Small Business Ownership and Empowerment with Cody Demerais

I sit down with successful Prince Albert business owner Cody Demerais to talk about running a successful start up, his journey from tragedy to success and empowering people through his new venture of motivational speaking.

Transcript

Coffee Breath Conversations: 0:00

Hey everyone. Welcome back to coffee breath conversations. Now before this episode starts, I just want to say that this episode has been published about a month late. So my apologies to Cody. After the episode was recorded, I had a major computer crash and I lost everything. Since then I have decided that I need to back everything up onto a separate drive. Then after that, I went on vacation for a while and I wasn't able to get to this. And then when I came back, I was dealing with some personal issues. So this episode in the next episode are being released about a month after they were recorded. So again, my apologies to Cody, and hopefully you enjoy the episode Welcome back to coffee breath Conversations. I'm your host Russell and today I have Cody demaree. In the studio. Cody is a entrepreneur, motivational speaker, indigenous youth leader. And he has quite the backstory, and he's really taken tragedy and turned it into success. Thank you very much for being on the show.

Unknown: 1:24

Thank you very much, buddy. I appreciate the invitation. Of course, this is my second time chatting with you. And I'm looking forward to this one just as much as the first one. So thank you, buddy.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 1:35

Well, this one won't be in studio we're doing we're kind of doing the virtual thing. Now definitely want to hear more about you. So for people that might not have tuned in before, tell us a bit about yourself.

Unknown: 1:46

For sure, my man. So you know, when I was brought up born and raised most of my life by a single mother, and Prince Albert here, got myself in a lot of trouble ups and downs in life, with always looking for a place to basically belong quite a bit. And you know what truly, I started to get pretty vulnerable when it came to substance abuse issues, and experimentation with drugs and alcohol. Because, you know, I kind of looked at a few of my peers, I looked at a few people that I looked up to, you know, maybe an older grades, older generations. And I thought that's kind of what I should do. And you know what, eventually, because I'm normally not a person that kind of does things just one foot in, I ended up taking things to the extreme, like I do with a lot of things in my life before I learned how to channel that I got myself into quite a bit of trouble, unfortunately and growing up.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 2:38

Living in Prince Albert, Prince Albert quite often is talked about, you know, you can't spell party without PA is kind of a catchphrase you hear quite often. I think Prince Albert gets a bit of a bad rap overall. Because there is great people there is great community leaders in Prince Albert, what do you think, is driving people towards drugs? And what do you think drives people towards the reasons why we see the high crime rate and some of the problems that we see in Prince Albert.

Unknown: 3:12

Now it's really one of the things that I do believe has to be said, and it has to be said on more frequent basis is that it's not just Prince Albert. You know, a lot of people like to blame and say that the issues rely solely on one city like Prince Albert. But the truth of the matter is there's addiction problems, there's mental health problems, there's substance abuse problems all over the map. And wherever you look, you'll find those kinds of incidents and those unfortunate situations. But when it comes to our, of course, our home and our area, it's just like any other city, I once watched one amazing TED Talk, actually, that talked about addictions. And it basically expressed that a lot of addictions, people just think naturally comes from trying to feel good. And this gentleman actually talked about this conversation that it actually just connects us to something. And that's all what addiction is, is it's just trying to find yourself connected to something that makes you feel at home or at ease. That made a lot of sense for me growing up because truly, you know if I'd be upset or angry, I didn't necessarily know how to cope and good ways good, healthy, positive, constructive ways. So growing up not having that guidance into knowing how to fully function and fully develop those kind of ways to cope with I, you know, went down drugs and alcohol like a lot of younger generations do a lot of generations without that proper guidance. That's why I think it is extremely important for social workers and teachers to be at the levels and the places where they are in life. Not necessarily because you know, they have a career to of course continue, but they have a lot of mentorship that they are able to facilitate and died a lot of youth that may have not had it and, you know, at home or with some of their own friends, right. So I think school environments and the environments that the youth are in nowadays is more important than ever, because they have a channel and a chance to show healthy, constructive, positive ways of coping with things.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 5:22

Now you had your own kind of run in with tragedy, do you want to talk a little bit about that, and how you channeled your tragedy, and you started to try to build yourself up from it,

