Billy Thomas had built the kind of life many people work toward.

He had a successful career as a financial advisor, a family he loved, and the resources to provide for them. He had spent years helping others work toward their own financial goals.

But when addiction entered his family’s life, Billy’s understanding of success, faith, and purpose began to change.

In Episode 50, Billy shares how that difficult season led him and his wife, Lisa, to open their property to men in recovery. His story is a reminder that meaningful work often begins with one step, even when we can’t see where it will lead.

When life changes your perspective

Billy admits that before his family experienced addiction, he had certain ideas about the people affected by it. He wanted to keep drugs and the people associated with them far away from his home.

Then his daughter began struggling with addiction after experiencing the deaths of people close to her.

As Billy walked through that season with her, he encountered people whose lives were affected by addiction. Over time, he began to see beyond their circumstances and recognize the person underneath.

He describes seeing beauty in people he once would have avoided. That change in perspective became part of a new calling: walking alongside people as they sought recovery and rebuilt their lives.

A new way to think about success

Billy didn’t leave his work as a financial advisor. He still enjoyed working with numbers and helping clients plan for the future.

What changed was how he viewed that work.

He began to see his career as a platform to encourage others to think more deeply about what they wanted their lives to stand for. In his conversations with clients, he started introducing a different word for the next season of life: repurpose.

For Billy, repurposing means recognizing that the skills, relationships, and wisdom gained over a lifetime can be used to serve others.

After years of building a career and providing for a family, a person doesn’t simply lose the abilities that helped them do those things. Those same abilities can be directed toward a cause, a community, or people who need support.

Billy’s work also provided a way to help fund the nonprofit he and Lisa started. His professional life and his calling began to work together.

Opening the door

As Billy considered how he could help people in recovery, he found himself thinking about a large vision. He wondered what a meaningful response should look like and how it might grow.

A conversation with a man involved in helping women in Nepal challenged him to think differently. The work had begun with a simple act of helping someone in need. Over time, it grew into something much larger.

Billy returned home believing he knew what his next step needed to be. He and Lisa would open the cottage behind their home in Pinehurst to people who needed a place to go.

In June 2017, they welcomed men coming out of detox, along with a man who had spent many years in prison.

Billy admits he had concerns. Other people thought the idea was unwise, and he wondered himself whether it would last. But he and Lisa moved forward.

That decision became the beginning of Pilgrim’s Progress. As Billy explains, their work is one part of a larger community of organizations and people supporting recovery. The relationships formed along the way have helped create opportunities for others to find support, stability, and purpose.

Different gifts, shared purpose

Throughout the conversation, Billy speaks about the role Lisa has played in their work.

The two have different strengths and interests. Billy enjoys building relationships and sharing their story. Lisa has a gift for hospitality and finds joy in the work of welcoming and caring for people.

Their property has become a place for recovery, retreats, and conversations about faith and purpose. Billy also helps host silent retreats there, giving leaders space to step away from daily demands and spend time listening to God.

Their story offers a picture of what can happen when people bring different gifts to a shared mission. Each contribution may look different, but together they make room for others to be served.

Take the step in front of you

Looking back, Billy says he could not have planned everything that grew from their first decision to open the cottage.

His advice for others who feel called to make a difference is to start small. Spend time with God, pay attention to what is in front of you, and be willing to act.

As Billy puts it:

“Don’t focus on the staircase, but focus on the step that God puts in front of you.”

That can be a helpful reminder for business owners, leaders, and anyone wondering what comes next. You may not have a complete plan or know what the outcome will be. But you can begin by considering the people, opportunities, and resources already in front of you.

The first step may be a conversation. It may be offering your time, opening your home, using your professional skills to help someone, or creating space to listen.

You don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the next step.

Listen to Episode 50 to hear Billy Thomas share his full story of faith, family, business, and recovery.

The post “I Judged People Struggling With Addiction. Then It Entered My Home.” | Billy Thomas appeared first on 100X Forum.

What if everything you’ve learned while building your business is preparing you for a purpose you haven’t discovered yet?

For entrepreneur Mark Howard, that question became a reality at an age when many business owners begin thinking about slowing down.

After decades in the precast concrete industry, Mark had built a successful company, developed a strong work ethic, and learned how to lead people. But at 55 years old, an unexpected encounter with legendary football coach Joe Gibbs changed the direction of his life.

What began as a personal decision to follow Christ eventually grew into a prison ministry helping incarcerated men earn college degrees and become spiritual leaders.

In Episode 49, Mark shares how God took the skills he developed in business and used them to open doors he never imagined walking through.

Finding Faith at 55

Mark spent much of his life focused on work, family, and coaching high school football.

He started his precast concrete company in 2003 with just three people: himself, his son, and one employee. His original goal was modest. If they could sell three loads of concrete products each week, they could make a decent living.

Over the next two decades, the company grew significantly. By the time Mark sold the business, it was shipping approximately 35 loads a day.

Yet despite that success, something important was missing from his life.

On May 26, 2012, Mark attended a Game Plan for Life event featuring Joe Gibbs and pastor Tony Evans.

At the event, Mark made a decision that would change his future. At 55 years old, having never seriously engaged with the Bible, he committed his life to Christ.

He remembers telling God that he had spent the first 55 years doing things his own way and was ready to spend whatever time he had left doing things God’s way.

