Live To Be Significant

If you need to choose between happy and sad, it is a reminder that life is but a series of choice. Even in your darkest time, you still have some control. I’ve had these moments where I’m like, I really want to do that. And it’s like, I wouldn’t even know where to start. And realizing that eulogies are not typically about people’s success.

I loved helping people and helping people achieve their goals, especially like. The toughest, toughest students. As a human, I struggle with stuff every day. But, I will tell you that that changed my life. I know why I’m here. I know who put me here. I know why I was put here. If you want to have a real relationship, it’s gotta be a give and a take.

Hands have to be open. It’s such an incredible opportunity. And yeah, we’re gonna go through pain. Yeah, we’re gonna go through suffering. And yeah, we’re gonna hurt physically. We’re gonna hurt mentally. We’re gonna be sad some days.

There’s one thing that all champions have in common. They get shit done. So welcome to the Get Shit Done Experience. Well, well, well, we’re back at it again. You are in studio with us. This is the Get Shit Done Experience, also known as the GSDX podcast. You can find us on any platform. So thank you for taking in this podcast on whatever platform you, in fact, are on today.

Uh, I have to make a mention today. I’m gonna look right in this camera. There’s a young man. He’s 11 years old. His name is Rocco. And Rocco took a picture of his dog one day, and, uh, his dog was like jumping through the air, I think, and he called it Fly Dog. And then his parents, Ron Moore and Samantha, decided, you know, we should make a logo out of that.

So they made a really cool logo, and then they were like, you know what, maybe we should make some clothes for kids, and some, uh, some different apparel, and we’ll buy like a screen print thing, and Next thing you know, they’ve got something called Fly Dog by RockWear. And I was fortunate enough to get a nice package in the mail the other day.

And I promised that I would wear that sweatshirt on camera today. So I’m just going to show you this here real quick. We got a little, we got a little RockWear going, right? You got the logo on there and, uh. You missed your calling. You should be a model. I do. Oh, yeah. Um, that probably isn’t gonna work out well.

We’ve got the fly dog here, if you can see that. And I’m gonna, I’m gonna show you the back of this thing. Check this thing out. Look at that bit. That’s cool. I believe that’s a picture of the dog. So we are fully geared up, Rocco. I promised that I would make mentions, so now you can take this clip, I’ll make a clip, you can show it to all your friends at school, let them know that you’re, you’re, uh, you’ve made it, you’ve made it onto the GSTX podcast.

I’m not so sure that that’s really making it, but you are in fact on the podcast. So without further ado, we’re going to get into it today. We’re here with Mr. Brian Floriani, right? And he is, uh, going to tell us an unbelievable story of how. He has, uh, kind of built up this life of purpose. He’s, uh, the executive director or owner?

We just call it. What are we gonna call it? Founder? I own nothing. It owns me. It owns Well, a thing called, uh, Bernie’s Book Bank owns Brian. Let’s call it that. But he is working on making sure that every child in the world has the ability to read, has books. They’re working on literacy. Uh, he started off in a simple way and now is taking a big time.

We’re blessed to have you on the show today. Hear the whole story. Thanks for having me, John. I appreciate it. So Brian, I always like to start off, like give us an idea of kind of what the upbringing was like. My upbringing? Yeah. Um, I was very blessed. Um, I had a great loving father that worked hard. Um, and a mother that expected a lot and no doubt held us accountable.

And I’m grateful for that. Um. You know, I, anything that I’ve ever done well, I, I would give them the credit and, uh, anything I’ve ever struggled with, I, I look in the mirror and I try to own myself. Um, but, um, I would say that, you know, I had a brother, Bernie, also Bernie, he was little Bernie. He was five years older.

And then, um, our sister Lindsey is eight years younger and, um, you know, they, they held the standard no matter what. And they’re still holding it today. Yeah. So you’re the youngest. No, I’m the middle. Middle. Yeah, which, you know, I guess. Interesting that you would say they hold the standard when you’re in the middle, typically, you know.

Well, that she had to hold, you know, I say she because my, it was my mom that really. You know, my dad was definitely there and they were a team, but my mom towed the line. Yeah, and She’s still towing the line today. Yeah, kind of a dominant force. Yeah, she well, she was a force. She’s a force Yeah, she you know, look they started with nothing pretty much and Back in whatever, I was born in 74, my brother was born in 68 back, back then, you know, coming from, especially my dad coming from a home without running water to go to college, you know, they had something to prove and, um, they didn’t have much time for feelings.

Um, you know, uh, I was born in 75, so I, I get it. Yeah. And, and, you know, I think, uh, you know, I think today that pendulum is swung probably way too far. Too far, yeah. We tend to do that in America. When we’re trying to fix something, we go too far. Right. But I, I know, I, I knew and I know I was loved. And very strong, you know, my dad was six four, you know, he, he was, he was pretty chill, but you knew not to get out of line and, and my mom, you know, it was probably five, three and, you know, she didn’t play around.

Um. Carried that wood, wooden spoon. Yeah. All we had. Well, yeah, we had a wooden, so I had many wooden spoon broken over my, my mom. Um. Just the threat was enough. Yeah. But I, I, I had a really good upbringing. And, um, I’m just really grateful for my parents that, um, they had high expectations and they were consistent and I didn’t always understand it, but I think they produced three pretty good kids.

Um, and, uh, we’re all different. Of course, part of that’s age wise. And then, you know, my brother was the, he was the overachiever, the firstborn for sure. And he, he also set the hand standard pretty high. And, you know, my brother, Bernie Jr., he, just to give you an idea, he, he He went to University of Virginia on a partial golf scholarship and ended up on a full ride for basketball and she’s, he was five, 10 so he’s a grinder, man, grinder, um, you know, little chip on my shoulder on a shoulder, um, you know, when he was probably 10 years old, which made me probably four and a half, he looked down on me and he said, now, Brian, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the field, the court, whatever it is, as soon as you get on that field or court, you find something to dislike about the person you’re playing against.

Now, remember, I’m four and a half and I’m like, okay, but he was super, he was super competitive. Um, so, um, I, I can’t say it enough how grateful I am for the parents I have and the family I come from. Um, it matters. Um, even when you don’t, you don’t realize it, you know, being a Florianni meant something and I, and I knew that from, from the time I can remember.

Even if it was subconscious that that drove me to want to be somebody. Yeah, there’s always savings But it’s about way more than savings alone total technology solutions group redefines managed print services excellence is the minimum standard Dtsg is a true managed print service provider deeply understanding your technology and business goals.

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We set the bar high. Your people deserve it. Peace of mind. Powerful innovation. TTSG. com gotta love that brand pride. Yeah. That family brand pride is a good thing. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. Yeah. So your brother is a golfer. When I first reached out to you and spoke to you, you said that you were recovering golf pro, right?

Uh, so take us into that. Like, did you start playing early? Did you start playing in high school? Where did you get your start as a, as a golfer? Well, I was lucky to be able to play at all. Um, you know, my dad not coming from a country club background for sure. Um, but he, he loved to drink beer, so that was a great way for him to drink beer.

Do they do that on a golf course? Every once in a while. Yeah, I’ve heard he was an old Milwaukee guy. So old Milwaukee, you know, um, but, uh, and then my brother being an athlete, he was and, and, and looking up to him. You know, I wanted to do everything that little Bernie did. And, um, so I, he was, he played golf.

So I play golf and I’m, I’m a pretty good visual learner and I would watch what he did and I would, you know, everything basically he did. He, he unfortunately passed away four years ago. Um, he had, uh, an eight year battle with ALS. And, um, but even through that, and I’m going to share a quick story with you because this is very important for people to hear.

You know, here’s a guy who did everything right and great family. Um, he was a state farm agent. He provided, uh, a great husband. Um, good, good parent to two kids, Max and Kayla. And You know, one day he can’t pinch his fingers to pull up his zipper. So he goes to the, you know, he had told me about this and he goes to the, to the doctor and they don’t know what’s going on and, and like probably four or five months later, we’re out in his driveway and we’re playing horse with his son and I shot a free throw and he goes, I don’t think I can get it there.

And I’m like, he says, I told you I was having some troubles. So he started getting weaker and weaker. And then four years in. To that, he was pretty much completely paralyzed. Wow. And, um, we all tried to team up and, you know, it’s a devastating thing. Um, and I was, um, lucky enough to be his caregiver for some of it.

Which, um, you know, I would recommend to anybody if you want some perspective in life. You know, the way I had to take care of my older brother, I never expected to do. And the roles had completely shifted. He was by the end he was on a ventilator and he was engaged with hospice and when you when you’re there You know, you can at that point decide to do a compassionate removal from your ventilator.

So in July July 19 2020 he decides that he’s gonna die on July 30th, which is the most bizarre thing you can kind of live through. It’s like having a You know a family member on death row. Mm hmm, and you know, he had made a list of 60 people Somewhere around there that he wanted to say goodbye to, so.

He’d be in his chair and we’d put the phone down on his chest and you can imagine what these calls sounded like and he would get done and then he’d say next and he’d do it again. And, um, you know, there were tough times, but overall the grace that he showed through that was amazing. And then the day came, July 30th, and I went up to his house and I gave him his last shower and shave and dressed him and all that took about three hours.

