PODCAST: The idea of Retirement, especially for law enforcement, is a Hoax with Adam Wills | 178
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Meet this Weeks Guest: Adam Wills
Adam Wills is a former law enforcement officer turned Marketing Strategist and StoryBrand Certified Marketing Expert. Adam founded the organization LEO2CEO - a private community for COPreneurs (cop entrepreneurs) to start, grow, and scale their own post-law enforcement businesses.
Show Notes from This Episode
EPISODE OVERVIEW:
In this episode of the On The Blue Line Podcast, host Wayne Mulder and guest, Adam Wills discuss the challenges and rewards of a career in law enforcement. The conversation touches on maintaining personal integrity, the importance of mentorship, and the constant need for officers to balance their demanding professional lives with personal well-being. They emphasize the value of continuous learning and skill development, urging officers to stay updated and engaged with new practices and knowledge in the field. They discuss the idea of retirement and how it is not really the best plan for most people. Lastly, they provide resources for you to go further if you find yourself in a place of transition.
PODCAST OVERVIEW:
The On The Blue Line Podcast and Community has the mission of Empowering Cops in their personal lives and educating the public on the realities of law enforcement. This law enforcement podcast is focused on providing concepts, ideas, and actionable steps that can make a difference in your life. The morning roll call is a weekly monologue show with Wayne Mulder. The Interview Room podcast is an interview style format hosted by Wayne Mulder.
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TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE. Please note this is a new service we are offering and there will be spelling, grammar and accuracy issues. This transcription is offered as a convenience to our listeners, but at this time it is not guaranteed to be accurate.
00:00:33:20 - 00:00:55:20
Wayne Mulder
Welcome to the On the Blue Line podcast with Wayne Mulder. I'm your host. You guessed it, Wayne Mulder. And I'm happy to be back with you again this week. then on this podcast, we discuss, life from a law enforcement perspective. So thank you for joining us. Just real quick, some housekeeping. If you, are following us or are not following us on social media, Twitter and Instagram are the two I'm the most active on.
00:00:55:20 - 00:01:14:03
Wayne Mulder
Some of the Instagram stuff goes over to Facebook. We have a page there, but I'm most active on Twitter and Instagram and I hope you will join me there. Be sure to check out our website on the blue line.com. Lots of information on there, and there's full show notes for every episode. And then I would love to get your feedback and you can email me directly.
00:01:14:03 - 00:01:33:02
Wayne Mulder
It's Wayne@ontheblueline.com. So please do that. And I would love to hear from you. And then for podcast listeners, those of you who are listening in audio, if you're on Spotify or Apple Podcast, if you'd be sure to follow us, that helps tremendously. And if you're on Apple Podcast, if you'd be sure to also leave us a five star rating and review, hopefully you're loving the show.
00:01:33:03 - 00:01:57:09
Wayne Mulder
Five stars if you're not loving the show, we'd still appreciate five stars, but I would never ask you to lie. So please consider that. And then all podcasts are in video format at both YouTube and Rumble, for you to find there. I hope you've been enjoying the recent episodes that have come back out. this will be our fourth one since I was out on a fairly extended, period of time for a heart surgery.
00:01:57:09 - 00:02:15:18
Wayne Mulder
But all that was in that first podcast of the four that have come out. So please go back and listen to that one. And if you haven't listened to our first guest, Lindsay Faas, I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode. This week's guest is the same. It's another one that was recorded before. I was unable to produce content for a while.
00:02:15:20 - 00:02:44:06
Wayne Mulder
And so this has been sitting dusty in the archives. But we get to pull it out today, and I think you're going to benefit from it. My guest this week is Adam Wills. Again, if I didn't tell you that, there's a few things we mentioned about when his new podcast is starting and so forth. But if I didn't mention that this had been recorded a long time ago, you would have no idea, because so much of this information is evergreen information, and it's just as relevant today as it was when we sat down and recorded it.
00:02:44:06 - 00:03:03:16
Wayne Mulder
So I hope you enjoy and I hope you get something out of it. one of his, companies is the email. and website is all about LEO to CEO. And that concept is something we discuss here. If you're someone who's in a transitional period, you're nearing retirement, you're at a point in your career you think you might be stepping away from this career.
00:03:03:22 - 00:03:22:14
Wayne Mulder
Whatever your situation is, I think this is the podcast you're going to want to listen to. In fact, if you ever think there might be a possibility you're going to step away from law enforcement, and I'll give you a hint, chances are you probably will. And since as we discuss and as Adam points out, that the entire concept of retirement is somewhat of a hoax.
00:03:22:16 - 00:03:33:05
Wayne Mulder
I hope that you will listen to this podcast in its entirety, and that there will be some principles in here that will help you out. So without taking any more time, let's get to this week's guest, Adam Wills.
00:03:33:05 - 00:03:35:21
Wayne Mulder
Adam, welcome to the show.
00:03:35:23 - 00:03:39:16
Adam Wills
Hey, thanks for having me here, Wayne. It's a it's an honor and a pleasure.
00:03:39:18 - 00:03:53:12
Wayne Mulder
Why? Appreciate that. I always enjoy meeting new people and having the opportunity, even though the last few minutes, we've got to sit here and just kind of talk and get ready for today's conversation. And I'm really excited about what we're going to get into. So thank you for likewise.
00:03:53:14 - 00:03:55:23
Adam Wills
You know, we probably should have recorded some of that, Yeah.
00:03:56:01 - 00:04:05:17
Wayne Mulder
Well, you know, that's that's the way that's always going. Sometimes the, listeners don't get to benefit from those great conversations that happen before and after the actual recording.
00:04:05:19 - 00:04:07:00
Adam Wills
Yeah.
00:04:07:02 - 00:04:13:07
Wayne Mulder
So let's start, as I always do, I start with the softball right from the beginning. Is it coffee or tea for you, sir?
00:04:13:09 - 00:04:16:16
Adam Wills
Absolutely. It is coffee, hands down. No question that.
00:04:16:17 - 00:04:21:08
Wayne Mulder
That is the right answer in my opinion. But you know, that's just my opinion.
00:04:21:10 - 00:04:23:24
Adam Wills
Unless I'm sick.
00:04:24:01 - 00:04:33:01
Wayne Mulder
I agree with you there 100%. are you a adding anything to it kind of guy or, black coffee or what is, what's your favorite.
00:04:33:03 - 00:04:46:20
Adam Wills
Black coffee and, Latin American coffee. Southern American coffee specifically or or African. I like dark, bold, you know, like leaves. Leaves a bite in your mouth type. Coffee?
00:04:46:23 - 00:04:51:21
Wayne Mulder
Yeah. Something where you could possibly get the spoon to stand straight up if you were going to put something in there.
00:04:51:23 - 00:04:55:09
Adam Wills
Yeah. Like you're almost tempted to chew it on the back end. Yes.
00:04:55:11 - 00:05:02:20
Wayne Mulder
That's absolutely my favorite as well. So what is your where is your favorite place to have that drink?
