Man Overseas Podcast

I introduce listeners to my good buddies because they’re studs. My guest on the podcast today is Michael D’Albor. In this discussion, I learned things about my longtime friend that I didn’t know. Consequently, my respect for him has only grown.

A deeply personal chat, Michael talks about the moment he found out his wife was a lesbian after 13 years together (7 years married). He also shares what it was like going through an unexpected and tough divorce.

We discuss the split-second of lifelessness that forever changed Michael’s life. He tells me how later that day, doctors told him there was a 98% chance his daughter wouldn’t develop the mental capacity of a little girl beyond 3 years old. He’s now a single father of a special needs child and shares a day-in-the-life.

Michael & I became fast friends as baseball teammates at Nicholls State University. When his playing career was over, he earned an MBA and went into commercial banking. We talk about his career, finances, love and money. Also, what he’s learned traveling to places most Americans will never get to see.

Other topics we cover:

• Perception of time when traveling

• Comparing Asheville, NC & Salzburg, Austria

• Bradley’s attempt to run track in college

• Whether Michael can beat Bradley D in a race

• His unexpected divorce

• Finding out what his wife was doing behind his back

• Sexual curiosity: men vs. women

• Doing everything he could to save his marriage

• Personal growth through divorce

Michael’s Education & Career:

• How Michael paid for college

• The scholarship Michael received

• His love/hate relationship with sales & finance

• What he would tell a younger brother who was considering an MBA

• 6 years in consumer lending

• His income in 2008-2009

• A talk he gave recently to his alma mater

• Importance of budgeting & managing credit

• NFL players’ financial stress

• Checking email while on a vacation

• Career goals

His Daughter Jolie:

• Michael’s profound love for his daughter (his Lil’ Doo-Bop)

• Specifics of Jolie’s condition

• Raising a special needs child

• Doctors warned of the severity of mental challenges

• Setting up a will & trust for her

• His ex-wife’s new bride joining “Team Jolie”

Mental Toughness:

• How divorce and raising a special needs child aided his mental toughness

• Whether Michael wants more kids

• What most drives you now?

• Are you excited to get out of bed every morning?

• His favorite quote is from 2006 Rocky Balboa movie

Finances:

• How he invests his money

• Are you a budgeter?

• Living on less than what he earns

• Investing in travel – expanded his horizons

Fun Questions:

• If someone dropped a million dollars in your lap, what would you do with it?

• Do you have a favorite book?

• Do you have a favorite quote?

• If you could go to the moon tomorrow and it would only cost $20K, but you had to be gone for six months, would you go?

• Question for Brad: What are the top three notes in your phone?

• Is there a travel experience that you learned the most from?

• What are you most grateful for?

My guests on the podcast this week are Alex Nerney and Noah Riggs. Both are inspiring Internet entrepreneurs I met at FinCon this past week.

There’ll always be a place on this podcast for sharp young guys full of energy & ambition. When I met these two men at the Hilton Washington DC, I knew they’d bring a lot of value to a short discussion.

We pack a lot into our half-hour chat, including:

• The best part of FinCon

• Alex & Noah’s working relationship

• Our nation buried in student-loan debt

• ROI of Internet courses

• Being featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine & Entrepreneur

• Alex’s 6-figure blog

• ROI of college tuition

• Noah’s plans to finish school

• Work to learn, you will earn later

• Becoming an attractive person

• How to find good mentors

• Being the hardest worker in the room

• How to ask for referral

• How to view investment returns

• The decision to start a blog

• Noah took Alex’s Pro Blogger course

• Alex shares how he met his business partner (hint: Tinder)

• Their favorite personal development book

• Happiness in America vs. other places

• Measuring success in the East vs. West

• What they would do with a new $1,000,000

• How we got our investing start

• Investing in Pokemon & Basketball cards

• Holding stocks for the long-term

• Stocks that Noah & I own in common

• McDonald’s & Microsoft as long-term holds

• Investing in the S&P 500

• Traveling to Bali (Indonesia)

My guest on the podcast is Nicholas Hutchison of BookThinkers, a fast-growing Instagram platform for book lovers. Nick is from Boston, Massachusetts, and works full-time as a sales professional.

We discovered on the podcast we have a lot in common. In addition to books, Nick and I share a passion for self-development & travel. We discuss the value of reading, traveling, and creating a path to financial freedom when you're young.

Nick's end-game is what he calls "total freedom." In this episode, he details how he plans to achieve total freedom.

A few books we discuss at length are The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss & Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Other topics we discuss:

From Boston

• Nick lives in North Easton, Massachusetts (20 miles south of Boston)

• Spent 5 years in New Hampshire

• Living close to Fenway Park

• Benefits of living in small community + close to big city

Book Thinkers

• How BookThinkers started

• Has 30K followers on IG and growing

• Time-management

• Setting priorities

• Using a journal

Self-Development

• Software sales career

• Having flexibility in your job

• 80-20 rule (The Pareto principle)

• Self-assessment / activity tracker

• Multi-family real estate investing

• Learning to say "no"

• Setting life goals

Monetizing Instagram:

• Automating & scaling a business

• BookThinkers mobile app

• Creating a network

• Partnering with authors

• Keeping strict accounts

Public Speaking:

• Learning to speak confidently

• Overcoming anxiety

• Speaking tricks & tips

• Taking constructive criticism

Vagabonding:

• The value of traveling

• His first solo travel (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

• Travel as a spiritual experience

• The personal sacrifice involved in travel

• Experiencing different cultures of the past

• Traveling to places not possible 30 years ago

Fun Questions:

• Why does it feel so wrong to only read half a book?

