954. How to Keep Going When Your Vision Gets Tested

Summary

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Fullerton Unfiltered – Episode 954: How to Keep Going When Your Vision Gets Tested

Host: Brian Fullerton
Guest/Speaker: Liz Fullerton
Date: April 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Brian and Liz Fullerton share raw, honest, and practical advice from their presentation at Launch Academy Live 2023. Their message centers on overcoming criticism, doubt, and self-sabotage—internal and external obstacles that test your vision as an entrepreneur. Through personal stories and candid moments, they encourage listeners to fortify their self-talk, develop resilience, and stay committed even when others (or your own mind) question your goals.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Post-Conference Comedown: What Do You Do With All This Motivation?

• [02:10] Brian reflects on the “post-conference slump”: Getting hyped up at events then wondering if you have what it takes when you return to reality.
  • “You can start thinking to yourself, dude, do I actually have what it takes to do all this on Monday? ... Does anybody ever feel that way?”
• Warning against negative mental loops after conferences and the importance of channeling new knowledge into consistent action.

The Power of Criticism and Doubt

• [03:40] Brian introduces the twin enemies: criticism (from others) and self-criticism.
• Shares a favorite quote:
  • “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever would.”
• References "Think and Grow Rich" and the ‘Six Ghosts of Fear’ (fear of criticism, among others):
  • “I read every single book that I could get my hands on. ... It was water to a dry sponge.”

The Two Types of Criticism ([05:39])

• Criticism from the world (social media, family, peers)
• Self-criticism (internal dialogue and comparison)

Deep Dive: Self-Criticism

[06:22] Liz’s Perspective:

• Describes self-criticism as her “biggest enemy”—a daily battle especially for women in business and moms.
• Encourages listeners to distinguish between warranted and unwarranted self-criticism:
  • “Is it something I’m calling myself out on [actually] true? Or am I comparing my worst to someone else’s best online?”
• Tip: Check how you talk to yourself—be compassionate, allow for grace and improvement.
  • “If you aren’t talking to yourself kindly, how are you going to talk to anybody else?”
• Warns about the burnout and isolation that comes from negative self-talk and unhealthy comparison.

The Power of Positive Self-Talk

[09:19] Brian:

• Shares a practical tactic:

  • “You can’t fix thoughts with thoughts. You can only fix thoughts with words.”

• Advocates for speaking positive intent out loud—words have transformative power to break mental loops.

  “My guys never show up. I never get the breaks.” <br> — Instead, try: “The next commercial job, my company’s getting it right.” (09:45)

• Highlights the journey from thoughts → actions → habits → destiny.

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External Criticism: The World’s Opinions

[10:30] Brian gives real-world examples:

• Naysayers on social media and family gatherings second-guess your decisions (what mower you buy, starting a podcast, buying land, etc.).
  • “Now you run your lawn landscape business and you buy a mower and somebody says, think that business is gonna work? Why’d you buy an exmark? Should have bought a skag. That thing’s just gonna break down anyway.”

Social Media and Amplified Opinions ([11:20], [14:39])

• It’s easier than ever for people to criticize.
• Shares being openly criticized online, even for successes.
• Stories about “Digger man Chad” and naysayers questioning their business, social media impact, and property purchases.
  • "Screw that guy. Three years later, 2.8 effing million downloads... I’m sure glad I didn’t listen to Chad Diggerman.” (13:33)

Family/Friends as Critics ([17:07])

• Family members cast doubt at every step—buying land, starting a YouTube channel, building a house.
• Brian emphasizes that “most people criticizing you have no idea what they’re talking about.”
  • “You sticking to your guns and you making a decision and you making it right, you’re the one that’s usually got the right answer. Because you know what makes sense for you. You know what makes sense for your business, right?” (12:58)

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Resilience, Vision, and the “Man in the Arena”

The Iconic Passage ([20:19])

• Brian reads the “Man in the Arena” by Theodore Roosevelt, rallying the audience to value action over criticism:
  • “It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...”

