Against All Odds: The Inspiring Transition of John Brinks from Holland to Canada - S3E19

Today, I have the honor of hosting a man whose life truly encapsulates the essence of resilience, determination, and an unwavering focus on dreams, Mr. John Brinks. From the heart-wrenching memories of the Hunger Winter under German occupation to the inspiring acts of kindness shown by Canadian soldiers, John takes us on an incredible journey that spans continents and decades. Brace yourself as he recounts his formidable transition from a young boy in war-torn Holland, driven by dreams of relocating to Canada, to his eventual arrival with a paltry $25.47 and three books.

John remembers his humble beginnings as a furniture maker and soldier in the Dutch Air Force, demonstrating that the journey to success is never linear. His tenacity and zest for life propelled him to achieve his dream of not just living in Canada, but also establishing a successful lumber business. John's journey is a testament to the power of nurturing a dream and working relentlessly towards it, despite the odds. His story showcases the incredible power of determination, resilience, and passion - the belief that anything is achievable with a clear vision and indomitable spirit. Tune in to be inspired by John's remarkable journey, from the hardships of wartime Holland to his personal and professional victories in the land of his dreams, Canada.

For Johns books - Amazon

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We look forward to seeing you succeed! - www.KeepOnSharing.com - Code - KOS

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Hey, I'm Coach Mickey and I'm so glad that you've joined us, and if this is your first time joining us, come on in and make yourself comfortable. For those of you that joined us on a regular basis, I'm so glad that you do, and today I am really honored and excited to have this guest on. For those of you who listen to my podcast on a regular basis, you know I love having on guests that are historians, people that have written stories, have researched and done a lot of things that is important to not only our country but our past, and also just some insight on things that have that have happened throughout time. And when I saw this gentleman's information, I was really happy that he would agree to come on my podcast. So I'm just going to give you a quick introduction to who he is, because I think him telling the story would be a lot more insightful and have a lot more meaning than for me just to read off of his bio. So I want to thank you so much for being with me today.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Mr John Brinks, how are you?

Speaker 2: 1:21

I'm doing well. Nikki, I hope you're doing well. Where are you from? Where are you speaking from?

Speaker 1: 1:27

Right now I'm in California.

Speaker 2: 1:29

Okay, and California Okay, and I'm in Prince George, british Columbia, and for those guests watching us from around the world, that is 500 miles north of Vancouver.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Nice. Vancouver is a beautiful area. I've had an opportunity to visit some parts of Canada, and so I know that Canada means a lot to you from some of the information that I have read about you and also why you're in Canada. But can we start right off with your story, mr Brinks? I mean, you really have an extraordinary story that I think needs to be told, so would you mind sharing that with us?

Speaker 2: 2:11

I will do that, nikki, you call me John, okay. So anyway, for everybody watching, I was born November the 1st, 1940. So last week I had a birthday man. I'm 83 years old and, as I said, born in November of 1940, and in a town called Sapamir, as a P-P-E-M-E-E-R in the northeastern part of Holland, was about 20 minutes from the border with Germany and about 15 minutes north to the canal that links to the North Sea. So my dad and my mom were married in 1938 and had a beautiful born-in-love and obviously he had a career and they had a house and fairly quickly had two children, my sister one year older than me and a brother two years older than me, and the world was perfect and it was beautiful. And then overnight everything changed, because that's when the German army, mr Blitzkrieg, invaded Holland and Belgium and Luxembourg and everything would change from that point forward. So, as I said, I was born November the 1st.

Speaker 2: 3:41

So I remember still from the time that I was about three and a half four years old and I was at the time that obviously the Allied forces landed in Normandy in the summer of 1943 and pushed their way through Europe to liberate especially the countries under occupation with the Germans, and at the same time that was happening, bombers would fly overhead, first daytime and then, in 1943, daytime and nighttime. So I still remember from that point, even for me, that hundreds of bombers in the air is a sound that cannot really be expressed, but is an unbelievable sound. And what we would do as a family. My mother would go outside, on the flat roof behind our upstairs bedrooms and watch, because it was not so much looking, but it was safer to be outside than inside. In the distance we could see the German cities like Bremen, like Emden, and all those that were on the sea and had assets that were important for the war, that were being bombed, and numerous planes that came back had either been shot or had damage. So it was a scary, scary time.

