How To Say No Without Losing Your Mission | John Cantrell

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Welcoming John The Ironman Cantrell

We have John, the Ironman Cam Trail, joining us for the second. Let's go.

Welcome to the studio. Thank you so much for having me, gentlemen. Let's appreciate it. Thank you for the opportunity. I love what you guys are doing.

Heck yeah. Fill us in a little bit. What have you been up to the past year or so?

Oh man. Um business, ministry, and boxing. I love ministry boxing, family, ministry, business, boxing. Yeah, those are BMB. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of good stuff, man. A lot of good community stuff. A lot of fellowship. Um, I've been out there a lot lately, man. You know, I uh I've gone through a really long, about five-year season where I have not said anything but yes to a tremendous amount of things. Right. All the events, all the philanthropy stuff, all the galas, all the fundraisers, yeah,

Trading Constant Yeses For Family

all the ministry, everything. I've said yes for a long time. And I have finally reached a point in my life where I am ready to say no. Come on. I'm ready to say no for a little while, man.

Let's go. Why is that? What's changed?

So our first ministry is to our family. Yep. Yeah. And it's I you see this with a lot of ministry leaders, right? You get so caught up in your ministry with the church, or for me personally, it's my recovery ministry and my prison ministry and jail ministry. Um, God tells us very specifically that our very first ministry and our most important ministry is to our families. Yeah, it's so good. And I was talking to a buddy of mine named Cody Foster. You probably never heard of him. Who's he? He's a real, real, real mellow, real calm, real cool. He's the guy destroying them all.

Maybe we can uh maybe we can help people figure out who he is and put him on the map through this podcast.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cody, Cody needs a little, a little podcast love. Yeah. He's he's he's real behind the scenes, you know. Uh Cody, uh Cody told me you could only really be good at two things. Wow. You can only really be good at two things. And I'm one of those guys who tries to do everything. You know, it's you know, I've been blessed with a lot of gifts. Um, and God has put a lot, you know, I think who give who God gives a lot to has a responsibility to give a lot back. Right. Right. But um man, it kind of got broken down to me like this. Every time that I tell them yes, I'm telling my wife and my son no. Right. Yeah. Right? And it and for the longest time, you know, and I didn't really recognize this until I was sitting down with my wife. So I I had I had lunch with Derek Rowe the other day, world insurance. Great guy, incredible Christian man, family man, good businessman, really good guy. And he was telling me about how his family plans and seasons, right? What do we want the next season for our family to look like? Uh-huh. Yeah, it's good. You know, and I like it's it sparked something in me, right? I felt the Holy Spirit moving around and like, hey, hey, you need to pay attention, you need to do something here. Yeah. So I got home and I started talking to my wife, and I was like, honey, what do you want the next season of our lives to look like? You know, do you want it to look like galas and fundraisers and speaking events and you know, all this other stuff, or do you want it to look like family time at home? Yeah. And spending time together and fellowshipping together and doing things together and and just kind of being off the map a little bit. And she's like, John, I don't know how to answer that question. I never thought I'd have a choice. She goes, Who are you? Right, right. What happened to my husband? Right, right. And uh and I I'd never even asked her. Wow. You know, because basically this is what happens, and this is a mistake. I'm gonna I'm putting you guys on some game here. Somebody will text you and say, Hey, I've got a fundraiser. December 19th. December 19th. Are you available? Could you come and do it? And you know what? At the time, it's like, oh yeah, that sounds like great. I love the I love the organization. I love what they're raising money for, I love what they're gonna use the money on. This is something that fits well with with who I am and what they need. And I'll pull up my calendar and I'll look at the date, and I won't have anything on it, and I'll say, sure. Right, right. I'll say sure. And then this is what happens you get closer, you forget about it, and you get closer and closer and closer and closer and closer, and then it's three days from the event, and your two-day reminder or whatever pops up, and it's like you have this event and you go, uh, I've got I've got practice, I've got kids coaching, I've got my TNT recovery group this week, you know, this is going on, that's going on, and then you don't want to do it. Right. You don't want to do it. Yeah. And then you go and you do it, and you you, you know, you put the costume on and you do the thing. Um, but there's no joy in it. There's no joy in it. And I guess that's kind of what's kind of changed is a lot of a lot of the things that were once bringing me joy are not bringing me joy. And uh the reason they're not bringing me joy is not because they're not inherently good things, right? But it's because I'd rather be spending time with my wife and my son.

Yeah, yeah. That's a beautiful thing to do.

I'd rather, I'd rather be I'd rather be home with them.

Yeah. You know what's crazy about that? And this is all I took from that. Is John's in a season of saying no and turning things down, but he said yes to us. And he's here again. That's all I took from that.

Okay, so and that's funny, right? Because I was one of the one of the big things was is I'm sitting there thinking to myself, this will be the last podcast I do for the next season.

Oh come on, let's look at that. Yeah, yeah.

I've got I've got I've got one more to do. Um, the Family Life Radio is coming, is coming to Kansas City, and they're actually gonna come down and and we're gonna do Family Life Radio at the gym, which I thought was pretty cool. But that's cool. That will likely be the last interview or speaking engagement that I do for a while. Wow, we're in for a treat today. That's what I'm doing.

Yeah, we so we saw you at the Topeka uh partnership event um that was at the Exocenter where you rode in with your motorcycle. Yeah, me and Molly. Yeah, that was fun, wasn't it? And then uh we I we saw you there was like another event like the week after, and I was like, man, I'm just I'm seeing him everywhere. Yeah. And my buddy goes, he goes, Yeah, John Cantrell's in side quest mode. He goes, he's in side quest mode. And I was like, that's hilarious. And so uh yeah, I'd just be curious, like, how what what opened up all these

Mentors And Getting A Seat

opportunities? Was it the boxing? Was it just come of some of the ministries you're doing?

Like I think they all work together. Yeah, and I think it's who you surround yourself with. You know, when you surround yourself with guys like Cody and and and Jim and Molly and the GTP and you know, kind of the the movers and shakers in the city, like you get you get opportunities to go and and be a part of what they're doing.

Yeah.

And I think everybody wants to see Topeka do great. Yeah. You know, we all want to see, we all want to see changes where, you know, economic development is happening in Topeka, you know, revitalization is happening in the neighborhoods. You know, um for our minorities, right? They're they're growing and they're developing and they're they're starting their own businesses and their neighborhoods are coming up. And, you know, we're all locking arms and moving forward together toward a better future.

Yeah, it's awesome.

So it's hard to say no to that. And and I know I know the specific value that I bring to a lot of those conversations. And if I can be a part of what makes this place a better city, I want to be a part of it, just not for this next season.

