SPEAKER_04 0:00

Here comes a Sundo. Here comes a Sunday It's all right.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

Hello, fortitude audience. Thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Heather Kittleson, and I'm your host. And I am joined with my lovely husband, Amos. Hi. Who is the co-host, but he's also the brains behind this operation. Well very much so.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

So I think we're a good team. We are a good team.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Can't do it without you, uh today we have Albert. Albert, how do you say your last name?

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Heising. The US silent.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

So I knew it. That's why I keep messing it up. I'm like, Huzy. Okay, Heising.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

And there's no A. Everyone thinks it's like Heisinga.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

No A. Heising.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

But people add it just because they like the sound of it?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Uh I think like growing up in the Dutch world. Oh. Like it's usually added, but like it got dropped off back in like Friesland, which is like not good part of like the Netherlands. If you say you're not. You know the history of it even. Well, I am Albert Heising the Fifth. So Oh dang. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Whoa. That's some big shoes to fill.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

So yeah, it's like a generational thing, and you probably should know the history of it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Well, Albert, thank you for being with us today.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

You already got a history lesson in the books. We can just sign off. We're good.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yes, we're good.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Your story is beautiful. It really is. I was I was glad that you had reached out. Uh, you have a podcast yourself, so we share similar worlds.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

What is your podcast name?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yep. So it's called Move to Sioux Falls. And it's just to tell the people like why Sioux Falls is amazing, why join the community of Sioux Falls. So um just seeing different people throughout the community. And, you know, it started as just a real estate company. And then I was like, you know, I think it's more about just then selling houses, you know, it's more about educating and telling people what why Sioux Falls is so awesome.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Yeah. Well, I I guarantee there's some people who are like, stop it. Stop telling people how beautiful this place is because it's growing a lot. There's a lot of people who are moving to Sioux Falls. So I think it's brilliant what you're doing because we all uh in the Sioux Falls and just surrounding areas really have a have a heart for our people and for our communities.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

It really is a great place to live. January and February are the hardest sales for those around the world. Today's high is 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah. Which is temporary. Thankfully.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Hey, I will take it. A couple of years ago, it'd be like negative 30. You know, it was cool. So January, February, if you can make it through those months, you're good. Ten more months out of the year. It was like 30 degrees on Christmas Day. So that was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

I love a brown Christmas.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

We do differ with this. God brought frost. So it was white, but it wasn't snow white. Yes. Yes, that's perfect. Well, we um we have a lot to dig into with you, Albert. And so if you can just share a little bit of of your life right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah. Okay. So I'm in Sioux Falls. I live there. Um, I I have a wife, Kayla, two kids, Marley and Henry. Marley is uh almost almost two in a couple days. And then Henry is three and a half, gonna be four this year. So um it's been a little bit crazy leading up to you know this point. Uh Kayla and I run two businesses, Sodex Days, which is a short-term rental property management business. I run Move to Sioux Falls, which we talked about is a podcast, but it's also a real estate business to help people, you know, be educated on buying and selling and investing uh in properties. I help facilitate those transactions. And then out of all of that, I wrote a book too that's coming out uh January 16th. Uh it's being published. Uh, I think you guys had Jeremy Brown on uh a couple years ago, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Well, he they're they're coming up every one of the next episodes.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

They're they're going back on. Okay. Um, so um published the book. Um with Jeremy.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Sorry, that's with Jeremy.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Jeremy, yeah. Jeremy helped me publish the book. I randomly ran into him. Um so it's just Sioux Falls is just so like small town, biggest small town. I think Nick Nick Kiso just talked about that on the last episode. And it's so true. Yeah. Um, I'll tell you a little story since it's like the here and now. Um, Brooke, Jeremy's wife, was working with Kayla in the short-term rental stuff. She was doing some interior design stuff for us. And Kayla went up to me and was like, Brooke is so cool. Like, and Jeremy has a publishing company. And I was like, Oh, that's pretty awesome. Like, I've always thought about like writing a book, uh, which we'll get into later. My dad um wrote a devotional. So I was like, Oh, yeah, I've been kind of motivated to do that, but I'll never run into this guy, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Literally the next day, run into him, startup Sioux Falls. And I was like, Hey, I need to talk to you. Like, I'm gonna write a book. And then he's like, Okay, like come see me when you have like 5,000 words. And I think it was like the next day. I was like, Hey, I got like 10,000 words on paper, like I'm ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

So determined.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah, what's the book called? It's called Not Just Another Transaction. And yeah, you will be able to find it on Amazon and everything else.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

So congratulations. That's a really big deal.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yeah, that's what people keep saying. It is a big deal.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

I have a couple other friends who just completed books and it's interesting because they want to be excited about it, but don't know if they should be. And it's like, yes, yes, you be excited. That's a big deal. That's a forever. Yeah, it's forever gonna be on shelves.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that'll be awesome.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Well, you okay, so you have a lot going on at any given time, and adding two little humans to the mix is is a lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

Yeah, having four we know.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Um, but we have a third on the way, so I forgot to say that. Yeah, March 2.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

That's great. You have a lot to celebrate in 2025. Wow. Uh adding a human and a book to the world. Um, and you're gonna share with our audience your beautiful story of being an East Coast. Yeah. You're an East Coaster.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

