E02: How I Became a Successful Business Owner
Struggling to overcome the challenges you face in your business?
Discover how Albert Gillispie went from the rodeo arena to becoming a top business strategist, leveraging unique experiences and insights to help entrepreneurs achieve success.
📒 Show Notes and Resources 📒
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Kellen Ketchersid
Kellen is a co-founder of Stag Business Coaching, business strategist, and a systems thinker. He leverages his extensive experience in biotech and consulting to empower entrepreneurs to navigate complex challenges with strategic growth solutions.
Albert Gillispie
Albert is a serial entrepreneur, business efficiency expert and co-founder of Stag Business Coaching who has founded several multimillion-dollar companies. With expertise in optimizing operations and innovative systems, he mentors business leaders who want to unlock their business’s full potential.
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EPISODE 2 TRANSCRIPTION
Introduction
[00:00] Albert Gillispie:
You know, eight, not nine years ago, whenever we started going to apartment association events, really just to meet people and try to sell LA trash, we were scared to death, hiding in the corner, terrified to talk to anybody. And, you know, eight-nine years later, I'm the second term president.
[00:23] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. You went from being the guy who wanted to take out the trash to being the president.
Welcome to the Business Growth Masterclass podcast. I'm Kellen, your host here. We talk about principles that drive business growth. Each episode, you'll hear top experts share their secrets behind their success and the lessons they've learned along the way.
Whether it's streamlining your operations or boosting your profit margins or strategies for reaching new markets, we got you covered. Let's dive in.
So today on the podcast, I have my good friend here with me. One of the co-founders here at Stag Business Coaching, Albert Gillispie.
[01:00] Albert Gillispie:
Hello, Kellen.
[01:01] Kellen Ketchersid:
Hello. We're using these early episodes of our podcast to introduce the team here at Stag Business Coaching. So today we're going to have a chance to Dive in with ol A.G. I don't think I've ever called you A.G.
[01:16] Albert Gillispie:
I love it. I don't hate it.
[01:18] Kellen Ketchersid:
I mean, do you have a nickname? I don't think I've ever heard anyone call you by a nickname.
[01:20] Albert Gillispie:
No, no, I mean, I say it, my mom was always weird about nicknames. She's like, I named you that, I’ll call your name. My sister's name is Alexandria. And like everyone wanted to call her Alex or, you know, anything but Alexandria which is like nine letters long. And, but no, it’s Albert, I don't have a nickname.
[01:41] Kellen Ketchersid:
All right. Well, that's all right. We'll accept you as you are. We've been friends for what? 10 years, 10 plus years now. So obviously I know some things about you, but I don't know if I've asked you all the questions that we wrote down. So I'm expecting to learn some new things today, which will be fun. And of course, anyone who's in the listening audience, or at least a lot of the people will be surprised by some things, I think, so that'll be fun.
I wanted to start out with, yeah, a fun one that I think will surprise a lot of people. So, you have an adventurous side, and you also have a hidden talent. That goes way back to your younger days. I think you know what I'm getting at here. You want to read my mind and tell me what I'm talking about?
Rodeo Career
[02:26] Albert Gillispie:
Are you talking about the rodeo career?
[02:28] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. Okay. So we want to hear about your first love, your first business career or your first career, I guess.
[02:35] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. So Bull riding was my sport. You know, you can't tell through the radio right now or through your headphones, but I'm not a big person. There's not a lot of big people in my family.
And so a lot of sports I'm just not built for, but one of them, you know, a little bit built like a jockey. So–
[02:56] Kellen Ketchersid:
But a different kind of jockey.
[02:58] Albert Gillispie:
A different kind of dark jockey, much less highbrow, you know, a lot poorer end of the rodeo arena. But, but yeah, I grew up riding bulls, my dad and uncle rode bulls growing up and in high school. And so just kind of watched it on TV growing up when I was little, eight seconds came out–
[03:20] Kellen Ketchersid:
Did you get stepped on?
[03:21] Albert Gillispie:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Anybody that does, that rides for any length of time you, you get stepped on all the time.
[03:28] Kellen Ketchersid:
What was the most painful stepped on or what was the bad one?
[03:33] Albert Gillispie:
Okay. This is, I mean, you know, I got knocked out a couple of times growing up and there's some good stories there, but one of them, this one was colorful for everybody involved. In rodeo, you kind of work your way up to a size of animal. And so, you know, the little kids, they ride cheap, then you get it.
Then you get on calves, then you get on steers, then you get on yearling bulls, which are, you know, a thousand to fourteen hundred pounds.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Sounds pretty big.