Yeah. What is uh this is maybe a hard uh question to answer because sometimes it feels like it's not humble, but you said I know what I bring to the conversation. What what do you bring to the conversation? Energy. Yeah.

I bring energy, yeah. Uh a lot of discernment, right? God and I are on a on a on a pretty uh pretty consistent conversation basis. We talk a lot.

Yeah, phone lines open.

Yeah, phone lines open. Yeah. Um and then right, experience. I get to go and I get to see a lot of stuff and I get to be around a lot of interesting people. Um, you know, I touch the development world in a lot of places, and I through all the different fundraisers and all the different organizations and all the different children's charities and mental health organizations and recovery organizations. Uh what I get is I get to experience life from this level all the way to this level. And I think one of the reasons why Topeka has kind of, I guess, put me on an undeserving pedestal is because I've I have that shared life experience, right? I can go in and have lunch with the business guys that are talking about putting together a $250 million commercial development, and then I can go to the jail and sit down and chop it up with the homeboy sit in the honors mod that are, you know, wanting to change their lives and and get better and be better dads and better husbands and and you know better employees when they get out. You know, so I I get that I get that mix where I get to see a lot of life through a lot of people's eyes. Yeah. So I think I think I get invited to that conversation because when I speak, I'm speaking for more than just myself.

I how did it how did it happen that you got because you you were here a year ago and you gave us your backstory, which is incredible, just the way God moved in your life. Yeah. You know, from federal prison to boxing to the ministry that you're doing and all the stuff. How did you get into like real estate and develop like you own businesses and you like you seem like you have so many irons in the fire where you start a business here, you start a business there, you you know, like, and now you know your friends with Cody Foster. Like, how did you go from inmate just getting out and maybe hoping to survive to like, man, I'm I'm like making things happen in the city, you know what I'm saying?

Well, that's that's a great question. I'm I'm gonna have to give all the credit to the people that I surround myself with. But this is what I will tell you if you are humble, hungry, and smart, you're a go-getter, and you want to see change in your community for the better, and you're not all about you and everything that you do, you get opportunities, right? The the powers that be notice that, right? And they're they're willing to take you under the under their wings and show you the ropes and show you how to do things, and you get invited to conversations and you get invited to a table that you don't necessarily belong at yet. Right. Um, but you sit at that table long enough, all of a sudden you start belonging there. Yeah. And I just I've been really, really fortunate that God has put a lot of really incredible people in my life as mentors, right? So I have business mentors, I have, you know, mentors for my relationships, I have mentors for my ministry, I have mentors for boxing. I you become a cu an accumulation of the people that you surround yourself with. And I have I have been very fortunate to been included and to be able to surround myself with some really, really cool people.

Okay, I love that. I think that's so good. And that I think a lot of people need to take what you're saying and put that into practice. Um, the idea of because personally, I like I grew up with the mentality, hey, you gotta figure it out. You just you. And if you don't figure it out, if you don't figure it out on your own, you know, you're a loser, you're not doing it right, or whatever, like you got to prove yourself, you know. And I I obviously no one can do it but you, like, no one can do it for you, but there is so much more value in learning from people with experience and wisdom, people who've made the stupid mistakes you don't have to make. Um, how how did you learn that? Like, what got you to be like, man, I got a mentor in this area of my life. I should probably get a mentor for my marriage and my business too.

You know, like so. I'm sitting in federal prison. Year

Prison Lessons And Daily Habits

is 2014. And uh I remember a conversation with that my dad had with me when I was in middle school. And I that was about the time I started veering off the path. And my dad basically told me, John, if you want to know what kind of person you are, look at who your three best friends are. That's who you are. That's who you are. Yeah. And sure enough, that's kind of what happened, right? So all of my best friends became dope dealers and hustlers and gangsters. And it turns out before too long, that's exactly what I became. Wow. Right? So I'm in prison and I'm thinking of that conversation I had with my dad, right? I had some divine intervention from the father. Yeah. And I'm going, man. And I also remembered, right, and Alcoholics Anonymous, which is which was played such a pivotal role in me and in God softening my heart so that I could open the door to let him in, right? At the time I wasn't, you know, when I first went to AA, higher power. I wasn't gonna say Jesus, right? That was a bad word. Yeah, that was a bad word. You don't say that word. Uh, and we don't talk about God, right? Yeah, but higher power I was okay with. Yeah. But finally, you know, my heart gets opened up and and God comes into my life, and I remember back to some of the old old heads in AA, and they said, if you want what we have, you'll do what we do to get it. Whoa. If you want what we have, you'll do what we do to get it. That's great. Right. So I apply that, and I'm thinking, I've so I've got the divine intervention coming down, and I remember the conversation with my dad, and I'm remembering that aspect of the program, and I'm going, right now, what I want is I want to have a really good relationship with God, and I want to know everything I can know about Him. Because how do you know an unknowable God and search an unsearchable God? Well, he gave us His Word. Yeah, He gave us His Word, and He gave us the people around us to help us learn that word. Yeah. So I I started doing the things they did, right? You know, little, little, little habits. Take your shoes off at night and put them under your bed. And while you're on your knees, you might as well say a prayer. And then when you wake up in the morning, you get down on your knees to get your shoes out from underneath your bed, you might as well say a prayer where you're there. Wow. Right. So you're hitting your knees twice a day. Yeah. Right? I'm starting the day surrendering, right? Saying, you know, God, I want you in the driver's seat today in my life. Yeah. I want to be in the passenger seat for my life. I want you driving the car. It's so good. Right. But I start, you know, you pray before your meals. And you know, when something's bothering you, you have you you surround yourself with men who who are trying in search of the same things that you are and are on the same path that you're on. Right. And before long, I had this really good relationship with God. You know, then it was, it turns out, well, when I get out, I want to be financially stable. You know, I don't want to have to worry about money. I want to be good at business. So I started surrounding myself with guys in there that were really good at business. You know, they had chosen to take a shortcut somewhere along the line, and or they had, you know, done something wrong.

Oh, so you met guys in j in prison. Oh, yeah. Good at business, good at business.

Yeah, I mean, so my my workout partner was Arvin Lee Black. Arvind Lee Black was the banker of poker stars. Huh. Whoa. Right. So he was kind of in charge of getting all the money offshore, bringing it back into the States, and distributing it to all the poker players. Whoa. Right. And then uh Darren Atkinson. Darren Atkinson owned U.S. Fidelis. He had a $20 million house in St. Louis, Missouri, and embezzled a hundred million dollars from his own company. He was my spades and pinnackle partner. No way. Good at business, doesn't have to be legal.

Right.

Well, I mean, so so they had they had been very successful. Yeah. Yeah. And at some point in time in their life, and we all do it, right? We're I guarantee there are times in your lives where both of you are like, oh, I could take the shortcut and get ahead way faster.

