The Athlete Entrepreneur

Don Davey | NFL Veteran, Entrepreneur, Philanthropists and 11x IRONMAN

January 03, 2022 Greg Spillane
The Athlete Entrepreneur
Don Davey | NFL Veteran, Entrepreneur, Philanthropists and 11x IRONMAN
Show Notes Transcript

Don Davey was the first, and is still the only student in NCAA history to be named to GTE's prestigious First Team Academic All-American Team in four consecutive years.  After earning his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wisconsin, his unique combination of intelligence, talent, and unrivaled work ethic propelled him through nine successful seasons in the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers (1991-1995) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (1995-1999).  

Since retiring from the NFL, Don has immersed himself in several entrepreneurial, charitable, and athletic endeavors: 

·       He is the owner of Disciplined Equity Management, an institutional wealth management firm for professional athletes, business owners, executives, and other high net worth investors.

·       He is the largest Firehouse Subs franchisee in the country, developing more than 30 Firehouse Subs locations in Florida and Wisconsin.

·       He is the owner of Parrothead Property Investments, a real estate investment company with commercial and residential holdings in Florida and Wisconsin.

·       He donates considerable time and resources to several non-profits including the University of Wisconsin, the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund, the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, and the Ironman Foundation.

·       He fuels his competitive drive by competing in Ironman Triathlons, having completed eleven full distance IRONMAN events around the world.  Don recently became only the second modern era NFL player to complete the grueling Ironman World Championship course in Kona, Hawaii.

Don is married to his high school sweetheart and fellow Wisconsin Badger Kristen.  They have five beautiful daughters named Livy, Carly, Kuki, Chloe, and Kasey and reside in Atlantic Beach, Florida.

Greg Spillane:

Listen, we were just talking about this before we hit the play button and and the pounding on the body so is this your 11th Ironman or your 12th just completed

Don Davey:

just finished my 11th around Florida

Greg Spillane:

yeah all right and and I know you going back and forth on the emails you you were a little injured you're a little a little banged up during this one. Yeah, unfortunately

Don Davey:

I you know, I back up this year I signed up for something different I did Race Across America, which is a bike race from California to Maryland. So January through June I was treated for that I got in phenomenal Bikeshare I thought I did a cycle cycle cycle I was swimming a little bit I wasn't running at all, but I was in such good bike shape. I'm gonna waste it just on one event. I mean, let's roll right into Ironman. So I rolled right into training for Ironman Florida and my bike officers doing great I was worried about the run but my run actually came along really really well. Until three days before the race I just a little three mile training run kind of a little tune up right before the race and I rolled my ankle and like you you play football you don't get hurt all the time in football you just kind of ignore it and I kind of ignored it didn't hurt that bad until the race first of all I wake up with a racist 40 degrees and it was windy it was rainy It was cold it was a massive current so the conditions were tough and everybody was slow 1520 minutes in the swim but then on the even on the plate you know my ankles are swollen up it really started to bother me I could tell I was favoring that my good leg much better than the other one so my Dallas was awful my power and then I lived through the run I walked a lot the run just by that time it's all up the slides were watered but like we say you know any finishes a good finish and I got across the finish line and like when I was there to call my name so I got the medal so I'm proud of me every single finish.

Greg Spillane:

You did so 30 degrees. What's the water temperature? I mean, I know you I know you guys got some warmer water down down there in Florida but I you know you start the race in the water. So I in like, you know 6am In the morning, I'm assuming that's a that's quite the wake up right there.

Don Davey:

Yeah, well, the irony is you know, I pick this race, you know, I've done I've done the way I've done Australia and UK already, you know when when you when you make a travel destination as well. There's all the logistics of flying and bringing your bike and getting assembled back together and staying in the hotel and all this I purposely picked I'm in Florida, I've never done this one. So this is right in my backyard, I could just drive over conditions are usually put up right 6070 degrees, the waters usually dead flat. It's a flat bike course. I'm like this is right up my alley. I'm shooting for a PR person in this one. And a feed myself up. I was in the best shape my life it was a flat fast horse. And then we wake up to these galamsey conditions. It's like well, yeah, I wanted to create something like that. So like Michigan's like, so it wasn't always the temperature. It was the mass of current we were it was kind of out clockwise rectangle. And you were getting cipher it into current cipher. And then the only time you were with the wind was when you're running on the beach to go to the second lap. So that really Yeah. But they are what they are. And the whole goal of every Ironman race is just to get across that finish line somehow someway. And and I did

Greg Spillane:

do you do you have your your next Ironman already circled on the calendar.

Don Davey:

So I promised myself I wouldn't I did Race Across America. And then I did Ironman, Florida. I'm thinking six weeks that kind of have a little bit of an offseason here over the holidays. Just kind of some easy maintenance type training, then come January rescheduled for this year.

Greg Spillane:

So Race Across America. I read a little bit about that before we got on. Really unbelievable. I mean, you guys, I believe you started in Long Beach somewhere in the Southern California West Coast and went all the ways out to Maryland on bikes. Less than seven days. Right? You did in less than a week. Yeah, I know. You raised a lot of money, I think at least what I'd read was, you know, $150,000 or so for charity, which is which is phenomenal. But help me understand a little bit more about that event. And you know how that came to be? Yeah,

Don Davey:

