dream is to have food to eat.
Right.
So it’s a very simple, basic, human condition stuff that we deal with. And that’s what’s so incredible and great about it is it makes a real difference in someone’s life. It’s not artificial. It’s real.
It’s so funny, I mean, I’m trying to think of something that I personally can do to give back. I know how important it is and how good it feels and just doing something. I’ve been very blessed in my life and to do something like you have done is just super rewarding and then also, too, to pair it with a very successful business, you’ve got to think to yourself, the more you give the more you get. So you’re doing great and that’s awesome you’re helping out less fortunate people.
That’s one of the incredible things, though, man, is that it’s not just us. It’s our tens of thousands of customers that have bought products from us that make the mission a reality.
Sure.
And a lot of people say, “I don’t know how to reach out. I don’t know how to do something big.” You don’t have to. You don’t have to start a company like mine. You don’t have to be me to do this. Get a product from us. Buy a product from companies that do these types of things. There’s a company called Flex Watches. Flex Watches are really, really cool little watches. They’re inexpensive. They’re about 40 bucks. You buy one from them and they give back. They give back. There are products out there that do that. You want to make a difference? Be conscientious in what you buy. That is a great way to start helping and doing things without having to tip your world upside down.
Yeah. Very true. And in return, you’re getting a great product. So, yeah, it’s a twofer. It’s a twofer for sure.
It for sure is.
Can you tell us what’s been going on lately? You’ve been kind of bouncing all over the place in the media, telling your story, expanding the mission statement around the world, and lately you’ve been kind of writing for some blogs and stuff. Do you mind diving into that a little bit?
Yeah, most recently Huffington Post. They requested that I submit for them on a weekly basis and about any subject that I like and what I like to talk about is things that I believe in. I believe in being the very best version of you-that was an article that I wrote. A lot of people will ask me, I get a lot of comments and I get a lot of emails and I get a lot of phone calls, “Nate, what’s the deal? What’s the trick? How do you do that? I want to get on the Shark Tank. I want to be successful and be happy. You seem to emit happiness, how do I become that?” And the reality of it is is that those things are achievable for everyone. You don’t have to be rich to get those things. You don’t have to be me in order to achieve your dreams, but there are certain things. There’s a philosophy to being happy and that stuff is all real. There is some math in it.
And everybody wants that secret sauce. They want that straight line approach, but like you just said, you have it within yourself. The key is just uncovering it and discovering that within. The article that you just touched on, “The Very Best Version of You,” hits on that stuff and it really makes you believe in yourself. A couple of the top things you talked about: stop chasing other people’s dreams. A great point there was, like I said early on here, you said, “I never chase the money; I chase success. If your business model is sound and you do the work, the money will fall into your lap. Plant your seeds and the crop will yield.” Just amazing. So true. And it’s so funny. With any successful company or any start-up, everybody wants to know, “Well, what are the figures? How much are you bringing in? What’s the revenue?” But at the end of the day that’s not what it’s about. Obviously, for you, you have a mission statement that’s sound: giving back to people that need the money and you provide a very good product for the people out there. That’s really huge. Do you want to add anything else to that—stop chasing other people’s dreams?
The thing about it is is that literally, when I say don’t chase the money. I wouldn’t be lying. I know where we have sold, how much we have sold up to certain dates. I know within like three and a half weeks of Shark Tank that we hit the million-dollar mark. That was a big number, whatever. But if you ask me today where we’re at, I really don’t even know. What I do know is it’s lots. I don’t worry about the daily dollars [unclear 15:24], but I know that if my efforts are good in the things that I’m doing every day, the money flows. And I’ve been able to hire all kinds of people. Now we’ve hired a couple new vice presidents. The guy’s taking huge pacts to come work for us. And we have one guy who took an $8,000 pay cut to come work at Mission Belt CO. And it’s just phenomenal to see the type of talent and people we’ve been able to attract. I think a lot of times with a start-up one of the things that’s so hard about it is getting qualified people, getting people to come in, and we have literally just had an outpouring of people who are coming from—I’ll be really honest with you—some very impressive backgrounds. And so it’s awesome and it’s cool to see all that, and the reality of it is is that those types of relationships come to you. We don’t go out and chase these people. They come to us. It’s that whole thing where you stop chasing someone else’s dream; you find what’s important to you, and you go out there with the very best intentions and a good plan and it all falls right into your lap.