Speaker 2: 5:11

The other part that I remember is that the winter in 1944, 1945 was called the Hunger Winter. It was extremely cold on the racket, colder than it ever had been before, and obviously the Germans' army, in order to put leverage on the Dutch in particular and those reasons that we were in, did not supply any more food. So every morning what we would do is go out. My Brother, my sister, myself was gunny sacks when I was between four and five into the railroad yards and find anything that was edible or burnable. And still today I still remember the feeling of hunger that is still very much with me. And at the same time it was so cold. A lot of people that were vulnerable, the older ones and the younger ones, died during that winter. And I still can feel the cold and sitting around a small room that we were heating to stay warm and still feel that feeling. And then the other part that you never forget is that all the families had the same issues, all the things that were happening there's no food, the anxiety by my mother we could feel it. That stayed with me, actually, and even still to today PTSD. And then the feeling of the inner child and in fact I got counseling for that value into my fifties, very emotional, actually, reconciling that little boy from those years.

Speaker 2: 6:55

So, and then what happened is that we were liberated by the Canadian Army, april the 12th 1945. And the Canadians came in and pushed out the Germans that were getting closer and closer to their homelands and but trying to get back, that they had nothing left and were blowing up other bridges behind them to slow down the occupied forces, in this case the Canadians, to slow them down. And a lot happened then in terms people were shot and and we would see that we saw fire to match that we should not have seen. And then I remember also that when the Canadians came in and they were stationed, a small section of the Canadian Army was based behind our house and every morning at daybreak the kids would go into the in school yard and to get from them bread with butter and cheese. They had never seen anything like it and you know they fed us and gave us chocolates and all of those kind of things and then got. For me it became the dream that not if, but when I would go to the land of my heroes, canada.

Speaker 2: 8:15

So it was a difficult, difficult time, and especially if you think about it around the world now, where you know the looking at the Ukraine and then the Middle East and those kind of places where there are wars, that a lot of people have the impression that once the war is over, everything goes back to normal. Well, it isn't, because some of the things that were then, like the families that were together, like this my dad that had been gone during the whole period of the war. The last time they heard from him was in the bombing of Rotterdam. There are thousands of people had died. We did not know as a family if he was dead or alive, and you know so. And he finally came back early after the Canadians liberated our area and even their relationship and all the things that we had taken for granted would take years and years before things kind of fell back into place. But some things never changed and it still affected the people, and especially the young people, for years and years and generations in some cases.

Speaker 2: 9:33

So it took me till I was 24. Then I was going to initially go to Canada when I was 17. Excuse me, but my parents wouldn't let me. And then I want was drafted into the Dutch Air Force and then finally I decided to go when I was 24 and I immigrated to Canada and I had the dream to go to Canada.

Speaker 2: 10:00

The second dream was to build a lumber mill and to go to British Columbia, and so that's what I did and I arrived in Vancouver by train, flew into Montreal, actually arrived by train, and July of 1965, with nothing. I had a suitcase, three books, two sets of clothes, couldn't speak the language, didn't know, so didn't have a job and but with the dream of building a lumber mill. So talk to a German fellow that worked in the immigration office here in Canada and he and I told him what I wanted to do. He said go to Prince George and that's what I refer to earlier 500 miles north of Vancouver, and that's where I want 12 hours with the bus, came off the bus with my suitcase, my three books, my two sets of clothes and then started to build First the career as a cleaner man, then became a lumber pilot and then gradually, within a couple of years, was a superintendent and very quickly started working towards building a lumber company, which I now have. And there's a number of different companies and yeah, so that's kind of in the capsule.

