Rocky: 0:01

Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Rockpile podcast tonight. We're the first edition of the Beyond the Game podcast airs tonight here on the Rockpile. If you're following me across social media, please make sure to give it a like and subscribe button. If you have any comments, questions tonight for Jim. Before I bring him on, please put them in the comment box. I'll try to bring over as many as I can tonight, over as many as I can tonight.

Rocky: 0:26

I'm excited to talk to Jim Tracy, the co-founder of Legacy Telecommunications, author, speaker and the host of the Grampian podcast. We'll ask Jim about that and much more, and I just got a chance to interact with Jim for a few minutes and I can't thank him enough. This is a little bit going out of my comfort zone as many that follow the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch and also follow the Rockpile and all the podcasts that are on the platform. I appreciate everybody taking the time here tonight. So, without further ado, I'm not going to keep him waiting any longer. Let me bring Jim on with me here. Let me switch this up. How are you, my friend?

Jim Tracy: 0:57

Hey man, I'm better than I deserve. How are you?

Rocky: 1:00

I'm doing fantastic. I appreciate you taking the time.

Jim Tracy: 1:04

Oh, thank you for having me on. I'm honored.

Rocky: 1:06

Yeah, this is as I was telling you before we jumped on. This is a little bit outside of my comfort zone. I love talking to people. My biggest thing on my platforms, jim, are really listening to stories, listening to stories from whether it's sports, entrepreneurs like yourself, business owners, you name it. I love listening to stories, so this was really a great opportunity to have you on tonight. So, again, I appreciate it.

Jim Tracy: 1:28

Awesome. Hey, we're both blessed.

Rocky: 1:30

No, we are. I definitely will admit that we definitely are. So, jim, let's get into, if you can just share a little bit about yourself, a little bit of the background for the listeners out there tonight.

Jim Tracy: 1:43

All right, I'm born into a big family out in rural South Dakota and was a welder up in Northern Minnesota and found and fell in love with this beautiful girl. I asked her father. I said, hey, I don't want to get married. And he said, good, where are you going to college? I'm like, anywhere you want, man, if that's the price of entry.

Jim Tracy: 2:04

I am in. And so we went and I bartended my way through college, went through about three different careers, and one day my son came home. He was 17 years old, he had been working building cell towers and he said, hey, come on out to my job site, because I had done that kind of work when I was a kid and I went out there and I was like terrified because I knew someone was going to get hurt there. Um, if they kept doing things. They were, so I stuck my spurs into a pretty good and one night he came home and he said hey, dad, if you think you're so smart, let's go do it ourselves. And I'm like, okay. So we started legacy telecommunications and went from you know two employees to a couple of hundred and then into private equity where I went to almost a thousand employees. And, yeah, I sold that business and come out and now I do keynote speaking, writing some books, that kind of thing and hopefully impacting people. You know a lot about that, rocky.

Rocky: 2:59

Yeah, and that's hopefully what we'll do tonight is impact some people, and I always say, if there's people that are listening, that even if they take away one or two drinks not just from me, from you or anybody that I've had on my shows it means something to me. So I want you to start with. You started the business, though, in your garage, yeah, so talk to us a little bit about that journey, because that's a fascinating story for somebody that started from their garage and built an umpire like yourself.

Jim Tracy: 3:25

Yeah, you know, we were probably a little bit too stupid and too desperate to know any better. And so I, literally I cleaned out my retirement account. I cleaned out, had some management incentive funds that had been earned and I cashed everything and I bet it on me and my kid. And we didn't have, we couldn't go rent an office I mean we had. So I worked two jobs for about a year while we were doing that and we would do the self stuff at night and work a regular job during the day. And you know, after a while we started getting contracts with some of the national carriers. And, lo and behold, we hit the timing right and as the cell business began to explode, they needed people who wanted to work at Elevation and, you know, build cellular communications infrastructure.

