Todd Saylor's Triumph: From Financial Setbacks to Faith-Driven Entrepreneurial Success

Transcript

If you are looking for inspiration, you're in the right place. Todd Sailer, joins us today. He brings a lot of energy, a lot of emotion, a lot of passion. He gets emotional on the show a couple times. We talk about how when he was twenty four, twenty five, he hit rock bottom financially relationship wise mental health wise. And he certainly had some some other a lot of other ups and downs over the the next the ensuing decades, both professionally and Personally, it's, jam packed with inspiration, a lot of, scripture, and a lot of, He doesn't shy away from the the religious and the the Christian based, discussion points for sure. It's a it's a really good episode Todd's a guy who he is a an entrepreneur, a coach, a visionary. He's, I got a re a retreat coming up. He's an author. He's got a a series of books in the, wired differently series. His latest is called your will be done. Like I said, a ton of passion, business coach, speaker, author, He's been through a lot of different things. We talk a lot about his his father's doughnut business, which is a really fun one, how he ended up, Todd, ended up rescuing the the company a few years ago and turning it around, after near bankruptcy. So this is this is a fun one. It's passionate. It's it's hard to listen to this episode and not walk away inspired. I know you're gonna love it.

Speaker 1

Welcome to the from adversity to abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring Prenewer, then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you impactful stories of real people. Who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance. A life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle. Join us, and you will experience the power of true stories and gain practical knowledge from founders who have turned poverty into cross and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health, relationship, and financial challenges So you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life you are destined to live. Turn your adversity into abundance.

Speaker 0

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Speaker 2

Oh, Jamie man. Listen. I'm super excited. We had a little bit of time before the show and I gotta tell you, Don, I'm I'm pushing, like, twenty podcasts on this podcast tour, and I your podcast is so genuine. I find a comfort, actually, just in your voice. So I'm I'm super excited about this. I might turn up the volume a little bit if it's okay. But, let's see. We we got some work to do here. Let's get it on, like, donkey. Kong.

Speaker 0

There we go. Alright. You're bringing the energy. I love it. Oh. Yeah. So for the listener, Todd, you are an entrepreneur, CEO, speaker, business coach, philanthropist, leader, visionary author. I know

Speaker 2

you guys Stop.

Speaker 0

You've got three three books. You have a a the newest book called your will be done, and we'll get into your books later. But, yeah, thanks for taking the time and and stopping by. I'm I'm excited to jump in. So, for the listener who's unfamiliar with you or or you know, not overly familiar with you. What are you up to today?

Speaker 2

Oh, geez. Listen. We've got a lot going on. I I know we have some things we wanna go through in the show, but Yeah. That's a loaded question. So, literally, I'm actually making a movie right now. Major motion picture. The tiger in us. It went crazy. He wants to see what that is. The tiger in us dot com, you could see that trailer. It's a a beautiful movie about son and a father's more of a love of love story than anything. And the father's quest to break the world Wind Street record in high school football as well as preparing these men for war all set in the nineteen seventies. Well, the movie is literally a real movie. It's gonna be a major motion picture. But it's about my father. Right? It's about wow. Okay. I vlogged for my father and what he went through in

Speaker 0

the night

Speaker 2

as he did aspire to break the National Wind Street record and do all that. So that's one of the top things on my mind. So I'm writing the book right now as we speak, the Tiger Ines. I just released this book here. Your will be done where I just poured my heart and soul into this third book of the wire differently series. And, I really appreciate you asking this question. Yeah. This book is a a beautiful book about mindset. And more importantly, how we triangulate god's will and our will to actually aspire and to gain the things in this world that we're in here. Now I talk about us being these fits. I talk about how us we can we can do these things through understanding our mind framing and certainly, and foremost, understanding how we bring god into that. So it's great, great book. Yeah. Absolutely. Sticky Hutt event. It's coming up October eight, nine, tenth, and eleventh. I'm sorry. That's a lot. November eight, nine, tenth, and eleventh, at the, Zoto Resort, a longboat key. It's a beautiful resort in Florida where we have, entrepreneurs, business entrepreneurs come out, and I train them for four days at a resort. It's the vacation that pays for itself. And most currently, October three, four, and five, since you asked Jamie, we have a live free virtual event. If this airs before that, man, I want you on this free live virtual event, unconventional brilliance. And we talk about the thirty one million dollar success formula, and it's an amazing, amazing thing. So I can't wait to have that done. So those are the things that I'm talking about. Am I?