And, um, you know, you got to take him out of his own house for the last time because we’re going to go down to Glenview to Journey Care where we’re going to do this. So we, we caravan down there and got him in the room and he’s all hooked up to whatever they hook you up to. And, you know, we’d all had our very deep conversations already.

But he kind of looked at the doctor like, okay, are we, you know, are we ready? And doctor said, yeah. And it was myself and my sister and his kids and my mother and my uncle and his wife, we all went over and gave him, you know, kiss. And I, I, all I said was, you know, you’re my boy. That was enough. And he said, you’re my boy.

And he looks at all of us and he says, if you need to choose between happy and sad. Choose happy, and he looked at the doc, he looked at the nurse who he had known before from being there and said, thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Looked at the doctor, said, thank you for what you do. And then he said, I’m ready because he could still kind of talk.

And, uh, and that was that. But the point is, you know, here’s a guy who did everything right, suffered for eight years. Um, I mean, suffered and to have the wherewithal seconds, seconds before eternity. Which is a really long time, um, to have the wherewithal to say that, um, you know, it’s, it is a reminder that life is but a series of choices and even in your darkest time, you still have some control and though it can be hard as all get out that we still have a choice in everything we do and, um, you know, I’ll never forget that and I’ll share that with as many people as I possibly can because, you know, we all have our stuff.

You know, and some days are harder than others. Um, and we just got to fight for that. We got to fight for happiness. Um, when you see. You still have your control some, even some, even at that, and I don’t look, I’m from a mental health perspective. I have to say, well, I, I think some people will disagree with this, but, you know, I’m, I’ve been blessed.

Um, but I, you know, I think it’s a combination of nature and nurture. And there’s some things, you know, and, um, some of our chemistry or whatever, biology, whatever it may be, you. But, um, you know, I mentioned my, my mom and, you know, there’s one thing she made me that was tough and, you know, if you’ve got a problem, start with a mirror.

Yeah, I know that one. What do you think he was, what do you think he was trying to drive home? I know, and I’m not trying to sound like I didn’t listen. I heard you loud and clear, but I wonder if you’ve reflected on what, was that a gift he was trying to leave you? Like, What was he saying? And then I’m really curious your perspective, what you mean, like in your fine, even in your final moment, you still have that control.

Like, what does that mean to you? Um, well, first, I think where his mind was that was,

uh, you know, he’s laying there looking at all of us and we’re in a bad way. Yeah. You know? So I think the initial thing was, um, comfort, you know, he was relieving your pressure. This is a sad relief. Yeah. Don’t, don’t feel bad. Um, I’m at peace with this. Like I’m going home. Kind of a thing. Yeah. But I think the bigger, whether it was intentional or not, we’ll never know.

But I think the bigger, Um, message for me was that your life is a series of choices and you know, look, I’ve already felt sorry for myself three times today. Um, and I got it really good and I do work every day for people that have a lot less. And so I have pretty healthy perspective, but I still have felt sorry for myself three times today.

Cause you’re human. It’s yeah, it started at five, five o’clock. When, you know, that’s when I get up, it’s in like, that’s a burden. I love the early morning, but I told my, you know, my wife had, had shoveled the driveway last night once, which I was super pumped about when I got home. Does she run any training classes on the app?

And, um, and then we woke up and they’re like, Oh, it’s just a dusting. And I was like, I’m not gonna shovel again. Is that cool? You of course, you know, she, no, yeah, it’s fine. Um, but then when I walked out, I was like, I really should do this. And that’s the first time I felt sorry for myself. Okay. Fair enough.

So, anyway, the point is, is that I think the better our perspective gets, the more it helps. Um, you know, when you understand how blessed you are, especially relative to other people, it helps you be a better father, mother, husband, follower, leader, citizen, neighbor, what have you. So, you know, when you look at Bernie’s Book Bank and the fact that we host tens of thousands of young people, I mean, people under the age of 14 every year to serve.

You know, I think that’s our secondary mission that isn’t really stated, and that is that we provide a place for young people to make service a habit from a very young age and through that build lifelong perspective, which I think is really, really important, especially in 2025 when it seems to be that it’s all about me, look at me, what about mine?

What about mine right now? Um, you know, where I think that we actually need to live a joyful life. Um, that needs to be flipped and that’s why I try to impart on, on my kids, um, you know, the sooner when you wake up in the morning, you start thinking about other people’s buckets, the richer your life is going to be and yeah, you’re going to be vulnerable and some people are going to take advantage of you from time to time, but the net net is that you’ll never have a bucket big enough for what comes back to you if you put other people first.

And listen, I, it’s inherent. We’re selfish. You know, I’m selfish too. It’s something I work on every day. Bernie was your hero of sorts? My, my brother? They both, they both were. Um, really for different reasons. I mean, I really respect my father for, you know, like I said, his, his mom, I haven’t said this yet, but his mom came on a boat from Poland.

His dad came on a boat from Italy. And, uh, They settled outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which meant that my grandfather was a coal miner for 51 years. And that was back when you weren’t getting paid to show up, you were getting paid for what you brought out. Which is a totally, um, foreign concept today.

Performance driven. Like productivity. Mm hmm. Um, but, and then my dad didn’t have running water until he went to college. And to go on and get his doctorate and, um, build a life with my mom and they started young and I think Um, you know, there’s people that doubted that my dad could provide. And, uh, so, you know, he’s my hero for that reason.

And then, you know, my brother, yeah, I mean, he just set the standard, you know, and it’s a hard act to follow. You know, there’s a downside to that, but if he can embrace it and step up, um, there’s no way I’d be who I am today without both of them. My dad. Work ethic, my, my, my brother work ethic and the heart, the heart of my brother is Uh, what is and was and will always be stronger than most people I’ll ever know.

I guess one of your choices, speaking of choices, is how you wear it. Yep. And you’ve decided to wear it for the good. Yeah. Obviously, I can feel your, your pain and it’s, it’s sincere and there’s a humility to it and I greatly appreciate that. We also know the outcome of what you’re doing. And that’s inspired by the Bernies, if you will, so well, and it’s, it’s ironic because this started when I was five years old when our cat wicker died and I’m not really a cat guy now, but.

We love wicker and wicker died and I’m five and I’m to tell you how long ago that was my dad was Rewallpapering that oh, yeah, okay And I could remember how exactly how the room looked and you know The couch was in the middle and kind of cockeyed a little bit and he sat down and he read us a book the 10th Good thing about Barney not the purple dinosaur, but it’s a Judas Forrest Uh, children’s book, that basically the tenth good thing about Barney was that when he goes into the ground, flowers will blossom because of him.

Mmm. And, I didn’t know that at the time, but, it was setting the stage for, look, There’s pain and suffering constantly, and, um, you know, when you lose something or someone that’s really close to you, back to choices, you have a choice. There’s a hole in your heart, it’s never going away. You can try to fill it with a bunch of junk, that’s not gonna end well.

You can Pretend it’s not there and that’s not healthy or you can plant a seed in that hole and you can nurture it and you can make something really good come out of it and that is what Bernie’s book bank is, you know, it was, it’s the flower. It was highly personal. It still is personal. I take your mission very personal, but it was very personal in the beginning because it was all about, you know, doing something with the sadness or doing something with the pain.

Um, But today it’s so much greater than that. So I want to get into that, but I, I still very curious how you got from the, the recovering golfer to if you could fill in that gap a little bit, like you came up, you saw your, you saw your brother. You want to follow in those footsteps. He’s six, seven years older than you, right?

Five and a half. Five and a half, right? So, you’re seeing that. So, I, being the youngest of six kids, having two older brothers, three older sisters, I know that feeling. It’s always a chase. Yeah. Like, hey, look at me. I could do it too, kind of a thing. Um, so, when do you realize that you’re really good? I don’t think I still have realized that.

I knew you were going to say that. Well, you had to be good enough to get your card. Yeah, I mean, look, I should Well, I didn’t get my card. I was a Teaching pro. Teaching professional. Very different. There’s golf professionals and professional golfers. You know, I was pretty, I probably peaked when I was 15 or 16 years old.

Um, you know, unfortunately by that time having an older brother like I did and being 15 or 16 years old, not being, not being mature enough to kind of put it all in perspective. You know, I think I was searching for ways to be different. Yeah. And, um, you know, if I could have one mulligan in life, it would be my, Years between like sophomore year of high school to, uh, through college.

I mean, on one hand, I wish I had another shot at that, but on the other hand, if I didn’t go about it that way, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Um, cause I typically and probably still do have to do things the hard way. I have to learn the hard way. And so am I looking in a mirror right now? Yeah. What is happening?

Yeah. So, you know, I go to East Carolina to play golf. I never stepped on a tee box, um, came back to Delaware where I grew up a year and a half later, um, ended up playing at Delaware, but it was probably the 12th priority in my priority list and I did decent, but I wasn’t giving it my all. And then, and then by that point I kind of had a love hate relationship with the, with the sport.