Rocky: 4:22

So, jim, my podcast, the Rock Pile, I like to talk a lot about climbing the rock pile and chasing dreams, and I I've been a guy that I've always had a boy, a ball and a dream, because I've grown I've grown up around sports my entire life. My dad was um a long time high school coach in the area, 35 years plus. My sisters coached field hockey and played field hockey at the division one level. I I coached it at the high school level and played division one football myself, and one of the things I've always said is don't be scared to chase your dreams, and that's why that was one of the reasons why, when I was reading through your bio and some of your stories of how you started, what would be some of your um thoughts you would share with you guys like myself and anybody listening tonight that are chasing a dream.

Jim Tracy: 5:06

Yeah, um, number one there's going to be a lot of people out there who are going to say, ah, it's probably not a good idea, there's probably not a good time, it's probably not. You know, probably don't have enough money, you're probably not smart enough, you may not have enough talent. I mean, there's all kinds of people out there who are going to tell you, all kinds of people out there who are going to tell you it's just not a good idea and it's not their dream, it's not their energy, it's not up to them.

Rocky: 5:40

And, frankly, if you think you can do it, you're 90% of the way there. Yeah, and that's exactly right. And there's times you're going to get knocked down and you've got to be able to get back up again and deal through some adversity. And I thought another one of your stories that was fascinating. You dealt with a pretty significant skiing accident.

Jim Tracy: 5:54

Yeah, I was up in northern Idaho at a place called Schweitzer and I was skiing with one of my grandsons Weitzer. And I was skiing with one of my grandsons and I came off a mogul and my leg was actually probably really straight when it should have been bent and I came down and I crushed my tibia plateau. I mean, I yard sailed it, man. I got hats over there, skis over there, goggles back there, poles somewhere else. But I knew something was pretty bad right away. This lady and his guy come around. They put the X on the skis over my head, come around behind me. So they're now in front of me and they're like, hey, man, what can we do? And I'm like, can you make my leg face the right way please? And and so I got the toboggan ride down the mountain, the ride of shame, and I went to the dock and it was about an hour and a half ride to get to the really a good emergency room and they said, hey, well, I told him. I said, hey, you're going to wait, swelling's going to go down, you're going to pin it. You know we're going to set the leg and everything will be fine. And they said well, mr Tracy, here's the way it's going to work. If we don't operate, within an hour you're going to lose your leg.

Jim Tracy: 7:13

And I had what they call compartment syndrome. So I got, I got a rebuilt knee and they said hey man, I woke up. I mean, I woke up and this is the only thing I remember about the entire day. I woke up and I was like sobbing and I'm pulling in my sheets and I'm pulling them out of the bottom, you know, and and I see my toes and I just start giggling like a little kid. That's the only thing I remember about that entire day is I saw my toes. So, yeah, it was a pretty rough, pretty rough go. They said you're probably not, you're never, you're never going to run again, you're probably not going to walk right. So I didn't, I didn't accept that really.

Rocky: 7:52

So my question is you've been back on the slopes at all?

Jim Tracy: 7:55

Yes, I have, as a matter of fact. And uh, well, they said, you know you're not going to walk right, and so we started walking. I currently walk between 12 and 15 000 steps a day just to prove them wrong. And then uh, and then uh, because I can't, I, I, I gotta take the run a little easy because I'm on somebody else's knee, but uh, uh, but I've done a couple. I've done a couple 5ks and some terrain races and, uh, spartan type races and things like that. So do it with my grandkids. We're going to get seven grandkids and me are going to run a 5k terrain race on July 12th.

Rocky: 8:30

Well, and speaking of the grandkids, I know you get sick of the question, probably about the Grampy, and how'd you get the name? And I've obviously listened to some of your podcasts so I know where you got the name, but I think it's a great story.

Jim Tracy: 8:45

You want to share how you got the name? Sure I'd love to. Man, um, I was playing a card game with my nephew, with my grandson, wes uh, out at a lake house, and I beat him and and wes is like he's got competitive juice like none other right. And so he stands up and he's like you're not grandpa anymore and I was. I was like what? You're not a champion either? And I was like man, I just beat you and he said you're a grampian. He got a smile on his face. He says you're a grampian, and it kind of stuck and I really like it, so I'll take it.

