IDL23 Season 1: Changing the Narrative with Erik Allen
What does it mean to lead through example? Why do you have to learn to quit to be able to win? Does life happen to you, or for you?
Erik Allen shares his impactful journey, how he overcame it all, and has changed the narrative. He realized that he had value to bring to this world and is leading by example. As a leader, if you’re aspiring to create more influence, it really is about finding out who you are and overcoming any obstacles in your past that may be weighing you down, and continue to find ways to serve people.
Meet Erik Allen
Raised in a broken home, battled addictions, jailed at 18, bankrupt at 21 only to turn everything around. 16 years sober, beautiful wife, two kids, podcaster, speaker, & now helping up and coming MMA fighters & entrepreneurs get known and noticed online
Visit his website and connect with Erik on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Listen to Erik’s podcast and connect with the Erik Allen show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Listen to the Top Rated MMA podcast and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In this episode we discuss:
Breaking the generational curse to build a new legacy
Leading by example
You have to quit to win
BREAKING THE GENERATIONAL CURSE TO BUILD A NEW LEGACY
“I’ve been sober for 16 years so our kids see a completely different childhood than I had or my wife had. We’re spending time with our kids, we’re doing adventures and exploring. We’re having fun and being present with our kids, where that didn’t happen as kids for my wife and I. ”
Erik Allen and his wife had committed to creating the life for their children that they did not have when they were younger.
They recognized the pain they went through and decided together as a couple to not go down that same path. They forged a new legacy for their family by changing the cycle of abuse and creating a cycle of love and support.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Erik teaches his children to follow their dreams by modeling that behavior in himself.
“One thing I strive to do is to show my kids that hard work is where it’s at, you’ve gotta fight for your dream always. I show my kids [that] I get up at 4 am six days a week because I’m fighting for my dream of being a full-time podcaster, speaker, entrepreneur. ”
By working hard at his goals and making time for his family at the end of each day, Erik is modeling to his children that when you work hard and put your effort in, it is possible for you to create the life you want to live.
YOU HAVE TO QUIT TO WIN
In order to achieve your goals, successes, and dreams, you have to quit your old self. You need to quit your old thought patterns, your old habits, the negative people keeping you stuck, and the excuses that you tell yourself.
In order to win, and to succeed, you need to quit who you used to be so that you can create a new version of yourself who can let go of the murky past and be an active agent in your life.
“I had to quit being lazy, quit being around negative people, quit the drama man and once I realized that, that I could step out and break that whole generational curse, I could be the first entrepreneur in my family. ”
You have to get out of your comfort zone and connect with the people who inspire you.
Resources, books, and links mentioned in this episode:
Visit his website and connect with Erik on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Listen to Erik’s podcast and connect with the Erik Allen show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Listen to the Top Rated MMA podcast and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Get a free copy of Ed Mylett’s book
The Impact Driven Leader YouTube Channel
Join the Impact Driven Leader Community
Connect with Tyler on Instagram and LinkedIn
BOOK | Adam Grant – Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
BOOK | Phil Knight – Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
BOOK | Ed Mylett – #MaxOut Your Life: Strategies for Becoming an Elite Performer
About the Impact Driven Leader Podcast
The Impact Driven Leader Podcast, hosted by Tyler Dickerhoof, is for Xillennial leaders who have felt alone and ill-equipped to lead in today's world. Through inspiring interviews with authors from around the world, Tyler uncovers how unique leadership strengths can empower others to achieve so much more, with real impact.
Rate, review and subscribe here on Apple Podcasts or subscribe on Stitcher and Spotify.
I had to quit being lazy, quit being around negative people, quit with the drama man. and once I realized that, that I could step out and break that whole generational curse… i could be the first entrepreneur in my family…
Chris Allen
Podcast Transcription
[TYLER DICKERHOOF]
As you've heard, part of this podcast is also doing the Impact Driven Leader round table. I want you to listen to this quick message from Josh, who's part of the Impact Driven Leader round table, the value that he's gotten out of it. And this is an invitation. I want you to come sit at our table. You're going to learn, you're going to grow and you can't help, but have a great time with us. So thank you to Josh for being a part of the round table. And I invite you. You're listening. There's a seat for you with your name on it. Come join us.