• Do you think it's better to read (over the next two years) 100 books twice, or 200 books?

• Do you think books should be remade for modern audiences?

• Do you think new writers should write covers the way new musicians do covers?

• If someone dropped $1 million in your lap what would you do with it?

• If you were given an opportunity to shadow Xander Bogaerts for three days, would you pay $5,000 to do it?

• Would you pay $25,000 to shadow Tom Brady for three days?

• Which is the one book you wish everyone would read?

Questions for Brad:

• Questions for Brad: What is the number one book that you would recommend for someone just starting out in the self-development space?

• Question for Brad: What book has had the biggest impact on your life?

My guest on the podcast is my good friend of 25 years from Nuremburg, Germany. Jürgen works as a commercial manager at a major German company. He also invests in real estate, managing all 9 properties himself.

Jurgen shares insight on German immigration, politics, and perceptions of Donald Trump. We also talk about how we met, if America was what he expected it to be, and the interplay between men & women.

Topics we cover:

• Festivals & Traditions in Nuremburg

• My first Euro soccer game

• What he learned about life traveling abroad

• Our grandfathers' roles in World War II

• German sentiment when Trump was elected

• Investing in real estate as a retirement plan

How We Met:

• Jürgen was turning 18 when he lived in US

• Being a high school exchange student

• Jurgen's first pool party in America

• Celebrating 25 years of friendship

• His favorite high school memories

• Why he chose to live one year in Houston

His Year Living in America:

• How proud he was to be in America

• How US high school was different from Germany

• How people treated him in the US

• What he remembers about Texan girls

• Listening to AC/DC, Guns-n-Roses, Metallica

• Developing confidence in speaking

• Determining whether a girl is being flirtatious or nice

Jürgen in Paris (and other countries):

• His time in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok

• Doing his master's thesis in Spain

• Developing an open mind through travel

• Choosing places far from your own culture

• Why Jurgen doesn't like dining out

• Appreciating little things

World War II:

• What he learned in his high school history classes

• Nuremburg during the war years

• Our grandparents' WWII stories

• Hearing screams from the back of trains

• Deciding between Army/Navy

• Visiting Zeppelin Field, Third Reich Museum, Palace of Justice

Discussion on Politics:

• Opinions on German immigration

• Increasing population in Nuremberg

• Angela Merkel as Chancellor 14 years

• Building border walls

Real Estate & Stock Market Investing:

• Investing in what you know

• Home-country bias in investing

• Types of loans he uses for investment

• Average price paid for his apartments

• Raising rents in Germany

• 70% of Germans not invested in markets

Relationships:

• Jurgen's been in a relationship for 6 years

• Differences in dating in US vs. Germany

• Many women think men are imperfect women

• Feminism / #MeToo

• Favorite books on intersexual dynamics

• Attracting women through honesty

Matthew Ory is a defense attorney, commercial real-estate developer, and quasi-venture capitalist. He occupies a special place, not only in my life, but in the Man Overseas sphere. I've written about Matt on the blog and referenced him on a big podcast.

Matt was my roommate for four years—three years at Nicholls State University and one year during his first year of law school in Houston. Living with Matt helped me to realize the importance of surrounding yourself with people who not only encourage and inspire you, but also plan to do big things with their life.

On this podcast, you'll hear someone who has an appetite for life & success that is infectious. Matt's burning desire to succeed fuels high stress-levels, which he uses to his advantage.

His sense of urgency, he says, stems from his dad. Dr. Dirk Ory, even at 81 years old, takes 10,000-15,000 steps every day, never eats fast food and exercises every morning.

We discuss:

• Riding in a Mardi Gras parade

• Discipline learned playing college basebal

• No excuses.

• Why he decided to become a real estate investor

• Habits & hard work

• Living with a sense of urgency

• Growth vs. Enough

• Focus under duress

• Accountability

Relationships:

• Caring for yourself to care for others

• How to think about friends (as you get older)

• Comparing work ethic vs. intelligence

• A true friend is a low-maintenance friend

Mike Ory (Matt's brother):

• Mike always saw the good in people

• Had uncanny mental tenacity—read lots of SEAL books

• Selfless to the end—diverted funds to those he considered less fortunate

• So many people attended Mike's funeral that the start was delayed

Lessons from Pain:

• What Matt went through at the end of Mike's life

• Being a trans following trauma

• How to approach a friend who has just lost someone close to them

• He remembers Mike every day, but still can't talk about him

• Mike's spirit is with him at all times—it drives him

• Crushing blow—sky is now the limit

• Holding himself accountable to Mike

Being a Criminal Defense Attorney:

• The stress of being a criminal defense attorney

• Operating on others' demise

• Things he wish he'd known in undergrad

• Advice to those considering law

• Whether movies are accurate portrayals of law

• Biggest misconception of defense attorneys

• The business side of being an attorney

• What he looks for when hiring

• The gratitude he feels for how hard his staff works

When I started the podcast back in March, I hoped to land guests like Josh Loeske. He was someone I really looked up to as a kid, giving me an example of someone I wanted to be like.