And come from a very just beautiful Christian family who who also went through some really tough stuff. And so if you could dive in to um I just want to get right to it, Albert, if you don't mind. You so 2008. Yes, you can go back to you and your sisters and you're you're at a Christian school, you guys because you were raised in a Christian home, Christian school, great parents. And then the recession and your house did not sell.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

And you guys were living in a place that a lot of families would be like, wait, what? And your your parents did it with grace. It's a real it's beautiful. So can you bring us Yeah?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

So um trying to not do too many details, right? But grew up East Coast, 2008 hits, and my parents were like, hey, we're gonna make a move to Vermont. And all of our our siblings are like, What? Okay, like we vacation there, but like this is kind of different. So we moved there. Um, in 2008, nine, I graduated, you know, the middle school area. Um, we move up, and the recession hits 2008, and my parents own this general store. Um, and uh they essentially, after like hard work and grinding it out, you know, like I was I was working like 45, 50 hours a week at the store with them, just like trying to get by, you know. Yeah, um, we go into bankruptcy, right? Um, house doesn't sell for what it's supposed to sell for. And we're like me and my sister Kelsey and my younger sister Sydney knew what was kind of going on. Bailey, kind of too young to remember. Yeah, like she thought we were kind of shielded from all that stuff. Um, and uh, I think like a month or two go by, and all of a sudden, like, dad's like, hey, you gotta pack up all your stuff in our house. And we had like a day or two to do it. And we're just like, okay, this is weird. Like, and I'm like, uh sure, I'll do it. Um, and I pack everything up, and that the church was awesome. The church we went to, the school that we went to, Christian school, gracious enough to like come out, help us pack our whole house basically into like trash bags.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

And like my sisters were just, I don't know if they were in denial or or what, but they did not pack. And so, like, people were packing their stuff. And I was like, this is really odd.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Yeah, and you said it was hard because it was like people were coming through and you had all your sisters and they're throwing your clothes in in bags. And did it feel like the world was spinning around you a little bit in that moment?

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Or were you was it I I think I was too young to like realize everything that was happening. I think I was just in a point where I was like, hey, I'm just uh ninth grader trying to or tenth grader trying to help my parents out, right? Where it's like, hey, I just doing whatever I can. Now I think their world was definitely spinning.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Yeah, you didn't see them crying or any moment of just despair.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

I could I remember, so like how the house was structured is it was a ranch house, and upstairs had this big area which three people could live in. So my sisters were upstairs in the big area, and there was an extra room with a bathroom that I got because I was the only boy. I lucked down. Um, but you could always hear my parents at nighttime talking to my grandfather, Albert III. Okay. And them, I don't know if they were arguing, but definitely raised voices, yeah. Definitely despair of, you know, you know, hurt. And so you knew something was going on. You just didn't understand the gravity of what like bankruptcy meant.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

So until they sat us down, we were like, okay, like we I didn't know what that meant until we moved to our next place.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Right. And your next place was our next place was a hallway apartment on top of a a rundown dentistry house.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

An abandoned dental house.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Abandoned dental house. And the top had like just a hallway with rooms that like offshoot from it, and the kitchen was part of the hallway, too.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Man.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

So this is like a commercial space? It's it was it was like a single family house, but the downstairs had just been outfitted for a dental home or dental dental office. And then the upstairs was like a basically just an apartment, like a hallway with rooms that offshoot it on it.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

And this is still in Vermont?

SPEAKER_01 11:07

This was in Vermont, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

So as you and I were talking about your story, um, one thing that really brought tears in my eyes was like, even in the midst of all of this happening and your sisters and you and you go into bankruptcy and you no longer have this general store, right? Yeah, yeah. The general store is gone, your house is gone. You're all of a sudden living in an unfamiliar area. And yet your parents are such devoted, beautiful Christian people. And even in their marriage, like you go through something like that really that can rip a marriage apart, right? Like it's your bad decision or your bad decision, and you remembered um just the love, the love that they had and how they approached it. And then you made you also brought up that you they adopted.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

They adopted in this process, and that's like the last thing you think you would do when you're financially strapped.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah, yeah. So once we moved into this place, uh there was a foreign exchange student that I had talked about. And they brought him in because he wanted to be with us. I was like, why? We're like in this Koduk apartment thing, the broken down dentistry office. Like, why do you want to come over here?

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Right. So And he did. Yeah. And it's because of the full of love. Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Did you move schools in the move? No, so we stayed at the same school. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

But you mentioned that your parents were really they they understood the importance of a Christian education and keeping Christ in your life. And so they went to the nth degree to keep all their kids.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

And this is the Christian school. Yeah. Oh, I can relate to this. Yeah. This is kind of my upbringing too. Okay. Where Christian schools are not cheap. But when you start to prioritize your kids' education and their well-being and their character, then that that's an easy decision, isn't it? Yeah. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And luckily, my mom was a teacher. So she was at the public school. And then God just worked everything out where it was like the English teacher there was going into the forces. Uh, and then she took over his spot and moved from the public school. And then whatever we could do to like help out with any type of tuition, like if it snowed three feet, I was over there shoveling, you know, the parking lot and the sidewalks off at the school, you know?