And then I went and worked for my brother for three years and learned a lot there, but uh, that wasn’t my calling for sure. And then I was very blessed to have an opportunity to go work. For the, for the Golf Digest schools. And, um, I mean, very blessed. And so I was in Palm Beach gardens in the winter at PJ national, and then, um, got an opportunity to open up a school in Tahoe.

Um, and so I was there in the summer. Life was horrible. I’m sure it was horrible. Um, that had to be just terrible. Yeah. And that’s what I really thought I was going to do. And you were going to be a teaching pro, you’re going to make these videos, right? I loved it and you know, I, I thought I was going to be, you know, one of the guys you see in Golf Digest magazine every week or have my own show or whatever, whatever I thought I was doing, but I was living in great places.

I was, I loved helping people and helping people achieve their goals, especially like the toughest, toughest. Students were like CEOs of major corporations because they’d get to where they are by delegating. Well, you can’t delegate me or anybody else hit the golf ball for you. So, um, seeing them, you know, and you don’t conquer golf.

Like, so seeing them succeed was fun. But then on the same day, my dad, Bernie and my grandmother, my mom’s mom died. So she lost her husband and her mother on the same day. Oh my Lord. And that’s where everything changed for me. Why did that change? Why did everything change? It changed because it started with they, I was asked by my family to give a eulogy for both my dad and my grandmother, and they were Um, two separate ceremonies, about an hour apart.

My dad’s ceremony was at the funeral home, which ironically was the funeral home I grew up in because my, my, everybody on my mom’s side of the family were funeral directors. Oh, Lord. So I, you know, there was a house on top. So that’s where we, but it was very familiar, but it was just bizarre now being there and seeing my dad laid out right next to my grandmother.

Yeah, I was really tight with, I spent a lot of summers with my grandmother. And, um, so his ceremony was in the funeral home. We packed him up. We went to the Methodist church, did her ceremony. Um, and then, you know, we show up at the, at the cemetery and get out of the car. There’s a hole right there. And then there’s a hole about a hundred yards up the hill, put my dad in the ground, put my mom in the, or put my grandmother in the ground, and then the day ends and Everybody goes home and life goes on.

And so I, where I was at that point was really thinking about eulogies, not just theirs, but others and, and realizing that eulogies are not typically about people’s success. It’s about significance, success being about your own accomplishments, significance of being about how you’ve helped other people, what you leave behind.

And so I then was asking myself three questions if, if I were to die today, would anybody have anything to say about me? Um, would it be true? Because, you know, you’ve been to a funeral where they start talking about the deceased and you’re like, I don’t remember him like that. That’s, so would it be true?

And then would it matter? Meaning, okay, so I was the chair. I wasn’t. Let me make this clear. The example is, okay, so I’m the, I was the chairman of Augusta National. Who cares? You know, um, that probably ended my chances of ever getting an invite to Augusta, but that’s all right. Um, I played Cyprus. Yeah. So, um, so, and then, um, that really tenderized me.

And then, not long after that, it was a pretty deep spiritual dive. And from there, I just want to be a servant. Where’d you go for that spiritual dive? What’d you turn to? Um, well, I was, so, The last gig I took in the golf business was one I never vowed to take, which is, you know, just another reason I believe that this was God’s plan.

And I went to, um, Western South Carolina, sight unseen, um, and took a head golf professional job, which I vowed never to do. Because you wanted to play golf. Well, because his teaching is the best gig in the golf business. Yeah, because you actually get to, like, swing a club. Being the head pro, you’re just in an office.

Yeah, and that’s Running events, selling wedding packages. Yeah, and you have 300 You have 300 bosses. Yeah. Yeah. So I went there sight unseen. I did something I said I’d never do. And then I met Brad Bradshaw. And he was a guy that walked in the office and he was a very distinguished Southern gentleman and already had his professional career.

And he just said, uh, you know, I’m just looking for a place to, um, you know, be, be a starter and so I can play golf. And, but he, but he said something else, um, I think about every day. But I hope it turns into something much bigger. And honestly, that’s an interesting thing to say. I come back to, at the end of the circle, back to that, at the end of the interview, quote unquote, and I said, so Brad, you know, what did you mean by that?

And he goes, you know, Brian, only the Lord knows what that is. And I honestly, um, to myself, I was mocking him like, come on, man, like enough of that. Just tell me what it is. Well, I ended up hiring him. And then like six or seven months later, um, you know, he changed my life and he, um, he led me to Christ and, um, and look, as a human, I struggle with stuff every day.

But I will tell you that that changed my life. Um, I know why I’m here. I know who put me here and I know why I was put here. And I feel very blessed to know that because a lot of people, you know, there’s two really important days in your life when you’re born. And then the day you figure out why you’re born and many people go through life, never understanding the second.

And so, um, again, From that I just want to be a servant and the, the original manifestation of that was to be an elementary school teacher in an under resourced community, and That is just a mad shift. From a golf pro to an inner city teacher. Yes, because I was, you know, the golf gig was pretty sweet and I was, I, I I mean you were throwing yourself into like The pit.

That’s a tough spot. Well, listen, I’m, you know, to put it in perspective, you know, I went from flying on private jets with some clients. Mm hmm. Excuse me. To making nine bucks an hour, um, having three jobs. Um, and working in an under-resourced school and, you know, as a reading professional also meant I had research, re recess duty and lunch duty.

And, you know, that that was very different from the life I was living. But I also felt like I was at home that it feels like you humbled yourself. Well, I think God has humbled me and I think that he continued to work on that. Uh, you know, I, you gotta be confident in yourself, but. You know, the Bernie’s book bank story is not my story.

It’s a story of tens of thousands of people and amazing people that have dedicated themselves to, to one mission. And I get way too much credit. Um, you know, I was just a knucklehead in my garage who thought it saw a problem and knew it could be solved. So. You saw the problem because you were a teacher.

Well, so I’m more like you were led to the problem. Yeah, I was a reading paraprofessional is what they call us, which basically means if you have college degree and you’re willing to make nine bucks an hour, you’re in. It sounds way better as a title. Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? Um, uh, but, um, because I was on my way to get my teacher’s certificate.

So to get my foot in the door, I wanted to. To, you know, spend time in a, in a district and it was life changing because you’re, you’re coming back into the school system now as an adult, which is a completely different perspective. You know, when you’re, when you’re five years old and you start to learn how to read, you don’t look at your buddies and go, Oh my gosh, guys, our lives just changed with this one skill.

No, you just, you just go on to the next thing. You go on to middle school and of course you’re going to college and, and you really don’t understand the. The gravity and the importance of reading and that skill until you see people who are that far behind, um, but I learned a lot about the educational system.

I learned a lot about the layer on top and under resourced community. You learn about the inequity of education in America, which is shameful, um, and the root of much of our turmoil. No doubt. And, um, and then, on the positive side, these children were so eager to be learners, like, they were so eager, like, we have a specific And their brain is growing.

Right, and specific to reading, we were expecting them to go home and read at night. We were giving them reading logs to do so, but we knew there were no books in the house. We knew that nobody was taking them, taking them to the library. It doesn’t matter why. Even in the school where I was, we were lucky enough to have a library, but you could check books out, but you couldn’t take them home.

And so as a recovering golf professional with an entomology degree, you know, it doesn’t take a genius to go, well, that makes no sense. And then when you look into the research on research is proving time and time again, how critical reading readiness is, or I’m sorry, book ownership is to reading readiness and reading proficiency.

Um, it’s actually one of the solvable problems in the literacy equation. You know, I thought to myself, well. This makes no sense. And, of course, I did some research on other models and what I was really looking for was, were models that were effective, efficient, scalable, and sustainable. And some of them were three of the four, some of them were two of the four, but none of them were four of the four.

And I thought this is too important and too solvable and the implications are too big to not take this serious and go all the way. And so, In December 2009, with three jobs on my credit card for 5, 000 in my garage, I was an expecting father. Um, knew nobody, knew, had no idea what I was doing. Um, we started Bernie’s Book Bank with the idea that we were going to build an American institution.

Did you have fear of knowing that you had no idea what you were doing? I don’t think that you’re saying that to be humble. I’ve, because I, I’ve had these moments where I’m like, I really want to do that. And it’s like, I wouldn’t even know where to start. And that deters you. And then you start trying to do research and you hope that it clicks at some point where you gain the confidence.

So you go, okay, now I’m ready to start. And if you never get that click moment, you’re like, well, I guess I’m not going to do that. So I’m, I’m really intrigued by the fact that. Baby on the way, three jobs, certainly a, not a job that’s paying you a bunch of money, probably not all three, a lot of part time type stuff and a fear of like, Hey, I’m going to do this thing.

And you could probably visualize this as something that could potentially change. A ton of lives, but I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing. So like, how do you, what’s, how do you do that? I’ll explain that in a few ways. One, I was perfectly naive, you know, um, and I think anybody that’s trying to do anything would tell you that being naive is important because if you, if I knew today what it would take to get here, yeah, you wouldn’t ever start.