He had no idea where that commitment would lead.

When Business Skills Become Ministry Tools

After reading Gibbs’ book Game Plan for Life, Mark began thinking about how its lessons on relationships, finances, and personal responsibility might help incarcerated men prepare for life outside prison.

There was one problem: Mark had never taught a class.

Nevertheless, he developed a curriculum and approached the local sheriff’s department about teaching inmates.

The department agreed, and Mark began working with a small group of men each week.

Eventually, he shared what he was doing with Joe Gibbs, whose grandsons Mark had coached in high school football. Gibbs encouraged him to expand the work.

Through new relationships, visits to other prison programs, and partnerships with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, that initial effort eventually grew into something much larger.

Today, the program offers qualifying incarcerated men the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree in pastoral studies with a minor in counseling.

Graduates can then serve as ministers in other prisons throughout North Carolina.

At the time of the conversation, Mark shared that 61 graduates were serving in 15 prisons across the state.

What began with one businessman willing to teach a small class had developed into a ministry reaching far beyond anything he originally envisioned.

The Skills You Already Have May Be More Valuable Than You Think

One of the most interesting parts of Mark’s story is that he didn’t abandon everything he knew when he entered ministry.

He brought his business experience with him.

Years of operating a concrete company had taught him the importance of showing up early, solving problems, managing people, paying attention to details, and staying committed when circumstances became difficult.

Those same abilities proved valuable when he helped develop an educational program inside a prison system.

Building partnerships, navigating construction needs, coordinating schedules, and managing obstacles all required skills he had already developed as an entrepreneur.

It’s an important reminder for Christian business owners.

The lessons you’re learning in the workplace may have a purpose far beyond the workplace.

Leadership, organization, persistence, financial stewardship, and the ability to build relationships can all become valuable tools for serving others.

You don’t necessarily need an entirely new set of abilities to pursue a new calling.

Sometimes God uses the abilities you’ve been developing for years.

The Power of Relationships and Mentorship

Mark’s friendship with Joe Gibbs played a significant role in his journey.

Gibbs was more than a successful NFL coach. He was also an accomplished businessman whose experience gave Mark someone to turn to for advice about hiring, investments, and important business decisions.

Their relationship also allowed Mark to witness how Gibbs navigated personal suffering, including the loss of both of his sons.

Seeing someone maintain his faith through difficult circumstances left a lasting impression on Mark.

Their relationship illustrates a valuable lesson: meaningful partnerships are about more than professional connections.

They offer opportunities to learn, encourage one another, and grow through experiences that can’t always be navigated alone.

For faith-driven entrepreneurs, building relationships with people who demonstrate both wisdom and strong character can shape not only how we lead our businesses, but how we live.

Success Looks Different When You See Lives Changed

After years of building a profitable business, Mark now speaks about success in a different way.

One of his greatest joys comes during graduation ceremonies at the prison.

He describes watching parents enter the prison to see their sons receive college degrees. Many of these men are serving life sentences or extremely long prison terms.

For their families, graduation represents an accomplishment they may never have imagined.

Mark also shares the story of a former inmate who attended his early classes and later asked him for a job.

Mark hired him. The man eventually earned his commercial driver’s license, became a truck driver, and later accepted a sales position with another company.

Years afterward, he contacted Mark with an unexpected update.

One of the stores assigned to his sales territory was the very store he had robbed years earlier.

The place connected to one of his worst decisions had become part of his new career.

Stories like these remind Mark why the work matters.

Financial success can create opportunities, but seeing another person’s life change brings a different kind of satisfaction.

Don’t Wait Until You Have Everything Figured Out

Toward the end of the conversation, Mark offers advice for business owners who sense they may be called to something more.

His encouragement is simple: don’t be afraid to get involved.

Mark didn’t begin with a detailed plan for building a statewide prison ministry.

He started by reading a book, developing a few lessons, and asking whether he could teach a class.

Each step helped reveal the next opportunity.

He encourages entrepreneurs to experiment with small, manageable commitments to discover where their interests, abilities, and opportunities intersect.

Rather than immediately walking away from a business or making a dramatic life change, begin exploring ways to serve.

Volunteer. Teach. Mentor. Build relationships. Look for needs you may be uniquely equipped to meet.

You may discover that your next calling grows out of a simple decision to become involved.

Your Greatest Impact May Still Be Ahead

Mark Howard’s story challenges the assumption that success and significance are always the same thing.

He built a successful company, but one of the most meaningful chapters of his life began when he was 55 years old.

His journey also challenges the idea that pursuing God’s calling always requires leaving the business world behind.

For years, Mark continued operating his concrete company while helping establish and grow the prison ministry.

His business skills didn’t become irrelevant. They became part of how he served.

For Christian entrepreneurs, that’s an encouraging perspective.

The work you’re doing today may be teaching you more than how to earn a living.

It may be preparing you to lead, give, serve, and make a difference in ways you cannot yet see.

The question isn’t simply what you can build with your business. It’s what God might accomplish through the person you’re becoming while building it.

Listen to Episode 49

Hear Mark Howard’s full conversation about discovering faith at 55, building a successful business, learning from Joe Gibbs, and helping transform lives through prison ministry.

Listen to the full episode: [Episode Link]

This episode is sponsored by Anchor Investments, whose mission is to build America’s most generous real estate company.

