The Go Earn Your SALT Podcast Episode Transcript- Jesse Aldous: Entrep

Jesse Aldous: [00:00:00] there was a moment in my life when I was in a, I was in a trailer.

I was out in um, a field and I was my grand, my dad kind of dropped me off there and he'd been, he went on a bender and there's these three trailers. The one trailer was empty because the guy went to prison, so his other two brothers were like, no one's living there for a while. So my dad kind of, I guess, rented it.

I probably didn't pay anything for, but that's where he stuck me at. And so I'm in this trailer and there's seven frozen burritos. There's no bed sleeping on a couch. Got two changes of clothes and the tub's half full of drowned mice. So you can't use the bathtub because it's, you know, can't even use a shower.

It has a sink in the kitchen I can use. And, and as I was falling asleep every night, like I'd have a blanket, I'd be in my clothes and I'd see mice running around. I'd think, God, that was the hardest part to fall asleep. I had to really push through. 'cause I knew once I fell asleep, mice are gonna be running around on me.

And I did not like mice, but there's not really an option 'cause it's cold outside. So it's like sleep in here with the mice or sleep outside in the snow. And I got seven frozen burritos. And so when I got to [00:01:00] four. I got to three, I started getting nervous and it's like, it's a long walk from here and I don't even know where I'm gonna walk to.

'cause it's like I'm 20 miles to town. So I was like, I gotta start becoming resourceful. I went talk to some neighbors. I end up eventually figuring a way to get back to a, uh, to some relatives. But like that, you know, that, that, that's a moment when it's like, you know, seven frozen burritos away from being really hungry.

Riley: Going. I'm excited to talk to you, dude. I don't get to sit with you enough anyways, but we, uh, yeah. [00:02:00] Did you freeze up?

Jesse Aldous: Nope, I'm here. Can you hear me okay?

Riley: here. Okay. sometimes the, the video will look like it's freezing and it, but it will record just fine. So, um,

Jesse Aldous: Okay, perfect.

Riley: well, cool, dude, let's, uh, let's fire this thing off. Is there anything you just don't want to talk about?

Like, just

Jesse Aldous: Yep.

Riley: me to steer

Jesse Aldous: I'm an open book.

Riley: okay. Okay. Gosh, I hope this records, man. 'cause it is pretty catchy in the video. You'll, you're

Jesse Aldous: Is it?

Riley: yeah, but it sounds like the audio's keeping up, so,

Jesse Aldous: You know, if, if you want me to, um, yeah, this is my better camera. Yeah, this is probably my better camera. Okay.

Riley: just stick with it. Sometimes it'll act

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: once we first get going and then it'll chill out once it gets into rhythm, so, okay. Open book. That's, I can't ask you. Mostly I'll be respectful.

Jesse Aldous: No, no, I'm good. I love to talk, so

Riley: uh, I wanting to play like, you know, any gotchas or anything. I just wanna talk to you about your [00:03:00] life growing up and all the components of it.

And, and dude,

Jesse Aldous: Absolutely.

Riley: just elaborate on stuff, okay?

Jesse Aldous: Absolutely. I appreciate the time. This is exciting.

Riley: All right, man. You ready? All right. Welcome to the show today. I've got my good friend Jesse Aldis here, and I'm, uh, super excited to have Jesse on. We've been friends for a long time. Um, we, we get together periodically and we talk business and challenge each other and, and, uh, it's just a, it's a cool relationship that I know probably both of us wish we could do it more, but we, uh, we get together as much as we can.

And, and the reason I asked Jesse on the show today is because Jesse is, uh, well, he's a, he's a great business mind, and he comes from a background of a fairly rough growing up, and he's overcome a lot of, a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. Can we say, should we say stuff? Say it like that.

Jesse Aldous: Yep.

Riley: uh, yeah. Jesse's just a, he's a, he's a good man.

He is a godly man, and he's, he's, uh, a great business mind. And so, Jesse, appreciate you coming on, man. Welcome to the show.[00:04:00]

Jesse Aldous: Absolutely. And I don't know if you remember, but when I was still working in sales and had the in inspiration, the want to be a business owner, you were one of the individuals I reached out to and we had breakfast and you were the first one to kind of walk me through like, okay, Jesse, here's the profit and loss, here's the cogs, here's this, here's, and you helped me understand KPIs.

And you probably don't even remember that because it's been, it's like 20, I don't know how it's been a long time ago, but you walked me through just understanding the basics of business. 'cause I, you know, I understood customer, customer interactions and how to operate the business, like as far as how to, how to serve the customer base well, but I, I wasn't on the business side yet.

And so reaching out to you and, and, and just, just a couple other individuals that I was looking for that resource. And so you were super helpful then and encouraging and uh, and again, very, very thankful to have as a friend. So.

Riley: Appreciate that, man. That makes me feel good, warm and fuzzy inside, even. Jesse, talk about yourself, man. Tell us who you are, where you grew up, what life

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: a kid.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. So, [00:05:00] um, you know, grew up, um, yeah, kinda interesting background. I mean, I, I mean, I, I grew up without a lot of, um, mentors, you know, um, both my parents were at, you know, incarcerated at different points and kind got left on my own when I was about 13. And, uh, you know, one of the most powerful things that happened to me is I, I hit a fork in up the road where I realized nobody was gonna stop me from ruin my life.

Like no one was gonna stop me from making really bad decisions and causing my life to not be healthy and to be full of pain and, and discomfort. And so when I, I realized that, and again, I was pretty young when I realized that, that it was super powerful because it gave me a hundred percent ownership. I knew that like, if I didn't step up to my life and run my life, no one was going to keep me outta the gutter.

And it's, it's interesting now as I meet more people that I find that sometimes I'll be a 40-year-old or 60-year-old who has still hasn't made the realization that they're, you know, the outcome of the circumstances of their lives. They're, they're ultimately [00:06:00] control in control of, you know. What happens in their life.

Now, obviously, we're lots of things we're not in control of, right? So things we can't control, you just can't worry about. But if your circle of influence, you know, once you take a hundred percent ownership, that changes your decision making and you become, you know, it's kind of exhilarating me. You're like, okay, I'm in control.

I'm gonna hustle. And so, um, that was really impactful in my life. Um, the moment I realized, I still can remember I was in Po Hotel, Idaho. I was at Fitness Incorporated with Wiley Peterson, and he had asked me to come in to, uh, you know, do work out with him at the gym. And I went to, um, write my name down as a guest.

And as I started the pen to paper, I, I forgot how to write my name. I know that sounds crazy, right? Like, I mean, I was about 15, but I'd been outta school since I was like sixth grade. I dropped outta school. I've been bouncing back. I've been in a couple of schools, but I really was outta school. And, uh, I was, didn't know it then, but I was severely dyslexic.

And so, uh, you know, I really. [00:07:00] At that moment, I realized I am going to be an absolute waste of skin. And that was a, that was a tough realization. So I went, called up school counselor and got back into school. Uh, became the first person in my family to graduate from high school. And that's, I mean, the first person, like my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister, my grandpa, my grandma, my aunts, uncles, all my first cousins.

Nobody I knew had graduated from high school. So graduated from high school was a big accomplishment for me.

Riley: so you enrolled yourself.

Jesse Aldous: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And fact, I called the, Steve Eron was the counselor. I called him up and told him what was happening and he kind of was like, what? And so he come to my office and I explained it all to him and he is like, you just wanna go to school? And he's like, but you haven't been going to school. And I was like, yeah, but I wanna go to school.

And he's like, well, okay, just come show up. And, and I showed up and honestly, I was not, I mean, I really, I was really, 'cause I was really severely dyslexic. I could, I could barely read, but. Ninth grade math, I dove into ninth [00:08:00] grade. I got an A in math, so I was always good with numbers, which has really served me well in my business career.

I was good at math, but I had a lot of great people around me, youth pastors, Wiley Wiley, who's, you know, super smart. He's got a, he got a 3.9 GPA in his, in college. He coached me through a lot, so he was helping me. So I ended up getting decent grades. I actually graduated from high school, uh, semester early.

Um, and then, you know, did all my professional stuff, you know, with the, you know, the rodeo stuff. So I was a rodeo cowboy, so I was a state champion in there. So I excelled in athletics in high school and college. Went to, uh, a college scholarship for rodeo. Made it onto the stuff, doing rodeo stuff and in my early twenties and

Riley: that. That's on my list, but I, I

Jesse Aldous: Oh, okay.

Riley: little

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: where were your parents this whole time?

Jesse Aldous: So, um, you know, I'd left Alaska where they, my, so my brother, brother, my mom was still in Alaska. My dad had, I kind of bounced around with him for a little while and he was, um, severe alcoholic, became unstable, like, didn't have a place to live. [00:09:00] So, you know, he eventually took off and just kinda left me.

So then I, I did a little couch surfing between some relatives for a while, and then I ended up spending a lot of time, you know, I mean, I was really kind of half raised by my youth pastor. And then another, the person who I got me at church, you know, Wiley Peterson's mom, she was the one that grounded me, made me go to church.

So that was good for me. So, I mean, what's so cool is I, because I didn't have a family, it's also when I looked back at my, my adolescence. I had a huge family because I had all these people, like when I got married, I had four moms that had the, you know, flowers on their wrist at my wedding. And because they all had these different moms, my rodeo mom, my church mom, my, you know, when I got broke my leg, you know, Bob Williams took me in and nursed me.

And I lived at her house for a couple months when I thought, oh my, you know, I was getting injured from rodeoing. And so it's just a lot of people invested in my life. And so when I look back at that and I think, well, why did that happen? And I mean, one, I'm just grateful that people picked up on it. But [00:10:00] there's also a place where you wouldn't have known if you met me because I had a smile on my face.

I was hustling life. I was, and most people would meet me and go, man, what is this kid? This kid doesn't have a family. He seems like a really Well, you know, and so opportunities came my way because of the way I positioned my life in the world, the way I, the way I faced the world. I didn't face my world as a victim and as, as what I didn't have.

And, but like when you met me, I mean, I was eye contact, shake your hand, hustling, working, and opportunities just kept falling in my lap because, uh, the how way I positioned myself in the world. So just, you know, opportunity, you know, so I look back at that and you think of what could have happened and all the opportunities that happened in my life, like even now, today, like I think, man, I have so many opportunities that just fall in my lap, but a lot of it has to do with how I, you know.

You know, I kind of a yes person. Like, hey, I'll, I'll say yes to whatever I'm, I'm, I'm also, yes, to help you. Like if someone calls me and says, Hey, I need this help, I'll do that. You know, so I'm more open to whatever comes, you know, and, and I think that making investment in people, this [00:11:00] paid off really well.

So even though I, all that happened, my youth, I also had a pretty awesome growing up. But, but it's funny too, 'cause I can also go with this other, and I could tell you some things that would be, you know, like, man, you, that was terrible. Are you in counseling? Like, there's a lot of, you know, things that happened that were like, really to horrible.

But because my focus, 'cause e either of the world's an a terrible mess, or it's a, it's an amazing miracle and I've always had the position of, it's an amazing miracle. So every day I look at like, what's, even right now I could list off some tough circumstances and challenges I'm working through in some of my businesses.

And those could be like, man, this is the worst thing ever. Or it's like, wow, what a cool opportunity. I'm gonna grow from this. You know? So,

Riley: Man

Jesse Aldous: that, yeah.

Riley: sake, talk a little bit about that man. What, because you're, you are an optimistic dude, so you're kind of walking through this, you know, these childhood times as, uh, you know, kinda like, ah, it wasn't a thing, you know, this was normal and it was cool and I, and it, but, but what did it really look like?

Paint that picture.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, so I mean from what it really looked like [00:12:00] was, you know, wearing a pair of shoes that don't have, have holes in 'em, ied up duct tape on 'em and figuring out how am I gonna go make 50 bucks so I can buy a pair of jeans and a pair of pants. And then, well, then again, I didn't have anything. So it's like, I'm like, Hey, so I'm talking to, I'm at my friend's house wearing my shoes with the holes, and I'm like, and they mentioned something.

I'm like, well, hey, do you need your porch painted? Yeah, we need to get that paint. I'll paint your Porsche for 40 bucks. I'm thinking I got a pair of shoes if I paint this PORs. And so I, a friend of mine, he's gonna run a, a, an auger and he's like, I gotta, I gotta ditch this thing from, it's like 30 feet.

And he's like, it's gonna cost me 500 bucks to do that. And I was like, I'll dig it. He's like, no man, you don't wanna do that. It's gonna be three foot deep. And it's like, you know, it's all the way to my shop. I'm like, I got this. Well man, half three foot deep is a lot deeper than you think. So like, but I dug that trench and I made that 500 bucks.