I’m a hardheaded person and I don’t still don’t know if I would have done it. But by that point, you got to realize that I was answering a call. And through answering the call was also trying to be faithful and believe that if I worked hard and I, and I stayed faithful, um, you’d be showing the way I believed in that God would provide that, you know, and I was just so convicted, like if the why is important enough, we’ll figure out the how, you know, and you know, that’s, that’s comes into play still today.

I mean, I remember the first time we got a, a multi year commitment. And it was from a very well heeled, very sophisticated, very intelligent family, very influential family in Lake Forest. And I’d asked him for like, uh, 25, 000 the first year, 15 the second, 10 third, which would still mean a lot today. But back then it was massive, enormous.

And I still remember exactly where I was on Hug Club Road in Gurney. And I got the phone call and, and she said, uh, Brian, I was just calling to tell you that we’re going to do that. And my response was. You are? Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. Because you know, I have no idea what I’m doing. Yeah. And she said, Brian, we’re well aware of that.

Yeah. Um, still bet willing to bet on you. But here’s what we know. You know how to get really good people to the table, and we know if there’s anybody that’s gonna run through a brick wall to get this done, it’s you. And that’s all we need to know. And while I could tell you that that was fuel, it was huge.

And it’s, it’s, it’s very true because still today, you know, we’re still, you know, it’s a very, it’s a much more accomplished model than it was 15 years ago, but. The biggest skill that any of us need at Bernie’s Book Bank is passion and a will to get things done. Um, beyond any other skill, that’s the biggest.

By the way folks, it’s uh, www. berniesbookbank. org if you want to play along. So please take a peek at that. Uh, I think that you’ll probably take a look at the website and read some of the work that they’ve done and you’ll probably feel a little bit of a, a little bit of a pounce of the heart. Uh, and uh, you might feel a little bit more alive, and you might feel like you want to hit that button on the right side that says donate, or the green one that says volunteer.

I think I probably am going to hit both buttons at some point, so join me in doing that. Um, so you’re in the garage, you’re getting this thing off the ground, you get this first donation, what’s the next step?

Um, well, I knew where we wanted to go. I knew that we wanted to create a model that was effective, efficient, scalable, and sustainable, and one that would serve every child in the metropolitan area from birth through sixth grade with a quality books a year. Um, I think that’s key to having a chance at success because you, you, you got it.

Define success and understand fully what that looks like. Was that like your mission statement, your vision statement? Um, and in one way, shape or form, everybody’s known that like a guiding principle, though, that was where you’re going. And then we’re going to take that model and we’re going to replicate it in every major city in the country where we were, um, needed, which unfortunately is everywhere and where we were welcomed.

Um, I had no business saying this, but what, what I, what I have been taught one thing is. If you, if you, if you really believe in something and you really want something to happen, you got to set bold goals and you got to tell everyone, everyone what your goals are. Now, you’re making, you’re putting yourself out, out there.

Or you’re throwing it in the universe, right? There’s. Two really important things that happen when you do that one, somebody might want to help you and two, what’s more important than that is they’re going to hold you accountable. And that’s the difference between a wish and a want, you know, it’s like you take like a new year’s resolutions and we all, we’ve all had them and your buddy calls you a month in and goes, how’s that going?

And you’re like, why are you calling me? And you know what, why does that matter to you? Well, that’s what a wish is when you’re not okay with that. But. When you want something, you’re, you want people to hold you. Yeah, they want, you want them to ask you every time they say, so how’s that American institution coming along?

Because then you don’t have a choice. Yeah, um, because you better be able to answer it the next time that where you showed some improvement and you’ve, you’ve done some things. Right. And that’s, you know, why we’re even the position we’re in today, because people invested in, okay, first, number one, we’re going to help help Bernie’s book bank.

Build a model, we’re going to make sure it’s effective and it’s proven, um, and then we’re going to expect Bernie’s book bank to put one of those in every major city in the country because that’s what, that has been what’s been said from the beginning. And you know, some folks don’t like putting themselves out there and, uh, saying they’re going to do something, but everybody knows that the only way that that’s going to happen is if John, you help me.

Yeah. And if you help me, and if you help me and you help me, but they got to know what the vision is. They got to know how you define success and a lot of people that have supported us and continue to support us, you know, They either owned a business, sold a business, or in a business, you know, they set bold goals.

Um, and, uh, then they lived out what you’re talking, right, right. And they’re not inspired by, well, we’re going to do the best with, yeah, no, no. And that’s not how Google was built. It’s not how Ford was built. It’s not how Amazon was built. I mean, think about Amazon. I mean, that guy was bang. We’re, we’re gonna, we’re gonna start it with books and then we’re gonna, you can get anything from, yeah, you’re going to do what?

And people were like. Yeah, well, how’s that gonna work? How’s that working? People like to shop people like to go to a store That’s what blockbuster said, right? Yeah. Yeah, but blockbuster. We’re not selling and I miss block. We’re not selling out What’s this Netflix thing? They people like to come in and walk around and try and figure out where the movies late fees to their lovely fees And they like to smell they’d like to smell the popcorn and all that.

Yeah, how’d that work out? Like rewinding the tape before they bring it exactly or they give a penalty right now we don’t I don’t like to watch anything we want from our bedroom in our pajamas. Now, listen, there’s some good to that. Yeah. There’s some bad. Cause you actually had to leave the house. So that was probably a good thing.

Right. So business model. I’m really curious of, of these things. 501c3 is all kind of worked differently. And let’s talk the business of the business, because you just rifled off like a business management term, um, in the previous segment. scalable and efficient and X, Y, Z. Um, so obviously the business fundamentals are very clear.

Walk us through kind of how the business model works. Yeah. Well, um, uh, without giving away all the secrets. Well, no, I mean, it’s, uh, I think there’s two philosophies that are really important. Um, one is from the beginning, we’re going to operate like a business and we’re going to think like a brand. Um, that means we’re going to be data driven.

We’re going to be hold ourselves accountable and we’re going to, we want others to hold ourselves accountable. Um, and if you think about where you’re trying to get the funding from, you know, That’s the language they speak, you know, most people are trying to get money from, you know, there’s two types of people, practical and emotional, um, rarely do you see a clear overlap and the two, um, and a lot of people you’re trying to get.

Investments from our practical people, you know, how, how are you going to do this? How are you going to measure yourself? How are you going to measure the efficacy of your program? Um, what’s your financial model look like all this, like, by the way, I barely still know what a balance sheet is. Okay. So. Um, that’s not, what are you going to do with our money though?

Question. Yeah. We’re having that question right now with our government. Oh my gosh. Well, yeah. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. So, so that’s number one. And the second one, and this is super important and that, that is that, um, When it comes to relationships, and that’s even our relationship right now, um, personal, professional, or both, we want to be your partner, not your charity.

And that means that John, as of right now, whether you like it or not, you’re my friend and you can call me anytime. Yeah. And I, in fact, if you ever need to talk to somebody, I’m here. Once that connection happens, that’s how you roll. But it’s, how do I, so the, where this started was, so negative 5, 000, three jobs.

No cashflow. The natural thing to do is to come at you and say, not John, you know, I used to fly around on private jets and I’ve got, and I’ve changed my life completely. And I plan to do this and I’m a good person. And I, how many times I’ve done this. Example and nobody looks at my hand hands out. And what I realized is Everyone’s doing that and if you want to have a real relationship It’s got to be a given to take and so instead of having your hands out your hands have to be open Mmm, tell me about you.

Tell me about your family. Tell me about your kids. Tell me how your parent tell me What your strategies are for that. Tell me about your business. How do you cultivate and Stuart relationships? What do you challenge with? Do you need to team build whatever it may be? Because I wanted to find a way for Bernie’s book bank to be a valuable partner in your life and or your business.

In other words, I’d rather have more of a life conversation or a business conversation or a marketing conversation, not a philanthropic one. Because you can fill that void of, of PR or branding that they potentially are trying to solve. It might be that. Or even tax relief potentially. As practical as that.

It might be, you know, I want to teach my kids about service or, or it might be, you know, we want to build culture in our company. Um, we’ve done it this way and that way. A culture of kindness. Yeah. We give back. Yes. Or, or just. Frankly, team building, you know, you know, we, we provide a great option for that.

Um, but it’s, it’s, it’s how do you provide value so that you have a long term relationship? Because listen, in non profit. You’re running a business where your productivity is not directly related to your revenue, which is a horrible way to run a business, but that’s what charity is. So if you don’t have strong relationships, how are you going to predict revenue?

Um, how are you when COVID hits? So if there’s one silver lining at COVID for us, it was, we had thought we’d built some really strong relationships. You don’t really know until you apply pressure and heat to that, and that was plenty of pressure and heat. Instead of people running away, they were doubling down.

And, um, so, you know, that remains a key philosophy today. Um, but in terms of the business model, you know, we, we do this all for about a dollar 50 a book. It goes up some, it goes down some. Um, but we have real key performance indicators that are objective, that are measurable, and that’s how we measure ourselves.

You know, I, you know, it’s part of that. I’m a terrible manager and I’m a terrible hire, but one thing I would used to say when I was hiring people is, um, just being candid with them. Like, look, if you’re looking for warm, fuzzy feelings, you’re in the wrong place. We are here to solve a problem. We’re here for transformation of ourselves and of the children we serve.