[JOSH]
Hey, Tyler. Josh here. Hey, I just want to take a quick second and thank you for all you're doing with the Impact Driven Leader, in particular book club round table. And when I first was thinking about starting the round table, I was looking at reading one book a month, and this was in addition to, I'm a big reader. In addition to the other books, I would be reading plus a busy career, a really busy family. And I thought, man, I just don't know if I can do that. But sometimes in life you think, I just need to go for it. And I made this decision to go for it. I'll tell you what, I haven't regretted a single second. I've been able to keep up. It has really pushed me and challenged me to do that and often in life, we think we can't and yet we don't even know our limits.
I've been able to keep up. The conversations have been incredible. In fact, not just the books, but the conversations that we've had at the round table have really impacted me, impacted my thoughts, impacted my actions and therefore impacted my business and the people around me. And I've got a ton of value out of. It's been very worth the time, worth every minute, and I would do it again if I could. I would certainly encourage anybody who wants to grow in leadership, be connected to people from various industries across the nation to get involved and get going.
[TYLER]
Welcome back to the Impact Driven Leader podcast. This is your host, Tyler Dickerhoof. I'm excited to be with you here again. Thank you for listening in. I just want to say thank you so much for the people that have sent me messages, that have caught me out and about. I was at my son's basketball game and one of the people that listen to this podcast said how much value they've gotten. She was taking one of my son's soccer teammates to soccer and his mom was telling me how much she's enjoyed listening to the podcast. So thank you guys. Kelly and Allie, thank you so much for those kind words. And as well, maybe if I don't run into you listening to this podcast, you've gotten value at some point along the way, man, I would love nothing more than a message just to know that I'm making a difference, also that I can keep making a, in someone else's life.
So I would love if you shared this with someone. If you got value out of this episode, one of the other previous episodes share it with someone. Give me a rating and review so that way more people can find it. I'm always surprised and excited to, and when I hear from people that are listening to these episodes and getting so much value from each of the guests. And today, I hope you get a lot more value from our guest, Erik Allen. Erik, I have known for a couple of years now and had the great opportunity to be a guest on his podcast and as well, he was kind enough to be a guest here for the Impact Driven Leader podcast. And the greatest thing that I want you to gain from this is, is not every leader is this CEO, is this author, is this person right now.
Erik is that person that is on the journey to do so and his journey is so impactful. You're going to hear some crazy stories in this interview. Where I want to really emphasize is the fact of becoming an overcomer because when you become an overcomer, when you realize you have value to bring and service to impart on this world, man, you can make a difference in every single way. I'm so thankful for the relationship I have with Erik. I'm so thankful for how he's poured into my life and been an example of what's possible. I want to share that to you as a person, listening in as someone who is aspiring to create more influence in their leadership. It's really about finding out who you are, overcoming whatever has been in your past and just find ways to serve people. Erik has done that, enjoy this episode and I'll catch you at the end as we wrap up.
All right, Erik, thank you so much for joining me here on the Impact Driven Leader podcast. Glad to be talking to you. If people are watching the video, this will be eventually on YouTube, you see the big American flag behind you. You see the almost, like you could pass as a Dark Dynasty member with the beard. You know, it's really I even saw one of the guys, he shaved his beard, trimmed it down. So he's not quite as crazy. Man, I'm glad to have you here and excited to talk about you, to talk about the brand, the Bearded Biz, that podcast that you hosted for awhile, now the Erik Allen Show, the Top Rated MMA. I'm so excited to talk about that stuff and glad to have you here, man.
[ERIK ALLEN]
Oh, thank you so much, man. This is such an honor to be on the show with you, man. I'm really excited to jam with you.
[TYLER]
Yes. So let's just kick it off. How did you get to where you're at now where, you know, leading a couple podcast and from this excitement and really kind of this passion for MMA and how that's evolved into kind of what doing now. That's how it started, but like tie that all together for the audience and share about who Erik is.
