← Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset
Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset
Making $50 Million in 1 Year: Brad Miller's Transformation From Rock Bottom to Financial Freedom
01:02:27
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- [00:00]
Brad Miller
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- [00:30]
Shawn French
I want you to tune into this like literally lock the fuck in right here. From nine years old you were incarcerated and you were incarcerated for the next seven years.
- [00:38]
Brad Miller
At nine years old, I would already have been arrested probably 15 times. Finally I went to court the president judge of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. He looked at me and he said okay. He said enough's enough. So he incarcerated me. I remember that day because he asked my parents if they had anything that they would like to say. And my parents basically turned away and left the courtroom. So at that point I was in handcuffs and shackles and they took me away. At 16, I went back in front of the judge with an opportunity to be released. The judge said, my father and my mother, Mr. And Mrs. Miller, your son has obviously done his time. This is ingrained in my brain. My mother stood up and she said, it's not my child. They got up and they walked out of the courtroom. Which left me in a very unique position.
- [01:30]
Unknown
This one. Luck. I let the pain inspire me. I put my all in everything I'm doing and up until it's done, I mean for the entirety I put in over time I'll be working. Just know I'mma go for mine cuz I earned it. They watch and I know it's time I confirmed it. The whole society Determined Determin.
- [01:47]
Brad Miller
What'S up everybody?
- [01:48]
Shawn French
Welcome back to another episode of the Determined Society. I'm your host Shawn French and before I introduce today's guest, please do me a favor. If you haven't already, please go subscribe to app Determined Society, Apple podcasts, Spotify and the YouTube. Come check us out everywhere at the Sean French on Instagram and at the Determined Society on Instagram as well. Today I have a special treat for me and for you. It's not very often I get to interview somebody that I know love and respect on a personal level. But when I do, it's everything to me because I see the embodiment of what the individuals talk about on my show in real life. See the family, see the children, have dinners, friendsgivings, all that kind of stuff. So my guest today, his name is Brad Miller, and he is the owner and founder of Southern tier telecommunications. And he's just an amazing guy, and he's done some amazing things in his career and built an amazing freaking business that would blow your mind. But it didn't come without hardship. And we're going to get into the story of who Brad is today. So without further ado, my man, welcome to the show.
- [02:51]
Brad Miller
Thanks for having me, Sean. Certainly appreciate it.
- [02:53]
Shawn French
This is like. This is. I got goosebumps right now. Like, I just. I just absolutely adore and love you and the family. And, you know, we. We had. Thank you. We had such an amazing time for Marina's day.
- [03:04]
Brad Miller
We have many, many good moments.
- [03:06]
Shawn French
We have. We've done. We've met each other. We. We've had Halloween where I danced on your lap in the golf cart.
- [03:12]
Brad Miller
Y.
- [03:12]
Shawn French
That was good.
- [03:13]
Brad Miller
I love that moment.
- [03:14]
Shawn French
I wish that moment would come out. And then we've done friends giving.
- [03:18]
Brad Miller
Yep.
- [03:19]
Shawn French
Right? And then we recently did. I missed New Year's. Thank God. Thank God I did, because I heard you.
- [03:25]
Brad Miller
That was good. That was a good place to miss.
- [03:27]
Shawn French
That was definitely. I'm glad we did. And then Marina's 36th birthday.
- [03:31]
Brad Miller
That's right.
- [03:32]
Shawn French
That was so much fun at Ember.
- [03:33]
Brad Miller
Yeah. Yeah, we had a good time. She really enjoyed everybody's presence there. So appreciate you guys coming out to that as well to celebrate.
- [03:40]
Shawn French
Oh, yeah, man.
- [03:41]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [03:41]
Shawn French
Fun night.
- [03:42]
Brad Miller
It was. It was a blast.
- [03:43]
Shawn French
Yeah. Too bad we had to go home because we had to sit her. Yeah. You know.
- [03:46]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [03:46]
Shawn French
You know, because, like, it finally continued.
- [03:47]
Brad Miller
But I'm sure it did.
- [03:49]
Shawn French
I'm sure it did. Like, I'm kind of really kind of, like, jealous and.
- [03:52]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [03:52]
Shawn French
Also kind of scared to ask.
- [03:53]
Brad Miller
Yeah, yeah. Some things are left better on set.
- [03:56]
Shawn French
Yeah, yeah. Oh, we've done backyard. Backyard social together. That was a fun night. That was the first night we met.
- [04:01]
Brad Miller
Yep.
- [04:02]
Shawn French
What did we do before? Where did we go?
- [04:06]
Brad Miller
I think that was it. I think.
- [04:08]
Shawn French
No, no, no, no.
- [04:09]
Brad Miller
I think it was backyard social.
- [04:12]
Shawn French
No, we went to. We went to Max. We went to sushi.
- [04:17]
Brad Miller
Really?
- [04:18]
Shawn French
Yes. How much talking?
- [04:20]
Brad Miller
Yeah, Obviously, we went. We went.
- [04:23]
Shawn French
They put the. The six of us in the corner. Remember?
- [04:25]
Brad Miller
Now it's coming back to me. Yeah, I forgot about that. That was.
- [04:29]
Shawn French
Wow. He's like, who's this guy?
- [04:30]
Brad Miller
Like, you said too much saki. Yeah. Yeah.
- [04:33]
Shawn French
But no, man, so we've had some good times and you know, many, many more, but, but dude, like, super happy to have you on the show because the one thing that I realized at Thanksgiving, right, I knew you were a friend. I knew you had, you know, this, you created this amazing business, but I didn't really understand your story because I didn't know about it, right? And you start speaking on it a little bit and I'm like, dude, we gotta, we gotta have you on the show. So like, give the audience a small peek behind who Brad Miller is and what you have gone through and then we can expand on it, you know, throughout the show, but give them a little.
- [05:08]
Brad Miller
Sure, sure. Certainly appreciate having this opportunity. So first and foremost, you know, I've had many colleagues, friends, associates and family members along the years always say, hey, Brad, you need to tell your story. You know, there's a lot of detail out there that could really connect with people that have gone through similar situations or maybe even are going through similar situations. And I never seen the purpose to do that. I'm a pretty close person for the most part. Not real big into social media and things like that. I'm more private than anything else. But I think today I found a purpose by meeting you was my opportunity to maybe share my story, connect with others and just give back. Just simply give back. So I'll try to condense this very long 46 year story into the window of opportunity time that we have today. So, you know, growing up, you know, I grew up in a very depressed town. Sharon, Sharon, Pennsylvania. It's not even a blip on the map for most people here in Florida. And I grew up with two parents that had never worked. They had no professions, not McDonald's, not fast food, not the gas station, just nothing. Nothing. So my parents learned the survival technique off of the system and that's what I was taught at a very young age. So while most kids were going and playing after school or doing their homework, my mom was taking me on the city bus and we were going to churches and learning how to basically solicit the churches that, you know, we didn't have money. We were unfortunate and they would give us free food, blocks of cheese, loaves of bread, things of that nature. So that ran up until about nine years old. So those are kind of like the hard knocks of, of my youth until I was about nine. So I didn't have a lot of parenting obviously at a young age. My parents didn't have the capabilities, God bless them today, they didn't have the capabilities to really provide support, love, understanding, and direction for me as a youth. I believe today that they did the best they had they could with the skill sets that they had. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for me. So I. At nine years old, I had a road of destruction. So start getting in a lot of trouble at nine.
