Hey, guys. Welcome back to vertical momentum.
I'm am your host, Richard Kaufman.
Guys. This is gonna be a fun episode
and a great episode. We're gonna be talking
to my friend, Diego,
retired
Navy ceo, But we're gonna be talking about
something that you wouldn't normally be talking about.
When you think about Navy Seals kinda, we're
gonna be talking about fear. We're gonna be
talking about overcoming imp syndrome. Where there's a
lot of stuff We're gonna be talking about
that you never ever here talked about. So
I just wanna say thank you, Diego for
hopping on. How are you doing this morning
and how's everything
I'm doing amazing, and everything is amazing. Thank
you for asking.
I love it. So like I said, you
you've done some great things
uniform. Now you're doing some... I think better
things out of uniform. So tell us a
little bit about you about where you're from
and where you grew up in how you
became the man you became today?
I was... So my dad was stationed in
the air force in England when I was
born.
Lake and Heath air force space.
And then, when I was 3, I moved
to California just north of San Francisco, to
travis surfboard space where he was stationed,
and I hung out there until I graduated
high school and then I joined the navy
from there
and then, you know, just went on that
whole
that whole path. And, yeah. It's
47. So there's a lot of stuff that's...
Coming
into my path to create the man that
I ended it, I would say. Now were
you good in school? Were you an athlete
in high school?
No. And no. I was I was got
school was terrible for me. And and I
and I don't mean that is it's just
you know, throwing that out there. Schools a
very dark time for myself because I struggled
a lot.
I mean, even even just turning in,
homework I remember when when I was in
fifth grade,
my teacher used to hand out pink slips
for every in this assignment.
And so it was something that we were
all aware of,
I would bring home pink slips like almost
every other day and my dad,
you know, he's just
immigrant from Mexico who had to, you know,
bust his ass for literally everything he got.
He couldn't understand why I couldn't just do
assignments, and I would I would get pink
slips like every other day. And he would,
you know,
there was something within me that was preventing
from that happening. And I knew the trouble
that I was in,
and that I was going to get into,
but still it wasn't enough, to get me
to be able to do those assignments. So,
you know, that didn't end in fifth grade
that went all the way
through high school, so
I graduated with the 1.63
ready point average, which turns out that that's
a pot like you can do that.
But everything changed when I when I joined
the
the Navy.
No wasn't go ahead.
Pete... Did did you play sports in high
school?
Yeah. I played football for a little while.
Football was like my dream. I wanted to...
Play for Ucla going to college and then
I wanted to be on the 49. But,
when I was a sophomore
or so
it's funny when I think about it, but
I quit the football team because I couldn't
stand stand being yelled at by the Coaches.
So I, you know, I just gave a
football on decided to go to seal training,
which is,
you know, a little bit more intense than
any football coach Ever met, But, yeah I.
Tired of being yelled at my whole life.
So I just... I I'm.
How recruiting story. So talked to us about
the day you walk into the recruiter. And
said, I wanna be an Navy.
Yeah. They laughed, You know,
they're like, do you even... Do you even
know and I was like, yeah, I just
saw
the movie Navy seals with Charlie Sheen, and
that's exactly what I wanna do and they
said, well,
let's let's bring you into our office. We're
gonna show you this this video.
I forget the name of it was like
the... It it was the... The classic recruiting
video that they showed to... It's called b
someone special is what it is In fact
it's still on Youtube, and it's funny when
you watch it because it looks like it
was filmed, like, in the fifties.
But
you know, I I think it was, you
know, 45 minutes longer or something like that.
And and when I got done
watching the video,
you know, the 2 guys that were sitting
in the office were
essentially thinking that I was gonna walk in.
I'm things. I'm good. But all it did
was
excite me if if my excitement was, like,
Out of 15, I was, like, at a
58, you know, when I walked in and
I like, yes, This is exactly what I
wanted to, like, okay.
This is what you want. Let's go. You're
probably gonna quit though I'm, you know, okay.
Sounds good. So...
Yeah. I...
They gave me a practice as ad test.
You know, the...
You guys have been veteran enlist there. So.
It's... Yeah. The armed service is vocational aptitude
attitude. Order if I'm getting that right. But
they say, yeah, you're not gonna have any
problem on the ads va,
which was strange to me I was because
I did so terribly in school I didn't
think I was gonna do well on that
at all. And for good reason because I
I failed a,
part of it mechanical comprehension. That I didn't
know that I needed to pass? I thought,
you know, everybody know... Well, people in the
military know that there's 1 overall score and
then you get all these other scores, you
know, inside.
I was just told if I wanted to
go to seal training that I needed a
certain score, and I beat that, and I
didn't find out until after I went to
Boot camp.
I didn't qualify
to go to seal training because my mechanical
comprehension was 2 points low.
But anyway, that's set me off this whole
other path, but that. That was that was
part of my recruiting experience.
So what was it like... You know, because,
like I said I've had some, some of
your acquaintances is on?
Mister Gl,
you know, Jam Mc cast, Richard vin. And
I asked them I said, you know, what
is the 1 thing about all Navy seals?
And they said, you know, it's not the
physical.
It's mental. It's the...
I'm not gonna quit.
You're gonna have to kill me before I
quit or I'm gonna pass out. So what
made you not ring the bell
during that you're going through buds.
A lot of things, I mean, human beings
are so complex.
I went through twice. So III
went through in 19 94
in class 1 99
it took me 2 years to even make
it to buds with all the retest and
all the stuff that I had to do
just to get there. And when I got
there, I wasn't in shape.