Speaker 0

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You got you you don't have anything going on. Got it. You just you're just hanging out. Just I'm kidding. Yeah. That's awesome. That's a that's that's a lot. That's you're clearly bringing bring a lot of value in a in a lot of different different avenues. We we could talk more in-depth about that in a little bit. Let's jump into your backstory. Obviously, so from adversity to abundance, we're speaking to entrepreneurs or people who may have a side hustle or they wanna become an entrepreneur. They're thinking about it small business owner. And, you know, what we're trying to trying to really kind of peel back the onion on is is some personal diversity that you, Todd, have been through whether that's health relationship, financial, spiritual, and take some lessons and, you know, we're not trying to make anybody cry on the show or anything like that, but we're trying to keep it real and and get a little vulnerable here. And that way, we can benefit the listener So the listener understands, look, we all go through hard times. Life is not always easy, and you're gonna face additional adversity. You are I am. We all are. So if we can kinda come together and understand that, you know, mindset is critical. That's obviously something that's gonna I would guess is gonna come out of this episode. You know, but the the goal here is for us to learn from you, Todd, and from your story and be moved and inspired, but also benefit practically you know, from from what you have to to offer. So let let's jump back. Where do you wanna start in your backstory?

Speaker 2

Oh my goodness. Well, I think we would start from my first book, which basically adversity inspired the first book. The first book is just titled wire differently, and you have that book. And Yeah. So you originally wrote that book to create an archive of this whole idea of, adversity to abundance. The book is a beautiful book and I was writing it for my children and my children's children. And as I got into the book, I realized this is this is pretty good. And I think that people need to hear about this comeback or this adversity. And you think about know, one of the things you said to me early on is, you know, you know, if you have a story and adversity of faith or you have a story of adversity or financial, you have a story of adversity, you have a health, You have a story of adversity and and and relationships. I'm like, dude, we all have adversity in every one of these buckets. Right? And I know this is your shit, but I know you know that answer. But listen, I I if I had to pick one that hurt me the most, I'd have a hard time. Because I at any point in my life, I can tell you what I've learned from any one of these adversities. You know, the freshest one is always financial. Precious.

Speaker 0

Okay. Okay. Because

Speaker 2

I people like us, wired differently. People are constantly putting ourselves in these positions to be burdened. We're always putting ourselves in these positions to, you know, have adversity. Yeah. But the the thing that I would tell you from my first get from jump would probably be financial. Okay. It's how financial drives literally everything.

Speaker 0

Yeah. Absolutely. No. I couldn't agree more. I mean, it's it's it's critically important. So let's you know, let's get a little bit little bit specific as far as your your own personal financial adversity if you're okay with that.

Speaker 2

I I have no problems with it. Back in back in the eighties out of out of college, I graduated from Manchester University at a, you know, it's a an interesting thing. I was a stand out hall of fame, a wide receiver at Manchester University. They actually had pro trials and things of that nature. So you your mind is place in college, right, in your life. Yeah. You're you fee you know, I don't how to explain it, but you're, like, everything. You people are around you, and they They wanna be around you and you're only twenty years old. And you can imagine these kids now making twenty, you know, three to five million dollars in college to play college and movie deals and book deals and professionals walking around campus, eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old. But back then, we didn't have the and I else, but we'd we'd but you you were built up. Right? Sure. I love college. Yeah. What's the one I left left college? I figured, oh, man. I gotta job. Right? I gotta figure this thing out. And you couldn't go back home back in the day. You're not like Hey, dad. First of all, you can't even get ahold of your parents unless you had a phone or something. Right? Right. Right. It didn't if you did have a pay phone, you'd have to be hope that they were near a phone to answer the phone. I'm like, you Yeah. Communicating with your parents.

Speaker 0

Yeah, dude, if I can just jump jump in real fast, because I think what you're saying with is basically your identity. Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but you because I can relate to this on some level as well. I was a college lacrosse player, you know, pretty successful and you know, back in the day. Right? And and it now nowadays, you know, nobody cares. Right? But at at that point, I was You

Speaker 2

know, we were number one. We were not yeah.

Speaker 0

Todd, you care. Right? That's why we're recording this podcast so you can but

Speaker 2

Why are differently?

Speaker 0

But the fact is, like, you know, all of a sudden, that that's over. And your identity is wrapped up in that. Right? So that's who you were. You were a wide receiver. That's you got you were it sounds like, you know, you got a lot of attention and had a lot of success with your ability to perform on the field and then and then now what? Right? It it's all of a sudden, you gotta reinvent yourself. So so what did you do at that point?