00:05:02:22 - 00:05:24:08
Adam Wills
Oh, that's a really great question. I have never I haven't put a lot of thought into, you know what? It's not a place that I currently have access to, I would say. So my, my element is, near water in, in trees. So my favorite place to have a cup of coffee would be on the back porch of a lakefront property in the forest.
00:05:24:10 - 00:05:40:07
Wayne Mulder
Very nice, very nice. Yeah, I notice that mountains and water tend to be part of the answer to that question for most people, yes. As we talked off camera, I have the benefit of being in Florida right now. So I'm near water, but my heart is in the mountains, so it's a really weird dichotomy for me.
00:05:40:13 - 00:05:46:17
Adam Wills
Yeah, I grew up in upstate New York, and we spent a lot of time in the Adirondack Mountains, and that's my that's my element.
00:05:46:23 - 00:05:54:08
Wayne Mulder
Wow. I never been, but my mom went to college at Houghton College and talks often about, how beautiful it is up that way.
00:05:54:10 - 00:05:55:07
Adam Wills
Yeah.
00:05:55:09 - 00:06:00:22
Wayne Mulder
So do you then speaking of that, have a best or worst travel story.
00:06:00:24 - 00:06:08:24
Adam Wills
Or a best or worst travel story? My goodness, man, you're really good at throwing curveballs at a guy. I,
00:06:09:01 - 00:06:11:08
Wayne Mulder
I, I've been known to do that. Yes.
00:06:11:10 - 00:06:12:02
Adam Wills
Man, I don't.
00:06:12:08 - 00:06:14:11
Wayne Mulder
You know, it's not. That's okay.
00:06:14:13 - 00:06:36:09
Adam Wills
I don't know that I have any worst ones, but I can tell you. last year I went to Costa Rica for the first time. going back again this year and next, in June, and, we stayed at an all inclusive resort down there in Costa Rica, and it was just phenomenal, amazing people, fantastic food.
00:06:36:11 - 00:06:54:23
Adam Wills
and just what a beautiful place. I mean, there there were monkeys swinging from trees right outside our, our our, our room and actually had to be careful. You had to make sure you locked your sliding door, on your room, or the monkeys would actually open the door and and try to come in and steal food out of your room, but,
00:06:55:00 - 00:06:58:10
Adam Wills
Yeah. Absolutely. Fantastic place did you guys.
00:06:58:10 - 00:07:09:08
Wayne Mulder
Do for fun there? Was it just kind of like water type sports, or were you guys up in because it's standing. It's kind of a mountainous country, right. So there is like, what? What kind of stuff did you guys end up doing just out of curiosity?
00:07:09:10 - 00:07:27:02
Adam Wills
Most of the purpose of it was actually a conference. so we spent quite a bit of time as part of that conference. But outside of that, man, just relaxing by the pool, having some cocktails, sitting on the beach, you know, smoking some cigars, yeah.
00:07:27:02 - 00:07:31:23
Wayne Mulder
That stuff that, that what we call that. We have a word for that. It's called living. So I love that.
00:07:32:02 - 00:07:39:08
Adam Wills
Yes. Yeah. You know what? And we don't we don't get a whole lot of opportunities to do that as cops, do we? no.
00:07:39:10 - 00:07:56:19
Wayne Mulder
No, no. In fact, I think that's going to be kind of a theme that we talk about because that's that's what we miss so often. And I have these conversations with people and maybe in some ways I'm the same. And you come into this career and it's retirement minded. And then one day you wake up now the state of Florida, fortunately, they're gonna change it.
00:07:56:19 - 00:08:19:00
Wayne Mulder
But for a while here, it's been a 30 year retirement. So a guy that starts 25, 30 years old, one day, you wake up, you're 60 years old. And yeah, all that time, that's gone perfectly. You still have your health perfectly. You still have your marriage perfectly. You still have all these things that, you know, you can now enjoy those years, but there's so much a life that we need to live daily that just wait till the end.
00:08:19:00 - 00:08:20:23
Wayne Mulder
So. But we'll talk more about that, I'm sure.
00:08:21:00 - 00:08:44:21
Adam Wills
Well, you know, Wayne, this is, I have found throughout my life that this is either an asset of mine or, quite the opposite, but I tend to speak rather frankly. And I will say that, I actually mentioned this, a number of times on my, my old podcast, the Copper Newer Path podcast, as well as, in the law enforcement transition course, at Elliott as CEO.
00:08:44:23 - 00:08:54:10
Adam Wills
but I, I believe that, retirement, especially in the law enforcement industry, may be the biggest hoax, that has got us all.
00:08:54:12 - 00:08:55:05
Wayne Mulder
Amen.
00:08:55:07 - 00:08:57:01
Adam Wills
Suckered.
00:08:57:03 - 00:09:11:18
Wayne Mulder
Yeah. No, absolutely. well, let me let me ask you a couple more questions here that I want to go down the road there that you, opened up. Do you have a favorite or most meaningful nonfiction book?
00:09:11:20 - 00:09:26:07
Adam Wills
you know what? I've got a lot. I do a ton of reading. And nonfiction is really the only place that I. That I stand, so, I don't I don't waste a whole lot of time in fiction books. You know what? Give me a couple months and I'll tell you. It's my book. I'm almost done with it, but,
00:09:26:09 - 00:09:28:14
Wayne Mulder
Good. We will have to follow up on that.
00:09:28:19 - 00:09:41:11
Adam Wills
So. Yeah. but for now, I will say it's actually a very recent book that I read, and it's called leadership not by the book by David Greene, who's the CEO of Hobby Lobby.
00:09:41:13 - 00:09:43:01
Wayne Mulder
Okay.
00:09:43:03 - 00:09:45:07
Adam Wills
Fantastic book.
00:09:45:09 - 00:09:53:20
Wayne Mulder
Yeah, I will definitely look that one up. And, is it principles or is it more like his story or is it kind of a weaving of both or.
00:09:53:22 - 00:10:16:02
Adam Wills
It's it's definitely a weaving of both for sure. and obviously from, from a faith based perspective as well. because it's David Greene, the CEO of Hobby Lobby. Right, right. but, he talks a lot about his journey through starting the company and a lot of the challenges that they had and how he and his wife really, relied upon their faith.
00:10:16:02 - 00:10:43:17
Adam Wills
And in God is kind of the guiding force and the beacon that they would follow, even when things were very uncertain. Right. And, a lot of his lessons learned along the way about what true leadership really means, and, many of the ways in which the, the secular world, both gets it right sometimes in teaching leadership because they're actually following biblical principles but don't realize it.
00:10:43:19 - 00:11:01:12
Adam Wills
Or in, in a lot of ways where they actually are really teaching leaders poor habits and skills, because they're not following biblical principles. And so, I just love it for that. You know, it, I find a good alignment within the covers of that book.
00:11:01:14 - 00:11:12:08
Wayne Mulder
That's wonderful. And I will definitely link that up in the show notes for anyone to check out as well. I have not read it. I actually, saw it at Hobby Lobby, but I have yet to read it, so I will grab it next time.