- [07:27]
Shawn French
At nine, like my daughter Alina's eight. And you know, Alina.
- [07:30]
Brad Miller
Yeah. At nine years are. At nine years old, I would already have been arrested probably 15 times.
- [07:36]
Shawn French
Jesus Christ.
- [07:37]
Brad Miller
Yeah. For everything that you can possibly imagine. So. So finally, I went to court for my last hearing, and the president judge of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, he looked at me and he said, okay. He said, enough's enough. He said, you're repetitive. You're a repetitive offender. We've got to make some changes. So he incarcerated me at nine. At nine years old. And I remember that day because he asked my parents if they had anything that they would like to say, and my parents basically turned away and left the courtroom. So at that point, I was in handcuffs and shackles, and they took me away. And then I spent the next seven years on my own. So Christmas, birthdays, Halloweens, no visitors, isolated to a block. As a youth, you were.
- [08:26]
Shawn French
You. Hold on, hold on. And audience, I want you to tune into this. Like. Like, if you were driving and you got all the things going on in your mind, literally locked the in right here. So you, from nine years old, you were incarcerated, and you were incarcerated for the next seven years.
- [08:42]
Brad Miller
Yes. So that's at 16 years old. If my master is me correctly, at 16 years old, I went back in front of the judge with an opportunity to be released. My parents had. They were forced to attend this. This hearing. And the judge said, you know, my father and my mother, Mr. And Mrs. Miller, you know, your. Your son has obviously done his time. We'd like to give him an opportunity to reinduce. Reintroduce him to society. And I remember this. You know, this. This is ingrained in my brain. My mother stood up and she said, it's not my child. So they got up and they walked out of the courtroom, which left me in a very unique position. I had no parents. I had no associated family that could pick up the pieces. No aunts, no uncles, no grandma, grandpas. So one of my youth friends, before I got incarcerated, their parents was kind of like an adoption family. They stepped up. They had heard about my case and situation, and they decided that they were going to bring me into their home. So this was a home with about 15 children. And these people were basically doing it for the passive income. Right. So they really didn't have maybe the intent of trying to foster children to put them in a better place. It was more like passive income because they needed it to. They really weren't. What would you consider successful parents? So I got out, you know, they released me and back out into society, but they released the person back into society with again, no support and no infrastructure.
- [10:21]
Shawn French
Is like almost like the same situation you were in. That got you, I don't want to say. Cause you to do those things. Right. Because you made the choices as a youth.
- [10:28]
Brad Miller
That's right.
- [10:29]
Shawn French
And your frontal cortex isn't fully developed at any.
- [10:31]
Brad Miller
Right.
- [10:32]
Shawn French
Obviously that goes without saying. But here you are at 16, reintroduced to society and. And literally in the same type of environment with people that didn't know how to make it on their own.
- [10:44]
Brad Miller
Alone. Ultimately. Alone.
- [10:46]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [10:46]
Brad Miller
So I did, I guess what a lot of people do, which I think we're. I really can help and people helping people understand is, you know, I resorted to the streets and I learned how to sell drugs and I bought my first car, I bought my school clothes, I bought my shoes and I went back to high school. So I did that on my own. So I made it a profession. Never getting involved with drugs from a uses perspective or alcohol or things like that. So I was very disciplined from 16 on in a mindset of business like how to make money. It's like there's rules that apply to the streets just like there is in the profession. And somehow I was able to pick those up. And still to this day I'm not certain what my intuition was that gave me that as an opportunity, but I feel blessed today that I had that. So I met my high school sweetheart at that moment at 16 years old, from a street perspective. Got her pregnant within the first six months. Really disrupted her life. She was a senior and at that point I was a sophomore. So that really, that really caused a lot of, I don't know, it caused a lot of. A lot of pressure. She came from a good family. I was very disruptive. You know, I was the kid that no parent wanted their child to be around. Right. I was the guy. I carried razor blades in my mouth, had a pistol in the car. I mean, I was that guy, was that dude. Yeah, I was that guy that you did not want your child anywhere in my presence.
- [12:24]
Shawn French
What were you carrying a razor blade, your mouth for? What would that do?
- [12:26]
Brad Miller
Defense.
- [12:27]
Shawn French
Defense, yeah.
- [12:28]
Brad Miller
Yeah. Just growing up on the streets, you just, you just never Knew no one had to be provoked. They just, they would react just because they wanted something of yours. I mean, I had more cars stolen than cars I've purchased in my whole life, so. So, yeah, so meeting her, I got introduced to a family through her, which I found myself addicted to. A family. Her family, though, the family that I never had. And this family was so grateful. After they decided that they weren't going to resist me anymore, they actually took me in. And she had an amazing father. I mean, this guy, he was just grounded, business savvy, super intelligent from a book perspective, intellectual. He's a cfo, a cpa. He just had. Is an Umbers guy.
- [13:13]
Shawn French
Okay.
- [13:13]
Brad Miller
And I was just intrigued by him. So he became my role model, ultimately. So at this point, I, I started to get some direction. The problem was I created one child. 16 years old. I've got high school, I've got responsibilities, but I was going to own up to all that. I was going to do what was right. I don't know how I. How I managed to understand that that was my responsibility from going from a street mentality to a family mentality. I just transitioned, right? But I didn't fully transition. So I'm still, I'm still, you know, selling drugs and I'm still on the streets and I'm still doing dirt. So I have another child, right? And at this time, when my second child is on the way, I decided to commit the ultimate crime. So I, like I said, I wasn't fully out of that, that mindset and I committed another crime. I committed armed robbery. And there was a group of guys, you know, this is where things get kind of crazy. You know, we had fully automatic weapons, socks full of bullets. I mean, this is where like, the street mentality takes over and the logic is gone.
- [14:18]
Shawn French
So where does that line blur though, right? Because like, because like, you know, as a, you know, as a man now, you, you know, father, husband, you know, business owner. Like now if something like that would come up, you'd be like, yeah, no, like that's hard. Stop. So how does that line blur, you know, when you're, when you have second kid, you know, and now you're starting to get back on the right. I mean, you're still, you know, you're, you're running the drugs. But that line, like when you go in to do that armed robbery. Are you saying that the logic of what might could happen doesn't even come into your mind?
- [14:58]
Brad Miller
At the moment? It didn't.
- [15:00]
Shawn French
Okay.
- [15:00]
Brad Miller
But at the moment, do. To commit the act it did, it became relevant. And so, you know, I was a group of five other guys and you know, there was a giant house party where we were going to commit this armed robbery like this. This guy was supposed to have a significant amount of drugs and we were just going to take what belonged to him.