Albert Gillispie:
And then, you know, at that point, it's a full size bull.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Which is how many pounds? You know, between fourteen hundred and two thousand pounds.
[04:11] Albert Gillispie:
Oh man. It’s pretty big. And have that step on you, a full grown bull. And so the transition to full size bulls, I was probably 12 or 13-ish. And so it was the year that I made that full size transition and
[04:30] Kellen Ketchersid:
Gillispie was brave. Yeah.
[04:31] Albert Gillispie:
And so one of the early rodeos I got thrown down pretty hard and the bull came down with his back foot, like in the middle of my thigh and, and it was all,, it was well known you do not lay down in that arena, you get out of that arena and you can go back behind the chutes and cry and throw a fit, do whatever, but you don't lay down in that arena.
Yeah. And I didn't move and, and which was, you know, there's plenty of kids that lay there. That just got beat into me that you don't do that. And so, I didn't move. And so, all the paramedics come running in. You know, they take my boot off. They're asking me to wiggle my toes, and I, and I'm laying back. They're not letting me look at anything.
And so, I'm laying back, and I'm like, yep, I'm moving. They're like, okay, move your foot. I'm like, okay, I'm moving it. Come to find out, I wasn't moving anything. What? But I thought I was. And so, they get the stretcher. That is scary. Tie me down to the stretcher, carry me out of this long roping arena.
[05:32]
So it's just this long, bumpy ride. That's hilarious in hindsight, because it's just painful. Because your body hurts and they're just bouncing. So I got into the ambulance, they cut my pants off and 10 minutes later, I'm like moving my feet. Normal man. Thank goodness. But what had happened was the bull stepped on my thigh and had compressed my sciatic nerve.
And so there was like kind of a brief paralysis of the lower half of my leg. And anyway, and so I obviously had a pretty severe limp and limped across the grandstands back to pick up my rigging bag. And I get there and behind the shoots, moms don't go back there.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Okay.
[06:24] Albert Gillispie:
And my mom was waiting on me, man. And just a stern look on her face and all my buddies knew, all right, something's about to happen. And so I walk back there and she says, if you ever lay in that arena again, you better be bleeding or there better be bones sticking out of your leg. And so lesson learned.
I mean, looking back now, she can't believe we did that growing up, but that was just the life we knew and it scared her.
[06:56] Kellen Ketchersid:
That's a Texas mom right there. And I like other places that are like, mom would be like, I don't think we should do this anymore. But your mom's like, you better be dead. That's amazing. Sorry. I cut you off. What were you saying?
[07:08] Albert Gillispie:
I mean it was an exciting, huge, my entire thigh was just, you know, dark, dark purple.
Kellen Ketchersid:
And you're 12?
Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, 12 or 13. Something like that in junior high.
Kellen Ketchersid:
And that was in retirement. You just, you just moved on. You just kept going.
[07:24] Albert Gillispie:
I mean, you just, that's just part of it. You got stepped on pretty regularly.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, that's cool. Well, you gotta be tough to do that.
Albert Gillispie:
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Well, so you started at what age?
[07:38] Albert Gillispie:
I started riding when I was 16 and rode until my freshman year of college.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Wait, wait, wait, but you said–
Albert Gillispie:
No I know I did say 16 I meant I started when I was six. I was six and rode until I was 19, Freshman year of college.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Wow That's a long time. Six. So you were mutton busting?
[08:01] Albert Gillispie:
I never rode sheep. I started off on calves and–
Kellen Ketchersid:
Skipped right to the calves.
Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, that's the age that you ride calves. And that was our sport. My family would load up in the Gillispie mobile and drive around all over Texas and Oklahoma.
[08:19] Kellen Ketchersid:
You must've been pretty good then.
[08:21] Albert Gillispie:
I mean, that was my sport. It was what we practiced and had some success. My dad paid taxes on me from when I was seven, you know, he started having to file 1099s on a seven year old. So it was a little moneymaker.
Kellen Ketchersid:
So, like, how successful were you, you're going on these circuits, so you must've been pretty good.
Albert Gillispie:
I mean, it was a lot of youth rodeo being from the Fort Worth area, it's kind of the Mecca of rodeo. A lot of the legends of the sport live in that area. And so I went to Cody Lambert's bull riding school, grew up around all of Jim Sharp and Tuff Hedeman and all of the–
Kellen Ketchersid:
Names that I even know that people, yeah.
