In episode 72 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden interviews Robert, aka Bobby, and Shelly Guehne, a dynamic couple who share their journey of building a successful business together while maintaining a strong relationship. They discuss the importance of intentional communication and compassion in their partnership, as well as the challenges and triumphs they have faced along the way.
Tune in to learn more about their journey in business and partnership!
TIMESTAMPS
[00:02:19] Starting a hormone clinic together.
[00:05:05] Weight loss transformation journey.
[00:08:45] Last ditch effort.
[00:10:18] The education behind why we do this.
[00:14:36] Balance and spirituality in life.
[00:18:53] Chasing six figures.
[00:21:00] Taking a leap into trucking.
[00:25:21] Working together as a couple.
[00:30:48] Working together with criticism.
[00:35:58] Building strong relationships.
[00:38:53] Communication and empathy in relationships.
[00:41:18] Maintaining a healthy relationship.
[00:43:25] Empathy and selflessness in relationships.
[00:46:23] Choosing the right partner.
[00:50:26] Business and family dynamics.
[00:52:37] Chasing money leads to setbacks.
[00:56:20] Event scheduling conflicts.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialkenbaden/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialkenbaden
Robert Guehne
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mr_bobbyguehneofficial/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rlgcustomenclosures.guehne/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thelimitlessvitalitygroup
WEBSITES:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Blue Collar Ballers Union: https://bluecollarballersunion.com/
Limitless Vitality: https://thelimitlessvitalitygroup.com/
Welcome to the Kitchen Table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
All right, welcome back to another episode of the Kitchen Table Podcast. I'm your host, Ken Baden, and today I'm here with my good friends, Bobby and Shelly Geeney, not to be confused with Gunner, because that sounds cooler, but how are you guys doing today, first of all? Great.
Ken Baden
Pretty good. I've kind of got a summer cold going on, though, so I got like my sexy, you know, smoker voice. Your raspy voice. So we'll see how it goes.
Shelly Guehne
You got like the, the, the lady, the, the lunch lady from, uh, the Simpsons voice, which is like Marge or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Getting light for all of the potatoes.
Ken Baden
Absolutely.
Seriously. I'm here. But so these guys were kind enough to have me on their podcast, uh, most recently, which is the partners in the process podcast, which I thought was dope because it's both of you guys, which obviously this is the whole crux of your podcast, right? Like, marriages, partnerships, and the dynamic between the two in business, right? Has that always been the focus?
Yeah, we had this idea kind of spawned on us about a year and a half ago because her and I were looking at what our next venture was gonna be. We kind of had gotten as far along in growing our trucking company as we had, and we were in the season of basically making it as solid as it possibly could be. And once we got it stable and solid and got to the point where I could step out of a truck and step away from it, work on the business instead of working in the business, I looked at her and I said, well, in this season of our life, what can we do together? And so we started another company, a hormone clinic, we franchised. Vitality Group. What's that? Limitless Vitality Group. Well, no, that's on third. So I'm sorry.
Here I am going like plug your stuff.
No, no. You plug it in just a second. So no. So we started the we started Mana Testosterone Clinic, which is it's a franchise out here in St. Louis, Missouri. There's five locations, we got the furthest one out west in the county. But anyway, her and I did that together. And we've always just done business together. And so I told her, I was like, you know, one of the hardest things from everybody that we run into. And I said, that is couples that are either doing business together, or trying to function through life, while one of them is doing business. It tends to be something that just destroys marriages and relationships. And, um, you know, there's that whole thing where people talk about, they have to sacrifice the one for the other, but you don't, you don't have to sacrifice your relationship or your happiness or all that to chase money. And so her and I sat down and kind of went through everything. And then that's when we, we, uh, we gave birth to the limitless vitality company. Okay.
There we go. All right. What do you guys, so what would you say? because I know some of what you do because a lot of it's the stuff that I'm interested in as far as TRT replacement, peptides, all that stuff. We've talked a lot about that, which I think is awesome because frankly, if you can do that in your past 35, if nothing else, do yourself a favor and get your blood work done because you have no idea what you could be missing out on or how good you could be feeling or you might just have gotten used to the new normal. Right. What do you think is normal? And in reality, it's like, brother, you're running on and women, too. That's it's not just for men. My wife. You know, with all the pregnancy stuff, she was like, you know, I want to do this, I want to do that, but she was really worried about and frankly, they were like, yeah, no, that's a good idea. Wait till afterwards and then we'll then we'll, you know, play with all the different levels and stuff. But, you know, what would you say? It's a big part of your demographic, like people in business, entrepreneurs, people who can afford that. Or did you say it's kind of crossed into the everyday nine to five folks as well?
