Q: First, tell us a little about yourself–where you live, your family, how long you’ve been at DE, and what you did before coming here.
A: I live in Lafayette, Louisiana with my wife Jill, my son Ethan (12), and my daughter Samantha (7). I have been a part of DE for 3 1/2 years. Bore that I was in the fitness world for 38 years as a Personal and Group Trainer/Coach, Gym owner, and CrossFit Affiliate for 10 years before I met DE.
Q: What do you love most about working at DE?
A: The things I love about DE run the gamut from the day-to-day immersion in my faith, which I notice shows up in my business every minute—sometimes, when I pray for the right people to give the company story to or pray I can get through this day when there are things I just don’t feel like doing. Just one more!!! . 🙂 My gratitude for the leadership of DE knows no bounds. I blame Luke Crawford for my success and I always will! The Founders, Regional Advisors, Division and Market Advisors, and Publishers have inspired me throughout my career here by suiting up, showing up, and not letting anything stop them on their quest to put the Good News of the Gospel in Catholic homes all over our nation!
Q: What movie or book do you know the most quotes from?
A: Well, sometimes movie quotes show up in my “daily ordinary.” For example, when I am about to dial, sometimes you have to ask yourself, “Do you feel lucky punk, well do ya?”
or when a prospect tells me they don’t think print is good anymore: “You can’t handle the truth!”
Or, when I know myself and fellow publishers are suiting up for the day: “May the force be with you!” When I first walk into a presentation: “Here’s Johnny!” When I pull the prospectus out for a presentation: “Say hello to my little friend!”
When I ask my 6 favorite words in DE: “How much too much is it?”
and they answer with “under a hundred for sure” … “Stryker, you can’t be serious!” When I am about to close a sale: “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse!” If I don’t make the sale: “I’ll be back!”
When a prospect asks a question that I had already addressed and they clearly weren’t paying attention because they just ask it again: “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate!”
Or when I’m rolling calls and someone gives me their opinion of Catholicism or the pope or anything really: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a darn!” I would love to see if anyone could answer which movies all the quotes are from! 🙂
So I really don’t have a single favorite, I have many. But a couple that aren’t from a movie are 2nd Corinthians Verse 9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” and Psalm 80 Verses 2-3: “Lord, let us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved,” to name a couple.
Q: What’s your favorite family tradition?
A: My favorite family tradition is around birthdays and Christmas. We have birthday weeks (we had to vote down birthday months) and Christmas week which leads us to discussions as to the reason for the season and of course when we drink hot chocolate…or eggnog…possibly with a wee bit of adult libation in it.
Q: Do you have a favorite saint and if so, why are they your favorite?
A: I don’t know them all but I have a few: Saint Joseph has stood out to me from the start of my Catholic life. His faith, understanding, courage, and compassion have touched and inspired me when I learned about him and that feeling has never left. Saint Maximilian Kolbe touched my heart with his selfless sacrifice for another human being!
Q: What new skill would you most like to learn?
A: I would enjoy exploring art in some form, which could be knife-making or welding and fabrication, or painting a picture that looked like it was supposed to or to maybe even sing…on pitch!
Q: What is one thing that instantly makes your day better?
A: The smiles and hugs I get when I wake my kids up and/or when my daughter and I get out of my truck to go somewhere and she slips her had into mine when we walk to where we are going. My son used to do that, with the same effect on me, but he is 12 now and hasn’t done that in a while.
Q: What advice would you give to someone new in the business?
A: Commit as you have never committed before…no matter what shows up for you. Be the special greatness that only you are!!! Be the light that shares the gospel, often in the face of no agreement!