Unknown: 5:34

you're speaking about, of course, the incident behind the drinking and driving accident that I was involved in a few years ago, being where I was at in life. Of course, I left a very self destructive path back in the day. And even into some of my adult years, too, as well. I'm not perfect. And you know, I never pretend to be, yeah, so I got involved in a drinking and driving accident, when I was about 18. Me and my best friend, of course, we're leaving a house party at about three o'clock in the morning, I make the foolish idea to get behind the wheel, and drink and drive. And, you know, obviously, that doesn't ever end in a very good result for anyone, it's truly a gamble, you cannot win, being intoxicated to the point where I was at being as distracted as to the point where it was that very shortly after driving for a little bit with me and my best friend, we hit a tree, going about 116 kilometers per hour. And as everyone that's going to be listening to this message, and that's listened to the message in the past, you don't necessarily just walk away with, you know, simple scratches from an incident of that magnitude. And the truth is, local over after that impact, of course, coming to that sudden impact, and looking over at my best friend and seeing him. So what I thought was just passed out or knocked out at the moment, just kind of, you know, sleeping it off. Very quickly. And very shortly, I started to realize maybe he's not going to wake up under his own power. And, of course, then the fear, and then, you know, the anxiety and anger and everything started pouring over me at that moment. And it was definitely, easily to say probably one of the worst moments of my life was waking up after that initial impact, of course, because what happened for not just that night, or for years after was complete traumatic experiences, deals with PTSD, anger, issues, guilt, just basically being pissed off for years. And, once again, you know, fallen back to my old faults, trying to cope with substance abuse issues and everything like that, of course, not really understanding how to get my way out of that. And it wasn't until you know, of course, my friends survived. And I survived all those situations. And those dealings, of course, and then it wasn't until we started doing presentations together, about the incident about our stories of what had happened, of course, truthfully, I slipped up a couple of times, even after those first presentations, because it would be so, so many months in between each, that I would just basically lose myself, again, I'd fall back into into the place where I shouldn't have been, we were approached about telling our story to local high schools, about our incident about our drinking and driving crash that we had together. Of course, me behind the wheel had quite a bit of a different experience compared to his, you know, being in the passenger seat and all his medical, you know, situations that he went through, of course, so we had two different stories in the same situation, of course. And so he told his story of his healing journey. And of course, I told my journey of what I was going through at the time as well. And it was not until I say probably like a dozen, yeah, about 10 or 12 presentations of me and him doing this together. That I started realizing, after you know, again, a little bit more comfortable that this is something incredible seeing those kids, hearing those kids come up to us after and shaking our hands. Of course, those are the ones that were speaking for the first few minutes of our presentation, and then heard something that caught their ear and then turned full attention and gave us nothing but full attention. Those are the kids that came to us after the presentations and she shook our hands and thanked us. And that was one of the big realizations that came to a point that I started to understand that this is going to make a difference in people's lives. And this is something I'm never going to stop. You know, it's been a few years later. And I've almost taken my speaking career to a full time career now, where I'm actually in demand. You know to go tell these different stories of some of the addictions and mental health, and some of the learning lessons I've learned, it's tough bringing in these situations up all the time. Because, you know, it's a lot of traumatic experiences deep down inside. I'll tell you right now, it makes me a lot happier, because I know, it's hopefully making a lot more impact in somebody else's life that could use it. So

Coffee Breath Conversations: 10:22

what point in time? Did you start to forgive yourself?

Unknown: 10:27

It's a really good question, Russell. You know, my man, and I've everything that I've accomplished in my life truly. And full transparency, there's moments where I second guess, if I've actually fully forgiven myself, even to this day, I think that's somewhat what drives me to continue doing the kind of work that I like, that I love to do is because I truly, I believe, my past mistakes, no matter how long I continue to do this, eventually, it'll make a lot of people's lives better. And if that's what I got to do, and that's what's going to happen, and make the world a better place, and maybe eventually down the line, I can say, 110%, I've fully forgiven myself, maybe we'll get there one point, you know, I've felt like I've been there a few times, and then situation comes up, I hear somebody say something and bring it up out of negative context, or even watching a movie for me and my fiance have a traumatic experience with a rollover crash. And it brings me back to a situation where I don't necessarily feel super good again, I think that's actually what makes me somewhat of a such a passionate speaker. Because I go back to that moment, every time I bring up that story, and of course, you know, 100 plus presentations in and I almost drip a tear every single time, I almost don't want to lose that emotional impact, because I believe it makes an impact for those that are listening to the message.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 12:00

