Goated Podcast
The "𝐆 𝐎 𝐀 𝐓 𝐄 𝐃" podcast is a show dedicated to discussing and celebrating greatness in various aspects of life, such as sports, entertainment, business, technology, and more. Each episode features in-depth conversations, interviews with accomplished individuals, and explorations of what it means to achieve the tag 𝐆 𝐎 𝐀 𝐓 𝐄 𝐃!
Goated Podcast
Goated Podcast Episode 24 - Goated Friendsgiving
Gratitude hits different when you’re building something real! We brought our entire crew together for a Thanksgiving Friendsgiving and opened the mic to the people who shaped this faith‑driven golf brand—from Kevin's spouse who weathered sleepless launches to the co‑founder who turned a visionary’s chaos into systems that scale. You’ll hear how an Airbnb podcast became a full production, why hiring for your weaknesses is a non‑negotiable, and how golf’s integrity code—own your mistakes—became our business playbook.
We swap road stories with a former PGA Tour caddie turned business developer who found purpose beyond the ropes, dive into the “Swiss army knife” mindset with the technologist behind our app and e‑com stack, and geek out with our master clubmaker on the nerdy heart of performance: shafts, swing weights, and tolerances. Community leaders share redemption and accountability, from breaking addiction to building local networks that actually serve people. And yes, we talk freedom, family, and why Southwest Florida’s culture of responsibility and generosity keeps drawing doers together.
Threaded through it all is a steady center: God first, people always. A father with fifty years in ministry reminds us that trials train character, gratitude is a discipline, and influence means little without integrity. If the holidays feel heavy, you’ll find a hopeful word and a practical invitation to reach out, reconnect, and remember what lasts. Press play for a fast-moving, heartfelt ride through entrepreneurship, faith, golf, and the kind of team you can build a life around.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find stories like these.
Get in touch: Team@thegoatedpodcast.com
Stay 𝐆 𝐎 𝐀 𝐓 𝐄 𝐃!
Go to the podcast. This is a special podcast episode here. It's Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving episode, so grateful for. And I'm I'm literally goosebumping, tearing up with what we have here. Uh, you'll see content from it, but we are so blessed, and I'm so grateful. The first guest on this episode is gonna be the beautiful Mrs. Van Duzer. And she is the owner of Gota Golf, an owner of Go to Golf, and she is the goat to me, besides Jesus, Jesus and God in my life. My wife is a blessing to me. And I had to have her first on this episode for Thanksgiving. We have two beautiful kids. We're coming up on 10 years married. Yep. This year, a couple months, one month away. And I'm so grateful for her and uh what we built together and her patience. But I wanted to ask her, and we're gonna ask everyone on staff and all of our visitors here what they're thankful for for this episode. So we're gonna start with my beautiful wife. What are you thankful for, Mrs. Vanduza?
SPEAKER_01:Um, I would say the thing I'm most thankful for is Jesus. Um, I'm sure a lot of people can relate. Life has many ups and downs and twists and turns, and the older I get, the more I realize um I just need to lean on him and trust him in all circumstances. So I'm thankful for God. Um I'm also thankful for you. And you know that we've had ups and downs and just like any marriage, and I feel just we're a good team and we both try to be a light for people in this world that need um some more hope. Um so yeah, thankful for you and our kids and our family.
SPEAKER_11:So grateful for you. I love you. And to many more Thanksgivings together. Ten years is crazy.
SPEAKER_01:It is. It feels maybe like longer. That's true.
SPEAKER_11:We're blessed. Goaded's grown a ton, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without you and your amazing support. Definitely ups and downs, definitely uh a lot of crazy ideas and a lot of uh sleepless nights and a lot of early mornings and slast second schedule changes, so I'm grateful for you, and I love next guest, another guy that is uh or another person in my life that is such a blessing. My partner and co-founder and owner of Go to Golf as well, Chris Meehan, our CFO, our COO, uh My Shrink, everything the time. And he started this podcast with me. He's been doing a million other things, so that's about time this happened, anyways.
SPEAKER_12:Yeah, I don't get on as much anymore, but uh, you know, that's for good reason.
SPEAKER_11:I think uh, you know, we got a lot of things in the works, and um time is money, so you know, not always here, but you had, I mean, Chris set up everything for us for the first episode, and he still does the a ton, but we were traveling with this podcast equipment. We did one episode and we started in Venture X, shout out Venture X.
SPEAKER_12:Well, our very first episode was actually in the Airbnb for the PGA show up at Orlando, and yeah, we we lost um we loaded all the podcast equipment into the car, brought it all there just in the living room with kind of my uh amalgamation of random podcast equipment, but we made it work. Is that on online?
SPEAKER_11:Is that on our episodes? I think away. Everyone go listen to that. That's I'm gonna listen to that. Yeah, I can't believe that. So that was in an Airbnb in Orlando, and then we did Venture X, we rented a room, um, and then we were in our warehouse. Yeah, did some episodes of my mom and dad's guest house, yep, their little or guest room. So, and now we're full production crew, the goats of podcasts filming this and setting up for us, and uh it's it's amazing. And now we have Friendsgiving tonight, Thanksgiving week, and I wanted to do a podcast episode, what we're thankful for. Yeah. Um, I'm thankful for you right away, obviously, and uh I say it all the time, I don't say it enough, probably. I'm uh a nut job entrepreneur that's a visionary, and uh it is not easy to put up with me. So I had him my wife first, and then I had him, Chris, one of my best friends and co-founder in this, because I think about all my ideas and I'm like, what a nightmare it must be to be even near me.
SPEAKER_12:So I'm grateful for you. Well, I'll throw it right back at you, Kev, because I I'm grateful for you. I think that somebody like you makes the passion that I wanted to go into possible, right? Which is coming from the corporate world and not being an entrepreneur at my core and not being a a visionary at my core, I wouldn't have had the ability to do any of this without you. And you kind of gave me the outlet to to maybe go to the deep end in in an area that I was uncomfortable in and you know make a passion a reality. And here we are building this stuff. I mean, yin and yang, right? Like two sides of a coin. So you're an entrepreneur. You huh? You're an entrepreneur.
