In this episode of Tactical Empire, Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider reflect on Memorial Day, honoring the sacrifices made by service members. They discuss the importance of personal growth and community building in achieving success. By drawing parallels between military experiences and business strategies, Jeff and Shawn share insights on how tactical thinking and growth mindset lead to long-term achievements. The episode ends with an invitation to join the Tactical Empire community for continued support and resources.
In this episode of Tactical Empire, Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider reflect on Memorial Day, honoring the sacrifices made by service members. They discuss the importance of personal growth and community building in achieving success. By drawing parallels between military experiences and business strategies, Jeff and Shawn share insights on how tactical thinking and growth mindset lead to long-term achievements. The episode ends with an invitation to join the Tactical Empire community for continued support and resources.
Chapters
00:00 Memorial Day Reflections and Sacrifices
06:08 Understanding the Tactical Empire
12:59 The Importance of Tactical Execution
18:42 Building a Community and Resources
@realjeffsmith (00:01)
Welcome to another episode of the Tactical Empire. Today I'm joined by Sean Rider, of course. How are you, sir?
@shawn_rider_ (00:09)
making it man we had that long Memorial Day weekend thank you to those who served and provided for our freedom but I know that's a topic that's probably closer to you do you do anything special for the the men that ⁓ sorry if I pull on your heartstrings here but I mean you're in the line of fight man so maybe Memorial Day takes a different feeling for you than the the rest of the country who use it as a time for barbecuing
@realjeffsmith (00:40)
Yeah, I mean, it's a little, I don't know. I don't know that it's any different than any other day. I mean, I've worn this bracelet on my wrist, which is a KIA bracelet for two of my teammates for 19 years and never taken it off. like, ⁓ it's not really something that I don't think a weekend does it justice, if you will. like they're definitely on your mind. A lot of people are on your mind during the weekend. ⁓ I mean, cause it is for
It is for the people who died in the line of service. Memorial day is not for veterans. It's not for every fucking swinging dick that's ever been in the military or put on a uniform. ⁓ People get it twisted about what the true meaning is. But this weekend is actually for those people that have actually died in the line of service. And it's super important and impactful to recognize them. ⁓
give them the honor that they're due, suppose. ⁓ But it's also like having processed all this shit for 20 years and dealt with all the death that we've gone through, ⁓ both in combat and coming back home and suicide and everything else. mean, like, it really just like, you have to understand about...
I guess like those guys would have wanted you to enjoy the weekend. So you think about it and you get, you get depressed about it or whatever. And it's a little bit somber to think about buddies of yours who were in their early twenties that never really got to experience all the different things ⁓ that you got to experience over the last 20 years, if you will. And it, but
At the end of the day, if you think about the good qualities and you look at the qualities of who they were as human beings, you had the benefits of knowing someone ⁓ that was of that character. ⁓ There's a lot of gratitude to be drawn out of that. ⁓ For us, we were just at Arlington National Cemetery.
⁓ My daughter is named after one of the guys that is on my wrist actually ⁓ So it's it's super impactful to us. I mean It's weird because like you you look for these like platitudes or like these the these things that can explain it but but it doesn't really like Unless you've done it like all that really matters is like the guys it's kind of like playing sports but like on
@shawn_rider_ (03:04)
Mm-hmm.
@realjeffsmith (03:28)
crack, if you will, the level of adrenaline and brotherhood and like camaraderie that comes from it. Like I played a lot of years of football like you and like, there's a lot of, a lot of camaraderie in that sport as well. And it's, kind of like that because you put all the politics aside, you put all the, like, it's, just an interesting time of life where you're, you're just there doing like ⁓ a, a mission.
Regardless of like all the ancillary input from Congress and everybody else, it's kind of interesting because you, everybody's back home fighting about all the politics of it all. And like, you're just on a plane with a specific mission and it's you and 12 guys. like, none of that other shit really matters because like you're either going to come home or you're not going to come home. And so it really allows you to.
@shawn_rider_ (04:25)
Yeah.
@realjeffsmith (04:31)
like silo and ⁓ compartmentalize your thought process on things. And because you've got to leave all that other shit behind beyond what you feel like. so and then you compound that with like the what we know about all the reasons that we did what we did for years. And it's it's just an interesting place to be. Right.
But I think the weekend kind of clears all that trash because I've got a lot of negative connotations with regards to the politics and what got us into all the wars and the way that they utilize young men to fight those wars. ⁓ I have since kind of created a lot of opinions on that over time through education and my personal experiences. ⁓
@shawn_rider_ (04:58)
Yeah.
@realjeffsmith (05:25)
Really the weekend of Memorial Day is about leaving all that behind. like, again, none of that matters. It's just about recognizing these gentlemen and what they gave and the sacrifice that they made for their country. So yeah, I could go.