Yeah. And another thing you hit on here in that article was be comfortable with you, and you are as transparent and honest and the same person on the phone, off the phone, on the mike, off the mike, and that’s why I believe these people are trying to reach out to you and taking the pay cuts because they know that you are just a wholesome individual and you are yourself. You’re not full of yourself. You’re not trying to be something that you’re not. You are truly 100% Nate. Every day, every single day of the week. We have talked a couple times now and every time you have the same energy, you have the same positive attitude. And that’s awesome and that’s great and that’s why people are drawn to you.
Well, you know the truth of it is I think a lot of times too basically anyone who works for Mission Belt Co., you know three things about them. One, they’re smarter than me. They’re all smarter than me. I only hire people that are smarter than me which is not hard to do because almost everyone is, but they all bring unique things to the table that are special and good. And I know about myself. I know what I’m good at. My skill set’s very limited and I’m very, very good at the things I’m good at and I recognize that, but I want detail-oriented people. I bring on a guy—well, our new vice president of sales is named Shane Monson. Super smart, analytical guy. Just a fantastic human being, and we have some really incredible people like that coming on who are just, they’re amazing. The other thing that you’re going to find out about anyone who works for Mission Belt Co. is that they are all people who are nice people. Some people have asked me, “Nate, where are you going to be in five years?” Or “What are you going to do with Mission Belt Co.? Are you going to sell it? What are you going to do?” I don’t have any plans to sell Mission Belt Co. right now, but I often joke that when it gets to the point where we have to start hiring people that I don’t like personally. It’s funny but nice is the number one quality I look for in a human being, an employee, anything, a wife, spouse, friend. If you’re not nice, I don’t care to know you. And so those two things are very, very, very important. And thirdly, the thing you’ll find about every Mission belt employee, every one of them, every single one of them, they have no ego. We don’t get involved with anybody who is trying to prove something or do something. We want people who want to make a difference, know how to be happy, and are open—open to learning and growing from anyone. You can harvest information from anywhere. I learned stuff from my gardener. Do you know what I mean? I mean you can pick up information anywhere. The whole world, it’s a school, and you can get information anywhere. So it’s got to be those things in order to work at Mission Belt Co. The people that we have, they’re pretty stellar individuals, and I hope I can hold onto them as long as possible.
Oh, for sure. You hit a lot of good points there even if the people listening don’t have the Mission Belt idea in their brain that they want to start-up. You can utilize everything that you just said: hiring good people, being around positive people, no big egos. You’re not hiring the Chad Johnson’s of the NFL and having them deteriorate your team atmosphere. That’s a life lesson. It doesn’t have to just pertain to business. It can pertain to your friends, and it can really help you succeed in life and stuff like that. And one thing you also said, “I hire people that are smarter than me.” And that’s so true and it’s so cool to hear that because a lot of times, especially as a male in the nation here, that you try to kind of feel like I know everything. I know how to fix everything. I know how to do everything, but at the same time you’ve got to be true with yourself. If you don’t know how to install a toilet, don’t install a toilet! Either ask or try to figure it out, all that stuff. And like you said, there’s great, smart individuals out there and surround yourself with them and things will go well.
The reality of it is is that’s the name of the game. I hire the Michael Jordan’s of the business world. That’s who comes to work at Mission Belt Co. That’s why we take off. That’s why we do stuff. I’m a people expert, and so I have a unique ability to meet people quickly, find out what the deal is, what the scoop is, and I’m rarely wrong. I’m unusually perceptive that way. Everything else though, I’m practically an idiot.
Well, you sound smart as hell on here, so you’re doing well.
Oh, well, it’s all an act. Just act smart. [20:20].