SPEAKER_11:I guess about that until now. I mean, maybe definitely. The the the cuts you've made in life or the sacrifices you've made is like all about entrepreneurship. You've not by choice sometimes, but had to just go through it. I didn't think about that till now. Yeah, it's crazy. I there's not a day that goes by, if you guys know know me or listen to anything that I post, that I don't think God, I don't think Marlon, I don't think Chris. Um, because I I've had a lot of businesses and I would have crashed this one too if I didn't have a a solid person with me and like you that has the strengths that I have or that I don't have and uh the yin yin and yang for sure. So uh that's a note on business. If there's one thing in businesses episode, hire people that are good at what you yeah, you're not good at and what you're not passionate about, and keep people around you that are smart, that have good morals. I mean, this guy has way better morals than I do, way better um business acrimony. He wouldn't say it, but just like a good person. And good people are not hard to are not easy to find. Um, so keep good people around you. The company you keep is huge. Yeah, and if you're lucky enough, like we are to go into business together and it succeed, uh I can't can't stop thanking you and thanking God for it.
SPEAKER_12:You know, that that brings up maybe something else I'm thankful for, which is just the um the people that we have that work for us, yeah, and with us is incredible. Um and there are just a multitude of people that uh come into work every day with the same vision, the same ethics, the same morals. Uh they put it all on the line, they give everything they have and they ask for nothing back. And um, you know, the same way you and I wouldn't be able to do this without each other, we wouldn't be able to do it without the men and women working here goaded. So um everybody in HQ here that just comes in every day working hard and and uh giving us everything they have.
SPEAKER_11:So true. We get people all the time telling us uh, how did you find all these people? And I I it's an easy answer. It's God. Like the timing that lined up for your brother who's gonna join us, and yeah, my family, your family, and our friends that haven't talked to in years, and the people that we hired through the traditional hiring process, we're so blessed. And it wouldn't happen without without them. So for sure. It's it's really special and it's it uh it verifies kind of when we were when you jump as an entrepreneur, it kind of verifies as God starts to work and you have a good backbone to the business and God starts blessing it and protecting us. Like calls I even had today just sh it just shed light on how God has protected us and blessed us because you can't do it all on your own and you can't foresee everything that's gonna come with it. And um, it's just a blessing. Good time to remember that. Um, how about so things have changed? I wasn't gonna ask this, but in your life, um you've got your brother here, you have a big family. Yeah, and you have a special lady that since last time we recorded, that's we all love and you're out there. Listening, I hope. Yes.
SPEAKER_12:But um, well, you mentioned family. I mean, that that'd be the other thing that I didn't mention yet, which is I'm I'm the most thankful for the family I have and the way I was brought up and my parents back in DC, and um, you know, they really formed who I am as a person, and I think in turn have formed how I conduct myself on a daily basis, not just uh my personal life, um, but for the business. And I think somebody in my shoes, you know, if if I could speak to maybe those out there in business in the financial realm, um, you know, it, you know, you you you build those morals and ethics and integrity, and that's the most important thing for people in our shoes. You have a lot of uh there's a lot of you know very sensitive, important things that get put in your plate. And if you don't have that integrity, those morals, um, you go down a bad path. And you know, that's just it's just not a it's a scary thing, you know, and you see it out there a lot with yeah, people that just don't have that. And then it's also cool because like golf's a game of integrity, right? So you know, we're in a business that golf is is everything we do, and um, you know, integrity is such an integral part of that sport. So bringing that to the broader kind of mission of what we do at Goaded is like really, really cool for me. So true. But all that came from my family and my parents. Um, and then you know, now Kate, who's uh just an incredible hero herself, uh you know, night shift nurse, saving lives daily, and makes what I do feel so insignificant sometimes. Um, but she's incredible and been a blessing to me down here, and never would have met her, you know, if uh hadn't moved to Florida to pursue this dream. So that's kind of a cool thing too. Um, but yeah, family, family is key and the backbone of I think pretty much everybody here, family is really important. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, and that's that's something really cool. It's also so true.
SPEAKER_11:Well, I love you. Great. Thanks here, brother. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. All right, our next guest, a legend, been a huge blessing to goaded family, Trevor Conningsby. I say Coningsby, either one. Um, TrevCon has been a blessing to the goaded family, the Red State family, my family. My kids run into the office, they try to see him before they see me. It's kind of heartbreaking. Um, no, but I love it. He has uh changed the website, he's updated the app, he has managed all the craziness that comes along with an e-commerce brand. It is not easy. Uh such a blessing that we got to meet because I met, we ran into a couple from the past, a good uh good friend of our family and sweetest couple. We love them, the Schultz family. And they said, You we were talking about the business, and they said you have to meet Trevor. And I will say, Beth said, he's so cute, which he clearly isn't. She lied. But she said, he's so well spoken. Again, she lied, Nunkin. Um, and she said he would be great to live stream and and help goaded uh grow. And I said, I'll be the judge of that. I met him within minutes. I was like, when can he start? Um, so so blessed to get to know him and have him as a part of our team. And I've told him many times, just like a lot of our staff, all of our staff, uh, we are whatever we do next, you're coming with us. He's with me, he's uh irreplaceable, he's awesome. And uh I'm grateful for him, thankful for you. And I'm gonna ask like ask you, like I asked everyone else, what are you thankful for this this this year for you?
SPEAKER_04:I actually, I mean, this year has been life-changing for me. I think finding goaded and like getting connected with you has been one of the biggest blessings um that I've ever had. And I couldn't be more happy to be with Goaded, uh, especially the Red State family. Um, and like you said earlier, even your family. Like, I've got to know you on such a personal level um and everybody that you're involved with. Um, I I think that's one of the bigger things that I'm thankful for this year. Um, but it's not cliche, but also my family. I mean, I mean, without them, I I wouldn't be here at all. I mean, they're literally such a blessing to me. Um, your mom's awesome, your dad's awesome. Yeah, my mom literally comes into the office and she'll help with like uh inventory and stuff like that. I'll put my mom to work with us. She's amazing. Um but yeah, I mean, and especially my family. I mean, again, I wouldn't be here without them. So they've supported me throughout this entire uh journey. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started here, but I it's been just amazing. So it's awesome. I'm definitely thankful for her.