And I failed all the time runs,
and my legs starting to break and all
of this and
Friday before hell week. They,
there was a thing that I didn't even
know called the Hell board and like like
it be filled anything like the underwater swim
or
2 mile oceans when we're running or whatever,
of course?
You know, they brought you in front of
this port and say, hey, do you wanna,
you know,
here's what we're going to do with you.
And some people made it and some people
I wasn't the only 1 who had to
go through, but but on that day, 4
months into training, Dave like, yeah. No. Appreciate
your time, but, you know, you're out of
here.
And so 4 months of... You know, running
soft sand runs and boats and logs and
all that stuff,
especially at that time and at that age,
I'd, you know, I thought my whole life
had been a waste up to that point.
I mean, it was... It
heartbroken is there's not even close to really
it was like this emotional psychological
just t that happened.
And
but I didn't quit at that time.
Because,
you know, there's a saying, you know, they're
too stupid to quit kind of thing. Yep.
I...
You know, I I really
was able to check out, even as my
legs were breaking under me, out it was
just... Just keep going kind of thing.
I feel like if maybe if I was
100 percent focused and 100 percent present there,
I don't know what I might or might
not have done, but I I didn't absolutely
checked out mentally
and just went through all the pain and
just did all that stuff.
After I got dropped, it was like, an
8 year span of
at least 3 times a month, I would
have, like, these really bad dreams about not
making it through, like nightmares.
And so I went back
but I didn't go back for
the singular reason like, I wanted to be
a seal because it was the only job
in the world for me. The reason why
I went back was because I was ashamed
of myself,
you know, having to have that discussion with
other people
that
you know, yeah. I was there, but I
didn't make it and all that stuff. I
mean, they were like, oh, well, you didn't
quit. What it believe it doesn't matter. You
either made it or you didn't, you know,
especially in our mindset.
So
I can tell you unequivocally that the only
reason why I'm sitting, in front of you
here today is because I was ashamed of
myself. And I didn't know how to really
manage that other than to try to try
to, you know,
tackle that monster and defeat it and to
ultimately,
at least in my mind at the time,
be be successful over it,
So, yeah, the first time I went through
without quitting was because I just checked out.
The second time I went through was just
because of shame.
It her your story really touches me because
people that know me know.
I got thrown out of the military the
first time for being a drug addict.
And
and as I was getting arrested,
For something else, my uncle said something to
me said, you know what? I know you...
You didn't have what it takes to be
a military,
and it ate at me. Yeah. And I
would wake up in a cold sweats. I'd
dream about it.
Until I
eventually,
probably 1 of the only guys that ever
talked about that actually got back into military
after being thrown out.
But it was because of, like, you, you
know, that it was because of the shame
because
I didn't
become the man that I think I was
supposed to be. So I can totally relate
to what you're talking about. Waking up and
having regrets and
I lost you. Can you hear me?
Now
and last month I heard you say was
waking up with regrets. Yeah. You know, I
woke... I I woke up with regrets. I,
you know, I should've have I should've did
this should done that. And then, know, eventually,
I did get back in. I finished with
over 23 years.
But hurt again, hurt on duty so they
they discharge me medically. So I I still
have feel like I have some unfinished business,
but There's there's no way I can go
back and fix it now. So what was
it, like, you know, getting back in and
actually getting the chance
to live your dream at that moment at
at that time.
Well, I'm so happy that you said that,
because
really, to answer or to answer this question,
I can
sort of
I mean, we're having a discussion here, so
I can I can talk about your last
comment,
and there's there's there's everything you can do
to fix that? It's not
over because it's in the past and you
can't over ever go back in the military,
but there's just... We were talking about you
know, flipping the visual
and even the dialogue on some of that,
and maybe that's not what you need to
fix and maybe,
maybe what needs to be fixed is just
your understanding of of what is,
what happened and what is in the moment,
Because if you went back, you know, you're
a human being,
you're a hundred percent aligned with the rat
race and their their current construct that we
have of what is success.
If you went back it probably wouldn't be
good enough, you know, you probably make a
mistake here or there or whatever because you're,
you know, I don't know, fucking human being.
And I was like, yeah. I did. And
I was glad I was able to do.
But, I wasn't so, you know, that's what
we do.
What
can be done, though,
and
I would say thankfully,
even more so than actually going to undo
because I... Because the same thing happened to
me. I went back to field training and
it's like, oh, you made like, yeah. But
I wasn't the strongest dude there. I was
in the fast Know, they're I had all
these kind of
I don't know. Excuses not to just be
fully grateful for... You having the opportunity. It
could've have been done better.
1 of the guys I coach. He's older
and I am and he play soccer
And he was talking like, I, scored a
goal. I'm like, that's awesome. You know, like,
50 year old dude running around the field
of scoring and Was like, I missed too.
I was like, is, you know, So,
you know, we always...
I say we... I always found myself finding
almost every opportunity to take myself down or
not. Down a notch and down a notch.
And that, you can never escape until you
change it.
So
I...
Even after... And and that was where I
I'm... We were talking before about when the...
Before the show released. Started recording was,
you know, takes most people 6 months to
make it through seal train. It took me
10 years.
And then after that 10 years
I finally arrived, not only that I was
a medic, and during my 8 year gap,
I was a civilian paramedic. So when I
showed up to the sales team as a
medic, like I was
I was supremely...
Like, I'm here. I'm ready to be here.