And. That is objective. Number one. Um, now, if we accomplish our mission, you’re, you’ll have more warm and fuzzy feelings than you ever had, but that’s not why we exist. Yeah, we are dead serious about what we do. And we’re here to do hard things on behalf of Children that rely on us to do those hard things.

This isn’t a job. It’s a lifestyle. Yep. Yep. And it’s not for everybody. Like, and there’s no judgment if you don’t, if that’s not your. What you want to do, but if you want to be on our team, you know, our family, you know, we’re going to war and here’s what the battlefield looks like. Here’s what it doesn’t look like.

And you know, when it’s time to take the Hill, we got to take the Hill because if you don’t, you’re endangering everybody else that’s taken the Hill.

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Get back your time and your money with GSD. Drive business forward, lead the technology to GSD. gsdnow. com So I interviewed Sean Jeffers, used to be the head of Little City, and, uh, talked about every single person has the ability to offer time, talent, or treasure. So, I’m curious as it relates to your model, like, where do you get your books from?

How can somebody from the outside play a part in this? Do you do something similar to, there’s a organization to feed our hungry children, right? Feed our starving children. Starving children, right? So you can go there with your kids and donate your time and so on. Um, and there’s a lot of ways for corporations just to cut a check, maybe be mentioned as a sponsor, etc.

So how, how is your model working in that regard? With regards to how do people get engaged? How do people become part of it, whether they’re a company, an independent person? Yeah. So you’re right. I mean, for us, we need money. We need volunteer time and we need books, right? And so, the way we’ve set this up is that we want there to be a seat at the table for everybody.

So like, from a volunteer perspective, um, we take all ages and abilities. We, I think we’re the only organization in Chicagoland that would take a child under the age of five to volunteer. Um, We probably engaged 30 different special needs groups. Um, and so we’ve had to fashion the process so that it’s very simple.

I call it brine proofing. If I can do it, anybody can do it, um, for two reasons. One, we want people building community there, either with the people that came with it, the people that are meeting there. And the other reason is we’re essentially running a factory where Um, we have 3, 000 quote unquote different employees that come in a month and you got to get them trained up and productive within an hour and a half and you want the same quality product coming out.

And you want them to have it, uh, an experience that brings it back. Now you’re, you’re, I love you, man, you’re, you’re, you’re, you’re keying in on all the really important things. I’m not as dumb as I look. Don’t answer that. Well, um, but, uh, yeah, what did you just say? You want them to have a brand experience, right?

Well, that’s That’s what makes it. We do really hard, especially the people that work at our house. You’re turning over your staff like that. So think of it in terms of like running a business, you have a sales team, you have an organization of HR, you have bringing all those people together to a set of core values.

And you’ve got people that are there for 15 years, 10 years, five years, right? So they get a chance to latch onto it through experiences, right? Where they go, okay, now I get it. That’s why that core value is so important. And they see it. In real time, but it might take them three years, right? It was just a paycheck up to that.

You’re flipping your employees that are volunteers over super fast. So now we have a team of paid employees that manages that. But what makes their job really hard is that you’re saying. Okay, you have these production goals to meet today, but at the same time, make this the richest experience you get.

Like, what factory in the country is, when their guy, when their guy or gal clocks in, they’re saying, now we want you to have a great time today. No. Um, because the deeper implication is, because we can engage people at that level, You know, if you give them a good time, if you show them a great experience, they’re going to support you financially as well and tell other people, right.

And it might be 12 bucks a month. It might be 24 bucks a month, but all that adds up. And so, um, you know, we feel like there’s a C as a table for anybody from a volunteer perspective, the books they’re coming anywhere from out of your home. I mean, we, we push some weeks 100 to 150, 000 books a week out the door.

Um, those are either used books coming from your home. Um, we basically have a relationship with anybody that touches a children’s book in the children’s publishing world. So the website says 28, 095, 000 books distributed. Is that a running tab, having we crossed the 30 million mark? That’s a running tab.

Uh, we’ll do that this year. Yeah. And especially because, uh, we’ve, we’ve recently launched in Milwaukee where we’re already serving 20, 000 children. Plan to have a facility in place by the end of the year and then serve all 96, 000 children that qualify by the end of next year. And then. In late March, we’re launching on the Suncoast of Florida, which will be North Tampa down the Naples.

Um, and the fun thing about this is that there is organic interest. Um, I mean, like when I say organic interest, I don’t mean people that are like, Oh, I love the concept. I’d love to know they want the model and they’ve got, they’ve got the money. So we’re at this. Really fun stage right now where we’ve launched into other cities, but we’re also looking to build a national team so that we can entertain all that interest, um, sooner rather than later.

So, um, I’m blessed, man. This is, uh, I love what I do. Um, you know, not every day is easy, but when I put my head down at night, um, it’s good to know who I’m fighting for. Um, and it’s not just for these children. It’s for you too. And it’s for everybody because, you know, there’s a statistic that says. If you increase the literacy by 1%, it’d have a 480 billion impact on the economy.

And so you can come at this from any direction and it’s going to impact. You might not like children. You might not like books. You might not like reading, but you love your children and you love your children’s children and, uh, you think you love your country. You also might love that kid who got a book, and then got another one, and then got another one, and then became the person who cured cancer.

Well, just, just led me to my next thing, which is, you know, we talked about my brother. Um, it pains me to think that the cure for ALS or anything else is living It’s lingering on Living dormant on the south side of Chicago. Yeah. The north side of Milwaukee. The east side of Pittsburgh, wherever it may be, we’re not nurturing all of our brains and if we did, we’d all win.

Yeah, they’re all curious. In so many ways. So, what you end up seeing is a huge impact from a sociology standpoint too. You start to, you start to even out the playing field. Yeah. Right? It’s all about, this isn’t about evening out outcomes, it’s about evening out opportunities. Yeah, it’s, look, outcomes, outcomes have a lot to do with the human being that’s given the opportunity.

Yeah. But we can make sure that everyone’s got an opportunity. Yeah. We’ll shame on us if we don’t. That’s right, and so if we, if we give everybody the same opportunity, especially from an educational perspective, then from there we can actually let the chips fall where they may. Yeah. And, um, that’s not quite the way we’re doing it right now.

Um, you know, I’d like to see equity in education. If we’re gonna have public schools, let’s have public schools. Mm hmm. Um. And what we spend on one child. Um, you know, the way it is right now in affluent communities, they spend two, three times what you spent, what’s spent on a child and a under resourced community.

And I think we can make the argument, you know, not, not emotionally, but we can make the argument empirically that it actually should be flipped because there’s so many other things. Net they’re trying to handle in an under resourced community, and they’re already behind. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I mean. You can make the argument that public schools should be kind of run like McDonald’s.

You go to Germany and order a Big Mac or you go to Arizona and order a Big Mac or you go to Alaska and order a Big Mac. It’s a Big Mac. Correct. That thing is running how it runs. Correct. Especially because of the, the impli One, it’s right. It’s just right. We talk about pursuit of happiness, equity, equality.

You know, the pursuit of happiness is predicated on two things. Who you know and what you know. And if you grow up in an under resourced community, you don’t know who you need to know. And so your only ticket is education. So if that’s your only ticket, one, it’s right. It’s an ideal that we’ve been working on for 250 years.

I’d like to see it come true. And beyond that, it makes us all stronger. Yeah, all of us. I think what ends up happening is, um, you see a lot of these things right now that are causing division over time start to go away because we become Educated at a much higher level at a deeper level Yeah people start to be able to Understand why they feel the way that they feel they’re getting a ton of analogies through books where they can something is going to resonate and relate to them And what ends up happening is people start to become more compassionate.

I feel like when, when you understand something better, you’re more compassionate of somebody’s challenge to understand it or to be able to do it. Yeah. Like, you know, I’ll just take golf for example, I can look at. A golfer who’s like a 15 handicap and go, I get why you’re a 15 handicap. Well, why? It’s because I’ve educated myself enough to get beyond that 15 handicap.

So I can look at that and go, I know exactly why you slice. Yeah. Like I can tell you exactly how you do it. You just have to do the repetition to get rid of it. Yep. But you’re not going to get rid of it because I told you, you need to have the repetition. Yeah. Of being able to do that. And I feel like.

Providing the folks books gives them the repetition that they need. It does a few things at the highest level. It’s providing them the tools so that they can become a better reader because more reading equals better reading equals more production below that is. What we would describe as mere books being mirrors and windows for the people that are reading them.

That means one, they can see themselves and they can see others through it. So that’s, that’s, that’s right below that. The second is, uh, the third would be to, when you keep coming back with books every year and every year, like you’re, even if it’s subconsciously, you’re sending a message that one, we care about you and two, this has to be really important because you keep coming back.