Speaker 2

Well, that really was the set of. So you need you move into life and you're trying to figure out how you're gonna kinda keep this level of identity or, like, you're putting it at identity, but I ended up Yeah. Law with a, oh, my actually, my wife now, we've been together over forty years. And so that's, I mean, if there's anyone I would share with you is of of the abundance it would be, with my wife. It hasn't always been easy. And I think we're gonna touch on this idea When I get through college and I decide I've gotta make a living, I realized that I changed my major to business because the teachers weren't making any money. And she was an accountant. I'm like, I'm not gonna make less money than her. Right? So I had to figure out a way. So anyways, long story short, I left school. I got a job. At Taco Bell, believe it or not,

Speaker 0

I got the

Speaker 2

corporate fast track program. It didn't like that. I did it for a year. And I went into the doughnut business. So what you need to understand is I grew up a doughnut maker. So my craft is doughnut making. I literally own sixteen companies right now, and one of them now after two thousand eighteen, I purchased my father's business out of, basically, bankruptcy. And revived it. And now we are the doughnut capital of the world, but I digress. So if you donut capital world, Google that baby right now and you'll see So anyways, you go through this. You I wanna marry this woman. I gotta find a job, and we get through all this. And in my in in my aggressive nature, I'm forcing all this. I get married, and I push this doughnut business, and we go through the doughnut business for maybe some three years. And at the end of three years, Let's just make this a short story. I'll lose everything. I didn't have much, but I had four locations I had a baby on the way, and things were moving through time. And, you know, I'm twenty five years old now. And beautiful wife who's looking at me and like, man, you used to be a big deal. Now we have no money. Right? Now we have look no hope. We have not, not a lot going on. And so we move through all the end of the sun. What happens is this financial thing This what this this big thing, and I'm I'm just I want I wanna follow me right here because here's here's here's the cascade. It was just financial.

Speaker 0

Mhmm.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Then it turned into health because then it became mental. So what was what was what was a adversity just financial? Right. And then your health because your mental health started to suffer. Right? So now it's financially. Now it's health. Right? And then now what happens then after that?

Speaker 0

Let me guess. Let me guess. Relationship. You got it.

Speaker 2

Yep. Ship. Right? And so you don't just get one of these at a time, brother. You get them. Oh, it's all. You don't just so you you turn on financial, then you turn on of mental, and then you turn on relationship. And then if you have god in your life, oh my goodness. If you don't turn to him, then you're spiritual crisis occurs.

Speaker 0

So so and I couldn't agree more. It's it's it's all related. There's, you know, certainly not compartmented at all. So and we don't need to, you know, kind of look back and beat you up too much about what you did wrong, but for the listener, what what actually went wrong, or was the circumstances? What what what what led to?

Speaker 2

What happened in there is, I was young and I was too aggressive, and I I took somebody's advice to grow and he ended up stealing the money and left

Speaker 0

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2

There with buildings and all this debt and a baby in a crib and a wife that was wonderful wife, but I was really in a bad spot. And so Sure. Seemingly enough, I write about it in my first book. I was in the one last doughnut shops, and it was about two in the morning, and the president of my ex, university, Manchester University rolled up there two in the morning for some reason, it's the craziest thing ever. And he and he's one. And I've got flour all over me, you know, and I'm feeling like complete crap because I know I've lost everything. This is gonna be gone. Everything's gonna be gone. And I and here I am, I'm scoring touchdowns, having pro trial, having all this stuff going on, and he just guy rolls up and sees me in an apron, flour Mhmm. Tells I'm not in a good mental spot. And I said, great. Everything's going great. And then I I just remember going back into the kitchen and think, no, I'm gonna go back out there and talk to him. And I I told him. I said, I'm on the brink of losing my marriage of four years. I'm on the brink of losing everything I have here. This is what has happened. This is how I got took advantage of. It was my fault. I didn't read the fine print.

Speaker 0

Mhmm.

Speaker 2

He says, man. I said, hey. I said, yeah. I'm in a tough spot. He says, you know what? Let me let me let me call you tomorrow. So he this he goes home. The next day passes. I think it was the following day. He calls me and says, hey, you know what, Todd? I just wanna let you know. It was nice seeing you, and I gotta tell you. I want you to understand how proud I am. That you

Speaker 0

didn't expect to hear that at that at that moment. Right?