- [15:18]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [15:19]
Brad Miller
So my logic actually kicked in at that point and I said, look man, I'm not going to do this. So we're in the woods, we're in camouflage, we're behind a school, which is absolutely worst case scenario. Guns on school property. Thank goodness that it was summertime, so there's no kids in school. But my logic kicked in and I don't know where this logic ever came from. Right. This is what showed me that I had a greater purpose. But at that time, being at that age, I didn't have the abilities to understand or how to pull that out. And I certainly didn't have guidance to help me, you know, find that within myself. But that night, you know, thank the grace of God that I was able to talk the rest of the team off the ledge and we didn't end up going through with the crime. Now how we got caught was quite ridiculous, you know, and, and I don't know if, if I need to go to the details on that, you know, we end up on a high speed chase. We've got three fleet departments by. So there's this, you know, less important. Right. So fast forwarding. So of course I got convicted of armed robbery and because of the whole circumstance, they only classified it as a misdemeanor versus a felony, which was amazing. Right. So they had me for carrying a firearm without a license and then the armed robbery. And they're like, hey, we'll drop the armed robbery and we'll just hit you with carrying a firearm without a license. Which, how does that affect me now? Yeah, that means I can't own a gun for the rest of my life. Which how fascinating is that? Right?
- [16:49]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [16:49]
Brad Miller
Not a convicted felon. I'm doing great things.
- [16:52]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [16:53]
Brad Miller
But that's something that lingers over my head forever and ever and interesting how many people are in that position. So I went to, I went to get sentenced and I remember, you know, this is all very fresh in my head because these are memories I'll never leave or lose is the judge looked at me and he said, listen, he said, you're going to go and you're going to serve your sentence. And he said, the likelihood of me seeing you again is highly probable. He said, how about about 98%. I'll see you back here again. And he said, just know this. This is how he's talking. He's the president judge. He says, and when I see you back here next time, you won't get a sentence like this. He said, I won't ever see you again after that because you'll.
- [17:31]
Shawn French
You won't. Because you'll be. You won't come out.
- [17:33]
Brad Miller
You won't come out. Yeah, so it gave me three years, okay? So I went to the penitentiary for a year and two months, and I got out, you know, for good behavior and things like that, for applying myself. And literally, Sean, from that day that I walked out of the prison doors, from that very day when I walked out, I look behind me and I said, that'll be the last time that I ever look at myself this way. That I'm not somebody absolutely magnificent. So crazy. So with. With that moment in time, that was it. That was my roadway to say, hey, listen, I can turn adversity into opportunity. And that was exactly what I was set out to do. And from that day forward, I never looked back.
- [18:16]
Shawn French
You know, it's funny you mentioned that, because, you know, you and I have been talking a lot, and, you know, John's name has come up. We talk about turning adversity into opportunity. And I feel like most successful people will take the darkest days in their life. Right. There's some things right now that I opened up to you before the show that's going on in my personal life, that is not. It's not optimal, man. You know, it's not the best situation, but it's like, out of that adversity is going to come opportunity. I didn't know where it was coming from. You and I spoke, and we're like, oh, we could do something together here, right? Like, holy shit. Like, in what I want the audience to really understand about what I'm saying, and, you know, borderline tangent is, stop judging what you're going through. Like, you know, and I'm looking at the camera because I want the audience to understand, like, so many people judge the adversity that they're going through.
- [19:13]
Brad Miller
Absolutely.
- [19:14]
Shawn French
Why me? Why am I going through this? I'm a good person. Why is this happening? It's just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But what I've learned this time around is I'm just. In baseball terms, we say wear it just like you'd wear a pitch.
- [19:28]
Brad Miller
Yep.
- [19:29]
Shawn French
Let that ball hit you and let it burn, man.
- [19:31]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [19:32]
Shawn French
And it's like. Because it's building me.
- [19:33]
Brad Miller
That's right.
- [19:34]
Shawn French
It's like. It's building me. It's like, wait a second, dude. This is serving me in such a positive way. I don't know what it is yet. I'm surely not going to judge the obstacle, but I'm surely not going to judge the opportunity either. Right. So I think what I want the audience to get out of it is like, whatever you're going through, just submit to it. Lean into it. Like, literally, you know, lean into it like it's your first kiss or your, you know, you may now kiss your bride or, you know, whatever. And you lean into it, Lean into that struggle, because out on the other side of that struggle is the person who you are, who you have become because of all that struggle.
- [20:14]
Brad Miller
Yeah, I. I would have capitalized on that. So everybody used to ask me in my past, as I started to grow successful of just proving what I was capable of doing, building an organization, building a group of people, leading teams. People are like, why do you do what you do? And for so many years, I found myself in this position that I had to be truthful with myself and them. And what my perception was is why I did all this is for. Because of fear. And people say, you know, that's not. That's not a very positive thing, Brad, that you're doing this out of fear. And they're like, well, what do you mean by fear? And I said, it's not the fear of failure. It's the fear of survival. Because my mentality growing up was, is I had nothing.
- [21:01]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [21:02]
Brad Miller
So to revert back to having nothing, that's the scariest moment in time for me. But the good news is, is that for somebody that comes from nothing to go forward, you have nothing to lose.
- [21:16]
Shawn French
I love it.
- [21:17]
Brad Miller
Right. So improvement can only be improvement, because when you come from the bottom, it's incremental, man. It's. And it's. Your whole life is incremental. So it's constant growth, it's constant evaluation, it's constant challenges, it's constant pain. These things will never change.
- [21:33]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [21:34]
Brad Miller
And I think from a. From a society's perspective, today, we want instant gratification.
- [21:39]
Shawn French
Dude, talk about that so much here. Keep going, man.
- [21:41]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [21:42]
Shawn French
So.
- [21:42]
Brad Miller
So. But the real world perspective is nothing great comes fast. Right. So it takes work. So when you have the opportunity to. To interview folks on this show, independent entrepreneurs, successful athletes, you know, everybody wants that right now.
- [22:01]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [22:01]
Brad Miller
And the message is, unfortunately, that's not how life works. Not from a relationship perspective, not from mental Growth perspective, not from a physical perspective and certainly not from a financial freedom perspective. So all of these things require work and with work requires patience. So go ahead.
- [22:24]
Shawn French
Sorry. This is, this is, this is everything to me right now. Right? Because I've had multiple conversations lately. Like a buddy of mine said that he would go to bed at night wishing he would wake up and look like this certain wrestler. And it was on, it was on a show. And I said, wow, that's, that's powerful. Because if that would have happened, then you would have robbed yourself of who you were going to become in that journey. Most people are so interested. Like you said, the instant gratification and that comes with social media. Make a million dollars in 90 days. First of all, guys, if you ever believe any of that, you, you deserve to get swindled. Sorry.
- [23:06]
Brad Miller
And you will.
- [23:06]
Shawn French
You will. Because you cannot make a million dollars in 90 days.
- [23:09]
Brad Miller
You cannot.
- [23:09]
Shawn French
I don't, I don't care what they say, okay? You can. 1 exit, 10 exit 39 exit. I don't give a. You're not making a million dollars in 90 days anyway. I'm moving on now. Said my piece on my sub lock.
- [23:20]
Brad Miller
But, but like spot on, but.
- [23:21]
Shawn French
Right, so what, what we want is, we want to fast forward all that, right?
- [23:25]
Brad Miller
Yes.
- [23:26]
Shawn French
And we're forgetting that, you know, from this point of contention or, or fear based, or a big losing streak, we want to skip all the way here to win the World Series.
- [23:38]
Brad Miller
You got.
- [23:39]
Shawn French
Well, hey, these are macro results here.