00:11:12:10 - 00:11:27:06
Adam Wills
That's actually how I ended up picking it up. So we do all of our Christmas shopping every year for our kids at Hobby Lobby. And I went with my wife, before this past Christmas, and I saw it there on a stand. And I'm like, well, it's interesting. And I picked it up and looked at it, hadn't heard anything about it.
00:11:27:06 - 00:11:36:10
Adam Wills
I thought, hey, why not throw it in the car and read it before the year was out? It was easily my favorite book of the year for 2022.
00:11:36:12 - 00:11:55:01
Wayne Mulder
Very good. No, I'll definitely check it out. Yeah. Hobby lobby is getting dangerous because as they keep expanding, like all the cool little knickknacks stuff like I have all over my office here, besides the crafts and models and all the cool things, they are constantly, adding other little things. So it's dangerous to go in that store anymore, even for a guy I.
00:11:55:02 - 00:12:03:16
Adam Wills
Yeah, I love it. I have a blast there. there's all kinds of cool things, even for guys, especially if you want to have, like, a really cool looking office like yours.
00:12:03:18 - 00:12:18:01
Wayne Mulder
Oh. Thank you. So let me ask you, this is, last of these type questions that I ask everybody, and it's kind of similar to the coffee question I asked. But what is that place that brings you the most peace, your favorite place to kind of stop and breathe and enjoy life?
00:12:18:03 - 00:12:23:13
Adam Wills
Yeah, I'm going to kind of go back to what I said before. And that's anywhere near water in trees.
00:12:23:13 - 00:12:24:17
Wayne Mulder
let's go into your
00:12:24:17 - 00:12:39:17
Wayne Mulder
origin story a little bit. Let's, just wherever you want to start, kind of in your journey, you've teased some of it, that you were in law enforcement and you have a family, so I know that about you so far, Adam. But, wherever you kind of want to start with your journey that brought you to who you are today.
00:12:39:19 - 00:13:04:12
Adam Wills
Yeah. you know, I, I, like you said, I spent 15 years in law enforcement. I got to do, pretty much all the cool things in that 15 year career. I moved hard and fast. And, you know, it was just one of those go getters that really wanted to to do everything, you know, so I spent I spent time as a gang investigator, you know, worked in the jail.
00:13:04:12 - 00:13:29:18
Adam Wills
I pushed a patrol car. I got to do highway narcotics interdiction for a bit. I, spent four years on the US marshals task force. and then, even did some work with, FBI and DEA, on a two year investigation, doing some undercover work, managing a couple, kids and and making drug buys.
00:13:29:18 - 00:13:38:20
Adam Wills
And I actually bought a case of Mexican hand grenades, in one of those buys that we weren't. That's another story in and of itself, but, you know, got.
00:13:38:24 - 00:13:40:16
Wayne Mulder
Sounds like a great story. Adam.
00:13:40:18 - 00:14:22:05
Adam Wills
Yeah, yeah. So, the the last six years of my my law enforcement career, I spent, in leadership, second in command as the undersheriff, of a, rural law enforcement agency here in Colorado. And, the way that that that happened was really, it was nothing I planned. It was nothing I anticipated. And and it, too is a long story, but, we'll just say that, you know, I was following what I, what I perceived to be, a very, succinct, succinct and direct prompting by the Lord that's, you know, like I, I always say that whenever God wants me to do something, he always needs to use a
00:14:22:05 - 00:14:43:22
Adam Wills
two by four upside the back of my head. And that was really the case in this particular scenario. But, you know, I just felt this, this draw, I mean, I, I loved the agency I was working for on the Front Range was doing really well. Career was going awesome. but, you know, I just gotten married, to my, to my lovely wife, and, she grew up, out in the more rural part of the state.
00:14:43:22 - 00:15:09:23
Adam Wills
And, I felt the Lord just saying, you know what? We need to we need to move out and be closer to her family. and I thought it it wasn't really something I wanted to do, but I did, and I took a leap. And that ultimately resulted in me being offered this position as as undersheriff, which I really wasn't prepared for in a lot of ways, even though, you know, I feel like I always, was on top of things as a cop, right?
00:15:09:24 - 00:15:36:00
Adam Wills
You know, I understood was into my statutes. I knew I knew how to be. I was a good cop. Right. And, but I was young to it at the same time, I was actually the youngest undersheriff appointed in the state of Colorado at the time that I was appointed. And, spent six years doing that until my sheriff, did did not win his reelection bid, by like 120 votes in the primary.
00:15:36:02 - 00:15:41:21
Adam Wills
And, it was it was ugly. It was ugly. what.
00:15:41:21 - 00:15:56:12
Wayne Mulder
Was the split in the primary? I have to ask, because I also am a political junkie of sorts. What was the split that made him lose the primary? If he was the incumbent? Like what? What was the hot button issues that led to 120 votes split that he lost?
00:15:56:14 - 00:16:22:10
Adam Wills
you know, when you when you live in a rural community, perception is reality. Understood? and and unfortunately, even if that perception is not actually the reality, that is that is often the case. And so thou who is able to persuade the perception, to their advantage usually is, the, the winner, if you will.
00:16:22:16 - 00:16:49:14
Adam Wills
But I mean, you know, fair enough. In this case, I mean, there was a lot of there was a lot of personal, things that went into that, that, contest, if you will. Unfortunately, between the, the incumbent and the contender, and there was, there was unfortunately, a lot of inaccuracies and deceptions and true untruths that were being spread.
00:16:49:14 - 00:17:09:21
Adam Wills
And in the process of that and, well, I have high regard and high respect for who was then my, my boss, the sheriff in his, stance to say, I'm not going to stoop to that level to to fight it. We're going to let our reputation speak for itself. and, you know, truth will will prevail.
00:17:09:23 - 00:17:26:01
Adam Wills
truth did prevail, but, not quite in the way that we saw it. Right. So, you know, and it's okay. Like, now I can look back and I can say it was an absolute blessing that it happened the way it did in my life. And I know that he would say that, too. but but it was ugly.
00:17:26:03 - 00:17:42:23
Adam Wills
and so, you know, in the process of that, you know, because it was a primary, I had six months to prepare for my exit. and, didn't really know what to do. Like, I really went through a struggle during that time of, you know, what do I do? Right? Where do I go? Right. we had come out here.
00:17:42:23 - 00:18:04:06
Adam Wills
I felt like the Lord had really prompted that move, like I said, and, you know, so it leaves you guy kind of going, well. Well, why then, right? Why bring me out here? And now what? you know, I had I had offers, right? I had, I don't know, offer from the U.S. Marshal's office, to, to come on with them full time.
00:18:04:06 - 00:18:25:06
Adam Wills
I had, the, supervisory agent, from the FBI field office that I did some work through that was asking me to apply. And, you know, I had offers even to be undersheriff in a couple other counties in the state. And, but I really had this moment where I looked at what what was most important.