Personal Story: Vision in the Hardest Times ([22:23])

• Brian & Liz share a raw moment:
  • During a period of maximum stress and doubt, Liz ripped their “dream board” off the fridge and declared she quit.
  • Brian: “I went back on my hands and knees and I picked up all these little scraps of paper, crying my eyes out. And I said, I have to become better. I have to figure this out.”
  • They literally pieced their vision back together, saving the dream physically in a Ziploc bag to remind themselves to keep going.
• Advice: Keep your vision somewhere visible, return to it often.
  • “Put it on your truck speedometer... somewhere you’re going to look regularly.” (23:23)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever would.” (02:49)
• “You can’t fix thoughts with thoughts. You can only fix thoughts with words.” (09:19)
• “Most people criticizing you have no idea what they’re talking about.” (12:58)
• “For anybody who’s ever heard that story and thinks that I make stuff up... We had all of our dreams plastered on our refrigerator... [Liz] tore them into pieces. I picked up all these little scraps of paper crying my eyes out. ... I have to become better.” (24:10)
• “The critic, man, the critic. The successful will be remembered for their successes. The failures will be remembered for their failures. But the vast majority, the middle, they’ll just be plain forgotten.” (21:53)
• Liz’s surprise framing of “The Man in the Arena” for Brian in honor of his commitment. (27:41)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Motivation vs. Reality Post-Conference: 02:10–04:00
• Self-Criticism & Comparison (Liz): 06:22–09:19
• Fixing Negative Mental Loops: 09:19–10:30
• Navigating Criticism from Others: 10:30–14:42
• Social Media Stories & Skeptics: 14:42–19:00
• Family, Friends, and Business Doubt: 17:07–21:53
• “Man in the Arena” Reading & Message: 20:19–22:23
• Personal Story: Dream Board Shredded: 22:23–25:00
• Rebuilding After Doubt: 25:00–26:46
• Surprise moment – Framed Poem Gift (Liz to Brian): 26:48–28:58

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Tone & Final Thoughts

Brian and Liz keep things real, authentic, straight-talking, with plenty of humor and heart. The episode is a mix of tough love, practical mindset shifts, confessional moments, and encouragement. Their vulnerability—sharing not only their successes but also their moments of doubt—makes their message relatable and empowering.

Final Message:

• Everyone faces criticism, especially as a business owner. Minimize it in your life—both internal and external. Replace negative thoughts with spoken words of affirmation. Keep your vision visible and alive, even when tested. Take action on what you learn, not just on Monday, but day after day. And remember: only those “in the arena” can truly achieve lasting success.

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Memorable Takeaway

"Because you chose to be in the arena facing the critic, our family is winning. And I hope that people in here are winning as well."

— Liz Fullerton, [28:40]

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For more inspiration or to access the full LAL replay, visit launchpreneuracademy.com.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

You're now listening to the Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast. Straightforward, no nonsense business advice, completely on

[A]

filtered Grow your business, grow your life. Now here's your host, Brian Fullerton. Hi. Hello. How are you? It's Mr. Producer and we're going to feature Brian and Liz's presentation from the big Launch Academy Live 2023 event this past November. If you are interested in hearing all of the keynotes from Lal, you can pick up the replay bundle at launchpreneuracademy.com there's content from Sam Gimble, Jeff Joyner, Leroy Mains, Mark Bradley and many others. By the way, if you've already purchased what we call the Whole Ball of Wax at some point in the past or when you pick it up in the future, all of the LAL Replay videos and audio are a part of the perks that you receive with purchasing the Whole Ball of Wax. Right now though, let's enjoy this special presentation from Brian and Liz Fullerton and thank you for being a part of our podcast family.

