Episode 005 - My Ephiphany Story from USAF to Entrepreneur & Business Owner

I was serving in the United States Air Force in Turkey, and found out that my Dad had been diagnosed with an incurable disease and given 6 months to live. 

In addition, I had recently experienced a couple of events that changed my life.

1. One was a sergeant who worked for me had died of a heart attack and I had the responsibility of being the officer in charge of taking care of his family and his wife to help them organize a funeral and get them all back to the United States.  That event really made me think about how short life can really be and how very important family really was. 
2. Secondly, I was with my Commander on a trip from Ankara to Incirlik AB, and he said, “You know, the last 16 years of my life has been a blur. I don’t even know my own daughters.”  That statement blew me away!  I certainly did not want to be saying that in a few years, knowing I had sacrificed my family on the altar of rank, position and money.

So, I believed I had some choices to make and one of those choices was figuring out how to replace my USAF career and salary. I really wanted to return home to build my extended family so I wouldn't make the same mistakes and have to miss my kids growing up and them not having the opportunity of being there with my Dad for the last few months of his life .

I wanted to be able to move back to my Dad's hometown so we could be with him and the kids could experience the extended family.  That way, we could all be with my family and especially with my Dad for the last few months of his life.

The thing is, I was trying to figure out how I was going to make money and secure a living in a new town. Without a salary or health insurance, that meant I may not be able to move back to my Dad's hometown so we could be with him and the kids could experience the extended family, let alone so I could be with my family and especially with my Dad for the last few months of his life.  And, that also meant that I may be putting my family at risk or at least in harm's way.

To make things worse, I felt terrible because I and my family had been living in Turkey, overseas, for the last 5 years.  We suddenly realized that we did not even know anyone at home in the US anymore.   I felt even worse about the situation because I had no job, no money saved up and no idea what I was going to do to make a living for my family.  I had never considered getting out of the Air Force.  I always thought it would be my career, just like my Dad's had been for 20 years.  I personally felt like a failure as a Dad, and the weight on my shoulders was so heavy!

The problem was that by not going home, my kids would never get to know their extended family. Which meant I would have to make the tough decision to walk away from a great career in the USAF with a guaranteed below-the-zone promotion to Major and a job as the Executive Officer for a Major Command General in the Pentagon.  However, I was more worried that my Dad would die without my kids ever really getting to know him or the extended family.

Then, as if by chance, something amazing happened...

Another event occurred to one of my people and I realized that family had to be the most important thing in life if I was going to be a good father and a Dad who could teach his children great character lessons in their lives. 

That's when I finally made a decision to resign my “regular” commission, my “reserve” commission as an officer, and find a way to be really good at coaching gymnastics and then, turning that dream and passion into a career and business that could support my family!

It was now crystal clear to me that I could do it.  I could build a business that would make a difference in the lives of family and the children/athletes we would teach and coach.  Plus, I would also be making a major difference in the lives of my own children.  I finally could BELIEVE that I could make a living teaching and coaching gymnastics.

I also believed that I did not have to operate a professional gymnastics club in a large city.  All I needed was to believe and then commit to get started, build momentum and the business would grow.  After all, we would be doing the right thing for my family, for our gymnasts, and for our community.  And when you do the right thing, for the right reason, the right things happen!

As a result I built a gymnastics training center with my wife, kids, and extended family .

After that initial start, we began building a community of families and children/athletes that understood the need to focus on family first and to live life with character first.  We simply used gymnastics as the vehicle to teach and coach character skills.

Suddenly, I was making a living, leading with character first in life, and best of all……my Dad beat the odds too and not only did he live longer than the 6 months the Doctors gave him, but he is alive and well today, and together, he helped me and my family build our businesses.

That’s when I realized that the secret to replacing my USAF career and salary all along, had been th belief that teaching and coaching character through the art and sport of gymnastics to children and athletes could become a reality.

My plan was to start teaching and coaching children to reach their potential as gymnasts.  But there was so much more.  What about leadership, teamwork, critical thinking skills, problem solving, and much more?

So we started by purchasing a building and all the gymnastics equipment I needed. But we didn’t stop there.

We faithfully began teaching and coaching children and young athletes character education, people skills and gymnastics in classes and on teams.

But there was still a problem...

As my business grew, I was struggling to keep up, and pay the bills.  Having settled down in a small town of less than 9000 population, we did not have enough students to make ends meet, even though we were sometimes pulling children and athletes from other locations as far as an hour away.  Furthermore, shortly after we started, one of the leaders in our city personally told me, "you won't make it more than 6 months in this city."  So, the deck of cards in life were stacked up against me and my family.

We ended up getting so frustrated by all the naysayers that we decided to double down on our vision of making a difference for children... young students and athletes.  I started another company, called DCS Netlink which pretty much right from the start provided a salary and health insurance to allow us to continue to operate the gym.  Meanwhile, my wife became the director at the gym, and my Dad, well my Dad became a full-time baby sitter helping to actually raise our kids while we taught and coached in the gym each night..

We now had two businesses:  “Deutsch's Gymnastics Training Center” and DCS Netlink…our IT and Technology company.

We thought if we could create something that would make it possible to help grow children in character and discipline through the art and sport of gymnastics, we’d be really happy, and fulfilling our dream with passion.

After taking classes at WITC, and studying very hard by reading and digesting every IT book I could get my hands on, we created DCS Netlink, our IT company which helped us grow our gymnastics club and in turn allow us to make gymnastics a focal point of growing young children to be productive and healthy adults.

After starting and operating two businesses over the last 30 years, and they are both still thriving, I can now show anyone how to take the ideas in their head, turn them into a belief and build/grow their own business and make a living while building and growing their extended family.

We then started to coach and teach other people outside the gym on how to be better leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs.  So began our third company called Leadership, Management Development in Character (LMDC).

As a result of all this we were able to achieve the following:

Helped thousands of children and families over the past 30 years to learn how to lead and live life with Character First doing what we love in teaching and coaching the art and sport of gymnastics.

Built a reputable and profitable IT company where we focus on helping companies of all sizes to become more Cyber Secure.

Help coach and grow other companies in character, leadership and business growth skills.

After creating our businesses, I was not only able to build my extended family and give my children the opportunity to know and grow up with their Grandparents, I’ve also been able to stop working just for the money. 

I can now focus on making a difference in the lives of my family and those that become a part of our gym family, because we can now go from idea to cash and still do what it is you want to do most passionately in your heart.

And in the end, all of this means I’m now able to lead life with character first, confidently put my family first, and still handle any situation because my businesses make enough money and have taught me how to handle anything life throws my way.

Oh, and I almost forgot….we totally beat the odds, remember the city leader who told us we would not make it more than 6 months in our city?  Well, he was wrong and so were many others!  We have been faithful to the original vision and have continued to coach and train children and young athletes for the past 30 years, in addition to building two more businesses in this small, little city. It is not the size of the city, or of the business, it is the size of your heart that makes all the difference!

Imagine that!  Believe and Achieve….you can do it too!

Go Make a Difference and Smile On!