And what’s really fun now is that we’re starting to have children that we’ve actually served coming back to the book bank to volunteer and sharing their stories, um, because, you know, we serve 315, 000 children in general. You can’t follow them. No, there’s some stories, though. Yes. You know, uh, gosh, it’s interesting because if you think of imagination and how important imagination is, but sometimes imagination, you have the freedom of being Imaginative because your reality allows it and some of these kids that you’re, that you’re servicing, their reality is so difficult that they never get to imagine.

They can’t even start a dream. I mean, there’s kids living on the South Southwest side of Chicago. They can see those high rises. They can never imagine being in one in Zion where I was. You know, that’s about a mile, that school, Shiloh Park Elementary, where I did those two years, is probably a mile from the lake.

Um, probably 50 percent of those children in that school didn’t even know that Lake Michigan existed. Beyond that, I don’t think one of them could tell you one college. Yeah. And if you can’t name a college, you probably Probably aren’t going one. And so when I was there, they started, you know, naming the hallways, different conferences, and then every room was a different college just to just to keep it in front of them.

But it’s so, um, it’s hard to imagine until you spend a significant amount of time in a school like that. Do you know Justin Mawakizi? I don’t. I think you’re connected on what I like his name. Yeah, it’s a cool name. I think you’re connected on LinkedIn. He wrote a book called the manufacturing of poverty in order to do his book, which he had a, um, a hypothesis, right?

In order to understand the hypothesis, you have to test it. And his test was going to have to be interviewing people. And he needed a ton of people to interview, so he leaves his venture capital wealth management career making massive amounts of money to become a rideshare driver because he recognized that that was the fastest way for him to interview multiple demographics.

The reason I bring this up is, he had a young south side or west side kid get in his car and he just started asking him questions. And the kid, he said to the kid, like, It’s the middle of summer, man, like, why aren’t you at the beach at Lake Michigan? The kid said, I’ve never been to Lake Michigan. So, uh, the kid was supposed to go to something, and Justin essentially turned off the rideshare, said, hey, I’m paying you for the day, and he drove him.

Up and down Lake Michigan. He just, the whole, he showed him everything from the bottom to the top. And he said at the end of that ride the kid was absolutely bawling. Because it was the first time that somebody had actually shown him the world that existed that he could be part of. And I think that that’s what we’re talking about here.

Is, is giving people at a young age the opportunity to let that imagination go. So they go see that world, so they play a bigger part in that world. Yeah, well that’s, that is, you know, there’s even people, affluent people, you know, one of the things that really makes me, makes me feel a lot of things, but it’s, it’s the people that choose to let life happen to them.

Instead of creating life on their own and you know, you’re, you see them every day. They’re walking around like zombies. Like, are you, are you here? Like, do you understand the, the gift this is like the richness of this? If you just embrace it, like you’re looking at one of them who’s had an epiphany. Yeah.

Now I’m on the other side of it and you’re damn right. Yeah. Like it’s, it is, um. It’s such an incredible opportunity. And yeah, we’re going to go through pain. You’re really suffering. And yeah, we’re going to hurt physically. We’re going to hurt mentally. We’re going to be sad some days, all this stuff, but no suffering, no joy.

They don’t, one can’t exist without the other. Um, and it’s, once you just get to the point in life where you just understand that, that it’s a, you know, and I think having an internal perspective helps with Because, you know, It prevents you from getting too high because this is not for my glory. It’s his, um, and it prevents you from getting too low.

Um, you know, this isn’t forever, this isn’t forever and it’s an opportunity to step up when things are down and, um, you know, you don’t have to do it alone. Speaking of that, tell us about if we were to walk to the headquarters, what are we going to feel when we walk in there? What’s the culture like? Tell us about your people and what they’re like.

Our people are unbelievable, um, selfless, purpose driven, but when you’d walk in, I think you’d feel Um, there’s an instant energy. Um, there’s a vibe. I think it’s, you know, we designed this, this place physically for this reason. But, and I’d love for you to come, come, so I’m coming and then we’ll tee it up afterwards.

Um, but then we’ll record from the course. Yeah, we’ll do that. That’ll be fun. That’d be awesome. Everybody would tune in for that. For sure. Um, so we, we were intentional about that from a physical. Perspective in terms of the environment, but then there’s this thing that I can’t really put my finger on. So you got culture by design, but there’s an energy flow.

There’s no doubt about it. Yeah. And I try to get as many people in the doors as I can because you know, their perception, even they can look at pictures or whatever, but, um, you don’t feel it, smell it, hear it, touch it. Um, and there’s, uh, and I, and I try to impart on all of our people, like we have the, an opportunity to feed people, not just the children we serve, but every person that walks in this door, there’s an opportunity to feed them and to make their life better.

Um, like. The meal is purpose. Yeah. Like, like that’s the biggest gift on the planet to be able to feed somebody, even for a day, even for two hours. Yeah. Um, but don’t miss the opportunity. So this, this energy is, um. I would imagine is, is kind of starting to carry the growth, right, because it’s just, it just starts to kind of snowball and expand and people feel that energy and then they want to go tell the people about it and that you just, you get in that flow state, just kind of your, like your organization’s in a flow state right now, it’s growing, it’s expanding.

It’s also not a cakewalk. You’re running a business. Oh yeah. And you’re taking it to multiple locations and you’re having to trust multiple employees to love your vision and your why at it. 85% as much as you do. ’cause at the end of the day, nobody’s gonna love it more than you do. It’s, it’s your thing.

But if you get ’em to 85, 90%, that’s amazing. But there’s some tough times. What’s the hardest part about the business? I mean, I, I think, uh. Well, can I, I’m going to take the opportunity to say a few, um, you know, it’s really hard not to get cynical. Um, yeah, you know, the money’s out there, you know, it exists and with what we do and how we do it, I mean, it would literally cost 5 million a year to serve every child in Chicago and, and entertain tens of thousands of volunteers a year, which is a drop in the bucket.

It’s like a dollar, dollar a person throughout the area. It’s like nothing, you know, if you’re not careful. Um,

you know, maybe when the money’s not flowing like it should, you can get cynical. Um, the other is carrying up, establishing a culture and carrying it through, especially as you get bigger. Um, not losing that family kind of feel, that vibe. Um, you know, I know that I’ve, um, I think I’ve gotten a lot better at this, but just, you know, if we, if as long as I know that the spirit of the organization is there is the right spirit and we’re hungry and we’re humble.

Um, I don’t concern myself too much with much of the other stuff. It’s when I feel like we’re being complacent or whatever that that really gets me going. Um, especially because there’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears that’s been put into this to get us to this point. Um, um, but I think you realize over time, um, You know, you learn better what your role is.

And my role is not to manage people, not to get involved in the day to day. My role is to. You know, pump people up, motivate and inspire them, carry out that vision, keep us pointed at the vision. Um, you know, I, I focus most of my work now is all about relationship building and relationship stewardship. And, you know, I learned a long time ago, I’m pretty good at this and I’m not really good at that.

And as soon as I learned that, well, stop trying to be good at everything, try to get great at what you’re already predisposed to be good at and stop trying to do the things because there’s people that That I’m good at those things, um, but at the end of the day, it’s how do you empower tens of thousands of people and then the ultimate goal is to become irrelevant, you know, um, this is not about me.

It’s not about my dad. Um, and if you’re trying to build an institution, um, it can’t rely on any one person. And so like, I just want to shout out to our national board chair, Bill Burke and, and the, and the Team of people that have taken on this, um, you know, this is a most of their life’s passion, um, are Chicagolian executive director is an unbelievable person and Kristen Daniels, um, we are so grateful to have her.

And then our Milwaukee executive director, Jenna Reno, who, um, is getting that up and running and, you know, she’s having to be super entrepreneurial and flexible and, um, but you know, what carries it through all this, and you said it like no one’s going to have the same passion and I’ve, I’ve given up on that a long time ago, but you just have to take it personal at some level.

Um, I think that’s the case with anything. Yeah. Yeah. Take it personal. If you have ownership of something, skin in the game. Yeah. It matters. And if you don’t, you can’t really manufacture that. It’s kind of hard to do that. Yeah. Like you can, you can only create so many incentives. Yeah. Like I used to think, Oh, I’ll turn you into a Bernie’s book bank lover.

Oh yeah. I’ll turn you into a book lover. No, you just, you, you can’t. And that’s, that’s why you need to make sure you’re very careful about who you recruit to the board and who you recruit to the team. Um, because we’re trying to do something that is not easy. And that, that taken up. That taking it personal will get you through all the hard times.

Well, it’s consistent with what you said. Like, work on maximizing your strengths. Find people to cover your flank on your weaknesses that happen to be their strengths. Everyone gets better that way. It’s kind of the same philosophy in that when you have people that maybe, um, only are kind of in it, you know, like, let them be kind of in it, and that’s, that’s alright.

But the people that are really in it, those are the ones that you really have to pour your time and your effort into and you have to get them to, to really, um, ride that belief. Yeah. Well, what I’ve been saying recently is look, we’re 15 years old, but we’re, we’re all founders here. And we all need to have the founder mentality and, um, not to oversell it, but like, not many people get the opportunity to build an American institution, you know, and it’s not going to be, you’re going to climb uphill the entire way, pretty much.