So what time did you decide that you would start a business in Prince Albert,

Unknown: 12:07

my presentation started first, I knew it's pretty hard to almost speak every single day of the week. And even if your speaking only, you know, one or two hours in the day, was there a lot more hours of the data, of course fill in, right. So I started realizing that there's a lot more that I could do with my life that can continue impact in people's lives. It was seeing my best friend that was in that crash with me, of course, seeing him build a business, a construction business, basically with a hammer and nails, and a drill. And it was something that inspired me actually to want to do something from scratch, basically start something from scratch. And I remembered an art project back from elementary, the art project was come up with your own label your own brand, using the things that were personal to you. Of course, back then mine were a couple of hockey sticks, and my initials. But I remember thinking to myself, you know, how cool would it be to empower somebody's life as some may seem as a simple item, like a T shirt, but it has a lot more meaning to it than just the t shirt. So I worked on something for about two years, I sorry, two months, the idea and the project kind of in my head a few years ago. And basically, I saved up a paycheck and a half and bought my first 100 T shirts after coming out with a perfect combination and a perfect design at the time basically. And I started about five years ago, it's almost to this date, out of the trunk of my car. And it wasn't up until two and a half years ago that I made it a full commitment to of course seeing where it could go if I gave every single piece of our every single piece of energy that I had to spare into something that truly blossomed out of a simple grade one art project basically.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 14:06

Now starting a business is very difficult. So how was it during the beginning you're talking about how you were selling your merchandise out of the back of your vehicle? How difficult was that in and tell me a bit about your success and your struggles along the way until you had an actual business with a storefront and everything

Unknown: 14:31

else so some of the biggest struggles I had of course was being so so new basically right? So not knowing necessarily all the merchants that I could get some of my local gear from not paying the best prices, you know, all all sorts of different things. Maybe not coming out the best qualities because I didn't really know anything about quality at that time. Even simplistic ideas like designs and everything like that and like everything really evolved over time. And you know what it truly started with nothing but passionate off the start. And as I got in more depth and as I grew into the kind of awareness and the NOAA boats about everything, that's when the emotion started coming really fully with everything. I remember going to a little pop ups shop that I had for an event night it was a comedy night. And I remember burnin, like nothing but a full trunk and nothing but like a few clothing racks and a few full load tables. And there was a room of like, 300 people. And I remember thinking to myself, You know what, everyone's gonna love the idea behind the brand. Because it's not just a clothing brand. It's always something more than that. And that's what I always wanted to express. And I remember I have a room of like, 300 people selling one t shirt. And I basically, you know, cried that night, because I thought, You know what, maybe I'm just not in the right place for this. And you know, what, if it wasn't for that one person that bought that one t shirt reminded me that you know what, at least one person seen what I was trying to do. I believe that was a game changer right there of understanding that it's not everyone in the room that has to believe or see what I'm truly doing. If it can reach an impact, a couple people in a room, if one person gets impacted, I think that's what makes the difference. And truly seeing that and understand that reaching more people as time went on, and more tradeshow was weighing on just one person coming up to me here and there. It made the world of difference. And truly, it was flat out momentum for quite some time after realizing that,

Coffee Breath Conversations: 16:44

do you think that the message behind the business drives the success? It's not just the logos, it's not just you, but it's the it's the message behind the logo, and it's the message that you promote with the logo.