that was so funny how things work, man. You know, I don't know man at that point. And that's kind of my thing, you know, was it signing up for an Ironman race and I know that inside out uncomfortable and us two years ago before the pandemic some guy from Wisconsin, reached out to me, and he's a Packer fan. That's how he knew of me and he said, Hey, listen, I've started this nonprofit to benefit military veterans, recruiting superheroes he called him I'm just looking for some some recognizable people to steal We're together this team to do Race Across America. And I've never heard of that dug into it. That's, that's this is 3070 Miles coast to coast on a flight. I said, You gotta be crazy, though. The other stuff on my calendar to do, I got an A ring coming up, I got businesses to run, I got five daughters. There's no time for that. And, to his credit, the guy kept pestering me and he kept telling me this is a nonprofit. It's called a one mile. And I started seeing the other people use assemblies for the team, and I started seeing the good work they were doing in the community. And in 2020, and Milla pandemic, he reached out to me again, if there's one spot left, you have a perfect cockiness, I'd really like to have on board. And for some reason, I said yes. And I, this that game, explain why. And then this is all the benefit military veterans. And then a couple months after I had said yes, yes, my dad who's a former Marine, got really sick, right? And my dad ended up passing away in February, and it was sorry to hear that this day, the hardest thing. My dad and I are like, Yeah, I mean, he but every football game, he went to every man. You know, zip all my kids, birthdays, graduations, all that stuff. We were very, very close. And when he passed, I mean, it was, it was really, really difficult. And I was worried. I said, Man, this could really spiral into a really dark depression thing. And, and I had right about that time, this is February, they had a training camp for this race across America, the whole team was getting together, say Diego, so beat one another and to ride for our first time together to kind of get acquainted and figure out the logistics of the race. And I wasn't going to go this was literally like two weeks after my dad died. My wife's like, you know, you got to get the hell out of your particular in such a funk. Maybe this will be good for you change the scenery. And I went reluctantly, and that this group of guys, okay, and so these are Navy SEALs, everybody in this team had some connections with either spouse who had died or has a brother who had served or was in the military or a former military veteran, and certainly hear their stories right of the talk about what they go through. Iraq, IDs being exploded, and because the guy was one leg that came in and told this story, and it was really good for me, right to kind of put things in perspective to get was It was tragic. When my dad died. He was at, I got to enjoy. Yeah, until I was 53 years old. So these kids are 18 years old and dying. So that was a good perspective. And then of course, the training, I turned the training in the kind of my my tribute to the to my dad, right? Yeah. Every time I want his doctor, right, is it that I'm doing this? My dad is all about hard work discipline, overcoming obstacles through his professional career and his personal life. And so I use this, this journey to Race Across America, kind of as a tribute to philosophy short, we do the race, we get done with the race, I flew my mom up to Annapolis, Maryland at the finish line. And I have for 3070 miles, I carried an American flag with me where my dad's dog tag and finish line handed my mom and American flag do not add any nice, beautiful, very emotional for both of us. But it was really good closure. And I I know now, you know, I was talking about you know, God's got a plan. I don't know why I said yes. And why this guy reached out, I needed this. No, it would have been good in three support group counseling for that kind of stuff would wouldn't have really worked for me to kind of get through that episode of my life. But this you know, I mean, train, I bought my bike probably 300 miles a week leading up to this thing. And every second I was on my bike, I was thinking and praying to my dad, and the race itself and having my mom there at the finish line. And just the whole journey was really it was great closure, came out the right thought in my life. And it was a really, really awesome experience. And we raised$150,000 for military butts. I made some great lifelong friends as part of that journey. Really cool experience.

Greg Spillane:

Unbelievable. What a great story and what a great tribute to your dad. So I'm assuming I mean, you know, knowing a little bit about your background and wanting to dive into it, I'm assuming obviously your dad played a big, big part of that. You know, first of all, I think one thing that was interesting that came across is you're one of a very small group of people who grew up played high school football and Wisconsin went and played for the Wisconsin Badgers and then actually played for the Green Bay Packers, which is which is phenomenal. I'm sure that you know in the state of Wisconsin that you know you You did very highly for that. But you're, you know, one of the jokes I have when I talked to a lot of a lot of athletes, former athletes on the show, and people who've gone on and done amazingly successful things is, you know, it's like the college student athletes, but really, you're an athlete student, you know, and sports typically comes first and then academics are secondary. But that was not the case with you. You know, number one, you're, you're an engineering major, and you have your your engineering degrees, I believe, Masters engineering, you're a four time Academic All American. While obviously, you know, excelling on the football field like it does that come from your dad? Like, where did where did that work ethic come from?

Don Davey:

Yeah, very much. So you know, five kids in my family. I'm the youngest of four brothers and a younger sister. And, you know, we're all good athletes. We all love playing sports. But dad made it clear, you know, from kindergarten, they say, listen, hey, you can play all the sports you want, as long as you take care of your grades, right? And the minute your grade starts slipping, I'll take it away football, basketball, baseball, whatever it is that you love to do. And I guess because we're all such, such good athletes and like playing sports, we also may academics have priority. And so I was a straight A student, you know, all the way through grade school, middle school, high school, valedictorian. And then I, you know, assigned with Scotts badges, which was a dream come true. They had a great engineering program. I knew that's what I wanted to study. And I show up on campus, before I got my campus, I mapped out my whole four years, I needed 136 credits to graduate. And so I knew exactly how many I had to take each semester for all eight semesters to graduate in four years, because that was another thing. My dad was always big on this, like, hey, you know, go to college, get your degree in four years. And so I took my freshman year, and we're training camp. And, and I was also I ended up being registered. But that wasn't the case, I traveled with the team for the first half of the season, my rookie year, my freshman year, because I thought they were gonna meet me and play me as a freshman. But I go to our academic counselor. So listen, I got this all mapped up. I'm taking physics, I'm taking calculus, I'm taking chemistry, and I'm taking the introductory engineering. And I've got drafted last year, 18 credits per semester. And they're like, whoa, first of all, let's talk about this engineering thing. Are you really sure you want to study engineering? I mean, a lot of our guys are in political science. You know, that's, that's especially for freshmen and engineering, you know, are you sure you want to take a five credit Calc and a three credit chemistry with a two credit lab and you gotta juggle practice, and you got your training table, and you'll probably be trapped on the team as a freshman. I'm so confused by that. I guess, because of this, I did it in high school, I'm gonna do it in college. It's just was was the norm to me. And I ended up getting escalated from the academic advisor to my position coach to the head coach all the way to university. And I got to that point where it was like, basically, hey, listen, you have to drop down to we only will only let you take 15 credits your question. And I was I was hurt and offended by that. But I made a deal with that go to the attacker. I said, Listen, I'll do this, you know, this will put me back, I'm going to get a summer class, I guess, somewhere along the line to make this up. But if I show I can handle it, you leave me alone for those four years, right? And they said absolutely, absolutely. They're kind of chuckling to themselves. This kid doesn't know us informed by a great freshman football season, but also came back with a 4.0. Right? And we came back after Christmas. And I was ready to go the opposite. Listen, here's my grades for photo and they're like, You got it. So from then on, they let me do what I wanted. And I graduated four years, I ended up being Richard, fifth year of eligibility. And I got my masters in my fifth year, still playing for the Badgers go to graduate school masters. And along the way, you've entered it, I was like a lot of accolades, because I ended up being the first guy ever to be named to GTs, Academic All American, four consecutive years. Nobody had ever done that before. And that's 30 years later, nobody's done it since. Well.

Greg Spillane:

No, it's insane. I mean, for people who don't know, and especially for people who do know, you know, just playing the sport itself is an unbelievable time commitment. I mean, it isn't, you know, in season you have your practices and all those types of things. But you know, offseason, you know, you're you're in the weight room every single day, and there's obligations and there's things that you're expected to attend and you know, you're a young kid, you're in college, you you kind of want to start to build some social life. You're at that age where you maybe sleep a lot more than you do as an adult. You have your classes like I mean, how did you balance? Like what was the secret?