I'm ready to go to war. No matter
what happens to these guys. If they can
be saved, like, I'm gonna be able to
be the guy who can do that.
And so
I went through that process. I saved lives.
I went to combat.
You know, I got
promoted.
I got to mentor and lead
some of just the most amazing people. I've
ever been around.
And I retired I heard 20 years of
1 day, and I looked around and like
this.
This isn't
enough. This is not even
I mean, yeah. Great. Awesome.
Made a seal everybody thinks that being a
sales is awesome and all that stuff. I
got. Yeah. What... But whatever. Like, it still
was, like, emptiness there.
So I spent all that time,
you know, just trying to reach for that
carrot that never came.
And then, you know, we got to the
top, the carriage just disappeared.
So
that's what really
led me on this whole other journey of
because the next thing I was gonna do
is was like, okay. Well, I grabbed... Yeah,
I retired from the teams. I I accomplish
that? What's my next thing? Oh, I know
I gotta go to college
because I could never do college when I
was coming out of high school, But now
I know that I can. And if I
get my degree accomplish then, you know, then
I'm gonna be good there, and I'm just
not gonna have that monkey on my back
anymore.
And I slightly started to go down that
that road.
And then a dawned on me,
thankfully
that
well, what happens when you get your degree
and Oh, there's gonna be something else. Like,
yeah. But there's not so much energy. There's
shame behind that. I'm going to college because
I'm ashamed of how I performed in high
school.
And I was just realized that I'm just
gonna continue
trying to achieve trying to achieve and it's...
And I'm never gonna achieve anything.
What if I could just...
Happy just being. I wanna stop right here.
Just wanna I wanna thank our sponsors real
quick because I can't wait to talk about
what you're doing.
Doing now. But without the sponsors, the show
doesn't go on, I wanna thank our sponsors,
Maxwell Post If you guys are like me
and have diabetic get you skin.
They actually sells no
it's a veteran owned company.
And also for every bar soap that they
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And also, I wanna thank our sponsors I
came out the brand new coffee called Vertical
Momentum coffee. If you guys missed the military
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tastes a lot better internet, but a lot
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So if you guys love coffee with admission,
write coffee down below.
Thank you guys so much. But, Diego, I
wanna talk about it because, you know, a
lot people would think, okay.
You have your Trident. You know, you're retiring
with 20 years and 1 day, you're on
top of the world,
but they don't realize that, you know,
you... You're looking at yourself, like, okay. You're
looking around, like,
now what? Now what I? And a lot
of people don't realize that, you know, once
we get out of the military no matter
how much how much time we've served,
a lot of us, they lose our mission,
a lot of us
lose our our friends,
because, you know, and even though we, you
know, we still have friends,
once we step off base,
the military doesn't give you shit about you,
mission first, everything else. So a lot of
times we get out, and we're left our
own devices,
and it's not a nice place to be
sometimes.
So talk to us about, you know, your
journey in getting out. And what... And real
life is like,
not what the fantasy is, but what real
life was like.
Yeah. I was really lucky.
To get introduced to a non nonprofit organization
called beyond Foundation.
And they are an executive
transition course that helps special operations, guys transition
from the military to the corporate world.
And
by far and away for the for the
for the people the men and women that
are involved in special operations. Like that go
to this course, their their number 1 fear
and concern is
for know, I'm not a seal anymore. Now,
what am Gonna do? Or I'm not an
Intel specialist anymore. What am I gonna do?
And, you So the the honor foundation helps
them
find out, you know, what they can do
in their next job,
and they do an incredible.
Incredible job at doing that and for anybody
who feels like they have extra money, and
I don't know what else to do with
it, you know, nothing they can do is
go to honor dot org, and just dump
money into there because if it wasn't for
them to try an approach and where I'm
at right now, it just... It wouldn't be.
So I didn't know anything about starting the
business and they're, like, here you go, and
they connect me with everybody and their mom
to help me build a business plan marketing
all that stuff, and and and we been
off to the races. Since, you know, 2018
because of them. But, anyway,
what I had found later over time
was again, it's still like this external thing,
what do I, you know, what do I
do now that the mission is over?
And
when you come to a place where you
genuinely know in the deepest parts of you
what you're mission.
Has always been.
It doesn't change whether you're in the military
or
not
you know, that isn't, you know, being a
seal wasn't my mission.
I never knew that during that entire... That
whole, you know, that whole 30 years, the,
you know, seal seal seal all that stuff.
What I didn't realize that whole time was
it was just to be. My mission was
just to live
and experience life and learn and grow and
develop and all that.
So whether I was doing that with a
seal hat on or a
hot dog on a stick hat, like, it
doesn't matter.
So
instead of
having this mindset of, I lost this
and now becomes when you under when you
understand a deeper meaning of why you exist
on this earth at all, it goes... It
it turns into, like, oh, what do I
get to do now? Like, back to what
you were saying? It's like, I get to
do... I could do anything in the world.
Anything I want, you know, then it becomes
inspiring and and
and abundant and all this, stuff instead of...
I'm, you know, I'm not going down range
anymore with the... It's okay. There's other things
out there for you
that perhaps can even move your soul more
than you've ever been mood before.
But in the military, you don't have
all the time and all, you, the world
to mess with all that stuff, You've got,
you know, you've got your stuff to do.