[B]

What I want to talk about for just a couple minutes here and hopefully a couple of you guys get a couple things out of this. I don't know if this will relate and resonate with everybody, but I loved how Sam Gamble wrapped up his presentation with the tail end talking about you get all fired up and all motivated and all encouraged, but then I don't know if you guys can relate. I've gone to conferences like this quite a bit, plug into things online quite a bit and it's almost like you get to this time of the event, this time of the conference and you're like dude, I got all this information, all this Data. And it's like, what do I do with it? And you gotta be careful with that because around this time of the conference, you can start thinking to yourself, dude, do I actually, like, have what it takes to do all this on Monday? Is this actually something I want to do for real? Does anybody ever feel that way? You start kind of like having that negative feedback loop in your mind again, Thinking to myself, man, I don't know if I can be as debonair as a Sam Gimbel or as good looking as a Western Zimmerman. No, I'm just kidding, or whatever. I want to talk about that loop that's always going on in your mind. Criticism and doubt. I want to talk about that for just a couple quick minutes because Liz and I had a photo on our old apartment wall for quite a while. And it said, doubt kills more dreams than failure ever would. Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever would. And that criticism and that doubt is what I wanted to talk about for just a couple minutes. Think and grow rich. Who's ever heard the book or read the book? Think and grow rich. Thoughts are things. Desire, faith, auto suggestion, specialized knowledge. You guys know the chapters. If you haven't read the book, it's a classic. Despite what anybody says, it's a classic and it's a good book. Chapter 15, it talks about the fear of criticism, the six ghosts of fear. Anybody ever hear about that? The six ghosts of fear, or read that? Jeff, you've read that? Yep. Poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, death. You're like, how is this dude? Chapter, title, verse, think and grow rich. Because I'm psychopathic about learning about success. Because when you came as far back as we did, I read every single book that I could get my hands on. It was like manna from heaven. It was like water to somebody in the desert. It was water to a dry sponge. And all I did for the last 15 to 20 years of my life is eat, breathe and sleep successful people like Sam, Jeff, and all these different people. And you know what? That stuff helped me like you wouldn't believe. And the biggest thing, one of the biggest things that I struggled with was doubt and fear and criticism and inferiority complex and comparing myself to a Cornell Mac. I'm like, I don't know if I can do what they do. And I learned along the way that I can. I'm gonna help you guys navigate that for just a quick second. But in that chapter, this really set me free. It talked about the fear of criticism. And that's something that there's two types of it, and we're gonna talk about that for a quick minute. There's criticism from everybody out in the world, and there's also that self criticism. Let's gonna talk about self criticism for a minute. I'm gonna talk about the criticism from everybody in the world. Dude, it just gets me so fired up right now. Because who out here believes or who here sees the amount of criticism or complaining or the whining that's going on in society right now? Do you guys see it? Is it amplified and just so much louder than ever because of social media? You buy something, you get something, you wear something, you do something, and everybody has an opinion about everything. And thank the Jesus, the social media all exists from Facebook to whatever. Now everybody gets to comment on all the above. And it's such a weird thing that none of us had to really navigate 10 years ago, the only people that had to navigate that stuff were somebody in the MLB taking an at bat. Dude strikes out, 20,000 people say, Boo. That was it. But now you run your lawn landscape business and you buy a mower and somebody says, think that business is gonna work? Why'd you buy an exmark? Should have bought a skag. That thing's just gonna break down anyway. You think you can make money in that business? Our whole family's last name always failed at business. What makes you think that you're gonna be successful? You're like, hey, Aunt Robin, shut your face. Where the hell did you come from? And who also taught you how to get on Facebook? It's unbelievable. Talk more about it in a second. I don't want to steamroll here, but go ahead. You want to talk about self criticism for a couple quick minutes?