Definitely a variety. It's definitely a variety. If I had to target a demo, it's definitely people who are a little bit more affluent who have the disposable income. I mean, it's not that it's super expensive, but I mean, it could be as much as, you know, a couple hundred dollars a month residually. And that's still budgeting wise, quite a bit of money for a lot of people, especially out in this neck of the woods. When you get closer up into the St. Louis area, everybody's got a $2,000 car payment, so it's 200 bucks. They don't care, right? And they'll do weight loss and all that. But the thing that's kind of crazy about it and how it correlates so well even with the Limitless Vitality Group is, When we were trying to look for a purpose, we want to help people. I took this journey a couple of years ago. I started mine. And the way it's changed my life for the better is almost I can't even measure it. I mean, it's changed so many aspects of my life. I mean, from the way I feel to the way I sleep, to the way I look now, I was 300 pounds and I forgot. I want to pull a picture up here just to show you guys about 33 months ago. This was this was me, man. This was me 33 months ago. Wow. OK. And I was miserable. And I came to her and she don't really say much. I mean, she I love you. You know what I mean? I love you. And I'm like, this is not the best version of me that I can give you. And I feel horrible. I need to figure out what's going on. And similar to your story, we were going through pregnancy stuff and we were looking at having a kid and I didn't really want to mess with anything. Right. You know, but I did go get checked because I thought maybe part of the problem was me. Maybe I didn't have enough production. You know, after you get my numbers checked, it was very good possibility. It wasn't. But we've put a lot of stress on the situation. And I think that compounded it. And then when we finally kind of gave up to our will and said, you know what? It might not happen for us. We got three beautiful kids. They're all healthy and they're wonderful. And if it's not in the cards, it's not in the cards. And immediately she was pregnant immediately. I mean it was insanity and and like what two weeks before your birthday or something it was crazy like because she had set this benchmark yes if we don't make it by this age then we're just gonna stop and right before I mean she got pregnant so after that I got done and and then it became the season of I gotta work on myself now and so I took this path And it changed my life in so many ways, and it allowed me to connect with some other people, and it opened up some doors that I didn't even know were possible. Because as you know, and I've seen some pictures from where you've came from and what you've done with yourself, it's not the attention, but the fact that my words aren't always enough to capture people, but my presence can. And if I capture you with my presence, then you will listen to my words, right? And when you step into a room and you see people, and they all look like they don't care about themselves, and you're the one person that does, you have everybody's attention. now that I have your attention, let me tell you something good. You know what I mean? Let me, let me now share something with you. And then, and rather it's, you know, if we're talking about hormones and helping people and weight loss and women and all that, or, or we're talking about business and how to scale your business or fix your relationship or work on certain aspects of your relationship to help your business, I just have people's attention. So I also thought too, if I wanted to get into this, I needed to be, um, I needed to be a symbol of it. I can't tell people how to go through this journey and what to expect if I haven't done it myself. I've always been a firm believer in leading the path by example. You lead by showing them how it's done because you did it. I know there's times when you can hire people to do those things in certain aspects, but it's never been the way I did. I'm sure you started on a roof, you know what I mean? And then you can tell people by the roof, you know, I started in a truck and then I could tell people how to drive a truck. I can tell you what to expect, how to diet, how to exercise, where your hormone levels should be and peptides that you can use to enhance that. Um, and all these different vitamin deficiencies and all that stuff, because I've done it. I've used these things. So,
But we have had a lot of women come in with their husbands and say that he does need help. So we are able, we're willing to make the sacrifice to get him to help because what he's doing isn't working. And our relationship is definitely suffering. So they have pushed their husbands to come in and take this journey because for some of them, it's the last ditch effort.
There really is. I had a guy come in one time. It was probably he's it sticks with me. So vividly. He came in here in the same room. I'm sitting right now across from me. And he's in tears. And and that's I'm an emotional dude. I'm a very emotional kind of guy. I've always been that way. And so I'm an empathetic crier. So I start tearing up. And so I'm like, What's up, dude? Like, like, what can I work with you? You know? And he's like, I don't know why I feel this way. You know, the guy was a buck 40 soaking wet, worked his tail off. He was a construction worker, probably worked 12 to 16 hours a day. He said, I've got no energy. I don't want to get off the couch. He said, I've lost my wife. I got a divorce because of it. My kids, he's like, they, they're just not interested in, cause I don't want to go play with them. I don't want to go on vacation. I want to do, I don't know what's wrong. And the last thing that I can possibly think of is I read some stuff about this and maybe this is, You know, this is what it is. So the guy, I put him on a full plan. I told him, here's the deal. You can go month to month, but I'm going to tell you, you're not going to see results for probably six to eight weeks. So if you really want to commit to this, I would probably do at least a three month block. You done paid for it. You'll utilize it because you paid for it. Just give me three months. He said, okay. Set them all up, guy leaves, and I don't see him for almost three months. Probably, it was a little over eight weeks, actually, when he came back for his second labs. He's all dressed up. He's put on about 22 pounds of weight. His hair's all done. I said, how are you feeling? And he goes, I don't go talk to you. So we sit down back in here again, and he says, had I known this three years ago, I would still be married. He goes, I didn't know. And it's those kind of stories that really just make it, what it's all about for us. Like it's, it's helping people. It's the education behind why we do this. Not, I just want to get jacked and get in the gym and be big. It's not that kind of thing.
It's the education. It's not by the way. So if you think, and I just want to say this to the, to the gym bros and bro ads that think that, cause I actually prior to me going to see that my doctor, I have a lot of what my doctor would call bro docs, right? Like the guys that are exceeding the recommended dosages far exceeding, right? And look, man, they're looking for different outcomes. They're not looking for sustainable energy or any of that stuff. Really, they're just want to get huge and they're doing steroids, right? And so It's not that it's not going to get you that size. I mean, it will help you gain weight and stuff, but it's not going to. But you also would be surprised. So when I went to my doctor and told him what I wanted to do after talking to those guys, but see, I wanted the energy. The big thing that appealed to me was the energy, really, honestly. And then the sexual benefits, right? Like, hey, anything that's slowing down as I'm getting older, I want it to reverse. So I want to have the same energy, the same body type, the same stuff. Well, he was like, I know what your bro docs told you. And it's not that it's not going to be that. However, give me 90 days. And if you're not, you know, you don't like the results, well, you can always go back to the bro docs. And you can see what that does, you know, and in 90 days, felt great. I thought I look great. You know, I'd like to, but you know, we always pick each other our own worst critics, right? So then you get ripped and it's like, Oh, I need to gain weight. And ultimately, man, my biggest issue is just finding time to eat enough. I mean, but All my labs are good. And I'm very happy with what I have. And it's sustainable, more importantly. And so it's a full course thing of like all your labs and finding out everything of what's going on. I'm not just trying to get jacked, but like sustainable, lifelong transformation. If you're interested in that, and that sounds good, then yeah, you might be a good candidate.
It's just a base. I mean, even bodybuilders and stuff, they'll tell you they use testosterone as a base. But like, say, you know, the max most of our people are on are like 200 milligrams a week, max. I know guys are on four to 600 milligrams a week doing it through the black market.
That's exactly what that's exactly what they told me. Right.