- [23:43]
Brad Miller
Yes.
- [23:43]
Shawn French
Okay. The big losses are from past decisions that either you or I have made. Right. And there's many of them that created this loss. And then the big win is a series of decisions that people don't see every day. And that creates the win. Now all the micro stuff in between, that's the joy.
- [24:05]
Brad Miller
Yes.
- [24:06]
Shawn French
Because that's where you experience the pain, that's where you experience the tears, that's where you experience the camaraderie between friendships. Right. That's when you start understanding what actually works for you. Where you dive into yourself, you dive into your business, you dive into your body, you dive into your mind, you dive into your spouse, your children and your spirituality. And then you crush it. Because you became an absolute bulletproof monster here in the micro movements.
- [24:32]
Brad Miller
Yes.
- [24:33]
Shawn French
He wants to do that.
- [24:35]
Brad Miller
No one, because I do work and patience.
- [24:38]
Shawn French
Yeah, right.
- [24:39]
Brad Miller
So steps are in intervals. And, and what I have found just through, through my journey in life is, you know, I'm. Even as I'm, I'm getting older now, year by year, I I find a lot of people are contributing their lack of successes, of things that they personally want to get accomplished to childhood trauma. And I'm like, listen.
- [25:00]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [25:01]
Brad Miller
So here's the reality for the audience, for everyone, for myself, for you. The. The reality is. Is childhood traumas in the past? And does it. Is it relevant in what happens in your life today? It is, but you choose how you react to what happens today based on the past. So if you leave. If you choose to leave it in the past, you can now move forward. You're free. You can release all that. And I held on to my trauma for a long time.
- [25:30]
Shawn French
Did it serve you? Did it serve you?
- [25:31]
Brad Miller
It didn't serve me because it couldn't serve me right. There was no way it could serve me because. So I was operating off of fear, which led me to. It gave me the energy to do something significant. But here's the thing. I was doing that something great with energy, with no purpose. So, see, I'm heading down a road. It's like if you tell me to jump in my car right now and I have a full tank of gas, but you give me no direction, you just keep driving, I'm gonna run out of gas. But if you. If I have a full tank of gas and you give me a destination and it's with. Within what that tank of gas or that electric battery will fulfill, I'll reach my destination.
- [26:12]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [26:12]
Brad Miller
Safely, successfully.
- [26:13]
Shawn French
Sure. Sure.
- [26:14]
Brad Miller
Life is no different.
- [26:15]
Shawn French
No, no. So.
- [26:17]
Brad Miller
So I guess from this point, we. We kind of talk about, you know, of course, I have five children through this process, which was extremely a blessing and challenging all in itself. Right. Because, of course, I've had the divorce. And then I chose to move away. So originally from Pennsylvania, Then I moved to Columbus, Ohio. Then I moved to Panama City beach, and I moved here to beautiful southwest Florida.
- [26:42]
Shawn French
Yes, you did.
- [26:43]
Brad Miller
And, you know, I met my soulmate. Yeah, right. Which, you know, I will tell you that this is the greatest statement I've ever heard, is for every great man, there's a great neck. And I was really hung up on this statement for a long time, because if you think about it, men are very spontaneous. Right. We're visionaries in a lot of ways. And this is not a sexist statement by any means, but men like our testosterone and just all of the. The. The hormones that we have going on, they really drive us to get creative and think and, oh, my gosh, we can do this. You. You know, so big. We can do this today. We have to wait till tomorrow, guys. Do you see my vision? Everybody around you is looking at you like, what? You're like, no, I'm telling you, this can work. We can do this right now. And people are like. So I found that the truth is, for every great man, there's a great. There's a great neck. So the men is the head and the woman is the neck. And without a good neck, that head's all over the place. Yeah. And I was fortunate enough to find an amazing neck.
- [27:44]
Shawn French
Say, Jackie tells me all the time, listen, dude, you're a dreamer. I get it. I love it. But you get excited about things and you don't think about the downfalls in between.
- [27:57]
Brad Miller
Right.
- [27:57]
Shawn French
You just jump in and go.
- [27:58]
Brad Miller
That's right.
- [27:59]
Shawn French
And it pisses me off. But if it's true, it's true. That's why it pisses me off.
- [28:04]
Brad Miller
It's called grounding you.
- [28:05]
Shawn French
Exactly. Sometimes I don't want to be grounded.
- [28:07]
Brad Miller
None of us do. I hate it. It's not. It's almost like you want to go against the grain. It almost makes you thrive to do it even faster and harder.
- [28:16]
Shawn French
Right. But she's right. But then she follows up with, but that's what also makes you really great.
- [28:20]
Brad Miller
That's correct.
- [28:20]
Shawn French
But sometimes you need me to say.
- [28:22]
Brad Miller
Hey, bro, which is incredibly important.
- [28:24]
Shawn French
Yes.
- [28:24]
Brad Miller
But. So, yeah, I. I have a fascinating wife. She's done some amazing things with herself. You know, she has. Has really set me on track to just bring it all together.
- [28:32]
Shawn French
Yep.
- [28:33]
Brad Miller
And when. I mean bring it all together, it's like allowing me to really identify my purpose. So, you know, I was building a business and. And I think most people say that they're building a brand, and I don't disagree or agree with that. I tell people, I am the brand.
- [28:49]
Shawn French
Well, that's the. That's what the brand is.
- [28:50]
Brad Miller
So. So yeah, I am the brand.
- [28:53]
Shawn French
Most people don't understand brand.
- [28:54]
Brad Miller
I think you're right. I think you're absolutely right.
- [28:57]
Shawn French
They think it's the product. The brand is who the freak you are.
- [28:59]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [29:00]
Shawn French
Like what? I mean, yeah, we're on the same.
- [29:02]
Brad Miller
Because, you know, we have a company of many people. Right. I mean, our company is probably made up of 400 plus people.
- [29:09]
Shawn French
Right?
- [29:09]
Brad Miller
Right. And they demonstrate the brand. But I'm the brand.
- [29:13]
Shawn French
Yes.
- [29:14]
Brad Miller
Right. Because it was my choice of, this is our representation, our image or colors. This is everything. Right. So I am the brand. And as long as I continue to live out being the brand, we will be successful. Right. And so I stick by that. That model, if you will. But if we want to fast forward into the success story in 2016, here's some irony. That's pretty funny. It is now. It wasn't then. So my business partner, who I I love dearly today, David's been an amazing role model in my life. He's close to 10 years older than me. Really, really, really intelligent guy. And. And he. He taught me a lot of life lessons. But in 2007, I used to work for it. But, yeah, 2007, I worked for him. So he was the director and I was the manager, and, you know, I was on fire my whole career. Right. So if you remember being a younger guy and you're at the house with, you know, other guys and guys are talking about sports and all that kind of stuff, and the football games on the tv, I was never the guy to talk about sports. I'm bugging you like, hey, what do you do for a living? How does that work? Like, I was always the guy with the business conceptual type mindset of I want to know more. And I'm. I was like a disturbance to the audience. But my business partner, you know, he had to fire me in 2007, so. So the guy who actually is my partner today that I've elected to be my partner fired you? He fired me. And his only reason, it wasn't his intent, but. So what happened is, is I basically overperformed what the CFO and the CEO of a very large company today were intimidated by. They actually became fearful for the level of energy that I was going to bring to the company. And they seemed. They thought in that time with. From an old school perspective, it was going to be unprofessional.