Josh was not only the starting quarterback at the local 5A high school, but had a way about him that I admired. He was low ego, high “serve those around him”—none of his achievements as an adult are surprising.

He is now CEO/Owner of Quality Sitework Material (QSM). He attributes much of his success in life and business to Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global peer-to-peer network of more than 12,000 influential business owners with 163 chapters in 52 countries.

In 2016, he received EO New Orleans Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Additionally, Josh is a loving husband, caring father, and the sort of friend everyone should have.

We discuss similarities between sports and business, and how the leadership qualities he learned playing sports help him in his career.

Our discussion:

• Josh attended University of Arkansas-Monticello

• Played college football and earned a Degree in Biology

• I visited UAM with Josh’s family when he was a high school senior and I was 11

• Josh’s younger brother, Jacob (“Snake”), and I, were good friends

Josh’s values:

• Achieve beyond imagination – celebrate successes, but never settle for good enough

• Devour knowledge – the more he learns, the more he realizes he doesn’t know

• He strives to be completely dependable

• He’s open to new ideas and continues the search for understanding

Josh’s interests:

• Biohacking for “health span”

• Books – we discuss several

• Business (especially entrepreneurship)

• Human History – we discuss Sapiens by Yuval Harari, one of our favorite books

Entrepreneur Organization (EO):

• How much the EO forum has helped him

• Learning from others’ mistakes

• Good personal life helps him to become a good business person

Benefits of Good Habits:

• His meditation habit

• Books on his book shelf

• Getting sufficient sleep

• Efficient workouts in the morning

• Reducing sugar

• His experience with a Keto diet

Questions Asked:

• Do you think you benefited more from the education side of college or the experience of playing college sports?

• How did the transition happen from studying Biology to becoming a CEO?

• When someone asks what you do, do you say CEO or Entrepreneur?

• How do you think about being of service to other people in your career?

• When was the last time you thought you weren’t good enough?

• How often do you think about death?

• What is your favorite 80s band?

• What is your favorite biography?

• What are you most grateful for?

I was more excited about this week’s guest than any other. His name is Mr. Tom Abadie. He is the man who first taught me the values of discipline, preparation, and teamwork. His way of coaching had a profound impact on me when I needed it most.

He started coaching our All-Star basketball team when I was 10 years old. As 11-year olds, he coached our team to a State Championship in Louisiana. When I was 12 years old, he coached us to a World Championship in 1993.

In the locker room after the Championship Game, Assistant Coach David Pope said to our team, “This may not mean much to you now, but someday you guys are really going to appreciate this [Championship].” God was he right.

Born in New Orleans, La., on December 15, 1948, “Coach Tom,” as I’ve always called him, grew up one of seven children. He attended Redemptorist High School, where he played basketball and baseball in the competitive New Orleans Catholic League.

As a senior, he signed to play centerfield at Nicholls State University (pictured)—I would sign to do the same 30 years later. His college coach was Raymond E. Didier, who he said was a disciplinarian but fair man. When I played ball at NSU, we played at Ray E. Didier Field, which is now affectionately known as “The Did.”

Tom is now retired. He invested diligently in his employer’s 401K plan while working in the oilfield for 43 years, including the last 15 years as a salesman for a New Orleans company. He and wife, Judy, still live in Thibodaux, LA. They enjoy traveling and spending time with their 6 grandchildren.

My guest is Dom Brightmon, a toastmaster and bestselling author from Baltimore, Maryland. Dom works as a full-time librarian and likes to spend most of his time reading a book or writing a book.

He talks about becoming a better speaker and shares tips on how to think better. Dom also shares the men who've most influenced him and many book recommendations.

Also included is an interesting story about the Levi Strauss empire. The man who invented denim created billions in generational wealth.

Julia Va is a young woman from Vlodivostok, Russia, whose passion for travel has taken her around the world.

Born in 1991, Julia's dad strongly encouraged her to learn English. She decided to study Tourism after traveling to Thailand with her family as a teenager.

She also gives interesting insight into what it was like growing up in Russia in the 90s. Also, I ask her opinon of Vladimir Putin.

James Lowery from ReThinktheRatRace.com shares exactly how he and wife Emily achieved their financial independence number is just three years.

I'm confident after hearing James's inspirational story, you'll want to accelerate your own path toward early retirement. He shares the math behind FIRE (financial independence retire early). Hint: You must accumulate 25x your annual spending or be able to live on 4% of your net worth per year.

But those number won't tell you how to get there in three years. For that, you'll need to tune in!