00:18:25:06 - 00:18:46:19
Adam Wills
Like, I asked myself that. What what is really most important? right now, at this juncture in my life. And I was looking at how I had spent the last two years of my law enforcement career doing, when I was actually doing that, that investigation with FBI, DEA, and I was working so many hours was killing myself, and I wasn't spending time with my kids.
00:18:46:19 - 00:19:05:02
Adam Wills
I wasn't spending time with my wife. I was kind of living a double life, as an administrator during the day. And then I was going out and doing drug buys and things at night. and, it was it was not a good life. And, and so I stopped for a moment, said, you know what? What's more important?
00:19:05:03 - 00:19:18:24
Adam Wills
My family's most important. And, when we have them here for a reason, and I said, nope, I've got to stay here. And so what does that mean? Well, I ultimately took a step towards entrepreneurship instead. At that point.
00:19:19:01 - 00:19:41:06
Wayne Mulder
That is a powerful story. And and there's a lot of things I want to kind of break down there, because I think it leads into directly what you're doing now. I do like what you said, that sometimes it takes a two by four for God to get our attention. I know I am exactly the same way. I as much as I understand it's a still small voice, I would prefer sometimes he uses a megaphone because, I don't seem to get the billboard.
00:19:41:12 - 00:20:03:23
Wayne Mulder
Exactly. I don't seem to get the, small, the small, lessons until later on, like you said. Yeah. Where you kind of stop and you look back, I. I've said it many times. Even my story of coming into this career is definitely, you see the leading you see like, I wouldn't be doing this if he wouldn't have had this be the path he wanted me to be on.
00:20:04:04 - 00:20:19:19
Wayne Mulder
And as I've said many times, when the day comes that this is no longer the path he wants me on, then I've got to be ready to pivot. That can be something that can be literally life changing. So there's kind of two questions that I want to ask about that specific story of your life that you brought up as.
00:20:19:20 - 00:20:40:12
Wayne Mulder
Yeah, sure. First of all, what, this kind of thing becomes very, very stressful for people. And in sadly, in a lot of situations, they don't pick the family over the job. They pick the job over the family. So how do you look at that decision making matrix now? It does help, I think if someone is grounded, this is kind of part of a broader conversation we'll get into.
00:20:40:12 - 00:20:59:00
Wayne Mulder
If you're grounded in your faith, if you're grounded, it like that helps. If you're coming to this from maybe an atheistic standpoint or agnostic or something like that, you're going to have a different value system in what we're discussing here. But for someone like you or I, how would you approach that, especially for a newer officer coming into this career that may be facing something similar?
00:20:59:02 - 00:21:21:01
Adam Wills
Yeah, well, you kind of took the answer out of my mouth, but, no, no, it's okay. but, I, you know, I, I, I think being rooted in, like you said, rooted in the faith, first of all, I knew that I was led to where I was for a reason. Right? And I didn't, question that.
00:21:21:03 - 00:21:46:20
Adam Wills
but I just knew, you know, over, over 15 years, I, the the law enforcement community is actually really small, right? You would think you would. You wouldn't think so. But I mean, you you go to enough training, around the country and different things, and you, you start to know a lot of people across the country, and you realize how small that community really is.
00:21:46:22 - 00:22:12:03
Adam Wills
and so in that process, I got to know and meet a lot of, guys and gals that had spent many years in law enforcement and a lot of them I started seeing towards the the last few years of my career were, in many cases quite miserable. Right. And, you know, I, I always had said that that that wasn't something I wanted, for, for myself.
00:22:12:03 - 00:22:36:24
Adam Wills
But, you know, I loved my career and, you know, I, I pictured myself staying in it really pretty close to the bitter end. But, as I said earlier, I kind of think retirement in the law enforcement industry is, kind of a bit of a hoax. You know, I saw a lot where you guys would retire right from their career, and they had no idea what else to do with their life.
00:22:36:24 - 00:22:58:19
Adam Wills
They they had invested everything into that, to the point where they didn't know exactly what else to do. So either a retirement to them was to go golf for the rest of their life, or they would retire, go take like a one month vacation somewhere, and then they'd come back and they'd work civil process or do Vin inspections or work the front desk.
00:22:58:21 - 00:23:04:08
Adam Wills
And there I mean, I was like, that's not retirement, right?
00:23:04:10 - 00:23:06:16
Wayne Mulder
That's not my idea of it, for sure.
00:23:06:18 - 00:23:13:12
Adam Wills
And and so I just didn't I just didn't want to get to that point in my life or I didn't know what else to do with it. Yeah.
00:23:13:14 - 00:23:30:06
Wayne Mulder
You know, so leading that question to you said, you know, you're faced at this point where you have like six months and, you know, this election is coming up and clearly you're seeing, you know, this is becoming very bitter and you got a lot of personal things that are going on between the, those in the election.
00:23:30:12 - 00:23:46:03
Wayne Mulder
And so you you're faced with this. Hey, in six months, I could be looking to do something different. How did you break that down? Like, what were the thoughts that because clearly, in the moment. And obviously we'll get to this is exactly what you're teaching others to do. But before you taught others you had to go through it yourself.
00:23:46:08 - 00:23:53:19
Wayne Mulder
So in that moment, what were the things that you were seeing and what were some of the steps that you started taking to make the decision into what you're going to do next?
00:23:53:21 - 00:24:13:05
Adam Wills
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to unpack there for sure. I, I would like to tell you that it was this, very measured, approach that, that, you know, I planned out and made complete sense, but it really wasn't, it felt like complete and in total chaos. to be quite honest. it was it was scary.
00:24:13:05 - 00:24:39:14
Adam Wills
It was, you know, it was, it endless elicited a lot of panic. Right. and I'll tell you, too, that, after my last day on the job. Okay. I, I've always been a proponent of carrying off duty and concealed carry in general for the average citizen. And, so I would do that often. Pretty much.
00:24:39:14 - 00:25:02:12
Adam Wills
I would never. It's like Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman always says, never go anywhere without without your firearm. A blade in a light and an extra magazine. Right. And and, I've always been the same way. But after that last day, I came home. I put my my, Glock 19 in the little safe on my dresser, and I struggled to take it back out again.
00:25:02:12 - 00:25:20:06
Adam Wills
It took me almost six months to be willing to do that again, and it wasn't because I didn't again believe that that was a thing I should do or that I didn't want to, you know, bear that responsibility anymore. But I felt like, for some reason, like that was a part of my identity. And I wasn't allowed to possess that anymore.
00:25:20:08 - 00:25:42:04
Adam Wills
The identity. Right. And so I really struggled and that was it. This goes back to the point I made before. I didn't want to get to that point in my career where I didn't know what else to do with my life. And then it dawned on me that I was kind of already there after only 15 years, you know, I know, and so, but having that six months to, to prepare for, you know, I knew I wasn't moving anywhere, it wasn't going anywhere.
00:25:42:04 - 00:26:09:22
Adam Wills
And being in a rural area like we are, it's like there's a ton of, you know, opportunities out here. And so, I kind of started off doing two things. I was also, in my law enforcement career, I was a CBSA examiner, you know, the voice stress analyzer, the. Yeah. And so, I purchased my own CBSA and, laptop, and I was like, you know, I'm, I love doing interviews and interview interrogation.