For sure. There you go. So what else do you have planned going on? Obviously, the business is going really well. Are you going to be venturing into any other stuff? I know you’re writing now. Is that kind of something that you really enjoy? Do you feel like you’re really helping a bigger audience out there?
It’s really strange but when they asked me, when Huffington Post specifically asked me to do it, I was taken aback and I thought, “Really?” I don’t think of myself as a person that’s worth listening to for too many minutes, but we get so much outpouring from people who are sending emails and they love it and they like the information. And the reality of it is is that part of it I do like is I like people to feel like they’re getting something out of it, and it’s great. It’s wonderful to write something. I write these articles. I do them in 30 minutes. There’s no planning. There’s not even really an outline. I just start typing and then maybe a little bit of editing and stuff and I pop it out. They’re all philosophies and things that I truly believe, and it’s the nature of the universe and I understand that nature. And so, it’s great to put it out there and have people respond to it. I had someone who wrote me an email about a week and a half ago and told me that an article I had written gave them the courage to quit their job and go back to their teaching job, take less money, and go back and find their actual love and passion. And I got another email from them yesterday, and they had actually officiated their deal. They’re starting in the September, and they’re going to be going back to teaching. It was a person who took a $50,000 a year pay cut to go back to something they love and that they appreciate. The person’s life is happy. The whole thing is amazing. So it’s incredible to touch people’s lives.
Another guy I talked to, he took my advice for him to move to Hawaii. He quit his job, got another job elsewhere and made a change because he realized my life there’s no do-overs. You can’t redo life. And so it’s amazing that people have taken some drastic changes based on some advice that I think is good for anyone. It’s good for me. It’s advice I take myself. So it’s always nice to get attention for anything you’re doing well, but it’s really extra rewarding to have people contact me and email me and say, “Nate, this has made a profound difference in my day, my minute, my week, my month, my life.”
Yeah, it really sounds like you and I are directly on the same page. Obviously, you’re providing content for people to start believing in themselves, and obviously that’s what I’m doing through the microphone here. And it is beneficial to be hearing these stories. Because you are putting yourself more out in the public and people are responding to you and more interaction as opposed to just a businessperson, what is one thing that kind of keeps recurring over and over and over with these comments or emails that you’re getting? Is it trying to find passion or should I push the fear aside? And what do you say to these people?
Well, the reality of it is is that, like I always talk about, it’s about finding you, whoever that person is and saying, “This is what I really want out of life.” And pushing fears aside—it’s hard. I learned a foreign language. I learned Spanish, and the way I did that is I moved to South America. No one spoke English, and it was the best way. You had to just go into it, and that’s how you pick it up. And the same thing is true for life. The only way you’re every going to be master of your fears—there’s a big mistake, a lot of people think that being brave means that you’re not afraid. It’s not. It’s a mastering of your fears. Not everybody likes to stand up in front of a group of people or make a statement or do something and you don’t have to do that but sometimes there are these things that you need to do in order to take your life to that next level. You need to go out there. You need to take a risk. You need to be the person to say, “Hey, will you marry me?” You need to have the guts to say, “I want this job.” You need to have the guts to say, “I want to change. I want to do something different.”
And the thing that is amazing about it, in the world we live in today, upward social mobility, the channels that people used to take to get those types of gigs and jobs, they’re simply not working. It’s not as simple as it used to be. You know, it’s 1930 and you go to college for a couple of years, you come home, and you start bossing around guys twice your age wearing a white shirt and a black tie. It’s not how it works anymore. Everyone goes to college now. And you look through the media and you look through stuff, and there’s all kinds of goofballs like me wearing shorts around. Like I’m wearing a bathing suit right now. And we’re running multi-million-dollar corporations that we started out of our bedrooms. Do you know what I mean? And it’s strange, but the reality of it is is that I think the message of that is not, “Wow, look how neat everybody is who is able to not go to college and not do all that stuff.” It’s not about that. Go to college. Do your thing. But just realize that within you—you’re 35, 40 years old, you’re a single mother, whatever. You can go out. You can be happy without having to say, “Well, I should’ve gone to medical school. I should’ve done this. I should’ve done that.” It’s not too late. You can wake up. You can decide who you want to be today and work towards that, become that person, and go out and do something incredible. You do not have to follow the social channels of yesteryear. It’s not the 1950s anymore. [Be 25:27] a member of the country club if you need to [25:29] your business deals. It’s not. What will get you a bunch of business deals is getting out there, meeting people, and showing them something that they want in you.