[ERIK]
Yes. I mean, I guess if we go way back, like I grew up in Eastern Washington down in Tri-Cities area when Sunday school, little league, my dad would take my buddy Dave and literally throw us in dumpsters behind the big stores and say, "Go find treasure," or stuff like that. That was like pretty normal. Hopefully, maybe I was, I don't know. But like he would just take us and go throw us in those dumpsters. And then I was 11 years old, my parents decided to get divorced and then my mom and her boyfriend decided to have a baby. And they moved us to Stevensville in Montana in the middle of my eighth grade year. There's population, 1200 people up there.
Before we moved, it was about a year before we moved that they were together. He's very alcoholic, physically abusive. So I watched my mom get beat up a ton and she never pressed charges and it always frustrated the heck out of me. So they moved to this house in Montana, it's five acres, two ponds, really beautiful land and it's got three bedrooms, one for them, one for our brother, one for my sister. And they said, "Erik, you get to live in a garage." So they literally put up a plastic tarp on one half of a garage and stuck a bed out there and they put the truck, would pull in on the other side of that plastic tarp. And during the winters of Montana, it gets pretty cold up there. I'll tell you that, and I had a fireplace out there.
I could stoke that as much as I could, but middle of night, that thing goes out. It's pretty cold during the winter. And the abuse didn't stop up there. I literally continued to watch that happen and then when I was 13-years-old I'm brushing my teeth in the bathroom. The way the house was set up was behind me was the kitchen to the pantry to the garage where I lived and they came up arguing, no big deal, no different than any other night, but something that's, I was like, "Man, you got to turn around." So I like turn around. I see him standing on top of my mom and boom, boom, boom, one shot after the other. I go "Man, I got to get this guy off." So I like walked up behind him, I grabbed one of those cast iron pans, those ones that you take with you camping and I just swung as hard as I could with both hands and split the back of his head open.
As that happened, it didn't knock him out. He turned around and he's like, "What?" And then as he said that I took another swing and split the forehead open and lots of blood coming at this point still didn't knock him out. So it's just crazy. He stood up and I had fallen over on that second swing. So I'm on the ground and he's yelling. Also, my mom pops up and like lands like six shots to his chin and blood spots on the wall behind him and it was just insane. Cops showed up, took him to jail for the night, never pressed charges. At that point my mom kicked me out of the house for my last three months of my freshman year. So I moved around with friends and that just led me on this path of like no accountability and drugs and drinking.
During high school, I was 18-years-old, I got arrested for having a bong, which is now legal in the state of Washington, which is kind of funny, but no money. So by the time I'm 21 years old, I'm $28,000 in debt and have to file bankruptcy, and yes, just led this path down destruction. And I do remember as a kid like watching pay-per-views Mike Tyson and stuff like that. So I started watching combat sports at a pretty early age. I remember UFC one and two. My cousin and I would rent on VHS, UFC one and two and so we were watching that. So that just kind of carried into my adulthood and that's how we launched Top Rated MMA in 2012.
[TYLER]
Okay. So that's it. That's a lot. We've met, we've talked a little bit about that, but for the audience, and it's amazing because, I believe this and I had this thought this morning is, are the crucible moments in our life define us. You know, I've shared a little bit on this story on the show, I've shared with you that when I was 14 and when my younger brother died and how I dealt with that, how I put walls around, I put my head down and I just pushed. And you talked about that experience of in that family and just kind of the abuse, how that led you down a path of really kind of no accountability. That's what I really heard you say a lot of times. So as you evolve through life, you have your bankruptcy, where does all the sudden some accountability start coming from? Because you are a productive person of society, you are a father, you are someone who's doing great things to encourage people. So how did that transform or help the audience understand, okay, see that in your experience, how are you where you are now?
[ERIK]
You know, I was working at Starbucks at night while I was in the music business. So I was going to concerts like massive. I was working at Universal Records for two years. I went to about 175 concerts, lived that rockstar lifestyle and I got laid off right during the Napster days after one year anniversary. So I was this press guy, go to Starbucks, work at night and get off work and go to VHR, Hollywood video, rent a movie, and drink a six pack of beer and go to sleep and repeat every day.