00:26:09:24 - 00:26:38:06
Adam Wills
I was like, I'm going to get, a private investigators license, and I'm going to, to offer consulting services to attorneys. and in doing CBSA exams. Right. And so I started doing that and it, you know, it went okay. Where I went, it went, all right. you know, it was working with a couple of attorneys doing some of those, but at the same time, because I had to make sure I could pay my bills and that wasn't quite there yet.
00:26:38:06 - 00:26:59:01
Adam Wills
Right. going back a number of years now feels like eons ago. When I was a kid, I used to have a passion for building websites when I was a kid. And so, it was something that I've enjoyed and kept as a hobby over the years. And in fact, did some freelance work building websites for people on the side when I was in law enforcement.
00:26:59:03 - 00:27:19:13
Adam Wills
And so I was like, well, I know I can make money doing that. So I was kind of doing both of these things at the same time. So I'm like a private investigator over here. And then I have another business over here doing web design and development. And, but I really, really, really wanted the Pi thing to work because that felt like I could still maintain part of my identity.
00:27:19:15 - 00:27:28:07
Adam Wills
Right? Right. Like there was an obvious, simple transition into, okay, I was a cop, now I'm a Pi and I'm doing this thing right.
00:27:28:11 - 00:27:31:05
Wayne Mulder
I still feel like a detective or yeah, whatever the case may be.
00:27:31:05 - 00:27:57:12
Adam Wills
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's easy for people to understand. You don't have to answer a lot of questions, because we all know as cops, like, we don't want people prying into our business, and we don't like answering questions about ourselves. Right. and so, so I really wanted that to work, but it really didn't. And I've always used the analogy where I'm like, man, I feel like I had two, two firepits going right with the different businesses.
00:27:57:14 - 00:28:16:05
Adam Wills
And this fire pit with the Pi thing was like, not really taking off. Like I had to constantly keep pouring fuel on it to get it to ignite again and, you know, keep going. But then over here, this other business is web design development. Business like that was taking off. Like people were coming to me left and right for work.
00:28:16:07 - 00:28:31:11
Adam Wills
And it was, you know, it paid better in a lot of ways. And I didn't have to go anywhere. Right? I got to stay home and work from home, but I didn't have an identity in that. And then I'd always get weird questions from people. They'd be like, how did you go from being a cop to building websites?
00:28:31:11 - 00:28:52:18
Adam Wills
And then it just like, felt like this reopening of a wound that I had to now try and explain to them. And so because of that, I that fire was taking off. But I felt like I was always trying to pour water on it to get it to go out. Right, because I didn't want to have to deal with the discomfort of trying to figure out what my life looked like as just a civilian.
00:28:52:18 - 00:28:58:22
Adam Wills
And, and, you know, not having that law enforcement identity anymore.
00:28:58:22 - 00:29:19:24
Speaker 1
Hey everyone, let me just jump in here real quick and tell you our new Patreon page is up! This is an exciting opportunity where we can bring you a little bit more content and an exchange if you're willing to help support us just a little bit. It's such a huge help. you will find, specific episodes in there that you can not get anywhere else.
00:29:20:00 - 00:29:41:07
Speaker 1
They're not on, Spotify, they're not on iTunes, they're not on YouTube, but they are for you and for others who are willing to join us in this mission and kind of help support us and get us going in the direction that you want us to go, so that I can keep bringing you great content. And then on the other side of it, it helps to steer the direction while getting a little something extra as a thank you.
00:29:41:07 - 00:30:09:15
Speaker 1
So I hope you'll consider joining us. There's actually three different levels inside there. One is pretty much just an ad free content that's not available everywhere else, all the way up to a level that includes a monthly membership meeting where you get to come in to a zoom call. I'll be there, others will be there, and we can just kind of not only talk about whatever it is that you may want to know, questions and answers and all that good stuff, but then also kind of steer the direction for what this is becoming and what we hope it to be.
00:30:09:16 - 00:30:24:15
Speaker 1
So I thank you for, let me just take a minute and tell you about it. It's, our new Patreon site. The link is going to be wherever, whatever platform that you are watching this on. It'll pop up on the screen right here, but then also it's going to be down in the show notes I have here on YouTube.
00:30:24:15 - 00:30:39:03
Speaker 1
Scroll down below the video. If you're on Rumble, scroll down below the video, wherever you are, you'll be able to find it and I encourage you to at least just check it out. Just go look at it. And then if you want to get some of that exclusive content, I hope that you'll consider joining, a huge help.
00:30:39:05 - 00:30:55:21
Speaker 1
It's not a lot of money. I mean, I understand the times we're in and the economy that we're in, but for a little bit of money, it's going to help to not only continue to bring you what the content that you want, but then also give you a little something extra as a thank you. So thank you so much for even listening to this.
00:30:56:00 - 00:31:00:21
Speaker 1
Now back to the show.
00:31:01:04 - 00:31:24:04
Wayne Mulder
No, I think that's powerful. And I think I think that's something that you do end up with two extremes. And it's something that kind of is grounded in this podcast. And something I've talked about a lot is seeing yourself as more than the job or more than the career, because we're talking about positive aspects, positive aspects of, you know, you decide to start a business or you know, you're able to spend more time with your family and move in.
00:31:24:04 - 00:31:45:05
Wayne Mulder
But there can be the potentially and Lord forbid, negative aspect of something happens. And now you can't physically do this job. And what you were thinking the retirement hoax of what was going to happen changes overnight. And now your life's completely different. And if you haven't been laying that foundation, or if you always saw yourself as nothing more, then this position like this is who I am now.
00:31:45:05 - 00:32:04:01
Wayne Mulder
In that instant it can change. And sometimes, you know, I think maybe with having that faith base, maybe sometimes that can even be where it's a reminder of our own, you know, that, humbling, if you would, that that maybe we're not in control as much as, we like to think we are sometimes.
00:32:04:03 - 00:32:35:22
Adam Wills
Yeah. Well, you know, I, I started, I started Leo to CEO because I really wanted to open other cop's eyes to the opportunities that exist for them. And entrepreneur, because I've always kind of had this bit towards like, I knew one day I was going to have a business, right. So it wasn't really a surprise to me. But, I see a lot of, other cops out there, and I use the term cop intentionally and generally because I think it applies to a lot of different areas.
00:32:35:22 - 00:33:03:11
Adam Wills
It doesn't just mean the patrol guy. Right. and so, I think in, in the law enforcement industry as a whole, right, even corrections and that sort of thing, I see a lot of cops that kind of put their dreams on hold to start a business because they're they're trying to reach that day of retirement because they think somehow, magically, that retirement is going to make it easier or make it better or make them more financially stable.
