Chiseled - We're all a work in progress - with Rob Commodari

Chiseled EP 132 - Where is God in All This? - Becky Galli

If you've been listening to Chiseled, you know I have amazing guests who share personal stories of overcoming hardship, living through the paradoxes of faith, and using everything they've learned to help others. Every guest on this show has discovered a purpose in pain or testified about a lesson learned from conquering their own challenges. It's a blessing for me to have interviewed each of them and to help tell their tales. And, oh my, this week we got a doozy. Becky Galli was hit with all of the worst kinds of troubles: a sibling's childhood death, two special-needs children, a divorce, and her own unexplained paralysis. But did she let it get her down? Yeah. She did. Naturally, she asked, "Why me?" "What am I, Calamity Jane?" she joked. "The Job or Jobette; it's a lot. It was a lot and I felt that, where is God in all that?" But Becky decided to stop sitting at "the edge of a pity pit" and look at the "evidence" of her own endurance. "If you can look back at the times that you've been sad and you've gotten through it, that evidence kind of gives you confidence that you will get through this too." Becky was lucky to have an example set by her father, a minister and author of the book, "Sit Down, God, I'm Angry." Knowing she had permission to get angry with God, Becky worked through her sadness by writing her sorrows down, allowing others to carry her load when she was unable, and keeping the faith, even when she was challenged in every way. With the help of a friend and a burgeoning internet, Becky turned her misfortunes into a series of op-eds at The Baltimore Sun. Her writing career took off from there. She started writing short stories with reflective questions that turned into the book, "Rethinking Possible." She has now written 400 columns, countless blogs, and is working on her third book. It's got a working title I love: "Losing Without Losing It." Becky also works as an advocate for Pathfinders for Autism, an organization that helps parents of children with autism locate educational resources and assistance. I've had the fortune to get to know this group and I'm better for it.  I'm also fortunate to convey Becky's advice on dealing with adversity: stay strong, keep the faith, and keep moving through it. And I hope you keep enjoying each episode of Chiseled.

Chiseled Ep 131 - Procrastination Proof_ Never Get Stuck Again - Jon Acuff

Sometimes when I interview someone very affable and professional, I think to myself, "No wonder this guy sold a million books." That's how I think about today's guest on Chiseled, Jon Acuff. Jon is so funny, polished, and purpose-driven that he fills the screen and every room he enters. Some would say, Jon was born winning. He was fortunate enough to grow up the son of a minister in a household where humor was everywhere. "Our dinner table was like an open mic night," he says. But married with kids and at a dead end in his career, Jon was in his 30s before he realized that the "stage and page" — public speaking and book-writing — drove his sense of purpose and meaning. So, he decided to re-invent himself. Drawing from his youth, Jon wrote his first book as a satire about church life. Later, having worked for financial adviser Dave Ramsey, his second book was a satire about money. Having now finished his 11th book, Jon is an expert in writing about how to avoid procrastination and give yourself permission to find your purpose and live your dreams. As Jon explains this week, many of the barriers to success are mostly within ourselves. But people often blame events outside themselves — the economy, government, or parents — for not getting started on a plan to achieve their goals. "A lot of people are going, 'Until this happens, I can't do it,'" he says. "For me in my mid-30s I realized I was waiting for someone else to change my career, and unfortunately, I realized, 'Oh wait, it's me. The one who has the most skin in the game in Jon Acuff's career is Jon Acuff,'" he said. I met Jon when he was a speaker for a Buffini Coaching event. He's not a realtor; he's a corporate leadership speaker. He is also a great joke teller and even shares how to craft a joke to get the laughs. Jon has clearly thought through — as a result of living through — what prevents us from reaching our goals. He offers several bits of advice on overcoming barriers. "Stuck doesn't have an expiration," he explains, noting that it's a lifelong challenge to break through the blocks. He adds that he follows his own advice every day — waking up in the morning and asking himself, "What are the things I'm trying to do? What are the dreams I'm building? What's the mindset I want going into this? How do I set this ahead of time. How do I figure this out? How do I have a great attitude about this?" Those are a lot of questions, and you don't have to be a born entrepreneur or even an especially positive person to answer them. However, what you need to succeed, according to Jon, is to stop listening to the broken soundtracks in your mind. So, push through the skip in the vinyl record of your mind and give yourself permission to pursue your dreams. You can start by listening to this entertaining and inspirational episode of Chiseled.