[C]

So self criticism is probably one of the biggest enemies I faced in my entire life. It's something I continue to battle against every single day, especially as a mom. I know I have quite a few of you ladies in here, like, you just can never be good enough. You can never be good enough in your business. There's always something that you could have done better. But I also believe that self criticism isn't necessarily bad. If you follow just a little bit of framework. Anytime I have a thought pop up where I'm doubting or criticizing myself, I think to myself, is it warranted? Is what I'm calling myself out on true? Okay, Could I be actually better in this area, or am I comparing my best or my worst against somebody else's best online? Does that make any sense of? Like, is it something I'M trying to even achieve. Like that's really cool that you know, Susie can grow all these vegetables and her kids eat nothing but organic. But is that even my goal? So is it warranted? Two is like I said, it's not a bad thing to be self critical. But how are you talking to yourself about it? Check your voice in which that you're saying things to yourself. You hear your voice nonstop from the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed. And honestly, even in your dreams, your voice is constantly the one that you hear narrating your life. If you aren't talking to yourself kindly, how are you gonna talk to anybody else? How are you expecting other people to talk about your business or to you? Or how are you gonna talk to your children? How are you gonna talk to your spouse? Your self voice is extremely important. So it's okay to be a little bit critical when it's warranted and then also check how you're talking about yourself to yourself. Are you saying things like I'm the worst at this, I suck, I'm terrible, I'm a terrible mom, world's worst mom. Or hey, you know what, I didn't do that so good. Yes, there is room for improvement. The criticism is warranted, but I'm giving myself grace enough to improve. And you can really burn yourself out quickly too with the negative spiral. So our other thing too is comparison. I think it goes hand in hand with self criticism. It is impossible to maintain friendships with high caliber people with a heavy dose of self criticism in a negative way. We could not be friends with people like the Amans if we were just so self critical and in competition with them. How am I supposed to be in competition with a Britney Ammon? Look at their business. Look at my business. She's got three kids, I got two. To me, Britney Amman is goals. But I can remain her friend by finding her inspiring and somebody that I can look up to, somebody who's on my team, we cheer each other on. But if I'm so self critical that I'm in my own head saying you'll never be as good as her, you'll never homeschool your kid or run a freaking business. I don't know how to run an excavator. Do I look like I know how to do that? I don't even cut grass honestly. So take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. Brian. Like you said, I'm not a professional speaker. I am behind the scenes of our business a lot. I'm not in the field like you guys. But I am a business owner and I experience criticism and self doubt every single day. And those are my couple tips to kind of help you get through it.

[B]