Unknown: 17:01

I mean, very right now, I don't ever want to say it's always just one thing, for sure. Because I do believe it's a combination of everything, right? I believe a lot of it comes from the story of somebody like myself that, truly I would, I would say I was in the gutters for a few years, you know, I was in an emotional state, in that it was not a healthy, it's not a healthy life. And I'm very fortunate that I'm still here, actually after quite a few of the ups and downs in life that I've went through. And I think it was showing a hope, and showing the message that life can get better life can get as beautiful as we ever wanted it to be. As long as we put in the work and the effort and the dedication into it. I believe that majority had a big role to play, because it allowed people to see how beautiful things can be. But truly, I think one of the biggest differences, why this brand is even where it is today. Sorry to this day, is because amazing people, unlike yourself, Russell have come into the store. And it's been nothing but just the community brand. This brand does not go past the trunk of my car with one person. This brand becomes the ultimate message of hope and inspiration and motivation. Because a community rallies around it and spreads the awareness and spreads the messages that it has to offer and uplift each other. Because one of the best one of my favorite quotes comes from a gentleman saying each one teach one, a message of just showing hope and inspiration is all I ever wanted from the start. And of course, you have to learn how to run numbers and everything like that after when you became an official businessman. But it started with main intentions of making a impact in people's lives. And I feel because of that. And because of the community also being a part of that message. I believe it's just a revolving, revolving door of moving forward in some sort of life.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 19:07

The name of your brand is limitless. Can you tell us a little bit about why you chose the name limitless for your brand, a little bit about your logo. And then maybe just a little bit about how your logo again went from being something that you sold out the trunk of your car to the storefront and then the success beyond just the storefront the the awards, the community recognition in the further development you've had

Unknown: 19:36

the name limitless in the first place. Like I said, I worked on the idea of coming up with a proper name for something that was going to inspire people, proper combination of logos and designs that was going to hopefully empower people as well. And it wasn't until like one of the nights where I just I was causing nothing but a brain freeze in my head and then I watched one of my all time favorite movies. Of course with Brett Bradley Cooper, the movie Limitless, where it's another individual that of course is down and outs and you know, not necessarily moving very far in life. But yet, he, of course, in the movie, he turned some things around. And I, every single time, I'd love to express the message. It's not that he takes a pill and the movie that inspires me, and he becomes limitless. It is in Byron, that he turns his life around just in a in a total sense. I don't necessarily believe you have to take any sort of medication to become limitless. I believe it's all within inside of us. And we just have to believe in ourselves. And truly, I never started taking any medication to be a different person. It was understanding that I had more to offer the world. And I was going to show the world what I had to offer is what truly started to unlock a lot more of a potential that I had inside of me. And that's what message I have just, it plucked on my heartstrings so much, it was a message that somebody can become better. And somebody can improve, and somebody can empower others, as long as they can just believe it themselves. And that is one of the constant messages, I of course, express to elementary schools, high schools, treatment centers, everything, you don't have to take a pill to become something better, you just have to believe you have it in you already. And when it comes to logos and designs, of course. So one of the main logos, of course, that we got here is our life is limitless logo. I think one of the most beautiful things that I love about the brand as well is that every single logo tells a story within itself. And that's what I love about the brand. It allows me to express creativity and expresses, it allows me to express community behind a cert symbol, a logo, so of course, the life is limitless logo. We're talking about that car crash that you know me and my good friend were involved in. For years, I kept all the mental health issues that I had, because of it to myself. And truly, this logo is something that we had a local designer help us out with. Because I told him the message of of course, after that crash one night, I tried to take my own life, I made sure of it that I wanted to not be here one day, and I fully committed. And I told my designer, buddy, this is what I want the logo to basically mean, he sent me about five or six mock ups, I think it was at the time. And this is the one that shot out to me, of course, the tree of life with our gear Incorporated, and life is limitless as our main kind of logo or slogan now. And so of course, we donated quite a bit of proceeds of this specific logo to Canadian Mental Health just here in Prince Albert. And you know what the message that was received loud and clear from so many people is that a lot of people have been there in life. And they just have never opened up to somebody. You'd be surprised how many conversations I had with individuals about kind of being in a dark place in their life. And it was truly empowering in itself to have all those conversations in the storefront. And so we have multiple logos like that, that themselves aren't just a logo as well. There's a meaning and there's a there's a message behind it.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 23:26

And your brand has sort of taken off and Prince Albert it's it's become what I can see a bit of a staple people know the brand and Prince Albert, you talk to people and you say limitless, you talk about downtown business a while you know there's this business, this business, there's limitless, like it's become quite the locally recognized brand. And I believe you've had some success with your store. And I believe you've also received some awards for your brand and for your story and for motivating people.