Rocky: 9:16

I'll keep it. That's a great name, that's a great thing too, and so many grandkids too. God bless you for that. So, jim, I'm also a I'm a VP of a transportation company, and one of the things that we really struggle with and you know I I went to a job where I didn't know much about the industry and I've I've tried to build, as I did in football. You try to build a culture. You know you got to come in and change things up, and I think one of the fascinating things about your background is you talk about how you went from a two-man crew to a 20-man crew and you built a culture. You built a winning team there. What are some things you can share as far as how did you do that? And I think one of the stories I read about you that again was fascinating is I think it was, you didn't know it was somebody's birthday, you didn't recognize somebody's name, and you do all these birthday cards, you write personal messages. Talk to us a little bit, if you can. How did you build that team?

Jim Tracy: 10:08

Well, number one, when you start with two, it's easy to know what's going on. And then you build that to a crew and then, in this case, my son took that crew out in the field and I went and got more work. So now I'm with them in the morning and I may be with them in the evening when they come home, but I'm not with them all day long anymore, so it's tougher to get to know them. So you have to communicate on a, on a, on a bigger level, on an immediate level, every time you get a chance. You have to. You have to make sure that they know what the game is. I mean, if I put it in your terms, man, if I'm a football coach and they're out for eight hours a day playing baseball, I'm not doing a very good job.

Rocky: 10:48

Right.

Jim Tracy: 10:49

Not that I don't, you know, I don't. I like baseball, but, man, if you're going to play ball and you're going to play in a football team, then you've got to, and then you've got to know your position. So as as one crew turned into two crews and two crews turned into, then we had separate divisions where this one is doing telecom and this one's doing electrical power and this one's doing generator work, and and now you've got now you've got put it again in sports terminology Now you've got offense, you've got defense, you've got special teams, you got other coaches that you've got to bring in. Y'all got to speak the same language. And one of the things in American business today that we've forgotten is mentorship, apprenticeship type programs where I teach you what I do so that I can replace myself. And there's a lot of fear out in the marketplace and I don't think there's a lot of room for that, especially when you're grinding and hustling and trying to win championships.

Rocky: 11:48

Yeah, Jim, I think I don't mean to cut you off. I think you hit it right on the head, because I think one of the things that people struggle with is, first of all, as a coach, and even my day today, I always say I'm a coach, no matter if it's on a field or in the office. But you have to coach people differently, right? Not everybody reacts the same way, but I feel like you hit it on the head when you say some people are scared to do that because they're worried that that person's going to take their job. And I say, listen, if I teach them the right way and they can take my job, then that makes me even more successful.

Jim Tracy: 12:18

Yeah, then you're moving up a level. See, nobody can move up a level unless they have an adequate replacement. And in good theory, I should surround myself with people who are better, faster, stronger, smarter, and if I do that, then they build me up as I build them up, because, I mean, my son is an example, obviously, the number two in our business started when he was 18. He was working for guys in their 40s and 50s as clients, but he was leading people who were older than he was, and so he had to come to me and say, hey, this happened today, like how would you handle that? And I didn't. You know, there's an old Bible saying. It says if a child asks you for a fish, you're going to hand him a rock.

Jim Tracy: 13:11

Yeah, I don't think so, and part and parcel of that is in American business. The people who work for us don't anymore know that we love them. Don't anymore know that we love them. There's a guy here at Boise State and he coaches football and he's very open about the fact that he loves his players. And the first time in program history last year, what do they do? I mean, they're headed for the college football playoffs for the very first time in history, and it's all based on the fact that they know that coaches got their back. So when the when, when players started shifting teams and stuff, his players pretty much stuck there. So I'm I'm pretty impressed. Spencer Danielson is his name.

Rocky: 13:58

Yes, yes, I followed Boise very well. My wife's dad is from Idaho.

Jim Tracy: 14:03

Blue turf baby.

