No Ordinary Life Brent Rodgers

This is our 20th episode for No Ordinary Life. Hard to believe, but when you think about it we did start way back in Dec 2018 which seems like a world away now.

We have had great guests over the past 8 months or so and if you haven’t listened to some of the earlier ones please go back in the catalog and take a listen. Keep in mind when listening to those early sessions I was still trying to figure this all out so have some grace with the level of quality from an audio perspective.

Not that I have it all together today, but I’ve certainly come along way (at least I’d like to think so).  

I am coming to you right now from Muskoka – cottage country here in Ontario. Cottages are kind of a big deal here in Ontario and some other parts of the country too. For the Americans out there – I think it would be called a summer home or lake house. Regardless it’s basically a place where we take off to in the summer weeks or on the weekends to have some fun in the sun and water. 

We're picking up where we left off with Joe Slota. This is part 2 of 2. As a refresh Joe is a ruptured brain AVM survivor with an ambitious goal to dedicate his life and his story to helping others to be resilient. He resides in New Jersey, where he has lived his entire life. At twenty-six years old, his brain AVM ruptured, resulting in a fight for his life. While working through his rehabilitation, Joe identified his passion and purpose in life, which is to help others overcome challenging life obstacles. Before the rupture, he had a successful career in professional services and technology companies. After his rupture, he set out on a journey to use his story for the good of others while continuing his career.

Contact Joe:

Web: https://www.josephanthonyslota.com Buy his book on Amazon: Can’t? Just Did!: Win the Fight for Your Life with Resilience, Faith, and Family


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Hey everyone, welcome back!

We’ve had a bit of time off since the last podcast with Natalie James – which by the way if you haven’t listened to yet, you should because it’s awesome.

We’ve had some challenges the past couple weeks, which quite honestly all rest on me – totally my fault.

I had some work travel come up so I was in Chicago for a bit which delayed things and then when trying to get an interview going with today’s guest we had a bunch of technical difficulties that never really got solved but they did go away to a degree I guess.

My guest today is Joe Slota from Jersey. For all intents a purpose a pretty normal 20 something who has definitely lived no ordinary life the past 6 years. I was introduced to Joe through his childhood friend Leo – you may recall my interview with Leo a month or so back – which is a great listen by the way (whom I kidding I think all the episodes are awesome)

But here is Joe’s bio to start off with…

Joseph Anthony Slota III is a ruptured brain AVM survivor with an ambitious goal to dedicate his life and his story to helping others to be resilient. He resides in New Jersey, where he has lived his entire life. At twenty-six years old, his brain AVM ruptured, resulting in a fight for his life. While working through his rehabilitation, Joe identified his passion and purpose in life, which is to help others overcome challenging life obstacles. Before the rupture, he had a successful career in professional services and technology companies. After his rupture, he set out on a journey to use his story for the good of others while continuing his career.

What he’s been through is something else and hes even wrote a book about the experience, which you can easily find on amazon and I will also include the link to in the show notes. But I read the book in an evening and really found it compelling and inspirational and it so much great content on perseverance and stick-to-itiveness as well the importance of a positive mindset.

Contact Joe:

Web: https://www.josephanthonyslota.com Buy his book on Amazon: Can’t? Just Did!: Win the Fight for Your Life with Resilience, Faith, and Family


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When I first was trying to figure out who to have on the podcast Natalie James was always on the top of my list. I knew she had a story to tell but I didn't exactly know the details.

Her sister-in-law, Dallas James was one my first podcast guests and when I asked Dallas what she thought about having Natalie on the show I received a very enthusiastic "Yes!"

Now that I had the opportunity to sit down with Natalie and hear her story first hand. I feel like she blew away my pre-conceived notions of who she was. Of course that's mainly because I didn't know her all that well, but it's amazing how you formulate a profile of who someone is in your mind when you're not that close... Maybe its BECAUSE you're not that close that you do that.

Now my own perceptions of Natalie were never negative - she's super nice, funny and outgoing. I just didn't know that under the covers there was this type A go getter, who's focused and has a never say die attitude. Natalie has definitely had to overcome some difficult times in her life at a young age. I have no doubt in my mind that certainly contributed to her mental toughness. She's been in the rough and tumble arena of politics, she's also spent time in the non-profit world. She's a mom of 3 kids and wife to a husband in the police service. She's also an entrepreneur who started her own business fairly recently and now she's experiencing the ups and downs of business as only the self employed can.