Right. Like you said, man, reset your life. That transformation can start instantly. You just have to believe in yourself and go out there and ask people. One thing I try to proclaim on here is do the hustle. Get yourself out there. And you are going to have to push your fears to the side a little bit to extend your hand and make those opportunities happen for yourself. So very well put.
It’s all about attitude. It’s all about attitude. That’s all life is.
Sure. Sure. And so where do you see the progression from here on out? Are you doing more articles? Are you reaching out to more people? What’s on the to-do list for you?
I have had just so many different things. I’ve got an outfit that would like me to write a book. That’s crazy, right?
It’s awesome. It’s awesome. You’re doing great.
People are insane, you know? But there’s all kinds of stuff that’s out there like that. Mission Belt is my love. It’s my passion. It’s what I do and as I go through things, I don’t want anything to take me away from that. It’s what I love. But in the meantime, I’ll do the occasional interview here. Program here and there. It’s all great. And some people have hit me up with some pretty interesting ideas that are, they seem a little too crazy, and we’ll see what comes of them but whatever. But there’s definitely a big hole in the world, and people don’t know what to do.
Sure. I’m sure.
You can, you know, like what you do or like what I do, just sometimes indirectly or directly you’re able to explain the way your mind works and what’s worked for you and sometimes that inspires other people and if it does you’re a very lucky person. I’ve been given a lot in life and to be able to talk about it is, well, it’s incredible.
Well, it’s great to have you on here, man. You reached out to me recently and asked and I was literally shocked because I just gave—like I stated in that podcast early on, number 3—I just said I called up your company, or emailed your company, and they got in contact with you and you gave me a call within like 20 minutes, and I was absolutely shocked and then you reached out to me again. And honestly, I think we’re both on the same page, and we both really want to help this country change, transform, let them know that they don’t have to be stuck in that rut. And everything you said: attitude, hustle, finding your passion, whatever it is. That’s what we’re both obviously trying to instill in the world here, and if we can do a little bit to help an individual succeed in whatever it is that they want to succeed in we’re doing our part. So, honestly, I think maybe we’re going to have to continue this, maybe every month or every two months or something we’ll have to get back on and we’ll have to keep on preaching the positive vibes of our lives.
That’s absolutely right, and the thing that’s so funny about it is I know there’s so many people, they feel like they just can’t get to that next spot or they’re unhappy and a lot of times because of undefined goals, chasing other people’s dreams, and literally not sitting down and realizing I’m just going to do my very best today to be the very best version of me. Calling you back in 20 minutes—that’s what I do. [28:37] I do it. I get a phone call, a message—I don’t stop my business day until everything’s done. That’s just how it’s got to be. Everything in life is that way. If you treat all your relationships that way, whether they’re business, personal, your church, your community group, your PTA, whatever, you will be on top of it and people always respect that.
I have one more question. I wasn’t prepared to ask you this, but you said you’ve got to finish everything that’s on your business plate for the day. How do you just—time management? What do you do for time management? Do you just try to complete everything? When it’s put on your plate, do you do it right away so it’s not lingering? How do you go day by day and just do everything?
It’s just like anything else. It’s about priorities. The stuff that’s concerning you the most is the first thing that needs to be done. But if something small pops in, like calling up and just needing to order a couple of chairs. Well, that’s easy; you just get on the phone. You just do it. You don’t say, “I’m going to do that tomorrow.” Just hammer that one out. But you want to make sure that, and it’s a process. I think for people who aren’t used to making quick decisions and doing a lot of stuff, writing things down, you know, the night before priority and you say, “Here’s what I need to get done tomorrow.” The item that’s the most scary, the most daunting, the most stressful, the most problematic, the biggest risk, whatever that item is—attack that first.