Speaker 2

And, you know, and I didn't know what and and I said, you know, Why? He said because he told me the truth. You know? You you weren't caught up in your you know, if you weren't on the football, you you were, like, you have a child. You have a future. You have he says, I made a football for you. And I called Barnes and Thornberg, the number one attorney counsel in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I said, you did. He goes, yeah, I want you to call this man right here. So I called him the next day. And, he said, hi, Todd. How are you? I've heard all about you. I'm super excited. I got four attorneys in here with me right now, and we can't to talk to you. I said, oh my goodness. I mean, I mean, oh my god. He says he says, when can you come here? I got Steve, Jim, Joe, and blah blah blah. I said, oh, you know, I I was so I went through the next day, and they were all there lined up for me. They said, we understand what you're going through, and we're sorry. Can you just tell us your story and how this happened? So I went through how the man took advantage of the lease and the money and set me up and He says, here's what we're gonna do. We are gonna file this, do this, we're gonna call him, we're gonna serve a notice, we need all this stuff, and I'm like, This is this craziest thing I've ever seen. And we moved on down the road, called them up the next week. They'd served all this. They filed this. They did that. And within thirty days, they had exonerated all my debt. They had moved this guy into a position where he couldn't do anything.

Speaker 0

And he put

Speaker 2

it in his place. And so I guess I don't I wasn't prepared for the story, but I just wanted to share with you. That was the beginning of my adversity, but honestly, I wanna tell you I've got myself in a lot more trouble after that. But the point of the matter is is that, like, like, god is so super cool. And I think that when we're in adversity. I think we need to understand that there is this thing called karma. There is this thing out there that does come back around. And some of the things that you have done and some of the people that you have taken care of, and some of the things that you've done in your past will come to fruition for you. There is hope. Right? I'm just telling you, Jamie. Jamie, there is hope in your restitution. There is re there is hope in your abundant recovery. And so when we went through all that, I remember thinking I went from completely, being depressed, a marriage on the brink, financial hell. Right? In a reputation that would would would crucify me from business going forward to Hey. I got this. And so I write about that in the book. And then I and I take it through, and I obviously have to finish. And the people that I did owe money, I went back and paid them, it took me eight years. And we moved to that, and I never ever filed bankruptcy. But that very first moment of being crushed, being in a place where it didn't look like there was any hope. Has never never left me. It's never left me. And and I got I gotta tell you, Psalm's thirty one twenty four. Be strong and take heart. All you who hope in the lord. Right? Hope in the lord. And I I didn't have that strong faith early on, but now when I go back, it's a fifty nine year old man, and I look at that, this is what Hope looks like. This is what a deliverer looks like. This is what abundance looks like in a certain shade of a color. Right?

Speaker 0

So that's one of the first

Speaker 2

earliest stories I can tell you about But No.

Speaker 0

I appreciate that. And it's I think you said you were, what, twenty four, twenty five, twenty five. So you know, couple couple years ago, but, you

Speaker 2

know, and and and again, we we keep it we keep it

Speaker 0

real on the show and and success is not a straight line, you know, up and to the right. Right? Everybody's story has ups, downs, twists, turns, And I'm at it sounds like you had some other some other, I don't wanna say rock bottom, but some other low points along the way.

Speaker 2

I'm I'm I would tell you I would tell you that I'm not a person that doesn't push the envelope and later on in life. Obviously, I learned from that. And and, our marriage has been tested. My aggressive, attack mode when it comes to business and taking risk and those things. But, you know, my wife's not a risk taker. You know, the after, you know, twenty five years of that, thirty years of that, there there is a piece of you, a piece of her, a piece of somebody that's, like, How much can I take of a of a person this nature?

Speaker 0

Mhmm.

Speaker 2

We had those difficult conversations. I would tell you this in my second book, Drift again, that's one word Drift again, capital d r I f t, capital a g a I n, drift again. Great. Wiring them. Right?

Speaker 0

Yeah.

Speaker 2

I remember, my two thousand three model Payserve systems, which is my largest company I own right now. Poured my wife, and I've poured everything into that. And that has challenged our relationship. That has challenged our children's relationship with us. It's challenged everything. But I remember year twenty. I'm sorry. It's been twenty five now. So I would say about year eighteen, seventeen, we had worked so hard to get it to this position. And A piece of software, we invested everything into fail. Literally failed. Four MBA, two CPA's. We we rebooted the entire nationwide company, and we were on the brink of basically losing everything. And, I I remember, crying. I remember, praying crying and praying and, trying to look strong in front of our employees. And, You know, until finally, it just kinda hit me. It's like, okay. It is what it is. You know, let's go take it. Let's put the plan together. We're able to we're able to move that around too. It's just many adversity stories that I love.