As Natalie was approaching 40, she found herself evaluating her life. For more than 20 years Natalie had gained valuable experience throughout her long career in politics and not-for-profit, and was fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel and meet various people all across the province and country. Throughout this time, she felt most inspired by the stories of female entrepreneurs, for their sense of adventure and willingness to take risks. They were women from all walks of life who had a vision and were deeply driven by that vision to achieve great things.

Feeling unfulfilled by the predictability of her life path, Natalie set out to take a detour and leave the security of a good job to risk everything she and her husband had achieved for their family. She was determined to succeed and motivated to set an example for her two sons and daughter. Natalie’s desire for meaningful work and her desire to make an impact fuelled her drive to change her life and find ways to help other women along the way. 

In July of 2017, Vent Blow Dry Bar opened its first location in Liberty Village, Toronto. Vent quickly gained momentum and has welcomed thousands of clients from the GTA and visitors from all across the world. Clients who have experienced Vent’s unique approach to affordable luxury and exceptional customer service. 

Contact:

Web:  http://ventblowdrybar.com/ IG: @im.nataliejames or @ventblowdrybar FB: @nataliejames or @ventblowdrybar 






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This is the second part of a 2 part series with Tom Miller founder of Lifelight Fitness. So if you if you haven’t downloaded part 1, you need to stop what you’re doing and listen to the first half of my conversation with Tom. His story is incredible!

Tom has a crazy and amazing story that is definitely filled with heartache and challenges, but it also is a story of overcoming. Overcoming addiction to drugs, overcoming addiction to alcohol and also overcoming a propensity to self-sabotage.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed speaking with Tom. He gives us all a lot to think about. His story puts our own obstacles, into perspective. I love that he’s figured out that in order to make sure he isn’t susceptible  to falling into bad habits when things are going smooth, he’s always pushing himself to grow. Therefore, he honestly lives his life in growth mode.

To be frank I could probably be more cognizant of the fact that I need to be in growth mode a lot more than I am these days. We also should be in growth mode, pushing out boundaries.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Contact:

IG: @lightsharetom  or @lifelightfit FB: @LIFELIGHTfit or @Pleasantom


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I was introduced to today’s podcast guest, Tom Miller, through a former No Ordinary Life guest, Rob Grupe – who incidentally you should check out it’s a great episode.

After my podcast with Rob he said to me: "You have got to meet up with my friend Tom, he has an amazing story and one your listeners will really get a lot out of." Fast forward a month and I now have Tom on the show. And an amazing story it is! I think you’re going to love it.

Here is his official bio:

Coach Tom Miller has over 20 years of experience in the fitness industry and is a bonafide physiology nerd with a degree from UC Davis and over 10 fitness and nutrition certifications to prove it - including Nutrition Expert - level 3. 

Coach Tom developed the CrossFUNction workout system designed for those with a busy-schedule! 

His attention to detail and science has resulted in a 45-minute workout experience that gives more metabolic benefits than 90 minutes of normal working out. 

Tom’s “Form Over Everything” approach to every session ensures that you start and stay safe.

But Tom was also a drug addict which also included cooking GHB and selling drugs. Alcohol addiction was next along with jail time and then finally freedom from all of it.

Listen in on Part 1 of my excellent conversation with Tom Miller – who is living No Ordinary Life.

Contact:

IG:  @lightsharetom  or @lifelightfit FB:  @LIFELIGHTfit or @Pleasantom




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Leo and I met because the social media software company I worked for had acquired his company. I only confessed to him recently (actually on this podcast) that when he came in, I was immediately insecure about my job at the company. Only natural... Leo has a charismatic personality; people are drawn to him and, as you will hear on the podcast he’s got a ton of industry experience (that I didn’t have).

That fact of the matter was I should never have feared for my job because as I discovered, he’s extremely collaborative, is interested in the people he works with as people and is absolutely a team player. 

We got along famously. While we no longer work together and he’s now based out of Colorado, we still communicate frequently and have maintained a friendship that I appreciate. Leo is also one of the classic cases of having no real straight lines in his path to where he is now.

Official Bio: Leo Morejon is an award-winning marketer, social media motivational speaker, content creator, and educator. Well-known for his work as a pioneer in real-time social media as well as sales leadership positions at well-established SaaS enterprise and technology companies. Leo attributes his success to always valuing people, relationships and focusing on being a trusted advisor above all else.

Leo will be the first to tell you that he’s living… No Ordinary Life

Contact Info: 

IG: @buildandinspire or @moreleo FB: @buildandinspire Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/LeonardoM Twitter: @MoreLeo  Web: www.buildandinspire.com or www.leonardom.com


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