We're bringing back Shop Talk #3. Because it's been years and it's beautiful!

What would make someone work an entire weekend without pay?

When Coach Bill Courtney's lumber company was on the brink of collapse after 9/11, one employee refused to go home. For 72 straight hours, Sam Quinn—a former Marine living in a halfway house—worked alongside Bill to save the business, asking for nothing in return.

That weekend changed both of their lives.

In this deeply personal Shop Talk episode, Bill reflects on the friendship that followed, the leadership lessons Sam taught him, and why the truest measure of success isn't money or titles—it's the lives we help transform.

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dan Jarvis came home from Afghanistan carrying wounds that didn't show up on any medical chart. In this episode, he breaks down what trauma actually does to the brain - why it hijacks your responses, why willpower alone can't fix it, and how understanding the neuroscience behind your pain is the first step to healing it.

Dan built Healing the Hero, a nonprofit that has helped over 18,000 people reclaim their lives! This is a conversation about what it really takes to heal—for both veterans and civilians. It might just help you or someone you love. 

Learn more about Healing the Hero here

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dan Jarvis came home from Afghanistan carrying wounds that didn't show up on any medical chart. In this episode, he breaks down what trauma actually does to the brain - why it hijacks your responses, why willpower alone can't fix it, and how understanding the neuroscience behind your pain is the first step to healing it.

Dan built Healing the Hero, a nonprofit that has helped over 18,000 people reclaim their lives! This is a conversation about what it really takes to heal—for both veterans and civilians. It might just help you or someone you love. 

Learn more about Healing the Hero here

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Shop Talk, we reflect on a simple question that can haunt all of this: What do we need to quit so our best work can truly live?

Featuring Erik Løkkesmoe's powerful essay "I Quit," Coach Bill explores the things that quietly pull us away from meaningful work—chasing applause, feeding the algorithm, climbing ladders, waiting for permission, and letting urgency replace purpose. Sometimes the most important step forward isn't doing more—it's having the courage to let something die.

Check out Erik’s Substack here 

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Contrary to popular belief, hope isn't a feeling. It's a formula that Dr. Ashley Cross is about to teach you about. And according to research, it's the single best predictor of wellbeing. More than grit, resilience, confidence, and it’s needed to unlock all of them. 

Dr. Cross is one of the nation's leading practitioners of the "Science of Hope” through the incredible work of her Rochester nonprofit Hope 585 and now through her work advising the hope-centered movement in Memphis. 

Her hope lessons in this episode might just change your life…  and definitely can help many of the lives you’re serving. Learn more about her work at Hope585.org

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Contrary to popular belief, hope isn't a feeling. It's a formula that Dr. Ashley Cross is about to teach you about. And according to research, it's the single best predictor of wellbeing. More than grit, resilience, confidence, and it’s needed to unlock all of them. 

Dr. Cross is one of the nation's leading practitioners of the "Science of Hope” through the incredible work of her Rochester nonprofit Hope 585 and now through her work advising the hope-centered movement in Memphis. 

Her hope lessons in this episode might just change your life…  and definitely can help many of the lives you’re serving. Learn more about her work at Hope585.org

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's Shop Talk, Bill and Alex discuss the Asoh Defense — the forgotten leadership principle that says admitting your mistake honestly and immediately is more powerful than any excuse you could make.

This one's for anyone who's ever been wrong about something. So, everyone. 

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nate Larkin spent 20 years hiding a sex addiction. For 5 of those years, he was a pastor. When it was exposed and everything collapsed, it could have been the end of his story. It turned out to be the beginning.

In this conversation, Nate shares what it took to rebuild and how that journey led him and a dozen guys to start the Samson Society, a community built on radical transparency, vulnerability, and confidentiality. What started as one small group has now grown to more than 600 local chapters, daily virtual meetings in 8 languages, and has helped over 25,000 men heal! 

You might benefit from the Samson Society or the newer women's version called the Sarah Society. We all know family members and friends who could. And Nate can teach all of us how to be real and live authentically. 

Check out Samson Society here: https://www.samsonsociety.com/about 

Join Army of Normal Folks and receive our Soul Service newsletter: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nate Larkin spent 20 years hiding a sex addiction. For 5 of those years, he was a pastor. When it was exposed and everything collapsed, it could have been the end of his story. It turned out to be the beginning.

In this conversation, Nate shares what it took to rebuild and how that journey led him and a dozen guys to start the Samson Society, a community built on radical transparency, vulnerability, and confidentiality. What started as one small group has now grown to more than 600 local chapters, daily virtual meetings in 8 languages, and has helped over 25,000 men heal! 

You might benefit from the Samson Society or the newer women's version called the Sarah Society. We all know family members and friends who could. And Nate can teach all of us how to be real and live authentically. 

Check out Samson Society here: https://www.samsonsociety.com/about 

Join Army of Normal Folks and receive our Soul Service newsletter: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most commencement speeches are forgotten within days. But when country music star Eric Church compared life to a guitar with six strings that must stay in tune—faith, family, relationships, ambition, community, and identity—the message struck a chord with millions. In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex unpack the viral speech and explore what it means to keep your own life in tune when the world keeps pulling you out of it. 

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.