Don Davey:

Well, part of it is I one of my cheating is I don't sleep much I never have even as a kid nice Get up and go bang tennis balls in the garage and four in the morning, my mom could do it go to bed forgot, I just, I'm one of those people that have naturally 45 hours of sleep. So it gives me more time to do stuff. But it's all about discipline. Like I said, my father was a Marine. And it was like, Hey, listen, you know, budget your time, make your priorities take care of what you got to take care of. And for me, it was you know, I would have to get up early, do a little studying, go to classes, go to my lab, go to practice. I still have to practice the weightlifting and then go study afterwards and then get up early the next day. And when you traveled, if you had to leave early on a Friday, it was a class you got to make that up. But it was all just about setting the priorities. And by the way, is anybody I wasn't engineering nerd that was in the library. 24/7 It was a lot of fun. And we went to parties and celebrated the victories with my teammates, and you had just as much fun as he goes. So Oh,

Greg Spillane:

Wisconsin, he and I, we played, we played up in Madison, it was probably one of the most fun away games I've ever been to this is probably 9098 Like, like one Dane days. And what an a mate. I mean, from a social life perspective, just driving in. I mean, the tailgate party and then the fans and the sea of red and I had a friend who was attending Wisconsin at the time, you know, he would come back in town for Thanksgiving you're talking about it seems like an amazing place to go to school.

Don Davey:

Unbelievable. It is. The city is always ranked as one of the best places to live one's best midsize cities to live in the whole country. And you know the atmosphere of the campus is just a biopsy but it is the coolest College GameDay football experience out there. Jump around with the tailgating with a 50 degree fall weather with sunshine at least early. I mean, it's it's real cool. It's a special place and I love going back there whenever I can.

Greg Spillane:

So you say you grew up in in the Wisconsin area. I you end up in Madison. You you you have the career we just discussed. Were you a huge Packers fan like do you come from one of these long lines of Packer families.

Don Davey:

You grow right? You go out in middle school you pretend you're part star rated here wherever it is. I mean that those guys are like gods in the stables. Yeah. So imagine you know, I grew up as a kid like that. I dream come true to go play for the bathrooms and now it's Draft Day. And I had no inkling that the Packers were even interested. I had the Bengals and so a lot of interest, the Raiders, a lot of interests, individual workouts, hadn't heard anything. And I'll never forget my dad answered the phone. We're all at home with Bible family. And he puts it on the phone. He covers installing and they draft to be the third round. So 12 kids ever that grew up mistake Wisconsin play for the Scots badgers and they got drafted by the Green Bay Packers. I mean, you talk about a fairy tale a dream come true. It was really cool. And to this day, yeah. That wasn't the best Packer player ever, obviously, on the football field, but I still hold two records for the Green Bay back. Okay. The first is I'm the graphic who, from the time they hung up the phone to being drafted to arriving at the press conference. Mine was like 18 minutes. My hometown has been about a half an hour from Green Bay. But we made it in 18 minutes and we pick up the phone went to Green Bay and add all the presses that are waiting for us. And the second record I have is I brought the largest authorized because not only did all my family come on my high school buddies jumped in their car drove up to Green Bay all my college buddies drove up from northern Wisconsin. I probably had 30 or 40 people at my first conference that just kind of showed up

Greg Spillane:

Yeah, I bet you I bet you're getting a lot of calls for for tickets to the around the

Don Davey:

bonus with the paper tickets for friends and family. But great five great years up there. You know we traded for bet far the next year we signed breaking but that was kind of the the Packers were at a low when I was Yeah. Pretty 13 I guess my firt my rookie year and then but I was part of that ascension for those five years leading up to Super Bowl.

Greg Spillane:

So I mean, you're you're on the D line. So you're you're in all the meetings you're in doing all your drills you're probably doing some one on one stuff with with Reggie White, and I know you guys had some other dudes on that team, but that guy was a monster, right? I mean, I remember watching the Super Bowl. I don't what was it? 9095 And what he did to that right tackle in that game because I played So I younger watch the offensive line. I mean, he was treating that grown man like a grown NFL starting right tackle like a little kid like, flinging him around like the guy wasn't there. It must have been the longest most lonely day in the world for that right tackle.

Don Davey:

So you talk about culture, right? I know him. I put it for the Packers, though I get to not only meet Reggie White, who I was a huge fan of I mean, in his days of Philadelphia, legendary, even if his career ended at the end of his Philadelphia, CP Hall of Famer. Yeah. But then we bring him in, in the prime of his career, I get to sit with him in meetings like to watch film with them, I get to be on the practice field, and learn from arguably the greatest defensive lineman in the history of the NFL, as a player. And by the way, our defensive line by last year Green Bay, it was Reggie White, Sean Jones, stebic by for the bears, he was still playing. He was brightspot who is NFL because for the year for Buffalo after he left, John Djokovic, Matt Brock, I mean, we were just stacked on that supply. It was pretty good. But I was probably the six best of that group. But it made me such a player because I got to learn from all those guys. But then it came time my contract was up and it was the Jaguars were an expansion team. Tom coffin was looking to build this time team around guys like me smart, hardworking, disciplined guy, not big, super flashy. He wasn't gonna pay, you know, $6 million a year for Reggie White. He was looking for, for blue collar guys to build the Jaguar T Brown. And I was just the perfect fit for that time. I hated to leave. But I knew if I was going to get out from under the shadow of all those, three of them are Hall of Famers, and make my own name for myself in the NFL, I had to pick up and go in the Jaguars were a great opportunity to do that. We

Greg Spillane:

picked up in the Expansion Draft or

Don Davey:

there was only four of us I was underserved to creating could have went anywhere. I had a lot of opportunities. But you know, being with the Jaguars was really cool. 1985 as an expansion team. Not a lot of big names on the team. But we came together under Coach Goff and he beat the shit out of us. I mean, he was crazy. But then took that bunch of cast offs and rookie free agents and a handful better free agents. In our second year in the playoffs, you know, the plan? Yeah, we go up to Buffalo and beat Buffalo and they still had Jim Kelly and Barbara Thomas and Bruce Smith and all those guys. And then we got the Denver would be gone LA and those guys in Denver after they started the season 14, you know, and we end up losing the New England that you're in the Pac typically. But we very quickly built a successful franchise here, Jackson, which was really cool. That Stadium was always sold out. I mean, it's, it's, people probably don't remember that down because the Jaguars are better on a rough stretch here from last few years. But it was a really cool part of the theme from 95 to 2000. When I played here, to bring a new franchise to a whole new city, you know, the first stock I got was the first sack and the franchise history or first when was the first when in franchise history. And then to make it to the AFC Championship and then stay in the house for the next four years after that was really cool.

Greg Spillane:

Yeah, yeah, no, I remember those. Those teams got that smarter nowadays. Right? Well,

Don Davey:

they went out. Yeah. A lot of talented guys built a winning tradition really quickly.