Chiseled Ep 130 - True Grit - Miriam McKinney

When Miriam McKinney got divorced in the early 2010s, she ended up in a financial hole. Depressed and broke, she wallowed a bit and wondered what to do with herself. But her self-pity didn't last long. As an already successful realtor, Miriam did what she advises her clients to do — invest in real estate. "It's the best long-term investment; it's the best way for wealth. That's what we tell our clients," she said. "So, I knew that's how I could make up ground." Invest she did. But not before spending two years living a stoic life, turning down the finer things that her hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, offers, so she could squirrel away some savings and buy a property with cash. With her scrimping, Miriam was able to buy a foreclosure in 2014. She fixed it up, leased it to long-term renters, and sold it years later for double what she bought it. Then she did it again. Using investment strategies like a 1031 exchange, Miriam is now not just a realtor, but a highly successful investor with multiple properties. "It's just one of those things that when you get a little bit of success and you have the mindset that 'I can do this, I got this,' then it's just like a snowball." Miriam says she relied on three things to push past her early fear — her faith, her experience as an educator, and her decision to surround herself with people who share her mindset, including fellow members of her "Buffini family" real estate coaching program. "When you want to change your mindset, and if you've got goals, you have to surround yourself, you have to saturate yourself with other people ... (who) can help your mindset," she said. As an avid reader who is on a personal development journey that includes being a founding member of the John Maxwell certified coaching team, Miriam says she believes her purpose includes teaching investment strategies, particularly to women. "Along my journey I have helped other people, encouraged other people, and shown them a path: how you do this, how you invest in real estate and become a millionaire, a multi-millionaire just by thinking long-term." Miriam's southern drawl and thoughtful responses to my questions may charm you into considering an investment strategy of your own. She is happy to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. You can learn more about her success and her process on this week's episode of Chiseled.

Chiseled Ep 55 - Anything is Possible - Ty Nichols

At age 21, Ty Nichols was "cooking" as Comcast's top Mid-Atlantic region salesman for 19 months in a row. He was looking to buy property in Panama and create a successful life and career — until he ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hanging out with friends he had known since preschool, Ty found himself caught in a massive brawl. Though a bystander, he was arrested and charged with first-degree assault and second-degree murder. "I'm staring down a million-dollar bond and I didn't even do anything," he said. Ty ended up getting sentenced to 15 years, which was suspended to five. He served three years in a state penitentiary. A former Catholic school student, Ty turned to the Bible on his first night in jail. He opened up to a random page and landed on Psalm 1, whose first line starts with "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked." Ty knew that he had to steer clear of troublemakers and eliminate from his life the people who got him into his mess. "Those that you surround yourself with do have a massive impact on your life," he said. After his release, Ty did everything he could to say on the straight and narrow path. After several attempts to find work, Target finally gave Ty a chance. He worked his way up, eventually becoming a store manager, team leadership trainer, and recruiter. After 14 years at Target, Ty moved on and opened up his own business. He now teaches professionals and leaders how to be more productive, more impactful, and more influential through behavior design and habit formation. To get to his success Ty needed motivation, skills, and the will to succeed. It wasn't easy, but thanks to a little help from new friends, a supportive wife, lots of dedication, and a clear vision, Ty is a public speaker, a behavioralist, and the "habit strategist," who helps individuals reach the mindset they need to achieve their goals. I was fortunate to be introduced to Ty by our mutual Toastmaster friends, Karen and Frank Story. Ty really teaches us that anything is possible — both good and bad — and how we use the lessons from our experiences will determine how our futures will progress. I'm pleased to share Ty's engaging story and insights on this episode of Chiseled.

Chiseled Ep 129 - From Wall Street to God’s Harvest: The Story of First Fruits Farm - Rich Bernstein

Rich Bernstein always wanted to get back to his roots. Born into a Jewish family in a rural area up north and originally expecting to become a farmer, Rich ended up in Baltimore, MD, as a pre-med student at Johns Hopkins University. Detouring from that plan, he instead became a highly successful financial analyst and funds manager. Rich then took another unexpected route: he converted to Christianity and moved his family onto a farm. "I'd always been interested in agriculture," he said. "I never lost that love for farming." His wife, Carol, who was supportive of the move, insisted they don't just buy more land to have more stuff but to till it for the glory of God. So, after Rich got baptized in 1997, he asked six worshipers from his church — all of whom had grown up on farms — to help him launch a project to provide fresh, nutritious food for the needy. Between his management expertise, the group's agriculture acumen, and evidently some help from above, Rich and his fellow "pioneers," all of whom are still involved in the project, turned a garden that was just one-third of an acre into a 281-acre farming interest producing three million pounds-plus of food annually.  All of it feeds the hungry, but First Fruits Farm distinguishes itself from other meal services by nourishing the spirit as well as the body.  "God knew what he was doing. I wasn't going to have a vocational career in agriculture. I was going to have a ministerial career," he said. Run entirely on volunteers, Rich says in addition to food, First Fruit Farms offers educational programming that attracts students from all over the area, whether kids attending wealthy private schools or children who have never seen a farm living in the inner city.  All the students visiting the farm learn the same lessons: they are uniquely individual souls for whom God has a plan — and the place isn't called "First Fruits" for nothing. "We're not giving people rotting vegetables and saying, 'Hope you're OK with that,'" he said. "Jesus is pretty clear: 'Whatever you do for people, it's as if you did that to me.' ... I wouldn't dream of giving Jesus apples that were smashed by a bulldozer." Little-known fact: according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Baltimore County has more than 70,000 acres of farmland producing $93 million in agriculture sales each year. If a small piece of that market is going to establish God's kingdom on earth here in Baltimore, then the produce from First Fruits surely tastes delicious. I have volunteered at Fresh Fruits Farm, and it was a meaningful experience that I hope to do again. I encourage you to get out there sometime and try a little harvesting of your own. In the meantime, you can reap the benefits of Rich's wisdom on this week's episode of Chiseled.