Speaker 2: 11:23

You know my background, but the story, and now in particular, is that to take, you know, let's not take for granted as to what we have in North America, how lucky we are, and sometimes, especially in the next week or so and I have for the last 12 years I go to different schools and talk to usually two, three, four different schools every year and talk about why the two minutes of silence and to how should be, especially as young people appreciate what we have and especially when we watch TV and see all the things going on around the world, how lucky we are here and that war is very, very destructive, in particular to young people, and how fortunate we are to live here and, at the same time, how proactive we need to be and sharing with people for those that were there and know what it means to share that with others, you know, is very, very important.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Wow. Well, your story is extraordinary. It really is. It tells me a lot, not only about you but also with humanity, how much we have got to be able to look at things and have a goal in a direction. And, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to back up, because the first thing that went through my mind is well, first of all, I could not even imagine what it would be like to go through a war zone as a small child and also deal with the hunger and the cold and not knowing and all of the things that are so unpredictable during that time frame. I mean, just the amount of fear had to be very difficult. However, I want to.

Speaker 1: 13:13

What got to me and I've heard the most is how much you were so determined to be able to move forward in your life even with everything that happened. And I think what happens a lot of times is people deal with certain situations and they don't under, they don't know how to get out of it, they don't understand Yours is so extraordinary and so difficult. I have to ask when you went, you know, with the Canadian soldiers, and you got the cheese and the bread and you made that choice to go? I'm going to move to Canada. From that day forward, what was your mindset? I mean, because you had, like you said, you had to go through therapy for a lot of the things that you saw, you know and the things that you had to go through, but there had to be one driving force that just kept you going every single day. What was that?

Speaker 2: 14:03

So from that point forward, when we were liberated by the Canadians, I knew I would go to Canada, the land of my heroes. There was no question in my mind I felt like a Canadian. So the other part in the two-year question is that I was not very successful academically. I failed grade three and I failed grade seven three times, and so I was then getting to the point that and my parents were beautiful people and cared much about me. But then it became a question after the failing the third time I was 14, what are we going to do with John? Maybe we have to send him to school of the mentally challenged, or should we get him a career or a job or train him in a trade? So they fortunately chose to put me into a trade. So they found me a job on the furniture factory because my grandfather was also a furniture maker. I saw his pieces. He died very young so I never knew him. But I knew him through all the work that he did and the beautiful structures that he manufactured, especially in churches and all of those kind of things. My dad managed the small lumber company and so lumber to me was very, very important in my life, and so then at nights I would go to become a furniture maker in college and gradually work my way through that from the time that I was 14. Now the other part about it is that the kids that I grew up with that I went to school with, they went on to college and then university and I became at 14, a laborer. Now I'm proud of that today. But then it was not looked at. It made you a bit of an outcast and obviously you were not bright enough to finish school and people can be cruel, especially young people sometimes and so at any event. So I then was at 14, worked in the furniture factory, then started working in a larger forest company. It was already quite successful, actually a young age. Then at 17 or 18, I was drafted into the Dutch Air Force and I wanted to be a pilot. Now the draft then was mandatory not today anymore, but then it was and I was in the Dutch Air Force for 30 months and special forces actually, and that was good experience.

Speaker 2: 16:44

And then when I came out, when I was 21, I spent another three years working in the forest company and then decided that I would go. My dream was to go to Canada. My second dream was to build my own lumber company. And then the other part that I had that I never quite. I was always an optimist, even considering that I was not successful academically and a lot of friends were that. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. And so I wanted to leave and I would leave and I wanted to take nothing with me other than a suitcase, two sets of clothes and then three books. And that's how I went to Canada and I knew the timber and the lumber is in British Columbia and so, as I said earlier, then I talked to the immigration department. You know they said go to Prince George, five miles north of Vancouver. That's where all the opportunities are.