And I said, here's the thing. You're going to look good if you put in the, at the time, and you're going to go to the grave really quick. Cause you're going to end up with a cardiac issue. I mean, if you go to, if you go to the American journal of urology, which is the Bible on the men's endocrine system, this is a medical journal. Okay. There is a whole section in there about how TRT replacement is directly related and important because it's directly related to cardiac issues. Low T is related to cardiac issues. Now, why doesn't the medical community talk about that? Why don't you go to a urologist? He will tell you that, yes, that's a thing. And that they're one of the only people in the medical community that are proponents of doing this. Everybody else is like, ah, it's not necessary. You're OK. Because they look at everything like, if it is not falling off or you're not dying, that you're OK. you know, like we talked about the other day, there's a difference between living and surviving. I'm not just trying to survive. I'm trying to live, you know, I mean, I want to be optimal. I want to live.
Optimal. That's exactly the key word, man. I don't want to do anything average. I mean, I, you know, where we've come from and the things, all of us, man, all of us, most people listening to this, everybody can relate to some level of disappointment or, I don't know, bottoming out of some sort. However, that whatever that means to you, I'm just an extreme kind of guy. I don't have any. I don't have any in between like I'm either full throttle or completely off. And so and I imagine you guys are very similar. So that takes me to very bad places and very good places, but no in between. But. Actually, you know what? The irony is, and we just did our podcast, but that's exactly what my sponsor or spiritual mentor would suggest, that I find a little bit of an in-between. But I'm working on it. I'm working on that elusive balance we talk about. It's balance, right? Yeah. I know a lot about balance.
Yeah, you talk about the balance quite often. And so mind, body, and soul became a basis of the purpose of what we wanted to do life as. This was a spawn of that. This was body. You know what I mean? Spiritually, we're very spiritually connected people. Our kids are raised in a faith background. They go to religious school. And it's not to say that that we feel like that's because they're better, anything like that. I put forth the money and the budgeting to have them do that because I want them to have the moral foundation to operate life with that fear, with that healthy fear of a greater being out there that's really pulling the strings. And all this just nonsense that people are watching on the internet and TV and the demonization of religion and And not to go down that path real deep or anything, but it's very important to us. And I think a lot of the big people that we even know that we follow, once they made that a big part of their life, they seen a huge shift in their success as well, especially when they would share that with other people. I'm not here to thump the Bible on anybody by no means, because to be honest with you, I probably haven't read a dozen pages of it in whole. But I do believe in a bigger higher being in somebody that I do have to answer to and I do believe in being a bigger better person so that is. you know, that's our faith there and then body and then or that soul, I should say, and then in being physically fit and being healthy. And then as far as your mind goes, that's that's the investment back in knowledge and books and mentorships and seeking out other individuals that are on the same path that you are and making your circle a little bit more solid. because you know, as well as I do, that the people you surround yourself around is who you're going to become. So, you know, if that's what you want, that's that's where you got to put yourself around. You know, every one of them say, show me your five closest friends and I'll show you what you're going to be.
Show me your friends. I'll show you your future. I love that. I actually have a question because I don't get a whole lot of couples. You know, I think that's just such a cool idea. But were you, Bobby, were you the original entrepreneur? And I guess maybe, Shelly, were you at home or were you working, had your own career? I'm trying to figure out how this dynamic came to be where you guys were like, all right, let's team up on this and do this.
So it started, I, cause we had been together for 22 years. So I mean, we were started when we were teenagers. And so we were working together. So we were working together at Walmart, going through high school, and then college. So my degree is actually in elementary and special education.
Oh, yeah, that's right. You're a teacher. My wife, by the way, when you said that the other day, that's what her degree originally was in before law school.
So I started, I was a teacher for 10 years. I taught second grade. And so Bobby was working regular job, nine to five, learning how to drive and working in a lumber yard and stuff like that.
A couple, like it seemed about every two years I would shift to another industry. But as I was shifting, they were all vertical shifts because there were better opportunities. And then just by chance, as I was going to college and doing that, every one of those positions required some sort of a CDL or a licensing of some sort. And so I was upgrading my licensing. So like it was a lumberyard, and then it was MoDOT, which is our, you know, our highway department here in Missouri, which is where we're located. And then it went to a heavy equipment rental company. So I'm learning all these different trades and upgrading my licensing and all that. And she's a teacher. And then we actually had a conversation with her sister. And at the time, boyfriend, I think, wasn't it? I think they were married. But I mean, because this was probably 15 years ago or better. And they said they had a friend that worked up in St. Louis for a company who was hiring owner operator box truck drivers delivering Amazon goods. And he's like, I know these people you can make six because 15 years ago, when I'm chasing money, the goal is to make six figures. I just want to make six. I want to bust a hundred grand. You know what I mean? I want to make that's the deal. You either work for somebody else, make a hundred thousand dollars or see if you can do it yourself, like break a hundred thousand dollars. So that's what I told her. I'm like, I want to make six figures. I want to make six figures. And they're like, oh, you could do this, you know, running a box truck. Sweet. So we navigate that on how to find one, procure one, purchase one, because if you've never, you know, purchased a commercial motor vehicle, it's not like going to the bank and getting a car. It's not the same thing, especially when you have no business experience at all other than your college, you know, that you were going through.
So we did have to borrow like the down payment for my parents for the vehicle. Yeah. Because maybe working as a teacher and we didn't have tons of money in the bank for this.
It was 2500 bucks, I think the times $2,500 or dad gave it to us. And it was down payment for my truck, scratched all the money together to pay the taxes, which are learned a hard lesson later that due to common carrier, you don't even have to pay taxes. But the DMV doesn't tell you that they'll gladly take your money. And so anyway, um, it kind of just snowballed from there. We started with the box truck. I did that for about eight months. The company I was contracted to at the time, which I do really, I'm a huge proponent for people. I think you've seen some of my videos where I talk about learning through other people and mastering your craft before you go do it for yourself. Not saying you can't do it a little for yourself. So like in my instance, I was a contractor for a bigger company, but it was their name on the side of the truck. It was my truck and stuff, but it was their name. They gave me the work and I was just honing in my skills. The truck driving, the interpersonal skills, my communication with people, learning where all this stuff was at, the best way to deliver and times and all that stuff that goes into it. About eight months in, they asked me if I wanted to buy a tractor trailer. I had a class A with air brakes because I had a class B with air brakes because I was driving a truck that was so long and it had air brakes. So it was a B, but it had air brakes, so I had air brake endorsement. And that lumber company wanted me to haul I-Joyce. So when I had to haul I-Joyce, they had a F-550 Ford with a 40 foot rollback trailer, just a gooseneck, just a regular pickup truck, right, basically. But due to the laws back then, it was a length restriction. So you had to have an A. So when they gave me my A, they matched the B with it. I got an A with it or the air brakes. I got an A with air brakes. But I had never driven a tractor trailer. The day I drove a tractor trailer was the day I bought one and drove it off the parking lot.