From Business Success to Kingdom Impact: Mark Howard’s Unexpected Calling

What if everything you’ve learned while building your business is preparing you for a purpose you haven’t discovered yet?

For entrepreneur Mark Howard, that question became a reality at an age when many business owners begin thinking about slowing down.

After decades in the precast concrete industry, Mark had built a successful company, developed a strong work ethic, and learned how to lead people. But at 55 years old, an unexpected encounter with legendary football coach Joe Gibbs changed the direction of his life.

What began as a personal decision to follow Christ eventually grew into a prison ministry helping incarcerated men earn college degrees and become spiritual leaders.

In Episode 49, Mark shares how God took the skills he developed in business and used them to open doors he never imagined walking through.

Finding Faith at 55

Mark spent much of his life focused on work, family, and coaching high school football.

He started his precast concrete company in 2003 with just three people: himself, his son, and one employee. His original goal was modest. If they could sell three loads of concrete products each week, they could make a decent living.

Over the next two decades, the company grew significantly. By the time Mark sold the business, it was shipping approximately 35 loads a day.

Yet despite that success, something important was missing from his life.

On May 26, 2012, Mark attended a Game Plan for Life event featuring Joe Gibbs and pastor Tony Evans.

At the event, Mark made a decision that would change his future. At 55 years old, having never seriously engaged with the Bible, he committed his life to Christ.

He remembers telling God that he had spent the first 55 years doing things his own way and was ready to spend whatever time he had left doing things God’s way.

He had no idea where that commitment would lead.

When Business Skills Become Ministry Tools

After reading Gibbs’ book Game Plan for Life, Mark began thinking about how its lessons on relationships, finances, and personal responsibility might help incarcerated men prepare for life outside prison.

There was one problem: Mark had never taught a class.

Nevertheless, he developed a curriculum and approached the local sheriff’s department about teaching inmates.

The department agreed, and Mark began working with a small group of men each week.

Eventually, he shared what he was doing with Joe Gibbs, whose grandsons Mark had coached in high school football. Gibbs encouraged him to expand the work.

Through new relationships, visits to other prison programs, and partnerships with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, that initial effort eventually grew into something much larger.

Today, the program offers qualifying incarcerated men the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree in pastoral studies with a minor in counseling.

Graduates can then serve as ministers in other prisons throughout North Carolina.

At the time of the conversation, Mark shared that 61 graduates were serving in 15 prisons across the state.

What began with one businessman willing to teach a small class had developed into a ministry reaching far beyond anything he originally envisioned.

The Skills You Already Have May Be More Valuable Than You Think

One of the most interesting parts of Mark’s story is that he didn’t abandon everything he knew when he entered ministry.

He brought his business experience with him.

Years of operating a concrete company had taught him the importance of showing up early, solving problems, managing people, paying attention to details, and staying committed when circumstances became difficult.

Those same abilities proved valuable when he helped develop an educational program inside a prison system.

Building partnerships, navigating construction needs, coordinating schedules, and managing obstacles all required skills he had already developed as an entrepreneur.

It’s an important reminder for Christian business owners.

The lessons you’re learning in the workplace may have a purpose far beyond the workplace.

Leadership, organization, persistence, financial stewardship, and the ability to build relationships can all become valuable tools for serving others.

You don’t necessarily need an entirely new set of abilities to pursue a new calling.

Sometimes God uses the abilities you’ve been developing for years.

The Power of Relationships and Mentorship

Mark’s friendship with Joe Gibbs played a significant role in his journey.

Gibbs was more than a successful NFL coach. He was also an accomplished businessman whose experience gave Mark someone to turn to for advice about hiring, investments, and important business decisions.

Their relationship also allowed Mark to witness how Gibbs navigated personal suffering, including the loss of both of his sons.

Seeing someone maintain his faith through difficult circumstances left a lasting impression on Mark.

Their relationship illustrates a valuable lesson: meaningful partnerships are about more than professional connections.

They offer opportunities to learn, encourage one another, and grow through experiences that can’t always be navigated alone.

For faith-driven entrepreneurs, building relationships with people who demonstrate both wisdom and strong character can shape not only how we lead our businesses, but how we live.

Success Looks Different When You See Lives Changed

After years of building a profitable business, Mark now speaks about success in a different way.

One of his greatest joys comes during graduation ceremonies at the prison.

He describes watching parents enter the prison to see their sons receive college degrees. Many of these men are serving life sentences or extremely long prison terms.

For their families, graduation represents an accomplishment they may never have imagined.

Mark also shares the story of a former inmate who attended his early classes and later asked him for a job.

Mark hired him. The man eventually earned his commercial driver’s license, became a truck driver, and later accepted a sales position with another company.

Years afterward, he contacted Mark with an unexpected update.

One of the stores assigned to his sales territory was the very store he had robbed years earlier.

The place connected to one of his worst decisions had become part of his new career.

Stories like these remind Mark why the work matters.

Financial success can create opportunities, but seeing another person’s life change brings a different kind of satisfaction.

Don’t Wait Until You Have Everything Figured Out

Toward the end of the conversation, Mark offers advice for business owners who sense they may be called to something more.

His encouragement is simple: don’t be afraid to get involved.

Mark didn’t begin with a detailed plan for building a statewide prison ministry.

He started by reading a book, developing a few lessons, and asking whether he could teach a class.