Unknown: 24:00

And only takes about 8090 hours a week or so to get there. But you know, it's really just one thing I'm very thankful for. It's like I said, I didn't get there myself. It has been it's been a community brand right from the get go. One of the best things that I've had offered to me by some folks that have been in the game kind of business and you know, things like that for a few years. I've had some amazing mentors. Truly I have. I've had amazing people that have taken my phone call when I've gotten a little stressed out a little worried about our world's current climates, of course, and you know, everything like that, you know, everyone might see just my face, but I've had a lot of great conversations with a lot of great people with different ideas and different things that you should try and like I said, I will never be one to take full credit because that full credit is not mine. And when it comes to being recognized, with a few industry rewards or sorry awards I was named Saskatchewan Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2021 Apex awards. And that Saskatchewan as long as serve and Business Awards, and that age group is from I do believe, 18 to 35. I think a big push of that was for the fact that we haven't been in business for five, eight years. You know, up until this point, I literally opened three months prior to having to close the store down, of course, the front of the store for two months, because COVID came around and locked, you know, the world down, basically, I believe it's because what I did next, which showed the world that you know what, no matter what comes your way, no matter what might get in the way of you moving forward, it's what you do with that is what makes you who you are, and what builds that character. Of course, I could have stayed in bed for the next few months, and not necessarily move forward at all. But the truth is, I went back to the store, you know, after about the first week of after being closed down, because I needed to keep some sort of routine and me for my own mental health and my own well being and my own understanding of just in case this doesn't go away necessarily in two weeks, maybe I should keep moving forward no matter what. And I think it's when the world started to see that, you know, I was willing to work till 11 o'clock at night, delivering right to people's doorsteps instead of having them come to our store during actual business hours. I think that's what made the difference. And as well my motivational speaking that I offer pretty much Saskatchewan wide now, and I have been out of province for before as well. That was one of the main you know, contributors as well to of course, receiving that Saskatchewan is Young Entrepreneur of the Year. But you know, even so more so lately actually. We just got announced as Prince Albert's Young Entrepreneur of the Year as well finalist for this year. Limitless gear. Colvin is up for new venture of the year as well for Prince Albert. So that's a couple more recognition, finalist things that we just received and very humbled and thankful for that as well.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 27:17

Limitless is a powerful message. What is next for you and limitless? Are you thinking of spreading the message across Saskatchewan in Canada?

Unknown: 27:27

Thank you very much for that question, by the way. And that statement, just a little behind the scenes, I actually have my new little Toyota Corolla that I just bought the other day to actually travel across Saskatchewan with and that isn't as hard on fuel like my truck was, of course. So I'm actually waking up at both five, maybe six o'clock in the morning tomorrow to head to Moose Jaw for a trade show. And then not that next weekend. But the weekend after that. I have one in Regina, and then Saskatoon and you know what? It doesn't just stop and Prince Albert, I promise you that my speaking as well, has been getting to the point where all over the map of Saskatchewan, I've been actually getting messages and emails to come speak in different communities. So I think naturally, the momentum of the brand and my motivational speaking, are just continuing on. And the truth is, I think you could stop anytime if I allowed it to stop. But I don't want to do that. I don't want to ever stop what I'm doing right now. Because I believe it's going to empower people. And it's going to impact people because one of the things I have on a vision board in my storefront office right now is one of our main logos on the center of the ice of a hockey rink. And what that signifies for me is that we're going to help build community hockey rinks, we're going to build rec centers, we're going to build gyms for people. And that is what I want to accomplish with the brand limitless and of course, my motivational speaking. So in reality, if I were to ever stop the brand and just leave it as is, I don't think we could grow necessarily to that point. And I believe that'd be a shame for a lot of lot of different situations. So the message will continue. I promise that

Coffee Breath Conversations: 29:25

Do you have any advice for young people or older people or any people that would like to start their own business? Is there any tips or tricks that you'd like to give them? I mean, you might not want to give out all the industry secrets but anything to someone that might be wanting to start their own business and very grassroots like you did, putting that grind into into making things possible what what would be some tips that you'd want to give people?