Rocky: 14:08

I think they got on the map years ago. I think it was the fiesta ball against Oklahoma when they ran the two trick play, I think the statue of liberty in another play and they pulled off a huge upset, but great program. But, jim, the other thing you talk about too is is the respect part, and I think you know, even as us coaches, I think you got to earn that respect. So one of the things that that I've done, um, in prior jobs has been I've always want rolled up my sleeves and I'm going to go out there and I'm going to go do the job firsthand so people can see me doing it. And I think even in sports, those coaches like you're talking about that, earn the respect of their players. It goes a long way because they'll run through a wall for you and it's the same in a workplace, right, if you respect your mentor and it says a little bit. And I think it goes a long ways, right.

Jim Tracy: 14:53

Yeah, and two, I think one of the things that when we look at the generations in the workplace right now there are six generations in the workplace and some of them view respect differently. Like I'll give you a phrase that will resonate with younger people, you disrespected me. Well, actually, I think that respect having a two-way street means sometimes old people like this guy. They need to give a little respect, sometimes even before it's heard. And what does that cost you? Nothing, Nothing. However, it's like planting a seed and throwing a little fertilizer and a little water on it and then craft expectations that are really high and then communicate them so that people know that's what's expected of them. It's going to change everything. I did something called the Culture Revival Blueprint and I work with businesses on a regular basis and I show them what happens when you craft a culture and I give them a blueprint, basically like building a house. Here's what happens when you build a culture where people love, where they work. I mean, isn't that what we're looking for? Is that what we want?

Rocky: 16:14

yeah, and I think we're all in, even in my world today. I mean, retention's huge for us, right, trying to retain our employees. But one of the other things too I find fascinating too is I feel like the younger generation doesn't want to put the time in as some of the older generation. Right, I know you talk about the generational gaps and a lot of your keynotes speaking that. You do Talk to us a little bit about that.

Jim Tracy: 16:37

OK, I think that. So my grandpa. I wrote a book called Building Men. It's coming out in June and and it starts the very first chapters with my grandpa. I wrote a book called Building Men. It's coming out in June and it starts the very first chapters with my grandpa. And you know what my grandpa said about my dad's generation? What? They dance funny, they listen to weird music, they are lazy and they're never going to make anything of themselves. There's the greatest generation talking about the generation that went to World War II as a silent generation. And then the silent generation. They talk about the hippies. You know what they said they got long hair, hippie, pinko, dope smoking, don't care about nothing, anti-religious, you know, pick a detrimental comment and guess what? It's probably true for both generations. And then you get me. That was me, the boomers, the hippies. And then what do we say? Those millennials aren't worth a sour roll of toilet paper.

Jim Tracy: 17:37

And they listen to funny music, and it goes on and on. Every generation has a gap. The question is is if you, as the older generation, are open to bridging that gap. See, I got 116 years of experience between my grandpa and my grandkids. I got along with all of them. And and why is that? If there's a generation gap, isn't there one of those that I shouldn't get all the way down to alphas? Isn't there one I shouldn't get along with?

Rocky: 18:11

you know, I feel, and that that's a great point, I feel too. The other thing is, um and again, sports in the business world is the ones that can adapt, like some of the old style coaches. And then, like, I'll use my dad as a great example my dad was the old school um, very strict um, when I, when I started coaching with him, I was kind of the young guy that came in with all the fancy offense and he was that old school I'm gonna get in the eye formation and I'm gonna run the ball between the tackles. And one of the things I've always said about my dad and again I say this in the workplace today is those folks that have been adaptable to change have been the ones that have been able to manage through the way things are now versus the way things were years ago. And I really believe that, because some people just don't want to change, and I think that's huge if you're adaptable to be able to change.

Jim Tracy: 19:01

Adapt, improvise and overcome. Even the special forces in the military have adopted that mantra. So you are spot on man If you cannot spot where you need to change. I mean, if you're going to go to Chicago from Boise and you want to go via Dallas, you could probably get there. It's going to take you longer, but unless you recognize, or if you've got a car but you could also take a jet, one's going to be faster. I mean, is either one right? Well, yeah, I mean in essence, but you got to look at your mission profile. What do we want to overcome? How do we want to do it?