Right. I've read about people like that. I'm kidding.

It's there. It's there. Um, and a lot of people fall to that temptation, right? It's a it's a real thing. And Satan knows Satan knows what tempts us. He knows our weak spots. He knows. He comes to us in our weakest moments. Yeah. Right? He chose to tempt Jesus when? When did he hadn't eaten or taken a drink for 40 days and 40 nights? You know, Satan knows our temptations. He knows when he gives us.

Is it is it AA, they have the acronym for like when you're most tempted to give in? Hungry, angry, lonely, tired.

Yes. Yeah.

Yes, sir. That's so helpful.

Yes, sir. Very helpful. Yeah. Very helpful. Yeah. But I, you know, I started, I started watching how these guys moved and the things that they did that made them successful. You know, what were their habits? What books did they read? What, you know, how did they eat? You know, you notice these guys are up before everybody else. They exercise, they eat right. Wow. They're always in professional, personal like development books and professional development books and self-development books. And I started doing those things. And before long, we started having those conversations, right? All of a sudden you become fluent in that language.

Yeah.

You know what they're talking about. You know the verbiage they use. You know the different acronyms they use. And I just, I have continued that pattern. You know, I wanted to get, I wanted to get really healthy. Right? Damon Reed is one of the healthiest guys. Like, dude, when it comes to diet, exercise, body mass index, how to how to get lean, how to get mean, how to get strong, how to get fast, how to become the best physical specimen version of yourself self you can possibly be. Wow. Like, dude's 54 years old with a 10 pack. He's he's rocking like six and a half percent body fat right now. He's stronger and in better shape now than he's ever been. Wow. You know, so you start surrounding yourself with those guys and doing those, doing the things that they do, you start getting the things that they have.

So good. Even if you just pick up a fraction of what some of these guys are doing. That's right.

That's right. And you know, I've applied that to my marriage. Yeah. You know, if I want to have a good marriage, I'm not gonna hang out with the the guys, oh hey man, all the girls are doing this, you want to go to the strip club or you know, uh, or the the dad, you know, the father is like, I don't hang out with guys that that are really mean and really hard on their like I don't want to be that kind of dad. Right, yeah.

Right or the husbands who just like complain about their wives all the time. That's it, man.

If if if as soon as if as soon as somebody's wife walks out of the room, they start bad mouthing them. Right, yeah, dude, I don't want to have a marriage like that. Right. I don't want to have a marriage, I don't want to be that kind of a husband. Yeah, I want to be the kind of husband that when my wife's not in the room, I speak life into her. Come on. When my wife is in the room, I'm speaking life into her. Come on. Yeah, it's good. You know, I I she is my wife in the same way that we are Christ, the church is Christ's wife to the church. Yeah. You know, he's given us the example. You know, if I want those things, then I'm gonna surround myself with people that have those things. And before long, I develop those habits, I develop those traits, I develop those things. Come

Life Board And Knowing Your Strengths

on.

That reminds me a lot of, and I think we've talked about on the show, it's probably been a while, but having a board of directors for your life. You know, who's on your board?

I have a board of directors for your own. I do too.

It's written down and I've told everyone who's on my board that they're on it. Yeah, wow. I like it. It's uh one of those things that keeps me, especially as uh someone who struggles with pride, thinking I'm right. You know, when someone calls me out, I'm always hesitant to believe anyone on anything. It's kind of uh an agreement I've made with myself that, you know, these people are on my board. I have said before there's any, you know, uh conflicting views on anything in my personal life that I respect these guys' opinion. Yeah. And if I have someone call me out who's on my board, it's something that I basically just told myself, it's like, you know, I put them there for a reason. You know, I have to put it in check. I'm strongly inclined to listen to anything that anyone on my board says. And if more than one person says it, it's one of those, like you just put it down and it's like, all right, you know, I did something wrong. You know, I heart check. Amen. Yeah. So do you have board meetings? No board meetings. Orderly board meetings. No board meetings, but uh, I did uh this was just in the last year or so. I thought it was important that they knew they were on my board, and it wasn't just an internal thing for me. Okay. That way I give them the freedom to, hey, if you see something, say something. Right. You know, I want you, you know, you are I have put you in a place in my life that I want you to call things out when you see them. Yeah. But it also changes. My board, you know, is seasonal. You know, there's different relationships that it's like, you know, I haven't caught up with that guy. When they disagree with you, I think I need to find somebody else. When they call something out, it's like they're off.

It is very seasonal, right? So we I call them male readers. Yeah. There are certain people in my life that male readers. I let them read all my mail. Yeah. All the good, all the bad. Oh, 100%. You know, for a lot of ministry stuff, Barry Feeker's one of my guys. Oh, yeah. Terry Kimes, Terry Kimes is I he's he's I do discipleship under him. Um, you know, Christine Kaplinger, my my partner, my friend, my boss. Um, when it comes to legal, when it comes to business decisions, you know, she's made rules for me. She has made, she has had to specifically put in rules to keep me safe. She's like, okay, John, we are instituting a 24-hour rule. Whatever deal you bring me to look at, we are going to sit on it for 24 hours before we talk about it again. And it kind of works. It kind of works, right? Because every because, you know, I'm excited. I get excited and I I I'm one of those die hard. I just love seeing the best in everyone. Like optimists. Like, we need to do this right now. Yeah, yeah. I I love seeing the best in everyone.

We're the same in that give me that galvanizer. So uh we have you end up have you taken it yet? Yeah, we had our whole staff take it. So we took uh we both love the working genius assessment. And so the working genius assessment, we've talked about it a couple times on this show, but for like teams of teams and yeah. Uh, individuals take it to outline which stages of a problem that they aren't necessarily best at, but what brings them life. And so there's six stages that the assessment outlines, and one of them's being a galvanizer. And it's, you know, rallying the troops, getting people excited. You know, we have the idea, we're gonna go do it. You know, everyone follow me. Let's go. That is me to AT. And that's the two of us as well. And then uh so we're really good at rallying the troops. No, actually, it's not even really good. We just it brings us life. Yeah. And most of the time, the things that bring you life, you tend to be good at. And so they do sometimes involve it. Yeah, that's right. That's cool, man. Oh, yeah, I could see that from you a mile away. You don't even need to take the assessment.

We know that's well, I mean, even you know, when I asked, hey, what do you bring to the table? You said, Hey, energy. And I I imagine that's what a lot of people like, man, this guy gets people excited about stuff, you know, which is Let me ask you this a follow-up question to that.

Yeah. Two other stages of the problem in the working genius assessment. And I if I had to guess, you're probably you probably don't enjoy one of these two, but I don't know which one, or maybe it's both. Do you not enjoy discerning ideas and you know thinking through them before you rally the troops, or do you just rally the troops to any idea you have, or do you not enjoy finishing ideas?