And 500 bucks was a lot to a 16-year-old kid who doesn't have anything. So I bought myself some clothes and I bought myself some stuff. You know, I wanted to be a rodeo cowboy. So, you know, how do [00:13:00] I, I gotta buy chefs and gear and all this stuff that mostly, you know, my parents would buy. Well, I found a car, local collar lot and I was talking, how do I even know these people?

I don't know, but I just, I'm a talker. So I made opportunities and he was going to. Pay a street sweeper to sweep the parking lot. He totally got me. He probably was a lot more, but he paid me like $200 to sweep the parking lot of a car lot. So I took a push for him and I was there for, I don't even know, like 10 days and 200 bucks is not that much for 10 days.

But I was using the, you know, and I, but I got me my money, you know, so I, I had a, you know, work ethic that I wasn't afraid to put my head down to figure out a solution. So I was very solution conscious. Um, it caused though, like, um, you know, it's funny, I mean it, as a kid you don't really know what's, you know, what, how, how unhealthy several of those things are.

Some of the things that, what really saved me though was as I got into spending a really good time with healthy people, with healthy families, I got [00:14:00] to reset things that, you know, realizing. 'cause growing up around drugs and alcohol and that kinda stuff. You start to normalize things, right? And you think like, oh, that's okay.

You know, for abuse and, and violence to happen and 'cause it's just what you see, right? So I had to reset a lot of that and you know, luckily, even though I couldn't really read, when I started to learn to read, I started reading and I could tell I got a book case over here. I've got hundreds of books. I love books.

And the funny thing about my reading is it's really slow, but I can take it in. So you literally, I could go over my bookcase, grab a book off that, ask me what's in it and I can be like, alright, okay, this is what I learned from my chapter six, talks about this chapter. I mean, like, I can remember stuff really well.

So like, I started reading and that started impacting my life. But I guess, you know, I mean the, if I, if I was to try to give a vision of something, and this maybe to, I could probably tell 20 of these stories, but I'll just tell you one, like there was a moment in my life when I was in a, I was in a trailer.

I was out in um, a [00:15:00] field and I was my grand, my dad kind of dropped me off there and he'd been, he went on a bender and there's these three trailers. The one trailer was empty because the guy went to prison, so his other two brothers were like, no one's living there for a while. So my dad kind of, I guess, rented it.

And I did not like mice, but there's not really an option 'cause it's cold outside. So it's like sleep in here with the mice or sleep outside in the snow. And I got seven frozen burritos. And so when I got to four. I got to three, I started getting nervous and it's like, it's a long walk from here and I don't even know where I'm gonna walk to.

'cause it's like [00:16:00] I'm 20 miles to town. So I was like, I gotta start becoming resourceful. I went talk to some neighbors. I end up eventually figuring a way to get back to a, uh, to some relatives. But like that, you know, that, that, that's a moment when it's like, you know, seven frozen burritos away from being really hungry.

You know, and so those kinds of things that, you know, if you've never had food insecurity and not sure about how you're going to eat next, it will refine your gratefulness for food and for everything, right? You, you're not really worried about, hey, someone wasn't very nice to me. Like, well man, I'm, I ate lunch today, so I'm okay.

You know, so it builds some thick skin on perspective of what's, what's tough. So I think as I've handled other things in life, nothing really feels that tough because, you know, Tuft's having seven fruits and burritos and, and no car, you know?

Riley: Brother that's, it's, it's an interesting thing, right? I, I share a little bit of that. Not, not, not to the extreme you did, but I of normalizing things right when I was growing up, my stepmom that she [00:17:00] came into the picture when I was about six years old, and then my real mom passed away when I was eight. And the stepmom was like just a, a, a real heavy alcoholic. you know, there was a lot of more verbal abuse than anything, but some physical in there too. But I never, never crossed my mind that she was abusive. someone else when in my adulthood brought it up. yeah, we used to, we used to have you over at our house all the time purpose because we knew what you had back home.

And I'm sitting here like, no, I'm just having fun at their house. Dude, I didn't, it did not seem crazy to me. It was just what was what? It was just normal. And, you know, reflecting back, I'm like, crap. Okay. I can see why they came to that conclusion. But dang man, I, I, I'm hearing you talking about your experience and the way you, you became resourceful, man. It's funny because that's it, it's who you are today now, right? You'll still just figure crap out when it needs to be figured out and you don't have an answer. And so you, you [00:18:00] find people to ask, or you, you find the information in the book or you've still got that. And so the silver lining of Jesse's childhood and what it turned into in adulthood is, gosh, just beautiful, man.

Is beautiful. Um. What now? What kind of things does it, uh, I guess here's, here's a question I have first before I go

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: Do you have any relationship with your parents today?

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, a great story. So, um, I wish I did with my dad, unfortunately. Um, he, he passed away and, uh, before things really, you know, it would've been nice to see if that could have been reconciled more. I didn't have, um. Ill wheel, we were in a talking basis. But, but there was a, it was just tough because, you know, I, I worked pretty hard to get ahead in life and, you know, and I felt like I'd done some things before he passed away.

I felt like I'd done some things that were, [00:19:00] you know, worth being proud of. And, uh, you know, I graduated college. I built my first house on my own. I had built that house, you know, and I was living in that house when he passed away. And, and I'd had a, a, a successful job and a career, and it would've been, I would've liked to have had him at some point come alongside of me and say, man, good job.

You know, but to be honest, he just didn't care enough. So, you know, that, that's, that's kind of a bummer. And then he ended up passing away from an illness, and so, yeah. So never there. Um, my mom on the other hand, and I don't think she'd mind me sharing this, but like my mom was a, you know, she had a pretty tough go at life.

And so she, um, she wrote me a letter from prison. And, and it was very h heartfelt. And I, and she accepted Jesus when she was in prison. So I read the letter, I was like, wow, I think she knows Jesus. So I, I started going up to, to prison to visit her there and started rebuilding a relationship with her. And then she got out, she went back to college.

We actually were attending college at the same time. So when I say I was the only person ever graduated from college, when my mom got her GED and she went back to college and was proud of that. And, [00:20:00] um, she later on, uh, worked for me in one of my companies. And, um, and now she's, you know, semi-retired and she's a great grandma to my kids and has good relationships with my sister and I, and a great relationship with her.

So it's, it's really completely healed. I'm very thankful for her, um, her investment in my kids and my life. And, and she's a great mom. So, you know, that place of redemption that, uh, I, I had the opportunity to actually go to, to a little bit of prison ministry and, and speak at a couple prisons, and that was the message I gave to him.

Like, you know, I know him. I feel like there's no redemption, but all you have is what's forward. So if you wanna repair relationships with all your loved ones, which most people are in prison, have destroyed all the relationships with their loved ones, that it's available. And the vehicle for that was, you know, it's through Jesus, man.

So that was, you know, yeah. So.

Riley: Yeah, I want to talk about that more as we go through your story here. Um, brothers and sisters, how are they? You got, you mentioned your sister.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, so I have, uh, [00:21:00] two brothers, one sister. Um, my little sister actually works with me. She's worked with me in a couple companies. She's like the third company. She's a hustler. She's awesome. So I had a meet, I was a Zoom meeting with her 20 minutes ago and she's killing it. She's doing great. So, um, good relationship with my sister, my younger brother when he, he's a lot younger.

15 years younger. So when he graduated from high school, I took him, he came and lived with me, and I did, I felt like I got do some mentorship there. And to be honest, when he moved out from my house, I was feeling like, ah, I don't know. I don't know what's gonna happen. And he has done awesome. He's got his first baby now, he's got a really great job.

Bought his first home. He's doing great. And uh, so he's, he's my brother, but he is like my little, little brother. He's a lot younger than me, so he's, he's, uh, you know, he's not, yeah, so he's, he's only like six, six or seven years older than my oldest kid, so he is almost like more of a kid to me. But, but he's good.

He's doing great. Um, my older brother, um, you know, unfortunately committed suicide about two years ago. And so, um, you know, he had the same kind of childhood I did. And, uh, [00:22:00] never fully recovered from it, you know, I don't think he, he took a lot of wounds and as a kid that we went through what we did. And then he, when my dad passed away, hit him really hard and then he had some other tragedies in life and, um, you know, it made me.

Uh, you know, that has been a pretty tough, one of the tougher things I've probably walked through was, you know, his suicide. But,

Riley: Jesse, what does, what has, what has that done to you as a father? What are you doing different?

Jesse Aldous: but one of the things interesting, um, my first son is named Mason and something that God spoke to me back then was that you wanna rebuild a foundation and that you're gonna be the footers to this new family. And my named Mason is a bricklayer, so he is gonna build the walls to this new family. And funny enough, I'm not like a big genealogy person, but I started to do some genealogy and I found prison records back in the 16 hundreds of Baldes.

So it's been a rough [00:23:00] group for a long time. And, um, so, you know, trying to rebuild that foundation is. You know? Yeah. Just changing the trajectory of the family, you know, and my kids have a totally different world. I mean, they, what I just described to you is, I mean, they've always lived in a loving family with two parents that, you know, they've, you know, they've traveled to, traveled to Europe and to, you know, Dubai and Spain.

They've been all over the world and, you know, all kinds of cool places. And plus, you know, they've had a very privileged, you know, adolescence, which creates a whole nother obstacle, right? Because, you know, the adversity that I felt set a foundation in me. Now I have to work on how do I give my kids the opportunities in life, but not to where they can understand that they're still a hundred percent in control of their life.

And I mean, obviously I've told them that. But it's, it's a little different because they, you know, they know, they have a, a very supporting family to help 'em through it. And they know if they fall, there's someone there to help coach 'em through it. But I've tried [00:24:00] to tell 'em like, you know, Hey, I'll always be here for you.

I'm always gonna be here. I love you and unconditional. I will not solve your problems, but I will be here in whatever you're in. I might have to be, just be there praying for you. If I just be there at the gutter and say, Hey man, maybe you ought to start digging, but I'm not gonna pick the shovel up. And so I, I've tried to set that foundation.

It's harder though, when you grow up with a lot of privilege and I can say, I. As a father, there's probably some areas I could have been more of a disciplinary, I'd say a weakness for me as a dad has probably been a little too easy on him. And, and so that's, 'cause I had a pretty rough, so like, my goal as a, as a dad is I wanna give him everything, right?

And so I've got a little girl who's 10, and I won't pretend that I don't spoil her at every turn of the book. And I heard it said like somebody, it's like when, when, when somebody starts to try to court her, when she's, you know, in the next decade, if they're not in the, the, the little girl spoiling business, they should move on because she is spoiled, you know?

And she's not spoiling aspects, she's just, but she has been [00:25:00] well taken care of, you know? And, uh, we dote on her and she's, she actually is the, probably the, I mean, she's amazing. But anyway, so, so me, that's as a parent though, I had, that's the reason I've had to work in like, how do I. You know, push my kids.

'cause I don't want 'em to have adversity like I had, but I do need them to experience what the real world looks like. If you, if you go out and hustle, life works out for you. If you go around and screw off and don't, then life's gonna be, you know, my brother actually, before he passed, he always had a saying that was such a kinda a little bit crude, but you know, it make actually makes sense that he would say, you know, life's life's tough when you're stupid.

I was like, man, there's a better way to say that. There's a better way to say it. I even told this like, well you should say like, you know, life is better when you make good decisions. And that is true, but actually the way he said it I think was better because like, you know, when you make really dumb decisions, it does, like if you look at life and you go, man, if you go out at 18 and get a girl pregnant and go get into drugs and go do all this stupid stuff, like your life is going to be challenging and it, the material of your decisions causes that.

[00:26:00] So. Anyway, so working on how to become a better father in that capacity, um, you know, is important. And so I don't even know if you know this, but I have five kids and one little girl, and we haven't talked for a little while, but I have three bio kids, and then I adopted two new kids in last year. So I don't know.

But yeah, lots stuff. Lots of changing family.

Riley: You. I guess I

Jesse Aldous: I guess.

Riley: Do you? That's kind of bothers me a little bit that I didn't know that.

Jesse Aldous: I, I should, I mean, lots happened, but you know, the adoption was official last September. We've had 'em with us about a year and a half, but adopted a, um, a 14-year-old and a 15, well, 13 and 15. Now they're 14 and 16, but,

Riley: Oh,

Jesse Aldous: but we can get into that topic a little bit too down the road. But yeah, lots happened. So.

Riley: would like to, um, but I do want to ask you, what, what things have you done to, you mentioned you wanna challenge your kids. You don't wanna have, have them have the terrible experiences you had, but you do want the, the good parts of that where you had to learn to kind of fend for yourself.

And what, what kind of [00:27:00] practical things have you done in their life to create that?

Jesse Aldous: Well, I think that, um, you know, trying to, you know, the, the idea of like, with, with work and entrepreneurship, you know, I've definitely encouraged, you know, one of my boys had like a little Facebook business and when he was like 15 or he was buying and selling things, so I encouraged that. Now that same son is, um, he's doing car repair.

