Billy Keels  0:00  You. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels advisory services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to make it optional.com. Once again, that's make it optional.com.Billy Keels  0:22  You you. Welcome to the five year anniversary of the going long podcast with yours truly, Billy Keels, so many things to be grateful for. And then this, once again, it's going to be a brief episode, because this is a solo episode, and so I just want to be I want to share my gratitude with you. I want to help you understand where we're going in the podcast, because you've already been a part of the journey, and more importantly, what are you going to continue to gain as a result of being a part of the go along family? But I can't even start this thing without saying an immense thank you from the bottom of my heart for you continuing to be here, invest your time, your effort, your energy, watching us, listening to us on the go along podcast with yours truly. Billy Keels and I never, ever, ever would have imagined back in January 2020 when I was recording that very first podcast with Tyler Sheff, yeah, in January 2020 and that was actually almost six months before we published the first five episodes in in June of 2020, right? I never would have imagined that five years over 540 some odd episodes. I think we're almost at 550 episodes at this point in time. Never would have imagined it. I was so afraid. Wanted to do it for such a long time, but was afraid of what the the backlash could have been from my corporate role, and what the perception could have been. But I am so glad that I did it for so many other reasons. I'm going to share a little bit more with you in that but as I said this podcast, you being here, being a part of the going along family has been fantastic for me. I reflect on some of the most positive things, like sharing the platform with my sons four times, looking forward to the fifth time, seeing their evolution, seeing their growth with them being by me, by my side, side, my side, my fellas, the guys who ride with me. Most importantly, I think about being a guest on my own podcast with episode 435, with Jerome Myers, where we dove into some very vulnerable, really important things that I was going through and in my life and different things. And if you ever interested in listening to that, I would suggest you go do that. You can even do it once this podcast episode is over, it's going to be very, very brief, and so many different various guests that have been on here that have helped to elevate the level of education, going from theory into practice and helping you, most importantly, with different strategies, tactics and actions to help you get to your goals. Now, as as Heraclitus said, there is the most important thing, or the only thing in life, is change, and there has been constant change over five years and 500 almost 550 episodes. I personally have gone through many different life changes, many different life challenges. With going through ending my corporate career right, being able to follow my dream, follow my passion, because of the work that I had done previously, and and living this dual life and and overachieving in corporate and at the same time building a business or multiple businesses on the side, going through divorce, being able to recognize that and understanding why these things happen for me, understanding what it's like to go through very, extremely challenging business situations, and not looking in the mirror, saying, Why did it happen to me, understanding how it happened for me. There were times where I even went away from being with you here on the podcast, and we gave you highlight episodes. Why? Well, because it was a moment in life where I needed that time to be able to reflect and understand what was happening in life, right? This is one of the things that happens in 2023 and happens for happened for me, right? And as I realized that there were moments where I didn't even want to do the podcast, and I am so glad that in 2020 amidst the the pandemic, the global lockdown, I had some choices I could have made. I could have not done the podcast, but I am so glad that I made that choice against advice of other people, right to not do it. I'm so glad that I made the investment, because you know what you have given me such an inspiration, such a reason to continue to be here, to share the things that I have learned in my life, share my platform with guests who are experts in their fields, ultimately, to be able to help you, provide you with proof of concept, with, like I said, strategies, with tactics, with actions that are going to help you break through the limiting beliefs that you have, understand that there are ways that you can get to the goals that you want, and do that faster, more efficiently, and. More effectively. And so as we look at the podcast, and as we continue to work to bring you the most value, there's something that we talked about change, right? And one of the things that I want to let you know is you've asked for it. You want to be able to Yeah, you want to hear from Billy, and you want to be able to understand what I'm thinking or what I'm going through, how I'm helping clients today, and we're going to continue to do that. And you know what? You also missed having some guests every once in a while, and I will tell you, won't be like we did before, where it's constantly guests, because I have really enjoyed being able to share the insights of life, experience, of understanding what it was like to be in corporate, understanding what it's like to now. It's like to now be outside of corporate having being a father, being a head of household, gone through divorce, gone through business challenges, these things, I want to continue to share with you and share with you firsthand, because I know that that's what you want. And we're also going to start to bring back on a very limited basis, very, very limited and select basis, some guests to be able to share their stories with you, to help you understand what it is that you can do. Will we continue to talk about things that we talked about in the past? Maybe to some extent. But you know what? One of the things that also love and I also appreciate that you are here for, is to be able to share what is going on in my life. How can I continue to help you. And as I was someone who was a high paid professional who really enjoyed my my role, and at the same time, I had this curious curiosity that I wanted to explore in terms of continuing to build a business, build that, on the side, get to a life where I was truly in control of my time and the role that I was working in, my nine to nine became optional. I didn't need to work in the role anymore, because the things that I was doing, the focus that I had given to my life outside of in my private time, I was able to build a life where I created options for myself. So I continued to go to my role because I wanted to, not because I needed to, and I was building a life for myself, and thankfully, the decisions that I made were the ones that have helped me to live the life that I've continued to do. So if you are a big company executive and you like your job, you continue to excel at your job, you realize that you can do it a lot more efficiently. And you want to be even happier. You want to stop the overwhelm. You want to stop waking up with your brain on fire every single day, if that's you, then guess what? This is the podcast that you're want to, want to continue to do because you've had this idea, to be more efficient, be more effective, and also explore the the ability to build your own dream. Then this is the podcast that is going to help you do that. We're going to continue to help, to share strategies, to share tactics, to share insights, to help you do it much more effectively. Do it in a way that doesn't take you as much time as it as it did for me, or as it did for some of the very few select guests that will join me, that will share their stories with you. It's also the moment to be able to begin to share that with you. This is the place for you. We're going to continue to do solo episodes, as I mentioned before, like the one you're listening to now, and you've continued to listen to for the last two years. And we're going to have your first to know some very special, select guests. They're going to talk to you about some of the decision decisions that they made, some of the challenges that they went through, and also how they were enjoying this point of their life where they are able to either enjoy their corporate role while they're having and creating options that they've decided that now is the moment to live the options that they've created and or continue to enjoy the corporate role that they have and do it in a much more effective and efficient manner that is in alignment with their life values. So with that said, with that stated, hopefully you get a new feel for the podcast, revisiting some things. I want to say thank you for investing your time, effort and energy here, I want to ask you to continue to share the podcast with those people that are most important to in to you and in your life, those individuals that are going through a lot of the things that we're talking about in the podcast, they're tired of overwhelm, they're tired of overthinking. They're tired of being stuck in paralysis analysis. They don't want to be confused anymore, then this is the place for them to be, because we're going to speak to you directly, if you are that big company executive, if you are that person who is doesn't want to be trapped anymore in your salary, in your role, that you want to be able to explore your options, this is the place for you. We're going to share. We're going to help you, and we're going to make it fun, educational, exciting, and with that, yeah, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for continuing to invest your time, effort and energy here. Thank you for everything that you have done up until this point, and I look forward to sharing the next version of the go along podcast with Billy Keels, and I look forward to you joining us in the very next episode. So All right, so until then, go out and make it a great day. Thank you very, very much. And here's to five more years of the go along podcast. Billy Keels,