And we didn't have to ask for anything on that one.
We put that away, but I drive this tractor trailer. She's behind me and she's like, she calls me and I'm like, what? And she's like, do you even know what you're doing? I'm like, I have never jumped in. I have never driven one of these. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. You know, I was a 10 speed. I didn't know what I was doing. So then, you know, from there I did, it just, it snowballed. I mean, we'd be here for hours talking about the story, but it went from one company that I contracted, went into car hauling, went out of car hauling as a contractor to full blown, let's take all the money we have, buy our own insurance. Then we kept saving and reinvesting, saving, reinvesting, saving, reinvesting. Um, always a risk, huge risk every time because, you know, you have the security of somebody giving you work and now you're going to go out and say, no, I'm going to get my own clients. And not only am I going to hold the receivables, um, I got to keep the work coming. You know what I mean? Which means I then got to put forth the effort to make sure they want to keep using me. Yeah.
One of mommy's like. I would say one of his happiest days was when he called me at school and said, I think this should be your last year teaching. So I had been there 10 years. And he's like, we have two babies at this point. And he's like, I mean, anybody that knows a teacher, you don't just get to work from 715 to 315. There's lesson plans. There's kids you've got to work with. There's some with special needs that I was dealing with and stuff. And so it was a lot of pressure. Granted, I love my job and love doing what I was doing. But I was also trying to help him. I was taking care of the kids. He was gone a lot, many nights and long hours and stuff. So when he called and that's what we decided that that's what we was going to do. I mean, he was so happy to tell me that, you know, you don't have to do this every day anymore. You would be better utilized at home. And so I resigned. And then, I mean, we kind of snowballed from there.
And then she became very involved in the backside of all my paperwork and bookkeeping and all that stuff, because I was so focused on being the operator at that point, because it was just me at that point, that I was driving probably, I mean, I hate to even say this out loud, it is what it is, but I mean, probably 16 to 18 hours a day, which is not legal at the time. But I mean, I was sleeping in a day cab truck behind a gas station at one in the morning until about three in the morning just to catch a nap. and then back on the road to St. Louis to drop cars and pick cars up. We kept getting bigger equipment. I had a three-car hauler, then a five-car hauler, seven-car, nine-car. Then car industry took a turn and I got out of that, went to drive-in and flatbed freight. Then that's where we started scaling our company at that point. It was a little better of a business model to scale. There's a lot more versatility for work and the insurance was cheaper. Auto insurance is very expensive when you're hauling autos.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it's so we just.
Wow, that's where you're at now.
What's that flatbed free flatbed and drive in is the majority. We do a little bit of specialize every now and again. We've done some hot shotting. I had a guy call us the other day. They actually had a race car carrier that they blew an airbag on it and the guys had to make it to California. So they were from Britain. They wanted us when they fixed the airbag, they had to fly to California because they couldn't miss this event. And then the cars were just going to come later. So we've got such good relationships with people. When they talk to the repair company, they're like, we only know one company we would trust to do that because they had hundreds of thousands of dollars of the race cars in this carrier. So they called us and like, can you guys final mile this thing from Missouri to California for the race? And we're like, You know, we come through on a pinch for most people that's that's typically where my bread and butter always was was I always turn my head on service and to answer your question simply from the beginning, I would say I was very much so the more the entrepreneur like business minded, like, I really was the one wanting to push all those ideas. She just was always the catalyst behind me that was like, that sounds great. Let's do that, you know, and then her ideas. So it's I would initiate it and then she would push it and then she would make it better. And so it's just a natural fit for us to do things together. You know, we just didn't like that for a long time. And it was like, why don't we just work together? We enjoy each other's company. She's my best friend. I love her more than anything in this world. And we just really enjoy, like we genuinely enjoy each other's company. So if I have any questions, I ask her. If I have any complaints, I go to her. If I wanna celebrate a good day, I go to her. If I have a bad day, she's who I go to. I need a shoulder to lean on. She's my person, you know, and vice versa. So it just, it's a really good fit. And we don't see a lot of people in the industry doing it that cohesively. There might be two of them there. They're kind of both powerhouse or they have their own lane and they're just kind of in the same sector. But I mean, when I say we do things together, like everything we do is a pair. Not to say that she doesn't have her strong points and I have mine, but we're a package. You get us together when we work with people and stuff. So. It's a really dynamic situation because she views things way differently than I do. And I view them differently than she does. And it's not only from a male to a female perspective, but her education background. And she taught for many years. So she understands the idea of implementing an idea so that it catches hold in somebody's idea, whereas I'm just kind of a hammer. And I'm just like, this is what we got to do. Well, how do you know? Because that's what I did. And that's how it works, you know.
My wife was, and it's funny because, and we haven't figured out how to, or we just haven't gotten there yet. She's an attorney and has her own thing going on, but I've been recently like, look, there's plenty of stuff that you could do. I mean, you can, you know, she's technically acts as our general counsel, you know, from time to time, but certainly if we keep rocking and rolling and, you know, the idea has certainly crossed my mind, but I mean, there so is the fear of like, Well, is this going to ruin, I don't know, like bringing work home, or I guess it's just kind of everywhere. I mean, you guys ever experienced that? Like, is it ever? I mean, I know that nothing's ever sun, sun and rainbows, but
Not all, not all the time. And that's, that's a reality that people need to understand is, is no matter how joyful and happy we always look, you don't think we are you sometimes? Absolutely. But what we figured out was a way to are you healthy and in a healthy way where we could come out with positive outcomes. So, so now we kind of invite arguments, you know, she's got a, an issue with something.