Transition from Rodeo to Business
[09:07] Albert Gillispie:
And yeah. And so, I mean, on the youth rodeo, you know, won several state titles and in high school in the bull riding kind of private leagues, won a couple of. I got second in state twice in high school and yeah, and yeah, really good. I mean, that was one of, one of those kind of seeing that success opened up doors that I got to see, you know, what is the next level look like?
And, you know, a lot of those guys that were legends of the sport. The condition of their body and the quality of life that they had wasn't really what I had in my mind whenever I was a younger kid. And so a lot of that was pretty sobering. You know, bull riding is one of those sports that, you know, once it's in your blood, it's addicting and it's hard to walk away from.
[09:57]
And it's hard, hard to, you know, live on the other side of that. Cause it's such an adrenaline rush. It's such a different experience from everyday life, but yeah, probably early high school. I realized that like, okay, this isn't what I want to do. Not your whole career. So if you're not all in, you don't need to be on. So, that kind of led to moving on from that pretty quick.
Kellen Ketchersid:
If you're not all in, you don't need to be on. I like that. That's a statement. I feel like you could put it on a wall somewhere, but if so, I wanted to bring up bull riding because obviously I knew you were good at it.
I don't think I knew you had won state championships and done second place several times. So, I mean, in the state of Texas, if you're going to have a state, that's a bull riding Mecca, it's probably going to be Texas, at least in the U S. So, I mean, I think some of that speaks to kind of your drive and just your personality to begin with wanting to, to be the best and, or, you know, do great things.
And so I feel like that's a good segue to just talking about now, maybe, maybe you could help us bridge the gap from, you know, early days to now, but can you just tell us a little bit about, you know, what you do now. Obviously, I introduced that you're one of the partners here at Stag Business Coaching, but you've got your hands in a lot of other ventures. So could you just tell the listeners kind of what you are up to?
Foundations of Business Career
[11:25] Albert Gillispie:
Sure. Yeah. I am one of the principals of Stag Capital and Stag Capital is a private investing firm that invests in commercial real estate as well as small and medium-sized businesses. We have another subsidiary that supports that, which is the West Texas office of trans world business advisors.
And so it's a business brokerage that helps business owners sell their business. And then to support that we have Stag Business Coaching, which helps business owners streamline their operations, optimize their profits, and ultimately create more stable and healthier businesses that in turn makes them more valuable.
And so I really have three businesses that are all synergistic with one another. And, you know, it's a wild ride. It's not a normal career. It's not a doctor or a lawyer, you know, my parents struggle to describe what I do, but they're proud of me either way.
[12:31] Kellen Ketchersid:
That's good. I think a lot of people who take a creative or entrepreneurial route, their parents are like, I don't even know what they do.
And that's okay. So, I mean, there's a lot to unpack there, especially for people who don't know you well. Can you just tell us about, I know you led with the capital business and I see that as kind of like the cornerstone of how you got started in entrepreneurship and business ownership. So can you tell us just a little bit about your journey and how you ended up doing that?
Influence of Reading and Education
[13:02] Albert Gillispie:
It always starts here, which was reading business books. My undergrad, I was a biology major, thought I wanted to be a dentist. Lord had other plans, thankfully. And I was a good student, but I really had to work on it.
Science didn't come naturally. Science was a lot of work for me, but after I didn't get into dental school, I had a couple of buddies that gave me some business books to read and, uh, I was fascinated.
I was hooked pretty quickly. Which books were they? The first, I don't even know if you would technically call it a business book, but the first kind of non-fiction self-improvement book was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Yeah, I know that one.
[13:48] Kellen Ketchersid:
It's a fun read.
Albert Gillispie:
Oh yeah. I was hooked. I was like, man, this reading is so much less work.
Kellen Ketchersid:
so interesting. Is that the 10,000 hours book? Is that the book where he talks about that principle?
Albert Gillispie:
He had a trilogy that was like a tipping point. Yeah.
Kellen Ketchersid:
So maybe it's Outliers
Albert Gillispie:
And I can't remember the other, but yeah, was Malcolm Gladwell. And from there, me and a buddy, we were working at a medical device company, which was like a college job, padding the resume, trying to get into dental school.
We started reading books together. And one of them was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And it's one of the original business books, one of the original self-development books written in the thirties and the main concept from that was the mastermind was to form a mastermind, which is a group of like-minded people that meet regularly.
And hold each other accountable to what you say you're going to do. And so I'm, I'm a big goal-setting person. I've always had little sticky notes and pieces of paper or writing on my mirror in my bathroom where I'm writing goals and, and, you know, chasing them down. And so we read that book.