Amen to that. One thing I wanted to share with you guys and can you guys do me a solid. Write this down quick. Nugget, nugget. Write this down. Help you. I know, help me. You can't fix thoughts with thoughts. Can only fix thoughts with words. And I love you guys and I want to love on you guys. And I'm telling you guys, this loop that's on replay, I've been there, I've done that. You gotta knock that stuff off. And the only way you can control what's going on up top is you start speaking out loud. And I don't care what you believe or how you believe or what you believe too. But I'm just telling you, words have power. And when those words go out of your mouth, they better be speaking life. My guys never show up. I never get the breaks. I never get the jobs. Why not me? Why not us? Why not now? Anyone ever say stuff like that? Let's admit it. I've said it. You've said it. Instead, you can say, you know what? I'm so excited Corey Ballard got that new commercial job. The next commercial job, my company's getting it right. I'm so excited that Corey Ballard found a new foreman for his moe crew company. But you know what? That next guy, that next guy that's looking for a foreman job, he's gonna call my company and I'm gonna get that lead right. You start fixing your words, you start fixing those words, those start fixing your thoughts. And your thoughts lead to what your actions, your actions lead to what your character, your character leads to what your habits, your habits lead to what your destiny. It starts up here. And then people go, fullerton, you're all about the dream and all about words and all about the vision. I'm like, bro, it always starts there. You can go talk about mowers all day and systems and leadership and all this mess. But if you got head trash up here and you got self limiting beliefs and you go haul off and do nothing because you keep reverting back to old software, we're doomed. So that's why we spend so much time doing brain surgery. Okay, let me shift gears a little bit. I want to talk about criticism of others. Oh, like Liz said, the highlight reel. Comparing your worst to someone else's best season of being in the desert, waiting for your breakthrough negative Self talk. We got to get rid of that nonsense. Criticism from others again. Who out here for who here has bought something, done something, went to a family function, you were all excited. You told somebody, and whether they admitted to or meant to or not, they poo pooed on your progress. Has anybody been like that? Give me some examples. Who's poo pooed at Thanksgiving? Yeah, thanks. Give me some other examples. I saw a bunch of hands. Where's you guys told somebody's dream over this way. And somebody just made fun of you over here. Somebody had to raise hand in the back. Yeah. And somebody made fun of you about that. You're not going to make any money in snow. Yeah, there you go. Anybody over here. You got a story. Somebody made fun of you, criticized you in the red. Every lawnmower you bought, somebody makes fun of it. Says it's not the right one. You know, it's really interesting. We're all in the same Facebook groups, We're all online in the same social media realms. I've yet to find the perfect lawnmower. I'm like, I buy a skag. And they're like, skag sucks. I'm like, huh? I didn't know that. I go buy a toro. Hey, man, you know, toro is all the belts slip and the pulley suck. Ugh. Damn it. I go over here. I like Exmark. They're too expensive. I know, but they're really good. Yeah, Exmark sucks. Oh, God. Go talk to Ed Wright. He's like, I'll tell you why everybody sucks. Cause he's really smart. Well, you don't have any dealers in Michigan. Well, what are you gonna do? I'm like, I don't get it right. I don't get it right. I don't get it. Right. I don't get it. Right. That guy's right. That guy's right. That guy's right. That guy's got the answer. That guy's got the answer. That guy's got the answer. And you let that wear on you for 2, 5, 10, 20 years, and you start realizing, I've got nothing figured out, and everybody else has it all figured out. You want some inside baseball. Pretty much every single person that criticizes you has no clue what they're talking about. The older I get, the more I realize most people have no idea what they're talking about. And in fact, you sticking to your guns and you making a decision and you making it right, you're the one that's usually got the right answer. Because you know what makes Sense for you. You know what makes sense for your business, right? I started a podcast. Liz and I were so excited about a podcast in 2019. 2020.

[C]

I don't even know what date is.

[B]

I don't even remember. Yeah, what decade is it, Leroy? I don't even know. Started a podcast. We're like, we're gonna do a podcast. It's gonna be awesome. I just wanna share my stories and help the world. Yay. Wasn't but, like, three minutes later, this guy says, how big is your business? Are you really in the position to be giving advice to other small business owners? Screw that guy. Yeah, I thought so. Yeah, I thought so. I thought, you know, I just want to help people. I wasn't trying to, like, you know, change the world. Three years later, 2.8 effing million downloads. Somebody find Digger man Chad and send him a screenshot and say, hey, three years later, I got 3 million downloads. I've been number eight on the podcast charts for, like, 10 days straight. Top 200 for three effing years. Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't listen to Chad Diggerman. What the hell was a Chad Diggerman? F and A, bro. We buy a house in 2019. Hey. Or buy land in 2019. We bought land.

[C]

We were so excited.

[B]

We were so excited about it.

[C]

We dreamt of buying land forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. It's literally since even before we got married, this was like a goal of ours. One day, finally buy it. We are crying and, you know, it's emotional. It's a big dream accomplished, and people still had something to say.