Speaker 2: 17:45

So when I came off the bus here, the Greyhound, in July of 1965, couldn't speak the language, didn't know, so didn't have a job. And I had. I'm going to show you something my employees made. That for me is I had in my pocket $25.47. But even more importantly to me, what is my foundation attitude? I always look at the bright side. I always, if today is a bad day, australia is going to be sunshine, tomorrow a good day.

Speaker 2: 18:18

The other part is finding my passion give it all that I got. No matter what I do and work ethic, I work harder than anybody but will follow. But will follow is success. So so that's kind of how I started and then started as a cleaner man, limba pilot, and then already within two years I had part ownership in a small limba mill in the Yukon territory. Where is the Yukon territory? Well, that Prince George is in the center of British Columbia. It's a big province, it's about a thousand miles long, it is just next to Alaska and at the very northern part of British Columbia. And so I was there for five years, was managing a small limba company with the option of buying a part. Then I started over again and came to Prince George and then started out another limba company, the Brent Group of Companies. I still have that today. It's about 10 different companies and is doing quite well.

Speaker 2: 19:24

And so the other part that I had is that I still did not feel. Even then people talk to me and say, oh, you're so successful, and I didn't feel that way Even not then I still felt that I had failed and in my own feeling, and it was not until something happened that triggered me into a different direction and I was not overly good at communicating and if there were more than three or four people in a circle then I was not very good usually in interacting. And by pure coincidence, my assistant law dragged me to an organization called Toastmasters, and so I said what are you going to do? That? He said well, you just sit down, you listen and you will like it. I said are you going to ask me any questions? He said no, no, no, no, no, don't worry about it. So I was happy through the meeting and then somebody said hey, john, tell us a little bit about you. I said, oh my God, I'll never come back here. So anyway, I did. I stayed there for 10 years and I became a distinguished Toastmaster. That is the highest level in Toastmasters, and obviously what I did, it gave me confidence and the ability to communicate.

Speaker 2: 20:49

And then the other part that you may find interesting is that people started saying to me why don't you write a book? You have done so many things, so an interesting, and so so I thought about it and for about 20 years I started the book, stopped the book, started the book, stopped the book, and then I knew I'm 83. So about five, six, seven, eight years ago. If I don't do it now, it will never happen. Just going to have a thank you.

Speaker 1: 21:19

Yeah, please do.

Speaker 2: 21:23

So I started writing a book and the book is Against All Arts and it took me 80 years to live it, 20 years to think about it, two years to write it. Now, amazingly, nikki, I'm a good writer and I'm very good at numbers, and so I wrote this. It's not a hurrah, hurrah, john, how successful he is. It's not about that. It's about all the ups and downs and going through all of those things. So that kind of gave me the encouragement to do that. I also became a public speaker, and then the other part that I did is that in 1970, in 1997, january 1997, I walked into a store here, a bookstore, and for some reason or another I opened a book. I just still don't know why I did that and the book's title was Driven to Distraction what's it about John ADHD? And I said, oh, my God, that's me. So I bought the book this is actually the actual book. I bought it in January 1997. And I wrote on the inside in Dutch Now I finally know who I am and so that kind of explained some of the things that had happened to me in the past. So then, the more I found out, I was ashamed of it because there was stigma attached and I'm building companies, what am I going to do? I go to the bank, make a proposal for money, and then I said oh, by the way, I should tell you I also have a mental disorder called ADHD. And they would say have a nice day, no money for you. Obviously, that has changed now to a certain extent, and so I read up about it more and more and more. So that was 1997.

Speaker 2: 23:32

It took me five years before I walked into my doc's office, who was a friend, had delivered both our daughters, and he said to me hey, john, buy a year here. I said I think I got ADHD. And so we checked it out and he said yeah, you have ADHD, no question about that. So even then, for a long time I didn't really talk about it. Until about five years ago I started to talk about it more.