And said, let's do what it says. And so we formed a mastermind group. We were all recently graduated from college, recently married. And so we all had, you know, we were in debt up to our eyeballs and we're big Dave Ramsey guys, for Dave Ramsey disciples and stuff and money and envelopes. Oh, yeah. Keeping your budget.
Development of a Business Network
[15:28]
Yeah. We still have it, but he had a group that he met with that he called his eagles group and he had a cheesy radio tagline that was, he wanted to soar with eagles instead of flock with turkeys. And so, so we stole all of that and, you know, pretty, pretty quickly, all of us got out of debt. And then that group became a small business incubator where you would come, you know, you would have an idea, you would read a book, you would go to a conference and you would, you would have this idea of, of a business to start.
[16:00]
And then you would bring it to the group and, and the group would poke holes in it. You know, you would tell you don't do it or, or go after it and, and help connect you to people that could help bring the idea into fruition. And so. Me and one of my buddies, Tanner, started flipping houses and buying duplexes.
And that I really, I guess, taking a step back, the idea of investing in real estate was something that hit me, you know, in my early teens, you know, growing up, my family did not have much money. And so grew up in a pretty working-class neighborhood, just North of Fort Worth. And, uh, one of our neighbors was, uh, was a landscaper, mowed yards for a living.
And one day he was loading equipment up in the back of his pickup and was asking me to help him. So I was helping him and we got to talking and he told me that he owned 100 rent houses.
[17:00] Kellen Ketchersid:
Wow. That's a lot. That's a lot for a landscaper.
Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And, and, and so as a, as a 13-year-old, I didn't know, I couldn't fathom that, but it was this blue-collar working-class guy, just an honest guy that had built an empire. Figured something out there, right?
And so that that had been in the back of my mind, you know He modeled that for me that real estate was something that I wanted to look into And so that's awesome. We started flipping houses buying duplexes And then we tried to start a valet trash business.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Okay. What, what's a valet trash business? Hold on. Tell, tell us about this. Okay.
Albert Gillispie:
Valet trash is essentially a service that you pay for when you live in an apartment complex where A service comes and takes the trash from your door to the onsite dumpster. And so it's a problem, especially in student housing.
A lot of the new student housing developments are like their resorts. They're so nice. And so, you know, there's two towers of apartments, and then there's a parking garage and in the back dim-lit corner is a dumpster that they expect some 19-year-old girl at 10 o'clock at night to take her trash all the way to the third corner.
[18:17]
And so it doesn't happen and so you have these resorts and you walk up and down the halls and they're filthy. You know, there's trash and pizza boxes and all kinds of stuff.
Kellen Ketchersid:
People just throwing their stuff outside the front door. Yeah. To bother with it later. Yep.
Albert Gillispie:
And so, that service is pretty popular in most of the major markets.
It wasn't in Lubbock at the time. And so me and Tanner for probably 10 months met every lunch break at a different apartment complex and pitched valet trash. And we cut, we called it collecting our no's because we just got told no over and over and over, but
Kellen Ketchersid:
Let's go collect some more no's.
Albert Gillispie:
Story of my life, but we started meeting with leasing agents and then managers and then regional managers and then owners.
And inadvertently the owners were teaching us how to not only value commercial real estate, but how to add value to commercial real estate.
Real Estate Ventures and Learning from Failures
[19:15] Kellen Ketchersid:
It's just from the conversations you would have about the valley trash. They would, they would share other things with you.
Albert Gillispie:
Exactly. They, it was, Hey, it's no for me, but this is how you pitch it to the next guy. They took the time to kind of show us how a profit and loss statement works. Cool. And how you use a cap rate to essentially multiply the bottom line and the property's worth more. And at the time I was getting, I went back to school. I was getting my MBA. Tanner had become a full-time realtor.
And so the light started to turn on for us in commercial real estate. And so we went and met with a local broker really to get more names of owners so that we could keep trying to sell Valley trash to him. But at the end of the meeting, half joking, Tanner said, Hey, we'd like to buy an apartment someday.
[20:01]
And, and the broker being a good, being a good salesman said, alright, I've got this 16-unit townhome complex. You guys should take a look at it. And so we brought it to our Eagles group. Yeah. And most everybody said, nah, that's, that's too, that's too risky. Like keep flipping houses and buying duplexes like that. That works. Just do that.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah.
Albert Gillispie:
Except one guy who had started a gym and had personal training clients, had some wealthy personal training clients. And, and the line was, I've got some oil and gas clients and they've got a private jet. So I think they have money. Maybe they could help us with the down payment
Kellen Ketchersid:
Buy this apartment complex.
Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And so, that started our syndication model of buying commercial real estate, meaning we use friends and family investors who invest in the property, in the asset with us, and we buy commercial real estate. So,
[21:03] Kellen Ketchersid:
Wow. So I know that's like a big, I know that's a summary and the story could be a lot longer. Because, you know, you're collecting your no's, you're doing your valet trash thing, right? And you're talking to these apartment complex owners and learning how the game is played. You find an apartment, but I guess what I'm taking away from this, and maybe for the people who are listening, is like, just sticking with it whenever it's not going well.
Like I love the collecting your no's idea. I don't know. I was thinking about me trying to date girls in high school. I was collecting a lot of no's too, but when you're learning through that process of failure and not giving up, you know, like I know that when you guys first found that apartment complex, it's not like you knew how to find that money, you didn't have it sitting in your checking account, so I'm sure there was a process, right?
Of, it wasn't like Steven came to you the next day and he's like, Hey, I happen to know some guys with a jet. Right? I mean. There was probably a lot of effort in conversations that were part of that, right?
Strategic Goal Setting and Its Impact
[22:09] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And that, so mentioned goal setting earlier, and that's been a big part of, you know, my personal journey as well as my professional journey.
And it really gets down to envisioning a future that is worth pursuing. And so writing down a goal and then reverse engineering every step along the way to get there. And so we've, that's how we've approached every problem in every business and every season is what is the result we want to achieve. And then as a, as a group and as a team, we break that down.
What do I need to do each week to move closer to that? And, and that's, we've made that a part of the culture of our business. And it's still something, you know, we, we don't, we don't have our eagles group that meets every week at this point, but we meet, we meet in different, in different forms regularly, still in, in all around goal setting and goals for our life, whether it's, you know, fitness and family and our faith, you know, It's really what that it's focused around now.
That was a really, that was a really good thing to start my career going from zero to one. Yeah. But now as we scale our business, you need different things. And so I've hired executive coaches and professional coaches to help me get to the next level on that. But yeah, I guess to answer that it's, it's all about goal setting.
[23:39] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah.
Albert Gillispie:
And then reverse engineering in an intentional, intelligent way. To break down problems to, you know, their incremental steps.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Well, I love that because obviously with Stag Business Coaching, that's a big part of what we emphasize with the people we work with, you know, and trying to go through that that goal setting process Honestly, I think a lot of that that I have in me I learned from being your friend and full disclosure for everyone.
Kellen Ketchersid:
I was one of the guys that came into that eagles group Late in the game towards the end there, but you know, that idea of having like-minded people that help lift you up. And I know if I heard you say this before, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Um, it's so powerful to think in that way.
And I was, I was thinking about that Eagles group and the people who are in it. And a lot of those guys are now business owners. And I don't think that's by accident that that's, you know, the trajectory that a group of people who, you know, start out, like, get out of debt club, like, you're talking about, but now doing really well in their life because of that goal setting process and mastermind, you know, taking the wisdom of the group kind of mindset.
Reading lots of books. Okay. I got to ask, cause I don't know if everybody listening to know this, how many books do you read a year? And then I also want to know, cause I know you started goal setting about this. What like in 2014 or something
Personal Development and Continuous Learning
[25:09] Albert Gillispie:
2012 was the first year.
Kellen Ketchersid:
So how many, I just, how many books have you read in that time? And how many are you reading say in a year?
Albert Gillispie:
I'm a big list guy and I have different apps, but I use good reads to keep track of this and since then I've read 388 business books. Wow. So just business books. There's some, there's some fiction in there, but that 388 since 2012.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Wow. That's an impressive number. And you have a blog that you put your book reviews on, right?
[25:50] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. Yeah, I started well, okay, full disclosure. Whenever I read Harry Potter. Okay. In like fifth grade. Yeah. I had a little notebook that I wrote chapter summaries of every Harry Potter book. Nice.
And that is hidden. So I don't even know where that is anymore, but I. The original review. I haven't really said that out loud to anybody except like. My family. I knew I was going to learn something new today. Yeah. So that, that started early and it's really how I learned is I read and then try to distill that down to, you know, it's basic parts.
And so I've done that for a long time. I've done it a little more officially in the last three or four years where I've kept a blog. And it's really a tool for myself, is I read something, I'm underlining, I'm highlighting, I'm dog-earing pages, and then I go and summarize that and distill that down to, alright, these are the basic steps, this is, you know, this is my number one takeaway, and I just started to write that down.