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Yeah. Didn't you say also, Albert, that you got a job to help pay the bills? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

So I was working at a grocery store and I I helped pay those bills. And it just, it's a wild time of life where you're like, I'm in high school and I'm helping like I'm already starting like this adulthood kind of life. Even back when the general store was going on, like, I don't think I made a dime from it because it was always just like to help out with the family.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Make sure it survives, it keeps going.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

I I I think it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

I what a great education that you got. I mean, you're going to school, but you also learn how to work ethics and you learned that life isn't doesn't revolve around you as much many most teenagers think, you know, learn how to think about business at a young age. I mean, clearly you just wrote a book. You got two couple, a couple businesses. I mean, obviously that had an impact on your life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

Poverty. I want to go there with you for a second because technically your family was living in poverty, right? With bankruptcy. And you as a kid there was um, and I I mean, I'm sure that there were some really tough, really dark moments, but having the light of Christ in your family, right? Like that was a that was a a big deal for your parents.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah, it was huge. It was just like anytime that you were like just going through like a dark spot or a frustrated spot, they would always be like, Hey, have you prayed about this? Have you looked in the word? And it was just always this great thing to go back to. And I never, I would say I never like explored anything different, which was great, you know, until I got it to college where I was like, hey, I'm on my own now, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

And when you say not explore like other religions or being other religions or being without, or just like, hey, there's other ideologies that like don't match up. And it was always like, no, let's just stick to like what Christ says and what the word says. And every time I've like been challenged by something and I go to the word, I find something. I'm like, oh, this exactly talks about what my point, like what I'm going through right now, every time. And I was like, I don't know how this works.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

You you did encounter some sin, which is also a unique space for people because you're you're being raised in a beautiful Christian home with all the love and direction and wisdom. And then sin enters, like it does for everybody, right? Like it, it's everywhere. You cannot get away from it. And so you just I I feel like sometimes when you're raised in a Christian home and you do uh when you're introduced to sin, it's like it's like a gut punch, right? Because you're like, whoa, kind of like you said when you were going to the um Christian school. He said he never he didn't encounter a mean person until he went to public in ninth.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

He was like, I just didn't know mean people existed, or I didn't know people my age could be so mean.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

It was such a culture shock.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Yeah, and and so entering into the sin piece, I just if we can go back also, um, you were talking about fifth grade, you got introduced uh to pornography, which I feel like is everywhere. There's there's there's especially with phones now, there's no way to not be introduced to it. So what what did that do to fifth grade Albert?

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Um yeah, it it was it was like oh, I don't know if I should tell my parents this, right? It was like the first time where it's like, do I keep things in to myself? Right, right. And so like that's kind of what like shifted my like I don't know what you call it, but like I feel like a ton of people struggle with this, like, hey, have accountability, have vulnerability. Um, and I know like in Ephesians, in I think it was like four or nine, I've been reading this book, um, the Bible, obviously. Um, and uh it talks about like if a if a man falls, like let another man like pick him up. And like, woe is the man that's alone. And like you just like kind of lose that like vulnerability and like being okay with hey, I need others to help. And like, so and like so, like that's kind of what it changed in me was like, hey, I have this like really good friend that introduced me to pornography, and um it was like, hey, I shouldn't tell anyone about this. Like, I don't know what it is, I don't think my parents would like it, you know. So then, you know, it can lead down other dark roads, right? Where you're just like, hey, I'm kind of like stuck on this. It can lead you down to you know, premarital sex, or it can lead you down to any type of sexual. Any type of other sexual sins. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

So and you um did you eventually get you got the help you needed? Yes. Yep. So how long did you wait?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Oh, let me think. I I think it was probably fifth grade, you know, 2005. That's the nice thing about me. Uh like if it's 2008, I'm in eighth grade. So uh 2005 to probably 2020. No, it would have been before that, 20 2016. So seven, I mean, for for many, many years you've struggled years of my life, just struggling of like, how do I fix this? Well, I'm gonna go to church, I'm gonna, you know, I didn't realize like how freeing it is to talk about and be vulnerable with other people because I feel as if I feel, and the Bible says, like, Satan wants our sin in the dark, just wants to, hey, don't talk about it with anyone. Like, don't try to fix it, try to fix it on your own, right? And so, yeah, I think 2016, that's kind of when you know, I met my person, Kayla. Yeah, Kayla, who was a big part of my life, and helped me to go, like, hey, go back to the word, start your devotionals every day. Um, so that was like a huge thing in my life to be like, hey, she's keeping me accountable to see the light and do the right stuff.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

So you were open, honest, like you were able to so I wasn't right away.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Like it was like, I'll tell her everything but this, you know, sexual sin. And then I think it was on her honeymoon that I was like, hey, bust it up. Like, hey, I was like, hey, I've been dealing with this for years. And uh like if anyone wants marriage advice, don't bring up that stuff on the honeymoon. Oh, I have a mistake, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Maybe before the someone out there is like, don't reveal on honeymoons, like writing this down right now.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So, Albert, would you you consider it an addiction?