I don't like the finishing. Yep. Once it so I am I am good for the initial, the setup, and kind of the kickstart, but as soon as as soon as you fly down from the 30,000 foot level and I'm still okay, I'm still good at the 5,000 foot level, but man, you drop down to the weeds and I am I'm no good. Yeah, I'm not the guy for it. I can now I have I have been forced, I have been forced to be. Sure. You know, when I was, you know, Neil Spencer has been a probably one of the most key people in me becoming who I am today. You know, Neil gave me a shot. Who's that? Neil Spencer or owns Ernest Spencer Companies, which is Ernest Spencer Metals, Ernest Spencer Custom Coding. But he's Neil's involved in everything, and he's one of those movers and shakers for the city. He does a ton for the city of Topeka. But Neil gave me my shot. Wow. When I started working for Neil, I still had my federal ankle monitor on. Wow. I was fresh out the feds, dog. Fresh out the feds. Um, but Neil saw something in me, and he just continued to pour life into me. Wow. And give me opportunities and open doors for me. And, you know, Neil was Neil was one of those guys. And, you know, working my way from the shop as a as a laborer in the shop. Well, I started out there, I started working for Neil through a temp agency making nine bucks an hour, shaving the sharp edges off of parts so that the welders wouldn't get metal shavings in their skin. Wow. Right. Uh, you know, and then it became it was becoming a project coordinator and then a project manager and then directing the project management and estimation and sales department, stuff like that. But I found that to be truly successful at something, you have to become an expert at it. So I kind of apply that to everything. You know, you notice that I don't know if you notice with the title business. Yeah. You know, how do I sell a product that I don't understand? Right? Well, I'm gonna figure out how to do it. And then I'm gonna go and I'm gonna take the the test and I'm gonna I'm gonna get certified for it. I saw you passed it. I did, I passed the test. Come on, congratulations. Thank you, sir. I did. Um, but become an expert. Become an expert at whatever you're doing, and that's that's how you're able to succeed at it, right? Become an expert first. So for Neil, man, I had to get in the weeds on these projects and learn how to how to project manage. And well, if you're gonna manage a project, you need to how to you need to understand each piece of the scope and how it works and how everything works together. So I was able to force myself into doing those things. Yeah, yeah. Even though they're not my natural strong suit. That's not where my talents lie, that's not where my gifts are. My gifts are in relationships. Yeah. But I did it. Yeah.

I did it. What's the there's a term for that where you like the thing that you suck the most at, you get it up to being like a bare minimum. You know what I'm talking about? Uh where it doesn't cut your legs out from you under you anymore, you know? Um, anyway, there's some business term for that anyway. That's great. That's that's really cool. Um, I saw that you are a part of another big event coming up. Um, maybe

Open Skies And Fighting Division

this is like the last event that you said yes to, um, but the open skies event. Um open skies. Uh Cody Foster's putting it. The like Bethel, KB. Yes. I think you're sharing your testimony at that. Are you excited about that?

Yeah. Cody, uh I won't tell Cody no. When Cody has He twisted your arm on it. No, dude. Cody's one of those guys, man, when he does something like, man, he really wants it to be, it's gonna be something that's a game changer for the community. It's gonna be something that's never been done. Yeah, you know, the the idea of bringing that level of talent to Topeka for free. Yeah, for free, and putting on this huge concert, like he's gonna, he is, he is inevitably, God through him is going to turn the entire city of Topeka into a group of worship for a night. Let's go. There is uh nothing cooler than that.

Can you give us just like what what are you most excited about? What are you hoping comes out of that?

Um I mean, I I'm just like anybody else, man. I want to see a ton of people come to Christ. Yeah. You know, I want the city to see that man, God, people, God cares about you. God cares about the city, God cares about you individually. So much so that he laid his life down so that you could be freed from the chains of sin and bondage to death. Come on. That's great. Man, what's more powerful than that? Yeah. Nothing. Nothing. And and to get everybody together, you know, there's so much, especially I ain't talking about then darn politics. All right. So I'm gonna say this and then we're gonna get off of it. There is so much in our society today that divides us. And I don't are either one of you familiar with Sun Tzu, the art of war.

Oh, Sun Tzu, yeah, yeah.

Right. One of the oldest tricks in the book is divide and conquer. Right, yeah. You know, and you want to talk about talk about division. We have never been more polarized as a people. Right. We have we we have never had so much hatred in between the right and the left, the north and the south, the east and the west, all the things. And I, for one, am just tired of it. I'm tired of it. I can't stand it. The answer almost is always somewhere in the middle.

Yeah.

Almost always. Yeah. You know, and we and people don't like to realize it, but we need both. We need both sides. We need the balance, we need the ebb, we need the flow. You know, the the pendulums, the pendulum is gonna continue to swing, and we're in trouble when it quits swinging. But but but what something like that does is it brings people together for a common purpose, and that's to worship God. Yeah, and there's nothing better than that. And any event that brings, you know, that's I try to do that with my boxing events. Really? You know, I want to bring people together where they can enjoy something rich and poor, right and left, yeah, you know, uh black and white, doesn't matter the socioeconomic stat, it doesn't matter. Yeah, it's something that everybody can get together and enjoy together.

Right?

Because believe it or not, there is way less that separates us than what brings us together. Yeah. We agree on a lot more. If I said, Justin, what's important to you? Man, loving God, loving my family, and doing a good job at work and taking care of people around me. I bet you 99% of people that you ask that would say the same thing. If we all hold those same things as as highest regard in our life, shouldn't we focus on them instead of focusing on the little small trite menial things that divide us?

Yeah.

Man, imagine what this world would look like if we all decided to work together. Yeah. To build each other up. You know? I don't know. Come on, bro. But I'm I'm gonna continue doing my best to work toward a world that finds out.

Yeah, this is build each other.

This is that is exactly Cody wanted to do something to bring everybody together to turn the city into a uh an honor to God for our city. Yeah. So what's the date on that again? September 26th is the date on that.

Come on.

Let's go, man.

Pumped. Um, I didn't realize you so you brought up your boxing events and how you kind of try to do something similar with this.

Free Fight Nights And City Access

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So these are my shows, and and I bring on sponsorships to cover the show. And then generally how I make my money, since uh uh so for the shows that I do at Evergy that are free shows, right? You get this incredible thing where you've got the the Cody's and the gyms and the and the Dons and all kinds of the big heavy movers and shakers sitting there watching the fights, and literally eight feet away from them are our homeless neighbors that are living on the north side of the riverbank of the Kansas River. Right. Yeah. And they're just sitting there watching and enjoying the fights together. Yeah. There is no cooler thing that I've ever seen. Wow. That is super cool. That is cool. Right. That's why I continue to do it for free. That's why I continue to do it because it brings everybody together so that they can all enjoy something.