SPEAKER_11:I love it for that. The uh in the world of business for this, I have to say again, the people you surround yourself with, the bringing them in to create a family environment. We have uh such a great staff, as you guys are seeing on this episode today. And uh Will and uh our whole team, Will, was sharing as well that the family environment we have is a blessing. But Trevor fits that so well and is a leader, he's already he was immediately made a manager in our company. Uh we lean on him seven days a week for a lot of things. Uh unfortunately, it's uh necessary because he's managing the website. That's a key to our business and our apps. But man, the stuff that he's done and this time and the time that he makes, his friends that come around that love you and are grateful for you, and you're there for friends that you haven't seen in a while. You'll drive anywhere. You driven, he drove uh, what'd you drive? 100 putters, like nine hours just to drive back. Um just team a team guy that uh I'm so grateful for. I'm blessed to have what else is the first time on the podcast. What else you got? What what what tidbit? Can you give a tidbit? I didn't even ask him about this. And by the way, I didn't tell the staff to just thank goaded and thank me. I should have asked questions in a different way because everyone's like, I'm so grateful for goaded. I'm like, stop it. Now people are gonna be like, I scripted this, but no, I'm grateful for our staff. No, it's not screwed. You have a tidbit of information, like any life key to be goaded.
SPEAKER_04:I guess just be a Swiss Army knife. I think that's one of the biggest things that I've learned coming here is being a Swiss Army knife and like things that you probably don't excel at, like if you're asked to do them or you're the only guy to do them, just just dive into the deep end. Let's go. Like and figure it out. Because there's a lot of time, a lot of times I don't really know what to do in certain situations, and I think um just jumping into deep end, figuring it out, um, is first off the best way to learn, yeah, and also like the best way to succeed, because once you reach like a level of success, then you're like, okay, how can I make this perform even better than I just did? So I think Tibet is definitely be a Swiss Army knight. I love it.
SPEAKER_11:You are that, you are amazing, and you're dedicated to the brand. I mean, it's so hard as an owner to find someone that uh will do the stuff that wasn't a part of the agreement. And like business owners, especially in this grind, need somebody that will answer the call and be reliable. And and I'm so grateful for that because it's not something I deserve. But uh, I'm glad we met. God is good. To many more Thanksgivings. Yes, sir. All right, next guest, our director of business development. Uh, this guy has been a hitman for me, a blessing to me. I'm so grateful for him. Will Davidson, he's been on the show a couple times. Um, I gotta say first, I'm so thankful for him. I tell him this probably not enough, but um, just the man that he is, the person that he is. He's been on PGA Tour. If you haven't heard the episode, go listen to the episode with his his face on it. Um, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, he's been all over the world traveling. Uh, he has businesses, he's an entrepreneur. He is uh just a blessing to everyone he comes in contact with, and now he's traveling a ton. He leaves in a couple days for Thanksgiving uh into California, to Utah, Vegas. He's doing a bunch of things for us the next couple weeks. He's been to China a couple times, um, and he is a blessing to the brand, but you're a blessing to my life, the person you are, uh, motivating the person you are. And there's not a single person in all the things he's done that can say a bad thing about this guy. I say it often, and that is very rare. Uh, there's a lot of people that can say bad things about me. There's a lot of people that can say bad things about uh a lot of people that I know that you'll find somewhere if you fish. And there's I I've fished and uh just a solid dude. It might be the Alabama thing, and I think you're all kind of nice, the southern We all try to be uh, you know, we try to be nice if they're in Alabama, you know, raised right. Um but I gotta thank I gotta ask you and uh what you're grateful for and thankful for on this Thanksgiving week.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I I'd have to say that, you know, for me I'm really grateful for to be a part of this company and to be a part of of Goaded and not just because it's an awesome company, but realistically because I came from Caddian for 11, 11 and a half years. And that was what my life wants. That's what I knew, that's what I was comfortable with, I was very good at it. Um, so when I finally did step away to find something that was, you know, really near and dear to my heart, being golf, and something I already knew uh was really special to me. And to be a part of something that is, you know, kind of growing from the from the ground up. Um I know I was I came in about a year into uh what y'all are building, um, but it's been a really incredible year. It's been a uh a year of growth, it's been a year of of new things for me, uh, you know, somewhat moving down this way and spending a lot of time down here, which is something that I haven't really done in a while, just because obviously I've been on the road for 11 years. I'm still on the road, but um I'm happy to do, you know, to be on the road because I am used to it and I'm I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be um you know in such a great position with Godeth and be in a position to where I get to make a difference and and bring something and build something that you know is is new and and fun in golf because it's it's one of those things where you know there's there's a ton of of golf companies out there, and you know, I know a lot of them, but this one's special to me because of what GoTa stands for. Um, you know, the the faith-based side of it is is really important to me. Um, so that's that's something that really, you know, really stands out about Goda, but it's something that I'm super grateful for to be a to be a part of this company, to be growing in this company, um, to bring value to this company, um, and but mainly just to to really be a part of something that I mean because to be honest, I I missed Caddy, and I still do miss Caddy. Yeah, but this is something that I can I I enjoy going to work every single day. Oh, and that's something that that I am super grateful for.
SPEAKER_11:I'm glad to hear that. I'd love to end it there, but I gotta ask you, that's a great answer. And I'm grateful for it. But family, I mean, and you got amazing family, you got amazing uh friends, but anything else outside of life, or outside of goaded life.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, yeah, goaded is the life, right? I'm grateful the fact that I'm 35. I'm I'm grateful for for my health, I'm grateful for um, you know, just all the the friends and and family that uh I do have. I'm excited to go home in a couple days and see my family. I haven't seen them in a while. Um, so it'll be really good to see them. Um But I'm excited for the new friends that I've made down here, the new friends um that I made in Goaded. And and but yeah, I'm I'm just I'm grateful for the the fact that you know there's a I haven't gotten to go, obviously, because I've been traveling a bit, but the Bible study down here is really, really awesome. I've enjoyed that. Um I love seeing my my Bible study text come through on WhatsApp every every two days or whatever. But yeah, I I really am just grateful for where I am in life. Awesome. Um it's one of those things I never kind of expected to be here at 35 and you know single at 35, and you know, it's just what a single is like, hey, Florida. I'm really, really happy to be here. So good. That's glad that's what I'm grateful for.
