The Burn Podcast by Ben Newman

The Legacy Begins at Home | Caleb Altmeyer & John Chiorando on Faith, Family, and Leadership

• Ben Newman

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In this powerful compilation of The Burn Podcast, Ben Newman brings together two deeply moving conversations centered on conviction, responsibility, and choosing to stand for what matters most. First, Ben sits down with Caleb Altmeyer, Founder and CEO of Helping Captives. Caleb shares how his faith-driven mission led him to transform a former strip club into a rescue and restoration facility—turning a place of exploitation into a sanctuary of hope. With over a decade in ministry and nonprofit leadership, Caleb speaks candidly about protecting women and children, the critical role parents play by being present in their kids’ lives, and why awareness, connection, and courage can literally save lives.

Then, Ben is joined by entrepreneur and philanthropist John Chiorando, who defines success by a single word: Dad. John opens up about the heartbreak of losing his daughter Nina and the vow that now drives his life—to fund a cure so no other family has to endure the same pain. From building companies rooted in integrity to creating the “Be the Good Day” standard across his organizations, John shares what it means to lead with faith, keep your word no matter the cost, and prioritize family above all else. Together, these conversations deliver a clear message: leadership isn’t about titles or success—it’s about showing up, protecting what matters, and choosing to be the good when life makes it hardest.

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SPEAKER_03:

Caleb, welcome finally to the burn. What's up, brother? Happy to be here, man. You have been a man of relentless action to serve and make a difference for individuals who are in tough situations where they can't help themselves. Where did the burn come from to do that?

SPEAKER_00:

Man, that's a great question. So I think um I think you can always find little burns, like, like for instance, with this particular project I'm working on now, I find I have uh this girl's uh name in my alarm clock, right? This was a trafficking victim that died because we didn't have the the 24-hour open access that we are building right now, right? So you find the little burns, but I think the big burn for me, bro, is I uh I grew up in a really awesome Christian home with a mom that's a quadriplegic. And so I was raised by somebody in a wheelchair that was never a victim. And so her whole, my whole child, she she was a head cheerleader, married my dad. Then five months after they got married, they got a horrible car accident. And they're still together. But I was raised literally by this awesome father that ran a homeless shelter and then a mom that was in a wheelchair. So that my childhood was great, but in high school, I got really angry with God, like really angry because my mom can't walk. And um, I dropped out of school, sold pot, literally was high for like three or four years straight. Um, and it was almost like my life just got uh it was almost like the devil just took my calling away from me, like turned me into the most unrelentless, most hot smoky kid you could ever meet, right? And so at 18 years old, uh right after I turned 18, I was blessed because uh actually had a dream where God came and spoke to me and he actually called me into ministry. And so that's where that burn comes from, is because I know that I'm called to something bigger and something greater. And I never want to go back to that kid that was unrelentless and didn't have a calling and didn't have any passion. And so I think my ultimate burn comes from just not wanting to be up in heaven at the end of my life and looking back down on earth and saying, man, I had 60 years more to to crush it and I didn't do anything with my life. And so when you ask what like the deep, deep burn is, uh, man, it's just wanting to be obedient to the call of God on my life. That's that's ultimately what it boils down to.

SPEAKER_03:

And I I see that that relentless pursuit to serve not only in your business, but with your family and just the continued initiatives and the continued fight and how you show up. And you're now dealing with something from you know, charities that you started, whether it was helping people with food and homeless and things of that nature. Now fast-forwarding to today, where you have purchased a former strip club, the deja vu strip club, and you've now turned it into the headquarters for helping captives to stop human trafficking. This is not easy to talk about. These are things that that, as much as there's a need for it, it it's almost like to me, I'll use the word despicable, it's almost despicable that people want to hide from talking about. Like, it's not easy to talk about, but it's there and it's real and it's a major problem. How important has it been for you to just serve with passion around something that is so hard to talk about? Because I can't even imagine the number of people who give you all kinds of excuses why not to talk about it rather than to meet it head on the way that you do. Speak to speak to that problem because I think part of it is we need people to become more comfortable talking about something that's uncomfortable because it's a serious problem.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but I think I think it's just an uncomfortable conversation for people to have because at the end of the day, one out of three girls is sexually abused by the time they're 18, and one out of five boys is sexually abused by the time they're 18. They most of us know somebody that's been abused, and so I think it just brings up that emotion. Um, so that's where I think most people just don't want to talk about it. And then for me, I while I was running those charities, I had somebody really near and dear to my life come and um share her story with us and share her story with my father. And she was my neighbor, bro. She was trafficked from the time she was six by her family. And so when she was years old, she comes and meets with my father and me. And that really impacted me. You know, my like I said, my mom's in a wheelchair. So uh you'd always sit on her lap, like you'd sit on her lap and you cruise around town on the wheelchair. This girl was the first girl that would come over to her house and kind of watch us, and I'd sit behind her and actually like comb her hair. And I've never I never did that with my mom, right? The only time I was behind somebody was when I was wrestling my father, and he didn't smell nearly as good as her, right? So uh, so I actually she was like the first crush I had. So if you could imagine finding out like the first crush that you ever had was being raped and abused the whole time and you didn't know about it, it really impacted our family. And then my father's my hero. Like he's he's my hero, man. And and I went back to my organization and was just talking about what I had just heard from from my neighbor, and and I had a staff member start crying, and she told me her story and that she had also been sold and abused, and her dad worked at a prison and sold her to his prison guard buddies. And my dad's a boxer, I see the boxing gloves behind you, and and he rides a Harley, and he's kind of you know, he's a man's man, he has to be to run a run a shelter for the street. And um, every time he'd come into the office, she'd always walk into the back room, and I could never understand why. And then she finally started opening up. She was like, just your dad reminds me of the process to work at a prison. And I I get I'm still getting triggered. She's an adult. And so now I've got two people that I deeply care about, and and somebody that's scared of my hero, right? Like she's scared of him. And I remember after about a month, she realized he was safe. And uh it took her like 10 to 15 minutes just to walk 10 or 15 feet just to give my dad a hug. And she was shaking and trembling in fear because she'd never had like a father's hug before. She's in her, she was in her mid-20s. And when I saw that, that's when I decided like I need to do something to to help. Like, there's too many people walking around with this trauma, and they might even be high functioning, but they need help. And so I think when you have someone that was your, you know what I mean? It became really dear to my heart because now I got somebody I really care about and watching her go through her trauma, her brother was murdered, like all this stuff starts making sense. That's another person that you've been working with for a long time, and she's scared of your dad. Like that's that's what got me into it.

SPEAKER_03:

Are there are there preventive steps? Are there things that you've learned to identify? Because it it becomes so common that that the victims are scared, they're scared to come forward, they're scared to talk. Is there what steps can you share with us to educate us on what to look for or how to help or questions to ask to prevent these things before they get to the point that that they get to oftentimes where it it's just it's just tragic?

SPEAKER_00:

The biggest thing, brother, for you as a father is you just need to be in your in your kids' lives.

SPEAKER_03:

This episode of The Burn is brought to you by our dear friends and partners at Q Logics. Now, you know I don't co-sign things I don't believe in. And I believe in John Chiarando and the team at Q Logics. He's built multiple nine-figure businesses, real integrity, real character, the kind of guy you want in your corner. But here's what happened. All that expertise, all that knowledge, it was just his. Locked in his head, his decisions, his team. You couldn't access it. So John created Q Logics. He basically said, How do I make everything I've built available to people who actually need it? Here's what that looks like. Q Logics helps you see the blind spots in your business, the gaps you don't even know you have. You don't know what you don't know. They're your tour guide through that. Q-Logics helps you build systems that make your business work better, or they ask better questions so you're approaching it in the most effective way. And Q Logics has access to a network of businesses and resources, real connections, real synergies that can accelerate what you're building. If any of that resonates, go to Q-Logics, L-O-G-I-X.com forward slash Ben. Fill out a form. Their team will research your situation personally, then they'll tell you straight, can they actually help? Thank you to our friends and partners at Q Logics. Make sure you find out more about Q Logics and your opportunity to win more with them today.