@shawn_rider_ (05:38)
Hmm. Well, I appreciate you sharing
that. That kind of leads into a topic for today, which is I know your military experiences and how things are done to say, accomplish an objective, to accomplish a mission on the quote right side of what you're trying to achieve. And that plays into the actual name of the tactical empire. So can you just take some time today to kind of talk about
the word tactical and why you decided to have that word in this mastermind name and why it's there, what it means to you, what's important about it, how that actually gets played out in the lives of these men.
@realjeffsmith (06:28)
Well, mean, what even is the definition of tactical? Essentially what it's laying out is the fact that we're not just making up, like the system that we have built is a system that you operate within the framework of with autonomy, but ultimately it is you're building your empire.
And what that means is very, very specific and intimate to you, each and every guy. Like my dream is not your dream. It's not anybody else's dream. And I think we do a really good job of explaining that to everybody. Like the goal is to build something bigger than yourself, to have a larger impact, whether it's just on your family. talk about having an impact personally, then having an impact in your home, then having an impact in your community.
And you can branch that out as far as you want your kind of waves of impact to go. And, but what you want from what you're building is, highly personal to you. And that is your empire, whatever that may be. It could be a hundred million dollars. could be a hundred thousand dollars. I don't know. Everyone is somewhere on the spectrum of what they're building. Ultimately.
there is a shared value sense, which there is in kind of ⁓ special operations, which is like the tactical side comes from the systems and the processes that we build and the framework that you can operate within. And I feel like that is similar to the way special operations is because if you ever were to ⁓ go and see a special operations community, it is a hodgepodge of interesting characters.
⁓ the people are from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all ability levels. Most of them are very athletic, obviously. And they're like sneaky smart, which is surprising when you look at them on their face. ⁓ but, ⁓ at the end of the day, they believe in all, all different creeds and cultures of where they came from. But at, at the end, there's a core shared values of the mission and the objective and.
I feel like that is the way that we built a culture in the tactical empire as well. Because if you look at us, most of the guys in the group are jacked or athletic. If you look at us, we look a little different. We've already got all those comments in our last meetup when we were walking around town. And so there's that, but that's more of a byproduct of the...
the four F's and the fitness being a priority and health being a priority because we take that very seriously. ⁓ but at the end of the day, like there's religious people in there. We've got preachers in the group. We've got like a variety of people that believe in a variety of different things. But at the end of the day, there is, I think there's a value set that kind of resonates with everybody within the group.
not say that they all share the same values by any means. I think there's a, there's an underlying transparency of like standing for something and whatever that is, I support you. And I feel like that's reciprocal amongst the group. And so like what that allows them to do is, is have a shared sense of camaraderie within the group that
Each and every person in there is there to build themselves and what they're building their community, their family into a more optimal unit or a more optimal result out of what they're producing. And ultimately that's kind of the tactical empire just resonated with me. ⁓ but those, those words kind of mean what I'm describing.
@shawn_rider_ (10:42)
Yeah, I mean, for me, you created that before I was here, right? So I didn't have any input in the actual name or branding, but it resonates with me because I am 100 % all about micro versus macro. And those two words, tactical empire, are the essence of micro macro. ⁓ The empire is more so of what is the thing that you're actually trying to develop and create. And you have to be able to zoom out.
@realjeffsmith (10:48)
Yeah.
@shawn_rider_ (11:12)
to see that, right? The Roman Empire was more than just the city of Rome. And the farther out you get, the bigger the thing that you're building, the harder it is to manage. If you read history about all that, it's like, how did you keep the other territories and provinces in check with what was happening in the city, right? ⁓
I'm not a historian, but I do like to read a little bit about that stuff. And so that's why some of the men that are building the biggest, biggest, biggest businesses, it's like, yeah, man, you got to start bringing on some really high level executives because you're not going to be able to manage this thing. the cage that you're building is going to be reinforced concrete steel walls. And it's going to be really hard to get out of that motherfucker. But the tactical side is really what happens on the day to day,
with all of my businesses, whether it be the Tadgo Empire, Matabolic, or the real estate portfolio. I know what we're trying to get to, but just sitting around and thinking in the clouds, I'm not running one of my clients at one of my businesses is the CEO of a big healthcare industry. Like he sits around and has a big picture three, five, 10 years from now, meetings, conferences, all that shit.
@realjeffsmith (12:25)
Okay.
@shawn_rider_ (12:32)
Dude, I run small, literal half a million dollar businesses and portfolios. So like, if I just sit around and twiddle my thumbs and think about the future, shit's not gonna get done. And so, yes, I'm hiring people to do a lot of that work, but like, I still have to do things and be involved in all of my businesses. And that's why Tactical, which is what I led with in this episode, is like, that to me is more important than anything. I don't want.