Each step helped reveal the next opportunity.

He encourages entrepreneurs to experiment with small, manageable commitments to discover where their interests, abilities, and opportunities intersect.

Rather than immediately walking away from a business or making a dramatic life change, begin exploring ways to serve.

Volunteer. Teach. Mentor. Build relationships. Look for needs you may be uniquely equipped to meet.

You may discover that your next calling grows out of a simple decision to become involved.

Your Greatest Impact May Still Be Ahead

Mark Howard’s story challenges the assumption that success and significance are always the same thing.

He built a successful company, but one of the most meaningful chapters of his life began when he was 55 years old.

His journey also challenges the idea that pursuing God’s calling always requires leaving the business world behind.

For years, Mark continued operating his concrete company while helping establish and grow the prison ministry.

His business skills didn’t become irrelevant. They became part of how he served.

For Christian entrepreneurs, that’s an encouraging perspective.

The work you’re doing today may be teaching you more than how to earn a living.

It may be preparing you to lead, give, serve, and make a difference in ways you cannot yet see.

The question isn’t simply what you can build with your business. It’s what God might accomplish through the person you’re becoming while building it.

Listen to Episode 49

Hear Mark Howard’s full conversation about discovering faith at 55, building a successful business, learning from Joe Gibbs, and helping transform lives through prison ministry.

Listen to the full episode: [Episode Link]

This episode is sponsored by Anchor Investments, whose mission is to build America’s most generous real estate company.

The post From Business Success to Kingdom Impact: Mark Howard appeared first on 100X Forum.

Episode 48 | A Conversation with Dale Dawson

For many entrepreneurs, success is measured by growth, revenue, and the ability to build something that lasts. But what happens when you achieve the success you’ve worked so hard for and begin asking whether there’s something more?

That’s a question worth considering for every faith-driven entrepreneur.

Dale Dawson knows what it means to succeed in business. After building a successful career in investment banking and the truck-parts industry, he began looking for a deeper sense of purpose. That search eventually led him to Rwanda, where his business experience would become part of an effort to create opportunities for others.

His journey reminds us that the gifts God has given us may have a much greater purpose than we first imagined.

Success Isn’t the Same as Significance

There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting a profitable business. A healthy company provides jobs, serves customers, supports families, and creates opportunities.

But financial success alone cannot answer every question about purpose.

For Christian entrepreneurs, a deeper question eventually emerges: What am I building, and who is it ultimately serving?

The answer may not require walking away from a successful career. Sometimes it means seeing the work we’ve already been doing through a different lens.

Our businesses can become places where we practice generosity, develop people, solve real problems, and demonstrate the character of Christ.

Your Business Experience Can Become a Ministry Tool

Dawson’s journey to Rwanda is a powerful example of how professional experience can serve others.

Through Bridge2Rwanda, he has helped create educational and economic opportunities, particularly for young leaders who can contribute to their country’s future.

The skills developed through years of business leadership, financial decisions, relationships, and problem-solving can have value far beyond a company’s balance sheet.

For faith-driven entrepreneurs, this changes how we think about calling.

We don’t have to divide our lives into business on one side and ministry on the other. The marketplace itself can become a place of service.

Faith Sometimes Requires Stepping Into the Unknown

Entrepreneurship always involves some level of uncertainty. There are decisions without guaranteed outcomes, opportunities that require risk, and seasons when the next step isn’t entirely clear.

The same is often true of following God.

We may prefer a complete plan before moving forward. But faith frequently calls us to be available before we know exactly what that availability will require.

For business owners accustomed to managing outcomes, that can be challenging.

It also creates an opportunity to grow in trust.

Building Something That Outlasts You

Perhaps one of the most important questions an entrepreneur can ask is not simply, “How much can I build?” but “What difference will this make in the lives of others?”

A company can create financial value. It can also create human value.

It can give someone their first opportunity to lead. It can help a family become financially stable. It can provide resources to meet needs in a community. It can demonstrate what integrity, compassion, and service look like in everyday work.

These are not small outcomes.

For the Christian entrepreneur, the ultimate goal is not merely to build a successful business. It’s to be faithful with what God has entrusted to us.

A Question Worth Asking

You may never find yourself starting an initiative in another country. Your calling might be much closer to home.

It could involve the people who work for you, the customers you serve, the community where you live, or the resources you have been given.

The important question is whether you’re willing to see those opportunities.

As you listen to Episode 48 with Dale Dawson, consider this:

What if the business God has helped you build is also one of the ways He intends to bless others?

Your greatest contribution may not be measured by what you accumulate, but by what God accomplishes through your willingness to serve.

Listen to Episode 48 and consider how faith, business, and purpose can come together to make a lasting difference.

Learn more: https://www.bridge2rwanda.org

The post What If God Has a Bigger Purpose for Your Business? | Dale Dawson appeared first on 100X Forum.

But what happens when that timeline becomes uncertain?

In Episode 47 of the 100X Podcast, Griff Jones shares how a cancer diagnosis changed the way he and his wife, Mindy, approach family, generosity, and the years ahead. Their response became a simple family motto: “We’re going to plan for 10 and we’re going to pray for 30.”

It is a practical way to live with uncertainty while holding on to hope. And its usefulness reaches well beyond a health crisis.

When the future becomes personal

Griff was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in October 2020. He describes the experience honestly: it was emotional, and it shook him.