So, how do you make your money back from that?

Through the food and booth sales, through the food and beverage sales. Okay. Yeah. Through the food and beverage sales.

Yeah.

Well, I went from having from a location that wasn't going to cost me anything, and I was going to make all the all of my money on the food and beverage to we have to pay for the space, even though I will say Swavale Vincenter's new GM, pretty awesome. Oh, come on. Pretty awesome. Yeah. They literally, in 24 hours, flipped that place on its head, got the entire thing stocked, everything ready to go, gave me a sweetheart deal, knowing that it was going to be free for the public. Sure. Um, and we got the job done. Come on, man. We got the job done. Casey is Casey's awesome, man. She's she's the real deal. I'm I'm really, really grateful to have her there.

Now you've had fights at several different locations now. You had Evergy a couple of times, you went to the Stormont Vale. Yep, we did the mall. You did the mall. Yeah. The mall. What's next?

Oh no,

Allen Field House Boxing Dream

I knew you were gonna ask that. I gotta be real careful here.

Okay, so there is something next.

Oh, we've got something big in the world. Is it open air or is that why you can't uh it's not finalized yet, but we are currently working on doing the first ever fight at Allen Field House. Oh, dude. How boss would that be? That's dope. That's pretty sick. How boss would it be? And you know, when I was a kid, like my dream was to grow up and be a KU basketball player. Uh-huh. You know, because I that was the end all be all for me. Yeah. How cool would it be to get to fight and get some court time and have a fight on the court?

My dream was to play in Allen Field House and Are you gonna fight the KU basketball players?

Just let them have 30 seconds in the ring each.

I bet most in boys could probably get it done.

Yeah, yeah. You know, that's funny. Okay, you brought it up. I I had a fun hypothetical for you. Yeah. John and I throw on the gloves. Yep. 2v1. How long do we last? Completely untrained. Completely untrained. Yeah, you I mean But a good attitude though.

Wait, so am I throwing punches back or am I just taking punches?

Oh, you're throwing punches back.

Okay, so if I if I was just taking punches, you guys would last a round.

Like we would get tired of hitting. You would gas out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You would gas out. We would get so tired from hitting you.

Like you guys are both really trying to knock me out. Oh, sure. Yeah. Like, now you could like it easy on you. If I'm not throwing punches back, you could move around and do this. But if I was like, you guys have six minutes to knock me out, and you have to try as hard as you can, you'd probably last about three minutes.

And just get exhausted. Yeah. Yeah. I have done uh one of those boxing workouts a few times. It is exhausting. It's brutal. It's brutal. It's exhausting.

It's so much harder than it looks. You hear all the stories about these guys who were fighters back in the day and this and that. And like you watch the movies where they have these crazy epic fights, and it's like, that's not how it works. Yeah. That's not how it works. This is a this is a war of attrition. Yeah. This is endurance. Okay. This is endurance.

Endurance As A Fighting Strategy

So is that the real strategy of fighting? Is really to war of attrition, man. Absolutely. Wow.

I don't win fights because I'm a great fighter. I win because I'm in good shape. Yeah. And you can just sneak it out. Yeah, man. I'm I'm the tank, man. We just keep on cruising. It's kind of the Rocky strategy.

You just gotta stay up.

That's it? Yeah. That's it. This is the deal. I don't have to be bigger than them. I don't have to be stronger than them. I don't have to be faster than them. I just have to have a little bit of gas left in my tank when theirs runs out.

Wow. That's wild. That's a great uh that's a great metaphor for just business or doing anything hard. That if you don't give up, you have a high likelihood of succeeding. Yeah. If you don't give up and you don't quit. That's wild.

Yeah, I don't have to, I don't have to knock him out in the first round. I just have to outlast him. Yeah. Yeah. And I this is this is what Damon found out early on, and this is why he got excited about me. And he still sees something in me that I don't see in myself.

Is he your boxing coach?

Yeah. Cool. Yep. Dangerous Damon Reed, man. Damon's first thing that he pointed out was my motor. He's like, dude, you've got a motor on like anything I've ever seen. And it's not the biggest motor, the fastest motor, or the, but it just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. And we we quickly realized that my skill and what was going to be my benefit was dragging fighters into deep water and drowning them. What does that mean? So I'm going to push my motor against yours. I'm never going to let you catch your catch your breath. I'm going to constantly be putting pressure on you to where you're having to throw punches. You're having to match my pace. You're having to match my speed. You're having to do all these things. And I'm just, I'm just, I'm just burning. You're having to go through gas twice as fast as I am. And I'm just grinding my motor into yours. And then I wear you out. And then all of a sudden the fight becomes real easy for me because I'm still in round 10 the same fighter that I was in round one. Sure. And by round five, every round after that, you're losing 20%.

Really? Yeah. Wow. Honestly, that's a worse answer. That's more, that's a more disrespectful answer than I was even hoping to get. I was hoping for like, you know, 30 seconds. He said uh three minutes and yeah, I won't even throw a punch and you'll go back. Yeah.

But you'd have to really be trying to knock me out. Well, sure. If I could hit back, I mean you guys, I don't know, you'd probably last a while.

Do you uh people the people that are listening to this are like, oh, he's genuine. You look at his face, it's like, I'm gonna say, Oh, yeah, while sure, sure. Thanks, John.

I think one punch literally anywhere, and it'd be like, Yeah, you know what?

You'd be surprised, guys. You'd be surprised. I'll tell you what, if you came in and you gave me an hour of your time, I could make to where, like in just an hour, I could get to where you guys had last.

Is this an actual offer? Because we should take this up.

Yeah, yeah. This is the deal, guys. The only punch, the only punch that hurts you is you want the one you don't see coming. Right. It doesn't matter how hard somebody hits you, like if you expecting it, you can your body can prepare itself for it and you can condition your body to take that punishment. Right. Yeah. That's why you spar. You're conditioning your body to take punches. Wow. I could, yeah, I could spend an hour with you and show you exactly kind of what to do and how to stand and how to hold your arms and how to breathe through the process to where you do okay.

I've heard uh I forget where I heard this, but I've heard that like there's nothing like the first time you get punched in the face. It's the best. That like there's just literally you cannot prepare for anything in a fight until you're punched in the fight face once.

Yeah, the fight doesn't start for me until I get hit. Yeah. Like, and I don't mean just mean hit. I mean like somebody like really cracks me, man, just snaps me with one. Yeah. Boy, there's nothing, there's nothing that makes you feel more alive than when you just get smoked.

Have you heard the the saying? It's it's usually uh used outside of boxing, but everybody's got a plan. Until you get punched in the face. That's it.