Rocky: 19:40

One of the questions I wanted to ask is when you look back on where you started you know your life, at your business, at even your personal life and to where you are now. Did you?

Jim Tracy: 19:53

ever think you'd grow it and build it and be this successful no-transcript. And so they actually recommended that they send me. And these days there was actually a state-sponsored school for retarded children. It was about two hours from our house and they wanted to send me there. And my mom, bless her heart. She said, no, that's not happening, we will take care of our own. And in many ways, that little turn, that little turn, I mean, I wasn't a genius at math. I'm still not. I have overcome the stuttering and I'm very grateful for that. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but you know what?

Rocky: 21:02

I'm not going to get outworked, I refuse to be outworked and who have been in that and that's awesome. That's what I always tell my kids. Today, the same thing is get out there and work hard and don't let anybody outwork you, because you can't coach that. You can coach with talent. But Jim, who've been some mentors for you, that's helped you out in your career.

Jim Tracy: 21:23

You know, there is I there. There's 22 chapters in that book and every one of them is someone who is. They impacted me with a character trait, and there's even, there's even more people, but there's, there's, there's 22 sections where I say this is a character trait that impacted me in such a significant way. I got to tell you about the guy or the guys who did it, and so that's where Building Men actually came from. But if I think about it you know we talk about hard work there's a guy by the name of Tom Lundell who started a manufacturing business, bootstrapped it from with his dad, so a family business, and those two guys were incredibly helpful to me.

Jim Tracy: 22:01

It was my first job out of college and I remember Tom looking at me and saying hustle takes no talent, hustle takes no talent. He said you get up before they do, you care more than they do, you drive farther than they do While they're checking into their hotel room, you're driving to the next town and you're doing all writing, all your reports for the day. So you remember what you promised and then you beat them out of bed in the morning and do get up and do it again. And he my grandpa was a huge, huge factor, and he, my grandpa, was a huge, huge factor, as when I was a little kid, and there's just so many people. There's a teacher by the name of John Devine, and if people don't think teachers and coaches can make a difference, go look at what John Devine and the impact that he had in my life and there's, like I said, there's 22 of them. So I don't get any credit for me. Um, I get credit for for, uh, being dumb enough to listen and smart enough to follow instruction.

Rocky: 23:06

Well, how cool was it to uh is again. I'm a I'm a big family guy and I got an opportunity to coach with my dad and I say to this day that's still one of the best moments of my life, getting a chance to work with him. How special was it for you to work with your son.

Jim Tracy: 23:19

Wow, you know, we still work together, even this many years later. We have a real estate business and an agricultural business that we built. That's the side and that's what he runs now. And you know, I always tell people if you're going to start a business, start a family business, and start it with someone who you would trust, with your wife and your checkbook, and and that that seems to be for me, that's the winning, that's the winning formula, for business is to make sure that you entirely and completely trust the person. Yeah, they care more about you than, as my son's line, hey dad, I care more about you than about money, isn't that cool?

Rocky: 24:06

That is. That is.

Jim Tracy: 24:07

That's very cool, that's a special relationship that really only comes from family yeah.

Rocky: 24:11

So, jim, the books that you're, you have two books right. You have the Building Mind one. You said that's coming out June.

Jim Tracy: 24:17

July, june 3rd. They're putting it out in time for father's day. As a matter of fact, rocky, perfect timing coach. I got the first copies in the mail. My author copies today, so you're hitting me like I'm on top of the world.

Rocky: 24:32

Awesome, congratulations. So what went into writing that book? Where'd you come up with the name and what went into this?

Jim Tracy: 24:39

The name actually came from Brian, my partner. He was doing a. He's my son and he was doing a interview with a with a industry trade magazine or something. Anyway, they said so. So you know, you've grown the business and now it's like so many more people. What, what do you do like from day to day now? And he goes. Well, I used to build towers. I built guide towers, I built self-supporting towers, I built monopole towers, I built glulam towers. There's not a tower that I really can't build. I'm really good at it. But now I build men, and I build men who build towers, and that's where the name building men in the book title came from. So tip of the cap to Rye.