Speaker 2: 24:01

It's a superpower, and so the more I communicated about it and I wrote a book about it, and the title of the book is ADHD Unlocked, and it's about from an ADHD person's perspective. I wrote it in such a way that you can start the book anywhere and write forward or backwards, and that all will kind of make sense, and so the book is not only for those that are affected by ADHD, but also by slow learners in different areas, and so the other part that I found, nikki, is that the frequency of occurrence is thought to be about 8%. I believe it's well over 20. And in fact, what I'm saying now is that in your circle, to any individuals, and including our listeners, is that you will have somebody affected or benefited, in my mind, of ADHD, either in your family, your circle of friends or the place you work. You cannot avoid it, to interact with them. So the better read the book, because the better you understand how they work. There is somewhat Different, but uniquely, and to those that know that they have a day, are blessed, because I believe it's a superpower, and so those things in combination, you know then.

Speaker 2: 25:41

So now, today, I'm I have the confidence that I had the ability as well, the thing that I looked for when I left Holland, that I wanted to prove to myself that I have the ability and that, even already being successful, still did not have that feeling until I added to a toast masses and then becoming an author, obviously in the public speaker, be a. Now I speak on the topics, not only those, but also entrepreneurial ship and confidence and other things. And then the other thing I just wanted to mention to you, I find that's a lot of people don't know what they want to do and they say but what do you want to do for the career? I don't know. You know what you know and I say and even the people that have careers I heard something under you, united States main channels, I forget to see in one of those guys. Anyway, they said that up to 70% of the people that work don't like their jobs and of the 70% that don't like the job, 75% are looking for other jobs. So already before that, I find that Talking about passion so important in terms of liking what you do.

Speaker 2: 26:59

So I wrote another book here finding your passion, living the dream. And then a fair question would be and saying OK, john, are you living the dream? I am, even after all this time going through all the ups and downs, I usually get up at 5.30 in the morning. I always think I'm late and I always make my bed and so, and then all kinds of challenges happen. But I always look at the positive side attitude, passion, work, ethic, and so that's kind of what I do. And then the other I'm writing another book that you may find interesting is Living Young, dying Old, and again is something that that one will come out next July. And but it is not just age but is quality of life and all the elements that are involved, especially being proactive on the non-traditional medicines, not just give chemicals of some sort or another to depress what the issues are, rather work on the foundation, health exercise and all those other elements which I think are very, very important.

Speaker 1: 28:18

Wow. Well, first of all, I want to back up and I have to ask, because you have written quite a few books on what you said. Took you a while to do the first one and now you're. You're taking everything that you have and what you've experienced and you're using that and sharing that knowledge with everyone. But I got to ask you you've mentioned multiple times that you had three books in your suitcase with two other changes of clothes. What were the books that you had? What were the three books that you brought with you?

Speaker 2: 28:46

Very, very good question. And it shows you, it was management by Drucker and Dutch and logical thinking, also in Dutch American publication. And then the other one is Canada history and in particular in regards to the federal government and the provinces, to better understand Canada, you know, but management by Drucker, in particular in logical thinking, became also to me the foundation. So those books and this one driven to distraction, became very, very important in my life. And this one I nearly wore it out, as you can see, it's yeah and it is January 1997. Now the interesting part I have to tell you this, niki, is that it was written by Edwin Hollowell, medical doctor that wrote the book and a number of other books that he did. I'm doing, I'm podcasting him this afternoon.

Speaker 1: 29:57

I love it. That is awesome. That is amazing. Well, first of all, the three books that you brought tells me how determined you were. I mean to be able to have. Those were the three books that you picked, which was management, and then also the thing you know, the critical thinking, and then also you know, knowing about the place that you're moving into. And you were what? 17? You said when you came to Canada? Were you 17? 24.

Speaker 2: 30:23

Excuse me, 24. 24. 17, then I was dafted into the Dutch Air, force, got it, and then 24, then I left for Canada.

Speaker 1: 30:30

Yeah, but even though, john, you're talking about being a 24. My son is 22. So, and I look at what drives you to do things in your life, like what becomes so important that you take that information and you use it to launch you forward with what you really really want. And, like you said, your passion and then your work ethic. Putting those two together are always an incredible connection for success.