First, yeah.
Do that. And then go down through the list. You know what I mean?
Sure.
So maybe calling mom is not very stressful but maybe do that after you’ve done some other stuff. But it’s very easy for us to get a list of things and be like, “Well, I’ll do this part first.” Well, don’t do that, you know? Don’t take the cream puff stuff right off the bat. Do the hard things first. Do the hard things first and then prioritize the rest, and your days can come together. I wish there was more time in the day, but, for me, I personally don’t watch TV. To me, I just don’t have the time for that. So I don’t participate in that particular activity. You’ve got to prioritize for your life. Everything has [unclear 30:29]. If you like TV, that’s fine. Just don’t watch four hours of it. Watch 30 minutes of it. Watch an hour of it and realize that that’s going to be part of your plan. Get everything you need to get done so you can come home at 7:30 and watch Jeopardy or whatever it is you like to watch. That’s what my grandma watches. But you’ve just got to take the scariest thing on your day and just attack that first. That’s the only way to go.
What time do you go to bed?
You’ll laugh. Most people who are really successful will tell you that waking up really, really early is really important.
Sure.
I wake up in the wintertime at 7 and in the summertime I wake up at 6.
Oh, okay.
I go to bed probably between 11 and 1 a.m.
Sure.
I’m sure there’re a lot of people out there who will tell you that I don’t get enough sleep and all that kind of stuff, but I feel like a million dollars and you know what? I don’t know, I mean, I certainly could probably do some things better, whatever. But that’s about how much time I spend up and awake and out of that time, probably most of it’s up time. There’s a little bit of downtime maybe right towards the very end of the evening. But for the most part, I go to bed anxious, getting ready to wake up the next day, and that feeling of waking up every day—I dread nothing. I wake up the next morning and I’m excited to get up and meet my customers and do stuff. In fact, as we’ve hired more employees and hired a new vice president of sales and things like that I actually miss talking to the customers directly. It was fun. I still pop into the retail stores once in a while and [31:57] emails or I’ll go to customer service and sit down there for ten minutes and say, “Anybody interesting today?” And if somebody’s had a bad day or a problem, whatever, I usually will call them up myself, and it’s fun to be involved with people. It’s fun to do those types of jobs, and it’s so exciting to be alive. I’m 34 now. One day you wake up and you’re 70.
Yeah, I know.
And I’ll tell you what, the time will go by and you have this decision to make right now. You can’t do anything about the past. My next article I just wrote it this morning and it’s called “Yesterday,” and it’s about you can’t change yesterday. It’s over. But tomorrow is the future and you can do something about it. You can do something about it right now. You can make that decision today, now. When I quit my job and started Mission Belt. I quit my job that morning. By that afternoon, an hour later, I was in a store selling Mission Belts. I didn’t say, “Well, I can wake up on Monday and get going. I’m going to shut down for the weekend.” You can’t do that. I literally got in gear and just started going for it right then. And once again, this is not a hurrah, hurrah, Nate story. This is a life lesson story. It’s an eternal truth that makes sense and it’s real. If you will get after it and you will chase it down, the world is yours. The world is yours.
Yeah, there was a study done and they interviewed a lot of people at retirement homes. They went around, they asked people just general questions about their life, about the Great Depression, all that stuff. And they said, “What’s one thing that you regret?” And 90% of the people out there said the exact same thing. It was, “Taking those chances that I knew were risky and I didn’t go ahead and do it. I wish I would’ve done skydiving or I wish I would’ve learned how to swim or whatever it may be.” Just doing those things that at that moment you feel like, “Eh, I don’t want to. It’s not me. I shouldn’t do this. It’s a little risky. I don’t want to try this or that.” But like you said, when you’re 70 years old and you’re sitting back and reliving your life, it might come back and haunt you. So live every single day to the fullest because you never know what’s going to happen.