SPEAKER_11:Uh I love it. On the business side, I have to tell you, find someone that represents your brand well, represents your family, your morals well, it's so hard to find, and I'm so grateful I found Will because um it's very, very hard to find, especially when we're making a stand for Christ, we're making a stand for the go to mentality. You got to show up every day, and even when it's a brutal shipping day or it's a brutal weather day and it's a brutal travel day, you show up with a smile, and I'm grateful for you, and I never have to worry about you um being a tough person to talk to at the tent when you're representing us or uh winning a golf tournament for us or whatever it is. Um, and then shout out the guys that are underneath you that couldn't make it tonight. Kenny, yeah, Petrovsky has been a blessing since I started this company. Uh John Weeks and Todd Peterson, those guys that are on the road that aren't here tonight.
SPEAKER_02:Uh Austin up in up in South Carolina, he's been great as well. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm grateful for all those guys too because it's it's given me a and not that I, you know, I'm I'm in a leadership role with them, but it's it's you know, I feel like I've been able to really get to know them and work work hand in hand with them. So I'm excited to see them grow as well. Yeah. I'm excited for the opportunities that they have in front of them. You know, Todd's obviously got a ton of stuff coming up that he's he's brought to the table. So I'm really excited to to see how these guys flourish in the next year. So they're great.
SPEAKER_11:Uh also shout out Lou. Lou from Meatball's not a year, and we love him. John, we're getting John Key, Jimmy Kaiser. John Key's gonna hate that. Grateful for you. Thank you for being a leader in our company, manager in our company, and being with us. We got a bright future, and well, to many more. Thank you. It's blessing to be here, dude. Love it. Absolutely. All right, our next guest, Steve Katruska. I have Van Duzer, so I always people always ask me how to say the last name when they're trying to um decipher the my my name when they're reading it. So you know my pain, right? Um grateful for this guy. This guy's got podcasts, he's a promoter. He's got one of the he's got the best boxer in the world. Let's call the goaded boxer. Yes. Iron Man, John Cantrell, who's just on the last podcast, and we met because of because of you. And so grateful for him. Praying for him every day. We just had him on the show, like I said. That episode will be coming out soon. And uh, I wanted to talk to you today, just see how what you're thankful for. I know you're uh new transplant to Southwest Florida. I am. And we're out here in December. No, it feels almost December, and it's like 70 degrees. Yeah, I'm only wearing this as I like it.
SPEAKER_10:I don't need it on, it just looks good. That's a beautiful hoodie. Where did you get that? Underneath it. Let's go. Let's go. We got them. Amazing. I'm gonna we go straight. Right. Let's this is the best, this is the best you look. Goat it out. Let it out. So I'll be honest with you, that's a loaded question for me, brother. Um, so my wife and I we moved here in March. Yeah, and uh prior to us moving, we really started finding God prior to us moving. And uh, and I I firmly believe that had we not gone that path, I don't know that we'd even be here. Um he gave us a lot of strength and discipline to to just get through it. And then once we got here, man, we've the doors have just flown open. You know, we've met some awesome people like yourself, your brother Kyle as well, um, you know, Alfie Oaks, we've met you know, conservative aunt, Tito Ortiz, all these guys, god-fearing people that follow Christ, that are just tremendous human beings. And um, you know, and John, you know, my my client John Cantrell, the Iron Man, got him down here. We were able to introduce him to all these people as well to help build our clientele. And I mean, God is good, my friend. God is good. So honestly, I'm most thankful just for the Lord and and following, you know, accepting him into my heart. You know, and my son, he's nine years old, he leads us in prayer and stuff before dinner. And it's like, you know, when you set that example as a parent, you don't have to force your kids, they just naturally fall in line and want to follow, you know, follow dad, follow mom. Yeah. When they see mom and dad eating healthy and going to the gym and praying and doing Bible study every morning, they naturally fall in line. It's the best job. So um, yeah, and tremendously and goaded is the perfect brand. God over all things every day. Like that's literally what we stand for. So uh I'm very, very thankful for you, my friend. Yeah, I'm grateful for you.
SPEAKER_11:It's been uh amazing couple weeks. The first time we met is probably a couple months ago. Yeah. And you guys, I said it to John the other day, it's changed my life. You guys changed my life. So God's good. I can't echo that more. That's one of the best answers we had. Sorry, everyone else that was on the show. You all had great answers too. But um, John's fight's coming up in December. December 13th. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10:Two weeks and five days. December 13th, yes, sir. Two weeks, five days in Topeka, Kansas. Topeka, Kansas, Stormont Bell Events Center. We got Struggle Jennings wrapping into the ring. We got Caitlin Curtis single national anthem. They're doing a little VIP show afterwards. Everybody's invited. Uh, it's gonna be a good time. It's gonna be awesome. So we'll send the pay-per-view link.
SPEAKER_11:We had John on the show a couple weeks ago. Thanksgiving. Tito Cheese will be playing at a Tito's Cantina as well. Tito's gonna, oh, he'll be playing at the restaurant?