We buy salvage cars and repairs him. So I've, I've, I've been able to, like, again, if I was that age, I wouldn't have had the, the means to do that like myself. But because I saw him start with small things and he had some success, I was like, Hey, I'll support that. So, I mean, I did, and I, and, and I didn't support other things my kids wanted to do, and I told him, they said, well, why are you doing that for, for this son?

And I was like, well, because I, I trust him. And he's like, well, you don't trust me. No, not as much as I trust him. Well, I didn't trust me as much. I was like, because I've seen him go and do this. I've seen him do this and this. I was like, if you go and hustle and you go, do you know you, you show me those kinds of skills, I'll support it.[00:28:00]

So for that son. I've, uh, you know, I, I, I've invested a couple thousand dollars in vehicles. He, we just went and bought another one for three grand. He fixed it up. He went and bought another vehicle. Our 1500 put it together. That vehicle's now with 8,000, and he's selling it, and, and he's good at it. So I'm happy.

And we, and I, I went and invested in, we bought a little car trailer so we can move him around and, and we've got p and ls on it, so this is how much capital it costs. I get this share and he does all the work, but I'm, I'm shadowing entrepreneurship and, you know, and he's, he's good. I see a strength there that I'm trying to develop in him, and, but I'm holding him accountable to make it, because the real world's gonna look like this.

You know, even though, like, as a dad, I just wanna be like, I'll just pay for it all. I don't care. But like, that's the part I've had to struggle with. Making myself, I can't, I gotta make sure I, I'm gonna help 'em invest and do this step. But, and then at the same time, it's a show, you know. Um, no. Last weekend was when I was getting ready to take off the weekend.

My kids, a couple of my kids had done some additional work and I, I paid one of them to do the whole project, and then the other one's like, Hey, they're like, like, handing that money. I'm like, no, he earned that. He's like, [00:29:00] well, I wanna go do some stuff this weekend. You should have worked this week. I mean, you could.

There's always work to make made, you know, if you wanna make money, if you wanna make a a hundred dollars or $5,000, you tell me, I'll give you the idea, you gotta go do the work. But, you know, it's always the option. I had a guy that went, uh, that worked for me one time and he's like, he was making like 90 grand a year and he said, I wanna make 200.

And, and I was like, great, let's do it. You know, and I, I remember telling another business owner that say business meeting, like, and was complaining about this. And I was like, well no, that's great. If he wants to make more money, lemme just show him the metrics. So you gotta do this level of production, you make this kind of activity and I, it goes into my bank and then I pay you back this percentage.

So if you wanna make this, you just gotta do this much work. And they said, well, that's a lot of work. It's like, yeah, it's a lot of work if you wanna make that. But, but same thing with my kids. Like I shadow that same aspect, like if you wanna, you know, one of my kids is saving great and he's gonna have a really nice car and we match him on his car.

So like, you know, one kid's gonna have a really nice car, the other one's gonna have. Junker and, and the one said, well, if I save up 500 bucks, we match. I like, no. I said, well, you are matching. I was like, no, I match effort. It doesn't, [00:30:00] five oh bucks is nothing like, you need to show me some effort. You gotta put some effort and I'll match that effort.

But you know, if you're gonna script together a couple hundred dollars, I'm not gonna match anything. He's like, well, that's not fair. I was like, yeah, life's not fair, man. Like if I'm gonna teach you anything, life is not fair. The moment you think life is fair, you are, you're, you're starting, you know, you're starting with the wrong mindset.

It's gonna be uncomfortable. Life's not going to always work out for you. And that perspective of saying that, you know, right now, this moment, you have everything in the world to be grateful for. But there is gonna be a moment in life where someone dies that you love. When, when, when something happens to you that isn't fair and it takes that from you.

And the question is, what are you gonna do when that happens? And in this moment when that's not happening, this is the time to be grateful and joyous because I, I've got people around me love. But if you think you're gonna navigate through life and not take a bullet to. You know, you are going to be greatly disappointed.

And this leads into one of the, probably the most important things I would say, is I wanna, I love to say, I, I love the feeling of saying life generally will not get, you generally won't get what [00:31:00] you want in life. You get what you expect. So expect great things. So I love that idea of the position into the world.

But then I heard this quote from Charlie Monger that said, somebody asked him, how do you have a happy life? And he said, lower your expectations. And that bothered me. I'm, but I kind of think he's a smart guy. So I'm like, well, gosh, if he said that, I thought like, that's terrible. Why would I lower my expectations to have a happy life?

But then I realized you just had to change expectations to entitlement lower what you're entitled to. And most of us position this world of feeling like we're entitled to live, to be 90, to have a happy marriage, to have a nice house, to have a nice car, to never worry about our finances, to, to be healthy.

We expect, or we, we are entitled to these things. So the moment you can rip away that entitlement tile to nothing. And then you can expect great things, but be entitled to nothing. Uh, so when, when you take a shot, like, you know, like when I lost my brother, I was, that sucks. That sucked. That phone call at 5:00 AM was one of the toughest things I've ever dealt with.

[00:32:00] But if I, if my position in the world was, I expect that everybody that I care about always gonna be fine and healthy, I couldn't control that. So if I expect that I'm gonna be massively damaged, but what I can say as I lean into the world, like there's not a lot that would take me out. Ri like, I can't imagine what could take me out because I'm grateful for everything I have.

But if it gets, something gets taken, that's, that's part of life that, that happens in life. So I have a position where I'm like, things, things should go really, really rye and I'm still going to position, I'm gonna come from a position of strength. It's not that it's not gonna hurt, but it's gonna, I'm gonna come and I'm gonna walk through that with, you know.

With integrity, and I think something Jordan Peterson said is that a goal in life should be to be the strongest man at your father's funeral. I was when my dad died and I was when my brother died, so that's a, a target to aim at.[00:33:00]

Riley: you, um, that quote you used, you know, just lower your expectations, your, what you're entitled to when you, that, that had to just resonate, dude, I'm just thinking back to your story of your childhood. Lower what you're entitled to. You're sitting back there with nothing mice crawling on you while you sleep. frozen burritos left and. Yeah, dude, you're just going, I'm not entitled to anything else, so let's go find some, some stuff. It's only uphill from here. Right? you've lived that, you've, you've scraped the bottom. It's easier, I think, sometimes to hold things loosely and just go crap, man. It's not gonna get much worse than that.

So we're okay. Especially if we have anything else. If we have four frozen burritos, we're, we're 33% better than we were with three. Right.

[00:34:00]

Jesse Aldous: Absolutely. It's all perspective. And, and I've always tried to take that. Every funeral I've been to, I've always thought to myself, how do I get perspective around this? You know? Um, I lost two sister-in-laws and was eight months, and we lost the second one. I remember thinking at her funeral, like she was 38 and another one's 32, and I thought, wow, what is, what?

How would I get perspective if I [00:35:00] was that person? And I remember thinking it was weird. I was sitting there in the, in the church and I thought, well, she was 38. If, if it was, if she was 11 and it was 1939 and she was in Poland, that would be worse. And I don't know why that would, what, what happened? Well, 1939, if you were an 11-year-old girl in Poland, then you know, Hitler's rolling through the gates and you're probably getting thrown, you're probably gonna die and on your whole family.

So like that would be worse than being 38 and living in America for 38 years. Like that was a better life. Right? So that my mind of figuring out how do we always get perspective of, you know, generally if you live right now and you happen to be on this continent, you've hit the lottery of the time and the location.

Any other time in human history was by definition more challenging. So I love history. The more I read about history, the more I realize like, man, everything we've got going on, we can handle this. You know? So I think that's that perspective of then, yeah. So agree.

Riley: Shoot, man. Jesse, you talked about rodeo scene a little bit.

Jesse Aldous: [00:36:00] Yeah.

Riley: What took you that direction? Man? Talk, talk about, 'cause you, you had some, some rowdy times in there and

Jesse Aldous: Yeah,

Riley: use that

Jesse Aldous: yeah.

Riley: 'cause it

Jesse Aldous: Mm-hmm.

Riley: scene. I love

Jesse Aldous: It does. It does. So with, with Rodeo, I was around that same time, 15, 16, I was, you know, watching TV and I saw the rodeo and thought, man, that's exciting. And I think being a, a young man full of bigger and testosterone, I just wanted to go test myself against the world. And when I saw that on tv, you know, I was playing football and, and, and I was about five eight, and I, and I was five eight when I was little, when I was like, I was like seventh grader.

I was five, eight and 140 pounds. So I was a big dude, right? Well then I got ninth grade. I didn't grow an inch and I never did. I'm still five eight and wish I was still 150 pounds. But like, but the, but the point is I wasn't very big guy and I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna make this football thing work because I'm not that big.

But then the rodeo thing, I thought that looks amazing. And I literally just saw it on tv. So I, I took the place and it just kind of kinda, you know, I, I always wanted to do something. And sports is, when you're younger, it hooks onto you. So I, I, [00:37:00] that's what I hooked onto. And so I, I, I threw myself a hundred percent into it.

Um, and I, I've trained hard. I mean, that's all I've thought about. And I, um, I went on to, you know, have some good success in high school, but I broke a bunch of stuff in high school. So like went into my senior year. I'd, I'd, I'd had, I'd won some local rodeos i'd, I'd competed in districts and, and placed in the top four.

But going into my senior year, I, I, I'd been working really hard at training to be a, a state champion. And so I went into my state senior year and, um, I got on my first bull in the early, like march in rodeo. If you ride about 50% of the bulls, it's, that's good. You'll win a lot of money. So I went into my senior year and I started, I rode every bull moving into my senior year, but about halfway through my senior year, I, I separated my shoulder and then I tore my ACL and um, and then I separated or sprained my, I tore my wrist up some, what else did I do?

So I had my knee, my shoulder. My wrist. I, and so about [00:38:00] halfway through the season, I was riding bulls, riding bike horses and bulldogging. And, um, but I was competing to be a, uh, you know, the district champion, but also the all around champion. And I went to a friend of mine brought,

Riley: Pause for a second. What's Bulldogging? I don't even know.

Jesse Aldous: Oh. So bulldogging is when you, you, uh, jump off of a horse onto a steer and wrestle out to the ground the fastest.

Riley: Okay.

Jesse Aldous: you, you know, so, um, and bareback riding is where you, you know, you're riding bucketing horses. And so I, uh, I separated my shoulder, so I had to switch arms, which is not an easy thing to do. So I could keep riding bucking horses. And I remember back into the chute after I, I was getting on, uh, uh, the, to steer wrestle the bulldog and my hazer, the guy who runs next to me, he just thought was gonna, you, you have to compete.

If I wanna keep getting on the other bench, you have to do all the events. So he thought I was just gonna run by the steer, and I told him, no, I'm jumping. And he is like, well, you have a separated shoulder. I like, well. It only hurts if I lift it up. So as long as I keep it down. And so I just, you know, so anyway, I ended up, uh, being a, a district champion in Bulldogging.

Uh, I was a reserve champion in bareback riding, and I won the [00:39:00] district in bull riding and I rode every bull that senior year, which was, hadn't been done. They didn't that, it was always something that Wiley, who I was looked up to, was Wiley was a, become a world champion. He, he didn't, he wasn't able to do it, but it was a goal he had.

So I took that goal and was able to accomplish it in my senior year. And then I went on to win the state championship and then went on to ride bulls professionally and make money, you know, just, I went to 43 of the 50 states. I, I. Flying airplanes around and living in a truck and camper and went all over.

And that was awesome. There was a cool lifestyle. I mean, I, I'm so grateful, um, from the idea of, you know, it's a weird feeling. 'cause you know, I'm, I'm, I would never wanna be famous, but it gave me like this taste of it, like being in a coliseum, jumping off in the middle, you know, after riding make a, you know, a 90 point ride and you know, 30,000 people on their feet screaming and, you know, people trying to get to you to get autographs and be like, in that environment, you're famous.

So it's like, it was kind of a cool experience to kind of have that level of success and go, you know, going onto TV and that kind stuff. But [00:40:00] I broke about every bone. I broke my arm, my leg, my face, my shoulder. I broke everything. And I went for about five years breaking things. And so I'd break something and I'd go to rehab and I'd get back and going again.

And, and by the time I was, I started breaking stuff. I started going to college and by the time I got done breaking every bone I had had graduated college. So then luckily I had. Pathway to the next thing. But, uh, it was a great experience. I mean, I look back at it now as a 47-year-old and some of the people that I rodeoed with, that there was one kid in particular, I went to the high school finals.

I, I was first place and he was fourth. And when he was, uh, the year after we were in high school, he had a bull flip over upside down on him and kill him instantly. And I think about him, they have a memorial rodeo now. If you go to the pro rodeo in mountain home, it's a memorial from him. There's a lot of memorials for in rodeos.