Before the diagnosis, he and Mindy had already been thinking carefully about what they wanted their lives to look like. They had made significant commitments to giving through their foundation and were trying to make decisions with purpose.

That preparation gave them something to draw on when life changed. It did not remove the fear or uncertainty. It helped them consider how to move forward.

With his pastor’s help, Griff began praying through the road ahead. The family motto grew out of those conversations, becoming a guide for decisions about how they would spend their time, use their resources, and care for one another.

Giving family time a place on the calendar

One of Griff’s biggest decisions was to retire. He felt the company was in a strong position, with a capable management team, and wanted to make more room for Mindy and their family.

He recognizes that retirement after a diagnosis is not an option everyone has. For him, it was an opportunity to act on a priority he had long claimed was important.

That distinction is familiar. We can say family matters while giving it whatever time remains after everything else. Griff’s diagnosis prompted him to make that time a central part of his life.

He and Mindy began taking adventures together, traveling, spending time with friends, and staying involved with their church and ministries. Experiences they might once have postponed became part of the present.

Griff also shares that healthy friends have heard his motto and wondered why they could not use it themselves. We do not have to wait for difficult news to ask whether our calendars reflect what we value.

Passing on experience through mentoring

The conversation also turns to mentoring young Christian entrepreneurs. Griff and the host discuss the value of connecting experienced leaders with younger people building businesses with a ministry purpose.

There is something encouraging about that picture. Years of experience can continue to serve others after a leader steps back from daily business responsibilities.

A conversation, an introduction, or a thoughtful question can help someone make a better decision. Mentoring offers a way to put hard-earned lessons to work in another person’s life.

Letting the next generation find its own path

For Griff, legacy is deeply connected to the people his children are becoming. He speaks warmly about their values, their relationships, and their growing interest in giving.

He and Mindy have chosen greater transparency with their children about family resources and future plans. That openness comes from confidence in their maturity, alongside an understanding that they need to discover their own paths.

One smaller detail carries its own lesson. When a giving opportunity involves public recognition, Griff has learned to put Mindy’s name first. He shares that the choice made a particular impression on his daughter.

Family members notice those things. The way we honor a spouse, respond to hardship, and make everyday decisions becomes part of what we pass on.

A question worth asking now

Griff’s story leaves listeners with a useful question: What would change if we treated our time as something precious today?

Perhaps there is a relationship that needs more attention, an experience we keep postponing, or a younger leader who could benefit from our time. Perhaps our family needs a clearer conversation about what matters most.

“Plan for 10 and pray for 30” gives Griff and Mindy a way to make thoughtful plans while trusting God with a future they cannot control. It also invites the rest of us to consider how we are living with the time already in our hands.

Listen to Episode 47 of the 100X Podcast for the full conversation with Griff Jones about faith, family, mentoring, and generosity.

The post Plan for 10, Pray for 30: Making Time for What Matters | Griff Jones appeared first on 100X Forum.

What Happens After Success? Griff Jones on Faith, Business, and a More Intentional Life

Griff Jones had helped build a thriving energy business. Then its parent company, Lehman Brothers, collapsed.

Eagle Energy itself was not bankrupt, but that distinction offered little comfort to employees and customers calling with the same question: What happens now? Griff and his team had roughly 60 to 90 days to find an answer. They found a buyer, kept their commitments to customers, and avoided laying off a single employee.

It was one of the high points of Griff’s business career. But in this conversation with Lloyd on the 100x Podcast, the story does not end with a successful deal. It leads to a harder question: After you’ve learned how to build and protect a business, what will you do with the life and influence it has given you?

The people who showed up

Griff’s earliest lessons in leadership came at home. His parents divorced when he was young. When his mother remarried, his stepfather brought steadiness, faith, and daily attention into the family. He went to Griff’s practices. He made church a priority. He was present.

That example stayed with Griff. Later, at Oklahoma State University, Griff met Mindy, his future wife, when he arrived at freshman English without anything to write with and borrowed one of her pencils. During his senior year, a speech Griff gave about mentoring students caught the attention of energy entrepreneur Chuck Watson. Chuck offered him a career opportunity in Houston and became a mentor and longtime business partner.

Griff can trace much of his life through people who took an interest in him. Their influence also helps explain why mentoring became part of the life he wanted to build.

A career shaped by disruption

Griff joined Natural Gas Clearinghouse as it grew in a changing energy market. He took on greater responsibility as the company expanded and became Dynegy. Then Enron’s bankruptcy shook the industry. With his own company under pressure, Griff faced a choice: stay in a new role or take a package and start something of his own.

He co-founded Eagle Energy in 2003. Lehman Brothers bought the company in 2007, giving it the financial backing to grow rapidly. About a year later, Lehman failed.

Eagle’s team had to act quickly while customers questioned the strength of its parent company. The business was sold to EDF within about 90 days. Griff takes particular pride in two outcomes: no customer default and no employee layoff.

There is a practical lesson in that story about keeping promises under pressure. There is also a personal one. Griff had spent years solving urgent business problems. Once the crisis passed, he had room to consider where his gifts might matter next.

Giving with intention

After leaving EDF in 2010, Griff heard businessman Terry Looper speak about moving from success toward significance. That encounter led to new conversations, reading, and a closer look at his own life.