But when you look at it from perspective
that you can literally just dig down. You
like coloring. Awesome. Do that. You know, it
doesn't matter what it is. And vm you'd
be amazed. When you are the 1 who's
creating your path,
how
customized
and absolutely perfect. It can be for you
rather than in a whole institution, telling you,
you know, who you are or what you're
gonna do next,
Yeah. It's just the possibilities are endless. You
know, and 1 thing, you know, a couple
weeks ago, I had
a young lady. Your name is Sharon Le.
She wrote C wrote,
Rich Stein Poor dad with mister Robert K.
And they actually had a board game talking
about teaching you how to get out of
the rat rates.
And is that right? Yeah. They they actually
have it... Okay. It was called cash flow,
and it was actually a a board game
to teach you how to get out of
the rat race.
So talk to us because, you know,
we we are in into route race, and
the only way to get ahead of the
route raise is to die. Yeah. There's.
Here's getting out of the rat race.
Okay. Talk to us about, you know, living
I I believe in living a purpose driven
life. You know, That God has me here
for a reason to help people. So talk
about, you know, living at a life of
gratitude. You seem like a very... You seem
like you have a lot of gratitude in
your life.
So talk to us about gratitude and also
living a purpose driven life.
Yeah.
That's a
a habit that I
was able to kind of involved in my
life.
I'm pretty sure it was... From Tony Robbins
he had like these relate... These 8 very
difficult questions
that you had to ask yourself. But you
had to ask him to yourself every day,
and there were things that had that were
related back to gratitude.
And the reason for the whole thing is
they looked at like this depression spectrum
and and they found that the people who
were more grateful for
who they were and where they were,
and what they were in life
had
lower
levels of of depression. Yeah. So I did
that for a while and it and
I don't know. I just... I think it
just became part of who I am. I
mean, I... I'm not even joking man. I
mean, I live in San Diego.
And I'd never get tired of the sunset.
Not ever. I... There's never a sunset that
happened and I'm like, can't, whatever and to
turn around and walk the other way. Nope.
I just sit there and I face the
sun, and I just sit there and just
be. It never gets old. Little things
I
flowers and stuff, and we shoot when Covid
was going on, I don't live very far
away from, like, this protected est.
But when Covid was going on the whole
world was shutting down, those animals started to
kind of venture out of the s your
wearing and into our neighborhood and I'm just
sitting here on the fence and they were
like, these birds of pray just hanging out
on my fence and, like, just you're Every
Fox and all all this stuff.
So
yet to... And, yeah I I guess the
only important thing to say, there is that
it's gotta be genuine. Like, I'd never
faking it to you, make it is not
a thing for me.
It's really
embracing
embracing what it is and and then to
you can fully accept what what is happening.
And
yet because vacancy making is just lying it
the 1 thing I've learned is that I
have to be 100 percent honest with myself.
Otherwise, you know, who, you know, whatever.
It's just and you end up living on
this
whatever
fictional
floating, nothingness this.
But living in truth,
users really helped to ground me because I
don't attach myself really to anything
hardly at all.
But but being able to be aligned and
connected to truth, that's really kind of the
only attachment that I need in it and
it's enough to sustain me.
So... Yeah. And you had another question I
can't remember.
Oh,
I was just thinking because I'm...
I'm a big proponent of Linkedin. I love
Linkedin.
Be, I was reading right before we... Instead
of fake fake it before you make it.
It says face it.
And you will make it.
To face your, you know, whenever you're dealing
with, face it head on, don't fake it,
face whatever you're dealing with, And eventually, if
you're in the right head space and timing,
you will hit your mark instead of thank
you thinking it. And I thought it was
just very apr repo. That I seen that
right before we we got on.
Yeah. So... But so talk to us about,
you know, what, you know, A lot of
guys are on there guys and girls, they're,
and are veterans and entrepreneur.
What has served you well.
From the military
and entrepreneur world. What what what have been
some of the similarities
Yeah. I think probably the gold cliche stuff
of of just accountability and disciplined.
All all all of the things that that
I think
kinda go hand to hand hand in hand
with being a veteran being an entrepreneur. So
let me
maybe see some of the things that I
can imagine that are
maybe not necessarily so
easily connect,
Well, there are things that I had to
leave
in the military
to to to be where I wanted to
be with the Trident approach.
And 1 of those
1 of those things was
for sure the bureaucracy accuracy of the whole
thing. You know, I...
That's what I let went when I reach
out to
to people who wanna work with us I
was like, hey, Remember all that stuff you,
you know, you kinda had to do it
in in the military. They just say, like,
we don't do that. You know,
don't do anything We don't wanna do, and
it's amazing. You know,
you know, there's there... There's a whole other
way...
To look at accountability,
that,
you know, isn't so fear driven
You know,
I... So I had... I left a lot
of fear back with the military. That doesn't
exist with with me anymore in an entrepreneur.
Mindset or a way of operations, fear is
gone for me.
When when it does creep in,
I
what face it. I think is what you
said. I embrace it. Yep. Here it is,
and then it's just gone because all it
is is the teacher for me and it's
opportunity.
But I don't run for the thing because
I'm afraid of them
anymore. And the military was... It seemed like
there was always, like this sled camera that
was like, 2 inches above our edge of
like Man. Lose your trident to, you know,
do this and then bam. You're gone. You
know, I I do guys who lost or
trident for
politics. You wanna and Politics takes us out
of my life,
you know, back when you and I were
in the military in the beginning,
politics existed, but it wasn't like the way
things were done. Now it is the way.
Then no 1 cares if you're right or
wrong, it's just how does this look, which
again is all Rat race stuff. It's like,
we don't... They care more about
perception than reality?
Which...