And that's somebody who died. And, but I rodeoed with him and I, uh, you know, Darren Dobbins and I think of, I think of him a lot of times that he, his life ended back then and mine, I had so much enjoyment since I [00:41:00] quit rodeoing and I and Darren Dobbins.

Riley: Oh, I know another Darren Nobbins, but he's still alive. But

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: when he said that, I thought, wait a second. I

Jesse Aldous: Not a different guy.

Riley: guy. Yeah.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. So you think about those different things, um. And then there's a couple other people that, you know, I I, there's just a handful of people that I've watched actually die in doing rodeo. And I, I think back now, and I'm like, that probably was not the smartest thing I could have done.

And I, I wouldn't trade what I have now for what I do then. And so my kids, because they have all got these buckles and saddles and videos, they all, I wanna ride bulls and I don't let 'em, there's, I've got two of my kids who want to, and I, I'm completely hypocritical and I say, Hey, that's, it is too dangerous.

It is not a good idea. And but yet I also have encouraged them to be combative. I've actually encouraged all of 'em. They're all in jiu-jitsu. And I believe that's awesome because I think it's, it's dangerous. It has that, that aggressive aspect of being a, you know, you know, a man and, and being testing yourself, but I think they also might not die.

There's a lower probability of dying. [00:42:00] So I, I encourage, uh, those kinds of sports for my kids where, you know, I look back and what I did was, you know, yeah. It was pretty crazy. So, anyway.

Riley: Dang man. When you're, um, you're talking about that kind of parental throttling back of your kids, right? What, why do you think that happens? Man? Because I, I, I can see the same thing sometimes with my kids where I'm just like, maybe a little overcautious, but I've got a son right now, and I think he and Mason are pretty, close

Jesse Aldous: age.

Riley: Danny's 19. yeah. And just turning Danny loose on some things, man. And he screwed some stuff up. He, he went out and took his, wanted to go winter camping, right? And they, they out into the snow country up by Sun Valley and, got stuck back on a trail, a mile from the freeway, mile and a half from the, from the highway and. Five miles from town, you know, and they were trying to figure out what to do and ends up, it [00:43:00] was in the low teens, single digit temperatures, you know, and they, but they had camping stuff. They stayed out there all night and they hitched a ride with a snowmobile the next morning. then, uh, I get a call from the sheriff going, Hey, there's a vehicle out here stuck that's licensed to you. Where's everybody at? You know, I'm like, well, they're safe, they're back in town. And so I connected him with, with the sheriff, you know, and then he ends up paying a bunch of fines 'cause he was on an illegal trail with the wrong kind of vehicle and it was a snowmobile trail, and so he was overweight and had the wrong kinda, got to learn some lessons, right?

Um, but it was that turning your kid loose, you know, to do, do this thing. I, I struggle with that a little bit, but at the same time I'm like, man, he's gonna get some bumps and bruises along the way. I kinda gotta let him do it. But

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: I don't want him to die. So.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, it's a balance. I mean, my, my oldest, who's same as yours, he has wanted to do everything from, he wanted to ride bulls. I actually let him ride bulls for a moment, and then he got a, you know, really bad injury from it. And then I, that was when I said, I'm never gonna let any of my other kids do that.[00:44:00]

But he's right now training him for the UFC, which, you know, he's trying to get his first fight, his ture fight. He's been training now for almost two years. And, you know, that's, you know, probably not my first. You know, thing that I would, I would say, Hey, I want you to go and get into Octagon and, you know, fight.

But I also realized like there's something about when you're a young man and I, I don't know what it's like to be a woman, so I can only speak from a that perspective, but being a young man, like you kind of wanna go test yourself against the world and see how you hold up. And for me, doing that right, bulls was good because it, it kind of gave me a level of confidence that, you know, it has really helped me in my business career and my life with people that you just gotta go test yourself.

And, and so I, again, though, as a parent, you want to help 'em to test theirselves in a way that hopefully, you know, doesn't within reason. Right? So, and I think that's different for all people, but I do think that if you hold, you know, and I made 'em fight for it too, like, I'm not gonna just like, introduce 'em to, but if they fight hard not to go do something, I'm gonna support 'em in it to do it well.

So I think that's the balance. Uh, and I get [00:45:00] raising five boys, it's totally different than raising my little girl, you know? So, I mean different places, but it's good for 'em to test their self against the world.

Riley: Dude. said man. Jesse, talk about the rodeo scene and what that looked like from a, well, what's the environment like?

Jesse Aldous: It a little rough, you know, um, a lot of, lot of drinking, a lot of, especially once you got up into the bigger events, I mean, there was what we would call buckle butting. So there's, there are lots of girls around and a lot of trouble you can get into. I, I luckily had a, you know, again, I became Christian when I was about 15, so I had some good friends in that group and, and you know, staying in the right crowd was really helpful.

But it was, um, yeah, that was, that was, it's a, can be a rough environment, but the cool thing, the comradery I miss, that's the part I miss. I don't miss the getting my head thrown in the dirt and the, the excitement of of making a great ride was, is pretty, it almost. You know, where's you at? Like, [00:46:00] I went skydiving one time and I was like, oh, that was fun.

But it was, it didn't even, like, you know, after getting on bulls, I weekend, like skydiving was, it's fun, but like, it's probably gonna work out. We got a parachute, we'll be fine.

Riley: Yeah.

Jesse Aldous: know, like, like with, you know, so it's, it's like not like that, you know? So it kind of ruins you a little bit for the adrenaline side, but like, um, the camaraderie is the part I would say I miss.

Like, I could be in Alabama hanging out behind the chutes and meet somebody else and they're like, oh, come stay at my house. And like that like kind of camaraderie that we just had, that we always took care of, didn't matter where I was at. I could walk into a, a, a rodeo, walk by the chutes and there's all my people, you know, that, that was a unique thing in sports.

And even though we all competed against each other because we're competing against the animals, you know, it was like this, there's this like really strong bond and I, I don't, you know, one of those, I love movies, but like banded brothers, you know, you, you see these people kind of war together and you build this great bonds that kind of happened in rodeo.

You, you were out there fighting against, you know, something that's, you know, could be very, very risky. And. So you just, you grow some strong relationships. You know, uh, I bring up [00:47:00] Wiley Peterson, who, he was the guy that I rode with, and he went on to achieve what in the sport, what I didn't, you know, he wanted to be a world champion, uh, won the world finals in the PPR and, and made, uh, you know, I think he spent 10, 10 or 12 a long time in the PBR.

He very well established. And so, um, seeing, you know, he and I started friends, you know, we, we spoke this morning, you know, so it's like you, you kind of go through the, you know, you war through that. You, you build some lifelong bonds.

Riley: Oh man. Yeah, I remember seeing him on tv, like, I don't really know if you remember, but we did a, a play in youth group together at one time, and he played, he played the part of Jesus in the, in there.

Jesse Aldous: still,

Riley: It's

Jesse Aldous: I remember about that was all the,

Riley: ago, but

Jesse Aldous: is, it was long. I remember that it

Riley: yeah. Well

Jesse Aldous: cornerstone.

Riley: spent any time with him.

But we just because of that, you know, we pay attention to what was going on in the rodeo scene. He was like, Hey man, Wiley. That's, that's

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. Uh, he's a good dude. Yeah.

Riley: Um. Move on. I [00:48:00] wanna, I want to talk about what took you, where did your faith journey start? What did it look like and what's, what's, what happened there?

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. So again, got saved when I was 15. Changed my life. But, you know, I came from a really secular home, so like, it was 1 0 1. Like, I still remember being at church the first time they talked about lusting, that was lusting was a sin. And I was like, wait a minute. Wait, you're saying what now? Like, everyone was like, that was shocking to me.

Like, uh, that can't be true. Like you were saying that if you think about it, it's a sin. I was like, oh, oh, you're gonna have to put that one on hold for a while. I'm working on all these other things that God's gotta, so God had to really refine me through my, you know, adolescence. But that was really good for me.

And, you know, through my teens, had a great youth group, um, went on, you know, to marry an amazing woman, um, and, you know, who's also a Christian. So that was really good that we had a, you know, that solid place. Um, and um, yeah, I think, you know. Working that kinda sets the foundation of who you are from a, a morality standpoint, you know?

And I think that, I think now as a, [00:49:00] as an older Christian now, you know, I think, um, it's funny, when I was 16, 18, 20, 21, 25, I had so much more certainty in things and so much less tolerance. And I, I would say, as my faith, I would tell you now, I'm a much, I'm a much more tolerant person. I'm a, I'm a lot less certain of things, which I think makes a lot of times Christians uncomfortable.

But I'm very comfortable with knowing that I know the God I serve. Loves every person in this world. And there's a lot of things that I think I might know, but I am, I'm certain of God's love and him as a savior, but I, there's a lot of other things I might not be as certain about. And I'm a lot less, I'm a lot more comfortable with not being certain about it, you know what I mean?

Like, it was like, well, how does this exactly work in Revelations and this and this? I'm like, I think I could be this, but if it's not, I, I'm not sure about, I'm not losing any sleep over it. You know what I mean? Like, whereas when I was younger, I, I kind of, I got caught up or maybe tripped up on doctrinal things.

And, and what I work really hard at now is, you know, I'm really comfortable with sitting in the [00:50:00] room with somebody who has a completely different faith than me and a different thought than me. And in fact, one time I had a lot of, uh, people who worked for me. 'cause living here in Idaho, a lot of people that worked for me that were LDS and I was talking to a guy who worked for me and we used talk about Jesus and talking about love of God and this something he's like, and he had to stop me at one point because he worked for me a year or two.

And he's like, but you know, there's a difference between us, right? And I was like. I know God's working on your heart. Like, like the point of, I'm saying like, I'm, I'm loving you and I'm loving, I'm showing you the place of Jesus. And like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna squabble about doctrine. I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk through and, and show you the love of God.

Like, there's a shirt I had when I was younger that said, you know, go out and preach to, to the nations and if po and if necessary use words. 'cause uh, some mar I can't remember who said it, but it was like, that's a, I think that's been the position as a Christian as I'm older, that, you know, I think it's, it takes, it's really easy to tell somebody why they're wrong or why they're different.

It's a lot harder to, to show 'em the love of Christ in your actions, in your, in your words. And I think that goes a lot farther. So.[00:51:00]

Riley: That's, uh, that's interesting to me, man. 'cause I, I feel a bit the same way where were some things I was pretty dogmatic on that I, I probably would loosen up now, you know, I, I can think of an example like we in the, in the church, we'll talk about rapture, right? And whether it's pre-trib, post trip, mid trip, you know, and don't know, don't really care.

It's not a salvation issue. It'll happen when it happens and

Jesse Aldous: Yep. Exactly.

Riley: here, right?

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. Fun to think about, fun to study, fun to, but, but let, let's not get a too hostile of an argument about it. I'm not gonna kick anybody out of the, outta the Bible study for it. Right. Let's just, let's just be friends here.

Riley: That's right, man. That's beautiful. Um, business man.

Jesse Aldous: yeah.

Riley: mentioned that right at the beginning of the podcast, and let's talk about that. What was your, how did your career start, kind of where's it, where's it gone? What's it, what's it look like today?

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. So super, super grateful for my [00:52:00] business career. I feel like, um, you know, coming out of the rodeo stuff, like I said, okay, now I've been with college, I'm gonna dive in. And I knew that I had a, uh. I like the idea of business. In fact, I, I kind of joke that my first business strategy was not getting a business degree.

And I would say this right or wrong, people have to, but I, I looked into getting a four year business degree and it was gonna cost like 45,000. And then I looked and, um, and then I looked at the outcome for the market ability, like what was a graduate. And I, I met a ton of people who were getting out with a 40 degree that were working at Wells at the time, Wells Fargo, making 15 bucks an hour.

And I thought, well. I, the ROII, I don't think there's a great ROI in a bachelor's degree in business. And so then I decided to get a, a technical degree that costs $16,000 that would get me into an industry with this idea that if I come into an industry, I specialize in the industry, then I'll kind of move into the management side of business stuff.

So I got a, uh, I did that and my first job outta college, um, I got a degree in electronic instrumentation. First job was at Micron. Um, worked at Micron for a little while, [00:53:00] learned that they were great to work for, and if you wanted to be an employee, this was the right place for you. But I realized it was, uh, I put my head down and worked my tail off and it just ruffled feathers.

So like, then I was like, Hey, hey, what you can, you know? And so that was interesting for me to learn this big business environment. Um,

Riley: do? What do you mean it ruffle feathers?

Jesse Aldous: so like, um, so there's this level thing. You could be tech one, tech two, tech three. So like, I looked at all stuff I needed to do to be a tech one, and it takes, it's like, didn't, and, and it said it didn't take a year to do this, like, but technically to do a year, and then you become a tech one, we're like, I got it all done.