Greg Spillane:

So, so kauflin, you know, from a distance, right? I mean, obviously, I'm just I'm a fan and someone who enjoys a game. But you know, having, you know, been around the game, you kind of get a feel for different types of individuals. He seems like he's a very polarizing, I guess, in the world of football. I don't know, if you see, at least from my perspective, where there's some people that it's like, This guy's a Hall of Fame coach, this guy's one of the best ever. And then there's, you know, he's sounds like he's rubbed a couple people the wrong way in certain spots in his career. I don't think it's deniable that he was a really good football coach and had success in several different places. I love his style, because his style is always seem to be exactly what you mentioned, like I want, you know, like, like, smart, hardworking grind type of people like we're gonna take, like, like a very disciplined approach to a way we're gonna, you know, build our team, the way we're going to run our team, etc. What, I guess one, I'd like to hear your perspective on it, because you know, much better than me, but to you know, is what what did you learn from Tom Kaufman? Are there things that you learn from him that you've taken with you kind of in your own professional career?

Don Davey:

Yeah. So, you know, I leave Green Bay and side of the dark side with the Jaguars. And from day one in February for the day I slide, it was, you know, he's both of us in the weight room. We're in a position field. I mean, it was, it was hard work. It was discipline. It was, you know, he and he purposely was trying to build that culture of, hey, listen, you know, we're gonna win here and we're not the most delta team. So we're going to have to outwork outsmart out. hustled the other teams. And that starts day one in February with the training program. And I loved it. I go back to my dad, you know, my dad's a Marine. That's the way he raised me and my brothers, even my sister. I mean, he was all about hard work discipline, and I just didn't know any different other than just shut up and just say, Yes, coach, whatever you say, I'll do it. And I really relished it. I mean, I, I wanted that because I, for me to get better. I knew that's kind of what it took to do this. And, again, I was surprised with the academic stuff at Wisconsin, I was kind of surprised that so many guys had a hard time coaches asked me to do this, we got 5am workouts, and I never did this. And I'm like, You know what, when you're successful enough to be a coach, or an owner of NFL team, you can do whatever you want. And he worked. This is his theme, he's bringing us all in the system, you can either complain about it, or you can shut the hell up and work your ass off. And hopefully, we'll have a winning tradition. And that first year, we weeded out some guys that weren't really happy. But Depakote coffin did and I don't want to practice some big defensive lineman. Sorry, second or third year guy free agent, we pick up from New England, I forget his name, but got into a fight with the offensive lineman rip off the lead, chuck it across the field, but it started, you know, customers were it up and down the field. And as well don't feel cut up. So you're not my kind of guy just released. Yeah. And just, you know, he did that several guys over the course of the first year just to send the message across the board. Listen, you know what, you like it, you can pitch right? You do whatever. But this is the way it's gonna be. And I'm going to build this team with guys that that want to be part of it. And like I say, every input player wants to win, you know, I want to win a Super Bowl, slow bad, what a cool experience. So if you guys think experienced that, and we got so close, whatever it is, listen, whatever, whatever it takes talk off. And he was on the guys with ourselves when they went to Super Bowl, Super Bowls with the Giants. When he went back, he won national championship was with Boston College and Flutie and all those guys, the guy knew how to win. And so I just embraced it and just put my head down. And I was back to work every day, and just whatever they told me to do, I did and was successful, both personally. And as a team, we've lost just as

Greg Spillane:

I love that sort of addition, by subtraction approach, I, you know, it's something that I've brought in my own professional life, like in the business setting where, you know, if you got, it doesn't matter how talented somebody is necessarily, if they're, if they're an asshole, just not a cultural fit, like, you're just better off without them in your organization. Because culture and just having alignment within your culture within within your organization, whether it's a football team, or whether it's a business is just so absolutely important to success. And I think a lot of people struggle with that, you know, it's like, oh, well, this person, you know, especially like sales guys. And companies, right? Oh, well, this guy's you know, he's a producer. He's a producer. And it's like, Yeah, but he's absolutely not the kind of person that you want. You know, it's not, it's not a representation of the type of company you want to build. And if you want to build this culture within your company, you can't have people like that in it and expect everybody else is going to fall in mind do the things the way you want to do it. And I love that. I mean, obviously that football team

Don Davey:

drug I couldn't agree more you hit the nail on the head, our second year. The only good name veteran creative we side of conflict kind of went against his MO and he signed on Horizon. Right. And he was far and away. The most talented guy. He was under horizon is crying. He's coming from Atlanta. You know, I think he led the NFL and receiving yards a year before, and we bring him in. And so we've got all these blue collar heartbroken guys. And now we've got this one. Pretty much on us dating Lisa Left Eye at the time, and she opened a limo and her entourage and bodyguards and all this stuff. And in the middle of that season, we played up in Buffalo and Andre rose and went out the night before the came and came into our team meeting room and he felt he had a few beers and start spouting off about this thing. And the very next day after the game, we got back home coffee. Yeah, by sending a message. We're paying three or 4 million bucks a year. He's clearly the most talented guy on the team for coffee gave me our team meeting room. He said, listen, the guys have cancer. He's like, That's not the culture. It's not the attitude. And I everyone in this room needs to know that nobody is above reproach here. We're going to build the team a certain way. He said they can fire me that will come. This is what I believe. And this is what I give him a lot of credit for sticking to his guns. And it's funny later in life just recently, a couple years ago, he did get fired for exactly that. He got into kind of a There's a match with Jalen Ramsey, who was didn't like coffin style and thought he was being too strict or discipline or whatever, and often stuck to his guns that listen, you know, at the time he wasn't the coach, but he was the football czar. On top of the GM and the coach. And push came to shove, though, team owners. You know what, we ended up entertaining trade Jalen Ramsey out to the Rams. And said, You know what, this generation of players, these young guys, they don't really jive with your style. And

Greg Spillane:

yeah, that's interesting. I, you know, when he first told that story, I was thinking to myself is how much courage it takes for, you know, someone like Kaufman to make that move, because, you know, you're going to get skewered in the media, right? Because people out in the, you know, the fan base and peep, you know, the talking heads are all gonna be like, you know, this is an all pro, you know, you just paid this guy, like how you gonna possibly cut this guy like they, they don't get the culture building and what he's trying to do with his team and kind of what, you know, the mentality is trying to instill. But it's interesting to hear that, you know, the second part of that story in which, you know, recently with Jalen Ramsey is, I don't, you know, I wouldn't, I'm sitting here thinking, and I don't know if that's 100% True, right? Like, you get a guy like belcheck, who is old school, and I think he's got a way of doing things. And yeah, he's going to adjust, but you know, at the end of the day, like, you're gonna either get into the Patriots while you're you're not, and he's continuing to be successful, where, you know, now, you know, coffin gets fired for kind of doing that. And the people have changed. And and you know, this, that the other, it's evolved, he hasn't kept up with the times like, is it just it was it is convenient. Excuse her? I mean, do you believe that yourself? Do you believe that it really has changed and that old school mentality doesn't work? Yeah.