And then one night, this girl walked into Starbucks and she invited me to this church event down in Renton, Washington. She said, "Hey, it's this college-age event. It might be fun for you to hang out." I had no friends. I was like, "Yes, I'll go." So I ended up knowing all these people from that event that I actually grew up with down in Tri-Cities, which is just a weird small town. And about a month later, it was Easter 2004, I was partying with the band that I was managing and on Easter morning, I woke up surrounded by about 15 people in my buddy's basement. And in that moment I felt God say, "You're done." I quit cold Turkey, drinking, drugs, cigarettes, everything right there. And I called that girl and I said, "Hey, I hopefully I'll see you at the store. Happy Easter." I got her voicemail. About a year later, we were married. Now we've been married for 16 years and have two awesome kids, man. And that was the trajectory I think that led me down this new path that had new hope. It was time to break the chains of divorce and abuse and addictions and start a new legacy for our kids. And that's where it started, man.
[TYLER]
I love that and I love the conversation. Part of making an impact is making a legacy. So I want to ask you, what is the legacy that you are intending or that you're working at building for your family? And you talk about that generational curse that you've, obviously there's some depth there, but how, what is legacy that you're building for your family?
[ERIK]
I want my kids to never, ever, ever think that there's going to be a divorce in this family. My wife and I made that very strong commitment, like there's never going to be a divorce in this family. It just is not going to happen. It doesn't come up. Like we know the boundaries. We both come from crazy families and we've just said, "Hey, that's something that will never happen to our kids. We'll never have to worry about us bringing that into the family." We also are, I've been sober for 16 years. So our kids, they see a completely different childhood than I had or my wife had where we are spending time with our kids and we're doing adventures and we're exploring and things like that, like having fun and just being present with our kids where that didn't happen as kids for my wife and I. So we're starting this new thing of like, we're reading the Bible, we're talking about Bible. We're talking about school. Like every single day, we're having awesome conversations. And then can we go out and adventure around town and these are memories that we're just building with our kids. So that's the legacy that we just want to continue to live through our kids and continue through the Allen tribe, man as generations come.
I love it. And the idea that we can make an impact, any place we'll wrap in life. And I think we get caught up and I get caught up I think everyone listening gets caught up into am I enough to make an impact? And I would sit here and say that you and your wife, that this ordained to say, "Hey it came together," this chance encounter that obviously was put together out, person of faith as well and believe that that's what it's laid there for. And now the opportunity to say, "Hey, you're impacting your kids, but you're able to tell this story in the platform of your podcast. You're able to tell this story. I know you've done a lot on Clubhouse. You're able to share this stuff. That makes an impact. And how have you seen that impact, and if leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less, that impact your influence, how have you seen that already play out in those around you?
[ERIK]
It's been founded to, my best friend, Dave, I've known him since first grade. He and I did dumpster diving. Well, we're still friends today and we're both 41 years old man. We met when we were six. So like, he has seen everything from bad, crazy drug addict Erik to sober and thriving and living an awesome life. So I think the impact like of his family, they've seen me through all that. So they've seen the changes, my own family, that I'm close to. Some of the members of my family I'm very close with. So they've seen me change throughout the years of like, man, Erik something's changed in him. Man, he's got a fire lit up in him. And one thing that I really strive to do is show my kids like hard work is where it's at. You got to work hard for what you fight for. Like fight for your dream, always. So for me, that's, I show my kids that like, "Hey, I get up at 4:00 AM six days a week because I'm fighting for my dream of being a full-time podcaster, speaker, entrepreneur, things like that." I still work full-time jobs. So I got to get up that early, so I can make that happen before I go to work and then have that time in the evening for family time that I can just shut everything else off.