Like. Two and a half months, I'm like, okay, I'm a tech, I'll start working my tech two stuff. And he is like, well, no, no, you've only been here like three months. You can't do that. I was like, well, well you wanna sit around for the like seven months and do nothing? And he's like, and at one point my manager came in and he is like, Hey, you know, you're kind of making some of the, those guys here who've been here five years and are only a tech two.

I'm like, that seems like they problem. I'm like, I don't, I'm not. So I just, I leaned into it. I just keep doing this. I'm meeting with engineers and trying to work on other things. I'm talking to people because I'm a talker and like, I'm like, man, I'm gonna work on this project with this other engineer.

'cause what was weird about [00:54:00] my ground is you, you, I was a 12 hour shift and you can get all your work done about three hours if you hustled. So now I've got hours of sitting around, so I just, I'm not a sitting around kinda guy. So I start applying that into working on other things. And then I've, you know, I've got, again, managers come back and like, well, you can't go work with an engineering group.

You're, you're not even a tech one. You can't be doing this. Project was like, they just want some help. And I told 'em I'd come and help 'em, you know? So anyway, that I just realized that it, it just was not, it, it was not maybe the, so what I had this thought of the time, I thought, you know, maybe if I got a small organization and small business than a big business, my efforts would be noticed.

And then, uh, and I thought, you know, what I really do is I wanna go be a business owner. So that's when I kind of got that idea. I'm gonna be a small business owner. So I went and interviewed at that time with a guy who's like 50 something years old and had a medical imaging business. I went to work for him.

And my title is a kind of a biomedical engineer. So I was going to hospitals and calibrating stuff, installing X-ray equipment. I did a bunch of certifications on different types of medical equipment, uh, with the plan of buying this business. But as I got into the business more, I realized like, this business model [00:55:00] is dying because it, so the main core part of the business was servicing, um, x-ray processors.

So I just didn't, that was, and each time we went to a digital, it was just taking away from the business. And so then I just realized the business was not. Great. It was, it was a, it was being disrupted. And so it was probably not a good business for me to go buy. And it had, you know, 10 employees. And, and then I read this book, um, about sales.

And my brother, who was a best sales guy I ever knew, I called him, he lived in Alaska at that time, and I started calling me, he started coaching me over the phone on how to be a salesman. And it's funny 'cause my brother wasn't a, a Christian and the first thing he told me about being a great salesman is he said, okay, rule number one, never lie.

And I'm a Christian and I'm honest, I don't lie. Anyway. I was like, wait a minute, what do you mean that's your rule? This is the guy who's not a Christian who's, you know, I was like, okay, well why is that? And he walked me through like, this is why, you know, and so he, he was really a great coach and he coached me through on how to sell and understand, you know, customer value proposition.

And so, um. [00:56:00] Fasting forward. You know, moving forward I had like $50,000 in debt and I had all these different ideas. So my idea was I'm gonna go build a house, build equity into that, and I'm gonna wipe off my debt. And I had this, you know, quick, fast thing thinking. So I, I built this house, I working full time and built a house, built about 75,000 in equity into it.

I finished that ouch, March of 2008. I didn't know what a recession was 'cause I was only like 25. So of course the next three and a half years of my life is what I kind of described as the valley. And that's when I got connected onto Dave Ramsey. I learned how to budget, I learned how to, and I mean like I love at Zig Xavier, so I sold stuff that first year in sales.

But it was like, I sold my couch, I sold my trailer, I sold everything I had to keep that house. I never missed a payment on that house, but it was close. Um. I did get my, my, my gas and electricity turned off once and I got a fix that, but, but what I did is the medical imaging job was that I ha had, um, my mom was working as a receptionist for a hearing aid company and they said, you know, if you come and work in this, you could make [00:57:00] like $8,000 a month.

And at the time I was making like three grand. I'm like, well, that sounds good. And I, once I got into this house and I realized I was not surviving, I thought, well, this is sink or swim. So I dove in, took my first sales job. Month one I made three grand. Month two I made 10 grand. And I was like, this is working.

So I started hustling and I, and I really loved it because I was helping people and that's what I was like, I, you know, once I set need to need something, and I generally would never think about the sales component, I was thinking about, Hey, I'm gonna see, can I help this person and if I can help 'em, you're like, you know, if you can help enough people get what they want, you get what you want.

And so I, I started developing myself as a, as a salesperson. I took that little office, um, and it was a 300,000 office. We've got it up to eight 50. And I realized this is what I wanna do, and I didn't wanna compete with that owner. So I moved across the state, picked up some other offices that were actually losing money.

Um, so those offices I, I bought from a manufacturer that owned them. Then when I took 'em over, they were doing about 20,000 a month. I was on track to 260,000 a year. I took it over. [00:58:00] I ultimately took that business and grew to 8 million and then sold it. So that was the pathway. Now that going from 260,000 to 8 million is a, is a big journey and took a lot of different steps as an entrepreneur.

But that was, yeah.

Riley: you just, you just went through that like, it was easy the whole time. So I want you to, I want you to expand a little bit so the audience gets an appreciation for what you really had to deal with there.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. So I mean, step one, obviously learning. When I growing in business, I, when I got to about just under a million in sales, I realized like I was the bottleneck. Like I can only do so much revenue. So that's when I, I started understanding the idea of scaling. When I took over the business, I had written a business plan.

You know, three years earlier. And so I'd refined that business, but multiple times, and I'd made the goal before I bought the business to have a hundred thousand dollars in savings, which when you're making a hundred grand a year, saving a hundred is pretty hard. Um, so, you know, I made some steps, made some moves.

I didn't get quite to the a hundred. I actually, I had a 60 grand in savings when I bought the business. I was able to work on, you know, the manufacturer I bought from actually financed it for me. [00:59:00] And, uh, and I wrestled with that 'cause I was a Dave Ramsey fan. I, I got myself, oh, I guess I should go back to, I got myself outta debt.

So I had 50 some thousand dollars of debt. March something of oh eight, about the time I was bought, built that house. I made the decision I'm never gonna have a car payment again. And I never had a car. I've never had a car payment since then. That was hard though. That means I drove some crappy cars for a lot of years.

Um, at one point I remember pulling up to one of my offices in a 6,000 car, and all my secretaries had like more expensive cars than I did now at the time. I kinda wrote a check for. You know, I, you know, I had a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, but I still was driving a 6,000 car because every time I got extra 30 grand, I wouldn't gonna buy a car with it.

I wouldn't start another index in my business to, to make it grow. But overall, you know, that learning how to manage $4,000 a month is what gave me the strength to know how to manage 40 and 50 and 80 and 200 and that. So it's the same principles of understanding, you know, cash flow. And so, you know, as I started to grow, then I started growing employees and, and becoming a, a [01:00:00] strong employee.

Then learning how to grow a strong employee. I mean, I messed that up a couple times. How do I recruit the right people? How do I train them? I took a really great approach where, you know, we had a thing where like if you came on board with us, I'd tell people like, if you like to. If you want a really consistent, steady, like this is what it's gonna do.

A really controlled environment that's very consistent do not work for me because that's not what I, that's not my culture. My culture is we're gonna break it this year, we're gonna break it again next year. We're gonna hustle. Whatever you were doing last month, we're gonna try something else. We had a culture that said, you know, you better be making mistakes.

If you're not making mistakes as an employee, you're not, you're not trying, and you should always be making different mistakes. Now, if you're making the same mistakes, that's not good, but I want you to make, I want you to make new mistakes. And then I want you to celebrate in our culture, like understanding, like, okay, I tried this thing, it didn't work, but now I'm gonna try this other thing.

So I really created a culture where people would hustle and push, and I wanted a lot of, um, independence in, in the each office group that I built, mentor. And it just took time to mentor this one and grow this one. And so I started growing. I had, you know, one good [01:01:00] office and another good office, and then I opened a second office and, and tell you the biggest.

Thing I learned. So I had three offices at one time, was shedding off lots of cash and I was fine and I hired a new bookkeeper. So I gave her my office. I started working from home and I had this moment where I was like, everything was going well. I, I had really good business that was cash flowing. And, and, but I'm, I'm the kind of, I just like to do stuff and I, I, and my weakness is I might see something shiny and I, I chase it.

So that led into one of the biggest mistakes that I made in business was I, I had a strategic plan. I'd done the research to open a fourth office, so I had all the capital for it. Opened that fourth off that company, up 30, 40 grand to open that up. But I didn't project out how much cash flow I thought it would take me to open to maintain it.

And that first office, it took me a while. It took, uh, first year did like 300 grand. So I was losing money. I was feeding it. But the bits of opening this new office. I had an office kind of fall my lap almost free, so I opened that one. It was a [01:02:00] satellite office. And then that original office that I started, that I've worked in, it came up for sale.

And I knew that office, but since I'd left, it went from down, it dropped about 70 or 80% in revenue, but I knew the office, I knew the market. So I went back and picked that up and it was just too good of a deal. And so I picked it up and, and, uh, fixed it. But now I had three new offices in one year and I remodeled and bought a building for my main office.

So I ran and, and that was such a huge mistake for me because I had underestimated what working. I didn't understand what working capital was. I mean, and just to be plain honest, I just didn't understand it. I mean, I, I had a lot of money in the bank. For what? For three office. I had no money in the bank for six.

And so that took me into about an 18 month. It was the worst time of being an entrepreneur. That's when I was, I was stressing about payroll. I, I had some insurance companies to stop paying for 120 days. And I mean, I was, I, I, I had contingency plans on how I was, you know, I was budgeting per week on funds and I knew that, [01:03:00] hey, if I don't get this much money in this month, this is the first person I'm laying off.

And that actually, when I made, and I had to make a written plan on who I was going to lay off, when, what happened, that's when I dug deep. And man, when it dugs deep, I hustled. And so I went in and I dive into offices and helped sell, and I pushed, and I mean, I worked. And that was the, if that's what being a business owner was.

I'd go be an employee. 'cause that was terrible. I hated it. And it was, and I worked my way out of that. And it, it was by the grace of God that I was able to work my way out of that, get on the other side of it, get profitable. But now, you know, when I do a lot, I do coaching and consulting with, with audiology groups.

And one of the main things I help to teach 'em is understanding, you know, working capital and forecasting and knowing what, what you, what kind of cap, what kind of cash you really need to sustain a business and grow a business. And that growth can be your, can sometimes be one of your biggest avenues if you grow too fast.

And that's what I did. And so it was a good lesson learned. Um, but that was, uh, yes, that got me up to that point. I got to about 3 million in revenue. And then, um, you [01:04:00] know, without going too much detail, I had some challenges with one manufacturer on some supply agreements and some stuff I didn't understand.

Contracts coming back to best advice you ever get about contracts is from Dave Ramsey. The only thing I can tell you about a contract is read it. You know, like, again, I read my contract so, but I even had an attorney look at it and I didn't fully understand it 'cause I was dealing with a billion dollar company that was much smarter than this, you know, 30-year-old kid who signed the contract.

So now I understand it and um, so I, but I had to navigate through some of that. So how I navigated that is I actually ended up taking, uh, on a partner that did a majority buyout and that's when I sold my first company. I sold the majority of it. So I cashed out and I sold it for some multimillion dollar acquisition.

And that was a pretty cool experience to go from, you know, I mean, being a, a business owner that's hustling and, and making good money. But then to, to, you know, to. To inject a large sum of money. That was, that was a cool accomplishment. And that was a, you know, kinda a milestone in my life, like graduating college, like starting my first business, you know, selling [01:05:00] that first business.

But I had a, a minority ownership in that. So then I went on for the next couple years working for that gentleman who had, who had one of the largest groups in the nation. And I got to sit under him for a couple years and I learned a ton. He was, has the MBA from Northwestern, so he's a smart, smart guy, but he knows how to run businesses.

And I learned all the stuff that I didn't know. And so then I got to live and work inside of a bigger group and we grew that group together and to the, to the 8 million number, then sold it, and then I cashed out again and got another, you know, uh, you know, million dollar, over million multimillion dollar acquisition and we sold the rest.

So it was, it was great. So it was a really great thing. And so financially put me in a great spot. Um. But from that, I stayed on with that group doing acquisitions, and I started learning acquisitions. 'cause I rolled up and bought a bunch of offices. And, and so then, um, after I, I, I kind of ended that run. I thought, okay, what's next?

I mean, they, they wanted me to stay on board and manage a bunch of the offices, but I kind of, the entrepreneur in me was like, yeah, I don't know that I wanna just hang out in a corporate [01:06:00] environment and had an offer to run another company. Um, that I, I almost took, and it was a, the other company was, uh, it was the, one of the, you know, back to opportunities.

It, it was a great opportunity and, uh, it was really hard to say no to, but I thought I would've taken that job. That would've sucked me in. And I would've had, I'd been working 50, 60 hours a week. And at that moment, you know, my kids were younger, you know, it's been five years ago. And so I, that was a hard decision to not take that job because it was, it would've been financially like, and by now it would've, I mean, it would've, you know, it would've been rudely good financially, but.