[26:58] Kellen Ketchersid:
Well, I've, I've looked at your blog for the years that it's been online and it's always a good place to go to get ideas for the next read. And I, I'm always looking for an A or a plus so I can, all right, I gotta get that one. What's the web URL again?
Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, it is https://www.albertgillispie.com/
Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. Spelled with Gillispie. Without an E in the middle. Okay. So we've got kind of a sense of your early days and what made you who you are and then talked about getting started in business.
So what other ventures are you involved in or boards or things like that, that you're doing in the, you know, beyond your work life, whether it's in, you know, giving back in the community. Church, you know, I know that you're on some boards and some associations. You, could you speak to a few of those?
Community Involvement and Giving Back
[27:50] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, I guess, still, career adjacent is the apartment association. Okay, and so the local the president, that I'm the president for a second term, which is not intentional But you know eight not nine years ago, whenever we started going to apartment association events really just to meet people and try to sell valet trash We we were you know scared to death hiding in the corner Terrified to talk to anybody and, you know, eight, nine years later, I'm, I'm the second term president.
Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, you went from being the guy who wanted to take out the trash to being the president. I like it.
[28:33] Albert Gillispie:
Here we go in the Lord. The Lord has other plans. Yeah. And Tanner is current vice president at large for the Texas apartment association. And, and what that has been for us is. A really intentional network building thing where you're in a room with people who have been there, done that, seen the good, seen the bad.
And when you build a real relationship with those people, whenever, you know, the bad comes and it will, you have people to talk to, to lean on, to ask questions, to help navigate, you know, the bigger issues. And then, and then, you know, as we grow our business and I'm looking to make hires, I know The rock stars.
I know the people who are trying to grow because they're going to all of these events. They're going to all of these conferences and that's been invaluable. And when we're looking to buy commercial real estate, knowing the other owners who are selling that goes a long way. It's a big transaction and a lot of trust is required.
And so that's been invaluable. And has grown me as a leader and public speaker and all the above. And so continue to be involved there.
[29:47] Kellen Ketchersid:
What about your alma mater? I know you went to Lubbock Christian University.
Albert Gillispie:
I went to LCU. That's what, that's what brought me to Lubbock in 2006 and, and never left.
But a couple of years ago, I was [00:30:00] asked to join the board of trustees, which the average age is like mid sixties and I'm 36.
And so definitely. You know, the young guy in the room bringing down the average. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Bringing down the average, but that has been one of the more impactful things I've done in my life. The guy, other guys and gals on that board are all giants in their professional lives. They've, they've done incredible things, but they're also giants for the kingdom.
Kellen Ketchersid:
That's awesome.
Balancing Professional and Personal Life
[30:36] Albert Gillispie:
And man, I just to be a fly on the wall. in that room and have any of that rub off on you. There's one of the guys on the board helped bring fracking to the Permian.
You know, like one of the most impactful things for all of West Texas. And during COVID was helping start micro churches around town where he lives. And and to be, To have that perspective, to have that, you know, burning fire for the kingdom. And he's, you know, he's in his mid sixties. It's not, you know, not a spring chicken and just to have the energy to continue to, to do that, to continue to pursue, you know, kingdom work like that is inspired.
That's very cool. And anyway, and so getting to pour, pour into that. And I honestly, like I've been poured into so much being on that board, but. So much of, you know, the interns that work for us, you know, we, we've developed a mentoring program for the school of business and getting to kind of pour back into, into those kids and, and bring it full circle.
[31:44] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, that's gotta be very rewarding, but I'm sure, you know, you're talking about learning from all the other board members, but I'm sure. You're helping them too. It's, I mean, they need that younger voice that can kind of connect to those younger ages that are students [00:32:00] there. Right. So, I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure there's a lot that they're getting from your being on the board as well.
Albert Gillispie:
I thank you. Thank you for the compliment. I want to be useful. I think to a degree, we all want to feel like we can, we serve other people well. Yeah. And, and. You know, in a meaningful way and for the kingdom, I want to be useful. And you know, I, I am a blunt instrument. I am, I am a hammer just looking for a nail and a lot of times, you know, being super empathetic or, or preaching or anything like that, you know, I wasn't built for that, that this tool was not built for that and so finding a place where I can use my unique gifts, my unique abilities, my, the talents that God has given me.
To serve the kingdom is motivating is, you know, exciting, it's fulfilling. And so I'm just trying to lean into that and hold that with an open hand and, and just serve because I want to be useful.
Reflections on Fatherhood and Personal Values
[33:05] Kellen Ketchersid:
So I think that's amazing. And, and, you know, obviously we're both men of faith and followers of Jesus. And, you know, I love the humility in what you're saying.