Rocky: 25:22

Yeah, that's. That's pretty cool. So, jim, you talk all over the place. You you've been a keynote speaker at a lot of different types of places. What have been some of the the the more difficult questions that your audience has asked you?

Jim Tracy: 25:35

You know, when we first uh, I think you probably heard, I, I think you probably heard I did a company-wide podcast, just because that was a thing where I walked down to the warehouse I didn't know somebody. So I started talking to them and I told the guys who were taking care of it. I said I want to do it live. And they said oh man, you can't do it live. Somebody's going to ask you questions you don't want to answer. And I said I think I can handle it. So it was about the third week or so. A guy comes on the phone. He says hey, jim, I got a question for you Because they would raise their hand electronically somehow, and I'm not really a tech guy, so they would raise their hand. And and I'm not really a tech guy, so they would raise their hand. And he said Jim, I got a question. I said hey, man, what's the question? He said how much money do you make? And I said, wow, that's an awesome question. How much money do you make? And he said well, I don't think I want to tell you with everybody listening. I'm like me too. Next question, so, but you know, a lot of times when we do keynotes, the real questions come afterwards, because only two things happen.

Jim Tracy: 26:45

After keynote Number one, somebody comes and says I love you and I love what you said, because and there's, I mean I did one where a guy came up and said you know, I listened to you a year ago and I started a business based on what you said and I now have 17 employees and we're positive cash and we're profitable. And I mean I look at that and I'm like dude, he's living the American dream. That's the first kind. The second kind is when people come up to you and they say, hey, and it depends upon what your keynote is on. Sometimes I do, you know, like motivational, like get off your butt keynotes which are really cool, yeah, but sometimes I say you know what? Embrace uncertainty, because the only thing that you know that's going to happen is change. And sometimes people come up to me after that and I've literally had people crying on my shoulder saying I can't take any more of this. I need some hope, I need some help. What do I do? And so you get to act a little bit as a counselor.

Jim Tracy: 27:47

But here again, if I'm doing my job as a keynote speaker, I've got to interact with that audience. I've got to let them know. I've got to interact with that audience. I've got to let them know, like, like, there's one guy in specific where I'm like, okay, here's a deal, scribble it down. I'm like I'm going to stay an extra night here's, here's the hotel I'm at. Come and meet me at the hotel for breakfast and we're going to work through this and and when you, you don't sometimes you don't have a whole bunch of extra time or travel money to do that, but sometimes you do and you have to take those opportunities because those are the life-changing moments and if you're just a speaker, I mean there's a lot.

Jim Tracy: 28:26

You could get a lot of celebrity speakers. You could probably get Tom Brady to come in and give a great speech, but he's not going to have time to meet a guy who's down on his luck and deep in trouble and, uh, his wife's leaving him and he's too hard on the bottle and he's. Those are the kind of people that come up to me afterwards and say I need some hope, and so, yeah, a lot of my hard questions are finding answers for people who need a little hope, and that's what we do.

Rocky: 28:59

Do you have, um, you know, one speaking engagement that you did of a time that stands out to you. That was, you know, that sticks with you to this day, that you still think about it. Maybe it was years ago.

Jim Tracy: 29:05

Wow, wow, yeah, I have a lot of them. Um, I guess the first time I stood up in front of a trade association where they're all my peers, you know, when I got to be chairman of our trade association, you have to stand up and speak in front of a group of people, and when there are 2,000 people and they're in the same business as you are and they're sitting in the crowd in front of you, that's enough to make you tingle a little bit. Because and it's not, you know, I found, if you are genuine and authentic when you talk to people, they root for you. I mean, they want you to win. It's like having, okay, it's like having, a home team, okay.

Jim Tracy: 29:55

But when you walk on stage and are inauthentic or arrogant or kind of a know-it-all, now you've got the away crowd at a home event and you don't want that man, you want to, you want to take these, this audience, and it's your job to uh, to bring, to bring them into your world, to bring them into your, into your arena. And, and if you can do that, um, that's where the magic happens, man, when you're talking, when, when you're talking, even if there's 2,500 people in the audience, when you're talking to every one of them. Um it, it's a huge difference. It's a game changer. Every one of them, it's a huge difference, it's a game changer and Jim.