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Were you addicted to when I would I would say so, like it wasn't like an everyday thing, but it was like a continual want and idol that I would say that was in my life.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah. Um and I one one that you couldn't you had a hard time stopping on your own.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And then the the power of Christ and a good Christian life, and you know, there were other people, right? As I, you know, I talked to you offset about like it lingering, right? Like you, you're not actually performing in the act of watching, but you also like you're trying to guard your thoughts, right? How hard is that? Right. And so having a group of like Christian brothers that you can like, you know, say, like, hey, this has gone on in my life. And the more you hold yourself accountable, the more you are able to guard those thoughts, whether it's through scripture and or through reinforcement with Christian brothers, like, hey, I've gone through that before, or this is what's helped me. Like I had a guy who was like, Hey, someone told me to um like if someone says something twice, it must be the Holy Spirit. You're like telling me something. Um, and two months ago, like two people were like really talking about like getting into Bible scripture memory. So now I made it my goal this year to learn a hundred verses. Good for you, and and so just to like just like when we were in school in Christian school, like where they made you memorize Bible verses, had no idea, like they didn't tell the meaning behind it. They're just like, learn these verses, it's good for me. Yeah, like so, like the meaning behind it, like is it's impactful now to know why I'm doing that.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

Yeah, and to to actually have God's heart written or God's word written on your heart. Yeah, that's the meaning of when you're in those moments and you can remember his word, that is what keeps you at bay for for me anyway, to be able to go back to that and go, Oh, okay, God's got me, God's got this.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

When you um went to Dort, yeah, that's another thing. You moved 2,000 miles away from your family. So how did you decide that, or how did Dort come about?

SPEAKER_01 23:06

So, Dort. So I was living in New Jersey. Yeah, we moved to Vermont, bankruptcy happened, and then my dad got a job in ministry in Prince Edward Island, Canada. And I was like, I'm not gonna go to college, like, no big deal. My dad's like, just just just look at this one place.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Uh Dort is a place that my dad's best friend went to. They they went to Calvin together, but his best friend's wife went to Dort.

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

And so growing up with them from New Jersey, they were going. And so I was like, I'll check it out. Got a 17 on my ACT, which I don't think they even test ACTs anymore.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

Oh, they don't?

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Yeah, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

I think they do. Do they in Minnesota?

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Okay, okay, okay, maybe. I I think COVID kind of changed stuff for a little bit. Maybe they like reverted back. Anyway, I got in this Aspire program and was like, all right, I guess I'm going to college. Like, this will be fun. And they were just, I would go to class all the time, study. They were like, dude, you just test really bad. Like, you're good. You don't need to be in this program.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

When you were talking about that, I was like, oh man, thank you for getting it. From because I I try to explain it a lot that I just I couldn't take tests. I was really bad at tests, too.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

So I would always be the person who like if we were doing a presentation, everyone would be like, Albert's in my group. Yeah. Like, and then I would just rattle off the presentation for people.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Oh, that's quite good. Dort's a private school, right? Dort is a private institution. They just changed to a university.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Is it considered one of the Ivy League schools? I would consider it an Ivy League Christian school. Okay. Christian. So what I'm thinking about is the finances of that. You just came from a home that went through bankruptcy. Yeah. And now you're at this very expensive educational institution. Yeah. I don't know. Are you racking up loans here? Are you getting scholarships? How are you feeling about it?

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Yeah. So I think when I was going, it was like $30,000 to $34,000 a year, which is like kind of crazy. Um, there were some loans that came out. There was some grants that I got. And then I worked for the hours a week while in college. There you go. At the same time. Yeah. I worked uh what a concept. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Go to school and work to pay for the school at the time. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

So was that hard? It was it was very hard the first, I would say first two years. Okay. What was hard about it? The the jobs. I was like working at a Pizza Hut, then I was working at Walmart. I was like, man, these jobs like she's really low-paying. Yeah, low paying, like, but you know, it got me back.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Um so that I get it, and that's the point. It's not zero. It may be a low paying. Yeah. But that's not an excuse not to do it, right? Yeah. It's still more than zero. Yeah. That's so you're saying it's hard just because it's a lot of hours psychologically hard to get a hard to get ahead.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah. Financially. Is that what you're thinking? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

And then one of my buddies like landed a job at it was called the it's called the Allsian Center in Sioux Center. And they have an ice rink and a swimming pool there.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

And it's called Tsunami.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yes, tsunami. Yeah. Yeah, the like uh water park. Yes. Yes, that they have. They just expanded it. It's huge now.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

It's it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah. It's a cool place to go. And he was like, hey, I'm a Zamboni driver. Like you should come work with me in the ice rink. All you got to do is like clean up the locker rooms and like be a skate guard for like ice skating. I was like, sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

I'm a Zamboni driver.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

And then I became the Zamboni driver. Wow. So so like I just like after the first year, I like took every job I could, and they're like, hey, you're you're helping us out so much. You should come drive the Zam with us. I was like, sure. Drive the Zam.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah. Do you think that you got that job because of the jobs you had leading up to that? You worked a couple years at you said Pizza Pizza Hut in Walmart. Do you think there's a correlation there? Um does activity breed activity?

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think if you're just it's not like when you know, when people talk about like genius and like hitting a target that's unseeable, right? Like that doesn't happen by chance. Like you have to have activities always going, your mind's always working out what's the next thing, how do I get to the next thing? And I was more in a financial survival activity breeding on that side of my life because it was like, hey, if I don't, if I don't get a job or if I don't keep my mind right to pay finances, I don't go to school here anymore.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Oh, so there was a there's a threat of going to school.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

So that's a strong motivator. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Uh Chicago. I want to go to Chicago first. Sure. Because when you talk about your your wife and what you were just talking about with Amos and all that, it's like you've always been hardworking, but then there's this not but then. And then there is also this place of like super hard working, your brain's always going, you're you're busy, you meet this beautiful girl, and then you go to Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Why'd you go to Chicago? Your super senior year. I had a super senior year too, right away. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Good.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