- [31:10]
Shawn French
Right. Okay.
- [31:11]
Brad Miller
And, you know, I guess, look, we talked today versus then. And would I be an asset to their team? I would consider I'd be a fantastic asset because, of course, I could have built their business to a mega empire. And not just me, but. But obviously it takes a team. Yeah. From the people around me, but the abilities to lead those people. So scaling back in 2016, my business partner and I had came back together, and we were working for a company yet again for another company. And I had the opportunity. I was always a visionary, Sean. So my. My whole life, I always looked at every opportunity. Forgive me for saying this, but every day job that I worked, I would always look around and I would say, why am I doing this for you when I can do this for me? I can do this.
- [32:00]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [32:00]
Brad Miller
So that egotistical mindset kicked in. But I was appreciative of that, I considered it value. I wasn't being boastful. I, I wasn't praising myself for something that I wasn't successful.
- [32:11]
Shawn French
It was introspective, Right?
- [32:12]
Brad Miller
That's exactly right. So in 2016, my business partner and I decided to spin off. And so we had no money. I just put this in perspective for you. We had no money. So when I had met Marina, I was completely broke. I came into the, into the relationship with $65,000 in debt. I was filing bankruptcy from the previous divorce with a house that was in a state that I no longer resided. Five children that were divided because I'm here, there, there I have them 50 of the time. We have significant travels. Here's this 23 year old girl introducing herself into my life. I've got this now opportunity. The, the. My previous employer offered me 250000 to stay. So yeah, I was, I was, I was, I was making 700 a week. And that 700 turned into 120, 000 annualized.
- [33:05]
Shawn French
Sure.
- [33:06]
Brad Miller
And then just, just through the opportunity and growth. And then when my business partner left the company, they immediately came to me the next day and they're like, hey, we need you to run this whole thing. We're gonna give you250,000 plus incentive. So just imagine what's going through my mind. I never made this kind of money before. Of course.
- [33:23]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [33:24]
Brad Miller
So I go home to Marina and I asked, I said, hey, what do I do? And she said, I can tell you exactly what you do. She said, if you don't make the choice to go out on your own, you're not the one for me.
- [33:35]
Shawn French
And let's like, I want you to finish the story, but it's important because I want the audience to understand the type of woman she is because I've experienced it, because I know her.
- [33:44]
Brad Miller
Yes.
- [33:45]
Shawn French
But to have a 23 year old girl, young woman at that time, have that type of clarity about what she wants. And really it wasn't a. That, that was not about her, that was about what she saw in you. And if you do not execute it, you are not showing me who you, who you are, who I know you are. She was calling you.
- [34:05]
Brad Miller
See, that statement gives me chills.
- [34:08]
Shawn French
Right.
- [34:08]
Brad Miller
Because. Because that, that's reality and that's very unique. Yeah. But so possible.
- [34:14]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [34:14]
Brad Miller
Right. And here's why. I'll give you the why. Marina was never superficial. She didn't want it all today. She's a beautiful woman.
- [34:22]
Shawn French
Sure.
- [34:22]
Brad Miller
Opportunity to do anything. She's really Focus about her. She takes the time that is necessary to be whole, mentally, emotionally, spirit, everything. But it was never always about her. She had this inner, I guess, calling that she. She was able to see what was good in others and try to bring out the best in them as well. And I think it was how she was raised because obviously Marina's from Ukraine.
- [34:49]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [34:49]
Brad Miller
Right. She wasn't born here in the States. So her parents are forming Soviet Union.
- [34:54]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [34:54]
Brad Miller
So their mentality was completely different than ours. Right. They didn't have the I need it now expectation. They didn't have the instant gratification requirements that we do today. Which I think if we just take a step back of society and if we can just scale that down of like I need it right now, the organic growth happens. It happens in everyone. Because my story, this isn't exclusive. This isn't a 60 minute story.
- [35:20]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [35:20]
Brad Miller
This is just real life of somebody who took, took an opportunity and applied them to see it through. Right. And I understood the patience that it was going to require. How? Don't know. But I did, I understood that. So we built a company. We started in Columbus, Ohio. And I'm fast forwarding now. I started the company dead broke. Dead broke. I mean, I didn't have a dollar to put into this wild. So her father, which is a very unique individual, God bless him, I love this guy. He's. He's next level genius.
- [35:54]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [35:54]
Brad Miller
Alex is extraordinary. So I sold him. I had to sell him. Right. Because he's not the kind of guy, he's pretty conservative. He doesn't like to invest in things that he's not certain of. And so I had to sell this guy, first of all, I had to sell him on the fact that I'm worthy to be the wife to his daughter that they just put through college. You know, she's a biochem, a graduate from ou. They had a bigger vision for her than meeting a guy with five kids that just filed bankruptcy that didn't, you know, with a lot of uncertainties. And now a year into this relationship, I'm coming to him and I'm like, hey, I need 140,000 bucks.
- [36:39]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [36:40]
Brad Miller
And did he have it? Yeah. But it wasn't about whether or not he wanted to lend it to me. He really needed to understand what my intentions were.
- [36:48]
Shawn French
Right.
- [36:48]
Brad Miller
So I spent the next two weeks selling my business plan. Everybody's gonna have a business plan. And I put my business plan on paper. It was well executed, a lot of thought. Obviously it, you know, we navigated away from that many times as you do. But he gave me the 140, 000, and we took that 140, 000 in 24 months. Then we turned it into 50 million.
- [37:10]
Shawn French
Wait, back up.
- [37:14]
Brad Miller
What did you say exactly? It took $140,000 in a 24 month period. We converted that into $50 million in business. Now, the roots of that. Jeez, 530 employees slash contractors.
- [37:33]
Shawn French
Sure.
- [37:34]
Brad Miller
Nationwide. We had offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa. We were in every state which required brick and mortar, required management supervision, oversight, leadership, with vast client expectations for the industry that we're in. Because we're a telco builder.
- [37:56]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [37:57]
Brad Miller
Right. So we build infrastructure. That's what we do. So if. If a client, you know, for namesake, if a client like, like an Xfinity, if they decided that they wanted to have, you know, Marco island built out to offer services, fiber to the home, ftth to the home, they would call a company like Southern Tier, because we're a turnkey type style construction company that offers everything from start to finish.
- [38:27]
Shawn French
So that's a big differential between you and a lot of people in the industry, right?
- [38:31]
Brad Miller
Correct. But, you know, everybody wants to use this catchphrase, turnkey today. Right. So everybody catches on to like, what does everybody gravitate to once you hear the catchphrase? Everybody's like, well, I'm turnkey, I'm turnkey. But do you really know what it takes to be turnkey and deliver a superior product that the customer expects in return? Because in telecommunications, a lot can go wrong. Right. Like, we are the backbone to the world from an infrastructure standpoint, from us being able to communicate from this conversation today, getting this out live, or from Tesla, being able to drive vehicles autonomously, or a surgeon sitting in a hospital to be able to do an autonomous surgery in a third world country to help, you know, underserved people. This is what we do. Right. So I find significant value in successfully helping complete the broadband divide, which is America's great initiative.