[TYLER]
What do you feel has been the biggest hurdle, you know, you talk about getting sober. I've never been in that situation, but I can imagine that was really hard. But I also have to imagine there's been other times that have been hard. What is that hurdle that you've had to overcome to continue this journey, whether it's still working a full-time job to be able to define the ability to record podcasts and impact people. What is that kind of hurdle that you ---
[ERIK]
I think that the hurdle for a long time was I'm not deserving of success, I'm not deserving of money. Like I didn't come from money. I didn't come from somebody who was an entrepreneur. You know, that idea of like victim mentality, like, this is just the way that I was born and I don't have this opportunity. And everybody has an opportunity. And I had to quit being that, I had to quit that mentality. I had to quit thinking that I didn't deserve money, quit thinking that I couldn't be successful. I had to quit being lazy, quit being around negative people, quit the drama man. And once I realized that, that like I could actually step out into that and break that whole generational curse, like I can be the first entrepreneur in my family. I can be the first guy to hit seven figures in my family.
And not even that's the goal, but like, to be able to provide for my family where my wife doesn't have to work, she gets to be a full-time mom and just be present with our kids, like, that's what I want to be able to do. And that's what I'm doing right now. And I think for me waking up early, the big hurdle is I still do work, that nine at five. And that still does kind of like, it's a great job. I work for a great company, but that interferes with me being able to do full-time podcast and things like that. So that's the hurdle I'm still trying to get over.
[TYLER]
Well I think about it and I've mentioned it, I'd love to read books because they've been part of my transformation, just to hear stories. I have a brain that I can take that and I can apply it in different places. And as you talk about that, I talk about, I think about the book by Adam Grant called Originals. In that book, he talks about Warby Parker, the eyeglass company that kind of totally revolutionized all glasses where you used to go to your optometrist, you'd try on the glasses or whatever and they're like, "No, we'll mail you six pairs, pick out the one you like, send them back." Well, the guys that started that company, they worked in their regular job for six months. They had that business going before they ever left. As I'm thinking of this, I'm thinking about Phil Knight. Phil Knight, if you haven't read the book, the Shoe Dog, you should read that.
[ERIK]
I haven't read it, but I hear it's an awesome book.
[TYLER]
Oh my goodness. Okay, you need to read it just for this. And I'm going to tell you, Phil thought it was going to, the business was going to die. So he was an accountant for years. And I think Nike had been around for like 15 or 17 years on the verge of bankruptcy. He like he's playing the classic money shell game, like just classic shell game and the sales person that was on the east coast that believed in Nike more than Phil believed in it. And it wasn't until the company had this long history that he finally quit being an accountant, that it actually was going to be a real business. And you look at the multi-billion dollar business that Nike is today and for a long part of its history ae didn't necessarily believe that it could get there and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
So going through like, hearing what you're saying and being in that myself, it's like there is that struggle at times we think, can we get over the hurdle. It's like, keep it going, keep it churning. And I look at some of the experiences. I know the interactions you have in the job that you have today, that gives you a lot of value to talk to other people that are in the same place. So who is it it, people that, who is Erik Allen, who are you looking to serve? Who is like, these are the people that I just want to be able to speak life into?
[ERIK]
Man, I want to speak life into people who think that they can't make a change in their life. Their past does not define the future. Like I had to, once I realized that my past, my dirty, embarrassing past, like that doesn't define who I'm going to be or what I'm working on right now. So our past does not define our future. So those people that are in that mentality of where they're just getting, like have relatives and friends saying, "You'll never write that book. You'll never be a professional speaker. You'll never be an entrepreneur." Like get rid of that mess. I want to speak to those guys, lift them up and just continue to like, say, "Hey, keep fighting for your dream. It doesn't matter, who cares what other people are saying." Keep fighting for what you're saying and you will, like Ed Marlette talks about, like, if you're walking around 87 degrees and you need to go hang around with guys who are walking around 135 degrees and just being in their presence is going to lift you up and they're going to start to encourage you and start making changes in your life just by hanging around them. So go find networking groups that are doing what you want to be doing. And that's what I had to do, had to get out of my comfort zone and to go find people that are doing that, whether that was online or in-person. I had to go connect and get out of my comfort zone with those folks.