Okay. Cool. I get it
best for you guys. That's not for me.
What I care about, what I genuinely care
about is what is.
I do care about what I think reality
is,
that's what matters to mean. So
Yeah. There was there was a lot of
things that I was grateful
that I
kinda put on my Ru act from the
military that I just got to just leave
on the ground. And, you know,
by.
I don't I don't need politics, Dude. I
don't need bureaucracy man. I don't need
you know, I don't need fear.
You can keep it. You know, I live
with that for a while, and,
you know, it's just not on my business
anymore. So I just...
That was...
Because 1 of my friend his name is
Stephen Ko. Is a good friend of mine.
He took says, if you don't have a
business plan,
you don't have a business, you have a
hobby.
And a lot of guys when and girls
wanna they get out of the military military.
You know, they start a t shirt company
had company liquor.
10 months later. There's 10000 dollars in debt
and don't know what the hell just happened
because they never had a business plan or
an Sop before they started their business. So
I talk to us about you know, 2018,
when you started your business, talk about, you
know, if you didn't have an Sop,
you know, how important it is, for a
business type of business point.
Yeah. Is it was funny because
all I knew is that I wanted to
start a company, but I didn't know how
to. So I was very lucky.
I was able to turn back to the
honor foundation. And say, hey, guys. I was
thinking about doing this, how know nobody anybody
can help me out. And they're, like, yeah.
Absolutely. So they sent there's no light. They
sent me the guy who invented the store
for the blasted pickles. The guy who said
how many analytics does it take to get
to the center of Tit pop, the director
of marketing,
ford ford motor company like Internet marketing and
then K grocery.
All those guys,
all got an email chain,
and said, Diego shows your business plan.
And I'm like, what's that.
They're like, they're like, Google it and then
get back to us when you're done
And it was like a nightmare they're, like,
in the in the military, especially in leadership,
everybody's had to write, like,
evaluations on your people or or, you know,
some kind of professional correspondent that, especially in
the beginning, it was, like, pulling teeth was...
You know, I've had many many chiefs look
at my eval writings that are were writing
for other guys and they're like, nope. This
sucks do it over again. But over time
it got better and that's exactly what it
happened with them. I think, I I presented
them my first business plan on something, like
85 pages long.
And we're so patient and so kind and
they sat to the whole entire thing.
And they're like, alright. Well, turn this into
10 pages
and you've got a startup up cost of
2200000.0 dollars figuring out how to do it
for a hundred thousand dollars. And I was
like, there's no way, like, that's impossible. You
obviously didn't hear my... You know, my idea
because there's no way I do that for
a hundred thousand. They're, like, figure it out.
And so I did. And so... And and
the funny thing was,
by the time the Tri to approach was
up and running, and it was, you know,
we were moving.
I had spent a hundred thousand dollars
on
I was like, andy these guys are awesome.
So...
But here's a thing.
You know, I I was sitting on an
entrepreneurship panel and they were like, hey, what
what are things that you need to make
sure that that people who are entrepreneurs
that they need to know. And 1 many
of them said, you know, if you're in
this for money,
you know, you're in the wrong place
or or whatever. And I I always feel
like and this kinda goes back to my
perspective on fear.
Like, if you if you lost 10 or
20 grand trying to start up your business
and it didn't work on or just flop,
like, I don't see that as a failure
at all.
I'd I genuinely to to my bones, see
that as part
of the process of figuring yourself out. But
we're not meant to go in my mind
the best I can understand to the best
I can understand we're not meant to go
through this life, you know, with a steady
upward progression making steps and progress, you know,
abound. Like, I just don't see that.
What I do see is when I fail
and sometimes fail hard,
and I've got broken bones to prove this
Like, that means nothing other than what I
learn from this, and how do I grow
from this? So if you... If you're hell
bent on starting a business, and you don't
wanna do a business plan. Don't do it.
See what happens, maybe the first or who
cares? Whatever. You can't go, it's something I
definitely learned,
you know, really even where this really kinda
came from was being a father, but I...
Once I saw it, know, I saw that
it was everywhere and the military was in
business whatever,
Don't worry about getting it right because you
can't go wrong.
When I look at my first... You know,
a try of becoming a seal, and that
didn't work out.
And now, you know, whatever 30 or 40
years later looking back. I'm like,
doing nothing nothing wrong happened. Nothing bad happened.
I needed all that stuff in order to
get, you know, being a seal kind of
is really quite consequential, but all the stuff
that happened in the meantime,
when I see now that my purpose was
never to be a seal, but it was
just to be and to learn and exist
through life. It's all... I mean, it's all
good. I mean, it is all good.
So if you wanna start a business and
you don't wanna a business plan, don't do
it. Do whatever you want. Do however you
want. If you end up in jail, if
you end up broke, you, guess what. There's
something good out of there.
If you wanna avoid that,
then
1 of the most
valuable
lessons that I did learn from the honor
foundation. Was the concept of 50 cups and
coffee.
And what that is
is you have a cup of coffee with
50 different people who have done what you're
trying to do.
And just sit down with them, definitely have
something right with,
and ask them whether their
most powerful lessons learned are and what you're
trying to do. And what ends up happening
after that 50 cups of coffee is you
have about 5000 years of experience, coming back
at you saying,
everybody's gonna tell you to do this. Don't
do that. So the thing is over 50
comes of coffee, you're gonna have about 20
or 30 people saying the same thing, hey,
everybody says start a business plan. Don't do
that or whatever it is. Doesn't matter what
it is, but you'll start to see point
is you're gonna see trends
of the best things you could do and
absolute things that you need to avoid.