Griff was already involved in church and giving money away. Yet he realized he had never examined his personal life with the same care he brought to business decisions. He and Mindy began asking which needs they cared about most, which relationships deserved more time, and how they could involve their children in giving.

The change showed up on his calendar. Griff began using Monday mornings for mentoring and ministry conversations while trusted leaders ran their business meetings. At work, the company made space available to ministries, introduced a chaplain service, and gave employees funds to direct to qualified charities. At home, Griff and Mindy established a foundation that brought their children into regular conversations about generosity.

None of those decisions began with a dramatic career exit. Griff looked at the skills, relationships, time, and resources already in his hands and asked how to use them more deliberately.

That is the question this episode leaves with us. Who helped you become who you are? What responsibilities are in front of you now? And what might change if you gave your time the same careful attention you give your work?

Listen to Griff Jones’s conversation on the 100x Podcast for the full story.

The post What do you do after you’ve made it? Griff Jones appeared first on 100X Forum.

A few kids playing catch grew into a Little League program near Cabrini-Green. The story later helped inspire Hardball, starring Keanu Reeves. The movie brought attention to Bob’s work, but the relationships continued long after the credits rolled.

Coaching put Bob close to the children and their families. He came to see how much more they needed than a place to play after school. He and his wife, Tina, chose to build their life in the community. Later, they helped establish Chicago Hope Academy to give students strong teaching, high expectations, and more opportunities for their future.

None of that happened through good intentions alone. Bob drew on his experience in business, the relationships he had built, and his own resources. The work required years of decisions about people, money, property, and leadership. His faith shaped how he used what he had.

In Episode 45 of the 100X Podcast, Bob talks with Lloyd Reeb and Micah Lacher about that long commitment. His story is useful for anyone who wants to make a difference and feels unsure where to begin. Bob began with a skill he already had and people who were already near him.

The question for us is simple: What do we know how to do, and who needs us to show up?

The post The Man Behind Hardball – Part 2 | Bob Muzikowski appeared first on 100X Forum.

Bob Muzikowski moved closer.

His story eventually inspired the movie Hardball, starring Keanu Reeves. But the Hollywood version is only a small part of what Bob has spent his life doing.

Bob did not begin with a large organization, a polished plan or millions of dollars in funding. It began when he found himself living near Cabrini-Green, one of Chicago’s most troubled housing projects.

He saw kids who needed structure, coaches, encouragement and adults who would continue showing up. Bob knew baseball, so he started there.

A few kids playing catch became an organized baseball program. That program eventually grew into one of the largest inner-city Little League organizations in the country.

Baseball gave the kids something to do, but the real work was never limited to baseball.

The field became a place where relationships could form. Coaches learned the names of the kids. They met their families. They began to understand the fear, poverty, violence and instability many of the children were experiencing.

Bob learned that it is easy to care about a problem from a safe distance. Real change usually requires getting close enough for the problem to become personal.

That conviction shaped the rest of his life.

Bob and his wife chose to raise their family in Chicago rather than retreating to a comfortable neighborhood far away from the people they wanted to serve. They opened their home, built relationships and became part of the community.

This was not charity from a distance. It was life together.

Bob’s faith taught him that Christians should be willing to carry light into dark places. That does not mean arriving as a hero who has all the answers. It means being present, listening, building trust and staying long enough to understand what people actually need.

Eventually, Bob began to see another major problem.

The children he coached needed more than an afternoon sports program. They needed an education that would prepare them for college, work, family and life.

So Bob helped establish Chicago Hope Academy, a Christian college and life-preparatory school on Chicago’s West Side.

The school was built around a belief that a child’s ZIP code should not determine the quality of education, coaching, facilities or opportunities that child receives.

Bob wanted the students to have access to the kind of classrooms, athletic facilities, teachers and expectations often reserved for wealthy suburban communities.

Building the school required more than good intentions. It took money, leadership, fundraising, real estate, hiring, discipline and years of persistence.

There were times when the financial pressure became personal. Bob invested his own resources and called on the same business relationships he had built during his career. He understood that money could be used for comfort, but it could also be used to create opportunities that would continue long after the original gift was gone.

That is one of the most challenging parts of Bob’s story.

He did not separate his faith, business experience, neighborhood, family and finances into different parts of his life. He saw all of them as resources he had been given to steward.

Many people want to make a difference, but they are waiting for the right organization, the right opportunity or enough free time.

Bob’s life offers a different starting point.

Look at what is already in front of you.

What do you know how to do?

Who is already near you?

What problem do you continue noticing?

Where could your experience, relationships or resources be useful?

Bob knew baseball. He understood business. He knew how to build relationships and ask people to invest in something meaningful.

He started with those things.

You do not have to fix an entire city. You may not be able to solve poverty, violence or education on a national level.

You can create what Bob describes as an island of strength and hope. A school, church, team, business, mentoring program or home where people are known, challenged and given an opportunity to grow.

One healthy place can change the direction of a child’s life. Enough healthy places can begin changing a neighborhood.

Bob’s story became a movie, but the movie was never the point.

The point was the child who needed a coach.

The student who needed a school.

The family who needed someone to stay.

The neighborhood others had decided was too dangerous, too complicated or too far gone.

Most people wait for someone more qualified to step in.

Bob Muzikowski stepped closer.