It would've cost me a lot of my time. And so that was a big decision to say, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do something else that I can throttle in a little bit more and I can, I work from home. I don't have, you know, 50 reports. And so I, and I, and how can I make good money, but also have a life and spend time with my wife and be the mentor to my kids?

And, and, [01:07:00] and so that was a hard decision 'cause as an entrepreneur, you kinda always wanna, I wanna take this next adventure. I'm wanna climb this next bigger. He, I wanna know what it's like to be the CEO of a, of a 40 million, 50 million company. And, and so it was hard for my ego to say no to a bigger company, but I, you know, I'm glad I did and I've been able to build, now I've got four different companies that I own that I'm operating.

And, um, lots of things moving and, and financially it's going well. And, and I can tell you I wish more people could experience getting on the other side of not having to worry about money and realizing that it does not change your happiness at all. Not at all. Like it doesn't, and it's just that, and like, I think there's so many people chase after that and think, well, if I just got to this place, if I just got a bigger car, a bigger house, or bigger whatever, if I was more noticed by people, then I'd be happy.

Man, it's not true. You are the same person. In fact, it's probably harder. And so you've really, I, I've tried to, and I don't, I can't always say that. It's not even saying it right now. I feel awkward saying that out loud, but I just, I wanna share that because I [01:08:00] wanna say like, like what is it to be, what, what is it?

What is success? What is it to be, to thrive? I'm really excited about those things I did. But at the end of the day, like if you do all that stuff and you have a wife that hates, and kids that h you, you have failed in life. You can be, have $20 million, a hundred million dollars. But like, you know, uh, that, that success in life is the people that know you the best, love you the most.

And, you know, that's your family and that's your friends, that's your colleagues. And so making sure that you, you know, make the most important thing, the most important thing, and that can get lost. As entrepreneurs, I think it's really easy for us to lean into that too much.

Riley: Well said man. You, um, you mentioned coming underneath a mentor and learning. Talk about mentors, man. What? What has that meant in your world?

[01:09:00]

Jesse Aldous: I think I find myself naturally curious. So I think I, I, I come at from a position of Tell me about that. Like what does that, how does that work? And, you know, and I, and, and I think that, you know, if you come in, whenever you walk in a room and there's somebody who just kind of talks a lot and knows everything, [01:10:00] that's not the smartest person in the room.

When you look around that room, there's another guy to listening. That's the guy you wanna go become friends with. And, and, and you wanna ask him questions, you know? And so I, I seek out mentors all the time. Even now was this week I was wrestling with a big decision and I called up a guy that I, I think a lot of, and I said, Hey, lemme just gimme five minutes of your time and let me pitch this idea at you.

And, and I do that with you, rod. I do that with Mark. I do this, you know, a good friend. You know, mark is our friend. You know, it's like, you know, um, Mark's been a great mentor. At every different stage of my life, when I have big decision, I go have lunch and say, okay, this is what I'm think about doing. What do you think?

You know? And so, um, I think that if you, when you can come from a place of humility, you realizing like the more you learn, you really realize you don't know anything and you know a lot, but still, like there's so much more to learn. And if you can have that kind of in your heart, it's like, just help me to understand that, you know, I mean, that is really eye-opening and you really do realize how much you don't know and, and how much you have to learn.

But then at the same time, [01:11:00] I, I sometimes. I found is I've become a mentor now as I'm older in life and I've mentor and I coach and counsel people that you don't have to know everything either. Like you can just learn something and then turn around and teach the person behind you. Like, well, I just learned this thing, now I'm gonna teach you this thing.

So, so I feel like you don't have to know everything to teach, right. You just know something and teach that, you know? Um, I remember I, for someone went to Juujitsu with you, you taught me the basics of Juujitsu, the very basics. Well, now I've had the opportunity to teach those very little things. And I don't know anything about Juujitsu.

I'm terrible, but I know this much, which is a lot more than I knew before, right? And so, like, it's, you know, I could never, you know, anyway, like, you know, that's a good example, right? Because your skillset is way up here as a black belt. I am still a one, a white belt with one stripe. You know, I, I know this much, but, you know, I had a friend of mine who decided to join Jiujitsu, and I was like, Hey, let me just, let me walk you through the basics of, okay, this is what this looks like.

You know? And, and it, that was fun, you know, to talk through. So anyway, that's, I think that you, we all. Well, [01:12:00] the best thing you can do in life is add value to other human beings. And I would say that's something that is my, you know, if you ask me what is your destiny in life that God has given you, it's to, with my interactions to add value to others.

And so the people of my family, I try to add a lot of value. If it's a stranger, try to add a little value, maybe just a really genuine smile and, you know, being kind to people. So

Riley: Oh man. Jesse, I gotta write that down 'cause you just, that's some good stuff you just said right there, man. Um. Talk about this. You, I, I, I always like to talk to Jiujitsu 'cause it's just something I

Jesse Aldous: yeah,

Riley: you, you said you just started, you've been in there a little while. Um, how old are you, Jesse?

Jesse Aldous: 40, I'm almost 44.

Riley: Almost 44. Okay. So I wanna put this into perspective. You, you had a rodeo career, you talked about that. And I busted your body up pretty good. You get into this jujitsu thing, um, rumor [01:13:00] has it, you had an injury already.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, it's, it's, uh, it is such a bummer ri and in fact, I've been, I haven't talked to you about this. I've actually really been wanting to tell you about this, this part. So, so you were the one that told me about Juujitsu, and I heard about it some from some podcasts, but you are the guy I called Iactually.

I was Montana driving between my offices, and I was like, Hey, tell me more about this Juujitsu thing. And got me thinking about it, and I just never pulled the trigger. I finally pulled the trigger and came and went, came to your gym, and you showed me the ropes and got me started. And, um, I found an immediate love for it because I'm a, my mind is running all the time, and so when I get on the mat, my mind shuts off.

And that was such a, like a, it was such like a, almost like an addicting feeling, like where you could just, like, I just, you can't be thinking about the last female or whatever. You have to focus on this. I have to be completely focused on what's happening in front of me. And when I'd spend an hour than that, I just felt a million times better.

Like, I just, it was just like a reset from my brain. So. I got into it with my, you know, at that time, [01:14:00] 17-year-old. He's 19 now with my 14-year-old. And, um, so, you know, like the, the rule with, you know, white belts should, you know, grab a white belt 'cause they get hurt. Well, I took that rule at the gym, but the problem is I got these boys that are just full of, you know, they wanting to grapple.

And so my 14-year-old, you know about, he's the one that, so I've got a bad shoulder. I broke my, I broke my collarbone, I separated my ac In fact, funny enough, I got an x-ray when I had all these problems. And the guy's like, do you know the, the big bone, the scallop, the big bone? Was it was that scallop? Am I saying, I was saying that right though scapula is why I couldn't say it that way, but he's like, do you know your scapula has been broken?

And I was like. No, I feel like I would remember, I was like, yeah, I was fractured and broke and healed together. I was like, oh, that's, and then I thought to myself, what would my body look like if you x-rayed all of it? Because, I mean, I broke a lot of stuff that I don't, I mean, if it, if I couldn't function, like I remember breaking my jaw and then, and, and I'm like, well, how did you know your jaw broke?

Well, I couldn't open my mouth for like two months. Like, well, would you, [01:15:00] they wired together. I was like, I never went to the doctor. You know? 'cause you could still ride with a broken jaw. You just, you know, and so anyway, like, um, so the, this shoulder is really messed up.

Riley: you can ride.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. A lot of milkshakes. Um, so I, uh, this shoulder, I, I was just in a, it was just a basic environment and he, and it was just a, that push pull while he tore my 14-year-old as we were grappling, I was in, um, guard position.

And he just, and just tore it and, well, it didn't get better. It didn't get better. I went to a doctor and it's pretty discouraging actually, right? 'cause I went to two different orthopedic guys and they basically said, we can't do surgery on it. It's, it needs to be replaced. You need a shoulder replacement.

And then I, but he said, but everything you've just told me. A shoulder replacement would be terrible for you because you're young. You're, if we, you'll, if you try to do the things you're doing with surfing and, and riding, doing all, I, I ride the venture bikes and like, you're gonna, you'll destroy the, and so the, the one orthopedic side, he said you could try stem cells and that might help.

So I'm met 15 months [01:16:00] now of getting stem cell injections in my shoulder. I couldn't lift my arm above my head a year ago, and it was keeping me up at night. And now I, I was in the gym this morning. I got 45 pound wi dumbbells doing, I mean overhead press. It's getting better. My orthopedic guy said I should never ever do juujitsu again.

That's what he said. I am gonna figure out a way now, I think I can do it, but in fact I wanted to talk to you because if I keep my elbow by my side, I can do it. I just have to be really careful. So I haven't, I, I paused my juujitsu while I've been healing my shoulder and I'm. I'm hoping by this summer I can get back in there, but I actually really need to come talk to you and you can help me.

'cause I even thought about just tying my right arm to my body and then just doing it with one arm because I can do that.

Riley: Hey, dude. So that's a legit theory, okay? Every time I've had a, broken body part, not broken, I've never broken anything, but, um, in juujitsu anyways. But yeah, stick a, stick your arm in your belt and. Just protect it, man. You play on your back and you just, you find a good black [01:17:00] belt or brown belt that can roll gentle with you and just enjoy the ride, man.

Like grapple injured. You just have to, you just have to work on other stuff. You're not gonna win. You're just

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, no, and I'm not, you know, I, my goal, and this might be a, maybe I need to raise my goal, but I do, I wanna get a bloop out. Like that's my goal at this point. That's my next, I want to, that's, you know, I don't, that's my goal. I want to get to that place and, you know, that's my goal at this point in life.

I've told my two boys that is like, you guys can't weaken on this. You guys both need to be back, back belts. This needs to be a part of life. And I wish I would've discovered it younger and again, like, it doesn't matter, I guess I'm discovering any age. But, uh, and they're both, and they're beasts now. Like, I can't even, I don't even try anything, you know?

They're doing great and it's awesome to watch 'em. So, yeah.

Riley: Danny, he, he submitted me the first time, like legitimately submitted me about three weeks ago. And I

Jesse Aldous: Really?

Riley: that kinda emotion between crap man. He just got me. But then so proud at the same

Jesse Aldous: Mm-hmm.

Riley: freak, he got me. This is

Jesse Aldous: [01:18:00] That's awesome. What kinda submission was it?

Riley: he uh, he put me in a triangle. I was, I was, I broke out of the triangle, but then he arm barred me in for my troubles, you know, so it was, it was a great moment for him.

Jesse Aldous: That's cool. That's way cool. That's so cool. Yeah, no, I, I agree

Riley: of him, pretty much. Uh, it's a, it, it was one of those bittersweet moments though, where dad's kind of having to realize that the kid's on his way up and I'm on my physical decline, even though my technique's way past where his is my, you know, he's just, he's a big, strong kid, you know, and I'm having to reconcile that in my, my old man brain and like, yep.

Well. won't be the last time, so

Jesse Aldous: a hundred percent. No, I, I had that same thing, it was last July with my old, my son Mason. You know, I, I remember the first time I boxed him and we have a video of it, and he was just, you know, it was totally, it was funny. I mean, he just didn't know what he's doing. And he did a full year of boxing and oh my gosh, he's, and then, but I remember he got ahold of me [01:19:00] and we were grappling a little bit and I realized that was the moment I realized.

I wouldn't wanna fight this guy. And I told him I, that was, I was like, this is the moment. I just realized like, I, I would not want to fight you. And I, I would have a very hard time handling it. And, and that was a good, proud moment. That was, that's a milestone for him. Like you, you're solid man. And he, he fights his, his, his, his striking is super solid.

His, his, his groundwork's really solid. And I, it's kind of fun to watch him develop that and the skills and, you know, he's, he's only 160 pounds and he can, he benched two, I think it was 2 87 or something the other day, or two 90. So, so he, and that's a lot for his smaller frame. He's really strong. And that's when he got a hold of me, he got a hold of me just cranked and I was like, oh my gosh.

Like that he could break something. I was like, oh, okay, I'm good. No more. You know? So anyway. But it is fun to watch your sons be and they're all, I'm five eight, they're all six foot now. I know You haven't seen, they're big kids, so it's kind of fun to,

Riley: yeah.

Jesse Aldous: anyway. Fun.

Riley: on the door six two, man. He is a big boy.

Jesse Aldous: Oh.

Riley: 210 pounds and strong as crap, [01:20:00] man. And I, yeah, it's, it's cool. 'cause I remember Jesse that first time I looked at him, we were, I can't remember what we were doing, but we were out in public somewhere and something was going on that was a little sketchy. And I remember thinking, I'm glad he is here 'cause he's an asset. If we have to fight some dude's going down 'cause Danny will take him out. And that was the first time I was like, oh, he's not a boy anymore. He's a man now. And

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. Cool feeling.