- [39:22]
Shawn French
Yeah. I think. I think what the interesting is, when we were talking on the phone, was it yesterday or the day before? I can't remember which one it was, but you're like, yeah, Elon Musk, that's doing all these amazing things. Right. And there's people in Montana that cannot get Internet without starlink. Right, Right. But like you guys, telecom is building the baseline for people like Elon to do what he does.
- [39:46]
Brad Miller
That's right. We are. We are the backbone.
- [39:49]
Shawn French
That's wild, right? That's wild. So people listening, like this is amazing story because like you look at all the amazing things that Elon Musk is doing and all these innovators, but like it can't be done without the backbone.
- [40:02]
Brad Miller
That's right.
- [40:03]
Shawn French
The industry, which is telecom.
- [40:05]
Brad Miller
That's right. Broadband is the ultimate utility.
- [40:09]
Shawn French
Right.
- [40:09]
Brad Miller
So when I started in the industry, broadband was a luxury. Right. Like if you wanted cable at home or your parents could afford home telephone, landline, or if you want an Internet, whether it be DSL or dial up, those were luxuries.
- [40:21]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [40:22]
Brad Miller
Today it's a necessity. Yeah. The world can't operate without telecommunication. Telecommunications infrastructure. It can't. Right. Fiber is a necessity for all of these magnificent things that are happening in the world. The communications with X and, and neural link and the things that all these different companies are developing, they need fiber infrastructure for the communication lines. Right. Because it's, it's at light speed.
- [40:47]
Shawn French
So you don't just do like housing communities or you build like full on cities.
- [40:53]
Brad Miller
Full on cities. Full on cities.
- [40:55]
Shawn French
What's been your favorite project?
- [40:57]
Brad Miller
Oh, I think my personal favorite project because I actually geared up and I went out in the field and I put myself in a bucket, I think was the Tampa Bay Bucks. So we built before the super bowl, they hired us to build their whole fiber 5G network. So we put up all the small cell antennas around the stadium, inside of the stadium, so they could broadcast that Super Bowl.
- [41:20]
Shawn French
So you're the reason they won the Super Bowl?
- [41:21]
Brad Miller
Yeah. Like if you look at my website, you'll see pictures.
- [41:24]
Shawn French
Yeah, you should, you should, you should have gotten a ring.
- [41:27]
Brad Miller
I mean. Yeah, I would have loved that. You know, you and Tom Brady.
- [41:29]
Shawn French
What's up, buddy?
- [41:30]
Brad Miller
Yeah, so. So. You know, that's fascinating though when you think about an event of that size and that we built the infrastructure and if we would have did it wrong or lack of quality, just think about what that could have created. Right.
- [41:43]
Shawn French
So piss a pissed off stadium that couldn't.
- [41:46]
Brad Miller
It's bigger than that. Right. Because it's, it's a network of, of carriers that are, they're all running off of that. Right. So like tower in the tower space, like the big towers that we all see out there as we're driving, those are macro towers. And it's not one carrier on that tower, it's multiple carriers. Right. So, so we were specifically designing the, the buck stadium for one carrier. And when we were doing that, that means that carrier was in a spotlight. So if the network went down, that's their name.
- [42:15]
Shawn French
Oh, Kind of like how Netflix went down with the Tyson and Paul fight.
- [42:19]
Brad Miller
Bingo. It would have been that big. Right. So, so the level of responsibility and commitment was so high that I decided to gear up, put the harness on. It's 105 degrees. We're doing this in the dead of summer. You know, we, I mean all, all the guy, Tom Brady was on the track. We were out there in bucket trucks, 80ft in the air watching these guys practice and stuff while we're out there throwing up, you know, 75 foot antennas in the air that are radioactive, throwing out 5G and doing all the testing and the backhaul fibers and I mean it's, it's, there's a lot to it. And here's the thing, like I, I was never educated on tech.
- [42:56]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [42:56]
Brad Miller
Or telecommunications.
- [42:58]
Shawn French
Wow.
- [42:58]
Brad Miller
Talking about a self taught industry. I just grew up in, in, in the weeds, if you will.
- [43:03]
Shawn French
Right, right.
- [43:04]
Brad Miller
So I never had an education. Somebody didn't put me through college to say, hey, this is what you're going to do and you're just going to springboard off of that. This is like rooted from like my determination. And like anyone else can do this. That's why I'm so fascinated to share with people like, you can do it too. Like if you have an idea, conceptually, just begin to apply it step by step. Be patient, take the necessary steps that are required and inform yourself. And how do you inform yourself? By getting. Surrounding yourself with like minded people or people that are better than you. And I always say this statement, surround yourself with people better than you. And a lot of people get offended. They're like, well, he's not better than me or she's not better than me. And that's not what I mean.
- [43:45]
Shawn French
Well, that's why, that's why I gravitated towards you. I'm like, this guy's like way above like where I am, like in a financial freedom area. Right. Like all that kind of stuff. It's like I want to be around people that drive me. Right. I don't want to be the big one in the room. I want to be like the very small one in the room. And I want to be able to grow to something. So it's a compliment to you, man.
- [44:07]
Brad Miller
Like, well, I appreciate that.
- [44:09]
Shawn French
I know we're friends, but I look up to you, man.
- [44:10]
Brad Miller
No, I really appreciate that. But you know, the key to success in anything that you do, depending on what you're trying to get accomplished in life, is making things duplicatable.
- [44:19]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [44:20]
Brad Miller
Right. So you have you have, you have two applicable words that I find that will lead you to success. First, things have to be sustainable, and then you have to make them duplicatable, right. In order to scale. Because you can build a business, you can build a brand, you can be the brand, but if you don't make the processes duplicatable so others can get involved and helped you, you're capped. Yeah, right. So the expansion opportunities are very limited, if there's any at all. So when you're building your brand, your business, your idea, your concept, you have to make things duplicatable. And I think people struggle with that, right, because they're like, well, I can do it, all right? It's a me thing. Like, as long as I can do it. And so I found it fascinating over the years of leading so many people, because I've probably hired, in my career, I've probably hired over 5, 000 people.
- [45:06]
Shawn French
That's. That's insane.
- [45:07]
Brad Miller
Right? And out of those 5, 000, I've personally probably trained, you know, 175, maybe 200 on the executive level leadership side of how to lead other people. Right. And Dale Carnegie comes up some great books, right, of how to. How to be a successful leader. Whether you lead from the front, the middle or the back, there's. There's all kinds of information out there, but I think really the. Just the root, I guess the root of being successful is determination.
- [45:35]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [45:35]
Brad Miller
Right. You will have to figure out whether or not it's something that is viable, sustainable, and duplicatable. And are you determined enough to see it through to the end? And my best example of this is, you know, if, if you want to see gains from a physical perspective with your body, we all know that diet is important and exercise is important, but what if your nutritionist came to you and said, hey, Sean, I'm going to need you to eat cardboard indefinitely.
- [46:06]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [46:07]
Brad Miller
All right. But Sean, if you eat cardboard indefinitely, I can guarantee you'll have traps above your ears. You have a decision to make, and the instant gratification part of you says what? Absolutely. I'm in.