So we've gotten to know each other, just kind of through social media, mutual friends and had a chance to build a relationship. And I've seen you do that where, you know, the opportunity to connect. And I'm a big believer in connecting, not networking. Connecting is, you're here to serve people. Networking is what can I get? And I've had a great friend that explained that to me and I'm so thankful because I kind of felt that way. But I see that in you. You are that connector and you have that desire to serve people and it's not okay, what can I get? But it's like, how can I help you in the process? So what I want to kind of, again, you mentioned a little bit Ed Marlette and you mentioned earlier that his book was pretty transformational in your life. Why was that?
[ERIK]
It is an easy read. It's like 95 pages, but he talks about maxing out your life in every capacity. He talks about breaking out a 24-hour a day into like four different days. So you've got like six hours right, six hour segments for the day that you can really focus in. And 2018 is when I came across Ed online, never heard of the guy before. And then I came across him and I was like, "Holy crap, man, this guy is awesome." I started binge watching all of this stuff. I was following him on Instagram, he had a million followers and he issued the max out challenge. You had to submit a one minute video to him via stories of what you're passionate about, what drives you, why do you want to be successful? And I submitted a story to him and about two months later, he announced me as Ed Marlette max out challenger. So I am the Ed Marlette max out challenge winner. To my knowledge he has never done that contest since. So that, like having that on there and getting like in touch with him, I went on a phone call with him, which turned into an episode of my podcast, which just launched everything from there, man.
And then from there, it was like, you know prior to him, I had Sean Whalen on the call. So that was a big step. And then it was like Beters Cooley, Brad Lee, Ryan Stewman, Jim Rookie Morris, Tim Story, Erika Grant, all these massive names and it just opened up massive doors. So that book, I've read it several times. I've read it in one sitting and the way that he talks about morning routines and cold showers and just having the right mindset towards everything, mind blowing, like world changing book. I definitely recommend, you can actually get it for free. If you just Google Ed Marlette's Max Out book free, I think you pay like eight bucks for shipping.
[TYLER]
Was that such a paradigm shift that it caused you to say, "Okay, these are the tracks that I need to run on." You say, why was it transformational? That's I guess what I want to know. And I think that's the great value in any book for any person. And I think the books have the ability. You can read them at different times and you could be at a different place and it's all of a sudden now transformational. So why was that at that point do you feel most transformational for you?
[ERIK]
One thing he says in that book and I have engraved in some wood over here is life happens for us not to us. And that one message out of that book, when I read that, I was like, "Whoa, like, man, all my life I've been fighting for like all this crap's happening and nothing ever happening to me and all this stuff's happening to me and I can't ever get out of this slump." But man, when I read that, I was like, "Whoa, dude, life's happened for me, not to me. Like now we're going to take this thing to another level."
[TYLER]
You know, you talked about mindset and in his book he talks about mindset for sure. And I think that's a big step for people. It is, to think that, oh, life happens for me, not to me and you start looking at it and say, do you have a half empty cup or a half full cup? You know, that's a way that people have looked at it and you start to see possibility. And it's the stories at times where you've had about people, I remember this story and I was just talking about it with somebody the other day about the Chinese farmer. And the Chinese farmer and I don't know why it's a Chinese guy, that's just the way the story is told, on this farm, he has horses and he has a son. And the horses run away one day and the villagers are like, "Oh poor fortune." And he's like, "Maybe so." And then all of a sudden the horses come back and, horse comes back and he comes back with a hundred other wild horses. The villagers are like, "Oh, wow, what good fortune?" He's like, "Maybe so."
Well then his son is trying to break one of the horses, too, so you can ride it, falls off, breaks his leg. And then all of a sudden the villagers come like, "Oh, what poor fortune?" He's like, "Maybe so." Well the next day they come to take the village, the youth, the men that can serve in the army, a way to be in the army. His son has a broken leg, so they can't take him. The villagers go, "Oh, what good fortune." He's like, "Maybe so." The moral of that story is whatever happens is for a purpose and it's just allow it to play out and wherever it goes, great. You have some choice in that, but it's just to say, "Hey, maybe that's good for me and I just need to accept it because the fruits of that will come later." I don't know if you've heard that story. I've heard it a couple of times in the last two months and it just is a great way to depict and say, "Oh yes, this stuff that happened in your life, the stuff that I know happened in my life have made me the person I am and I don't want to change that because I wouldn't be able to have the impact if I did have."