Is

Getting Knocked Down And Getting Up

there what's the closest? So you're 18-0. Yep. You have not lost a fight ever. What is is there a moment you can point to where you thought this might be the word? Oh, yeah. I'm about to lose this fight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had my I've had I've had a couple of those, man. Uh Brandon Carmack in the Showtime fight. That was brutal, man. I was sick, I was hurt. Uh, and dude, I was way. I thought I did not think that he was gonna bring the fight that he brought. And man, he brought the fight. That dude is tough. Just tough. Uh, that was really tough. But the the hardest one, man, in in my real gut check moment was I can't remember what number it was. I think I was seven and oh fighting in F uh uh Reyes Diaz. And he was seven and one. And he flashed KO'd me in the first round. And he was he's the same kind of fighter as me, right? Um, so I got hit and I was knocked out. Like Yeah, I mean you just everything goes every you just get blanked out, and then my I hit the canvas and I woke up and stood back up. Um but it's funny, man. Like it when you watch the video or when you watch the fight, it all happened like in a moment. It didn't look like there was any pause. But man, I felt like I lived a lifetime in between. I felt like I lived a lifetime in between because like I had I remember all the thoughts going through my head, and I'm sitting there like, Where am I? Okay, I'm in a I'm fighting. Why are all these people in suits around me? It's like, okay, and then it's man, am I really cut out for this? Dang. Am I really like the first time you get really, really smoked and you get knocked on your butt, like that's when you those are the moments that you realize like real who you really are, right? You talk about depth and you talk about you know what people are really made out of. Like what are what are they real what can they really do? You know, that was my moment where I I really learned a lot about who I was. Wow. You know, talk to ultra runners, right? Talk to them about their first ultra when they hit about mile 80. Yeah. And they think they're gonna die, and they think they're not gonna make it, and they think they're not gonna do it. Like it's in those moments when you're when you when literally it's just you and your will. Yeah. And you're talking to God, right? God just get me through. Uh that's the whole fight, man. So I digress. I had to decide, like, man, am I really cut out for this? If this is this really what I want to do, because this dude's gonna jump on me as soon as I get up, and he's probably gonna probably gonna get me. Yeah. And you just do it, man. You make that decision, like, he's gonna have to kill me to beat me. Wow. He's gonna, if he wants to beat me, he's gonna have to kill me. And then it was okay, I'm up, and it was like, God, just get me through the rest of this round. As soon as I got up, this dude lands an overhand right, puts 11 stitches over, I mean, just opens me up. Um and then every round after that, we were just fighting to the death. He would hit me and I would stumble. I would hit him and he would stumble. And like these are hard knockout punches where like you're getting hit so hard that you're you're losing your legs. Whoa. And we did that for another six rounds. And I ended up, I was gonna, I was down on the scorecards, and I ended up finishing him with a finishing him with like 30 seconds left in the fight.

Whoa. Completely knocked him out.

Um, I he was he was out on his feet. It was T it was TKO. The ref finally jumped in and was like, oh stop, because I was I was putting the heavy leather towards it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, but it was that was brutal. Wow. I learned a lot about who I was in that fight. And that was seven. That was for my seventh fight, yeah.

Mental Reps And Preparation Wins

Crazy. Now you're 18. Yeah. What's what's the difference between seven and eighteen? What's happened between then and now? Experience.

Experience. You get comfortable, right? Anymore, it's like clocking into work when I get in the ring. There used to be this huge adrenaline dump, right? It would start, as soon as they started rapping my hands, it would start, right? And the nerves would set in, and the anxiety and the fear would all set in. You know, and then they'd put the gloves on and you do your warmups and you start feeling better, and you'd get everything calmed back down and you'd kind of get into your flow. And then the Kansas Athletic Commission would come back and say, Okay, you're on deck, time to head down. And they duct tape your gloves on your hands and they'd put the tape on, and then it would fully set in, right? Because in your mind, like the only way that this duct tape is coming off is through that ring and through that opponent. Yeah.

Right?

And then the nerves would really set in, and then you'd you'd kind of loosen back up and you'd get down and you'd kind of get in the right headspace. And then your walkout music would come on, right? And that's when early on, I would see all my friends, and I would see my parents, and I'd see my mom, and I'd see my wife, and it would, it would, it would give me more nerves. Yeah. You know, what's gonna happen if I get knocked out with all my friends watching? Right. You know, that's a that's still a fear, it's just a small fear now. Yeah. Uh and then, but man, by the time I got in the ring, and this is kind of what makes I'm a little different. I'm a little different. And I think there's a lot of fighters that have this, but a lot of the fighters that don't end up where I'm at just don't have this, right? When I get in that ring, all that stuff would just shed. And it's like I live here. This is my ring. Right? You're walking into my house. This is like I am this is mine. I own it. Wow. And I would just feel that energy. I would just feel that energy. And then in my mind, it's like nothing can stop me. Nobody can beat me. Nobody can touch me. No matter what happens, you can't hurt me. Come on. And you just go. You just go. And over time it's it's kind of become one of those things where it's like, okay, man, I'm just clocking into work. I've done it so many times, it's just another day at the office. You know, and I do a lot of mental preparation, right? I will fight my fight with my opponent a hundred times in my head before I step in the ring with him. Right. And on in certain scenarios, I'll get knocked down, right? And I'll have to get back up and I'll have to in certain in certain scenarios I'll be under on the scorecards and I'll have to, you know, turn it up at the end, right? And I'm I'm working all the different scenarios of all the different outcomes. And then by the time I get in there to do it, I've already done it a hundred times. Right. Right? All that stress and pressure and everything else, like proper preparation prevents poor performance. I bet have you ever done any public speaking?

I preach every Sunday.

Okay, so have you ever been unprepared for a uh a sermon? Never. Never. Right. How are your nerves? Yeah, if you how are your nerves when you go in unprepared? They're high. Oh, yeah. You're not prepared, you're nervous, you feel like you should have put more time in, you feel like you should have worked harder, you should have done this, you should have done that. How do you feel when you've put all the time and you've done the work? You're ready to go, you're prepared. Everything is is just like it's supposed to be. Then you get up there and it's strong and it's powerful, and there's no nerves and there's no anxiety.

Yeah. Right? Yeah, it's so true. And I would say, just in addition, obviously, not literally fighting people like you are. Uh there, there's just something about just the reps, too, where you just kind of get more comfortable like going through the reps. Yeah, you just kind of get like what used to used to be, yeah, the shot of adrenaline before I'm I'm going out to preach, you know. And now it's like another day. Yeah, I'm clocking into work, baby.

There's just another day at the office.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's cool, man. All right. So I've been seeing the uh the rumblings on Facebook, and I want to know what we need to take, what we need to do as a community to get there. What's it gonna take for you to fight Jake Paul? It doesn't exist.