Unknown: 29:53

One of the biggest things I can easily say right off the top of my head, because I know for a fact it's always been a thought process. The mind is don't ever do something immediately for thinking you're going to become rich for it, right? You know, there's no telling me that I was going to become rich selling T shirts out of the trunk of my car, barely covering fuel at that time, because I was buying them at a more expensive rate than I could have been, and selling them for a lower rate than I should have been. I can tell you right now, the message for me immediately wasn't to become rich at doing what I was doing. It was a whole nother meaning behind it. And it was a purpose. It was a driven message that I had to express to people that could also gain hope from hearing the message. And that was the intention in the first place. Of course, like I mentioned before, numbers had to come into it, because, of course, you get overhead and you have bills to pay eventually, and things like that matter. So yes, you can become a business man after you have the right intentions in the first place. But not until the right intentions are set in place. One of the best things as well, I have ADHD I have severe to high ADHD. I know what kind of, you know, dilemmas that offers me I know what kind of strengths that has to offer me. See, when I first once heard that I had ADHD from a counselor from a secondary school, I thought it was a flaw in me, until I realized I had a lot more energy to offer the world than a lot of people that didn't have ADHD. Now, I'm not saying you have to have ADHD to have all the energy I do. But I use it in a very beneficial way, I can work 50 6070 hours a week. And yes, I can get tired lots of moments. But I'm willing to put those 50 6070 hours into that business. And you can ask any one of my close friends, I'll be the first one of you know, be able and be willing to put that time and energy into that store or the brand or the business. And you know what, maybe on a Sunday, or maybe on a Monday, I might just take a full day off. And you know, reward myself with that. I'm never shy to spend those hours that I go to, to make sure something I terrible works. So I know, that's one of the biggest things as well, because a lot of people think starting a business is you take off here and there and you only work when you want to. Yeah, that's technically if you only want something that's going to maybe pay your gas bill at the end of the month write. Honestly, the energy, what you put into something is the energy you get back basically saying I've found myself sitting in the back of my office and not doing too much proactiveness. And of course the store just starts to dive down immediately. It's when I'm making those phone calls it's make making those emails, making those messages, making those Facebook posts, whatever. And that's when the energy comes back. And that's when the awareness just grows even louder than what it was before. You sit back expect the world to offer you something that you've never earned, you're not going to get something that you never. And if you do, you're not going to be happy about it. Because the old saying goes, you know, somebody buys you a vehicle or somebody buys you a house. Are you truly going to really enjoy that house or vehicle after? You know teach a man to fish basically,

Coffee Breath Conversations: 33:17

if anyone is listening and they think they're gonna get rich podcasting, I'll tell you this. It's not an industry you get rich on do you find you have to compete with big name brands? Like, like the big box stores? Is that is that competition for you?

Unknown: 33:35

You know, it's that's a tough one. Surely you look at any big big stores, of course, right? One of my hardest things that I had to see when I had to close the store down for those couple of months, is seeing big, big, you know, Corporation stores still open with a full parking lot when I just made the decision to have to close my storefront because I wasn't essential, of course, I mean, those bills to me were pretty essential, of course, that is still continue to pay, but you drive past, you know, the big name brands stores, of course. And you know, they're still operating as normal. And if not even, of course, you know, having a lot more people in their stores because all the small little mom and pop shops are closed. But truly when it comes down to it, I do believe people understand the value of shop and small and local compared to shop and the big corporations of course that don't donate to the local softball team where the local fundraisers because somebody has some medical bills, or you know, a local sports team. Now I'll be honest, I say yes, almost to a fault of my own because it leaves me in tougher situations where we have to make up for it. But I'll tell you right now, I promise you no bigger stores or bigger corporations in our town or Prince Albert, have given as much as I have or try to and you ask many of organization's around Prince Albert. And they can easily say, Yeah, Cody tries his very best to donate or, you know, offer something when he can. I think it's just important. If you want to be a part of your community, you better, you better make sure you give them the respect back. I believe that.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 35:18

Now talking motivational speaking, that's a new kind of venture for yourself. So how did you kind of venture into motivational speaking? And how was that developed? And where do you think it's going to bring you?