Don Davey:

I think there are some NFL Play current NFL players and back when I played just like when I played that are a good fit, that aren't a good fit for that type of style. Right, they wouldn't have built themselves, they wouldn't have worked with Vince Lombardi. They wouldn't have worked with Don Kaufman and probably not a good fit for belcheck. I guess the difference in New England anyway, Bob Kraft has bought into beltex way and given him free rein. I'm always gonna take your side, not the player side of things. And you run this organization, everyone, for whatever reason, owner shot con, cited that you know what, we got a we got to make a change here. Because the year before we were in the AFC Championship game, we lost to the Patriots. So it wasn't conference way worked. I mean, he built that team again, as the football czar to take them to the CTF, again, and really should have won that

Greg Spillane:

that was a really, that was a really good team to I remember that. A tough, tough defense

Don Davey:

coordinator. I mean, it was miles jacket. We still on the team just loaded. He was part of that team. And it was funky. But

Greg Spillane:

so one of the questions I love to ask, you know, accent NFL, ex professional athletes in general is, is sort of that transition out. You know, you started a bunch of games with Jacksonville yet you had a nice stent there, at least from what I was able to see, it looks like you started 10 games you played in your final year there. So it sounds like there was maybe a couple of injuries that you were battling. What, you know, a lot of times the game decides when it's your time to walk away, sometimes people walk away on their own terms. I'd love to hear you know, the the thought process of the decision process, you know, when he decided to walk away from the game and then how did you handle that? You know, I think life after football life after sports in general can be tough for a lot of people. I've had people come here tell me stories about how it was like they went through a midlife crisis that, you know, 27 years old, because you know, they've done this one thing their entire life. And then one day they wake up and it's over.

Don Davey:

Well, that's a you're so true. And that's so right. That's so correct. I've dealt with so many guys that I would throw myself think about football. I certainly tackle football when I was five years old, right and played all through grade school, all through middle school, through high school into college, and then 10 years in the right. And I always viewed myself, you know, I had my engineering degree. I was good at school. I did some internships. I married my high school sweetheart, you know, a lot of things outside of football too. But whether I wanted to or not the rest of the world always looked at me as Donald Davis. I mean, my parents and my brothers and you know, my friends for college in my high school buddies and your relatives it was my cousin Danny plays with my brother he plays it's, it's you're always thought did and so that it's it becomes not only what you do, but really who you are. And then think about the NFL. Okay, the NFL is I mean, it's your career. It's how you make your money. It's why you pick up and move and live wherever you live. It's why you stay in shape and how you stay. Every site coffins itineraries were famous to being literally budgeted down to the 32nd interval. But it was like, you know, at 435 30 seconds, we're gonna have special teams walking. So everything scripted for you, right, and you have, starting in the offseason, you know, you've got the Offseason training for that you got mini camp, and then you got the draft, and they got another mini camp, and then you have training camp, and then you have the regular season, then you have the playoffs and hope you have the Super Bowl, your little time off and start all over again. So your days or weeks or months or years are structured for you. Right? And you don't realize it till and the other thing is that, you know, there's no senior League for the NFL, right? It's not like tennis. It's not like some of these other sports where you can keep doing when it's over. It's Oh, it's like you're a football player, football player, football player, when it ends. Now you lose your job, you lose your income, you lose your social circle, my wife lost her social circle. I mean, what's your club? No NFL player was hanging out with a former NFL player, right? Because they they don't want to ever see themselves going over that line. The dark. There, I got two more years. I'm gonna play. Good luck on it. We'll see. We'll see someday, but not now. And so it's hard. And you you live it going from from college, not being able to play football, again, is hard. It's especially hard when you come out of the NFL. There's a difference in college college, you used to be broke. And then you know, you're broken. Again, the AFL guys, you're making a lot of money, and now you're broke. This is a whole new thread. So that transition is different. It's difficult, psychologically is difficult, financially is difficult socially. There's a lot of pieces to that puzzle. And I was looking at my wife and we didn't spend anything when I was in, you know, we save every penny we invested well, I didn't know how long it was gonna last. So it's just a blue collar average guy, the NFL, every guy in our defensive line meeting is more talented than me. I'm just getting by and hard work discipline, work ethic and intelligence. And I don't know how long that's gonna last. Well, luckily, it lasted 10 years. So we didn't have financial problems. I married my high school sweetheart. We had a couple of kids that actually was still playing with the NFL was great family, right. We decided to stay in Jacksonville. It's a beautiful area. But I still really struggled with it that first year out of the NFL, my wife is coming outside sick, you're just not yourself what's going on what's going on? And what I you know, that's when it started to dawn on me. It's like, you know, everything needs to be so scripted for me. I mean, it's it's two o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon, God, I don't know what to do. Nobody's telling me to do anything. And so what I figured out, I had to start filling my life with with things right. And that's what led to my investment advisory firm is a person I took care of my own finances really well. I'm going to start showing other guys how to do that. And that was the genesis of my company just for that group. When I was playing for the Jaguars, I met the founders of Firehouse Subs. There are two local guys here in Jacksonville. They started by thought my retired they were started franchising, so you know what, let me start a little side business. I started opened up by ourselves. I started coaching my daughter's, you know, flag football team says all right now I got this to look forward to. I started teaching, I got a background in engineering, I started teaching computer coding at school. I started teaching CCD at my church with my kids. And then of course, we had more kids, we had five kids. And then the Pixar started to fill my life with all these different things and starting to feel more fulfilled, I guess, like I did with football. But the big piece I really struggled with for a long time was that that whole competitive way, right? guy that I go to the gym and I work out but you know lifting weights to look good. I mean, that didn't really motivate me. And just on a whim or trainer for the Jaguars. I saw him at a bar one night, Friday night, and he took a water and I was drinking beer so I was gonna I'm gonna spectronic on that short swim bike and run as he says, You're gonna go do it. You can just walk up and register. And I had six or eight years of me and I can do it. Yeah. Probably 280 It was shortly after I showed up for that thing. I registered my my full crappy mountain bike. I only had two years I had my basketball shoes to run in. I got my workout shorts for the swim. I didn't even have any goggles. And I took them to a swim and I started going like crazy. I'm a witness And I started swimming like crazy. I got 50 yards into it. I thought Yeah, you know in football when you get tired you know this what do you do? You take a knee right you get a TV. Yeah, Lady seconds. Rest. But the first time it dawned on me, I'm in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. If I'm tired, I mean, I can't take a knee I'm gonna kill myself in this stupid spring. So I put my my back I started the backstroke just to stay alive. And I'll never forget this. The surfer dude comes paddling up one of the race marshals, right if your kid and he saw me doing the backstroke, everybody's passing me. And he's like, Dude, did you even know there's a swim? Did you just do it. And I stopped the bike, I crawl through the run, I got finished almost dead last thing. And I was embarrassed. I was humiliated. I mean, there was all these weekend warriors, just like 250 pound women running right past me. And yeah, but I finished. And, and I was, I said, You know what, that was embarrassing. That was really all I came in dead last, I'm going to train for the next one and see how well I could do. And that's what started my journey time. And I went from that to an Olympic distance to half distance. For years after I did my first Ironman, and I've done 11 full distance Ironman, and, and that really is a long story. But it really helped feel that competitive void that I was, right, that was kind of the last piece of the puzzle, have my businesses, I have my wife, I have my kids, I have these other outside interests. But now I had a reason I got something on the calendar next year, and win or lose, I'm gonna line up against 1500 people, and I'm either gonna get my ass kicked, or I'm gonna get some of these assets, or at the very least, I'm gonna do the best that I've ever done. Right, I've got a challenge that's gonna fit in with