Speaker 1: 30:59

I think you cannot have success without the two of those, because when you are passionate about something, you never see obstacles. You can always move forward and beyond them and what you've been through and for what you've done and what you've seen and where you came from and then to get on to where you're going, to have those two things in your pocket, for lack of better words, really and again I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but please correct me if I'm wrong Were those the two driving factors that brought you to where you are today. Because coming from something so devastating from your past and still being able to move beyond that and move forward and become a success, not for other people but for yourself, I mean, I guess I keep going back to getting on that train from where you're leaving Holland and coming into another country and having $25 in your pocket and not knowing anyone, but having the passion to say I'm doing this regardless of the obstacles, that takes a huge driving force. And I guess I just want to ask, when you were sitting on the train coming here, what was going through your mind? I mean, what did you think, what did you feel when you were on that train coming here? You're going to Canada.

Speaker 2: 32:22

Yeah, four days, five nights long train ride and the train is going slow. Sometimes I felt like walking alongside of it because I'm going very fast. And then the other part that I didn't have much money because I left Amsterdam with $150. And I was not going to take another nickel and I was going to go back either in a box or otherwise. Successful in my mind and so when I was sitting in the train and had all the time to think about it, is that I couldn't even understand the menu because I couldn't speak English, and so all I did is I knew toast, so I ate toast for four days, five nights, oh my gosh. And so I was very careful with the money that I had left over. So by the time I got to Prince George I had the $25.47.

Speaker 2: 33:10

Couldn't speak the language, didn't know a soul and didn't have a job, but I knew. I knew that I could do it and you know, and probably but complimented it as well, nikki, and I say that in my presentations more and more so that but drove me is likely and directly without knowing and is ADHD. You know that. You know that when I failed grade seven for the third time and became a laborer and was kind of looked down on by many, you know, and I knew I could do it. I knew I had it, but I had to remove myself because and hold on the way it goes.

Speaker 2: 33:54

Is that then? Is that you want to get a job, you get married, you want to buy a house, you have a good career? So, yeah, try to get a good job. And then the first thing they ask you is OK, show me your diplomas. Well, I had no diplomas, you know. So I had to start all over new again, I felt, and I did. I would do that with the dream that I had to go to Canada, the land of my heroes. I already worked in the forest industry. I was very good at what I was doing, I had hands on experience and I was ready to work hard. And I have boundless energy, still today, at 83, you know so and and we still building the company and growing the company double in size in an X5, 678 years. And so that's what I did. There was no question in my mind I would stay the course, you know, and never give up.

Speaker 1: 34:48

Yeah, and I agree with you, because a lot of times we see obstacles, but when we have, when we have the drive and the passion, you just blow right through them. You just don't see them because you do. There is no other option. Failure is not an option. And you know that in your heart. You know that with every fiber of your being, that you're going to do something and nothing is going to get in the way.

Speaker 1: 35:10

Regardless, like you said, you had no diploma. You know. You came here you didn't speak the language and you built this company of what you knew, what to do and you took that and use that as your tool to move you forward and get you to where you needed to be. And that is, see, I love stories like what you're telling, because a lot of times people go, oh, I can, or whatever, and it's like no, is it? You care? You won't, you know? That's always my question. And I think that if you really decide of something that you really want, regardless of where you came from, what's happened, what's transpired, what you know, what you have with your have, a degree or not, anything is possible. I mean, anything is possible.