SPEAKER_10:And he might be going to the fight, but it's still a question mark. Okay. He's gonna be playing at his uh though. That'll be awesome. Okay, huge. Well, I'm grateful for you, and I love you. Happy Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_11:Appreciate your brother. So many more Thanksgivings, too. Absolutely, brother. Appreciate you. Man, another great guest here. And this event that you're seeing behind me, the kids run behind me, the music playing, the generators going, the lights. It's another uh credit to Blake Becker here, my brother in Christ. He's uh someone I met in a Bible study uh Tuesday mornings at Seat the Table in Freedomtown, USA. And uh he's got Built by Becker, he's got Built to Eat. They've got uh a tour they're going on for Built to Eat that's amazing. It's an amazing watch. YouTube, conservative man who we just had, they're partnered in Built to Eat. They got some great episodes, go check them out, and Built by Becker. If you need to know anything about houses or fixer upper or DI DIY is everything, we do all that. He does the thank goods in food, trying to try to cover all bases. Well, I've been saying what I'm grateful for, so I gotta start with you. I'm grateful for the man that Blake is. So Blake doesn't know this, I haven't said it enough, but man, I'm one of the people that watches almost everything he does because I'm constantly praying for him and I love him. But man, to hear his story the last couple months uh and know what he's been through and the journey he's gone through, I need to have him on the podcast. You gotta go follow everything he does and watch what he does because he's a man of God, he's a great father, and he's been through it. He's done he's seen it all, he's been through times where he wasn't living right, and uh he is using that story and that platform better than I've seen a lot of people do. So you go through things, make sure you use the things that God brought you through to impact other people's lives, and this guy does it. He gives he gives in this community and doesn't let people give him credit for it. Uh he's just a great man and a great person. I'm glad to call him brother, and he sponsored this event with us. Um, and really, I would we wouldn't be at this building, actually. I was saying that on the mic, we wouldn't even have this building if it wasn't for Blake, because I walked it with him and I said, Can you walk this with me and just kind of pray pray about it with me? And we prayed about it, walked, and he said, He saw it after like 15 minutes, said, No, this is a no-brainer, you gotta get this building. And I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have that confidence on that thing, uh, God speaking through him. So it's been a blessing, you're a blessing to me. Oh, man. And I want to hear what's your thing for in this time of life right now. Just who do I write the checkout to for those nice words, man?
SPEAKER_08:Because that was uh that was real nice. And you know, I I wouldn't be here um if it wasn't uh for a lot of reasons. Number one, God. I mean, obviously, God pulled me from the stretches of alcoholism and drug addiction 14 years ago and brought me to this place where I could be useful and whole again. And uh he took what I thought was the worst possible thing ever and he spun it into gold, right? And he be he he gave it back to the world as a gift. My story of getting sober, my story of redemption, my story of transformation through Christ to this place where I'm at right now, being married, having kids, having businesses, doing YouTube channels, like none of that was in my books 15 years ago. I couldn't get up without having a drink. I couldn't do anything or function without being some sort of chemically induced, you know? And to be free of all that, to have so many blessings, to have such a circle of friends, right? I mean, I am surrounded by strong business leaders, strong Christian brothers. Um, and about three years ago, two and a half years ago, I was I was doing my own thing. I was studying, I was trying to get into the Bible, and uh I watched a sermon, and uh Pastor uh Mike Todd, shout out to Mike Todd, uh said, You need an accountability brother, you need a group of guys. And I'm like, I don't have any Christian guys. Like, I know a lot of guys from the 12-step program, I know a lot of guys uh that are good people, but I don't I don't have an accountability circle. And I saw a guy post on Facebook who we know, shout out to Dearborn, and it was at a Bible study, and I was like, Oh, there it is. I called him, I said, Hey, can I join? You know, I didn't know what it was. He was like, Yeah, just meet us there, man. And Chef Herb was over there, and then Dearborn, and oh man, I've been going ever since, you know, and and my relationship has only grown uh stronger and deeper, and you know, uh, what am I grateful for? And uh I'm grateful for like just to be alive today. I'm grateful for my family, I'm grateful for my circle of friends, I'm grateful uh for the opportunities I have today. And you know what? I I share this a lot. I'm grateful for the struggles. Twice today, I I was in a bad place, stuff was going wrong. And I thank God after both of those things happened, and like right after some good stuff happened, you know what I mean? And then I was here, I was on doing tables, and I was like scrolling through my mind, and I was like, man, I'm so blessed. Coming in and see, you know, looking at this place, I'm like, man, we're all so blessed, man. Like, it's really not there's no such thing as a big deal. So am I grateful enough? I think not. Neither, right? I try to be as grateful as I can, but I don't think I could ever be grateful enough for the life I have today. Sorry, from where I came from. Uh Lynn, thank you for having me on. Man, we're so good. And thank you for Thanksgiving. Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:I love you. I love me too, man. Grateful for you. This is a great event. We've got to do another one. Of course. Blake, God bless everybody. Follow Blake. Goaded. All right, our next guest is our co-host of this event, the Thanksgiving Friendsgiving was sponsored by Goaded Patriot Gear, official Patriot Gear, Built to Eat, which we're gonna have Blake Becker next, and Conservative Ant. This is a blessing because the little guys, the goaded podcast, don't have mega influencers freaking frequently. And conservative ant, first of all, I want to say, and I've told you this not enough, but I've told you this before, how grateful I am for you for the stance that you take, the protection you put on our country, our veterans, the service members, and just truth. Like this guy, if you don't know conservative ant, go follow conservative ant, most of you do. But there are so many people that are not able to speak the truth and not brave enough to speak the truth, and you've been doing it for a long time, and I'm one of them. I get nervous to speak the truth. Uh still to this day, not as much, but um, you get a target on your back quickly. We've seen it, we've seen people get audited, see people get thrown in jail for telling the truth. Yeah. Luckily, we're in a country that you're allowed to speak your mind. Um, but you are amazing and and the best at it. I'm grateful for you. Thank you. Partnering with your brands and and you and Just a blessing to our brand. Uh so I'm glad you're here on the goaded podcast for this Thanksgiving episode. And I've been asking everyone what you're thankful for and tell us about anything else.
SPEAKER_06:Well, of course, we're all thankful for our family and friends, but I'm extremely extremely thankful for our community in Southwest Florida. It is it is so important to be part of a community, and I think we do a really good job of helping each other out and sticking in in every way, shape, or form, right? Yeah. Whether it be partnering up and collabing on business, elevating each other's businesses, or just getting together and doing charity events, fundraising. And we kill it so true all the time. So I'm we are blessed to live in such an amazing state. Yep. And Southwest Florida is like a gem. It's paradise.