I mean, they're not knocked out and drag out fights by no means, but we just look at things differently. And it's trying to take two when you get home. At the end of the day, we still have four kids ranging from one to 13. So, I mean, you have to when you get home somewhat, you have to put that away, even though it might be in your mind a little bit. You have to let it go because the kids need you at that point. And it's not fair to them to take it all home. But it still gets brought up later, like once they go to bed and stuff like that.
And so we enjoy talking about business, we like it's something that we both are very passionate about. So it doesn't become a very big issue for us to like do business together, work together out here, talk about it at home, what it became a bigger issue was when we came home the kids wanted our attention, we're still talking business. And they're not getting our attention and we weren't being present. So really, that was the bigger shift. The shift was when we walked through those doors, we shut it off, give them our attention. And when they go to bed at night and we have everybody settled down, if we want to continue that conversation, then we can continue it. But it's never been like, OK, I want to talk about this and her go, oh, my gosh, I just don't want to talk about it. She just welcomes. Oh, yeah. You is an entrepreneur. You can't shut it off. You just you know how your brain works. It doesn't shut off. It's 24 seven. You're laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Sometimes three, four in the morning. I'm like, oh, that's what I needed to do. Like, that was a really good idea. I'm like at four in the morning, like.
It's just the way it works. You remember something like half asleep and it is two or three in the morning and you got to roll over and put it in notes in your phone or something. Oh crap. I got to do this or yeah, I get that a hundred percent and then because of that I suppose but I you know, that was my I think most couples that aren't doing what you're doing would probably have I would assume but it's what I have is that fear of like, man, I don't want to, you know, I'm going to mess this up by inviting this like I want this but at the same token, is that going to, is that going to be too much or we're going to be at each other's throats or like, granted, we didn't do that until about.
I mean, I worked for 10 years, we worked separately for 10 years. So we both were a little bit older, mature, a little more set in our ways, before we decided to work completely together.
And there were times it wasn't right off the bat, there were times in the very, very beginning where when we were working a lot together, and she's very solidly opinionated, and I'm very solidly opinionated that we had to go Is this going to work? Is this going to work that we're working this close together? But because we love each other so much, we're like, let's design a way to make it work. We know it can work because you're so great in all the things that you do. And I'm good at what I do. So let's make a way for it to work. So to what you're saying, I would say, That's a very candid conversation that you just have with the other person. I think you guys laid out on the table. You said, this is my idea. This is what I would like to do. Are you interested or not? Because that's step one. Do they even want to participate? Don't even don't push it if they don't even want to be a part of it. You both got to want to be there. And then if they do, then you got to lay it all out. This is what I do. Are there any concerns with what you've seen thus far in the way I do things and handle things that you think I could do them better or that I'm doing wrong? Or you just don't say anything because it's kind of your baby.
It's definitely taking the other's criticism, too. You can't be just shut that off because this is what I think and this is what I want to do. Like, we don't get to do that. We have to listen to both sides, definitely.
Yeah. Yeah, I Well, again, it's something that my wife and I, I hear guys like Andy and you just obviously, you know, I see you guys and I'm, you know, there's a big part of me that would love that, you know, I'd want that, but she won. I don't know if she does want it. You know what I mean? I don't know that she does or she says she doesn't, but I don't know if she really, I mean, I'm like,
Maybe just, you know, what'd you say about three years? Have you been married for three years?
Oh, I've been married. Well, dude, this is our first year.
First year married. Okay. You just gotta put the time in. We put in six years before we even got married, and then put another two before we decided to have a kid and then put in... Well, it'll be 16 years this year. Yeah, I mean, next week. Yeah, next week. But I mean, we put in probably another, I mean, we probably put in a total of I would say 10 to 12 years before we decided that we could work together and we weren't on our own paths, you know, as you grow up.
And now you guys are where you're right. Like that's that's what we're still working.
I mean, it's every single day.
And it is hard for like her, like it was for me to resign. I had always worked. You know what I mean? And so it was hard to to put in that to put in my notice and take a chance and stay at home.
And that's a That's another thing too, is she was a teacher for a few years before. And I think what you said was interesting. That's a really strong background for business, teaching people, which is, that sounds stupid, but like we do a lot of teaching in what we do, like whether it's training someone to drive a truck or training someone to, I don't know, think of all the different trainings we have to do, whether it's HR or sales training or any position at all. And I think she, I've heard her break down to me like like breaking things down as lesson plans and I'm like, man, that's actually really smart. Like the way you move that in here. Right. Like the way you where that goes through your brain and then comes out into an actual an actionable strategy is. could be such a huge asset in business. I mean, I really envy you guys. I mean, it seems like, and I'm sure just like anything, you know, you guys have this seemingly like perfect thing, you know what I mean? And like, I envy you guys, but like I said, do you feel like, well, you've put so much work into it. So I guess you didn't just get here overnight because you guys got the podcast, the business, your package deal, but you figured out how to turn it off at home. And you've put a lot of work in, I guess, to get here. It wasn't exactly like, Because some people will see this and be like, I wonder if, like, they're really like that. You know what I mean?
If they're really always we've never we've never separated.
No. And I don't say this to gloat. What I say this to to basically testify to is there are a lot of people out there who have made mistakes in life or they've made be good. I think I hear a little ding I couldn't tell that was me my phone is goes off and it's all good it's all good as long as it's you it's fine. It's fine as long as it's not me i'm looking at project like you know it's me i'm apologize so um. I say that because there's a lot of people who have, who've had mistakes in their life, and it's not to discredit them, because their, their comeback stories is where they're relating to a lot of people, and so not where we're not trying to come off perfect, but there are a lot of other people out there like us that lived a very intentional life, and either through purposely doing it or just by accident of the grace of God, they didn't have a lot of hiccups along the way. And so they don't have this big comeback story. They don't have this big triumph. They have growth. They have seasons that they can share with people, but The guy that had that had this massive catastrophe and went through several marriages or all this and then finally found the love of his life. They've been together 567 years and they're doing great. I'm not saying there are any less credible than someone like us. But what about somebody who has put two decades in together? Let's build a family that's never cheated on each other. How do you love somebody so deeply? Even the couple at six or seven years, they can learn from somebody who's spent two decades together. How many people do you know from generations prior to us that are like, I've been together 56 years. Just because you've been together 56 years does not mean it was a good 56-year marriage. You grew up in a time when something was broke, you fixed it, and you stayed together because you stayed together. But you didn't make it optimal. You didn't make it the best it could be. You just said, I married you, I made this commitment, maybe due to religious reasons or because that was the way I raised, we're not breaking up. And just because they put in that time does not qualify them to be great at marriage.