And just the desire to serve and want to learn from other people. And I'm just thinking about some of the people who might be listening. You know, they're hearing you've done really well, you've had a lot of success, you know, you've got the businesses, three businesses that you're running or an owner serving on LCU board president, the apartment association.
What would you say to somebody who's just starting out in their career? Or someone who's maybe one of these students you're talking about at LCU that's in the business school or, or otherwise, what advice would you give to somebody like that about, you know, how do they, how do they get to whatever it is that that goal they have is like. What would you say?
[33:58] Albert Gillispie:
A couple of things. One is first and foremost, right? Write your goals down, write it down, put it on paper, seeing it every day, sharing that with other people. It creates this, it creates accountability.
Your mind's aware of it. Yeah. You know, power in that. Your brain starts to observe different opportunities. You know, if I told you, okay, I really want to buy a white Ford pickup and I go, and I go out to lunch, I'm going to see a ton of Ford white, white,
Kellen Ketchersid:
It's like, you see that car everywhere.
Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. And so there's, that has value. Secondly, try lots of things. You don't know what you don't know what you're truly gifted and passionate about until you get out and experience a lot of different things. I thought I wanted to be a dentist.
You know, it turns out I just loved going on global mission trips and, and, you know, seeing the world
[34:52] Kellen Ketchersid:
And you want to be a trashman.
[34:53] Albert Gillispie:
And then I don't want to be a trashman. And, you know, come to find out sitting behind a desk, working on a computer and reading. It is something I have a gift for and can enjoy.
And then thirdly is to build relationships with people that are further along in their career and it's not, you know, it's not a transaction, it's not a, hi, sir. Pleasure to meet you. Will you be my mentor? It's a real relationship where you get to know the person. You get to know their family and their kids and you're, you're hearing stories about babies and the highs and lows of their career.
And then when you go to pursue a career or a goal or whatever, you have relationships with people that can make introductions for you. And so I always say, if you're, if you're trying to get a job, you need someone to make, you need an intermediary. You need someone to make an introduction for you who can vouch for your character, be an advocate.
Yeah. And that has made a dramatic impact on my life and business is, is [00:36:00] building relationships with people. And, and being that advocate for them and then asking for them to be an advocate for me.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
[36:07] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, that's so good. I feel like, and I know you're the way you go about that is genuine. It's not about trying to, this person might be able to help me.
So I'm just going to try to go to coffee or something one time. And it's not a transactional thing. Like you said, it's, it's real and there's so much power in that. And oftentimes the relationships that end up opening doors for us are unexpected, don't you think? So just, yeah, just being a person who goes through life, like seeking to serve other people and learn from other people, doors are going to open.
And I know I've seen that in your life and it's been amazing to kind of watch from the sidelines before we started the business coaching venture together to see how God worked through that talent of yours to just be relational and go out and, and try things and go after. So yeah, I think that's great advice.
[37:07]
And I hope that people if anybody out there is listening and wondering, like, how could I try to follow in those footsteps or my own version of that? So that's all really good advice. I wanted to wrap up with something that I know is close to your heart and maybe a little bit more on a personal side.
But this is something that both of us care a lot about. We both have young kids and just being intentional as fathers. And I think maybe some of the things that we've been talking about, some of the principles we've been talking about translate into that too. So could you just tell us a little bit about, you know, your life as a dad and kind of what you, how you try to be an intentional father?
[37:50] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah, I, so I have two boys, Easton and Barrett. They're, they're five and seven, and they are, They're all boy, they are constantly wrestling and, and fighting and want to be in the mud and they're all boy and, and that's so much fun. And my wife is one of three girls, she has two sisters and she–
Kellen Ketchersid:
So she wasn't, she wasn't expecting to be a boy mom.
Albert Gillispie:
No, no. She was not ready for it. but is the best boy mom I could imagine. She is constantly, you know, coming up with different schemes and projects for them to do around the house and ways to help and, and then making, you know, making room for them to be messy and, and just, you know, Yeah. That's awesome.
[38:45] Albert Gillispie:
She's an amazing boy mom as a, a dad, a good book Intentional Father by John Tyson. Okay. Is a very prescriptive book where he goes through different steps to basically initiate a boy into manhood and. One of the premises from the book is that's a lot of what's wrong in our society is we is as men. We are self-initiating.