SPEAKER_11:It is. And Freedom Town, I love Wearborn, we should be. Freedomtown, USA. Our state. And I'm serious, like man, the the Charlie Kirks. I put you up there with the I went to school at Liberty where Jerry Falwell spoke out, and he had to put everything in his wife's name because he was getting sued all the time. And I'm like, man, what a these you champions, I'll say you guys, you champions that keep the truth the truth and keep freedom the forefront. And that's so grateful. I got two kids, and I I used to fear when I had kids, like what state Florida's gonna be when we had Gillam and Santos. It was a close race. I'm like, I thank God every day that that we got the better end of that teal.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I mean, and I think that ever since that, I mean, you you look at COVID really, you know, put us on the map, yeah, and continuing to put us on the map. Look at what's going on in New York right now. But we're bringing people here that it it's not just a red or blue thing, it's it's a freedom thing. Pro-American, pro-patriot, pro-America, pro-God, God family and country. And we see it here in South Florida, and we we keep it that way. Yeah, we have like our own little piece of paradise always. So I'm just glad that I get to be a part of keeping that together. You know, and the meaning of trying your rip your brand um was a no-brainer for us to collab with because we have the same moral yeah, yeah, moral compass.
SPEAKER_11:Exactly. I'm so grateful for that because we get just like you, a lot of a lot of hate for it, and it's worth it. I mean, that's the best thing you can be happy for, right? Yeah, so grateful for you. It's a great event. This night is uh a night I'll never forget, and you were a big part of grateful for you. Thanks for watching. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. All right, our next team member, Mrs. Slingy Stress, the goat, Ariel. Uh, if you haven't got a chance to know Ariel, you're missing out. She's the better half of Slingy Stress and uh the goat of the household, the MVP. We love her, and we're grateful for her. And I've said it not enough, but we all love you, my kids love you, my wife, your family to us, my mom loves you, I think, more than anyone in your life loves you. Um, and uh I'm just grateful for you. I told Alec, and I say it not enough to Alec either, but you know what Alec's brought to the company and what you brought to the company is irreplaceable and uh not not easy to put into words. So I'm grateful for you.
SPEAKER_07:Thank you.
SPEAKER_11:And uh I know Chris is too we said, and our staff is a blessing. Ariel uh handles our GOAT club. She's a moderator for us on whatnot since we started. We'd probably still be at 10,000 followers if we didn't have Mrs. Sling Eastress. So that growth that we've had, a lot of credit to this this girl sitting with me right here. Um so I've been asking everyone what they're thankful for in this time of time of season in their life and for Thanksgiving week for this episode.
SPEAKER_07:Oh, I can't even put into words what I'm thankful for. If you would have told me this is where I'd be even two years ago, I'm crazy, huh? I'd laugh. So I'm thankful for goaded, for God, for golf, for my family, my friends. I'm thankful for Ava. We're on the roll here, so we just know we roll with the punches. I'm thankful for my life, for my family, my friends, and goaded golf. My son.
SPEAKER_11:There's a son. What are you thankful for this this Thanksgiving?
SPEAKER_07:Hi. What are you thankful for? Hi. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_11:Ashton's the future too. He's he's uh bright young boy, he's growing like crazy. He watches his dad and his mom do the hard work that they put in. He's a Florida boy now. Oh yeah. He'd be shoveling snow right now.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. We don't stick out like sore thumbs too much anymore now. No. Now we kind of blend in. But are you thankful for Florida? I play football.
SPEAKER_11:And he's a football player, stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. In 90 degrees, too.
SPEAKER_11:90 degrees.
SPEAKER_00:90 degrees. Yeah. Even at night, it's hot. It's really hot at night.
SPEAKER_11:You like it?
SPEAKER_00:Pennsylvania, if you can't tell.
SPEAKER_11:So yes, they relocated from I always say foothills, and now I forgot. But not Butler. Oil City, Oil City, Pennsylvania. So if you're listening, you know, totally different weather, but a big jump. And the bravery I said on Alex Podcast. If you haven't heard Alex, Alex Podcast, again, go listen to both of them. They're both amazing. If you love golf, and he was just on this episode as well. He's the man. The Slingy Stres family is goaded. They're an awesome family. We wouldn't be even close to where we are without without them. So love you guys, your family. We love you guys.
SPEAKER_07:I would do it any day, all over again. We're thankful for I think I've been running with KJ for like two hours.
SPEAKER_11:You're gonna sleep good tonight.
SPEAKER_07:Oh yeah. Go ahead, catch one. Go ahead, go get a drink. Grown up.
SPEAKER_11:Well, happy Thanksgiving. Many more Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_07:Many more to come. I'm so thankful for you and for Goadet. So yeah.
SPEAKER_11:I love it. Alright, next guest, my brother, Kyle Van Duzer. He's been on the podcast as well. Make sure you'll listen to that episode. Uh, author. At the time he wasn't working at Goadet, I don't think, full time. No, anything. Yeah, just a little bit. And now he's doing our designs. He's a hitman for me. He's a presenter. He's an MC. He's uh my closest brother uh in age and one of my best friends in my life. He knows the Bible in and out. He's a great father. He's a farmer, he's got a sick house and property. Um, and I love him. I'm grateful for him, and I'm grateful that he helps uh keep me out of the hospital with stress because he's helping do a lot of things he didn't sign up for. And uh grateful for his family and his kids and their ear tonight. Yeah. And uh I wanted to have him on next. He's a manager in our company and a pivotal role uh in leadership. And uh I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna ask everybody what they're thankful for in this time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, uh, I'm I'm very thankful, one for just my faith, God, and it gets me out of bed every single morning. And so just that that hope that um that at the end of the day everything's gonna be okay because even when things go wrong, he's got he's got the final final say in everything. Um I'm also thankful for my family, uh my wife, my kids. I've got four wonderful kids, um, three girls and a boy, and uh they're just amazing. I'm just absolutely blessed. Um, and then, you know, obviously my entire family, my brothers, my mom, dad, my in-laws, uh, who are absolutely amazing. I couldn't, you know, there's so many people who complain about in-laws all the time. And I swear it's just I'm so blessed uh with with immediate family and in-laws that are just amazing. Um, I'm thankful that I get to work every day. I know a lot of people don't get to wake up and go to work every day. Getting to work here uh most of the time, I wouldn't even say part-time, it's like most of the time. And and I and I have my own business too, where I have clients that I get to just deal with all the time in in politics and and in nonprofit space. And it's just it's a blessing to help people um achieve their goals and their missions as well. Um and so I'm very blessed. Every time I feel like uh, you know, I I don't have something to do, God gives me something to do that's worthwhile. And um and then when I don't have something to do, Kevin gives me something to do, and it's uh it's it's a lot of work, but it's it I couldn't even call it work. Like we have so much fun. Like, yeah, uh, we get to do fun stuff like this, and we get to uh be a part of an amazing industry that uh is very welcoming and it's a one big family, so that's really cool too. So I'm thankful for a lot. I mean, it's hard to put um just a few things, but those are the top of the list, definitely. You know, faith, God, family, um, and then just the ability to provide and uh and do that for my family. So it's been great. Well, you do all those things well.