Speaker 0

Absolutely. Now a couple of things I wanna dive into a little bit further. One is what is it? When do you know kind of, I guess, when a business really has has failed, but if you if you wanna put it that way, you know, and and there's no one size fits all answer. We we know that every every situation is different, but You know, most most businesses do fail. Let's be honest. Right? So it's not actually a high success rate in the small business world. So how do you know when it's time to just say that that didn't work? And we're gonna it's done. What what how did you navigate that situation? Maybe in that twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen company or any other business? How do you, approach that?

Speaker 2

Great question. I and, honestly, I write about it in my second book. It's called your no mass moment, you know, that's Spanish for no more. Yeah. There's an epic story about Roberto Duran, fighting Sugar a Leonard, and and Roberto was fighting Sugar a, and it was a great fight, but Sugar Ray had outperformed, Roberto Duran, not only physically, but mentally, more importantly. And I think Roberto didn't prepare the right way and he might have had too many diuretics or something of that nature, but I just remember where Roberto at Hecana pulled up his gloves, and he just said, I'm done. He said, No, ma'am. And sugar ray looked at it. He was like, what do you mean? Well, we're out here. You're standing up. You're looking me in the eyes. Let's fight. And and no mas. No mas, which is Spanish for no more. No more. If he wasn't getting pummeled or anything of that nature, he just couldn't go any farther. And he dig into the story a little more stomach cramps, leg cramps, all kinds of things. And I think he never said, I quit. He just said no mask. And so I talk about that in a wire differently vernacular. In our books, we have a glossary of terms. And I think that it's important that as an entrepreneur, a business person, that you are aware that you're gonna have a Nomos moment. And I think that's it's a special moment that only a CEO or an owner, and I say special because it is a one. It's a very private moment. It's, you know, man, I could make me cry the second time on this. But it's it's one of those things where only you know it when you know it. And, you know, we're gonna fight and fight and fight until Roberto finally realizes that if he doesn't take care of his stomach and his mind, never be able to step into the ring again.

Speaker 0

That's that's really good. So essentially, yeah, live another live to fight another day. Right?

Speaker 2

Right. And that but but it's not quitting. It's your no modest moment. I mean, equitting would mean, you know, like, you just gave up and you didn't have a a plan. You didn't have any understanding. But I think that in in in but But Roberto is an inspirational person to me from that perspective is is, like, as much as we didn't look at him has a sophisticated fighter, I I gotta tell you, he ends up coming back on the third fight, and they fight a damn near death match to the final second of the final round. Right? I mean, it was was, like, amazing. And from a business perspective, it was a financial win for everybody. Right? Everybody takes some ass in that one.

Speaker 0

That's awesome.

Speaker 2

But I think I think Roberto lost by a, like, like, just like a smidge. But he redeemed his name. He went he was able to go back into Mexico or Panama. He was able to go in and he was able to be a hero and all those things. And so how do I know? I I I I wish I could give you a good answer, but it's it's that point where you know that you're going to hurt your wife, your children, and you're gonna hurt the employees. And because, you know, we'll we'll fly the I can give you another story about a a a man I did business with and a PEO. And I remember the company was crashing, and I was an executive on the team, and I went to him. I said, listen, this is not gonna work. We got clients all over the country, and I feel horrible about this, but maybe we should move our clients and piggyback with another company where we can look our wounds and figure out our insurance and get our company straight. Then I remember him looking at me, Jamie, and he says, you know what, Todd? You're a quitter.

Speaker 0

Well, how We're

Speaker 2

gonna fly this effort into the wall. And and I and I remember that's I was probably thirty eight years old. I was making probably nine hundred thousand dollars a year of this company. All the clients on this company were mine. Right? And I'm thinking about the client's well-being because they're gonna be left with health insurance without workers' comp, without leadership. And I'm like, we we gotta find them a safe haven. No. This guy said we're gonna fly it in law. I mean, so some people just don't get that. Right? And, I would I would tell you when you start to really, really see how much it's gonna affect your employees and their family members is when you gotta decide when it's gonna be your no And I've been in a few of those. And, you know, I've been able to keep those employees, move them into other companies and grow the other companies.

Speaker 0

Todd Saylor's Triumph: From Financial Setbacks to Faith-Driven Entrepreneurial Success

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