00:33:03:13 - 00:33:25:08
Adam Wills
And and the reality is that's not always true. Right? unfortunately, we see a lot of, retirement plans now, especially that aren't solvent. and, you get to the point where you retire and what sounded really enticing 2030 years ago, because you're like, wow, that's a lot of money. You tell me. I'm going to retire making X, you know, number of dollars a month, right?
00:33:25:08 - 00:33:33:13
Adam Wills
Look at what inflation's done just in the last two years. Yeah. Right. And most of the time the math doesn't actually math. Right.
00:33:33:15 - 00:33:36:04
Wayne Mulder
And so I like I like that.
00:33:36:06 - 00:33:54:11
Adam Wills
Yeah. And so you know you're you're trying to earn a living or I should say you're trying to live in your retirement off of pittance. because of what inflation has done. And I tell you guys all the time I'm like, listen, let's actually sit down and do the math. Like, let's figure out, like, what is your offer?
00:33:54:17 - 00:34:17:23
Adam Wills
If you were to start a business, what do you what is your offer? What are you going to price it at? How many customers do you think you can get. And like let's math that out right. And and if that actually does go, you know, become, a reality, you might actually be able to make more money, in starting your business now and leaving your career.
00:34:18:00 - 00:34:39:18
Adam Wills
then if you held out for retirement now. And I say that only because there's a lot of people and unfortunately, we we don't probably want to get into politics here. But over the last couple of years, since I've been out, things have gotten pretty tough in the law enforcement space. And there's a lot of people that are really miserable, and I hear from them all the time.
00:34:39:18 - 00:34:59:05
Adam Wills
I mean, I got five years left and I'm going to stick this out, but then they show up to work every day. They're miserable. Right? It's having an impact on their health physically and mentally. And quite frankly, nobody wants to work with you. Everybody's sick and tired of listening to you whine and complain and then you're dragging everybody else down that does want to be there.
00:34:59:11 - 00:35:20:23
Adam Wills
So you're not doing yourself a favor. You're not doing your family a favor. You're not doing your community a favor. You're not doing your partner's a favor. You're not right. Like, hey, if you're miserable and you've got this other thing you want to pursue, what I'm saying is don't hold out for that retirement just because you think that somehow that payoff is going to be so miraculous that it's going to make your life that much better.
00:35:20:23 - 00:35:23:17
Adam Wills
Because, again, the math may not. Math.
00:35:23:19 - 00:35:43:01
Wayne Mulder
Absolutely. Yeah. No. And that can't be overstated. I mean, even if you, you know, people they'll rely on. Oh, well, I get a cost of living adjustment or cola, you know, whatever. And it's like there's no no cola on the planet that's going to get you to like 14%. yeah. You know, inflation like that, that just doesn't happen, you know?
00:35:43:01 - 00:35:44:11
Adam Wills
No, you can't budget for that.
00:35:44:13 - 00:36:01:17
Wayne Mulder
No, you simply can't. So I think there's a lot of wisdom to what you're saying. I can also hear, though, I have friends and I can hear in the back of my head right now, them making some sort of comment because we're all cops and we're all cynical. so I'm sort of a comment about, well, that sounds good.
00:36:01:17 - 00:36:22:01
Wayne Mulder
And I love what Adam's saying, but, it he's not including, you know, the amount of money and resources and time. And what if it fails and you know that what if game playing that. So how do you answer that guy? who? I won't mention his name, but I can hear his voice in my ear as I am, asking this.
00:36:22:03 - 00:36:56:09
Adam Wills
Well, I mean, I don't know that there is a concrete answer to that, just to be honest. I mean, I wish there was, but I will say this. I mean, ultimately, what you're talking about is risk, right? You're saying there's a there's a risk because there's there's no there's no predictability in, in entrepreneurship. Right. well, is is that risk any greater or is it less than the risk that you take going in and continuing with the career, especially if you're if you're unhappy.
00:36:56:09 - 00:37:13:17
Adam Wills
Right. Like, I'm not trying to I've been accused of trying to encourage a mass exodus from law enforcement before with my, my podcast in with all the other CEO, and that's just not the case. I just, you know, we we need good guys and girls that that are still on the street that are committed to doing that.
00:37:13:17 - 00:37:42:19
Adam Wills
Right. and I want them to stay there if that's where they're at. But, you know, I've also seen a lot of stories of people, you know, end up having to medically retire. They get injured, or or even if it's not a physical injury. Mental injury is is a legitimate thing. Absolutely. you know, having been in a lot of career critical incidents myself, and, you know, sometimes, sometimes there's a lot of things unpredictable.
00:37:42:19 - 00:38:12:18
Adam Wills
And, you know, I, I know that at the end of the day, here's one thing I can say in entrepreneurship in my business that I have now, and every business is a little bit different, right? And some might have more risk than others. But, my commute is from the coffee pot across the hall to my, my office, and my biggest risk is not getting shot at or, you know, stabbed or spit on, or blood exposure or any of those things.
00:38:12:18 - 00:38:31:19
Adam Wills
My biggest risk is spilling some coffee on myself. And like you said, maybe, maybe losing some money. Right. But I know at the end of the day, I'm still, you know, outside of. I mean, we all die somehow, but outside of the catastrophic, I still am going to have my my family. I'm still going to have my house.
00:38:31:19 - 00:38:54:22
Adam Wills
Right. I'm not taking the risk of being ripped away from from that. quite the same. Right. And I don't want to make it sound like I was ever scared of that risk and law enforcement by any means. I, I've done a lot of I've done a lot of the dumb things just like everybody else. And, you know, you know, ran into buildings that were on fire and you know, all the dumb stuff.
00:38:54:22 - 00:38:55:03
Adam Wills
Right?
00:38:55:03 - 00:38:58:20
Wayne Mulder
Especially in the, you see world doing bodies for sure.
00:38:58:22 - 00:39:19:24
Adam Wills
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. you know, so, but yeah, that's my answer. You're saying that there's risk? Well, yeah, of course there's risk. But balance it, right? What what's the bigger risk? What's most important to you? That question I was asking myself when I was trying to decide what was I going to do? What's most important in your life right now?
00:39:20:01 - 00:39:21:19
Adam Wills
Answer that question first.
00:39:21:21 - 00:39:41:18
Wayne Mulder
I love that I really do, and I that that's very much how I would answer it as well. I mean, I think a lot of dangerous thinking and what we've seen over the last few years, what happens when everything is a risk adverse thinking, you know, this lowest common denominator when when you're making decisions to, you know, well, what if you can end up in some really dangerous non-American places?
00:39:41:19 - 00:39:43:21
Wayne Mulder
So no, I will agree.
00:39:43:21 - 00:40:08:01
Adam Wills
Here in Colorado they took away qualified immunity. Right. And so after I left my law enforcement career, I considered, reserving just to keep my post. But I was like, are you kidding me? Like, I don't get qualified immunity anymore. I'm gonna go stick my neck out on the line and risk being sued because I don't have qualified immunity, especially if I'm not getting paid a full time wage to go out there and do the job.
00:40:08:05 - 00:40:11:06
Adam Wills
Right. So.