- [46:24]
Shawn French
I actually. Mine was different. Like, hell no.
- [46:26]
Brad Miller
So that. Me too. Me too. And the reason why is because those that are logical, which we all are logical, but applying it sometimes is hard. Right. To remove the superficial part and to become somebody who understands sustainability. I would say there's no way I can eat cardboard every day.
- [46:45]
Shawn French
No, that's.
- [46:45]
Brad Miller
That's virtually impossible.
- [46:46]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [46:47]
Brad Miller
Because I'm going to want to explore my mind's Going to venture. I'm going to want more. Right. And. But we do that in every aspect of life, right. We always are exploring. We always want more. It's how we're. We're wired.
- [47:01]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [47:01]
Brad Miller
Right. As a society. And social media is fast forwarding that. Right. Because now instead of people looking at folks like you or myself or others who are actually putting in the work and creating something that's possible for anyone, by the way, I'm not an exclusion to the person that's outside of these doors.
- [47:21]
Shawn French
Right.
- [47:22]
Brad Miller
We're all one of the same. But I think media content is delivering this message of like, do I want to be a Kim Kardashian? Do I want to be a LeBron James? Do I want to be a Beyonce? Right. So those are a bit of unrealistic expectations for yourself, right?
- [47:38]
Shawn French
Yeah, sure.
- [47:39]
Brad Miller
But to be a Brad Miller, that's not. That's not unreasonable. You could be a Brad Miller tomorrow if you want to.
- [47:46]
Shawn French
That's the thing. Like, I. I don't think people are tapping enough into themselves, right? And it's like, like you said, like, be the Brad Miller. Be the Sean French.
- [47:54]
Brad Miller
Be you.
- [47:54]
Shawn French
Be you, whatever your name is. Like, be that dude. But, like, apply it.
- [47:58]
Brad Miller
Because people let adversity get in the way. Right. So I have a lot of people that, you know, are colleagues of mine and friends and associates, and they have something that happens that they seem. That they think is catastrophic.
- [48:11]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [48:11]
Brad Miller
And they're ready to pull away. They're ready to back down. Right. I mean, when we made $50 million our first year, here's the craziest part. When I looked at the balance sheets at the end of the year, you know, much profit I made on 50 million now, 2.03%. 2.03%. And you know why? Because I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I knew everything.
- [48:38]
Shawn French
What is 2% of 50 million?
- [48:41]
Brad Miller
Well, it's like a hundred thousand bucks. So I. I just. We don't have time today to talk about what it takes to make $50 million and to do it the right way. Right. With legalities and human resources and finance and. But I just want you to think we have a payroll of 1.5 per week. Right? So when I looked at payroll and I looked at 50 million and there's 52 weeks in a year and my payroll is exceeding $1 million per week. It's an identifiable problem.
- [49:10]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [49:10]
Brad Miller
Right. So what I had done is in 2019, our company was nearing bankruptcy, and everybody around me was scared, John. They Were scared, deathly afraid. Like the person that invested in me, my father in law, which was family petrified. Like everybody around me, just raw fear, man. And it's all crashing down on me, Right. And I'm like, I'm not, like I'm not gonna let this win.
- [49:38]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [49:38]
Brad Miller
Like there's no way. Yeah, I've made a few mistakes, but that doesn't mean that I don't have the formula to just crush it. So again, took that adversity. We had about three and a half weeks worth of cash reserve left before the game was over and everybody was preparing for bankruptcy. Calling the lawyers, starting the processes. While they were focused on that, I went a completely different direction. Yeah, I went out to the open market and I said, I'm going to find a buyer. I'm going to find somebody that's going to buy this. And they're like, it's impossible. Your balance sheets are upside down. There's no way anybody's going to touch the size of a business with the assets that you have, the debt schedule. No way. And I said, okay. So again, all that, the noise around you, people suppressing me, telling me what wasn't going to happen. And I stood up, rose up, and I said, we'll see. And I didn't tell them we'll see. I told myself, yeah, we'll see. And within three weeks, I found a buyer. Eight weeks later, we sold the company. Not the company. I did an asset acquisition.
- [50:41]
Shawn French
Yep.
- [50:42]
Brad Miller
I kept the brand because that was me. That was ours. We built that. Took the company from 50 million to $10,000. 50 million to 10,000 in 2019. Took that same concept. So my business partner went and bailed. Hey, that was his, that's what he did. He went and bailed. Hay. And I had the obligation to stick around for six months through the acquisition because all the people reported to me and they, I was a critical tool for them.
- [51:11]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [51:11]
Brad Miller
In order for them to be successful with what they just purchased. So I made that obligation. Six months later, I walked away. I walked back into a business. We were dead broke. We had no money and we had to start from the ground up. This time we didn't have to borrow any money because I knew exactly what the formula was. And you know how I knew it? Not because somebody taught me the right way. I did it all the wrong way. Yeah, I, I, I ruled out the things that didn't work.
- [51:34]
Shawn French
Experience.
- [51:35]
Brad Miller
Now I knew what worked. Just like you were talking about earlier. You're like, we give up on ourselves. Right. When that pain starts to hurt and we're just like, this is too much. Like we stop in that moment in time. That's where perseverance must be at its all time high. That's where you must see that there's a greater opportunity in front of you. And don't let that negativity overwhelm you. Don't let that bring you down. So I found a buyer and they bought the company. And I stuck with them for six months. I left the company. I came back after my six months was up. I did what I was supposed to do. The company was making 10,000 bucks and in a year and nine months we took that 10,000 and we turned it back into 20 million. Only this time we went from a 2.3 profit margin to a 31%.
- [52:24]
Shawn French
That's freaking amazing, dude.
- [52:25]
Brad Miller
So you can see.
- [52:26]
Shawn French
Yeah, right.
- [52:27]
Brad Miller
You can scale back and do much better, but instead of me, enough is never enough.
- [52:34]
Shawn French
And that was like. Right in the height of COVID Right.
- [52:35]
Brad Miller
Right in the height of COVID Right. So for me, but it's never enough. And I don't mean this from a monetary perspective.
- [52:44]
Shawn French
No. You're blissfully dissatisfied. You.
- [52:46]
Brad Miller
Bingo.
- [52:47]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [52:47]
Brad Miller
So for me, the opportunity is always there. I'm always going to pursue it.
- [52:53]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [52:53]
Brad Miller
So like when I was, when I was ending Q4 with our team on a national level and we're doing our year end call, I was preparing them for change, for great change. So this whole shift happens again. And that's the thing in my company, they want most leaders to be predictable. And I'm pretty unpredictable. And I'm unpredictable in a good way. From my perspective is that you're going to always find that if you're part of the team, you're part of passion. And that I don't just win. When we win, you win. So. And that's what I love for my team and our atmosphere is we make sure everybody wins. We set our structures up internally inside of our company to make sure others get to prosper. And you know what? It creates loyalty. Right. So we don't have high turnover. We have commitment, we have dedication. So in, in 2025, the, the goal is, is we have to 2x what we did in 2024. So. Right. And it sounds significant.
- [53:48]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [53:49]
Brad Miller
But it's not anymore. Because we built something that's duplicatable.
- [53:52]
Shawn French
It's amazing.