SPEAKER_11:Grateful for you, and I love you.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I love you too. Thank you so much. Here, let's see where we're at. Hey Ro.
SPEAKER_11:Lily, come here, see if his daughter.
SPEAKER_03:Ro, come on, now she's being shy. No? Now she's being shy. Emmy, Ava, come here.
SPEAKER_11:Emmy, come here. Say what you're gonna do for. No? Okay, you gonna come see with me? Come here, Ro. Come see with me. You gonna dance or no?
SPEAKER_09:Okay.
SPEAKER_11:You got baby, you have any clothes? Good. You're tired of you. Okay, ready to dance? Go play dance.
SPEAKER_03:That wasn't scripted. No, it wasn't. What'd she say? I missed it. Hey Ro, what are you grateful for? I'll tell them. You don't know? Okay. They're so tired. They've been running around all day, they're having a blast. This is too much fun. That's what it is. Like, sure. That's why we can't even call it work because even our kids just have so much fun here. They're gonna sleep great tonight.
SPEAKER_11:So yeah, this morning, eight hours or ten hours ago, they were scootering out here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, scootering around the heat. And uh, no, it's been really good. So, yeah, appreciate you. Love you. Love you.
SPEAKER_11:Yes, sir. Happy Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_10:You too.
SPEAKER_11:All right, next guest. Uh, he's been on the show before twice. So make sure you go watch the other episodes. Uh, like, comment, subscribe. You're gonna love his episode if you love golf. You're gonna love your episode, his episode if you love uh humor, because he's hilarious and uh a great person. So I have to say what I'm thankful for first because it's contractual. I have to say it. The long list. Um we'll call uh break out uh about an hour segment for this one. I had to condense, I'm gonna condense it to 40 things. No. Um if you heard the episode, you know this guy's like a brother to me. Uh sorry to my brothers. They don't even listen to this podcast, but there are most days he's closer than a brother to me. Um, he's family to the Van Doozers, and I'm so grateful for him. He is the reason you guys get good products uh on the hard goods, especially. And now even into the apparel, because he helps design apparel and all the things we do. He's fully intertwined. Um, but Alec, Slingystress, aka Slingy Stress, uh it's a huge blessing to the brand, huge blessing to the goaded family, and uh blessing to me, most importantly. I love you. I'm grateful for you. I hope you know we talk about it a lot. I know the business is growing a ton. We have a simulator out here, we have two simulators down the street. It's awesome. It's got a hundred people coming here tonight to give uh to have a meal together, and it's just an awesome experience tonight. Um, and I'm getting everyone on staff to come up and say what they're thankful for. So I'm gonna leave that to you. What are you thankful for this year?
SPEAKER_09:Probably the most thankful thing I am for is the sport of golf. The sport of golf has given me more than more than I need. Um obviously you probably get a lot of thankful for goaded. I'm thankful for goaded and everybody here. But without golf, I wouldn't have been able to meet all you guys. I wouldn't be where I'm at now. Um golf is golf is what my life revolves around, you know, other than Ariel, Ashton, yeah, uh, family and stuff like that. But golf has given us all this platform, um, all our products that you know I'm thankful for playing with every day. Yeah. I love testing and everything about golf. Um hitting, playing, and dissecting everything about the game of golf is what I do.
SPEAKER_11:This is a dream. When we met Slingy, uh we needed somebody that knew clubs and was good at what we're not good at, which we've already talked about. And he loved to tinker and loves to play with clubs and loves to build, and he is the best at it in the entire world. I gotta follow up and then that's it. Uh so what in golf? We don't talk about it often, but what do you I mean I know you love a lot about golf, but what would you say some things you love about golf?
SPEAKER_09:A lot of people so you know this the standard answer to this question is playing golf, which I do love playing golf. Yeah. But um, whenever I first started, I fell in love with ripping the golf clubs apart, knowing the numbers, knowing why this does that, why that does this, and kind of the nerdy part to it, you could say. The nerdy part is not usually what people get into, but it's to me it's the most important part. It's why we play the game, it's how we play it better, and that's where I find my interest. Look, yeah.