That’s a fact, man. And the truth of it is is hanging out with people of different ages is important. Spending time with younger people, spending time with older people. One of my very dearest friends just died about three weeks ago and he was 77. A fountain of wisdom. Powerful businessman. He founded a company called Embassy Suites. Smart guy. His name is Steve [34:17]. Fantastic individual. And I went and watched him deteriorate over the last few months and die of cancer, unfortunately. But as I sat there and I talked to him, while I was sad to see this towering, powerful man just literally deteriorating before my eyes. The one thing though as I sat there, I said, “This is a man who has no regrets. He’s done everything.” Great family. Great life. He has done fun things. He bought the sports car that he wanted to get and drove the wheels off it. Do you know what I mean? He took family vacations. He started a business. He did what he wanted to do. And I don’t think you need to do all those things in order to be successful. You can have people who just, my father is a teacher. He loves that. That’s what my dad does. My dad is living his dream.
And there are people that do that. They actually go out there and do that. I always admired my father because my father is one of the few people you’d ever meet in life who genuinely enjoys what he does for a living. He loves it. He absolutely loves it. If I gave him a million dollars tomorrow, he’d go back to his office the next day and keep teaching. He loves it. And when you can find that passion in something, you’re truly happy. My father’s a truly happy person. And so whenever opportunity exists, meet somebody new outside of your normal social circle. Talk to somebody who is older. Get their point of view. Get their perspective. I love the idea of someone doing a study going to old folks’ homes and asking people who are older, “Now that you’ve done this, what do you think?” I have another good friend who is a much older guy. He’s in his seventies. His name is Doug, and I asked Doug one time, “What’s the trick to being a father?” He says, “Nate, by the time you figure out how to be a father it’s too late, and you’re a grandfather.” And you know what? Unfortunately, that’s a lot of life. That’s a lot of life. But nonetheless, we can do our very best to attain as much knowledge and experience through others as we have now. While I might not be a perfect father to my five year old and four year old, the reality of it is I do realize that I’m not, and just recognizing that is power and knowledge in itself.
Sure. And one thing you touched on too, you said when you’re happy at your job and also, too, when you are internally happy, everything around you is going to be a little better. You’re going to see the bright side of certain situations. Your family is going to love you a little more. You’re just going to be more energetic. A lot of things revolve around your own personal energy that you bring to whatever it may be. So if you’re happy at your job, you’re going to be happy at your home. Not 100% of the time, but you’re just going to have a better edge, mental attitude and everything like that. So, well said, man.
It’s so funny when we talked yesterday or two days ago, you’re like, “Yeah, I’ll just come on for like 10, 15 minutes and we’ll chit-chat for a little bit.” Well, we’re coming on a half an hour, Nate. And again, we are just crushing this, so this is great. Like I said, for sure, we’ve got to keep talking and spreading the word here. Thanks again for your time. And one thing, too, like you said, talking to other people and meeting up with them, getting outside of your normal group, like you and me for example. I reached out to you. You reached out to me and you said it’s all about making connections and just building trust within each other and that’s so very true. I was so humbled to get in contact with you again, but then I realized I put myself out there to get in contact with you and you’re just doing the same for me in return. So it’s not like I’m in shock of like, “Oh my gosh, Nate wants to be my best friend.” It’s just a general thing. The more you give; the more you get. We just talked about that. So it’s awesome and I’m honored.
You’re a positive guy who gets it, and the reality of it is is that it’s not about financial success necessarily. It’s not about a track record [37:42] all the time. It’s about now. I don’t care about the past. If I was going to hitch a ride on a car, I wouldn’t care where it’s been. I only care where it’s going. And the reality of it is whenever you’re making plans, relationships, or whatever, contacts, I always surround myself with people that I think are smarter than me, better looking than me. In some cases, taller. You know whatever I can get. I want the very, very best. If you’re a better ping pong player, I want to hang out with you. And so the deal with it is is that really, seriously, you’re a guy who does get it. You understand these eternal truths. They’re obvious to you. And so it’s a good venue for people to listen to you and it’s great. I’ve had a lot of people who listened to your podcast and called me and have said, “Nate, that was inspiring. That was incredible. That was neat.” And so it’s a good venue.