And
I would say,
if you wanna do this is as efficiently
as possible
and saving the money and time and effort
and all all of that,
knock out your 50 cups of coffee.
And then
you'll know exactly what money you need, where
to spend it,
how much time you need, where to spend
it, all of that stuff, and then you
can go.
It's almost like
when you're starting a fire in the wilderness,
you know, you don't just, like, start grabbing
2 rocks and spark and you need to
set up all your stuff, you need to
set up your kin, you know, your, like,
smaller pieces of wood and then your tomato
piece of wood and your head get all
that stuff prepared before you even make a
spark because if you get that spark and
you got it nothing to burn that you
don't have anything.
So
I would say for the people who are
trying to start their business as efficiently as
possible,
50 cups of coffee with people 50 people
who have done what you're trying to do
and you'll be off to a pretty good
start.
I love that. You know? And for me,
like I said, I'm I'm in I'm an
accidental business owner. I just... Never meant to
start this whole podcast. And now I get
to hang out gentlemen like you, and I
will learn from you, and I will listen
to every word again, when I edit this,
and it gets into my soul. So I'm
I actually get to learn from everybody. So
I've had, I think 350
cups of coffee. It's so almost like, 400
interviews, and I'm still learning every day. But
now I'm a big short tank guy and
the only reason I bring it up is
the mavericks are in the the the playoffs,
and I actually interviewed
Brian,
which is
is,
what's his name brother.
And we were talking about
mister Cuban, we're March Brother. And we're talking
about taiwan on Shark tank. If you don't
have... If you're not invested in your business.
If you're not all in,
they're not gonna go in either. And I
think a lot of people they wanna dip
their toe
into, you know, starting a business, but they
wanna use Opm,
they wanna use other people's money. And
I can invest with you if you're not
fully invested in your own business. Correct?
Well, you'll find some some people, but the
whole idea is like, how how successful is
your business gonna be if it is just
this...
I don't know. It's not easy to start
a business. It's not even it's not even
easy to to just continue this podcast where
money isn't necessarily coming. I mean, you know.
So...
But it's okay. If you're... If you wanna
start a business and you're not fully invested
and you just dip your toes in, you
know, the business gonna come and is gonna
go, and maybe all you need to learn
at that time was how to commit yourself
to something.
You know, it's not a failure just because
your business
was a failure,
who's to say that it will be, but
just because it is... I mean, that has
nothing to do with, your sense of being
and your purpose for being here. You know,
maybe the lesson learned that you needed was,
you know, I really need to develop discipline
and commitment
for the things that I really want to
blossom in my life.
And maybe you learn that lesson through a
failed business
it's it that's perfect.
It's... There's nothing wrong with that. That's exactly
how it should be.
What I would say for investors.
You know, somebody who invest in somebody who
who's not full in, you know, maybe you
just need to learn, you know,
if you're gonna take your assets something, you
work so hard for to be a little
bit more careful with it and, you know,
know no 1 is absolutely right all the
time or whatever, but just
you know, making better decisions based on the
things that you understand, the instead of just
being so focused, that's such a good idea
this guy starting this whole new thing. I'll
let's do it.
This... I don't think this life has anything
to do with achieving. I think it has
everything to do with learning.
I think.
So Yeah. I don't really worry too much
about... I mean, I swear to god failure
doesn't mean really anything to me other than
well, what do I learn and work when
we go from here.
Now like in in my in my my
my field,
the average podcast last 13 episodes.
And and and are done. So out of
2000000
podcasts, there's about 1000000 that are active
and less than
100,
you know, less than 10 percent go past
a hundred episodes. So I believe in that,
consistency
will Trump intensity
every time.
So now talk to us about you because
you started business in 2018,
and then bam,
the world gets shaken into its core.
And you get hit with C.
So I'm sure that had... What was that,
like, starting a business and then this whole
world shakes,
Yeah. I'll start off answering that question by,
you know, sending hugs to anybody who was
really...
Devastated by Covid.
And I mean that and the reason why
I mean that is because
what I'm about to say can kinda feel
really inflammatory with some people, but I can
only be honest,
Covid was probably about the best thing in
the world that could happen to the Trident
approach.
Because
there was... If immediately like, that the next
day,
you know, because it it was almost like
there was a day that Covid hit. Even
though it had been kinda going on since,
like, last December, but there was a day
where the the the country officially decided to
shut down
And
at least that's the way I remember it.
And so
all of a sudden, the thing...
Turn to, you know, how do we pivot
pivot lose the word? You know, what do
we what do we have to do to
maintain relevancy and all that And I know
every organization has their own things. Their own
problems are own all this.
Look, we didn't pivot at all.
And Well,
that's not true. We we totally pivoted, but
instead of pivoting outwards, we pivoted inwards.
We we didn't do anything...
To continue
figuring out how to make money. We just
stopped, and we
basically went in this place of stillness.
And we went in
inward. And I can tell you 10 years
ago, me going into my mind.
Would not have been a good thing.
But as timing in the way that it
was
me going in, to my mind was was
nothing but empowering
for not only me, but for what was
going on with the Trident approach because we
were we were starting to line up a
event and we're getting really busy and all
of a sudden, like, our operational temple was,
you know, alright. Cool. We're doing this. We're
in this. You know, we've got all these
clients. We've got all these big names. We've
got all this. Like, this is awesome. We
we we would have just been on the
white white water rapid. You know, just
ongoing.