No reason to say sorry. We just had a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah. Does that mean fifth year? Yeah. Yeah. Fifth year. Never heard that anymore.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Super senior. Super senior. So you're in Chicago and you are you're still dabbling in alcohol and just different things. It isn't it crazy to think about how you're so busy with work and school and all the things, but we still had time to do everything else at high capacity.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

And you have this beautiful girl that you're dating.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:53

And you're in Chicago and you guys are not together, correct?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Yeah. So Chicago was really like in school, I was like changing my major. I was like, I don't know what I want to do, right? Like I was sports management and I went to physical education and then went back to sports management, but I was like, I want my business major. And they're like, you'd have to take six years to get double major. So I was like, I'm gonna stick with five. I'll do a business minor. But they were like, you need an internship.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Okay. So the internship brought you there.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yes. And my wife had done SPICE, which is going to the Netherlands to do a study abroad. So she was like, hey, half the year, like it, you just feel kind of like the odd man out if you're taking your fifth year. So then you're like, okay, well, half the year I'll be here in Sioux Center, and the other half I'll go to Chicago, where no one else really knows me besides, you know, two or three people that are going to Chicago semester with you. So that's kind of why I made the decision. Go to Chicago semester.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

And did you enjoy Chicago?

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Yeah, Chicago was good. That was like a point of my life where, you know, uh freshman year, you're like, you're there at door trying to figure out like who you are as a person. You know, I started, I think I told you I started like skipping church, and then I was like, you know, uh into alcohol. You know, I wasn't really getting into like drugs or anything then, you know. Um and maybe I think it was like more of my senior year. I was like starting to, but it it started to turn like junior senior year, where it was like, hey, I gotta, I gotta rein this in. Like I'm young and I'm only young once, but like all of these things like are gonna add up.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

And so like I I felt like these moves that I had, they were like fresh starts, right? Where when I'm dealing with like this sexual sin that's like the underlying cause of like all this other stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Um it's a that's a very mature thought to have as a senior, even as a super senior. What do you would you would you agree? Yeah. I think it's a mature thought to have that someone stops and says, I'm gonna rein this in, otherwise, I'm gonna have to pay the piper here eventually. Yeah. I think most most people that age would just keep going, you know, and like this is fun. I like this.

SPEAKER_03 31:10

Like I'm just in the beginning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

What do you attribute to that that maturity?

SPEAKER_01 31:16

I think it was like the life experience that I had at such a young age with like bankruptcy and like having to work hard. And it's like, hey, am I gonna do this the rest of my life, or am I just like activity after after activity after activity because finances aren't always there?

SPEAKER_03 31:31

And so you saw the hardship early on. Yeah, yeah, you knew better.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

And and so I think that's kind of what attributed to like I had this, I had this one friend too in college who's just like a like a total health junkie. Got into CrossFit back when CrossFit was like not a big thing yet. And so like I started to be like, okay, there's like a physical healthness that you have to keep, a spiritual healthness that you have to keep. Um there's one other my mind, body, and soul. Yeah, and a spiritual healthness, right? Yeah, the most important one. Sorry, I forgot about it. Um, but yeah, so like I I think I was just having those like thoughts of like, how do I want my life to like live in the future?

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

And like I think it was just like a combination of all those things. And so like that's kind of why like I I love my story, is just because it's just like, hey, even though these things were like nose to the grindstone, and like you know, and it's still like I'm still like still got two startup businesses, and I'm still like haven't like quote unquote made it because I'm not like financially wealthy yet, right?

SPEAKER_03 32:45

But um you have made it as a believer in Christ, yeah, because ultimately the the the end goal, we we have it, yeah, right? Or the it's that the the war has been won in that in that sense. And so we're just playing right now. We're just playing for sure, having fun, yeah, yeah, it's just differently. Yeah, so your your experience from when you were younger, I think I keep going back to that in my heart, and it's because now you're an adult, you're a dad, your husband, your business owner, and like how have you worked through a lot of the things to get to the emotional intelligence that you have now? We can resort back to the Bible and Christ and all that, but like what do you do? Do you see a therapist? Do you go to a counselor? Have you worked through past?

SPEAKER_01 33:36

See, I didn't do any of those things really. It's been more like I've gone to a men's group. I've gone to like I started a Bible study. Um, my wife is one of the most emotionally intelligent people you will ever meet. Um she is just so calm about everything. She's just, and I feel bad because sometimes I feel like I'm rubbing off on her the bad way, where it's like, oh, I'm getting her frustrated of like, oh, I never see this from you. And then she's like, Well, you're rubbing off on me. And I was like, oh no.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

So you're saying what I hear you saying is that she responds to every situation instead of reacting. She understands what's happening, what's coming next, where the future is. Yeah. How's that how is that impacting your marriage? Is that um let me ask a more specific question? Does that do you feel like that's something that you want to aspire to? Is it a challenge that you guys have to talk about in your marriage? Do you feel like as you are off on that? Or are you also?