Riley: If we have to go into this, we're both going into it and a couple D's are gonna get choked.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, that's a good feeling. And that's funny 'cause you know, I think as men you always are thinking about that place as a protector and how to function those areas and, and hopefully those things don't happen again. Back to the rodeo thing, I broke up more fights than I ever got into, but it was a rough area and you get used to seeing that and being aware of it.

And you also know the guys that you want in your corner and the guys you don't. And so it is cool to have that feeling with your son, like, yeah, he'd be somebody I'd want next to me.

Riley: Yeah, [01:21:00] dude. The, the amount of grown men, I've watched him choke, unconscious is, it's, it makes me very confident in his abilities, you know, so it's a, it's a great thing. a great thing. Jesse, can we, uh, switch gears to some lighter stuff?

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: So, all right, dude. So I named this podcast the, the Goer in Your Salt podcast, just like my shirt right there. And, uh, when you hear that term goer in your salt, what does it mean to you? I.

Jesse Aldous: It's interesting, I've not heard the terms of go earn your salt. I mean, I think, you know, knowing, it's funny, the first thing I would thought of is scripture. You know, the salt and light scripture. That's what came my mind when I think of salt, which is different than that, but like, but there's a place of, that you could make that metaphor of like, you know, how talking about the, being a salt of the earth and being formidable, right?

But then also the place of like, obviously probably leaning into the salt side of like, you gotta, you know, you gotta go push yourself and, and your body needs salt when you're pushing yourself. And so, you know, I think the idea of being fermentable, the idea, the idea of, of testing [01:22:00] yourself so that you need to replenish.

Um, you know, I think that's something, as I've gotten older, like I had that fight, that fight in, in my twenties. I, I shifted all that fight into business and now I've kind of tried to balance back out, like where I'm trying to test my body more. And I think as you're older, like your body's not as good as it was, but like, I.

You know, doing juujitsu and the adventure bike riding, I love and that pushing myself in that area. Like, and just to push, like I think that the thing of mentally when you try to just start to give up a little bit, I think that's, that's, you can't do that. Like you gotta, I wanna do more than I did in my forties.

I wanna be stronger in my fifties and my sixties. I wanna be really strong, you know? And I think that that mindset, you know, that's the, yeah. Go, go earn that. Make it happen because you know, you, you'll weather wave nothing if you let yourself

Riley: Yeah, that's becoming very real to me on how much, you know, it's easier to keep it once you have it than it is to try to build it from nothing. Right? So if you let yourself go too far, you know, I don't know if I've talked to you [01:23:00] since, but I had bout with pneumonia last year, where first part of January of 2025, I got double pneumonia, both lungs and it just about took me out.

Um. It was a, it was a kind of a crazy deal, man. 'cause my, my normal had gone so far downhill that all of a sudden at Jiujitsu that I normally would just tune up. Like I couldn't, like I was struggling with them and I would, I'd be outta gas and, you know, two minutes grappling. I just couldn't, it took a year to get that back, you know?

And so now we're a year and a few months later and I'm, I'm, I've got my lungs back now, you know, but it took, it took eight or nine months before I could get more than two or three rounds in be dying, man. I was, and it would take me down for days after that. It was, it was a scary time. And so I got to realize that, you know, that the physicality that I normally have, didn't for a time and I got to see what someone who lives a sedentary life. Feels like on a normal [01:24:00] basis, scared the crap outta me, dude. I'm like, there's all these things I wanna do in life. I didn't have the energy to achieve my goals. I didn't have the energy to, you know, hardly run my businesses, let alone grow them. Um, and then to excel in Juujitsu, you know, it was like, I could study it, but I couldn't perform it.

And it was, that was just a wake up call for me. was a wake up call for me. So, yeah, I hear you. As I progressed through, almost gonna enter my fifties. Um, yeah, I'm planning on not being the best decade yet, so that'd be great. Um,

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: Jesse, you mentioned some things. You been juujitsu, adventure, biking, those kind of things.

What, what was your favorite pastime when you're not in the business mindset?

Jesse Aldous: Mm. You know what's funny? My wife actually teased me a couple years ago and said, you know, you don't have a lot of hobbies. And I'd realized that I'd focused so heavily on being a, a successful entrepreneur, that I really had become a little bit unbalanced in that way. And, and I love doing things, but I, so [01:25:00] I, that was a good challenge for me.

So I, I've been pretty intentional about kinda shifting, taking the same things I like, like, like. Adventure riding. Like I, I got a couple motorcycles and I take that same kind of, like, when I think about a business plan, I'm going through Excel sheets and doing that. I take that same energy and put it into planning a trip to, I've got a trip planned to Utah and like what, what my, my pack list is and what this gonna be in my route.

And it's just putting energy into those kind of fun things. It's just, it's just fun and it's just something that's gonna, I know it's gonna be hard, it's gonna be challenging. The last time I went on, there was moments in it when I was like, I hate this. Like, what am I doing? This is terrible. But then it's like, ah, then you just have this reward at the end of it.

Right? Um, and so, uh, I think that, um, big skiing family, that's another one. You know, I, I love to ski, um, but I'm also fighting a knee injury. I had double knee surgery three years ago, so that's been holding me back a little bit with my skiing. So been, you know, working in the gym, trying to get that knee stronger and also, but love to ski.

Uh, we, I'd love to surf. I dunno if you've ever tried surfing behind a boat, but that is addicting. You have to come out the summer with us, like, it is so [01:26:00] much fun. It is way addicting though, 'cause, but it's great for the old guys because, you know, like wakeboarding or skiing, it's so fast and you just hit the water a million, you know, 30 miles an hour, surfing's super slow.

So when you, you can just stop and just sink, you know? And so it's fun. It's the, so love, so love to surf, love to ski. Um, love to spend time with my wife. I, her and I both have the travel bug, so I, we travel a lot. And, uh, so last year was a record for me. I was pretty much gone every other month somewhere.

So we just, yeah, like to see the world to do fun things. And the great thing with being a kind of nomad entrepreneur, I don't have to go into an office. So wherever I'm at, I got a laptop, I'm working, so I can be pretty free with my, you know, moving around. So that's kind of fun. So yeah, stay, stay pretty busy, but my kids are, you know, got, like I said, we, you know, it was hard to talk about, you know, having six kids.

It's, it's busy. Just tr trying to chase them around.

Riley: Yeah, for sure, for sure. Man. what's

Jesse Aldous: what's your

Riley: band of all time?

Jesse Aldous: band? I love Jack Johnson. [01:27:00] And it's funny, like I was a Cal rodeo cowboy. I mean, there's lots of love. Listen, cock Brooks and George Strait, I love all those old nineties country guys. But there's something about Jack Johnson. I, I don't know why I like listening to his music so much. I was listening to it this morning in the gym and it just is just like, ah, just happy chill.

I don't know. So that's probably one I, it's hard to say favorite of all time, but that's the first one that came to mind when you said it. Uh, but I'm pretty.

Riley: his is relaxing. Huh? Just puts you in just like this, like, I'm good with life kind

Jesse Aldous: Yeah,

Riley: Yeah.

Jesse Aldous: smile, happy. My first move to Boise, my, I drove into town and went to a Jack Johnson concert the first time I ever like, went to a concert. It wasn't like a country concert, and it was a, that was a really fun concert here in Nampa. So

Riley: dude. awesome, dude. Um, Jesse, what's something quirky about you that people don't know?

Jesse Aldous: quirky would be like, um, like I, because of how my brain works with like dyslexia, I'm really good at big picture stuff. Like when you gimme a big complex problem, I can put weird things together to make matches and work through it, but I'm. [01:28:00] I'm not detailed, like, so like I'm, that's a weakness and like, uh, you know, I I, I was at a marriage retreat last weekend and I, I left my wallet at the front desk and the lady had come find me.

I, I, and this is almost embarrassing. I, I had a really large check that I'd gotten from an acquisition, you know, and, and I had my back pocket and lost it in the yard. Yesterday I had to go like, where's that chick? Oh, it's in the yard. And I, I mean, like, so it's like, I'm, I'm little things are silly. Si silly, but then I skip on a really complex, weird problem I can figure out.

But that's just a quirky thing. Like, my wife teases me a lot of times 'cause details, little details escape me. But I, because my brain is just really know thinking about things and that's kind of a funny thing, but.

Riley: That's an interesting deal. 'cause you, you know, you're talking about this thing that generally is kind of looked at as a disability, but it's such a gift at times, man. I watch people that that deal with like a DD and stuff and they're magicians in certain areas. It's like, oh my gosh, how did you, how did you see that?

That way? [01:29:00] But they just have that ability and it's almost a superpower in some ways. But the reason societally we think it's a problem is 'cause it doesn't work in a classroom setting. Right.

Jesse Aldous: Absolutely.

Riley: you said, maybe you read slow, but when you read it, you got it. Your retention's super high.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah, yeah,

Riley: that's super cool, man.

Jesse Aldous: yeah. It's an interesting one.

Riley: oh, go ahead.

Jesse Aldous: Go ahead.

Riley: ahead.

Jesse Aldous: I was gonna say, you know, it's, uh, it's funny 'cause I used to, when I told that story about being younger when I was like 15 and went back to school, I would always say I, I probably read at a third grade level. Well my, one of my boys, my 14-year-old, he has dyslexia.

So when we had him tested, I went and got tested too and they did my reading test and said, you currently read at a third grade pace. Now it's funny, Riley, I share that kinda stuff openly now. I was so deathly afraid of anybody finding out that I was stupid when I was younger because I couldn't read hardly.

You know? So like, I, I would fear that like people I didn't want, I would keep that in the secret. Now I talk about it openly 'cause I'm like very confident, you know, I'm, I mean, [01:30:00] I'm succeeded at a pretty high level that I can be like, yeah, I'm not worried that someone thinks I, I'm not a good reader. So, because I, you know, but like, but I remember being in, in, in, uh, Jiffy Loop one time and I was like, Hey, I Jesse al this out, and he's typing away my address in the, in the Jiffy Loop.

And I, and at that moment I realized I can't work at Jiffy Loop. Boy could not do that today. I could, I could own 10 of 'em. I could not be the guy who types in the, you know, I just can't do that. So, like, it, it's made me. But it's so awesome if you're dyslexic and you're an entrepreneur with AI and dictation today, the tools, they're amazing.

Like the, the work I had to do to get through college, I had to work so hard. And now my son who kind of, you know, it's very hereditary. He's killing it and doing so well. But we also homeschooled him. So we didn't hold him back to his level. He jumped multiple grades in other subjects and then he's held back in just this subject.

And so, you know, again, like me, he's really good at math, you know, so when he was in third grade, he's doing seventh grade math and we didn't, we could just let him go, you know, so it is, there's different [01:31:00] strengths. We all have strengths and weaknesses and I think that being able to like be open about that and talk through 'em, I think is, you know, it's good.

'cause we all have insecurities too, you know, there's always that question internally like, am I valued? Am I good? You know, and so, yeah, it's, it's good to talk about those.

Riley: It's interesting dude. 'cause you're, you used the word stupid, you know? And I know that's, you know, you're not stupid. You're a very intelligent dude. you've thought it, you thought about it as, I'm stupid. 'cause I read slow. Right. But a break, man. I've watched you over the, like, there's, there's nothing stupid about you.

And I think because it doesn't perform high on a classroom test, we can view that as, as stupid. It's, I, I watch my wife read, dude, she'll read a book in a, in, in a Sunday. She'll sit down and I'm, I'm sitting on a chair across the living room from her and I just keep glancing over watching that bookmark.

Like I can see it move through the book. I'm getting a breeze off her turning the pages right.

Jesse Aldous: Uh

Riley: how, how is this happening? And you know, for me, I'll sit down [01:32:00] for an hour and read

Jesse Aldous: mm-hmm.

Riley: reading. But man, I can put a lot of time into it 'cause I'm, I'm with you.

I'm a little slow.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's good to talk about those kinds of things. 'cause again, I didn't ever, I mean, no one ever said that to me until I was probably in my thirties. Like, I just didn't realize that other people, I just thought I couldn't, 'cause I was so, I was in so many, I didn't have a good, you know, I bounced around schools didn't have a good education.

I thought that's why it was, but it was just how my brain's wired. But I'm very grateful for it because I, it's what has allowed me to think about things in a way, it really is great as an entrepreneur. And so that's why, that's why I tell my, my 14-year-old, like, this is, this is your superpower buddy.

You're gonna be able to do things that others can't. This is some weaknesses here. You're gonna have to grow. It's gonna be harder. That's okay. Yeah. It's life.

Riley: Yeah. Almost every world champion in anything had to overcome some, something like that. Right? They had to work through

Jesse Aldous: Yep.