Rocky: 30:36

I want to go back to the team piece because, again, I think I was either reading or watching one of your podcasts where you talked a little bit about recognition and I know you wrote some I think it was birthday cards or personal cards for people to get to know their names and stuff. But talk to us just how important recognizing individuals are in the workplace because I mean, let let's be real, we all like it edible every once in a while, right?

Jim Tracy: 30:59

yeah, um, when, uh, here again, I got over 100 employees and I thought I really need to, I really I need to do a better job of touching these people, and it was. It was primarily men out in the field and primarily women in the office, and so I would. But but I decided at one point that man, I gotta, I gotta, do a birthday card for my people.

Jim Tracy: 31:26

I gotta let them know that I wish them a happy birthday, if nothing else, so I literally would. At one time I was doing like 160 birthday cards a year and they're all handwritten, they're all hand addressed, they're all sent to someone with a note about how they affected me in that year or they affected their team in that year, or whatever it is I. You gotta find something positive to say about anybody in your company.

Rocky: 31:57

Yeah, every little positive helps right, move it forward a little bit. So, jim, for somebody, whether it's a business or just an individual person, that might be struggling. And again, you know we all chase that dream sometimes of you know, hey, I'm going to be the next Dick Vitale broadcasting on ESPN, or you know the next big CEO. But I mean, let's be real, it takes a lot to get to the top. What would be some of your advice, words of wisdom for some people that are chasing it, that have dealt with a lot of adversity?

Jim Tracy: 32:30

You know, when the doc told me that he might have to take my leg off, that was pretty big shock, um, and it threw me into a little bit of a tailspin, um. But then, um, he asked my son. He said, he said, how'd you guys get down here? I mean, did not, like you're here with him like he thought that they flew me down in a helicopter. And then when he found out they didn't fly me down a helicopter, he said well, did you follow the ambulance? He goes no, man, we, we rode in my truck and the doc looked at me and goes he hasn't had any painkillers and I'm like, no, I had a couple aspirin up at the hub of the mountain, but it's kind, it's kind of hurting.

Jim Tracy: 33:17

And he looked over at my son and he said your dad is one tough yep fill in the blank three letters and and uh, when I look at that, um, I look at, I knew ryan was going to take care of me. I knew the doc was going to take care of me. I knew the doc was going to take care of me. So you got to have a little faith and then I went up, you know. Then they tell me I'm going to be, I'm not going to be able to stand on my foot, I can't put any. I got, so I got my bone, I got some cadaver bone, I got some plastic bone, I got some steel bone or some steel in my in my leg and they're like you cannot touch your foot to the ground for 90 days.

Jim Tracy: 33:59

That's a really long time yeah, um, so, uh, as I, as I moved around, all of a sudden I had to realize that, like I mean, when I first got home, I couldn't go to the bathroom, I had to get. I had had somebody to help, because you can't fall, if you stumble, you're going to stand on your foot. So you don't have. And then, and then he said, if that happens, we can't fix it anymore, then we are going to take your leg, so you have to rely on other people. And and if you're a, if you're a quarterback, and your line is full of holes, how good are you going to be? You better have some feet, man. If you ain't got wheels, you just got to be. Now. You got to be quicker than a D lineman and you got to be quicker than a linebacker. And by the time you get to the secondary man, you're already tired because all you've been doing is running all day. And so if you're building a business, you've got to learn to trust, you've got to learn to rely, you have to learn to teach every moment. And don't let go of the dream.

Jim Tracy: 35:09

I talk a lot about me and my wife. Sometimes we would race to the mailbox to see if there was going to be a check in there so we could make payroll and you know what? We ran the business right. We didn't spend a bunch of money. We never borrowed any money other than from retirement accounts. So I think we did it the right way, but we also relied on one another. I think we did it the right way, but we also relied on one another. So get people around you who you trust and, yeah, who got your back.