SPEAKER_01 34:43

No, I I think we are aligned on where we want to head. Um, a couple of years ago, I think it was right during the height of COVID, right? When we were starting our business, paying off student loans through this Airbnb thing that we were doing. Um, we like started talking about like, do we have want to have kids? And we're like, yeah, she wanted five to seven. I wanted three to five. She's like, let's meet in the middle at five. And I was like, five's my high number. Yeah. You know, but you know, we started talking about questions of like, are we gonna send our kids to daycare? Like, how does that look? So, like, we actually watch our kids full time, and so like she'll watch them four days out of the week, and then I watch them one. And if our nanny doesn't show up, I'll kind of step in to help out with you know, so it's like this constant flexibility and being okay with that. Like, I feel like, you know, there's these this book by Jeff Bridges called Respectable Sins. And one of them is like impatience and frustration, and I get so impatient that I'm not like changing the world with real estate. And she's like, hey, it's okay to slow down. Like, I think you guys even talked about it in your like season two opener about like slowing down and being okay with being slow. And like that was one of our things is like, hey, we want to live a Christ-led life, looking over our kids, you know, doing the whole sourdough and you know, being a little bit out there.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

The sourdough in Christ is that a thing? What are you saying? He's healthy, they're healthy, health consciousness.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

The health consciousness. Uh, and so is more like you know, try like we had agreed upon that like years ago that like this is our alignment. And then I kind of always seemed to like, like, even today, I went to a Bible study, led Bible study, and then like I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get home, I'm gonna work out. Um, and then all of a sudden, my wife's like, hey, something up at this property, you have to go do this. And I was like, Well, I gotta work out, then I gotta go go come to this podcast, then I gotta go do this real estate thing. And she's like, Hey, it's gonna be okay. Just just slow down.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Uh and that's great. Yeah. And so And you guys are talking about these things early on in your marriage. Yeah, that's weird, man. I think that's weird. You're weird. Yeah, yeah. Like we what a what a thing to aspire to.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

And like I always tell people, like, COVID's the best thing that ever happened to me. Like, we got to said no one ever. Yeah. Except for you. And me's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

And me.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I've I will say all the time that's like, yeah, I think I thought I saw it on Instagram. You said, yeah. So it was just like we got to be together, we got to like go on walks every day. We got to just like have our lives just like fully integrated, where we're like, hey, can we actually like do business together? Can we like live together? Can we like parent, do all the things? So we're just like, yeah, I think this is good, like experiment.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

It's possible. It's okay to be inconvenienced, yeah. Like, because your your smaller inconveniences like you experienced with the little bit ago before you came here, yeah. Is like, but this is the life we chose. These kind of I guess little bumps in the road of of my schedule are okay. Like just take a breath because I I don't I've never been like that.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

So to have the life that we've led with these ups, ups and downs and sin and all the things, it's like you get to a place in life where you want to be, you want to craft it with your creator, yeah, and live a life really beautiful beautifully with your spouse. And it's possible. You just have to make some sacrifices. And the sacrifices are hard, but they're so worth it. So worth it. So worth it. Yeah. So a third on the way, what is so Kayla works in the business with with Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

So she does all of the guest communication and all of the, I would say, marketing, pricing on the Sodac stay side of things for short-term rentals. I'm the operational, hey, if something's broken, can you go out? Can you fix this? Um, I will help sometimes with marketing and sometimes with the guest communication. Um so she's working full-time on that and watching the kids do this all. So that gets pretty difficult, but she's so like calm at it. So that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 39:06

Yeah, you guys are a good match. Um, do you ever do you ever go back, go back to your experience with her? Like, because did she how how did Kayla grow up? I I think the two couples that have come together and doing what you guys are doing is really special.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yeah. So so yeah, Kayla grew up on a farm in Wood, Iowa. Um, so her parents were very entrepreneurial. Her mom actually worked at a bank before she went over to do farming, so she knew like the finance side. Kayla went to Dort for, I think it was HR, and then she was she started doing like uh business admin stuff. And then after those two years, she was like, Oh, I'm gonna do HR resources as her major. And so, like, that's been helpful to navigate conversations. And so, like, I I still am like, how do you answer these questions in such a calm or like how do you like she's like I wouldn't answer? She was like, I won't talk about it this way. Cause I was like, hey, I'm going to the chamber, I'm gonna tell them like I should say this. And she's like, no, don't say that. Say it this way. So you like you're being proactive in your conversation and the stuff that happened, that's in the past. Don't even bring it up, doesn't matter anymore. I'm like, okay. And the conversation worked out perfectly.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

She probably had to take a lot of psych, I'm gonna guess, or like different types of psychology in her major with human resources. So she's that's her emotional intelligence side that she got ahead of all of us because she went to school for it. Um I I guess I I I am going back again to the the poverty piece because you know, I think about a lot of people in our world right now are my kids and I, let's just say I we went and handed out survival packs and coats and different things just right out of the van. I love being able to love on people like that. And so I think the way the church loved on you guys in your moment of despair, even as a kid, and you really didn't know. I want to go back there for a second because I think about fortitude is about helping family like moms, dads, kids have a family unit that is thriving. And a lot of times our past traumas and our past experiences can come in and haunt in a in a home in ways that you would never expect. And so how do how are you with poverty when it cut like do you is there a fear in your heart of not having enough because of what you experienced?