[ERIK]
Absolutely, absolutely. I hadn't heard that story before, but that's an amazing story, but yes, I 100% agree with you on that.
[TYLER]
Yes. Well, there you go. And maybe someone listening hadn't heard it either. So it's just, I guess, a unique way to look at it and say, "Oh, okay, I get that." Erik, as we're wrapping up here, I'd love for you to share kind of, again, what thoughts that you have to be able to help people that are looking to make an impact, you know, they're leaders, they're people that are to me, if you're influencing, even yourself, you got to lead yourself first. And so as you think about that, as you talk to people, as you're speaking, as you're interviewing other people on podcasts, how are you looking at it to make an influence and an impact?
[ERIK]
Everybody has a story and whether it was a good story, a good childhood, whatever, that still can relate with anybody out there. And I think the one thing that I've seen throughout the overwhelming, I've done 300 episodes between my two shows and those that are on my show, they're always willing to serve others. And if we can find that one thing where they might need help promoting a book or promoting a gig or promoting a fight, whatever it is, if we can just like help others, like Jim Rohn says, helping enough people we're going to get help right back our own way. And it's like, I think if we can just help enough people, and the other thing is like, we just need to love on people where they're at. Like if they're struggling like quit being judgmental. Like we just need to love people where they're at. And if we can do that, eventually they're going to come around. They'll get out of that. Like, I didn't go around, when I got sobered up, all my guys were still drinking. Like, "Dude, you need to quit doing that." It was like, "No man, I'm just loving them where they're at." That relationship now we're so strong now because I just was like, "Dude, you can do that. That's fine for me personally. I just can't do it right now."
[TYLER]
Well, I think the greatest way to influence is by action. And I think that's, what's important as a leader is to hold true and that authenticity and genuineness. And I think that's super important and I've seen that from you and I see that modeled in what you're doing and that's why I appreciate you being here, being a guest, having me as a guest on your podcast as well. And my desire is to just serve just as much as what I get from you. So thanks for joining me today, man. I appreciate having you and until we see again, each other soon, hopefully, have a good one. I appreciate it.
[ERIK]
Man. It's such an honor. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
[TYLER]
Every time I think about the story that Erik just shared with you and me, I think about man, I didn't have it that bad. And maybe you're sitting here listening in and you're thinking about the life and what journey you've overcome. I've shared with you in the past about the tragedy that I had to overcome as a teenager. And quite honestly, there's a lot of days that I just forget about it and it isn't something that weighs on my shoulders. And I think that's where we have to look for grace and we have to understand who knows what people are walking with, dealing with, and how they've overcome. Erik is an overcomer and to me that is the example of leadership because when you choose to lead yourself, lead your self out of a dark place to do something different, man, that's when you can accomplish anything, but you have to go on that journey to get healthy.
Part of Erik's journey was his faith and putting people around him that were going to help him grow and accomplish more. He's on that path and I'm excited to see it. I know you have the same in you. For me I had to get healthy. I believe Erik had to get healthy and I know you, too, have to be on that journey and path to get healthy. That's what I'm hoping to lay out here with the Impact Driven Leader podcast. It is a community that wants to get healthy together. It's about becoming a better leader for our family, for ourselves and for those around us. And I invite you to be on that journey. Be a part of the book club, join the round table. You can go check that out at my website, tylerdickerhoof.com.
Go visit erikallenmedia.com. You'll learn more about Erik. You learn about the things he's doing because he's making a difference in the world. And to me, that is the epitome of leadership, trying to make a difference in the world with the gifts that you've been given and serving others. Thank you for being here today. And I can't wait to hear from you what you got value out of this episode and invite you to the next episode.