Speaker 2: 35:52

And that's exactly what I'm saying, nikki Nothing is impossible. Stay the course, don't give up. The other part that I did already from a young age I listened to speakers that even then, when I was still in Holland and still unsure, I listened to people that gave presentations, either physically or in person, and listened to them and trying to figure out as to what they were doing. And they had similar strength and issues that in determination and becoming understanding, logical thinking, all those things and those elements together would make them successful. But the most critical one of all is never give up. I remember doing a presentation with a group of people for a number of young persons actually students and you know, and and I was part of the panel and this one fellow said, you know that the problem right now is banking, because you know, and saying, okay, what happened? He said, well, I made a proposal, was a good proposal, and he turned me down and I said, okay, what happened then? Well, mr Banksy, there's no way you can succeed. So I said let me say this that when I made I made a business plan in 1975, fairly extensive, actually, we still have it and we still use it for all intents and purposes I took it to every single bank in the area here, about a dozen of them. Most of them turned me down right away, but one or two kind of were interested in the way. So, and and, and I would modify the proposal that I was making for my first company. Now the problem was an obvious one, now that I had good ideas but I had no equity, I had no money and I wanted $25,000 to start a company. And so at last there was one bank left over and two. I had gone to them about a dozen times and modified. I didn't want to be a pain to them. I kept modifying their proposal.

Speaker 2: 37:59

And then I still remember it, like yesterday, about six booths away from us, where I was talking to the bank, fella that was handling my file was the manager, and so he said, okay, you know. So I told him again, but I had done. And then, you know, I was sitting there waiting for him. He said let me talk to the manager again. So he went over to the manager. I could hear him all the way, six booths away. He said give him the money, give him the money. So I said that was the difference, where the one, fella, had concluded that there was no way he could get the money he gave up. Then I said don't you know? Because you have to stay the course. You work with this system and it has to make sense, and then you start working on it. Never give up, you know, everything is possible.

Speaker 1: 38:51

Yeah, I agree. I agree, you know, while you were saying this, I have seen this picture and it always sticks out in my mind every time I try to do something and it's like, okay, that didn't work, that didn't work, you know, and it's a picture of a dandelion that has come up through the concrete and I always think something so fragile and so delicate came through, something so rigid and hard, with no sunlight, and still persisted to be able to reach the sunlight.

Speaker 1: 39:20

You know and yeah, and I always think of that too. It's like you just have to keep going. Do not allow things to become that obstacle. And you're right, it's just never giving up is got to be the key. You have been an amazing guest, john. I could sit and talk to you for hours because I love everything you're about and what you do and, as my circle of friends know, all your information and your books are going to be embedded into this podcast and onto my YouTube channel, because your story needs to be heard, that people need to read your books. I have got friends and I work with kids. I know who have got AHA. Yeah, excuse me.

Speaker 2: 40:03

AHH.

Speaker 1: 40:04

Yeah, thank you. So you have to forgive me. I'm dyslexic, so sometimes I look at things and I see it backwards, so I so thank you. I appreciate it and I've had to embrace that over the years, knowing my left for my right. But what you have to offer for some of these kids that I know that suffer through this and, like you said, it's a superpower, I mean I'm going to retract that.

Speaker 1: 40:24

I'm not even going to say yeah absolutely, because it doesn't matter what you have, use it as your strength and still keep it. Go forward.

Speaker 2: 40:33

Absolutely. You know the other thing that I'm going to do, nikki I'm going to sign all three of these books for you. I'm going to get Scott to make sure he got the your information and we'll send them out right away.

Speaker 1: 40:45

Oh, thank you.

Speaker 2: 40:46

You know, so that you have them, and I really enjoyed our conversation and I hope we stay in touch.

Speaker 1: 40:53

Yes, please, I would love to have you back, especially finish your next book, and then I want to come back and let's talk about your, your books, so we can get that out there. Thank you so much, john, for being with us today. I appreciate you, I appreciate everything you're doing and, my gosh, you inspired me. I'm ready to hit the ground running today.

Speaker 2: 41:11

Thank you, I appreciate it. I'd love to be on your show.

Speaker 1: 41:14

Okay, all right. You guys, thank you so much for being with us today. Please reach out to John, please find all his books, and I encourage you to go to his YouTube channel and his website and please collaborate with him and keep doing what you're doing. Thank you again, john. I both look forward to seeing you again soon.

Speaker 2: 41:33

Thanks, niki, check out Bye.