But because the rapids absolutely just stopped
and get in this place of of stillness
all of a sudden, you know, there's just
saying,
do without doing
that's exactly what we did. We did nothing,
in a way.
But when the Covid waters started to kind
of
subside,
now we got a book coming out. We
got, you know,
our online programs coming out,
our
approach to doing these events.
Has shifted a lot to where we can
go deeper and deeper and deeper with people.
Like everything changed by doing nothing.
And that only happened because
of the effects that Covid
had on the world. So now only have
these
interactions with people. There is a level of
depth that we're able to go to that
we always kinda wanted to go to, but
we didn't, you know, how do you get
somebody who's
still stuck in the ego of mind or
still stuck in a rat race. How do
we, you know, how do we help and
get to flow? I mean, that's a very,
very different conversation with us now than it
I was pre covid.
So really grateful for that.
Now for me, a a lot of people
said Was crazy, you know, pre even though
I just me my wife, we're still going
through Covid
for the first time.
But as soon as... You know, we heard
out... Things are gonna be locked down,
I was, like, okay. So this is a
great time start of podcast.
Because that's get lot.
A lot of people...
I don't people we're gonna be, because of
as a positive, even even though it shut
down the business that I was in, so
I kinda had to pivot.
So, you know, I I wanna thank, you
know, people that have been following me for
the last... 3 years. And and if it
wasn't 2 main events in my life that
changed my whole life was 09:11,
09:11 changed
everything about my life.
And
09:11 actually saved my life, so I wouldn't
be the man I am today. And,
Covid actually changed my whole life, my perspective
on life,
So... But now, talk to us about exactly
what you're doing, tell us about your business
and what you're doing now.
Yeah.
So
we just do personal team and leadership development,
but we go
as deep as you want.
We help people
understand what the rat race is and see
how it kinda manifests itself shows up in
their lives and and we show them how
to shift over to 1 towards flow.
And so we take that every everything
with leadership
you know, you have
this old mindset of,
you know, especially how we were raised in
leading in the military. There's some amazing things
that I learned in leadership. But almost all
of it was completely devoid of the human
element
of, you know, compassion and empathy in patients
and
understanding and all that. So, I mean, that's
really where it all came from to begin
with was the most common question when we
got it, when I was active duty the
Seal team's From Corporate executives was how is
it you work and communicates so together in
seal teams. Well, we had answers for that,
but I found myself from
not being truthful in my responses because I
would I would share. Yeah. Absolutely. These are
like, awesome things that help
Seals be elite. But then I would add
in all this other stuff that I knew
will that we didn't actually do. But I
I wanted to share that with them just
to so that I could answer them in
the best way possible.
And so when when I got out of
the military and I knew that I could
do anything in the whole world that I
wanted to do, that question came up so
many times that I was like man, what
if we start an organization that help people
understand this.
So so
everything starts with a self, like all of
it does. And so
we help people
understand who they are in a genuine way,
not the way that's been told to them,
but who they actually are,
and learn how to step into that power.
And the reason why that matters is because
people who not there, but who are on...
High performing teams. There's always a breaking point,
there's always something that goes on. And especially
in leadership. If you're... If you don't have
this solid foundation and really strong root system.
I mean, you can do a lot of
damage to people who are absolutely depending on
you for everything for guiding for your income
for the way ahead everything.
So everything we do starts with this self,
So we coach individuals,
but then we also coach teams.
Either corporate or athletic teams,
and then and then we coach leaders.
And we do that through a number of
different ways, either keynote or workshops, but 1
of the most common things that we do
is we take assemble teams out onto the
beach.
And we basically put them through
really a fun version of of seal training,
but it's not to it's not to peep
put
or break people down, and it's not to
find the next Navy seals? It's it's to
find out where you are when you're under
stress. Where does your mind go when you're
under stress where it does your ability to
lead and operate as a team go when
you're under stress.
Right? And almost always,
when people see... Because there's no denying it,
because we're... It... It's all about awareness. Right?
So we make sure that you're bloody aware
of what's going on, who who you are
where you're at all that stuff.
Almost always people that if I could have
done that better, I would have
and something that I love so much. There's
2 things that I really love
there's billions of things that I love about
the trying approach. But but 2 of them
is,
the trying approaches a safe place to make
mistakes. We want people to lean in to
what feels natural to them so that we
can see what's going on. And then fix
it if we want to. That way, when
the mistakes are made, they're not personal, people
aren't getting upset at each other because they
all understand it that we are in this
essentially, like, and exploratory phase of getting back
to who we are.
The other thing that I love about the
Trainer approach is we won't tell people what
to do.
At all.
We help them find their way and we
stand shoulder to shoulder with them as they
go there.
The last thing we wanna do
as a Tri approach is,
you know, insert our ego into your growth
development process, like that's silly to me,
so many people say like, oh, what, you
know, we're the Navy seals of Google and
all this stuff Believe me.
You don't want Navy seals running any apartments
in Google at all because you'll go out
of business. So we'll just blow shit up
or break things. You don't want that. What
you wanna do is be the best of
you. And so here's here's how you can
really find... I mean, genuinely find that. No.
Beyond all the rhetoric and the cliches and
all, like,
this is this is you. Let's bring that
to the table.