- [53:53]
Brad Miller
Right.
- [53:53]
Shawn French
I just think as we land the plane today, for the audience to think and to really go back and think about and reflect upon the whole episode here, the conversation with, with my friend Brad, who at nine years old was incarcerated for seven years, gets out when he was 16 and his own mother who gave birth to him, stood up and said that is not my child and walked right out. Has built something to where now he has a legacy. You're helping people. You are a good friend. You're an amazing husband, father and, and a great friend. Obviously I think I already said that. But you've built an empire and you're teaching others how to do it. So you know, for those people that are struggling, there's a way out and I want them to understand that it may not be telecom for them because they may not understand how to get a hold of you. Right. They may not understand how to learn this business. But just because you had the most humbling beginnings, that is not a death sentence. It's not your life sentence. Right. Like no matter what happened, like you have the opportunity and the choice to move forward every single day and to make something great out of the rest of your existence.
- [55:16]
Brad Miller
Absolutely. I could have said it better myself. That's exactly. That's the message. And the more we can get that out there, I think the greater the society becomes. Right. Because what I envision for us as humanity is let's stop living superficial.
- [55:33]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [55:33]
Brad Miller
Let's get back in touch with reality.
- [55:35]
Shawn French
I think too, man, the one thing that I want to happen is my wish. You know, like the first wish was, you know, when I created the show was to wake up in a society that was determined to go chase their dreams no matter what their emotions were telling them on that day. It's still that. But it's also. I want people to understand that we live in a world of co creation and not competition.
- [56:00]
Brad Miller
Yes.
- [56:01]
Shawn French
But can you imagine how many amazing things can happen if people, two badass entities are like, dude, you're good and we're good. Let's start. Let's stop beating up on each other and differentiating. Let's. Let's see how we can impact the.
- [56:16]
Brad Miller
Whole world together and co create Jonas my vision. Most people that are in business, you'll find that they seclude themselves from competition. It's like sharing trade secrets. Right? Like you're not going to sit down with Coca Cola and they're going to tell you the recipe from. From where I sit today. Anything that you want to know with the intent to start a business in the same line of business that I'm in. I'll share everything that I have.
- [56:42]
Shawn French
Have you, have you ever read the Go Giver?
- [56:44]
Brad Miller
No.
- [56:45]
Shawn French
You need to read it.
- [56:46]
Brad Miller
Interesting book.
- [56:47]
Shawn French
I'm almost done with it. I'm going to give it to you because the guy in there. I'm not going to ruin it. I'm not going to ruin it.
- [56:54]
Unknown
All right.
- [56:55]
Shawn French
There's someone listening right now based on what you said, understands where I'm going with it. I will finish it this weekend, hopefully, and I will give it to you so you can read it and you will. My buddy David Waldy sent it to me. Such a good guy. Randomly. Just send it to me.
- [57:09]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [57:09]
Shawn French
And I, I think you're really going to connect with it based on what you just said.
- [57:13]
Brad Miller
That'll be awesome.
- [57:14]
Shawn French
It'll be really good. It's going to help you understand you even more than you already do. But let's tell the audience, where can they find you, man? Like it. Can they get in touch with you on. I know you're not a big social media guy.
- [57:25]
Brad Miller
Yeah.
- [57:25]
Shawn French
But a lot of people that listen to the show are on social media and may want to, you know, say, hey, heard the show, man. Like, can you, can you help me?
- [57:34]
Brad Miller
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can always reach out to our website, you know, www.southerntiertelecom.com. there's a contact us on there. So you can reach out to that. Just drop us a, A message of whatever your interests are, the questions you may have, and believe it or not, all that still goes through my desk.
- [57:53]
Shawn French
That's awesome.
- [57:54]
Brad Miller
So, yeah, I'm the first one to put eyes on all of the information that comes through and that's on a national platform. So, yeah, that's. That would probably be the best way to reach me, you know, and I'm the type of guy, I'm here to help, you know, I want, I want to spread the word and the message. Not from a monetary perspective. No gain necessary for me. I just, I just really want to help other people accomplish and succeed their goals. Right. And I, and I, I want to help people understand that like you create your own reality.
- [58:23]
Shawn French
Do you know why that is, though? Do you know why? Do you know why that's your purpose.
- [58:27]
Brad Miller
Why I think it is, or you obviously are going to tell me that.
- [58:30]
Shawn French
I feel, I feel a certain way about it, but I want to hear what you have to say.
- [58:34]
Brad Miller
So. So I think growing up without a caregiving system and an environment that to surround myself with has really inspired me to care for others and give what I didn't have, so nailed it. Yeah, I think, I think that's really what's. What's happening with me as I get older. This isn't about money.
- [58:56]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [58:57]
Brad Miller
I mean, I've achieved financial freedom. Right. I've done what I've wanted to do thus far, which, by the way, I'm nowhere even close to being done. But the goal is the freedom to now help others. Right. So if, if I have extra capital, I want to now figure out ways to take that capital and spread the word and educate others. Because here's what I think is super ironic specifically for me and maybe other entrepreneurs find themselves in the same position. You will find that people will pay money for the information that you have to help them on their pathway of success. Right. So whether that be through seminar or one on one coaching or consulting, but your employees, they get all that information for free and you pay them. And sometimes they're the ones that are most resistant.
- [59:51]
Shawn French
Yep. Amazing how that is, huh?
- [59:53]
Brad Miller
Think about that for a second.
- [59:55]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [59:55]
Brad Miller
That's a pretty fascinating thought.
- [59:57]
Shawn French
It is.
- [59:58]
Brad Miller
And I don't think most people think that way.
- [60:00]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [60:00]
Brad Miller
Right. Like I'm being paid to be educated and I resist the education.
- [60:06]
Shawn French
Yeah.
- [60:06]
Brad Miller
While I've got people across from me that are being compensated or they're, they're compensating someone else to provide them with that detail and that education.
- [60:15]
Shawn French
It's amazing, dude. It's amazing.
- [60:17]
Brad Miller
It's pretty interesting.
- [60:17]
Shawn French
It's very interesting. Well, look, dude, I appreciate you. Thank you for coming on.
- [60:21]
Brad Miller
Yeah, thanks for having me.
- [60:22]
Shawn French
You gave the audience a ton of value and you heard them. The website will be in the show notes, so please make sure you go check him out if you have any questions. And if you're interested in a career in telecom, he's your guy. But again, I just want to thank you guys for listening and watching once more, staying consistent with us as we've grown. This amazing show with amazing guests and an incredible production. We couldn't do it without you. So please keep sharing the show with your friends, people that you know love and trust. And don't, don't, don't be scared to send an email or something or a message to talk about what guests you want to hear, what topics you'd like to hear. If I haven't covered anything. And please go ahead and leave some reviews. Written reviews on Spotify and Apple helps us keep doing what we're doing. Appreciate you guys. Until next time, stay determined.
- [61:17]
Brad Miller
Sh.
- [61:17]
Unknown
French, what up? This one. Luck. I let the pain inspire me. I put my all in. Everything I'm doing up until it's done, I'm me for the entirety I put in overtime I'll be working Just know I'm a go for mine Cause I earned it they watch and I know it's time I confirmed it the whole society determined, determined.