It’s a good thing, and the reality of it is is that everyone can be happy. This is not one of these things, well, there’s only a certain percentage of people that can find happiness. Everyone can truly find happiness. You don’t have to have a fancy car to be happy. You don’t have to have a super successful business. You can literally make tortillas for a living in Mexico and be the happiest person alive. In fact, a lot of people I know who are the happiest do just that. They have very simple jobs, in simple places. My wife is from Mexico and you meet her dad—her dad is one of the happiest, nicest guys you’ll ever meet. The man’s a farmer. And he just loves his life. He’s got a great life. And so the reality of it is the message that really is out there is that you don’t have to reinvent yourself. You don’t have to go out and make a huge change. You have to find out who you are and what makes you happy. And I hope your listeners understand that and they feel empowered and want to go out and make a difference in their own lives. Anything they do better is going to be better, whether it’s washing your car better, treating your kids better, doing something for your wife you don’t usually do. Anything that’s better is better.
Right. And it’s the little things too, like you just said. It doesn’t have to be a huge change or that tomorrow’s the day I’m going to wake up and shave my head and do all this crazy stuff. It’s the little stuff. It’s the little stuff every single day that can really transform your life for the better.
And those are the things that you’re going to regret. Those are the things: “I wish I was nicer to my wife.”
Yeah, good point.
I wish I had spent more time with my kids. Instead of staring at my iPhone all evening, I really wish that I had given the boy the time. Those are the things that’ll haunt you later.
Sure. Sure. Well, Nate, again, awesome. So honored to have you back on. Like I said, we’re going to have to keep in touch here. I will be letting everybody know where they can read your blogs and all that stuff, Huffington Post here, and keep on writing some great articles, keep on kicking butt in the belt world, and keep on giving back, man. It’s a great story and like you said, for myself I wanted to really, I felt like I was lacking giving out to people and volunteering and all that stuff, but you just hit it on the head. Just finding companies that give back and you’re doing something good in a small sense but it’s still something in the right direction. So for that, I appreciate it.
And the other thing that’s important to remember, I don’t give money to people to help them or whatever because I feel guilty. I don’t do it because I think it’s a good business move. I do it because I think it’s a good thing to do, and if you want to be happy do something good for somebody else and you will be happy. I’m a very happy person, and the more and more I do the happier I get.
Sure. Well, Nate, thanks again. We’ll keep in touch and have a great rest of your summer here and we’ll talk soon.
Thanks very much. Have a great day.
You too.
Thanks again to Nate for coming on the podcast. He just brings some great energy to this thing. I love it. I love talking to him, and I love that he has provided about 800 families with financial aid in transforming their lives. That is remarkable. And one thing that was very true when he stated in the beginning of the podcast, I told him I want to do something. I really do. I want to start like a nonprofit or something, but he was like, “Just as long as you find companies that are giving back, you are doing something.” And that’s so true. So you guys out there listening, make sure that if you are going to be buying a product maybe search a little extra and see if there’s a company out there that’s giving back to an organization or a charity or whatever it may be. If you drink coffee, maybe try to buy fair trade coffee or whatever it may be. So there’s a lot of ways that we can give back by just living life, by doing our part by just buying products and those companies are giving back. So we’re kind of helping the cause in a little way. But every little bit helps, just like anything.
A couple of things I took away from the interview—like always, you guys can find the tips that I pulled away from every single episode on the website: OperationSelfReset.com/tips. And there you will find the most recent episodes from the podcast and the seven tips that I pulled away from each and every episode. And a couple things that I pulled away from this interview: he talked about it’s not too late to change. And that’s so true. Even though there’re a lot of people out there that may be listening to this that are well established in their careers and in their lives, it’s never too late to say, “I’ve had enough of this. I need to change in this direction.” Or, “I need to do this or that.” There’re so many times we all feel like, “I’m way too invested to change now.” You’re going to college, for example. You’re already three years into your degree: “Well, forget it. It’s too late now. I have to stick with business. I don’t want to pursue my dream of publications or acting or whatever it may be.” But at the end of the day, maybe take that time. Suck it up and pay that extra little bit to extend your college degree into a direction that you want to do because you will be doing that for a very long time, and if you don’t like it, you can change it up again because life’s too short to continue down a path that’s not providing you with any value or quality of life because it’s just not worth it.