So I know what you’re talking about now, because that’s the fifth time I think you’ve said an American institution. So I know what the vision is now. I know what the thing is, the goal that you’re sending out to the universe. It’s very clever and I’m on, I’m catching on to it and I hear it. This is an American institution.

It already is. Yeah, not because we want to put it on their jerseys. No, it’s because America needs an institution like this. Yeah. And it’s completely possible. Yeah. Um, I can tell you 100 percent now, I mean, if you had asked me 14 years ago, I’d have been like, yes, we’re going to do this. But now after I feel 78, I have to figure it out and feel like we’re going to do it.

Um, but it is totally possible now. And, uh, you know, we said to her, I have to have the heart to see it through. So that’s the hard part. Tell us the best part. Tell us the, give us, give us an amazing, just an amazing story that, uh, just lights you up, man. Yeah. So I’ve had a few of these now. Um, few, few of the times being with caddies I’ve had, we got to the point where they figured out that I was, I was associated with the book bank and that.

Burning is my dad and then they like, it’s super encouraging because these kids are look, they’re looking at me and treating me like I’m Taylor Swift or Ron James. And that’s good to know that those kids are still looking up to people that aren’t athletes or whatever, but I’ll share one recent story. Um, I.

I was at the book bank and Kristen and I were meeting. She’s our executive director for Chicago. And, um, we weren’t having a hard conversation between ourselves, but we were just talking about some hard things. And we kind of found our way in the welcome lobby. And at that time, a big group of teenagers was coming in to volunteer.

Mostly Hispanic, um, and turn around and one of our team members is bringing Kimberly up to meet us and Kimberly, I would describe as sheepish, but also you could tell she’s a little awestruck, which is kind of kind of cold, kind of weird, kind of cool, kind of weird. Yeah. Um, that’s what I’ve been called, by the way, kind of cool, kind of weird.

Well, that’s I think that’s good. I love it. That’s good. I’d go with it. You’re handsome too. Thank you. Don’t let me feel like I’m looking in a mirror. Yeah. Um, You need a little more white in your beard for that, buddy. More stress. Yeah. But, um, so we turn around, Kimberly says, Oh my God, I, I, first of all, I’m just so pumped to be here.

Second of all, the fact that I get to meet you is unbelievable. Okay. Hmm. She said, um, I grew up in North Chicago and I got books from you my whole life. And you built an Enhom library for me. Mm. And you gave me my first chapter book. And. If it wouldn’t have been for you, our life would be very different.

And like, when someone’s looking at you and saying those kinds of things, Yeah. You’re either going, you’re either going one way or the other. You’re either thinking, I’m the, I’m a badass, or you’re completely humbled. You know, that’s delicate. Yes. Because you could, it’s a delicate thing because you could go, Oh, no, it’s, yeah, it’s my pleasure.

Oh, no, you don’t, don’t, you would have done it. No, but then it doesn’t make it as real to them. You kind of have to lean into it. Right? So then I said so Oh, so that’s amazing. Thanks for sharing that and you know, we feel lucky to do what we do Um, and then I said, well, what are you gonna do now? And she said I don’t know but I know one thing you know that And that’s, I’m going to serve my community.

So she walks away and I turned to Kristen and Kristen looks at me and we’ve got tears in our eyes. And I said, that’s why we do. That’s it right there. That’s it. Um, and you know, hundreds of thousands of children will never, um, but. To know, you know, obviously you have the experience of being in distributions and seeing how the children respond and their excitement and everything, but seeing it on the back end of kids who go out of their way to tell you, um, you know, she didn’t have to do that.

You know, I, uh, I’m just gonna say this to you. I, I, sitting here, I have mad respect, not. Just for what you’ve built and what you’ve done and the fact that you found your why and then you, you went and did it. But, um, there’s a lot of people in the world that don’t do something for a living that makes them emotional when they talk about it.

And like a good day is you laughed and you cried, right? And You’re having a lot of good days because you’re getting to do both and just I’m emotional just sitting here listening to the story because I’ve just thought to myself, like, do I do something that that breaks me up like am I doing enough and so that’s that’s the mirror.

I got to look into. That’s what I’m getting from this. You thought you were just coming here to talk about your business, didn’t you? Not really, I figured it out when you were gonna, yeah. Well, I mean, I don’t, and I don’t, I, I, I typically don’t have non emotional conversations. Um, that’s frickin awesome. You know, I was preparing earlier for, I’m speaking somewhere tomorrow for, at a big commercial.

Insurance firm, which I, I find fascinating that I’m even like, and that’s actually part of my remarks that kind of like, uh, how am I here? Bingo. And if that’s actually in my remarks, because I, I said, you know, part of this is to get a laugh and get them, you know, but I said, you know. 20 years ago, I was working for my brother who’s a state farm agent.

I was peddling plops, which is pounding the phone and, and life insurance and so on and so forth. And I would have never guessed that I would be sitting here. Um, uh, asked to talk to you number one, but, but then part of my remarks is that, um, that this is a day where they’re going to be doing a lot of listening.

Like there’s a speaker after speaker speaker, and that I. My hope is, is that I will say something that’s worthy of their attention and their time. And because anytime, even if you and I were talking without a mic, you know, time is super valuable. And if I’m going to spend the time to get up and talk in front of people, like the goal is the sense to say something that disturbs you.

Yeah. Um, otherwise I’m just another talking head and I mean disturb in a good way. Um, something that’s transformational, makes you think about something different, inspires you, um, whatever it may be, because How many speakers have we listened to in our lifetime and not in my, from my perspective, you know, they said nothing, you know, to make me think differently or make me want to do something differently.

Um, and I would say, you know, I, I, uh, people ask me how, how things are going. I’m like, I’m living a dream. And then I say, are you living one? And if you’re not, why not do something different? Um, what’s the potential of the world if everyone lived their, oh my God, I mean, think about the productivity level and you can’t do it without like failures and necessity.

Yeah, it’s so hard for people to believe that because fear is, is crippling. Yes, but you’re, you know, the, this, I didn’t make this up. I don’t know, I don’t know where I heard it, but I once heard that the measure of your life. And the richness of your life will be determined by how many uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have and how many uncomfortable actions you’re willing to take.

And that’s, to me, really where life lives. And, as a parent, I see it as my duty to make my children as uncomfortable as possible as often as I possibly can. So, every episode I’ve recorded has been just that message. Every person, whether they were an athlete, an author, business leader, founder, exec, whatever.

All of them. There was a moment where they had to make difficult choices and they chose. To do the difficult. Yeah, uh, comfort’s boring. Yeah, I’m finding that out. Yeah, like, if you’re trying to do anything, you should feel uncomfortable a lot. Yeah, how do you deal, how do you deal with that? I mean, like, how do you stay patient for the outcome that tells you that that was worth it?

Well, one, I’m not real patient. Um. So you don’t. I don’t think patience is always a virtue. Yeah, maybe not. When you do the work that we do, you know, We need, we’re trying to get people to believe in us and support us. Like if, if we don’t have a sense of urgency about our mission, why would they love that?

You said that? I hope every sales leader in the world just heard that. Like I, I see sales departments and there’s just a total lack of urgency. It’s like, well, if you don’t believe in it, why should the person on the other end of the line believe in it? Like, if you can’t transfer energy and passion about what you do, you’re selling the wrong thing, or maybe you shouldn’t sell, period.

Yeah. Like, you gotta believe, and you gotta make other people believe. Yeah, I mean, that, you know, I get asked a lot, like, how can you ask for people for money, you know? And, look, I’ve, I’m now asking people for Amounts with more than one comma, you know, and the way that I do it is if you were that guy, um, instead of looking into your eyes, when I look into your eyes, I see hundreds of thousands of pairs of eyes looking at me and saying, put your money where your mouth is.

Are you willing to do this on my behalf? Are you willing to do it? And so that makes it easier. Um, because Because it’s not an ask for you, is what you’re saying. No, because I’m providing you an opportunity. You’re the agent. That’s it. You’re the agent to these kids. That’s it. You’re getting them a shoe contract.

That’s it. Right, the name of the billboard, right? So And it’s not really selling. It’s, it’s uh, you know, when you believe in something, it’s not selling at all. It’s, you know, it, you’re telling a story. And you’re telling people how they can impact that story. And they have a choice then. So I’m, I, I don’t want to Punchy in the heart here, but this is named after your father, right?

I would imagine with a caveat to junior as well, right? Kind of well, well, it’s, it is always Bernie’s book bank, my dad. And then, um, I guess we can call it Bernie’s. It’s book bank, but it’s really about my dad and his story. Okay. Um, mom is still with us. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. She is tough as she is. Yeah. She don’t play around.

She don’t play around, but I would imagine she’s also looking at you going, this is why it was tough, right? She’s gotta be just unbelievably proud. I think so. Yeah. You know, and, and look, I don’t think you ever stopped trying to make, you know, No, you don’t. Your parents crowd. Both of mine are upstairs and I still talk to them like, did you see what I just did there?