SPEAKER_11:Well, pick up a golf club if you haven't. I hope you're listening to this and you're not a golfer. That means we've reached you. Um, but I'm grateful for you. Love you, and you're lovingly, and uh pump for more years to come. Yep, love it. Alright, our last guest. So blessed to have my dad, the dad that I have. I say that frequently. Uh the one of the first episodes we had, it was Father's Day episode. Go listen to that episode. It's awesome. It wasn't on video because I hadn't met these goats of podcasts um filming and production, but it was on audio and it was a great episode. My son was actually on it too. Um, and tonight I'm just I'm so grateful for the event. I'm grateful for this episode. It's gonna be one that we remember as a staff, that I remember forever as a family, um, and my family. The people here looking around, I have to say, before I intro and ask my dad, it's just a blessing that God has blessed us with this much. And uh, in spite of myself, the grace that God gives us um has been awesome. And I say that uh pretty ironically, because my whole life my dad taught me that and told me that. But of course, as a kid, you don't listen uh to everything your parents say. Now my dad's uh something that I always uh someone that I always lean on, and I say frequently I'm very blessed to have. He leads our goated mentality Bible study weekly. Uh, so you've heard him a lot, you've seen him on shows, hopefully. Uh if you haven't, every Sunday he does an episode and we're going through goats of the Bible right now. So we talk about goats, celebrate goats, but he's been bringing us through a study on goats of the Bible, and it's been amazing, life-changing to a lot of us. So make sure you check those out. But, Dad, I love you and I'm grateful for you. Uh love you too. So proud of it. My dad really built the lights behind me, actually. He built and has put up because I have no uh uh knowledge of tools or power tools, I'm not allowed to use them. Um I love you, grateful for you, and I'm glad you're finishing the episode for us for Thanksgiving. Um, we've been a minister for a long time, been in ministry 50 years. 50 years, 50 years, been a pastor, minister, yeah, uh, giving to others. There honestly uh isn't a man I know that's been more uh striving to be like Jesus, which is amazing. I hope uh I mean just hearing that and truly I mean it is like a challenge to me to go, man. I hope people say that about me. Yeah. If I hope I can fool them, because I'd have to fool them. You haven't fool anybody. Um but just a solid, solid man, doesn't use profanity, doesn't do things that uh the crowd does, walks the narrow path, and uh so blessed that God uh gave me you as a dad.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, well I'm so so thankful for you. My my prayer was always that that my boys would have uh love for God first, even more than me, and find God and find the peace of God and peace with God. And uh it's it's a huge blessing as a dad to watch you and Kyle and Cody uh just just loving the Lord and growing in the word. You know, you're doing this faith-based, go to it. Uh it's a ministry, even though it's a business, it's a ministry where we can reach over 60,000 people. Um, more people than I ever reached. Maybe I've reached that much in a lifetime, but not in uh, you know, a couple years that you've been doing it. And I'm just so grateful uh that you know God always bl has always blessed. Ministry is not as easy as everybody's everybody thinks it is. You know, I always have to, you know, think about funds, think about where your next check's coming from. And you don't you don't have to worry about any of that. God takes care of all those different things. You got to worry more about what's happening in people's lives around you, what you can do, how you can be the Lord. I, you know, I say this all the time. People are always talking about Christians, and and Christian is only mentioned one time in the Bible, and that's when they saw the disciples acting just like Jesus. So I hesitate sometimes when I say I'm a Christian because I am so far away from him, but I try to be as much like Jesus as I can. And I'm so thankful for all the opportunities given me. And you know, and my ministry's been 50 years, but it's all been, you know, I do in a lot of coaches' ministry now and mentoring now, but my other ministry has always always been with the youth. So uh God has opened the doors for all the the schools here in Lee County, and I've been able to get in there and talk to a lot of coaches, talk to a lot of players, get student leaders to start taking uh, you know, the leadership role at their schools and representing Christ. But uh your your your mom and I are just so blessed to watch what you guys are doing. It's amazing that all three of them are here working with you now and and and putting into the company and and getting that faith based, you know. You know, there's been a lot of challenges, and I've seen that, and you've seen me go through a lot of challenges over the years. And but we don't fight against flesh and blood, okay? We fight against principalities, and we're so thankful that God's on our size. And in the end, Satan loses. Yeah, you know, wins. So we're gonna we're always gonna be winners no matter what. We had a softball game tonight, we lost. But we're not losers. We lost before we were playing a church league. But I am so thankful uh for all the things uh that God has given me over the years. Uh, you know, when we were younger, I don't even remember this, but when you were before you got into high school, I used to take them to school, used to take them to middle school, and we get in my car and I thanked the Lord when the car started, and I thanked the Lord for our house before we went out of the driveway. And I was trying to teach them that we can't take these things that God's given us for granted. And he's just blessed us so much, and my boys have seen that, and now the you're God's blessing you. And so just so just so thankful for his love for us, for our love that we have for each other, how close our family is. I got I'm I mentor a lot of families that go through a lot of struggles, and we've been through certain struggles and things like that, but those are just growing pains. Yeah. Okay. And I I I just thank the Lord for my wife and and you boys and my new daughter-in-laws and all my grandkids. What a blessing. If I would have known they were so great, well, I think we would have had them first, you know, instead of having no. I'm proud of you, son, and I love you. And I'm I anything I can do to help with go to I love doing GoTa mentality, talking about the goats of the Bible. And the key thing when we talk about the goats of the Bible is we just talk about them, they're goats, because God called them for special missions, but we can learn from every one of them.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And, you know, the different struggles that they do and the people that let influence them and the stupid mistakes that they make, and yet God still uses them and how they fall back and they question. And God doesn't mind us questioning them, you know, he just doesn't want us to doubt that he's working in our lives. He's definitely been working in your life the last couple years with this ministry and standing firm and the faith with it. So thank you. Very thankful. Me too. And this evening, what a what a great Friendsgiving. Yeah, crazy. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_11:It's crazy to see where it's come. You've been here since we opened or since I signed for this place. So it's really amazing to look around and see this. So I'm grateful for it. If you're listening, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Uh, anyone that um is watching, please let us know if there's anything we can do for you. We have an email, god is good at goaded.gov. God is good at goaded.gov. Yes.gov. Email that email address if you can do anything for you. We have people monitoring that 24-7. Um, we would love to be there for you. During this time of season, it can get dark and depressing, and people can get um focused on things they don't have and the family they don't have or people that aren't at the table. Uh, just know that God loves you and know that we love you, um, and know that we're here for you. Amen. If you need anything. And if you haven't talked to family and you got family, I have family that I don't talk to anymore. I would encourage you to evaluate why you don't do that and reach out to them. Life is short. Um, make good choices, be the best you can be, and stay goaded. Happy Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_05:Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. God bless you.
.png)