And and and unleash it, you know. So
So that's what we do. We we take
the letter on the beach and we have
them kinda go through these, like Navy seal
based,
like little stations, but these stations are all
designed to a list. It responses and culture,
trust,
leadership communication teamwork,
or ego awareness or whatever it is,
and helps them
not only get an awareness of it, but
start to build plans
and give them actual practical
application in performing in the way that they
think is the best. So that when they
go to work on Monday, they've actually had
practical application and and putting this stuff to
use So when, you know, there's a some
sort of dysfunction or argument or or whatever
going on at work. It's no longer like
this reactive like, hey, you know, it's more
like, Oh, I've already been through this,
here's probably the best way for me to
handle this. And like everything as long as
it's true and genuine, then it's... And it's
easy day.
So that's what we do.
You know, 1 thing I love about, you
know, Navy seals and, you know, you guys.
I, I have a bunch of you guys
and I have on my friends list, and
I'm very grateful for you guys.
And I I learn a lot, you know,
and I hear all the time. Like you
know, the only easy day was yesterday.
And I, you know, and I think it's
a a great way to to live your
life if you really think about it that
way that, you know, today is gonna be
could be a hard day,
but, you know,
the only easy day was yesterday. And if
you... Have that kind of mindset that, you
know, you're gonna make it through whatever it
is you're going through. But, you know, we
just have to have that positive mindset, And
it sounds like what you're doing is something
that my friend, Joe Des from
Spartan. He has that Tv show called business
boot camp. And it's kinda like you guys
are doing the same thing just in different
parts of the world where you put a
team out. And once you put a team
out doing... Sometimes, physical stuff, you're gonna realize
there's a a weak point here and a
weak point... And a strength that you never
renew that you... Like, you sometimes you never
realize that the person you thought is your
weak point is actually the 1 that's holding
it all together.
Yeah
Oh, so I think that what you what
you're doing is great. You know, putting people
under pressure
is, you know, that's when you find out
what's real.
Or what's not real or what's holding you
back, you know?
Yeah.
The 1 thing that I that I really
love about that whole thing is, you know,
people say, well, you know, you're showing us
your true colors, who you really are. And
I don't believe that to be the case
at all.
I think
how you respond in crisis or in times
of stress. It has nothing to do with
who you are. I think it just has
a reflection on where you are. You know,
this is this is this is what I'm
capable of doing right now in this time
and space. But that doesn't mean that that's
all you're ever capable of ever being.
There are ways to strengthen and develop and
learn and explore. So when then the next
time something as stressful or even more stressful
shows up.
You respond completely different, so that in and
of itself has nothing to do with who
you are because who you are doesn't change.
But where you are changing all the time.
So
yeah, it's... It it becomes when you start
to look at things in that, that way.
Because so much of what we what we
do is is is
it's not so noticeable, but it has... It
going into our programs like family therapy for
teams and even for for for people, is
just showing people another way and what you're
talking about before
about oh, man. I didn't even realize that
this person had such a huge impact on
our organization, you know, giving those people a
stage
to stand out and just be seen for
who they've always been,
is an amazing opportunity that I love with
these outdoor events where
you know, these are the things that really
help to create
genuine
you know, places of engagement and learning and
understanding what band, You know what? Maybe I've
been looking at this person in the wrong
way at the entire time.
That's what I... That's 1 of the things.
Another 1 of the things that I love
so much about. What we're doing so...
Yeah.
So this now you said you have a
book in the works or coming out?
Tell us not going on, how we can
find you and how it can support your
mission?
Yeah. The book is gonna be coming out
this fall. Has everything to do with... Leaving
the rat racing pursuing flow and just a
higher way of being,
and
so we're excited about that, and it's real
essentially, what it is, it's all about the
Trident approach and and and our approach
to being.
And so
you know, that's our website is the tri
approach dot com.
You can...
I'm all... I spend most of my time
with, the social media platform that I use
the most is on Linkedin.
There's... My name is Diego all day.
If
that's weird,
diego at the trident approach dot com as
well. You can find us there.
And we coach
individuals,
and team is smallest 4, and we have...
We trained groups over 300 or more, finest
So it just kinda depends on
what people's needs are.
I love it. So Diego, if you would
have 1... Words of wisdom if somebody is
looking to get out of the rat race.
What would be your last words of wisdom
for them?
Everything starts with the self.
Wherever you're going or whatever you're trying to
do, go there and do that as long
as what is within you is at the
basis of what you're looking for.
You know,
looking for titles or degrees or accolades
or or what what house
whatever you want, it's just gonna turn into
nothing once you get it, but what always
remains is who you are,
So
leave
the fear baggage
alone, like let it be, and figure out
how you can do it what you're trying
to do
purely based in love.
And if you do that starting with the
self then
you're gonna find out on your own in
your own time that,
you know, with the re race, it's never
enough, but with flow, there's always more.
And
there's a sense of abundance that comes with
it. So
that's what really gets us moving.
Believe me I run through broken legs and
all that stuff and Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cool.
Whatever.
It's not not for me.
But there's this whole other way of being
that,
really few... It's a healthy way of existing.
I feel like, and you know,
can't wait for the next day.
It's good stuff.
I love it, Diego. I wanna say thank
you, guys. Just remember, mike,
I always say that the the 3 most
important words in at lang language
or today, I decide.
You don't have to be the same person
when you go to beds tonight as the
same person at woke up, So, Guys, just
remember that you're 1
decision away
from being the best you. And, guys, I
just wanna say thank you for always being
with us. And like oprah wait winfrey always
says, the best way to help yourself is
to help
others.
Guys, remember, vertical momentum,
The only way to go was but.
And we will see you guys tomorrow.