And we do work at it. I mean, we have to choose each other every day. I have to choose to be my best, my best self for you and vice versa. I choose to love you. I choose to do things for you. I mean, we have that chemistry, we have that bond. I mean, we just make it.
Chemistry, chemistry is a big one. Yeah. You know what I mean? The chemistry.
That's what I wanted to ask you guys, candidly, straight up. I want to know, like, look, we are married that are listening to the show and, you know, it's an entrepreneur. sales, I don't know, all things personal and professional development podcast. How, if you had to attribute it, why can't I get the word attribute? There we go. If you had to attribute, I'd say one or two things, one or two main things where you're like, look, these two things are at the center of how we've been able to do this. It sounds like one of them is you pick each other every day, but if you had to pick like, look, you got to do, if you want this, these are the things we've had to do to make it this long. Cause you guys are high school sweethearts. And I dated my, I had a high school sweetheart for 10 years, but we were on and off and kids. And one of those things we just like, I don't know, we kept bouncing back to each other, but a lot of that was like immaturity. And like, I'm sure there was definitely like, I still love this person today. I mean, we had a huge life together, but you know, I was a kid, you know, and the fact that you guys are in it all the way to here, And that's powerful, man. And not to get off the subject, it's still the same subject. But a lot of the people that we look up to now in business, they're bringing that dynamic to the forefront where it's like, yeah, but I wouldn't be this if it wasn't for Andy. And even Ryan's now doing that, right? Like, it's just like, you know, that's a big thing now.
But I started to look at some of those people, even I'm like, as powerful as they are together. we still got more time in, you know what I mean? Like we still got a longer journey and within that journey, and that, like I said before, it's not to discredit anybody, because I look up to them as well, as a couple, because they're doing what we're doing on a much bigger level than we're doing it, and they're successful at it. Obviously, when you're already fairly successful and you bring that dynamic together, money brings you options, which makes life a little bit easier. So when you have nothing, and you're trying to stay together and grow together and make money together and manage a family together and do all of that struggle together. To me, that's the story at the end of it. That's the book in 30 years. You know what I mean? That's how did you guys manage to stay together, build a family, build businesses, help other people in their businesses and still maintain the chemistry and the love and the dynamic that you guys do between each other like wholeheartedly? Because I like you said, people will watch this and say they're so full of crap. You know what I mean?
Like there's no, but they would definitely say that.
Yeah. And I'll answer one and I'll let her answer the other. I think one of the major things between the two of us was, has been intentional communication, intentional communication. That would be one for me.
And see, I would think it would be like compassion and empathy. I mean, always putting yourself out there and just you got to do it wholeheartedly. I mean, I can't hide who I am and vice versa. And I mean, we know so much about each other. I know what he's thinking. I know what he's going to do next. I know why he's saying the things that he's saying. But I have to put myself in his shoes and vice versa. I mean, you have to You have to be that support and that love and everything, but still keep it sexy and alive. You know what I mean? We don't go home and, I mean, we have four kids at home. So, I mean, we go home and do stuff, but we still have date nights and I still get dressed up and he gets dressed up. And I mean, you still have to put effort and work into it, which I like to do for myself. but I also do it for him to keep that passion and s not fun. And I know a lo once they have kids, you for that. We make time f You know what I'm saying?
13 year old. You don't t all the time. There's alw around around a door arou You make time. You make it a priority is the problem. People don't make it a priority. It's an inconvenience for them and it's something they feel like they just need to do because they're married. You should want to do that. That should be a big part of your life. You should.
And I tell people Bobby still looks at me the way he did when I was 19 years old.
I love her more now than when she was 19.
Look, I still give him butterflies and vice versa. I mean, we just still have that connection. It's really, really something. When I walk into the office, he's like, oh my God, you look so good today. I mean, he wouldn't have to say that, but I really appreciate that he does. And so guess what? I'm going to dress up even more tomorrow because I want that attention from him.
And I, and it's, it's genuine. I was like, it's, it's not something I have to do. She'll joke around and she's like, dude, am I really your person? Do you really love me? And I'm like, yeah, like I absolutely do. Like I don't have eyes for anybody. I never have. I don't, the whole grass is greener on the other side type of thing. The things that people chase these, these ideas, you know, the crap they see on Instagram and all that kind of stuff. This right here takes work. It is a, but it's been fun.
It's not been that hard for us.
It takes work because you have to choose it every day. You know, you, you, you, your grass grows where you water it, right? And so the more you pour into that, the more it gives back, you know, the more you take care of those plants, the more fruit they bear. And that's your family. That's your relationship. That's your love.
And if we didn't take this, this seriously, how fair would that be to my four kids at home? You know what I mean? They're the ones that would suffer.
And we're trying to show them what a healthy relationship should look like. Her parents stayed together. They were together for...
30 some years.