SPEAKER_00:

That is the number one thing. When I interviewed some of these guys that were traffickers, the number one thing they look for is they're looking for young girls that don't have a healthy home and don't have a dad in their life. Like that was one of the main questions. I think the other thing is just knowing that, you know, you're gonna if you if there's kids that um, you know, are all of a sudden they don't have any money, and then all of a sudden they're coming to school and they got new Jordans, they got new iPhones, they got all this new stuff, and then they're telling their friends like they're getting it by going out on dates, or you see some young girl hanging out with some older guy, and it just doesn't make sense. And so you have to know who your kids are talking to. I think 80% or more of all grooming happens online now. So knowing who your kids are talking to is the most important thing. You're their parent, you can know who they're talking to on their phone. There's this app called the Bark app, which is an incredible app. So you can see who your kids are talking to and just know. So I think the biggest thing for us is to uh make sure that we're in our daughters' lives and that we're spending time with them and that we're we're actually actively um actively engaging with them. You know what I mean? Like that's the number one thing. And just to know that the whole thing is.

SPEAKER_03:

And if I if I could just share it, it's one of the things that that I with our daughter Kennedy, I mean, I I consistently I want her to know how much we love her, how much we care about it. She never doubts it, she never has to go anywhere to to feel love. And even with our son, right? I mean, we want Isaac to know the same. And I think there's there's parents, and it's sad that they're moving so fast these days, caught up in the wrong things, that we're not slowing down to let our children know that they're protected and they're loved and that they're heard. Uh, it's I mean, some of those things are easy, right? But we we make them complex because we just accept that the world is moving fast. And those are simple things we can do as parents, correct?

SPEAKER_00:

100%. And that's that's what I would say is the number one thing, right? So if your kids are wanting to get love and wanting to get attention, um, and it's not coming from you, and they don't know what that real love and attention is, they're gonna be seeking it out. And you have to understand there's actual people out there that are like combing through Instagram and combing through Facebook and trying to find girls that are wanting attention so they can exploit them. Like that's literally what they do. That's why I say the most important thing is family. And we've just, you know, it's it's great to be focused on finances and focus on grinding and focus on on taking your mountain and getting to the top. But if you're doing it at the expense of your family, like we need to we need to figure that out.

SPEAKER_03:

See, and these these are the reasons why I love how you go about things so loudly, not quietly. And I'd love to finish because I think it was such a courageous, powerful, uh, loud action step. And I I mentioned it earlier, but you went and literally bought the former strip club and turned it into your headquarters. I mean, you talk about a loud statement like we are shutting down, shutting you down. We are here, and this is not gonna happen in our city. What was that like for you? What was that experience like? How did you come about that decision? Because once again, that's that relentless loud voice in an uncomfortable issue that I love that you attack with and I admire, and I think it's just so needed for these types of issues.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think you know how, like in the story of David, he he first killed a bear and then he killed a lion. So when Goliath showed up, it wasn't a big deal to him. Like I had already done crazy stuff. Like I'd already taken a schoolhouse and turned it into a school and turned it into a big safe house. We've already taken other facilities and done some stuff with it. So when we were looking for a headquarters that could be open 24-7, I need something that was on a bus line, didn't have a lot of windows, was kind of a protected facility. Honestly, I was thinking about just building something, but I wanted to have it in the in the heart of our city. And uh the strip club had people have been praying over it for a long time because this was also a place of like people getting addicted, lots of other lots of stories, right? Especially after buying it. I've had so many people come and talk to me and tell me the craziest stories that went through that club for 40 years. Um, but when it popped up and it was available, to be honest with you, I just kind of pushed it off. Like somebody sent it to me, and I just I didn't even think about it. I was just kind of like, yeah, no, I'll I'll pass. Like it didn't click. And then I was sitting there hanging out with my wife, and like 20 minutes after they sent it to me, it just hit me like over the head. I'm like, wait a second, maybe God, you're crazy enough to turn a building that was used for objectifying women and use it to actually bring freedom to women coming out of addiction and abuse. And so I went, hit the guy up, and said, Hey, I'm interested in looking at it. If something if somebody was already wanting to buy it, uh, because there was other people that wanted to purchase and reopen the club. And I said, Hey, if something falls through, let me know. And and and it was just the perfect square footage, is the perfect location. It was everything that we were looking for. Plus, I think the storyline was just what God wanted to do. You know what I mean? And I felt that deeply. And there was um, so what we did was the first night that we purchased it, I actually called all the men of the city together and we did a men's revival night, and we actually brought sledgehammers and we ripped the stages out. And 30 guys gave their life to Jesus that night. And oh wow, it was a powerful night. And and the reason we did it, brother, is Spokane's actually the city that founded Father's Day. And uh, dude, honestly, like I'm just gonna keep it 100. Like when I before I met you, I had a dream of like just going to the next level and kind of having a kind of having a facility that would help these ladies. And and since meeting you and since being coached and since being just we've we have actually gone from a vision of$1 million to a vision of$10 million. And being the ultimate organization in the nation when it comes to recovery, to take people from heroin and meth all the way to a job and not just doing emergency care. That's where it starts. But we have a dream and a vision now to literally go from the emergency care all the way to long-term care, all the way to transitional living in a job. And um we're going for it hard, bro. And and I just want to thank you for calling me up and seeing something in me um that I didn't even see in myself. And I think that's what you do for all of us, and that's why we love and appreciate you so much. Uh, and it's awesome to have somebody that that drives you and believes in you. And that's what you're not just a motivational speaker, brother, you're a coach. And I'm just very thankful that you're in my life and that you're coaching us. And uh, I can't wait to see you.

SPEAKER_03:

So, my dear friend John Chirondo, welcome to the burn.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolute ple a privilege and a pleasure, Ben. I uh like this is like a bucket listing for me. I've seen a podcast, I'm like, one day I'm gonna get there, one day. So we're able to finally put it together. So I'm super happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03:

You're currently still right in the middle of one of the toughest periods of time in your life. Um and I I'd love to just dedicate our time together today to your daughter Nina. And I'd love for you to just share um how your fire is brighter than it's ever been, uh, and how you've always faced adversity, but how you're facing this current adversity that you're in.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, um adversity is always something that entrepreneurs talk about, and we you know, we go through things, and I I've always had this perspective that this too shall pass applies to the good and the bad. So just stay kind of neutral through it all, appreciate the good, really appreciate the bad, because that's where we get our biggest strengths from through adversity and tough times. And I think we grow as people and as leaders. But over the last three years, you know, my my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. Um, right after she got married to a great guy. Um and I I had to resign my faith that God would lead me in the direction and her in the direction that my prayers would take me. And we had yourself included, of course, and and so much outpouring and so much love that we received over the three years that I sat down one day and I just said to God, I I believe in the prayers. And it became to me that if I believe I have to believe in a plan even if I don't like the outcome. And that sounded really good for three years because you know, things were moving. She had breast cancer, she beat it with the out the utmost grace of any human being I've ever been around. Um breast cancer was gone, three days of respite, of peace in her life. She got severe headaches, you wound up with brain cancer, massive tumors in her brain. Um we immediately, you know, got the best doctors in the world, went up to slum cattering in New York City. She had massive brain surgery. 3,000 surgeries. The guy who the surgeon performed prior to her, he's never seen someone leave the hospital after that surgery after two days. She just didn't like hospitals. She was like, I'm leaving. She was she got out of that. And over a course of about 18 months, you know, the first the first visits with the doctor was like, hey, don't have a lot of optimism. You know, this is a you know, you're probably looking at two to four months at best. And those are hard words to chew on. That's like chewing on glass um and swallowing it. But I they didn't know her. She beat brain cancer, right? Brain cancer, she beat it. Every time it showed up, she beat it. Every time it got smaller, she was going in the right direction, and then she started having issues with her legs, and they just thought it might have been all the chemo and all the medicine, and ultimately they came to the conclusion that it was leptomeningeal disease, which is a horrific, horrific form of cancer that it metastasized from her brain into her spinal cord and becomes like a dust where it starts to coagulate and clog up in her spinal fluid, and you start to lose motor skills. Arms, legs, verbal. Needless to say, it is a horrific um thing to watch. Uh your daughter goes. Horrible. And she did it with grace. And beauty and courage, and you know, it it was amazing how strong she was. And she's the only girl in the family, right? So, you know, we had like eight guys surrounding her at all times. She had like this entourage of men around her, and and some real tough alpha men around her. And she was the toughest of all of us. She was tougher than every one of us. And uh last November, it's uh, you know, you're a big college football guy, so you'll appreciate this. Last November, her and her husband's routine was they would watch Notre Dame games together. We knew that you know the end was near. And I looked at my son-in-law and I said, It's not gonna be today, because she won't ruin the tradition. She'll watch Notre Dame with you. And she watched the Notre Dame game, Notre Dame won. The next day was the 10th, it was a Sunday, and the 11th was uh Veterans Day, which is a tough day for my son-in-law. He's a highly decorated um army ranger, served eight years defending this country. Um, and I said to him, It's not gonna be tomorrow. She won't do that on Veterans Day. And on the 10th, she passed. And you know, where her party is Monday. And we have given off all of the employees to every company everywhere in the world that we have offices, and we don't have that many offices around. We're probably six countries that Monday you have a day off, and it's called Be the Good Day. And we're imploring everyone to do something good. Do something that she's done. Her whole life was about service. The the premise behind that is even if you don't do something for the community, do something with your family, do something for yourself, right? She loved taking care of people to this day. Her homeless drive still continues where we feed and clothe the homeless once a year. Um, she loved dogs, sometimes more than people, I think. We're just telling people to go out and we're gonna go out and uh we're gonna go to some people's homes and feed some people who need food and deliver some groceries as a family. And I know a lot of people in the companies have all planned some stuff, and we'll share those things on Tuesday. And hopefully, Monday will be a better day for some people in the world, and it'll be a good day for all of us. Um, my son, whose hair is literally like the exact opposite of mine, he is shaving his head on Monday and donating his hair to a young lady with cancer. Wow. So, you know, hard to keep going because you know, I wake up some days and I think, man, she's gonna call me. She's there'll be times I'll grab my phone and I'll go to text her or question. So it's tough. You know, I live in that that phase of denial of grief, you know, it doesn't it doesn't go away. And I read somewhere that, you know, you when you lose someone, and you know this, Ben, you don't lose them once, you lose them over and over and over again. But there's a purpose behind us, right? You know that the burn is is there. And you know, I I don't have to work. I've been blessed with having great people around me and some some good decisions that I made, but I'm back ever, stronger than ever, reinvigorated more than ever, working not only harder, but a bit more creative than ever. Because I promised that I would write her doctor a check for 50 million dollars, and we're gonna cure this thing. And I don't break promises, and I sure ain't gonna break one to my daughter. She's not gonna have to go through that in vain.

SPEAKER_03:

I I've never seen you focused like this. And uh, I was always inspired in all our conversations. I'm like, how does this guy do all this with all these businesses? And it's just uh amazing how you've leaned into the pain, doesn't make it easy. Um, I've actually never heard it the way that you just shared it to say that you actually live the death over and over. I mean, there's mornings I wake up, I I cry as if my mom just passed away yesterday and it's been, you know, darn near 40 years ago. Um, and I've never heard it expressed that way. But I just think for everybody listening, you know, like these are the real conversations. You know, when when when times are really hard, this is why you become intentional in your life so you can be where you want to be, do what you want to do. The the number of times I would call you or text you to check on Nina, I mean, over the course of that year, you you were with her more than you were almost doing anything else. And no, your businesses are still there. It wasn't about the business. You worked hard in business to make sure that you could always be where you wanted to be when you wanted to be. That's a powerful lesson. What can you share about that for people who get so caught up in the small things that are meaningless rather than working really hard to know that you have your freedom when it really matters?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's uh I get asked the question a lot, you know, should I start my own business because I want the freedom to do what I want? Like, well, you're better off taking your money, get go buy Alcatraz, lock yourself in that prison, and you know, be the be the warden, the prisoner, and the gatekeeper of your because there is no freedom in the beginning. There is truly no freedom. And and for most guys and girls, women, men, they don't experience freedom because they're nobody can do it better than me. So I'm gonna do everything type mindset. And and that just restricts a business from ever expanding beyond the individual. And I was there at one point in time. But for the most part, man, I took three years off and my business didn't skip a beat. Um I and and and I and I and I kind of go back to the philosophy of number one, I have the most amazing people in the world that work with me, that allow me to live a life that when I was on welfare and my oldest son was born on welfare and food stamps, that I could never have imagined. Right from from not just a monetary point of view, but for giving back, right? From the ability to give back what I've been, I've given back more money in a day that my parents made in their lifetime. And that's not to, I'm not putting that out there to brag. I'm just saying that's what's possible when you do things the right way and you do them with the right purpose. My purpose prior to this was to make as much money as I possibly can and to be a good steward of that money that God blessed me with so that I can do great things and wonderful things for people. And yes, I want to enjoy the ride along the way as well. Um, and I have amazing people. And, you know, I attribute all of our success to the individuals in these companies and the and and the people that I have around me. And when I had to take, when I decided when I wanted to, when I was needed, to just step away for three years, companies I miss a beat. Because I poured into them for decades. I have people working for me for 30 with me for 30 plus years. Um, but I also made a point about 20 years ago that I would hire people that have been to the places I want to go. And, you know, my first attorney that I hired in-house, he's like, hey man, I have three billion dollars in MA experience. You're a hundred million dollar company. What are you gonna do with me? I said, be patient, be patient. I'm gonna grow into you. You're gonna help me go where I want to go. A year later, I did a nine-figure acquisition. He wrote the acquisition, he did the asset purchase agreement, he represented me in court and through the bankruptcy proceedings. He probably saved me$400,000 just being on board. Shortcuts, the ability to say, hey, I've done this before, I've seen these templates. You know, when I hired my first CFO, he was from a publicly traded company. He's like, What are you gonna do with me? I said, just be patient. I'll grow into you. They've been to where I want to go. I knew where I wanted to go. I just didn't know how to get there. So what do I do? I hire people who've been there. They take me there quickly, they take me there safely, they take me there not only so that we can get there quickly and safely, but they also teach me along the way. So I learn from everybody. So I try to hire people way above my pay grade, way above the company's pay grade, so that I have the best of the best leading the way to the place that I want to go. And I've always said if we're in my conference room and I'm the smartest guy in the conference room, it's one of two things. Either we're alone or we're in the world conference room.

SPEAKER_03:

I do believe that balance does exist. Now, when I say this, balance is not the exact same amount of time, but you have been very intentional to, I mean, absolutely work and create and be the example of what's possible. But you joked with me before we hit hit record to start the interview that you just said you would sign on to coach another one of your son's teams. And so, as much as I know you work hard, I do want people to hear how important family is to you. We can see that through the emotion in your eyes with your daughter and your eldest son, but with your two boys and with Claudia, how important is family for you?