SPEAKER_01 41:49

Oh, that is a great question because I my mom and I actually just had this conversation like two, three months ago, you know, after after my dad had passed two years ago. Um we had this great long road trip, kind of gave her my testimony, like what had happened in my life, right? And then we didn't really hone in on the fact that like when financial like things come up, I get like super stressed out. I'm like, hey, I don't ever want to go back there. Like I'm not going back to this place. Like, like, like even like next month when the book comes or this month when the book comes out, if I'm like, oh, hey, finances are tight, I'm like, hey, I need to like not pay for anything. Like, let's just cut off from the world, go to the Dollar Tree, like all that stuff. And my my wife is like, hey, hon, we got another business over here. It brings us like recurring income. You're gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

And like, I just I feel as if I'm like, hey, I'm not providing enough to the family when this one business isn't producing as much as the other business. And I think that's just like a past trauma from back during bankruptcy that I've like held on tightly to. That's really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Can we unpack that a little bit? Yeah. I listened to a podcast recently where the host said that men are um great for these three things, not at these three things, for these three things. And they were provider, protector, and leader for a family. Provider, protector, and leader. Doesn't that mean that we're good at those and we're innate, but that's what we're that's we're that's how God designed the the man of the house. And you're now going through this internal battle where you want to protect and you want to provide. And you're dealing with a fear, some baggage from your past. And your wife is now helping you uh unpack that and understand that. What is the biggest uh struggle in that? And how do you guys uh how do you guys overcome that together as a couple?

SPEAKER_01 43:59

So Our biggest struggle is and like I don't know what you would quantify as a struggle, right? But I would like maybe just like what would you quantify as a struggle?

SPEAKER_00 44:14

If you're pre if you're distracted by this feeling, okay. You're worried. Yep. It's hard to be dad when you're worried. You want to be, yeah. Giggles and fun, right? But you but you're you're meant to be the provider and you've got this fear. So you're so it's a distraction.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

So there's an example.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Um I think maybe I can answer this in like a solution back. But I I listen to a lot of podcasts. And so how my wife and I always like we always go to bed together. And like that's just like a thing. It's like, hey, even if you're out late, like you have you're over at a you know a brother's house and you're out late, like, hey, you're not staying over there. Like, and it's like, cool, that's fine. Like, this is like our thing. And we'll like I would say 90% of the time, maybe 95% of the time, we're like after the kids go to bed, we're talking about like what's distracted us, or like, hey, I heard this interesting thing about like, hey, I should go help. Um, like I'm very into homes, right? Like full circle, went homeless per se, went bankrupt, and now I'm here doing real estate, and I'm helping people buy homes, but I was like, how do I help those in need? And so, um, like I go through this internal battle of like injustices of like mourning. And so, like, I tell Kayla those things, and she's like, You're always like trying to like change the world or something. And and so she's just like, it's okay to just be like, Hey, you're changing a family. That's what Christ is wanting you to do. And so then I I just was like, Hey, do you mind if I just like go to Union Gospel mission? Like Eric Weber came to our church. It's like, do you mind if I just go there? This is a local uh mission. Local missions here in Sioux that helped downtown Sioux Falls, help the homeless, yeah. Yep. And so I went there and it was just like we clicked. There was some stuff in housing that he needed help with. Um, like I didn't sell him any real estate or anything, but he was like, Hey, what do you think about this idea? I was like, Oh, this is how you could connect to this. And then he was like, Hey, you're gonna volunteer here. And I was like, sure, I'll work at the food pantry and like help out people. And and it's just been like so rewarding. And so to go back to your piece about like being distracted, there's always like this conversation that has to happen with Caleb and I, um, or Christ and I, or a brother in Christ and I to rein me back, to bring me back to be like, here is the truth. And like if you the more like people always say, like, the more you give, the more you get, which is which is not always like financial. It's like spiritually rewarding um to help these people and be like, oh, you know what? I did make a difference in this person's life today, and that's all I need to do.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Yeah. You're it's an interesting situation because we've something we went through in our our marriage too, where I was okay going to zero through our business and just taking like rolling the dice, and yeah, it's gonna be sucky for a while, but we'll be okay. We'll always will be. And and Heather didn't have that same reaction. She's like, No, I've been there before, don't want to go back there again. And that was a real struggle, you know? And so it's like it sounds like you and Kayla were a little bit in reverse where she was lifting you up and and helping you through unpack that and and be okay with that.

unknown 47:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Is that it? Did I get that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

That whole save in the world thing, uh, when you come from brokenness and you're in a place of abundance, and your abundance doesn't have, like we've said, doesn't have to be financial, but just your joy and your cup is overflowing because you're tapping into the right resources, which is Christ. It's interesting how you want to go pour that out on everybody because you know how bad it can be, because you've been there.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:09

And you don't want people in that, right? So we come in and we're like, we want to save the world, realizing that that is not the position God is God has us in, but it's a definite passion and desire that I I can hear in your in your heart because it's like I want that.

SPEAKER_01 48:25

Friends have asked me that. They're like, Why are you always this person who is like wants to help me out all the time? And it's exactly right. Like that passion of like, hey, I was in this spot before. I never want someone else to get in that spot.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Yeah. And God brought me out of it, brought my family out of it, brought us all out of it. And so now it's my duty as a believer and a daughter of Christ to pay it forward.

unknown 48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:49

Right.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

That's yeah, and that's the visionary piece that we talk about a lot. Is like, well, I well, now I can do I could do this and this and that. And he's like, Yeah, but you can, you can. But is that really what we're got?

SPEAKER_00 49:02

What are we gonna give up? Yeah if we do these things.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

So when you and I were talking the first time, Albert, I was like, wow, we we we have we share a lot of um not our our story in general, but just our passion for others is really it's like bleeding out of our eyeballs for real.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

It's like There's a sight.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Oh, so what what do you I mean you're you're a young, beautiful couple who just start in a family. Like what is your what's your big big dream? Like, what do you really feel like God is calling you to do? Because you're accomplishing some things that people don't accomplish in an in a lifetime.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

Yeah. Um, I think our number one, our number one thing is like to raise our kids in the way of Christ to kind of carry on that that legacy of faith to show others that hey, even though you know faith is hard, that's the hard road, the road less traveled. It's it's it feels good at the end of it.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

Um what are what are what are two things you're doing intentionally?