The post The Man Behind Hardball: Why Real Change Requires You to Show Up | Bob Muzikowski appeared first on 100X Forum.

Angel Alvarez understands what it takes to build something significant. Over the course of more than 30 years, he helped grow an optical wholesale business into a $1.5 billion organization with approximately 1,700 employees.

The company entered an industry that already had 47 competitors. Angel’s business began as number 48.

Rather than accepting the industry as it was, Angel studied what had happened in pharmaceutical and office-supply distribution. He recognized that optical distribution could follow a similar path through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth. That insight expanded the company’s vision and eventually helped it become one of the largest organizations in its industry.

Angel calls it a “30-year overnight success.” That description captures something most people miss when they look at a successful founder. The public sees the final number, the sale, the employees, the acquisitions, and the influence. The founder remembers the thousands of ordinary decisions that came before any of it looked impressive.

The Courage to Begin

When Angel is asked how he found the courage to become an entrepreneur, he points to his faith and the example of his mother.

His family came to the United States from Cuba following the Castro revolution. His mother remained deeply committed to her faith and seemed unafraid of anything. Her example shaped the way Angel and his brother approached uncertainty. Starting a company involved risk, but fear did not have the final authority over their decisions.

That willingness to move without certainty helped Angel build a major organization. He learned from larger companies, studied other industries, found trustworthy people, and continued expanding his understanding of what the business could become.

But the same faith that helped him take business risks would later carry him through a much more painful season.

When Everything Changed

After the organization was sold to private equity, Angel remained as CEO. During that season, his wife was diagnosed with stage-three bladder cancer.

Angel stepped away from the daily leadership of the company to care for her. Nine months later, she passed away.

Within a relatively short period of time, Angel lost his wife and stepped away from the company he had founded. Two roles that had shaped his daily life were suddenly gone. He was left with grief, open space, and difficult questions about who he was without the business.

Many leaders assume they will eventually have time for the other parts of life. They plan to slow down after the next milestone, the next acquisition, the next revenue goal, or the next season of growth. Angel believed he would retire one day and then focus more intentionally on his family, faith, relationships, and the other things that mattered to him.

Life did not follow that schedule.

Every Achievement Has a Cost

Success always requires an investment. Growth consumes time, energy, attention, and emotional capacity. Those resources have to come from somewhere.

This does not make ambition wrong. Angel loved building his business. The company provided jobs, served customers, changed an industry, and created meaningful opportunities. The danger appears when leaders continue moving forward simply because the business is capable of more growth.

Momentum can become a poor decision-maker.

A company may be able to grow larger without that growth making the owner’s life better. Another acquisition may increase the value of the business while decreasing the leader’s ability to be present at home. Another year of intense work may produce impressive financial results while quietly weakening relationships that cannot be repaired with money.

Leaders rarely receive a notification telling them that success is beginning to cost too much. They have to stop and examine the cost for themselves.

Building a Company That Can Release You

Toward the end of his time as CEO, Angel developed a leadership team he could trust. He moved away from daily tactical responsibilities and focused more of his attention on strategic work.

He found people who were highly capable of running a large organization, and he gave them genuine responsibility. Looking back, Angel wishes he had made that transition sooner.

Founders often believe their constant involvement proves their commitment. In many cases, it reveals that the company has not yet been built to operate without them. A strong business should eventually create freedom for its founder, its leaders, and its employees. When every important decision has to travel through one person, the company’s growth becomes tied to that person’s capacity.

Hiring strong leaders can feel threatening because it requires the founder to release control. It may also be the decision that protects the founder’s family, health, faith, and future.

Bringing Business Intentionality Home

After his wife’s death, Angel began directing his attention toward his three daughters, two sons-in-law, grandchildren, faith, and closest relationships.

A friend gave him a helpful piece of advice. Angel did not need to replace his daughters’ mother. His responsibility was to become the best father he could be.

He approached that calling with the same seriousness he had once brought to leading his company. He became intentional about being a father, father-in-law, and grandfather. The discipline that helped him build an organization was redirected toward the people who knew and loved him without a job title.

This may be one of the most challenging lessons for driven leaders. Many people bring careful planning, high standards, and focused attention to their businesses while giving whatever energy remains to their families. Angel’s experience shows that the same intentionality used to build a company can also be used to build strong relationships.

Those relationships will rarely become urgent in the same way a business problem becomes urgent. They still deserve a place on the calendar before a crisis creates one.

There Is More to You Than Your Work

A successful career can become a powerful source of identity. People ask what you do, admire what you have built, and measure your importance through visible results. Over time, it becomes easy to believe that the position, company, and accomplishments explain who you are.

Angel had to rediscover himself after stepping away from the company. His work remained part of his story, but it could no longer carry the full weight of his identity.

Today, he works with entrepreneurs and startups while investing deeply in his family and the areas of life that matter most to him. His experience has not made him dismissive of business. It has given him a clearer understanding of where business belongs.

A career can describe your work. It cannot contain the whole person.

Success asks how large something can become. Wisdom also asks what that growth is requiring from you. The right time to answer that question is while you still have the ability to choose, before loss, illness, or circumstances answer it for you.om asks what the building is costing you. The time to answer that question is before life answers it for you.

The post He Built a $1.5 Billion Company. Then Life Changed Everything | Angel Alvarez appeared first on 100X Forum.