Greg Spillane:

the is that was that, you know, we were talking about this program, the air, you know, going from a 280 pound, you know, defensive end in the NFL to you know, someone who's running or competing and doing full Ironman. So you obviously got to drop a lot of weight and get in kind of a different type of shape and hold your weight differently. Was that was that one of the things that that got you to start getting, you know, leaner and then smaller. Were you one of those type of guys that was always lean and small and had to put on weight and it was hard to hold on to it. Like what you seem to be more of that kind of guy, but I'm just curious, like, what that journey was like,

Don Davey:

Yeah, in fact, coffin needs to find us, you know, $100 per day per pound that you were either underweight or overweight, right. So we'd have half the team in the sauna trying to lose weight, the other half doughnuts and bagels, try to put on weight check to your target weight. I even done two bagels, I was had a hard time keeping weight on especially during the season, you know, NFL seasons. And so when I started training for this stuff, the weight started coming off. Partly naturally Well, partly because I was doing some endurance exercise instead of fast twitch stuff. And then start doing the research. We were talking about this earlier. That yeah, okay. I know being 300 pounds probably isn't good for me if I want to live till 60 or 70, or 80, or 90 or 100. So taking the weight off is probably the thing for myself. But that's doing the research, the biggest fear from playing football is not so much you know, breaking an arm or breaking a leg or blowing on an ACL. It's the concussions, right and the CTE and start doing the research. And it turns out the single best thing you can do whether you're in the military and IDS exploded your head, or you're in a football or you're a boxer and had concussions or sub concussive blows, the best thing you can do for brain health long term is endurance exercise. So this is swimming or this is running long distance biking, it flows a lot of blood to your brain, which enables your your body, your brain to actually repair some of that damage that you might have had from playing football for 25 years. So so it was a win win win, I needed something to compete in, it helped me take off about 70 pounds that I didn't want to carry anyway. And would hopefully it's keeping they helped me keep my brain healthy for a long time to either delay or avoid problems, or there's a lot of NFL guys. I mean, these stories you read, these guys are at their 30s and 40s and 50s. Yeah, issues. play football. It's scary.

Greg Spillane:

It's really scary. You know, especially for you know, guys that have played, you know, as long as you have played and people have played longer. I mean, I think about it. I know, I've had conversations with my teammates and you know, people who stopped playing at 2223 You know, it's in the back of all of our minds. It's one of those things where there's nothing you can really do to test for it. You know, it's like you don't know until you know, so you just kind of got to take every day at a time obviously It seems like your your cognitive facilities are working pretty well. So

Don Davey:

they found this in high school players in college. But yeah, I've never have it diagnosed because what they know is that it's not the big knockout blows that the guy who was unconscious I mean, obviously those are bad. But very few people have a whole bunch of those, but you as often what are we doing every play? We smashed every play and those sub concussive blows. That is the precursor to CPE It's all how many of those of you that people had how many concussions? I don't know 810 Maybe diagnose a concussion when the doctor actually wrote it up. But sub concussive blows. A million maybe is conservative. You think about every practice. Yeah, five years of my life in high school, college bros. Practice games, even offseason, I mean, that and that is scary. Start doing the math of math. It's like, okay, if all those things are cumulative, and they all add up, that's kind of a scary proposition.

Greg Spillane:

My son, my sophomore year I, I actually, I was I started a guard my sophomore year. And I remember, we went we were, we put in a trap play one week, and we had this you know, your your typical scout team, defensive tackle, you know, 511 320 pound just fall on muscle breakout. And they had us Yeah, and that I remember the trap, it was me pull in, and I had a kick the sky out. And for whatever reason, we were going to run it that week. And we must practice that play, you know, 150 times that we can practice. And I pulled on the sky every single time. And we just had the biggest collisions you could possibly imagine. I was probably 20 years old at the time. And I'm thinking to myself, like, This can't be good for me. But I am killing so many brain cells. As I'm doing this. I, you know, like you said, I mean, sure, in a typical football players career, I mean, it's hundreds of 1000s, if not millions, but yeah, it's not, it's not good for you, there's nothing good about banging your head into a solid object over and over and over and over again, like bad things are gonna happen.

Don Davey:

But so I guess people ask me that. I mean, maybe my mind will change 10 or 20 or 30 years, if I do start having severe cognitive issues. But, you know, as of today, a 53 year old, healthy guy, I would change anything about any of my right lifelong, those experiences, the wins and the losses and the discipline. It taught me, I tell people, I got a master's in engineering, but I learned every bit as much of real world skills from running my business to being a husband or being a father, to being an entrepreneur. I mean, I learned every bit as much of those skills from the football field as I did from the classroom, maybe even more. So. You talked about people skills and getting along with people from different races and different nationalities and different backgrounds. You got 100 guys on a college football team that you just you become family and that's you accept each other on another part of it and those are really valuable skills. So I I never bashed football as a game Chris Borland good buddy mighty remember the stories from Scottson first draft pick in San Francisco, right six years ago, had that same experience. He's he's in training camp, and he's run it up and taking on the fullback of lead ISO 50 times in one training camp practice thinking to themselves, this can't be good for me this game for me, and he walked away. And oh, yeah. Sean dropping, walk away from a bunch of money, probably a great career to say, hey, you know what? My brain health is too important to walk away, and I get that decision. I also get my decision. And, you know, hopefully, I'm one of the lucky ones that because I'm proactively trying to address my brain health afterwards, that whatever damage I did do is either mitigated or even reverse all the stuff I'm doing, because it was a great experience. And I loved every second. I