Her dad passed away a couple years ago. Um, and so, but they, they were together their whole life. My parents did. I come from a divorced family. I come from, uh, I have step siblings. I even have a half brother from when my mom was married before my dad. So like I have, I know what a broken family is like. I know what it's like to try to have an integrated family. I mean, we did the best we could, but it's not the same. It just isn't. And it wasn't that I strived really hard to not want that for my family. But I said that if I choose this person and every single day I'm going to choose that person and we're going to love each other unconditionally, I'm going to make it the best it can possibly be. If there's room to grow and there's more to do, then that's what I'm going to do. But that intentional lifestyle is what's manifested into what we do in business and stuff. The reason that we're successful in business and helping others and everything in their life is because we've used this to help blossom ours. this relationship we pour into, then gets poured into our business. It gets poured into our employees, our culture. It gets, it's, it's, it's, it's not just the time, but that time is the practice. It's the reps. You know what I mean? When you talk about the decades, those were the reps and we're still putting those reps in every day. And when she says compassion, empathy, we have this funny thing. We talk about, um, not being, not being mad, Like on the same day. Yeah. So so if I have a bad day and you have a bad day, somebody's got a day that's worse than the other one. The ability for you to be able to put your crap away and be there for the other person when you can sense that they need you more than you need them. is a very selfless thing to do. And it's very hard for people. They want to think, well, I'm having this going on and they're going, well, I'm having, if I come home and I'm like, I had this breakdown and this guy did this and he said this, and I come home and she goes, you know, my, my mom just called and dad's really not doing good today. And, you know, I don't know if he's going to make it through the week. My shit doesn't seem so bad. I don't care. Babe, what can I do for you? Like, and she's like, and then later on, she might be like, so what happened? I'm like, nothing, nothing happened to me that we're fine. You know what I mean? Let's deal with this. So, but a lot of people don't do that. They're very selfish. And, and that empathy and that being able to put yourself second purpose on purpose sometimes is, it's very difficult for people to do, which also pours back into communication. So, um, I know it sounds very simple. Like people are like, okay, yeah. Communicate. We talk now communications a lot more than just talking. There's a lot of communication. It's not just words.
So, yeah, I, uh, Honestly, I'm thinking the whole time you're talking about my wife, but I mean, honestly, the new era of like business influencer and I just I really love where it's headed in terms of, you know, bringing in the partnership and like really uh, putting up on a pedestal, like that traditional nuclear type family atmosphere. I don't know what else to say. I mean, I think for so long, it was like the opposite of that. I really love how the pendulum is kind of swinging back, you know what I mean? And bringing back that dynamic of, Hey, you guys are way more powerful together. And, you know, you guys are an epitome of that. I love it, you know, and it's just always kind of, I've always been that way. Um, I don't know. I mean, I've certainly had my single periods and stuff, but I feel like, you know, Ryan says a woman is a magnifier of a man and they'll push you to do stuff that you never and vice versa. Right. Like you push.
That's so true. I mean, you take a good man and a good woman will make him great. I mean, she really will.
And we've seen the opposite.
Well, we've seen a bat. We've seen a bad woman destroy a good man in a second. We've seen it time and time and time again within our company. So one that doesn't understand the situation they're getting into, like truck driving is not easy. I mean, when these guys get in, they dedicate a lot of hours. There's no nine to five. You know, we go as the industry flows, we move with the industry. Sometimes these guys are out for a week at a time, that nights at a time, whatever. If the family's not acknowledging the fact that they understand that it's not going to be every birthday party or, you know, every fourth of July or every date night or, you know, all the things we sacrifice for years and years and years into this degree. I was working on Christmas Eve for this year, this past year. And they didn't think anything of it. They're like, I get it, you know, because I wanted my guys to have off, but my clients still needed. So we're there. And I do that all the time. I can't say we never made more money when I was an independent contractor. Then when the holidays rolled around 4th of July, I watched many of fireworks going off up and down the highway as I drove back and forth to Chicago or wherever I was going, because when nobody else would do it, the rates doubled. So babe, I can make 700 on this, or I can make 1400 on this.
Followed him. If you're going to Chicago, I'm going to Chicago for the kids in the car. We follow him. We get a neat place for the kids to say we'd stay the night there and then we come back. I mean, it wasn't always just him. I mean, it made me more independent, too, because. I'll just follow you.
And that's part of that choosing your partner. You know, hey, if this is sorry about that, if this is what you've got to go through, and this is what you got to deal with, I don't want you to do it on your own. We're gonna be there with you. I don't want you to be with I know you don't want to be without us. And we don't want to be without you. So this is what we think is best for the family, then we're just gonna We're going to change it up and we're just going to follow you. So when you go do this job, when you get up there, you're just going to unload or whatever, reload and come back. Yeah, we'll screw. Do you got to be back at a certain time? Not not for two days. We'll screw off all you guys up there. We'll stay up there for two days and vacation.
We need dinner. Many dinners in Jeff City.
Because I was running up and down Highway 50, which down here where I'm at, Highway 50 is a side corridor from St. Louis to Kansas City. And so it's closest to our house as far as the path goes, but I was running back and forth. And so the in-between points, Jefferson City, which is our state capital, but they got some good restaurants and stuff up there. So they would come up and intercept me as I'm going back and forth and meet me for dinners and stuff. I mean, they would come by me.
We would drive for an hour and a half, two hours just to go to dinner, and then we would drive back.
Just did I just we wanted to be that you put in when you just did this and I told her back then I'm like, we got to grind now, so that we can relax later, and I kind of think I fooled myself a little bit because I think. The grind changes, but the grind.
Right, right. Yeah, right. But I know what I'm. But I get it. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to listen to this, but what are you talking about? It's a different it's a better grind, but it's definitely more flexible.
It's definitely I'm around way more than I was.
I want to be able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. But I'm always going to be doing something. I know that about myself, you know what I mean? And so and she knows that she's cool with it because you find your right person that accepts you for how and who you are and doesn't try to change it. I love you guys as a as a duo. And I love you guys as a couple, man. You guys are I don't know, man. I just I really love what you got going on. I really do. I don't I've not had anyone else. I don't think I've had any other couples on. So it's the first couple that I've had on and I just really love the dynamic that you guys have, the energy you bring. I'd love to have you guys back on. And second of all, where can our listeners find more information on you guys? I know you have the partners in the process. podcast, so check that out. But where else can they find more information about you all?