SPEAKER_01 50:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

To fulfill that.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Um, so I think um I'm a part of this ministry called Defending God's Family. Um, and it it just helps raise social awareness to families to say what things are sinful in this world that we're not even thinking about, right? Like, you know, what what books are in our library that like could lead us down the wrong path? What um things are happening from a political level, you know, and getting people plugged into these groups to raise awareness, um, that's one thing that I like have kind of taken it upon myself to like people keep asking me to do things, and I'm like, I I say yes, right. And so I and I need to be careful, right? Because boundaries. We speak about boundaries a lot. Yes, I can't say yes to everything, right? Um, and I I think another one um to just set an example is like after my dad made his devotional, I was like, wow, he really lived a life where I could set that as an example. And so I was like, how do I do that for my kids? And so then I was like, Oh, we don't have a young men's Bible study at our church. Well, I just like sent an email and said, Hey, can I start this? And they're like, Yeah, start this up, do it. Right. And it's super easy. We get a book, we meet every other week on a Friday, and it's you know, I other people think that's hard. It's a perspective I have, and it just sets an example of like to Henry, like, hey, dad does this every two weeks. I wonder why he does like I want him to have that curiosity of like, why does dad follow Jesus? Like, why does he do this? Um, why does he do this thing? You know? Yeah. And so, like that, that's like two ways that I could like give you as good examples of like this is how I'm kind of doing that part of a goal um to set the family up for continued generations. That's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Do you are there certain things you're doing differently than the way you were raised? Because you mentioned sin. You're you meant in like being scared to didn't really know what it was, right? Or like what was happening.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

So that's that's a really good question because um I've talked to um not my mom, but like friends and Kayla, and I was like, hey, there was, you know, when you're in middle school, there's the talk, right? The hey, you're growing, you're maturing, the talk.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:37

And I think I talked to a lot of my friends, I was like, hey, did you have the talk? And they're like, no, I think my parents are too scared to have the talk with me.

SPEAKER_04 52:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

And then I was like, oh, I I went through that same situation, like, oh, I didn't have the talk, or we didn't talk about finances. Um, and so like I think it goes back to that piece of like being vulnerable and being okay with accountability, even though like I am dad and I have all these responsibilities. It's okay to say to these guys, like, hey, let's have this conversation when you're a kid, because I feel like if you don't, it's like you're just leaving your kid have like explore all these options and let them figure it out. Like, and like thank you, Lord, that like he reined me back in, right? But like some other people don't have that experience. And so I and that's kind of why I wanted to come on this like podcast and talk with you guys is just like you know, full circle, like business is cool, right? Real estate is like I went bankrupt and now I'm helping people in real estate. But I think the cooler thing is how do I help people say it's okay to be vulnerable and like and not be like crucified from the church from it?

SPEAKER_04 53:52

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah, that's such a valuable thing. Get to sit out in the open, be vulnerable, surround yourself with with people with pushers, I call them, who gonna are gonna push you to be better and not worse. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:08

Yeah, I uh really appreciate uh the you mentioning vul vulnerability. Because how many times do we hear that our our past, our parents, like they that generation just didn't talk? They they really didn't. And then we're in this other, the middle generation, and then you're after the after this because we're a little older. And we're kind of revolting in a beautiful way. This 45, 40, because we're like, they didn't talk about anything, or they they say where they're forgotten. So it's like now we're we're making sure that our kids are so well educated, at least those like defending God's family. I want to learn more about that. Yeah. Um, but it's like to in order to get the family unit in a really beautiful place. I mean, that's the nuclear family is what the devil is after. And so the more open and honest and just having the really tough conversations, I think is where the beauty comes comes from.

SPEAKER_04 55:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 55:02

Right. Well, you've learned a lot of a lot of lessons.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:07

A lot of lessons. And I just appreciate for who you are, Albert. It's it's really cool to see a younger family in our community that are that are doing some really neat things and shining God's light in a beautiful way. So thank you for being that.

SPEAKER_01 55:20

Yeah, it's really cool. Uh I thank you for having me on. It's been it's been wonderful. Yeah. Looking forward to the book. Yeah, I'll get you guys a copy for sure.

SPEAKER_03 55:29

Okay, thank you. And a shout out again about what your podcast is and your book.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

Yes, move to Sioux Falls. It's about, you know, learning about real estate and not only that, but learning about the community here and not just another transaction. Uh, it's a book to guide people about buying, selling, and investing in single family real estate. That's great. And I heard something, I heard you say Sodax Day. Sodex Days. That's our short-term rental property management company. Sodexdays.com. Yep, Sodaxdays.com is where you can find like basically move to Suefalls.com and Sodax Days.com is where you can find everything on us.

SPEAKER_03 56:01

Nice. Okay. And I'll have it also in the show notes. So click on it. Okay. Well, thank you. Tell Tell Kayla High Force.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

I will. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Okay, take care.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

Thank you so much for listening. We want to change lives through this podcast. And if you want to support this podcast or our guests, please see the links below for our Patreon and giving links.

SPEAKER_03 56:22

And like and subscribe and also share our podcast as much as possible. Thank you.