Greg Spillane:

couldn't agree more Actually, everything you said to me. Probably is the reason why I even started this podcast because I feel that strongly about athletics and how much you know what what I experienced in athletics I've taken with me in my life and every other thing I've done and like you said, my best friends in the entire world are guys, I'll play football for me this weekend. I'm getting together with a bunch of my buddies. All of our wives are friends now. It's like a huge part of our social group. These are all guys that were part of my you know, we're teammates of mine. I get asked a lot I'm sure you do as well. You know, I Unlike you, I have daughters, I have two daughters. I know you have you have a few more than I do. But but but only on a five. I've only girls, so I've never had to, you know, think about whether the I would let him play Pop Warner Football, high school football. And you know, obviously the concussion thing is much more aware, we're all more aware than we were we played, right. I mean, nobody even really talked about it we played. So it's a lot different. It wasn't like you had to make that decision back then. Because we didn't know there was a decision to be made we show up and do it. But I'm asked a lot. And I'm curious, your thoughts on this, too. You know, you play football, you know, should I let my kids play football? What about concussions? And this, that and the other? And I swear to you, my answer is almost verbatim to what you say. It's like, yeah, I would I would absolutely do it. Because with the risk that's associated with it. Yes, it's there. I wouldn't discount it. I got so much positive out of it that I would never trade for anything in the world.

Don Davey:

Yeah. So $5 was the coolest experience. My second daughter, Carly, she played volleyball for University of Miami. Right? Yeah. And so what a cool experience, you know, for her to get a chance to live that division with ethics is really cool. And she's out of college. Now she works in but to this day, her best friends are those girls on the volleyball team just like you and me with our our buddies on the football team. But she got three concussions playing volleyball, right? I mean, those big six outside hitter left that smash that ball, that ball was going somewhere about 70 miles an hour. And she's got a libero, she got a couple times. And so there's risk and everything, and I get very small risk in football in some of the other sports out there. But overall, I had such a phenomenal experience cross sport. Now I would I let my five year old boy, but soccer football like I did that probably doesn't make any sense, right? I mean, yeah, I think in California, that the rule during the play tackle football till either junior high or ninth grade or something like that. I think that makes sense. You just saw the camaraderie, the team shot and all that stuff. But you know what, that beat the crap out of each other when you're eight or 10 years old. And there's guys that made it to the NFL that didn't play tackle football to the senior in college, right? So it's not that you can't develop those skills. And the other thing that they all do even in volleyball with my daughter in Miami, they do a preseason cognitive assessment test, right? And so if you do have a brain injury, you're not allowed back on the court or on the field until after you demonstrated that you're back to where you were before that thing. And that's something we didn't have. With us. It was like, Oh, good. It's only a good question that you're asking. I got that. Right. So play with it. Good question. Now, the mentalities change in high school college and the NFL. This is a serious issue. I think we know there's a risk the games a lot safer now than it was but even when there are concussion issues that are much more careful with them now too. So hopefully that stems. The larger problems too. It's nobody's fault. We just didn't know we didn't have that scientific data back when we played the half now. Fortunately, they put it to good use. I

Greg Spillane:

think my mycologia line coach was this guy named egg white. He played 17 years in the NFL Play to the Vikings, better the Chargers. And he he told me that when he first came into the league, they used to tell him to smoke menthol cigarettes during halftime because supposedly, the menthol helped you expand your lungs so you could breathe a little bit easier. So this just just to give a perspective on how much science has changed over the years and what they think it was right. Well, I want to be respectful your time I just have a few more questions. There's things I was curious about it. I wanted to talk to you about you talked about meeting the Firehouse Subs guys earlier, real early on Jacksonville guys. I don't know what the number is 16 stores or something to that extent. I think it's really fascinating. Like, you know, being a franchise, he someone who you know owns a, a bunch of locations. I think it's attractive to a lot of people. But I don't know if a lot of people really understand what it's all about and what that process like I'd love if you could just help me, you know, educate me on on what that life of running and owning, you know, that many franchisees is like, that's what

Don Davey:

that whole business gave us an option to my investment advisory firm. I was working with my NFL buddies, get their finances in shape, and then they were retiring. And just like me, they kind of needed something to do I mean the the best case of the NFL is you make a bunch of money while you're young. You save it you're invested. But then you don't want to touch it right. You want to leave it alone, let it grow. And so you got to get a job well, most NFL guys the idea of secure Cubicle and getting a job and working nine to five, after being in the locker room for, you know, most of their lives, that's not very appealing. And so the idea of owning their own business is very, very appealing to them. But the downside is that a lot of info guys develop, you know, real estate skills or accounting skills, or skills or management skills to run a business effectively. So a lot of them fail when they start their own business, and they fail. And so franchising is a really good fit, especially for NFL players. It's kind of like a business in a box, right? I never worked in a restaurant, my kid, I never go worked in the Cardinals. But the guys, if I ourselves kind of perfected the business model kind of made a lot of mistakes along the way, over the first 10 years of their existence kind of perfected it. And then all I did was take that concept that franchise model and move it down the street, to from Jacksonville to Orlando, right. And yes, I thought to learn accounting, and I still have to learn finance that I still had to learn your negotiating skills and all those type things. But the core model of you know, what we sell what we price it for who the suppliers are, how much you pay general managers, I mean, all that it came with a playbook. Right? I use that analogy where our franchise manual for Firehouse Subs was just like the playbook that the coach he sent me on the first day of training here. And attorney again, they say here's this playbook if you learn this stuff, you'll probably be successful as a lineman for the Green Bay Packers. And so Robin resorts in hate to be their playbook for Firehouse Subs franchises and so listen, if you do things this way, you'll probably be successful. And it's funny I was the only franchisee that they ever awarded a franchise to that had zero restaurants for years. But most of these guys have either worked at McDonald's or own so McDonald's or bed at Applebee's or better Chili's or Burger King or something before that got into franchising. And they told him I said, Listen, I'm nothing if not coachable. Maybe it's better than I don't have anything because I don't have any. I'm not gonna say well, I used to do it this way when I was at Burger King, right? Whatever you say, I'm going to follow that manual verbatim. That's exactly what we've done. And so now we're the largest Firehouse Subs franchise in the country. We have 13 Orlando is actually a 21 Now that we own in Wisconsin, sir developed several years ago, and it's all been ticking so what I thought great operations were on Wonderland open up in Wisconsin, those guys work their ass off blue collar, guys, you know, sometimes 60 7080 hours, weeks given up holidays, it's, they're all in and they weren't there. And then number two, following that franchise manual to a tee, you know, I don't think you're humble enough to say, hey, these guys know more about this than I do. Even if I think we should do something different. I'm going to do it exactly the way the manual says. And we just kept replicating that model as we've grown over the years. And it's it's worked out really well for us.