Oh yeah, it doesn't exist. I uh it seemed like there was gonna be a shot. You know, Lee Holton, his son, is one of the is one of the partners with MVP, and it really looked like we were gonna get a chance to do it. And then he stepped in the ring with a real boxer, and he got exactly what everybody knew he was gonna get.

Oh, I missed that part. I saw him fight somebody, but he got rocked by somebody.

Oh, Anthony Joshua broke his face. Oh, what?

Yeah.

I mean, he literally ran around the ring like a scared bird, and then like Anthony Joshua hit him with two punches, and the last one broke his face. That's crazy. I mean, yeah, and don't get me wrong, like, dude can fight, but he ain't got heart like that. Yeah, yeah. He'll he'll never he like the same thing, like the thing that got me off the canvas, the thing that got me off the canvas and kept me in that fight, and that got me to the bell at the end to win, right?

He doesn't have that. I don't think he has that. Who is the first the the huge name guy he fought?

Um there was like pay-per-view, um the only person he's ever fought that is a real fighter that's in his prime is Anthony Joshua. Well, yeah, and he got what he got. Now don't get me wrong, man. Like it's not taking anything away. The the guys that he fought were all great in their career, they all were great fighters, and they put on a decent fight. But like fighting a real fighter in their prime at the top of the list, like that's and that's what he was trying to prove.

Like he was trying to prove I I could I believe well, his proof was that I belong here. Right.

I'm one of these guys, right? You know, so like I'm doing the same thing, right? I'm on my way up. I'm fighting through the, you know, a lot of the guys that are at the end of their career, you know, or the guys that are journeymen, the mid-level journeyman. And the idea is to keep continuing to work up that totem pole until you get to those big fights. However, I don't say that I belong there, right? Sure. When I get there, I will consider it a privilege to be there. Sure. Yeah. Right? Because I've put in the work, I've put in the time. I don't have to throw $20 million or something to make myself look like something I'm not.

Well, maybe if you uh, you know, blow up on YouTube first, then you can use all that money.

So that's so here, you know, we started talking about this with saying no, right? I

Main Quest Priorities And Good Peopling

think kind of part two of my journey for this next season is being out of the spotlight for a while, man. Yeah. Being out of the spotlight for a lot of people. Side quest mode is coming to an end. Yeah, yeah. I uh I know that, you know, and I get it, I get really good feedback all the time. Like, man, I really like what you post on Facebook about God and about family and about being a better father and a better husband and being in recovery and all these things. Um, I'm I have been under that magnifying glass and under that real bright light for about five years now, going hard. And I'm I'm ready to just be the old John for a little while. Yeah.

So uh using the John's metaphor here, uh getting rid of side quest mode, what would you consider is your main quest mode? You know, uh what are what are you focused on here in this season?

So still God God and family are the main two. Sure. Um and then I've I you know I've got I've got the my partner Christine with Verity. Like that's that is a priority, man. I I really want to grow that and develop it and and help it become the incredible company that it will be. Yep. You know, she she toin she coined a term, right? Good people. Good peopling, right? There's there's bad peopling and there's good peopling. Good peopling is is is basically the age old adage of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Sure. You know, just because you can make a quick buck doesn't mean it's uh right. Or just because it's legal to do it doesn't mean it's right. Sure. Right? So good peopling, you know, and I like partnering with people that are about doing good peopling. Yeah. And she is one of those people. That's cool. So it may take us a little bit longer to get where we want to be with Verity, but that's how you do it. You do it the right way. Yeah, that's great. You do it the right way, and that's gonna be a big part of my priority. Um you know, my little my little construction company that I'm doing, that's gonna be a lot of my priority. Uh I've I've I'm back into building, kind of into building mode. Been into building mode. It's it's uh and I still have my ministry as well, right? That's still a part of it. But I have I have taken help. Yeah, you know, I've brought on people that can help me and that can cover for me when I'm gone. And that I don't any time if you know that you have really made a mistake in your ministry, when if you're removed from it, it won't survive. Yeah.

Sure. It's absolutely true.

You know, I don't, I don't, I don't want this to be the John show. I want this to be the Jesus show. I want this to be the Jesus show. That way when John's gone, Jesus is still the guy and he's still getting glorified, and he's still the one directing and guiding and shining the light and the grace over whatever it is that I'm doing. Yeah. Or whatever it is that's happening there over that ministry.

Come on, man. Yeah. This is great. Well, man, just wish all the best for you in this new season as you kind of shift gears a little bit. And uh man, just hope the joy and the connection that you get from that um is uh is just incredible. So um, should we switch to some rapid fires? Let's hit him

Rapid Fire Topeka Favorites

with some rapid fires. Some rapid fires? No, you've answered these a year ago. Uh we're not gonna let you know what your answers were. Let's we're gonna see if you have the same answers or not. Okay. Uh so rapid fire Topeka based questions. Uh, do you have a favorite Topeka restaurant?

Still the pad. Still the pad. It's a good answer. The pad, John's Thai kitchen, still one of my favorites, even though it is impossible to get in there for a non-planner like me. Like, all I have to do is like just say, hey, every other week I want an appointment so I can go. Because that's about the frequency in which I'll go. There is every other week. If I would just do it, it would be okay, but I don't, man. I'm always the last.

Schedule them six months out. Yeah. Every two weeks, six months out.

I'm a last, I'm a last minute kind of guy. Yeah. So yeah, man, I I love the pad.

Fun fact for you Johns is the only person, business, that has turned us down for an interview. Really? Yeah.

I'll talk to Derek about that. Talk to Derek. I'll talk to Derek. We're working him from several angles. So if you could get on on that.

We're thinking about just bringing the equipment in one day. That would be the best idea. Yeah.

You catch them, yeah, just go in, have lunch, right? Because usually you can sneak in for a lunch hour. Yeah. Go in and have lunch. And then as they're getting ready to close, like one of you stay in the restaurant, the other would go out and grab all the equipment, and then come in and just turn the restaurant into a podcast.

Go, go, go, go, go. Come on, John. Come on, Derek. Go to coffee shop in Topeka.

Dialogue. Dialogue through and through. So when I did the fundraiser for Special Olympics for the last fights, man, we did, we raised $5,000 for Special Olympics. Come on. We got to shine a light on all the cool stuff that they're doing. And like, of course, Cooper loves Special Olympics, my son. Dialogue Coffee is where it's at. So they're completely staffed by both people without special needs and with people with special needs. Yeah. And it is so cool. And I love supporting what they're doing. So crazy. I love supporting what they're doing.

Great, great bakery. Yeah. Yeah. Their cookies are phenomenal.