Angel Alvarez understands what it takes to build something significant. Over the course of more than 30 years, he helped grow an optical wholesale business into a $1.5 billion organization. It was the kind of success that required vision, discipline, acquisitions, strong leadership, and the ability to keep moving when the outcome was uncertain.

But when Angel looks back now, the lessons he considers most important are not only about building a company. They are about understanding the cost of success, making room for the people you love, and recognizing that time is never guaranteed.

Angel was born in Havana, Cuba, and came to the United States because of the Castro revolution. After a short stay in Pennsylvania, his family settled in South Florida. He attended the University of Miami and later worked for Ciba-Geigy, a major Swiss pharmaceutical company.

The company was launching its American contact-lens division, CIBA Vision, and Angel was able to watch a massive corporation build something new. That experience gave him a valuable education in entrepreneurship from inside a large organization. He saw how leadership changed as a company developed, how new ventures were structured, and how a business could move from an idea to a working operation.

Several years after college, Angel used that experience to enter the optical wholesale business. There were already 47 competitors. His company entered the market as number 48.

Rather than accepting the limits of the existing industry, Angel studied pharmaceutical and office-supply distribution. He realized those industries had followed a path that optical distribution could also follow. That insight expanded his vision for the company. Approximately half of its eventual growth would come through acquisitions, while the other half would come organically.

Angel describes the result as a “30-year overnight success.” It is a simple reminder that impressive outcomes often hide decades of ordinary work, difficult decisions, and slow progress.

When asked how he found the courage to take the entrepreneurial leap, Angel points to faith and the example set by his mother. Even as she approached 99 years old, she remained deeply committed to her faith and seemingly unafraid of anything. Angel believes that example strengthened his entire family and shaped the way he and his brother approached risk.

That lack of fear helped Angel build a company. Years later, his faith would be tested in a much more painful way.

After the organization was sold to private equity, Angel remained as CEO. During that season, his wife was diagnosed with stage-three bladder cancer. He stepped away from running the company so he could care for her. Nine months later, she passed away.

Angel lost his wife and, at nearly the same time, stepped away from the company he had founded. The two roles that had occupied much of his life were suddenly gone. He was left with grief, open space, and the need to rediscover who he was.

That experience forced him to examine the difference between what is valuable and what is priceless.

Business success is valuable. Building an organization that serves customers, employs 1,700 people, and changes an industry is meaningful work. But Angel began directing the same energy he had once poured into business toward his three daughters, two sons-in-law, grandchildren, faith, and personal relationships.

A friend gave him an important piece of advice after his wife died: do not try to become a mother to your daughters. Focus on becoming the best father you can be. Angel took that advice seriously. He approached being a father, father-in-law, and grandfather with the same intentionality he had brought to leading his company.

His story does not dismiss ambition or business achievement. Angel loved the work he did. His wife helped him remain grounded and reminded him that continued growth eventually has to answer a deeper question: How much is enough?

Every achievement carries a cost. Building something significant requires time, attention, energy, and sacrifice. The danger comes when success continues moving forward without anyone stopping to decide whether the cost is still worth paying.

Toward the end of his time as CEO, Angel built a leadership team he could trust. He moved away from daily tactical responsibilities and concentrated on strategic work. Looking back, he wishes he had made that transition earlier.

He assumed he would eventually retire and then focus on the other important parts of life. Like many successful people, he thought he would have more time. His wife’s illness showed him how fragile that assumption was.

Angel now works with startups and entrepreneurs, invests in his family, and gives focused attention to the areas of life that matter most to him. His work still matters, but it no longer carries the full weight of his identity.

That may be the most important lesson from his story. A career can explain what you do, but it cannot contain everything you are. There is always more to a person than a job title, a company, or the size of an accomplishment.

Success asks what you can build. Wisdom asks what the building is costing you. The time to answer that question is before life answers it for you.

The post He Thought He Had More Time: Angel Alvarez on Success, Loss and What Matters Most appeared first on 100X Forum.

What if the final fifteen years of your life could create ten times more impact than your entire career?

Chris Crane has built companies, led international organizations and helped scale work that now reaches millions of people. He acquired and turned around a struggling commercial real estate information company, led it through an IPO and eventual sale, served as CEO of Opportunity International and later co-founded Edify, which now partners with more than 51,000 Christian schools in developing countries.

In this conversation, Chris explains why his most important season of leadership may be the one he is living now. He shares how mentors helped shape some of the biggest decisions of his life and why experience alone does not make someone a great mentor.

Chris, Lloyd Reeb and Micah Lacher discuss the difference between quickly giving advice and deeply listening, how accomplished leaders can invest their wisdom into the next generation and why mentoring the right leader can eventually affect millions of lives.

Chris also shares practical lessons about making major decisions, scaling a social enterprise, hiring strong people, learning from failure and taking important choices to God through prayer and fasting.

This conversation offers a different way to think about the later years of leadership. Your most productive work may not be another company carrying your name. It may be helping another leader build something that reaches farther than you ever could alone.

Links:

Learn more about Sage Stage: The Most Important Leadership Season—and How to Make It Count at https://sagestage.org.

https://edify.org

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ4HQMX9?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback Sage Stage Book

https://sagestage.org

https://www.ardentmentoring.org

Learn more about the 100X Forum at https://100xforum.org.

The post Your Final Chapter | Chris Crane appeared first on 100X Forum.