00:40:11:08 - 00:40:21:14
Wayne Mulder
yeah, no, no business on the planet would operate with that level of risk. When you talk about removing qualified immunity, I've said it many times. Yeah, but that's a whole different conversation and a much longer one.
00:40:21:16 - 00:40:22:04
Adam Wills
Yes, sir.
00:40:22:04 - 00:40:35:21
Wayne Mulder
It is just really quick. Let's, tell the, listeners what they can expect with the Leo to see a website. If they go there. It looks like there may even be like a community, as well, that you're building or had just a little bit of what they can expect if they go there.
00:40:35:23 - 00:40:58:21
Adam Wills
A lot of things have gone through evolution here in the last year or so. with the growth of our business, and, and, you know, that has just taken off, it just beyond my wildest dreams. and, and Elliot, a CEO, has ebbed and flowed. there's not so much of a community anymore, but what there is, on, with Elliot as CEO, I need to make some updates.
00:40:58:21 - 00:41:26:02
Adam Wills
That website. But what there is with Elliot as CEO, is there's a free, law enforcement transition course. You can go sign up for, Leo. So that's obviously you guys know what Leo is. Leo the number two ceo.com. You can go there. You can see the free law enforcement transition course. so if you're, thinking about transitioning out of law enforcement, or maybe you already know that that is approaching, maybe you're just curious about what opportunities there are.
00:41:26:04 - 00:41:56:17
Adam Wills
there's, there's three main modules in that that course. One is, talking about what the experiences like transitioning out. And I actually partner up with a, a good friend of mine who's actually happens to be a client that, is a therapist that works solely with male combat veterans and, law enforcement, officers and, so her and I talked together in that module about, you know, how to prepare mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, all those things for, leaving your career and what to expect.
00:41:56:17 - 00:42:14:07
Adam Wills
Right. And I sure you know, my story and things like that. And then the second module is looking at what does it look like to transition out of law enforcement into entrepreneurship? and some things to kind of get you started there. And then the third is, what does it look like to transition out of law enforcement into the corporate security world?
00:42:14:07 - 00:42:37:09
Adam Wills
And I partnered with, again, I'm not experienced in that. So partnered with a couple guys that are experts in that world. Carlos Francisco, the corporate security, what do they call him? The corporate security guy or something like that? he's a former cop two and, works for Disney, Amazon, Google, Facebook. He's worked for all the big companies.
00:42:37:11 - 00:42:57:11
Adam Wills
and so, yeah. So you can check that out. And then we do have workshops every month where we bring in guest speakers and, sometimes I'll coach and teach on on certain things in business and marketing. so, yeah, you definitely go check that out. that's that's pretty much what Leo the CEO has to offer right now.
00:42:57:13 - 00:43:12:08
Wayne Mulder
Perfect. And I'll be sure to have that linked up. It is the Leo, the number two CEO. And I definitely want everyone to check that out. there are so many other roads we could go down, with all the marketing and everything else. So hopefully, maybe I can have you back in the future. But I think I want to go down.
00:43:12:09 - 00:43:34:12
Wayne Mulder
I want to talk about podcasting real quick because you had the The Cup Preneur podcast, which I had told you off, air that I'd listen to a couple episodes and that is good stuff there. So anyone that's I believe that's still going to be up if I'm correct. So definitely check this out. if you just want some good information, however you're going to shift a little bit there too, which is good.
00:43:34:14 - 00:43:54:21
Wayne Mulder
it's always good to evolve and to grow as we do these things. And you're going to be coming out with a new podcast or have come out with a podcast called The Uncompromised Podcast. And I love, in a world of relativism, relativism, I love it when I hear things like this, because we've got we've fallen so far away from absolute truth.
00:43:54:23 - 00:44:01:10
Wayne Mulder
yeah. I think that that is just so powerful. So please tell us a little bit about what we can expect and what you're building.
00:44:01:12 - 00:44:21:24
Adam Wills
Yeah. So the Number Path podcast it when I, when I put that all together, it was always intended to be evergreen content and it is so it yes. That podcast is still going to remain available in the podcast feeds. you can check it out. There's 113 episodes. Some of them are solo episodes. They're interviews. Right. And it's all focused on cop entrepreneurship.
00:44:21:24 - 00:44:43:10
Adam Wills
Right. growing, starting, scaling a business. and so, yeah, I would encourage that, but yeah, the the change kind of came, I don't know, sometimes just like change just feels good. You know, it's it's motivating. and I just felt like it was time, after 130, 13 episodes, like, and it kind of came as a sudden decision.
00:44:43:12 - 00:44:59:06
Adam Wills
so I ended recorded the last episode, went out last, November at the end of November. And I actually said in that episode, like, I'm just going to take a break for the season and come back, after the first of the year. Well, then after the first of the year came and I was like, yeah, I'm not ready yet.
00:44:59:08 - 00:45:25:11
Adam Wills
And, you know, I just was like, I couldn't do it. And, and, you know, I, I acquired, a part of another company, back in October, as part of our expansion and growth. you know, we were now a huge company. And, you know, I've just I've learned a lot about myself and about entrepreneurship over the last couple of years.
00:45:25:11 - 00:45:47:06
Adam Wills
And, you know, I've made a lot of really dumb mistakes, but I've also learned, like, what is it? What does it really take to to grow to that level? and I'm still figuring it out. Don't get me wrong. but I just really wanted to highlight kind of some of those, those experiences. And really, I had this profound moment back in, October.
00:45:47:08 - 00:46:05:22
Adam Wills
No, it was November of last year. So right around that same time, I had this profound moment where I realized that a lot of the things that were causing me angst in my life and in had in the past were areas where I compromised on things right, and where I was willing to, like, let's compromise on this thing.
00:46:05:22 - 00:46:26:01
Adam Wills
Like, I don't really need to stand firm in that personal belief or, or value that I have. I can, I can, I can compromise a little bit here, I can compromise a little bit there, or like even just compromising in how I ran my business right. And I'll admit, this is something I still struggle with. My law enforcement career did not set me up well for not being a workaholic.
00:46:26:01 - 00:46:52:22
Adam Wills
I love work, but I, I yeah, but, you know, compromising on the time I spend with my, my wife and my kids and, you know, the time that I need to take off for myself to really live in a mode of of my, zone of genius and and being able to visually be a visionary and visualize things and not just be stuck in, fulfillment mode and running on a hamster wheel.
00:46:52:23 - 00:47:14:03
Adam Wills
Right. And so I started realizing that compromise was really not a positive thing. And we've been taught all along our entire lives that compromise, compromise. Come on. You know, Johnny, you have to compromise. And I think that's really kind of another, another big, lie in, in our lives. Is that compromise really isn't because I think there's a distinction, okay.
00:47:14:09 - 00:47:38:22
Adam Wills
There's compromise and then there's creation of a superior solution, okay? And they're different. They're not the same thing. And so I think if we focus our life on how do we create a superior solution together. Right. That's different than compromising. And I think compromise just breeds mediocrity. And so I was like, you know what? I'm going to start this new podcast.