[B]

This guy, I don't know who the hell this loser is. I'm watching a YouTube video one night, somebody sends it to me. Hey, some guy's talking trash in the comment threads. Seriously. Quick Side note, our social media, and I say this super humbly, but understand where I'm coming from, our social media is so all over the place that there's not a single day where somebody's not talking shit about me. It's365. Corey right now is talking shit about me on his Instagram. That's hilarious. Your Facebook? Yeah. If you type in, like, Hate Brian's Almanders, it'll probably come up like a top 100. Who thought making YouTube videos about how to cut grass could be such a controversial thing on the Internet? I'm like, what did these people do before I existed? And they had, like, something to do after 9pm? It's insane. So one day I get. Somebody shoots me a Message, of course, which is like almost every day. Hey, somebody's got a thread. I go on one of Tigrin and Gertz's videos. I like T, he's cool, a little weird, but he's cool. And I go to Tigris video. It's like there's a thread comment, 37 comments deep in like an hour. And I'm like, what is going on here? And I somebody just like commented and then commented again. And out of nowhere people start coming at me about my land and my property and like the fact that I want to build a house. And this joker starts commenting coming from the guy who buys land and can't afford to build on it. Sounds like you have your money going in all the right places, bud. Criticism from other people, right? Well, exactly. We're growing their businesses, we're reinvesting into the companies. We're reinvesting into Brian's Law Maintenance. I'm reinvesting into our media company called Motivated Media mow. Last year people go, how much you make from your social media? I don't know. But I'll tell you what I spent last year, I spent reinvested into my social media company, $450,000. On what? What could that possibly be? What is social media? Anybody ask me, what is social media? It's followers. What are followers? People? What did I spend $450,000 on you? So people want to criticize me. Not gonna do it. Not gonna do it.

[C]

Not yet.

[B]

Six months ago, break ground on our home, million dollar plus property. Three years later. Took me a little while. I wasn't building some double wide fucking trailer.

[C]

To be fair. We're gonna argue,

[B]

you know, things like this cost money. Anything called Covid where lumber's up and down, 100 grand every month I get my 1500, my cord feet, thousand square foot of cord feet, whatever for wood. And it's up and down like the stock market. And I'm like, jesus Christ, I'm not building a double wide trailer, homie. Relax, okay? This stuff takes money. Also because we like to do it right. Because people think all this stuff. I'm like, you know What? That land, 200 grand, not only paid it off 20% down on that fucker, this guy's talking trash. And I put a half a million dollars down on my home and my property and I pay off my land. Go ahead, keep talking shit. This is what I deal with. I know you guys are dealing with the same stuff. Maybe different levels, maybe different size home, maybe different conversations about your mower Your truck, your trailer. But you guys go to Thanksgiving in two weeks and Aunt sue and good old Uncle Johnny, you know, that had four failing businesses, but he's your know it all brother in law or uncle. He's going to tell you. That little lawn care business making any money yet? Well, not really, Johnny. I got my third hire and I had actually a guy call in last week. He was drinking whiskey like Sam's guy. But I'm going to do something big and I got this and I'm going to make it happen a little. Uncle John, he's got to say something. Uncle Rick, he's got to say something, man. Not building a double wide trailer, man. Take a couple minutes to get some of this money together. Brian's Almeinez people criticize you're starting a YouTube channel. Lawn care. What are you talking about? I'm like, I don't even know. I get started for none of this. Make a couple videos, be like. You're going to take your channel to 100,000 subscribers? Yeah, you bet. Because I'm going to find other fricking winners out there. They want to do this thing as bad as I do and they want to win and they want to change their family stars. And people are like, you're crazy, man. You're crazy. 100,000 subscribers. 200,000 subscribers. 200,000 Subscribers. And in 2024, I'm going to take that thing to a million. Bought the barn. I had people give me flack about the one bought the land came before the house. Hey, relax, bro. I got you now. I'm going to buy the land and pay that off. I'm going to build the house, put 20% down. I'm gonna put 100 grand down in a 200 grand barn and have that thing paid off by next summer too. But criticism of other people, man. Criticism of other people. This, I don't know. I don't know if I can keep a straight face without bawling. Anybody ever heard this poem? Anybody ever heard this slide or seen this slide or seen this quote, the man in the arena who's ever heard this, raise your hand if you've ever seen this or heard this. And if not, sear this into the back of your mind. You guys mind if I read this to you really quick? It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have got more done than them better. The credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls that neither know victory nor defeat. The critic, man, the critic. The successful will be remembered for their successes. The failures will be remembered for their failures. But the vast majority, the middle, they'll just be plain forgotten. Man, the critic. You know, it's one of those things where I've been criticized so frickin much and all it's done, Corey, is made me better, it's made me stronger, it's built my resolve. We've had fear, we've had doubt, but we have to overcome that. I want to say it's been easy. I want to talk up here and be tough and say we had it figured out, we knew, we believed and we were going to make it happen despite everything. But I'd be lying to not say that it wasn't tough at times. And there's times that we almost faltered. There's times when we were giving up. And Liz and I, we've heard somebody say once, we both don't just give up on the same day. That's the secret to making it. You both don't just give up on the same day. And for anybody who's ever heard that story and thinks that I make stuff up. Does anybody know what this is? One day we're in our apartment, 700 square foot little halfway house.

