Its My Time Podcast

At 29, Will Hill was in marathon shape, a 12-year Air Force combat controller with the Secret Service and U.S. Marshals both recruiting him. Then routine blood work led to a diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis, an incurable liver disease. One doctor told him to go home and make a life, because he'd be lucky to be alive at 40.

He's 56 now, and he calls himself a man at peace.

Will and Asher cover a lot of ground in this one: growing up the youngest of five in the mountains of western Virginia, praying through a job he hated, the morning gratitude habit he shares with his wife Nicole, what he learned watching his stoic father finally break, and why letting people help you is a gift to them. Then they get on the mat: why the best men aren't nice but kind, why Will taps more as a black belt than he did as a brown belt, and how the training mentality carries into leadership.

Takeaways:

• Happiness comes and goes. Peace is something you choose.

• Two things: share two things you're grateful for every day, ideally with someone.

• Letting people help you is a gift to them.

• Get comfortable saying "I don't know," "I was wrong," and "I'm sorry."

• You're a volunteer at your job, so your attitude is yours.

• When someone gets nasty, try silence, or ask "Are you okay?"

Mentioned: Jefferson Fisher, Henry Akins, Matt Jones, Craig Jones, Tiger Academy, Victory Martial Arts.

Related: Ep. 282 with Todd Schoenbaum, Ep. 284 with Eric Odem.

This is the third episode in Asher's series of sit-down interviews with jiu-jitsu teammates and friends from the gym. This one features Eric Odem, who grew up in Decatur, Atlanta in the 1980s and 90s (a teenager during the Olympics), skipped a lot of school, and barely graduated through Phoenix High School in Lawrenceville, an alternative program with a strict attendance policy built for kids struggling to finish. That rocky start led him into the U.S. Navy's nuclear program in Charleston, where he found real aptitude for technical work.

Over a 12-year Navy career, Eric served on fast attack submarines in the Middle East, spent time with Special Forces including a boat team stint in the Philippines, and lived four years on an aircraft carrier in Japan, which he compares to living at a truck stop with 6,000 people. While stationed in Japan, he and his family lived through the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, an experience that reshaped how he thinks about resilience and how people hold together in disaster.

Eric met his wife during his Navy years, and this year marks their 25th anniversary. After leaving the Navy, they settled briefly in Dothan, Alabama, before moving to Augusta, GA in 2014, where Eric works at Plant Vogtle — the longest either of them has lived anywhere. In his mid-30s he picked up jiu-jitsu after getting thoroughly dominated by a more experienced training partner, and it turned into a discipline that's shaped his approach to trust, vulnerability, and staying physically capable as he ages. He now teaches, which pushed him to understand the why behind techniques rather than just the movements, and he closes the conversation talking about the value of narrow, focused learning over trying to absorb everything at once.

• A rough start, redirected. Skipping school, an alternative high school for delinquent teens, barely graduating, then finding real purpose and technical aptitude the moment he hit the Navy's nuclear program.
• Submarine life as total self-reliance. No margin for error, junior mistakes can be fatal, communication is heavily screened, and the crew becomes the whole world for months at a time.
• Trust and vulnerability on the mats. His sharpest jiu-jitsu insight: letting a training partner hold you in a position where they could genuinely hurt you, and trusting they won't, builds a bond nothing else in life quite matches.
• Tohoku, 2011. Living through the earthquake with his family in Japan; what it taught him about Japanese resilience and how people hold together when everything falls apart.
• Aircraft carrier as a floating city. Four years living on a carrier in Japan, described as like living at a truck stop with 6,000 people.
• Jiu-jitsu at 35. Started after getting dominated by a more experienced partner; became a vehicle for discipline, trust, vulnerability, and staying capable as he ages.
• Teaching forces understanding. Coaching others pushed him past just knowing the moves into understanding the why behind the technique.
• Narrow, focused learning. His closing point: progress comes from going deep on one thing at a time, not trying to absorb everything at once.
• Power and resilience, up close. He ties his work in the nuclear industry to a hard-won appreciation for electricity — sharpened by going 12-14 days without power at home in Augusta after Hurricane Helene.

Key Themes

Ben Price — artist, athlete, father of Major, and founder of resale business Southern Stockyard — sits down to talk about walking away from a stable nuclear radiography career at Savannah River Site to chase something less certain. Ben opens up about growing up in Augusta, Georgia, the childhood dreams (firefighter, architect, baseball) he never chased, and how faith eventually pointed him toward martial arts. He and Asher get into what it actually feels like to start jiu-jitsu as a grown man — getting repeatedly beaten by people half your age, training beside your own 12-year-old son, and choosing to stay anyway. Ben also breaks down how he's rebuilding vintage furniture and a 100,000-piece stamp collection into a growing resale business, with a coffee-shop showroom as the long-term dream.