Greg Spillane:

I love that be coachable. That's, that's, that's another one of those things I always talk about. Sort of the analogy between sports and entrepreneurship in general is, you know, I, I and I always hesitate because it's just so easy for people that are closer to our age to bang on the younger generation. And you know, this that the other millennials, so I don't, I choose not to do that. But you know, one of the, I guess stereotypes out there is younger generations a little bit more sensitive, and it's more difficult for them to hear criticism, and they can get a little bit more, you know, introverted. And it's like, you know, I think something that comes out athletics is you're used to people telling you what you're doing wrong all day long every day. And if you're not coachable, you're never gonna make it. You just won't ever get to that point. But you know, I think in the professional world and entrepreneurship or whatever it is, whether you're, you know, working for a company and trying to work your way up or like you said, you you take over franchise like you got to be coachable. You got to be open to hearing what other people want to say you got to be comfortable. Sometimes hearing criticism, right? Like, I mean, you know, you can't have everybody just tell you how great you are all the time. Like if you don't see your weaknesses, how do you get better? So I love I love to hear you say that. Alright, last question. Oh, go ahead.

Don Davey:

It's kind of an attitude. Humility is a good culture, a good mentor, a good boss, who's willing to invest in you and tell you what you're doing wrong and steer you so that you're doing things right so that you're more successful, that is worth its weight in gold because I crave criticism from my coaches. You know, I want to be the best I can be. Show me how to get there. You know, show me what I need to do to get there. And I I do think you're right. Some people maybe it's not just the younger generation, just people in general that are so sensitive to anything negative or I don't want to be criticized because that's a blessing, right? If somebody cares enough about you whereas the only thing to be worried is Yes. Don't you just give it up? You're never gonna give it up. You're probably

Greg Spillane:

god, that's a true statement. I had a coach say that exact thing to me one time, you know, I dang it on me for something. And he barely saw look on my face. And he said, Hey, listen, the second I stopped getting on you, that's when you need to worry. And and that's true. Because look coaching or managing or you know, anything it it's energy, right? Like I'm giving my energy to you to try to make you better. And if you don't appreciate that, or you push back on or you're free to listen to her, you get overly defensive. Like, there's a point where you're like, it's not maybe it's not worth my time, it's not my worth my energy to help you get better. So I love this conversation, your backgrounds, amazing. I, I I was saying, you know, you know, really what this was about, was more about just a high achiever mindset. I just, I'm so fascinated by I'm so fascinated by people who, you know, have been successful in athletics, because it's hard to be successful in athletics. Like you have to compete, you have to work and you have to be disciplined and all the things that you've mentioned. But then, you know, to go on and do it, you know, professionally to do it personally with your family to do it. You know, just your personal fitness, you know, competing, and Ironman and Race Across America, and all those different types of things you do is just fascinating. To me. It's like the epitome of that high achiever type of person that I just find so fascinating and want to understand more about what does a typical day for Don Davy look like? Because I don't know how you do this.

Don Davey:

Yeah, that's a great question. I just back to the point earlier, you know, I do feel guilty, like I like I feel like my father, not just my father, my mother, my parents gave me some, they gave me the blueprint, right? If you grow up in a household where it's your job since I was 12 years old, I mean, but it's a chores around the house. It was hard work. It's discipline, it's being accountable. It's, you know, putting the academics first. I mean, that was just ingrained for me from the time I can remember it all. Again, I still, but people make comments like that I'm like, I applied that methodology to academics that are successful. And I applied it to sports, and was successful. And I applied it to business. And I applied it to Ironman, right? It's, there's no secrets here. It's, it's, it's having that those core beliefs, and then, most importantly, having the discipline to apply it to whatever. Now I'll never be a great figure skater, no matter what I do, no matter how nice the things were number one, I like them. And I have some natural talent in math and science. So engineering was football, I was big, strong. So I chose football as a path. And I've kind of got this this entrepreneur mindset. So applying those things to business. It's kind of picking and choosing, you know, those things, I You can't be great at everything, but apply those core concepts. But as far as typical day, I mean, I'm, I'm up at 430 Every day, like it or not, sometimes it drives me nuts. I mean, in the past, I just won't sleep. For 30 Wake up, I don't set alarm, I don't do anything. But the gym opens at five. So I'll either swim bike runner left in the mornings, the Moon by 630 Sometime between 630 and seven breakfast with my daughter and with my wife on the bus driver. I've always everyone, my kids, that's my deal. I'm taking them to school every day. So I drive to school. And I'm going to hear the office by eight o'clock and then I can you describe a typical day. There's no such thing as a typical day. Yeah, I get businesses from restaurants to real estate to wealth management, and there's always something going on there. But my daughter's got a basketball game. So afternoon. So I'll try to hustle out of here at 430 and get to her basketball game, get home and then I'm the math tutor at home after with their homework and science about whatever else he has going on. Weekends you know long rides I love my long bike rides on Saturdays and Sundays I got some more time leave the house at five or six o'clock and go on a three or four or five hour bike ride and try to spend as much family time as possible we have with one daughter at home but we have two daughters out of college, two daughters in college. And so there's always some way to either get a fly on them home or go visit them just to spend time with them again, and then always planning the next family get together. Right it's we just got done with thanksgiving. We're working on Christmas. Hey, how can we maximize our family time over Christmas spring break my wife started working on that try to put a ski trip together and it's harder with five kids especially the two that work now they have real jobs and God only coordinated vacation you know it's not like we could just pick up so it's it's like herding cats get the whole group together but it's it's people look at me and even the girls in my office it's like a crazy he's got so much on your throne you got some things on your desk you don't even think to be but I I wouldn't have it any other way. I mean, I throw I get bored really easily. I'm borderline Yeah, he probably I guess because i i Some people hate having 10 balls in the air at once. I love having 510 balls in the air at once. It's a lot of work and it's stress sometimes but it's it's very rewarding. When all 10 of those balls come down exactly where you hoped they would land. And they move over and you start juggling that all over again with something it's a it's a lifestyle. You know, I people asked what do you do to quit? What do you get to retire when you can sell the business? You can offer me a billion dollars for my company right now. I wouldn't take it. Yeah, I love it. I mean, I do what I love with people that I love as well, my employees, my clients, my partners are all great human beings that I just really enjoy spending the day with.

Greg Spillane:

Awesome, brother. Well, hey, man, it was a absolute pleasure to talk to you and dive a little bit more in your story. Thank you so much for coming on the show and having a conversation with me. Thanks for Thanks for having a lot of fun