So you can find that podcast on YouTube. Mr. Bobbigini official on Instagram and Mr. Robert any official on Facebook and a lot of stuff from Instagram. flows over to Facebook. We do the majority of what we put up, our podcast reels, and when we travel and we've got a lot of the same mentors and things and groups and stuff we're in, all that content goes up on Instagram. And all that's just a funnel to the Limitless Vitality Group. If you guys go to the links in the bios, it tells a little bit more about what the Limitless Vitality Group does. And what we do is a couple for businesses and individuals and partnerships and programming and things that we have that we offer for people. But basically all we're trying to do is spread the purpose of good. Because one of the big things I realized while chasing money in business was when you chase it, it runs and it just keeps running. And then you chase a different type of money and all that. It's like, what are we doing all this for? Like, why are we just chasing around money? Why? And so we had to sit down and have a heart to heart. Like, what's our purpose in life? I know what we're doing together. We love us, right? What are we doing for the world? What are we giving back? What are we doing? And this was it. This was it. Like, take this and share it with all the people that are struggling to figure out how to do it. Show them what a healthy relationship looks like. Show them a path to be able to work together and do business together and make money and make an awesome family and bring your kids with you. I mean, our kids are super versed in business. I talk to him just like I'm talking to you. I mean, I have long conversations with my 13-year-old son, and he comes into rooms with adult people and carries conversations with them on everything from engineering stuff to the way cars work, to you name it, all the audio, video equipment. He's into videographers, videography, and motorcycles, and dirt bikes. I mean, he can sit down and hold a conversation with an adult better than most kids that I know for sure, especially at his age. And it's because I want him to understand what the real world looks like, you know, and that it's going to have an expectation to him. And if he doesn't bring that to the table, it's going to chew him up and spit him out. So you might as well know that now you can still be as kid as much as you want, but I need you to understand that right around the corner is this. But I want them to come on that journey with us. I want the family there, my daughter. is phenomenal. My my oldest daughter, she's 10 and um she's this incredible dancer. She's the hardest critic on herself. She expects perfection out of herself and I told her we did a podcast with the kids because I told them I didn't release the whole podcast but I've I got bits and pieces reels um because I just wanted to keep the podcast for myself but I wanted them to know that um that we think the world of them and who they're becoming, and that we are here to help them grow and push them, become like we're a resource for them. The resource that a lot of people pay us to have, they get for free. If someone would have offered that to me at their age, I'd be 20 years ahead of myself right now. But I didn't have that. I didn't get an opportunity to do something for myself till I was 27. Had I had that mentorship or that guidance at 18, God knows where I'd be today. We'd probably be We'd be up there with you in the big house.
Yeah, I love what you guys just said to man and I want to go. We've got we're like right up against it but you of course you bring up something that could lead into another hour long conversation but it is worth pointing out because I mentioned it on your podcast but listen to what he said when he said when you chase the money it seems to run like the opposite direction because I have just found that to be absolutely the case you know what you what you feed grows and but he's right man like I just experienced the exact same thing in that every time I try to take back control and and I'm chasing I'm trying to force something it just seems to just I'm running into guardrails or it goes further away when it is I just like really embrace, like, what's my higher purpose? What am I, you know, ultimately doing this for? How can I give back? How can I serve people? And again, I'm not trying to push, but for me, I do believe in, you know, higher power and how can I, how can I help other people? And, you know, what's this platform going to do for me or for them rather than for me? It just seems like when that's my focus is helping others, or being the best roofing company because I have a roofing company. Okay, well, you got a roofing company and being the best roofing company for your customers and for your people, just because that's the right thing to do. And then everything else just kind of follows the success of the money.
It's not about money. It's not. But you're not like, I want to be the I want to make the most money of any roofing company around here. No, I want to be the best. And because I'm the best, I get more clients. And look at this. I make more money than other people. And we did have the trucking company. I don't want to be the cheapest trucking company. I want to be the best servicing trucking company in our area. And I also want to limit my clientele so that I can take care of them very, very well, which I did. I stayed I stayed in an area where I knew I could service them at 100% and not just be a yes man, taking everything on and then failing on my service. And we have got the reputation in our area of being the best trucking company. When they've got things that need to get done, they know it's gonna cost them, but they know it'll get done and they call us and they don't question it. They just, they know it'll get done.
Yeah, love it. I want to make sure to to to anybody that is listening that you want to find out more about, you know, how to bring your spouse or anything that has anything to do with relationships. And you're looking to get a hold of Bobby and Shelly, check out their YouTube or reach out to them directly. But I would encourage you, man, to you know, Andy brings this up all the time, but like, look at your significant other, man, well, it doesn't matter, right? Like your partner and bring them into what you got going on, or at least offer to, because it may seem like they don't want to be, but like, if you don't, I do think that's going to be a problem. And that's one thing I didn't, I thought I was by doing my, what I was doing with them as like the motivator for me, my wife, I had not considered like, Hey, you want to be a part of this? You know what I mean? Like I'm just, but And we do want to get her on our podcast one of these days. We're getting her on. We're getting her on. She's already she's it's done. We're getting her on. That'll be the catalyst to like rope her in. But guys, thank you so much. I love talking to you every time we do. We end up to spend an hour. I mean, it's supposed to be a 30 minute.
I know.
Every time, but you know what? Some of my best episodes have been like when we just get to go in. So I love you guys so much and thank you so much for coming on. Sincerely, I'm gonna have to come out soon or vice versa. Are you guys going to find yourself in either Texas or Arizona anytime soon?
We'll be down in Arizona in July, July 25th. We got a podcast with Andy. So we down there doing a podcast with him and then the Patrick, but David events there. So we'll be at the Patrick, but David event. I did not want to miss him. Um, and, and then, and then apex reached out and was like, Hey, you're going to come down. And I'm like, it's the same day guys, the same day. I really wish it wasn't. Cause I would have loved to win, but I'm going to make it down to Texas.
You should see if you and your wife could make it to the couples one with Andy and Jackie in August, August 10th.
I think it is.
Yeah, we would love to, man. I mean, we would be, I'm going to MDM myself, but otherwise I would be at the bet, David. I wanted to so badly, so badly go see Pat, but Brandon speaking and I'm like, man. is what it is. There'll be others. And I mean, you know what, we are heading on a path to where eventually we'll have Pat on our shows. So you know what I mean?
You just called it you threw in the universe. It's what's gonna happen.
It's gonna happen. You already know it. Guys. I love you guys. Seriously, check out their podcast, the business. Check them both out. And guys, thank you so much for coming on. And I can't wait to see you guys soon. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good one.
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