00:47:38:22 - 00:47:55:12
Adam Wills
And it's all about being an uncompromised, blank and uncompromised entrepreneur, an uncompromised husband and uncompromised father and uncompromised Christian. Right? All of these things, I'm like, I'm just not going to compromise anymore.
00:47:55:14 - 00:48:16:17
Wayne Mulder
I love that, I absolutely love it. And sometime in the future, we're going to have to dig into this. well, I will be listening to the podcast, but I'd also love to dig further into this creation of a superior solution, because I think that is fantastic. In fact, even when we talk like broader societal issues and so forth, I, I don't get specific in politics, much like you referenced earlier, but on the show.
00:48:16:17 - 00:48:38:17
Wayne Mulder
But I do say that politics affects law enforcement. It absolutely does, big time. So when we talk about some of the societal disagreements we have right now, there is absolutely middle ground. It's that quote unquote compromise, which I agree with you. I dislike the word greatly. However, it's not a compromise of values. You have to be rooted in absolutes.
00:48:38:17 - 00:48:57:12
Wayne Mulder
Like you and I both agree in the Bill of rights. Okay, now we can find a superior solution. I love that because we have these absolutes that we agree on. So now how can we, you know, better society? How can we work together. But if you I either one is like, well, we're going to throw off the Constitution and the declaration and the Bill of rights.
00:48:57:18 - 00:49:03:01
Wayne Mulder
And oh, by the way, you're going to do it my way and you've got to compromise. Well, that is what I call a problem.
00:49:03:03 - 00:49:28:07
Adam Wills
We see when when we compromise, nobody gets what they wanted. In the end. Right. And so and so we end up just breeding dissent and, you know, all those ugly other things that come with it. but but ultimately, you know, I feel like society wants us to be homogenous, right? society wants us to all think the same, act the same, do the same, say the same.
00:49:28:07 - 00:49:48:20
Adam Wills
Right. And and, I think we should embrace our differences and be okay with that. Right? There's no reason we have to be offended just because somebody thinks differently dresses differently, looks differently, says different. Right? Like, I, I believe there used to be a point in this country where that was okay, and it was encouraged. And it doesn't seem like that's where we're at right now.
00:49:48:20 - 00:50:08:24
Adam Wills
And it certainly doesn't feel like that's where they want to take us. there's this this push towards just, you know, being homogenous and everything being the same and not talking about critical things and things that are uncomfortable or that we might, my gosh, disagree on. Right, right. And I just think that's it's yeah, I don't know. It's ridiculous.
00:50:08:24 - 00:50:12:22
Adam Wills
I think it's ridiculous. I think that just makes things worse.
00:50:12:24 - 00:50:26:16
Wayne Mulder
I agree with the 100%. And I say it all the time, I don't want a whole world of people that agree with me. Lord forbid. My goodness, if we had a bunch of Waynes running around, we'd have a problem. But I'm taking Adam's thoughts and my thoughts and the listener's thoughts and bringing together we can make a stronger community.
00:50:26:21 - 00:50:44:20
Wayne Mulder
Well, Adam, we are running out of time. I before I let you go, though, I have to ask my final question that I ask every guest on the show, and we've kind of touched on a few things that may help answer it, but what is that one take away the one thing that we as law enforcement officers can do that's going to make a difference in our personal lives.
00:50:44:22 - 00:51:05:04
Adam Wills
You know, here's the one thing I will tell you. And it seems like a really simple answer, but it's intended to be, and, and I like I said, I spent the last six years as an administrator, so I unfortunately saw the breadth of this firsthand. But too many cops don't take the time off that's allotted to them.
00:51:05:06 - 00:51:33:12
Adam Wills
and and I know things are, excuse me, difficult right now. You know, there's there's staffing shortages everywhere. everybody's being asked to pull extra shifts and work longer shifts than normal. But my best advice is, remember why you got into that career in the first place, right? Probably you want to provide for yourself and your family and and second, because you wanted to do a good things for the community, right?
00:51:33:14 - 00:51:57:15
Adam Wills
nobody gets into law enforcement to make money. and so a, a, you know, if you don't take care of yourself and you don't take your time off that's allotted to you, there's mental health breaks and, you know, actually disconnect, by the way, when you take that time off, then then are you really going to be able to, to be there to, to provide for your family the way you intended to?
00:51:57:15 - 00:52:07:03
Adam Wills
And are you really going to be at your best, to step up and, be a guardian for your community?
00:52:07:05 - 00:52:17:07
Wayne Mulder
Yeah, that's great advice. And something that is also, that I'm very passionate about as well. So thank you so much, Adam, for coming on. What's the best way for people to connect with you?
00:52:17:09 - 00:52:36:07
Adam Wills
Yeah. So best way is there's social media for sure. So you can, find me on LinkedIn is where I'm most active. Second to that would be on Instagram. just search my name, Adam Wills. but you can also. Hey, if anybody wants to email me directly, you can email me at Adam W at Hite digital.com.
00:52:36:07 - 00:53:05:08
Adam Wills
That's HIIT digital.com. and of course please do check out the uncompromised podcast. It has not officially gone out yet. it launches May 1st, so just a couple weeks from the time of our recording here. It launches May 1st, but we're also live streaming every episode as we record those. So whether it's a solo episode or I'm doing an interview, those are being live streamed on LinkedIn, YouTube, and I'm hoping Rumble here soon.
00:53:05:08 - 00:53:24:05
Adam Wills
So if you're on Rumble, please go follow me on Rumble, because right now I don't have enough followers on Rumble for them to let me live stream. so, yeah, you can follow it right now. Live stream. if as long as you follow me on LinkedIn or YouTube, you'll, you'll get the notification. But certainly please subscribe to the podcast when it comes out May 1st.
00:53:24:05 - 00:53:27:21
Adam Wills
Wherever you listen to podcasts, it'll be everywhere.
00:53:27:23 - 00:53:43:24
Wayne Mulder
Perfect. And I will make sure that that is all in the show notes. So if you're listening this, just go down to the show notes and there'll be a link to the, web page that has all of this information. And be sure to click on it and follow what Adam is doing. Great stuff. So we could go on for hours, but I know you got things to do and we gotta keep moving.
00:53:43:24 - 00:53:46:00
Wayne Mulder
But thank you so much for coming on.
00:53:46:01 - 00:53:47:00
Adam Wills
Yeah. You bet.
00:53:47:11 - 00:54:11:18
Wayne Mulder
All right. What do you think? I hope you enjoyed that podcast. Thank you so much for watching or listening. However you enjoyed this week's podcast. Thank you so much. Every episode has the full show notes that I'm the blue line.com. Please be sure to check all that out. if you saw the ad for our new Patreon page, it's just a way to get content that is only available to members and a way for you to support this podcast, so I hope that's something you'll consider.
00:54:11:20 - 00:54:23:04
Wayne Mulder
you can always click the link in the show notes. Be below. And that is all for today. I will see you next week at the podcast and I will see you. in the meantime, out there on the blue line.