I think you would have liked that. Right. Or, or proven yourself. Mm hmm. You know. The chips. The chip remains. So that’s a, that’s a real thing. You know, um, there’s still chips on my shoulder that my brother gave me. Um, that I was not happy about at the time, but it’s motivating. Um, I want to do something, you know, I want to, um, I want to matter.

Yeah. Um, so, you know, and I still think we have a lot to prove. We have a lot to prove. Um, what do people have to do from to go from? Achievement from the standpoint of success to achievement from the standpoint of legacy of significance. Yeah, well, it’s a choice. I mean, it’s a lot easier to be significant when, when you’ve already been successful.

Like, how do you, how do you structure that out? Well, how do you, I think part of my duties in life is to help people that are successful become more significant. I mean, you need to talk about, we’ve talked about the depth of conversation and I don’t, you know, neither one of us like, like, you know, conversations that don’t matter.

I have a lot of conversations, especially well, they’re all with men that the experience I’m going to share with you and these are all typically very successful men that, you know, I get into it with them real quick, you know, I’ve, I just, I’ve barely known I go to lunch and I started asking him questions and I’ve had a lot of men, um, just break down and cry because they don’t matter yet.

Well, because

men, unfortunately, unfortunately, unfortunately. Don’t want to show weakness and they don’t want to be vulnerable and that’s a shame, a shame because we all know I’m just a pain, you know, I’m just like on one hand, maybe we’re physically more strong or whatever it is, but, and maybe we think we’re mentally, but like we all struggle and, um, I think there’s a real yearning, even for the most successful people to be significant and, um, It’s my job to put an opportunity in front of them to help them do that.

And to help them have more meaning in their life than beyond the balance sheet. Um, because that goes away and technically it’s not your money anyway. Yeah, you don’t get to keep it. No, you’re just borrowing it. Um, and trust me, I’m all about capitalism. I’m all about people to be successful. If you want to prepare people for capitalism.

Right. We’re in the matrix. Let’s teach people how to work it. Right. And I don’t think there should be a ceiling. That being said. There there comes becomes a threshold where, uh, you know. You could take X amount of money and leverage it for good, and that money will be back in your bank account in two weeks.

Yeah. Because you have so much money, and you’ve invested well, that it’ll be right back there. Yeah. Um. It’s like, uh, Cat Williams. I can’t get enough of this guy. He was on, Cat Williams was a stand up comedian, but he just, he’s, he’s awesome, but he talks about the universal bank. He’s like, if you just keep paying that universal bank, he’s like, man, I’m telling you, your account will fill up and that’s that this is not a discussion about redistribution of wealth or anything like that.

It’s just like, hey, man, you made it. Um, you’re you feel good now. You’ll feel even better when you leverage that money for for good. Have you, um, had events where you had some of these donors come out and speak? Yeah. Where they’ve talked about how it changed their life, how it impacted them on a greater level, how it helped to give them a feeling of significance.

Yeah. What has that been like? So I wouldn’t necessarily say, well, there, I guess there are events, you know, maybe it’s a cultivation event where we bring people in to learn more and we have a donor stand up. But we got one great story for you that. So Dana and Greg Lenecky are. Amazing friends to me into the book bank and, um, Gregory slam forced me passed away a year ago, but right before covid hit, we were starting to think about expansion and he’s become a very significant donor and just also just super down to earth.

I mean, and. He agreed to go to Atlanta. We had set up about 12 meetings to meet with civic leaders, corporate leaders, educational leaders, really just to say, to listen to what their needs were in the Atlanta area. What the, you know, what the educational ecosystem, more of a learning situation that, Hey, we’re, we’re Bernie’s book bank and we’re going to come here and you’re going to love it.

Like you want them in that situation to really ask you to come. Yeah. So we had about 12 meetings and every meeting went about the same, where you go around and introduce yourself and then you. Get into what you do and then you learn more about whatever. What did you do this summer? Right. He, every time, um, he’d get to the point where he’d say, you know, I’m just very blessed to have built a company and sold it and be in the position that I am today to do what we’re doing with Bernie’s book bank.

Every time, 12 meetings, three days, a tear would come down his eye and, uh, You know, I think he was experiencing the joy of having, having become successful, but the joy that comes with taking that and doing something really good with it. And I’ll never forget that. And I’ll miss him every day. Um, he’s been a big part of my life and was a mentor.

Um, but, uh, yeah, it’s really, it’s, it’s even more powerful. You know, I could talk about this forever, and of course, I love it. Um, but when you get others, especially other donors, who start to talk about not their impact, but the impact of their impact on them, um, is, uh, for real.

If you were writing your eulogy, what would you want it to say? Really, I just want it to say, for the glory of God, period. Because there’s a shift there. That I don’t know if you picked up on, but like in the beginning, it was about not being, it’s not about success, it’s about significance, but there’s an inherent part of being significant that it’s about you meaning, uh, I get what you’re saying, you know, success about my achievements, success is about your achievement, but I helped do that.

Um, when it gets right down to it, the purpose should be about brain glory to God. He, he made me, he made this possible. He’s, um, he’s loved me through it. Um, all of my brokenness, um. And this is his world and we’re, we’re his people. And that’s just what I believe. And I can tell you with that faith that makes life a lot easier because life is hard and it’s confusing and it’s complex.

And, um, I don’t tend to think I know everything about God or how that works or, and I think that’s been helpful is surrendering the need to understand it all. Because it’s so far, like, we’re, we’re, we’re smart to about, like, we’re smart, relatively speaking, to maybe an insect, but we, we can’t seem to think and.

Like, dimensions outside of what we can think of, and, um, Like, we don’t exist if things are off by, like, one trillionth of, of, like, we, like, we’re not here, this doesn’t exist, there might be some animals, we, we might have, like, horns on our heads, like, we, like, like, none of our reality. You, you don’t know, you already do.

I probably, I shave them every morning. No, but I mean, like, It’s that, that wonderful, it’s that amazing. It’s so big and deep and complex. We’re not supposed to understand it, it’s why we have to have hate. We’re living on this little ball. Uh, amongst, uh, like, there is no end. Which we can’t even comprehend that.

No. And we can’t even comprehend our ocean. Like, we don’t even know what’s going on in there. So to try and comprehend that, that’s what you have to just Well, and through that you’re just relinquishing control. Yeah. Which, I think that Is freeing Yeah. The whole human condition. Our biggest One of our biggest problems is we want and think we can control everything.

And, trust me, I do. Heh. And I learned every day, like I got choices, but I’m not in control. And, um, it just makes life easier. It just makes life so much easier. Brian, what’s the, uh, let’s wrap this bad boy up. It’s been an unbelievable experience speaking with you. I feel like I made a friend today. I hope you feel the same way.

No doubt. Um, I feel like we connected on a, on a, a great level. I feel like you are absolutely somebody who is a get shit done personality. Uh, and to have it be centered in such a purposeful stewardship way is just a breath of fresh air. You didn’t come here for me to stroke you and tell you how great you are.

You’re probably super uncomfortable by that, but Um, I just, I want from, from me to you. I just want you to know that I think that, um, and I feel that way. Um, name of the company again is, um, berniesbookbank. org not the name of the company, the website, please go on the website. So simple, so easy to play a part in this.

If you’re an organization and you are looking for something that will. Rile up your employees in the best of ways that will give them a reason to go home and talk about your brand to their family, to give them a reason to want to post something on social media about their organization they represent, because it’s bigger than whatever the thing is that you do if you’re looking for, um, A way to find some significance for your brand or for the person that is staring you back in the mirror.

Um, this is a really good start and I’m inspired and motivated so I’m, I’m going to be on it. Um, we look forward to come out and taking a tour. Yeah, man. And doing that. But I just want to ask you to to close this out with with something that is is, um, a mindset that is important to you that you carry every single day.

Something that a self talk that you have, you know, golfers, right? I stand over the ball. I find my target. Last backswing is trusted, right? We all have to be caddies to ourself in some way. So what’s that thing? What’s that mindset? Yeah, man. Something that our, our listeners at the end of this podcast, and by the way, thanks for sticking around this long, um, could take and feel really good about and implement.

Ooh. Um,

I, I would just say, you know, don’t, don’t miss the opportunity that life presents you to, um, you don’t have to let life happen to you. Um, create life, whether it’s the, the checkout person at the grocery store, engage with them. Ask them a question. Um, you know, don’t walk around life with blinders on. Um, Be an asset to people around you, your neighbors, your family, your spouse, um, to your community, to your country, to the world, to God, um, just don’t miss the opportunity and just know that there’s always going to be, there’s always going to be something, um, but it’s how you respond to that, that, that matters and you have the ability.

You have the ability, um, you know, we all are blessed with different abilities at different levels, but you have the ability to keep doing that every day, um, and be a part of the process, um, you know, especially in 2025, there’s a lot of people sitting on the sidelines having a lot to say, um, I don’t listen to what people say, I listen to what they do.

So do it. There you have it, folks. Brian, I want to remind you, sir, you got shit done. Yeah, man. And you’re pretty good at this. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate that. And you are my friend. And I meant it when I said you could call me at any time. Well, that means more than a podcast. Yeah. Thanks, brother. Amen. He will see you.

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