I don't want my whole day to just be made up of little tactical things, but it comes down to the critical tasks that you emphasize every single Monday. And on the last episode, you talked about talking with your wife about ⁓ how you're telling her, hey, tomorrow I need this window of time with no interruptions from the kids, right? ⁓ You're being tactical in that timeframe, whether it's 15 minutes or two hours. For me, it's like, what are we doing to yield this result?
positive or negative. What were we doing that was yielding good results that we stopped doing this last month to not get the results that we've been getting? So let's get back to doing those things. And so it does play into the military background that you had and then the sports background that we both had. ⁓ Being a football player, what has paid off for me in the long run was like, we had to show up and work out.
And I'm not saying that you need to work out, I think you do, but it was like, that is what got us the results nine months later in a 60 minute football game. If we didn't do the workout four days a week for nine months, we wouldn't have been prepared. If we didn't do the study session, if we didn't do the three a days, which were still allowed when I was in high school, like if we didn't study the playbook,
If we didn't watch film, if we didn't drive an hour and a half to Hershey, Pennsylvania to watch Gettysburg High School play in their scrimmage because we had a scrimmage the day before, those tactical things, if we didn't do them, we wouldn't have yielded the results. And so as I get older, like the only thing I give a shit about is what are you executing on? And the downside to that is I come off as unempathetic.
@realjeffsmith (14:43)
Yeah.
@shawn_rider_ (14:55)
⁓ Because I don't think what you're thinking about something matters as much as what you're doing about something. ⁓ know emotions matter. I know ⁓ your mood matters on execution and I know we sometimes we have to get the ugly out. But as someone who reads stillism is I want you to understand why you're having that emotion. Don't let it control you and then shorten the window at which you take action if action is even appropriate to take.
@realjeffsmith (14:56)
Okay.
@shawn_rider_ (15:24)
If action is not appropriate to take, then why are you wasting time? What is the things you can work on? And I'm not saying just work to work on. I'm like, you're wasting time thinking about something when you could just go play with your kids. Like, fuck complaining about this thing that's completely out of your control. Go play with your kids. Like, how much time are you, so that's why tactical to me is so damn important because it's the thing that I fall back on. And it is a downside for me as a leader because like,
@realjeffsmith (15:46)
Yeah.
@shawn_rider_ (15:53)
I just, I don't know how else to say it. I just care about what you're doing. Did you show up to work and actually execute the way we want you to execute? If you didn't act the way we wanted you to act in a class or on a call or in stage, if we put you in front of the room at a Tactical Empire meetup, you better bring the heat. I want your content to be good, but I want you to be good too. You can have good content and be a shitty presenter. I need you to be both.
That's all I care about is tactically executing the things to get to the empire. The empire may take you a year, may take you five years, may take you 10 years, but we're gonna find the right things to be tactical about to compress that time frame. And so I do appreciate you creating ⁓ a nice brand name that plays into the way that my brain works.
@realjeffsmith (16:45)
Yeah, yeah. Some people would argue with you that they don't know what the fuck we do because it's called the tactical empire. So ⁓ but I agree with you. The empire is an ever evolving vision, though. So when you talk about micro macro, I think that's a great way to put it, ⁓ because the visions always it should be growing constantly. So like, which is why the seven levels work so well with it, because you have the ability to iterate every time you kind of
go through those levels and then your empire changes and evolves and grows. It's a beautiful thing. ⁓ I think it's awesome. I love being a part of it and I love watching people work through it. It's been fun. I appreciate the kudos, but I also appreciate you being part of it and buying into it and enjoying it and also reaping the benefits of it because it's been fun to watch you too.
@shawn_rider_ (17:44)
I can argue that we would be quote more successful if we just change the name to wealth insurance. Become wealthy with insurance. What would those guys do? That is, but then again, our role here is to take that. That is the foundation at which everything's built upon. And then we specialize in, regardless if you have a career job or building a business or you're an investor.
@realjeffsmith (17:59)
Yip-yip.
@shawn_rider_ (18:12)
as opposed to a business owner. ⁓ That's where our expertise and our mentorship and our coaching comes into play because we are not a one trick pony. ⁓ We believe in our foundational system and operating system for you and your ⁓ professional career or finances. But outside of that, ⁓ each individual is dealing with ⁓ different shit. So we take the principles that we understand, implement it into their system. So Jeff, appreciate your time ⁓ coming out of Memorial Day.
and spend the time and I will see you in person in a week. So why don't you send the
@realjeffsmith (18:49)
Looking forward to it, brother. Looking forward to it. Guys, join us on the Tactical Empire community on Facebook. It's a free community in there that we provide a bunch of information. You can ask a lot of questions and figure out what we're doing. If you want to utilize our resources, they're in there. And if you just ask, if you don't see them in there, just ask and we'll provide them. You can DM Sean or I. Instagram's the best place to reach us there. And otherwise, like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We'd really appreciate that.
spend a lot of time and money and effort out there. ⁓ Hit us up guys. Have a kick ass week. We hope you are expanding your empire as we speak. Have a great week.