In this episode:

• Why Ben left a stable nuclear industry job to bet on himself
• Training jiu-jitsu alongside his 12-year-old son at Augusta Jiu-Jitsu Academy
• Kobe Bryant's "mental contract" and what it means to commit for life, not a season
• Turning a $12 dresser into a $512 piece — the Southern Stockyard restoration process
• Why community, not just skill, is what keeps people on the mat

In Episode 282, Asher sits down with Todd Schoenbaum — a dentist and professor at Augusta University's dental school — for a conversation that moves from career reinvention to dental ethics to why a room full of people who can beat you up might be exactly what you need.

Todd talks about growing up in the LA suburbs, years of competitive cycling in Long Beach and Venice Beach, and the winding road from "I thought I'd be an engineer, then an artist, then a philosopher" to dentistry and eventually teaching — which he now calls the best part of his week. He gets candid about over-treatment in dentistry, why it's a systemic issue rather than a "corporate vs. solo practice" one, and why a second (or third) opinion never hurts.

Then the conversation turns to Augusta Jiu-Jitsu Academy, where Todd and Asher first met. Todd shares how a stalled cycling career and a cold Augusta winter led him to the mat instead of the boxing gym, and why being a total beginner again — after years of expertise in his actual profession — has become one of the best parts of his life.

Jose R. Hernandez, PE, is a structural engineer and founder of PRYCO Structural in Augusta, GA. Jose walks through his path from Puerto Rico — where a childhood conversation redirected him from computer engineering into civil, then structural, engineering — to major U.S. projects including the LaGuardia Airport terminal renovation and the FBI's new Atlanta headquarters.

We also cover starting his own firm during the pandemic, why Puerto Rico's building codes account for both hurricanes and earthquakes, and what it took to assess 80+ homes across Augusta after Hurricane Helene — including weeks spent sleeping in his own office while his family was without power.

A conversation about career pivots, technical craft, and building something that holds up.

Troy Wilkins didn't set out to become a gardener. It took trips to the Philippines, Belgium, and Singapore — and seeing how differently those countries treat food quality and safety — for him to come home and start growing his own vegetables.

In this episode, Troy opens up about how travel reshaped his identity, why he left elementary education for the life insurance industry after watching a colleague's financial crisis unfold, and how he and his wife built an automated marketing system that segments customers into three tiers: problem-aware, education-ready, and ready-to-buy. He also shares the mission behind his Finance Academy, a 6-week financial literacy program for kids ages 7–18, and busts the biggest myth about life insurance: that it's only about death benefits.

In this episode:

• How international travel changed Troy's relationship with food and health
• The real reason most people fail at healthy eating (it's not the decision, it's the consistency)
• Gardening as a metaphor for patient business growth
• The three-tier customer segmentation strategy behind Troy's automated marketing system
• Why Troy left teaching for insurance — and the seminar that changed his path
• Inside the Finance Academy: teaching kids 7–18 real financial literacy
• The biggest misconceptions about life insurance
• A shared recommendation: Netflix's The Social Dilemma

In Episode 278 of It’s My Time Podcast, I sit down with Reed Dent — campus minister, writer, and co-host of the BEMA Podcast — for a conversation that challenges how we approach faith, scripture, and what it means to be human.

Reed shares his journey from a Pentecostal upbringing to a more thoughtful, literary, and experience-driven approach to the Bible. Drawing from his background as an English major, he explores how scripture isn’t just about answers—but about meaning, tension, and personal transformation.

We talk about:

• Why faith isn’t a “right vs wrong” equation
• The importance of asking better questions instead of chasing quick answers
• How personal experience shapes how we read and understand the Bible
• The tension between responsibility and influence in human behavior
• Why stories, not formulas, often lead to deeper truth

This conversation is an invitation to slow down, stay curious, and engage faith in a way that’s both intellectually honest and personally meaningful.

In Episode 280, Asher reconnects with Theophilus after a long break for an honest conversation about life, responsibility, and the psychology behind the choices people make. From the realities of homeownership to military service, MLMs, hustle culture, and social media, they explore how desperation, expectations, and the desire to belong can influence our decisions. The discussion emphasizes thinking beyond immediate gratification, recognizing manipulation, and living with intention in a world that often rewards impulsive behavior.

This episode is for anyone navigating major life decisions, questioning popular narratives, or looking to develop a healthier framework for making choices with confidence and clarity.

Daily Motivation Read from Dennis Kimbro's book: "Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice, Daily Motivations for African-American Success"

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