And one thing that Nate always talks about: it’s all about attitude. If you bring great attitude, you can get into some great companies. Like him, Nate only hires people that are really nice and don’t have an ego. Those are qualities that you’ve got to think of when you are presenting yourself to other individuals. Nobody wants to hire somebody that has an ego the size of a hot air balloon. You don’t want that. You want to be just a nice, true individual. Be yourself, and everything will be okay. And honestly, that study that I did share about people going to old age homes and asking them, “What’s the one thing you regret?” It was not taking the risk. That is a true article. I will try to find that and reference that in the show notes. And you can get all the show notes from this podcast episode. Go to OperationSelfReset.com/podcast013, and there you will find all of the show notes, all of the articles that Nate Holzapfel wrote on the Huffington Post and everything that we have talked about in today’s episode.
And referring back to kind of the intro about time management, there were a couple of things that Nate did say in this interview that I want to share with you guys in kind of slingshotting the time management forum and/or discussion. And a couple of things that he said was he writes down a lot of things that he has to do within the day. So that kind of prioritizes his own list when he wakes up. He attacks the hardest things first, and that’s a good way to kind of go through your list. Maybe before you go to bed, write out a list of what you have to do for tomorrow and prioritize each one. Obviously, number one would be the hardest and there on down. It’s a good thing to do because in the morning either way you have to do it. So why not just knock it out? Instead of saying, “I’ll do it after lunch,” and then you’ll say, “I’ll do it after my 2 o’clock meeting,” and the next thing you know it’s 4 o’clock, you’re ready to go, and you didn’t accomplish that thing that you had to do because it was scaring you, or it was hard, or whatever it may be. Just knock it out now. Just do it. Get it over with and work on down the list.
Another thing he shared was reducing TV time. If you really love a show, instead of watching 2.5 hours, try to narrow it down to an hour. If you love a couple of shows, maybe just narrow it down to one show, so you’re only watching TV for 30 minutes instead of an hour, hour and a half or what have you. And the last thing that he really shared was wake up excited. I think that’s a great way to start your day, especially when time management is tough. It’s tough to wake up excited when you know you don’t even have time to be excited because you’re so swamped. Guilty, right here. And I know you guys listening too. We’ll dive into that a little more. We’ll try to get together some great ideas and concepts. I already have a whole list of things that we can do individually to extend our day and make the most out of it. And like I stated before, if you guys have some tips that are working for you, feel free to email them to me support@operationselfreset.com. I will incorporate them into the podcast, and I will give you name reference. So if you provide a great tip, I will give you a shout out to the world on this podcast. How awesome is that, right?
So, again, guys, thank you so much for taking the time listening to this podcast. If you haven’t already, please leave a review on iTunes and also subscribe, and if you get a chance and if you are talking to somebody that you enjoy talking to—hopefully you do. That’s the reason why you’re talking to them—let them know about this podcast. Tell them how awesome it is. So, guys, take care. Have a great day. Make it a great day. We will catch you in podcast number 14. And once again, I will try to pump these podcasts out, but I’m not going to force them out. So keep on working towards your ultimate goal of success, change, reset, transform your life, one little thing at a time, and again, just try something a little different. Maybe it’s waking up five minutes early. Instead of waking up at 6:30, wake up at 6:25, and don’t hit that snooze button. Man, can you imagine all the things you’ll get done with an extra five minutes? Cause we’re always counting those minutes right before we have to leave for work: “Oh, shoot! I’m two minutes late.” Well, because that throws off the whole schedule, so wake up an extra five minutes early. See how it works out for you. Take care, guys. Thanks again so much and we will talk to you guys soon.
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