[C]

We were excited at the time because we could plug in our vacuum cleaner and get the whole place like that.

[B]

We could go from a living room to bedroom. We were excited.

[C]

This is like a good thing to us.

[B]

I think that's the size of Cory's walk in closet at his house. But listen, we had a tough weeks, months. I don't even know what it was. We were just having a tough point in our relationship. I don't even know what it was. But what I do remember is that we had a pretty knockout drag out.

[C]

We decided, I remember we decided that we were personally going to get out of debt and then go ahead and reinvest everything into the business and get more debt to grow the business. And I saw no way that we were ever going to Be able to have children, let alone a house to raise them in. We were stuck in my mind.

[B]

And what do we have on our fridge? Because we're big dreamers and we like to have visions in front of us. What do we have on our fridge?

[C]

We had all of our dreams plastered on our refrigerator because it was the one place in our house that we went to regularly because we like to eat.

[B]

And what do we do?

[C]

Anytime we'd go to the refrigerator or go in the kitchen, we'd look at them and put them right in front of us. We talk about dream boards and vision boards all the time on the podcast. If you guys side note, haven't done that yet, please just get one and put it on your truck speedometer thing. You don't need to see how fast you're going anyway. Somewhere you're going to look like regularly.

[B]

And what happened that night when we having a knockout drag out fight.

[C]

I lost the vision and I ripped all of our dreams off the refrigerator. Things that have been up there for years. We were in that apartment for seven years. They were dusty and gritty and I not only took them off, I tore them into pieces. And I told Brian, I quit. I can't do this anymore. We have no money in the bank account. We are more in debt than we've ever been. We don't have any help. It's just us. The cavalry, whatever that freaking word is, isn't coming. There's nobody coming to save us. And I can't do it anymore. And I walked away and I went

[B]

to bed and like the good old winter husband that I am, just like probably most of your husbands as well. She's crying, Ballin' slam goes the door. We're definitely those apartment neighbors, you know, everybody's lived next to them. But I went back on my hands and knees and I picked up all these little scraps of paper crying my eyes out. And I said, I have to become better. I have to figure this out. I am figuring this out. We will figure this out. It is figured out. I'm going to get it done. See the evolution there. I put all these back in a ziploc bag.

[C]

I came out the next morning and he had a magnetic chip clip hanging on the refrigerator. So these are her dreams and she

[B]

does the whole not talk about it thing, you know. So I said, you want to talk about it last night?

[C]

This is why we run a marriage conference.

[B]

Yeah, you want to talk about it?

[C]

We need it. She goes, no, as much as everybody else.