Unknown: 35:32

Surely, so the motivational speaking, you call it motivational speaking. But in reality, it was me telling a story to hopefully make better people or make other people's lives better, with maybe hopefully not making the same mistakes, right. So actually, I started the speaking prior to the brand. But it became something so much more over the past two years, compared to what I seen it originally becoming a first I thought it was going to be three or four high schools a year maybe and speaking about drinking and driving. And then it got to a point where I mean, last March, I spoke 14 or 15 presentations in the month of March alone. And of course, a lot of those who are virtual, but it's getting the emails, even at eight o'clock, nine o'clock at night, even like, you know, nights like this, where, you know, somebody will ask me to come and speak six hours away for an hour to, you know, to their youth or to their high school, or it's interesting things like that in different climates that it's been taken me to. And one truly thing that I'm very grateful for now is that this is something I plan on doing the rest of my life, I have found something at age 2726, you know, 25, maybe past two years, that I now want to do the rest of my life, I'm very thankful for that. Because it only means I can get better at what I'm doing. And I can only mean I can get more confident what I'm doing. Getting more confident, only means I can get more impactful. My mom introduced me to Tony Robbins a few years ago, because she had some mixed tapes that she had probably from the 80s. Actually, I found a cassette player to listen to some of those tapes. And you know, I watched a few of his videos, I attended a course of his now, all the time on I put myself in this atmosphere, I think to myself, How amazing would it be to just transform and change 1000s of people's lives across the world, literally, people's lives have changed for the better, because that man exists. And he has literally helped shape this world into a much better place than what could have been without him. And I truly do believe I have the potential to make a lot of people's lives a lot better with the work that I plan on doing for the future. And no matter how tired I may get once in a while, no matter how rundown, I may get once in a while. That is something I'm gonna continue doing for the rest of my life because I used to not leave this world in a good place. I'll tell you right now, how I'm going to make up for that as continuing to make this world a lot better than what I used to leave it as Cody,

Coffee Breath Conversations: 38:15

we're starting to come out of the pandemic. And people are feeling anxious people, people are feeling uncertain. What advice would you have for people, especially youth, to help reassure them that things are going to get better and that things will get better?

Unknown: 38:34

One thing I can always say is, when I was about 1819, after that car crash, right? I looked at the world as if it was never going to get better, tried to take my own life because of it. Now if I would have succeeded, I would have never seen the life that I get to live now. I can't I can't express how grateful I am I get to live the life that I live now. Like I said, I have my lows, like a lot of people, right? I truly do. Because you know, if you look at what's happening in the world, it can it can wear people down once in a while. But the truth is, my good friend has his tattooed on his chest. Tough times don't last, tough people do. And it's what you do with yourself and what you how you react to a certain situation is what builds that character is what's going to transform you into being the proactive leader that you can be in the future. No one ever expected any changes to be made by not doing anything in the world. So if you want to see change happen in this world, it's very simple. You go be that change. You will make a difference in this world. And you go lift other people up because complaining all over the world not being right or in a good place. does not help anyone in the world move forward. It actually downplays what we're going to do in this world because energy is contagious, whether it's positive energy or negative and Energy, I tried my very best no matter what to be as positive as, as I possibly can, because I know it rubs off on people. And hopefully, it adds a little bit more positive energy to other people. And I know when I'm saying things in a negative sense in a negative light, I know the person across from me doesn't want to unnecessarily hear that because it's making them feel bad. So why not be that person that uplift somebody else, because you never know when that person could use just a pat on the back to lift themselves out. And you never know if that person might lift 10 other people's backs up, the chain reaction somebody can have in this world is just actually truly incredible and truly amazing. But you have to have the right focus, you have to have the right energy to allow yourself to be that impact that change that you want to see in this world. And if you truly believe that this world is never going to get better, that is where the world will stay for you. So it is up to you to make that difference in the world and change that perspective. Because it's only you that can change how you look at the world.

Coffee Breath Conversations: 41:02

I couldn't agree more Cody. People want to learn more about limitless if they'd like to learn more about you. Where can they go? How do they contact you? For

Unknown: 41:12

sure if Amen. So we're also I have to say by the way, thank you very much for allowing me to of course be a guest on your podcast. You are definitely a person that knows exactly what's going on in this world. And I just appreciate the conversation we had tonight. Yeah, no worries buddy. And if anyone wants to find us we are on Facebook Instagram as limitless gear clothing. And you know, you can check out our website limitless gear clothing.com or even for motivational speaking Cody demaree motivational speaker on Facebook, or Cody demaree.com For our website for motivational speaking