SPEAKER_01:

There's nothing more important. There's nothing. I I've I've literally been on food stamps, I've waited on cheese lines. I used to shop at night because I was so embarrassed to get my food stamps that my buddies would see me in in my neighborhood. Um, but I had my family, right? And and I had my health, they had their health. Um my wife had cancer 13 years ago, breast cancer, double mastectomy. Um, I have when Joseph was born, he had some some issues. He, you know, Joseph has Down syndrome. Um we weren't able to have any other children. We were blessed to adopt Matthew at birth. And I I not that I don't care about anything else, but there really is no close second for me. I I don't I don't do anything that I do for Ferraris or private planes or that stuff. That's just like an ancillary benefit. It's cool, it looks good on the gram, right? It's good to motivate people to what's possible. But I I live and die for my family and and and and my extended family. I have a lot of them. And to to coach my children, to be around them. My entire schedule has always revolved around my children. But that doesn't mean I won't work 20 hours a day. It just means four of those hours might be the middle of the afternoon where I can go sit and watch my son try out for the high school football team or my daughter's ballet class or go to a parent teacher conference or be part of something that my sons are doing at school or be at baseball practice. I've been able to manage my time effectively that while there is no proportionate balance, those people that matter most to me don't know the difference. I ain't perfect because you'll see a lot of this. I shouldn't, right? When I shouldn't be doing that, but I'm a work in progress and I'll always be a work in progress. But I would rather coach Little League than make a hundred million dollars. I really would. It's the only place in the world that I'm detached from all the bullshit. I'm detached from my phone, and I love it. And time goes by so fast. And and and my kids know that they have a dad that all I care about, my headstone, I just want one word on my headstone, dad. I don't give a shit about anything else. I don't want to be in if I can be the greatest dad that ever lived, to my to the people that matter most in that judgment, I have fulfilled my entire bucket list of life, and that's what I intend to do. And I told someone recently about my son cutting his hair, and they said, Man, you raised good kids. And I said, Man, I've been alive for 56 years. That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me. You know, Ben, Nina was like, Nina was my right arm. She is my right arm. I dedicated my entire right arm to her, right? To survive that as well as I have. The first thing is there was never left anything unsaid between me and my daughter. Ever. Ever. Wednesday, um, I believe it is 6 at 12:31, she said, I love you. There's no regret. There's no regrets. Yeah, do I think we could have done something more experimental? Should we have, yeah, I'll always second guess that. That's just my nature. But there was never anything left unsaid between us. She knew that she was, she was the most powerful human being in my life because you're about the only person that I've ever listened to was her. I mean, from day one, she had me wrapped. You have a daughter, you know what it's like. You know, you can give your son, you can give your son the old hell in the handbasket speech any time of the week. I yelled at my daughter one time, she's probably eight years old to clean her room. She started to cry. I said, Don't worry, I'll do it. That was where I realized the balance of power has completely shifted in this relationship, and I was okay. Um, I just want to say that a few things that I've learned from you that have been impactful, not only as a man, but as a businessman, was one is that never-again list. Right? The that I have that list. I have it, I have it next to me. It's in my draw, and sometimes I have to review it and look at it to remember what the shit in the world that I won't put up with, that I won't tolerate. And you helped me get to that list. But the most important thing, and and truthfully, one of the reasons why I think I'm adapting to the world after November 10th was at my daughter's funeral, you took a plane, you took your private plane from one event, you were headed to another event, and you made it a point to come to my daughter's funeral. And that alone would have been appreciated. Um, but you didn't come to come to my daughter's funeral, you came to give me a message, probably the most impactful message that I've ever received in my life. And you came me a message that said, I watched my grandmother turn not positive but negative in the world after her daughter died, your mom. And you said, Don't let this do that to you. The world needs you. There have been many a dark days, man. Many a dark days. And the there are people in the world who need me. And that message there hasn't been a day that that message hasn't resonated with me. So I love you for that. You know, there are a million, whatever they're called, coaches out there. There's only a couple that are real, and you're definitely on the top of that list. And you've deserved all the accolades. There's a reason why world champions come to you. Um, and I'm honored to know you, to be able to pick up the phone and talk to you. Your wisdom, your passion is unparalleled. But your heart, that a lot that one thing you did right there for me, I could never forget that, and I'll never be able to repay. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you, Jack.

Head Shot

Ben Newman

Host

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