[B]

Yeah, you want to Talk about it? No, not really. Okay, so we just pretend that didn't happen. But here's what I just want to say. I'm not giving you some big grandiose point. What I just want to say is maybe laugh with you guys a little bit, Maybe cry with you guys a little bit. But just to let you know, we're not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination. I don't have a company like Atlas Outdoor. They inspired the snot out of me. I want to go to that level pretty soon here. But I'll tell you what, that. Doubt, that criticism of yourself and the criticism of other people, minimize it, reduce it, get rid of it. It's not doing anything for you. And start fixing those thoughts in your mind with words. Put everything that you're learning from this conference into action on Monday and then on Tuesday and then on Wednesday and on Wednesday, when things don't go right and they don't go the way you thought. I want you to remember that feeling that you felt today with a Sam Gamble making you laugh, or Leroy Mains making you feel invincible. Right? Or Jeff Jordan, who's going to make you laugh and just pull the best out of you. Remember that feeling because it will flee. Remember it. So you can stay charged up and fired up until we see you at the next event where we can all see each other. Talk about our growth, talk about our success, talk about our gains, and keep the conversation going. So, guys, the critic, they're playing forgotten. Don't worry about them. Everything that we've accomplished, they've all been there every single step of the way. You know what I'm just doing? Got the receipts, got the receipts, got the receipts. That's all I got. Okay, you guys can do it. We love you. We appreciate you, actually. Thank you so much. We got one more.

[C]

Oh, we got something else. So this is.

[B]

I'm nervous.

[C]

I am never able to surprise Brian. So you guys helped me surprise him last night by signing something pretty important to us. Brian, I didn't know that you were going to include this in your speech, but I wanted to give you something this man has had. We call it his corner office at our old apartment.

[B]

I'm nervous.

[C]

You could have the wind blow and it was bringing in snow and stuff where he's at his desk and there's literally snow coming in through the window. There's just such a big draft there. We called at his corner office. He's never had a place to really work. If you see a video that's been Edited or something. It was usually done on a laptop or at 3am when the kids are sleeping at the kitchen table. And he's finally going to have an office of his own. And I wanted to frame something and do something special for him for our fifth year of doing entrepreneur Academy. And I couldn't think of a better thing. Because you really like this speech.

[B]

We didn't rehearse any of this.

[C]

Right. We didn't rehearse just rambling up here because I'm nervous. But I thought I would have that framed. The man in the arena.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

As well as some art for your new office, because he's actually going to have an office. And I just wanted to say a quick thank you for you being.

[B]

This is new.

[C]

Our man in the arena.

[B]

Whoa.

[C]

I had everybody sign it last night. If you haven't signed it, I'll have it in the back of the room. So.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

That's for you. I just.

[B]

Can I see it? You show everybody. You ready to give it to him?

[C]

Yeah. And I also thought you could use some artwork.

[B]

What is that? You're gonna make me cry. Wow.

[C]

Thank you for being the man in the arena for our family. I know it hasn't been easy, and I think everybody in this room can attest to, you know, you did a speech a few years ago. Who wins when you succeed. And because you chose to be in the arena facing the critic, our family is winning. And I hope that people in here are winning as well. So this is my. Thank you.

[B]

That is beautiful. Thank you so much. Wow. You can see that. Check that out. Thank you. All right.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

W. Did you know about this? Thought we were cool. All right, guys. That's all I got. Thank you so much. That's beautiful. We're breakdancing. Life is wild. Hey. We're gonna be at a camper for the next six months. We're like traveling hobos. You know what I'm saying? So pray for us. And once the house is done, hit me up. I'll give you a tour. All right. I love you guys. Thanks for making this the best LAL ever.

[A]

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[D]

thanks for taking the time to listen to the Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast with Bryan Fullerton. We hope you enjoyed this production. If so, please consider leaving us a five star review for the show. While the techniques and ideas presented here are designed to help you grow a more successful and profitable business, no one can guarantee these results for you. We want to emphasize that entrepreneurship is not easy and the ideas presented here are just the opinions of Bryan Fullerton and his respective guests. No one can guarantee success for you. That being said, we hope the ideas presented here help you and motivate you to go on out there and crush it with your own business.

[B]

Fullerton Unfiltered Podcast thanks for listening and

[D]

we hope to see you on the next episode.

[A]

This has been a Brian Fullerton and Mr. Producer Production.