Rocky: 35:41

Yeah, a good support system goes a long way, for sure. So, jim, the last thing I wanted to ask you too. I know you have the Grampian podcast, but between podcasts and writing books, where do you find time to do all this?

Jim Tracy: 35:55

You know, in May I'm going to be 66 years old and I think that this retirement that we have kind of choreographed in America is probably not for me. I would take a page out of the Mike Rowe book and say I actually enjoy work because of the satisfaction that I get from the work itself. And my work now is to help people and to impact people and, in some cases, change lives. And if you can do that and you can drive satisfaction and you can make a shilling or two while you're doing it, it's pretty awesome. I mean, why would I want to slow down, man? I want to speed up. I've been accused of having a big, audacious life and I'm like right on, bring it.

Rocky: 36:53

So the Grampian podcast, right, that do? What type? What do you talk about on there? What? What type of show is it? How can, how can listeners out here tonight follow jim tracy?

Jim Tracy: 37:04

sure, um, best way is to watch a show is is probably on youtube, although youtube, uh, shadow banned me on one of my recent podcasts, so I guess I've arrived. But yeah, it's the Grampian, g-r-a-m-p-i-o-n. Thegrampiancom. Or just search Jim Tracy on YouTube and it'll get you there. And yeah, I sure appreciate you having me on. Man, this is really cool. If they want to find the book, just go on barns and noble or wherever you buy books. You can pre-order the book at at barnsandnoblecom. Just look for building men by jim tracy yeah, and I'll make sure I I post.

Rocky: 37:46

I posted it all week on the social media outlets. I'll do it again tonight here, uh, before I hit the hay. But but, jim, this was awesome. Like I said, this was completely outside of my comfort zone. Normally I'm the guy talking local sports or college football, and this was really cool to get some time to spend it with you and I'm fascinated by your background and everything you bring, your motivation. I'm glad I found you.

Jim Tracy: 38:08

All right, well, coach, thank you, man, and don't ever underestimate the impact that you guys who are coaches, coaches can have on those young minds, because they can decide to be winners when you, when you convince them that it's not about the score on the on the, you know, it's not about the score on the board at the end of the game, it's about the character that you walk when you, when you're 66, like if you can walk away and go. Hey, more often than not, I try to do the right thing, just do the right thing.

Rocky: 38:38

I appreciate that, jim. I'll continue to follow you. Thanks, my man appreciate the night all right.

Jim Tracy: 38:43

Thank you and thank your audience. Have a today after we have a great one awesome, thank you.

Rocky: 38:48

Well, so that was. That was Jim Tracy and I'm. It's so funny. Let me let me switch this over here how I found Jim. I got hooked up behind the scenes on another platform and when I reached out to Jim he jumped right on and said he'd be more than happy to jump on with me here tonight. So this is completely new for me.

Rocky: 39:08

Beyond the game the podcast. I have another guest coming on in a couple weeks. He's an author of a sports book called Out of Bounds. He talks a lot about high school sports. I'll post that up next week so you can learn a little bit about him. And then another guest after that was a longtime coach in the NBA, general manager in the NBA, a lot of NBA coaching experience. So we'll talk to him too. So it'll be fun here on the Beyond the Game.

Rocky: 39:32

So I want to make sure I thank everybody for following this show, for following the Mohawk Valley Sports Watch, for following all the shows here on the Rock Pile Podcast. I really appreciate that. Go on YouTube, subscribe, share it and try to work on growing the YouTube channel. I've done a great job on Facebook with everybody following the different shows. So I want to turn my attention to YouTube, but I hope everybody enjoyed tonight. Catch it on Spotify, iheartradio, apple Podcasts for podcast listeners and Facebook, youtube all the social media outlets if you want to follow on those platforms as well. So I appreciate everybody's time tonight. Stay tuned for the next Mohawk Valley Sports Watch If I don't talk to you the rest of the week. Happy Easter, be safe, be careful. And thanks for tuning in tonight here on.