Stand in the Gap!
Hey everybody, so it’s been a while since I’ve actually been on this page and there’s a reason for that. We just got done with our company’s convention and something that a friend of mine, Randy, and I started last year, not this year but last year, was something called Ride for a Reason.
It started because he rode his motorcycle to a convention, and I was mad and I didn’t want to miss out on that again, so we’re riding. I figured, well, if we’re gonna ride that far from Minnesota from Utah, let’s ride for a reason, so we did that. Last year was our first year, this year is our second year, and this year took up a little bit more time, a little bit more of my time getting things ready and organizing.
I just wanted to hop on real quick and share something, something that I learned or something that I’m gonna challenge everybody on about this subject. Hey [Donya 00:01:04], hey Shannon, good to see you guys.
Here’s what I’m gonna challenge you. Ride for a Reason, we rode last year for rebuilding Nepal after the earthquakes in 2015, this year we rode for an organization called Hope for Justice. Hope for Justice is an organization that their goal is to end human trafficking, sex slavery, that type of thing, modern day slavery.
That’s what we rode for this year, and what I’m gonna challenge everybody on is … Here’s what manning up to me is, manning up, part of that is standing in the gap. You can call it human up too, but for the way I look at men and what we can do … Oh boy, I got a low battery. I’m gonna have to cruise on this. The way I look at it is, we have that ability to stand in the gap, that strength, that resolve, we need to use that wisely, powerfully, and for good. Here’s the three, I got three things for something just to think about and challenge you, to find something that you’re gonna stand in the gap for or against.
The first thing is number one, find something that is your passion. For me, Hope for Justice resonates with me. I don’t know for what reason, I’ve got that protective personality, so that really resonates with me, and I think it resonates with the biker community somewhat too. But that’s my thing. That’s what I will ride for, so find that. Find something that you’re passionate …
Because if you don’t have a passion for it, if it just something you’re just picking out of thin air because, “Okay, I’m gonna pick something. I’m gonna do it,” you’re not gonna put as much effort into it. I’ll tell you that. I loved riding to rebuild Nepal. I’ve got some buddies that went to Nepal and actually helped do the rebuilding and it’s a lot deeper passion for them because they were there and they experienced that piece of it.
The Hope for Justice, I went to their Nashville headquarters. It became a very personal thing for me after going there, seeing, talking to their investigators, and seeing what goes on, so find something that you’re passionate about, something that you’re not going to stop, you’re not going to give up on, you’re not going to just waiver and say, “Okay, well, that was fun for a little while,” but find something you’re passionate about.
Number two is be persistent. Last year when we started we had 12 bikes ride into the farm that our company owns. 12 motorcycles rode from Minnesota to Utah and rode into the farm. This year we ended up with 51 motorcycles riding in, so we quadrupled the number, essentially. Last year, it was mainly those, a lot of us from Minnesota that rode. This year we had British Columbia, we had Alberta, Canada. We had Ontario, Barrie, Ontario. We had Michigan, we had Kansas, we had Indiana, Missouri. We had … I think in Oregon too.
But we had all kinds of people from everywhere riding it. Next year we’ve already got commitments from people in Mexico to ride in. We could have quit last year and said, “Okay, that was fun, probably never gonna get past 12,” and our goal was this, last year we raised $150,000. We gave away three motorcycles. This year we raised just over $1,000,000, $1,040,000. Just over $30,000 of it was prior to convention, and just over a $1,000,000 at convention.
So, persistence, it pays off. It’s creating that culture of something that people want to be involved in, it’s something that people want to be a part of, and that’s the third point, involve others. If you find something that you have a passion for, whether it’s through the business were in, whether it’s in life in general, whether it’s something you’re standing in the gap for, involve others. Bring and empower other people into the mix with you.
We have this saying in our business, “None of us are as smart as all of us,” and it’s so true. Our goal is to surround ourselves with people who are smarter than us and stronger than us in other areas, in areas where we’re weak and we’re lacking. Because that’s gonna make us and our team look really good and do really well.
That is number three, involve other people. Find other people and be persistent in involving other people to help you stand in that gap, because the thing is, it’s that leverage piece. There’s no way we could have raised that $1,000,000 like we did without a lot of people doing a little. It’s not one or two people doing a ton. It’s a lot of people doing a little.
That’s my challenge, guys. That’s my challenge to all the men on here, heck, to all the women that are watching too. It’s really quite simple. It’s that consistency over time. That’s where it usually breaks down for people.
So again, Renee, thank you. Find your passion, be persistent, involve others. I want to make this as doable and duplicatable as we can, so other people get involved and start doing something like this, so other people, other men, people start standing in that gap for those that can’t, speaking up for people who can’t, being strong for people who can’t, being that lighthouse in the middle of a stormy sea for people who can’t see. Give them a glimmer of hope that it is possible, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
That’s all I had today, but I’m gonna try and be a little more consistent and involve others on this page, but I just wanted to get on today quick and give y’all a little bit of insight into why I’ve been missing in action, and something I’ve thought about since being missing in action, so thanks guys. I hope y’all have a great rest of the week, and as always if you’ve got questions, thoughts, #replay if you’re watching it after this, if there’s something you want to hear me pontificate on, by all means, post it in the comment section, and who knows, maybe I’ll have you on and you can join me and we can talk and discuss things.
All right guys, take care.