Riley: that was just difficult. Uh, Jesse, what's the scariest moment of your life?[01:33:00]

Jesse Aldous: Boy, the first thing that comes to mind is when my, my oldest son got hurt. He had a compound fractured bone broke, came through the skin, and he was a couple hours surgery. I remember sitting in the waiting room and just thinking, you know, just feeling helpless, like as a dad, you just want to protect and take care of your kids here.

That's your job. So, you know, I think that's a hard one. I mean, I, I think because I'm not, I don't get scared very easy. There's not a lot that bluffs me. You know, I can. And, uh, so yeah, that was a time I could say I just felt, I just couldn't control it, right? Like, I wasn't the doctor. I didn't know how to go do the surgery, but trying to put that in someone else's hands so that, you know, when you really love your family, you got, you know, that's what matters.

Riley: Jesse, what is the, the best advice you've ever received?

Jesse Aldous: So I would say, I mean, business advice, I would say, you know, the two reasons businesses fail, lack of capital, lack of knowledge. But the more of the two you can get, the better you'll be successful. As far as business, um, in life, [01:34:00] I would say it would come back to just understanding what success is. And that really happiness comes from when your current circumstance aligns with your current expectation.

You know, so, um, and so there's areas in my life where I've had to say, you know, do I need that expectation? And I've had, and I've adjusted it to closer to my current circumstance. Um, like there's some business side things and some, you know, some lofty goals that I have that I thought, you know, I'm gonna adjust that down.

I don't think I need to hit that. But like an example of my health, my health has always been like, I wanna be healthier and stronger and I've left that one higher. So I'm, I gotta, I gotta bring my current circumstance higher. And then when those equal, that's, that's really when you have peace and happiness, I think, and know.

So, uh, those, probably those two bits be what comes to mind.

Riley: Yeah. If you, uh, if you could give advice to someone else, what would it be?

Jesse Aldous: So the, you know, you can't do anything about your circumstances. You can't, there's certain things you cannot control. You can't [01:35:00] control where you're born, who you're born as if you're six foot or five foot. You can't control if you're male or female. You can't control if you're born in America or, or Europe or wherever you know, you, the things you can't control.

Just leave it alone, drop it, get rid of it. 'cause you can't control it. So there's no reason. Don't spend two seconds thinking about that. But when you focus on your circle of influence, the things you can control, your demeanor, when you wake up and your position against the world, you know, and, and you, and, and, and, and you lean in to it to expect great things, I think that's your best opportunity to get the best things outta life.

And that still might suck. So if you expect that everything's gonna be perfect, you're going to be disappointed. But if you expect that every great thing and you can find the, the joy and excitement and the smallest of things, you can really enjoy the passage of time in your life. And, um, and, and finding the gratefulness meaning, you know, gratefulness is, is an antidote to, to depression.

You know, if you, you're, you're, if you're, you know, if you're sad and, and you are, you're [01:36:00] depressed about the past and you're anxious about the future, and you can draw into the present and realize like, what is the, what can I be grateful for in this moment? Like, I can be right now in this moment. I can be grateful that I met Riley Rogers.

I'm be grateful I met you and know you, and that, that I've been able to experience and learn from you. Like, I can generally in my heart be like, how I'm thankful for that. I can be grateful for, for the next, you know, interaction I have with my kids. I can be grateful for the next meal. I can be grateful for so much.

There's so much to be grateful for. And as you focus on the things you be grateful for, it will propel you and you expect great things and focus on great things. It just sets your demeanor to life. Um, and so I think that's the best advice I could give somebody.

Riley: Well said man. Jesse, what's an item on your bucket list?

Jesse Aldous: I wanna get my blue belt that's in there. Um, I want to, I wanna, I wanna help other entrepreneurs achieve their, their goals. I like [01:37:00] that. I love, I love helping other people win. Um, I hope I can do that with my kids. You know, that's a bucket list thing. I hope I can get three rides in this year. Three, three or four day rides in my bike.

That's another goal. Gotta get out on that thing a little more, not, and, and, and work a little less and, and play a little more. Throttle that back. And also make sure, you know, you're spending, spend an appropriate amount of time adding value and, and giving, right? So when you talk about giving, you know, giving financially, giving of your time.

So there's some, there's some, you know, a good friend of mine actually one time, and you know, it's actually Mark, you know, his, his, I asked him a bunch of questions about things and he runs, ran through all these different parts of life, and he's like, I don't think it'd change anything. I thought, man, you don't know how amazing that is.

The people to engineered your life in a way that I spend the right amount of time in my church and my wife, and my kids and my job. I've got those ratios dialed in like that, that is something that's a bucket list for me. I want to get my ratios to where I'm, I'm allocating my values towards my activities, where [01:38:00] my values, you know, line up with my calendar.

Riley: That is such a thing, you know, Mark's such a stud in that, right? He's, he's done a good job at engineering that. I think always a balance. We're, we're shooting for, it's like, you, you kinda mentioned it earlier. Now do I need to set the goal up here or can I back that goal down and increased time with my family or time doing, you know, going to ride your bike or whatever it happens to be.

You know, what, is the balance? And you know, I think that changes season to season. Um, it's different now that your kids are. you've got more of them, right? So there it

Jesse Aldous: Yeah.

Riley: now than it was when you had three and now you got

Jesse Aldous: Uhhuh.

Riley: you know, you're, you're in this, uh, every time you add another kid to the family, you get this other, you know, perspective on life.

But then same thing with a business man. I, yeah, what you're saying just really rings true. But, but yeah, it's seasonal. Sometimes you feel like you got it all going Exactly right. And then some little change happens. All of a sudden [01:39:00] you gotta adjust. And, uh, it's beautiful dude.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. Gotta enjoy every season.

Riley: Yeah, for sure.

You, you mentioned that staying in the present, right? You're realizing that this time's gonna pass. So you better enjoy it when it's here.

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. We're probably a similar feeling. Like I feel like this next five years is so important because in five years, like I did some math and realized like, okay, none of my kids are married. I don't have seriously, like the next five years, uh, most of about. A couple of 'em will probably be married. I mean, realistically, you know, they'll probably start to meet spouses.

They're already doing that. And then I, I start thinking, well, by 2030 if what happened to my wife's family from 2030 to 2040, I should on average have about a grandkid a year. You know, it's like just doing, you know, like, so like, you know, the next five, 10 years I'm thinking, you know, my wife's like, what are you thinking about that?

I'm like, I don't know. I'm just thinking about life and what that looks like. So five years from now, these kids are outta the house and then these guys are here, and then we've got grandkids and, you know, just every season's different. And so you just have to kind of give space to make sure that you're valuing those opportunities.

I, I, uh, this is a funny thing to say, but I dunno why. I just have like an excitement about [01:40:00] being a grandpa someday. I mean, my kids are so younger, but I just got gonna be so much fun. And I have this, I have five boys, so I think there's five young ladies out there that are gonna be daughters. That one's exciting.

I don't know what they're doing. I don't know 'em yet. Like that's gonna be such a cool thing to meet them. And then, so I'm just praying for 'em right now. I just hope that, you know, God's doing work in their lives and moving in the right place. I don't know, it's just exciting to think about. So again.

That's a fun thing. Now you can also think, I can also tell you, I, raising a bunch of teenagers is massively stressful. And man, I'm learning stuff and I'm hitting in rocks and, and I can tell you like, you know, there's been some seasons and even the most recent that are really challenging. And so it's like I can focus on those, but I can also focus on these exciting things, right?

So that's kind of this balance of, you know, what you focus on. But

Riley: That's great, man. Jesse, what's your favorite book of all time? Something you'd

Jesse Aldous: by Eli Weel

Riley: What's that

Jesse Aldous: Knight by Eli Weisel. And, uh, I've, and that's a hard, it's a hard one to say 'cause I've

Riley: a p Suit of Armor Night, or is it like

Jesse Aldous: Nope,

Riley: the

Jesse Aldous: uh, yeah, [01:41:00] no, like the dark and, uh, it's the, actually it's funny 'cause right, it's the very first book that I read cover to cover. I read it when I was 17 and I was driving to Las Vegas in a motor home, going to a rodeo.

When I finished reading it. And when I finished reading it, I thought, I have to read this book every year. And, uh, I, I actually, funny enough, I'm reading it right now. I'm, I'm, I'm reading it again. Uh, I can, I know the book really well. Um, but I've read, read, I've read hundreds of books and I love, there's so many books I could, and I could go on for, we could spend a whole podcast just talking about books that impact my life.

But this one, it's about, um, the person who wrote it, um, he's passed away now, but he, um, he went through the, in, into Auschwitz. It's during, uh, world War ii, and it's his story for one year of his life of going through the concentration camp. And when you read the story and you go through and you get to the end, he talks about, you know, as the camp's been liberated.

And he, and as the book ends, it's, he says, and that was [01:42:00] my year from year 14 to 15. And you go, oh my gosh, that was a year. That felt like a lifetime of just, that was a year. And, and I read, when I closed that book, I, I just realized, man, if he can do that. I can do anything. There's nothing throw, I can do anything.

And it just gave me a level of hope. And I, so I think, you know, when you're, when you're hopeless, you can't do anything. But when you set your parameter, that book is a great book. And the first book's night, the second one's, uh, Dawn and then day. So he talks about like what happens during him, then what happens afterwards.

So it's a trilogy, but the first book is the one that's for me was just life changing. And it was, again, it was a, it was a required reading in high school. So it wasn't even something I picked, it was something I had to read for an English class, and it was super impactful.

Riley: That's amazing, man. Now you got me curious. I'm gonna have to go check that one out.

Jesse Aldous: That's a

Riley: I've,

Jesse Aldous: you can, you can sit and read it quick.

Riley: I asked that question for selfishness, man. It's like my way to get book recommendations, ask podcast guests what their favorite book is. I love it. Oh gosh. [01:43:00] Um, what's next for you, man? Where are we going from here?

Jesse Aldous: So, you know, it's pretty exciting. I've got, you know, a couple of my companies that are hopping and moving. I'm expanding and adding some more employees and, um, you know, I've kind of had this season where I throttled back a lot 'cause I was spend a lot of time with kids and I'm, things are going good. The kids, they're getting a little older.

So I'm kind of, I'm leading in 2026 is gonna be a bigger year. I'm, um, I've forged a couple partnerships on some businesses. I have my, you know, minority ownerships in and yeah, I'm just gonna gonna get after it. Uh, so I think we're gonna, it's gonna be a fun year. So, it's some challenging stuff and I'm feeling some growing pains and, uh, but I, I like it, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a fun season.

I think 26. I'm gonna work a little harder and play a little less in some ways. But again, back to that ratio thing, I'm gonna, I've talked to my wife and said, we're gonna lean in for a little bit and I think by, you know, Q3, I'll be able to. Relax a little bit. But anyway, so that's kind of what's, you know, I'm excited about 2026.

I've, I found a lot of, you know, it's fun to, it's fun to find businesses build. I, you [01:44:00] know, I, I'm buying and selling businesses through my brokerage, and I'm representing salaries, but then I'm also still, you know, playing in there and buying some, uh, you know, acquiring some businesses on my own. So that's fun.

Riley: It's exciting, man. are you, uh, you on the social media somewhere where people could find you?

Jesse Aldous: Yeah. LinkedIn, you know, I've got, um, you know, fairly active on LinkedIn. Audiology acquisitions.com is one of my websites, Bristol Group. Um, you know, and, uh, yeah, those are the best place to, you know, but probably LinkedIn's probably the, the best place to find me if somebody wanted to hit me up. I mean, I do, you know, one of my main businesses is valuing and helping entrepreneurs exit businesses successfully.

And I do some consulting in that area too. So, you know, if, if someone's listening to this and has a business and wondering what it's worth, wondering what, you know, how does that look? I love talking to business owners. I love setting up a Zoom call and chatting 'em through it, and, and, and I can help. Build structure and give 'em guidance on that.

That was something I kinda lacked when I did my first acquisition. I tried to find people and I really didn't find a good resource. So I, I love [01:45:00] being that resource for others.

Riley: Wonderful man. Yeah. We'll have those links in the little description below. Jesse. Dude, it's been freaking awesome sitting, chatting with you. You're a, you're a wise man. You've got a lot of good input and I think people are gonna really like this episode. Dude, and appreciate you coming on. Almost teared me up, dude. I just, this is, this is rad.

Jesse Aldous: That's a privilege, man's privilege to have, friend.

Riley: yeah, go earn your salt, my friend.

Jesse Aldous: Okay,

Hey, you've just finished up this episode and I want to know, are you or someone you know getting after it go earn your salt type of person? If so, message me directly on Instagram at the Go Earn Your Salt podcast and perhaps we can have you on the show also, if you'd like this content, leave us a review, subscribe and share with your friends and perhaps this.

Podcast can help you and them go earn your [01:46:00] salt.

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The Go Earn Your SALT Podcast Episode Transcript- Jesse Aldous: Entrepreneur, Rodeo Cowboy