And then, of course, man, like the OG, right? You got if I'm downtown, it's classic bean. If I'm anywhere around Gage, you know, go to Tenth and Gage for the spot. Um Blackbirds. Blackbirds is my spot, man. Yeah. Love it. Blackbirds is my spot. That's probably one of the most frequent ones. Get a farmhouse, get a sugar-free caramel latte. I like it. Beautiful setup.

Dude, they're uh they're like cinnamon rolls.

Oh, I can't I can't eat them. Are so good. Have you done Daredevil yet? What is that? Daredevil is posted up at corner 21 at 21st in Yurish. Great guy, great family. Huge shout out, Daredevil Coffee. Like their story is incredible.

It's a new coffee place. Yep.

And it's that's his, like, that is what he's built in.

They do it out of like a uh airstream. Right. So it's not like interesting.

And like that's his ministry, and he uses it to preach the gospel to his customers. Wow. And his family all works in it together. That's like their thing.

That's Daredevil. Do they ever move or they're always there? They're always there. Okay, cool. Daredevil. Do you have a go-to date night? Date night spot? Yeah. You and the wife, you get a Friday night off. What are you guys doing?

It's always going to be one of Cody's restaurants downtown. I'm almost like, so my so my constants for lunch, right? Every week, I always do lunch at Iron Rail for the Iron Man or the Beast Bull at Taco. Like those are my two absolute favorite places. And then the other reason why I always pick Weather Room, Pennant, Taco, or Iron Rail is because I want to see success in downtown Topeka. Yeah. If gentlemen, do you want to know how to change the world? How? Be the change that you want to see in the world around you. Come on. If I want to see everybody says, oh, Topeka this, there's nothing to do. Downtown sucks. You know why downtown sucks? Because nobody goes downtown. If everybody would go down there and eat, and everybody would go down there and shop and everybody would go down there and have fun, all of a sudden there would be businesses downtown and we would have a thriving downtown. Right. If I want to see that change, then I need to be part of that change. So when I have a date night, I go downtown and I eat. Love it. Speaking of downtown, I love that.

Are you a farmer's market guy at all? You ever go down?

We used to be, we used to be. I have not gone for a while, but it sounds like they're killing it.

And you see, they're trying to make a change. They're thinking about going from uh their Kansas Ave location to Evergy Plaza. Really? I think it's on still being voted on.

That would go super hard.

It would be awesome. They did a little trial run a couple weeks ago, and my wife and I went awesome vibes. Super cool. Evergy plaza, they had their water things going, and so the kids could play in that while the vendors were all around. It was incredible. Dude, that's awesome. A huge fan. And people were complaining about the uh the they were complaining about the move because parking would be more difficult. We went and we went, we didn't go in the beginning. We went, you know, 10 o'clock when it's in the heat of the busyness of it. Parking was no problem. Really? You know, and especially because there's just so much parking with all those restaurants that aren't being used from 9 to 12. We parked in some of those and just walked half a block. Right. Awesome.

Yeah, my dream for downtown Topeka is that there is no parking. Right. I hope that there's nowhere to park down there. I hope that everybody has I thought I hope that we have to build parking garages for people to walk so that you can go somewhere downtown. I hope the whole thing is is is tourist only and it's only walking.

Right.

I hope there's no parking down there.

Yep. Love it. Good problem. It's incredible. Uh big one that we've been fighting lately. Doing a home project. Or you're doing a project for someone else with can't uh cantrell construction. Yep. Menards, Home Depot, Lowe's. Menards. Menards through and that's crazy. Why? Is it just because it's a superior establishment altogether? They're the closest, and I like that 11% rebate. Is it because they have doggy cereal too?

I like the rebate. I they make everything really easy. Yeah. And it's just not, I mean, for me personally, it's not as crowded. I don't have to cross Wanamaker. I guess I wouldn't have to for Los. But it really depends on what I'm gonna get. It depends on what I'm building, it depends on what the remodel looks like. Uh, there's certain things that I go to Minards for, there are certain things that I go to Home Depot for.

Yeah, but he said Minards first. You did say Minards first.

That's where I do most of my stuff at.

You don't have to, you don't have to defend it. You don't have to feel guilty. That's a good guilty.

11% rebate.

Boom. Uh how many potholes did you hit on your way over here today?

You know, I'm in the raptor, so I really don't notice the potholes. Shout out to Steve Moller. Love you, buddy. Love the Raptor. Buy Ford trucks, they're the best.

That's a lesson that we need people to hear. Instead of complaining about potholes, get a bigger truck. That's it, man.

Just get a just get in a raptor, guys.

Just get a bigger truck.

Cool. I don't know. I'm sure there was a few. I don't really worry about that. If I was driving the TA, it would probably have been a different story. I probably would have been driving around them and avoiding them. You don't have to avoid anything.

What's the TA? Transam. Trans Am. Yep. Love it. Love it. Yeah. What is one thing that you would love to bring to Topeka? What's

Revitalizing Neighborhoods And Closing

something Topeka's missing you would love to see come to Topeka? That's tough, man. Could be an activity, an event, a restaurant.

You know, it's funny. So we just got done doing the we just I would like to see a thriving downtown, man. Yeah. I don't care what that looks like. You know, you bring in stuff. I uh, you know, I love I love what they did over at 29th and Fair Lawn. You know, the the movie theater, the apartments, the I would like to see more of those things. Yeah. You know, I would like to see uh revitalization. I don't, I'm not so concerned about bringing new things here. I'm more concerned about revitalizing the things that we already have. Yeah, yeah. You know, go into the Central Park neighborhoods, go into the high crest neighborhoods, go into Southeast Topeka, go into these neighborhoods, let's put some money into them. Let's build them up. Let's help them, let's empower them to grow and to develop and to build and to become, you know, stronger communities. Yeah. You know, I think that Topeka has turned into a big donut and it's got a big hole in the middle. And we have gotten so wide that our tax dollars have gotten stretched so thin, right? Because we've got so much more area to patrol that instead of growing, we should focus on getting smaller and on quality of what's here.

Love it. Quality.

There you go, man.

I think that's a good place to end. John, where can people find you out if they want to follow you, see what you're up to?

Uh yeah, you can follow me on TikTok, Instagram, uh Ironman Cantrell on Instagram, John the Ironman Cantrell on Facebook. I don't know what my name is on TikTok.

I'm sure people can find you.

Yeah, on the trail, the can't be Google, ironmancantrell.com, all the things. Love it. I love it. Dude, thank you so much, man. Thank you guys for having me and thank you guys for doing this. Uh Topeka really appreciates the show that you guys have, the people that you bring on, you know, and just the positive, the positivity that comes from this. So thank you guys for doing what you do. Absolutely, man.

Thank you. Love it.