And when we don't have a guide, when we don't have someone walking us through that, you know, that's where a lot of the, the toxic. Masculinity or, or even, you know, complete lack of masculinity is so prevalent in our culture. And anyway, as a dad, I try to be really intentional with that. You know, we put everything in its proper place. Sports for us is all about building a growth mindset.
[39:39] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah. You know, same with ours.
Albert Gillispie:
If that, you know, this sport becomes their, their, you know, their life's ambition, great. Let's, you know, let's pour some gas on it and burn it, burn it down. Let's do it. But, what I do want my boys to experience, and this is what rodeo was for me, what was starting out and [00:40:00] being terrible and then putting in the work training, practicing, Being part of a team, learning from people or coaches.
And, and then saw success. And, and from that, I've applied that to every area of my life that I, there's a growth mindset That I developed as, you know, a six year old kid that whatever problem we come to, we can, we can adapt and learn and, and seek other people and we can conquer it. And so right now that's kind of the season we're in right now where we're in youth sports and keep that in its proper place. I, you know, him getting better. Both of them getting better because of putting the work in is the goal.
[40:46] Kellen Ketchersid:
We talk so much about that with our kids too. And I think a lot of parents lose sight of, I mean, all the, I feel like there's so many parents that just want their kid to be a pro someday, you know, and.
Not losing sight of the fact that, you know, your kid's probably, statistically, not going to be a professional athlete someday, but that doesn't mean that sports don't have a great value, but I think a lot of parents lose sight of the fact that it's like, it's instilling that growth mindset, like you said, and the value of struggling when you're not good at this, or you're, you're still trying to get better, and I just love that.
And that applies in so many areas of life. I felt the same about my experience growing up and being in sports, you know, nobody was scouting me for anything, but I'm so grateful that I learned from it and had that in my life and I think for boys especially.
And then something else that you touched on from the John Tyson book, Intentional Fatherhood. Just you said initiating kind of your journey into being, becoming a man. And I just, I think a lot of boys and parents today are struggling with that. Don't you? Yeah.
[42:04] Albert Gillispie:
Yeah. Even a boy understanding what, what does it mean to be a man?
Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah.
Albert Gillispie:
What does it mean to provide for and protect your family?
Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah.
Albert Gillispie:
What does it mean to lead your family? Be the Christian leader in your family and being able to model that intentionally and teach that through really practical. Yeah. Lessons or even, even learning life skills, you know, in an intentional way.
So you feel that you're a capable and confident man and building confidence. And, and I love this is, you know, arrogance is fake competence and you gain confidence from experiencing things, being bad at it and then developing capability.
And so once you have experience and then capability, then you develop competence and. I want to instill that in my boys as well is true confidence because they've been there. They were, they were okay with being bad at something. It's okay. It's okay to, to, it's okay to suck at something for a season and you develop capability and then there's confidence because you know how to do it.
You've been there, you've seen it go well. You've seen it go bad. And then you, you know how to navigate life with true confidence.
[43:25] Kellen Ketchersid:
Yeah, it's good. And I, I think It's good when you can model that for your boys and be there for them. That intentionality of. Like making time on a regular basis to just pour into them.
And I know you do that. I know you arrange your time very carefully so that you can be an intentional father. You were at breakfast with one of them this morning, I think, weren't you? Yeah.
Albert Gillispie:
Dude's breakfast. This is my, my pre, my five year old is in pre K and we've got one more one on one. Dude's breakfast next week. And I have feelings about that. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna let that put, bury that deep right
[44:02] Kellen Ketchersid:
now. Yeah. Those are, those are bittersweet milestones when you hit them, but it's a, it's really cool. And I think all of this, if you just kind of take all the things that we've talked about today. Whether it's, you know, learning some grit from your bull riding experience, or, you know, going through the process of, you know, learning from mentors and the Eagles group and working hard and failing and collecting your no's, but then finding a path forward and, and now as a father, so much of it is all just about that idea of being intentional.
I think that's what goal setting is, isn't it? It's like. I know what I'm going after, and I'm going to not just have a dream, I'm going to systematically start with that goal in mind and work back to what I need to be doing today to get towards that, you know, your books that you read, the people you're surrounding yourself with, I just, I think there's so many good things, good takeaways.
[45:00] :
That I hope people who are listening will, we'll see and, and want to be inspired by. So I guess that's a good place for us to end. So thank you Albert for sharing so much with us today. And we look forward to our next episode. We'll be talking to some other members of the team here, but thanks for your time, Albert.
Albert Gillispie:
Thanks for having me. I enjoyed it.
Kellen Ketchersid:
All right. Tune in next time for the Business Growth Masterclass podcast.
