When Jesse Itzler was broke and sleeping on a friend's couch, he couldn't afford an office. So he made the Beverly Hills Hotel his office - for the price of an $18 salad and four hours of iced tea refills. He sat, watched, listened, and showed up until the right people noticed him. The rest is history.

In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex take that story and flip it toward service. Because most people who want to help their community are waiting for an invitation that's never coming. The tough neighborhoods, the kids who need mentors, the opportunities to make a real difference - they're already out there. You just have to get in the room.

This one is worth sending to someone who keeps saying they want to help but doesn't know where to start.

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Paul Chapman spent years doing charitable work until he finally got frustrated by this: the people trying to help were often doing great work — but they were doing it in silos and too many families still weren’t flourishing. 

So he built "HopeHub” to connect nonprofits, churches, law enforcement, child welfare, treatment providers, and others around the very same family, so that they could stop making families try to find help in 10 different places and start working together to empower them. What started as an effort to help 100 families has now reached more than 13,000 and in Sebastian County, Arkansas family reunification rates have gone from a statewide average of 43% to 70% for Hope Hub clients! 

This innovative leader will teach you how changing the world can start with only 100 families — and why breaking down silos just might be one of the most powerful ways to change lives.

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Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org

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Paul Chapman spent years doing charitable work until he finally got frustrated by this: the people trying to help were often doing great work — but they were doing it in silos and too many families still weren’t flourishing. 

So he built "HopeHub” to connect nonprofits, churches, law enforcement, child welfare, treatment providers, and others around the very same family, so that they could stop making families try to find help in 10 different places and start working together to empower them. What started as an effort to help 100 families has now reached more than 13,000 and in Sebastian County, Arkansas family reunification rates have gone from a statewide average of 43% to 70% for Hope Hub clients! 

This innovative leader will teach you how changing the world can start with only 100 families — and why breaking down silos just might be one of the most powerful ways to change lives.

ARMY ACTIONS

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Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/

Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dive into the odd history of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows - one of the largest organizations most Americans have never heard of. At their peak, they had over a million members and thousands of lodges across the country. They cared for widows and orphans, built hospitals, and more than 800 cemeteries. And then, slowly, they disappeared.

If you've ever wondered why community feels harder to find than it used to - or why civic life seems to be quietly fading - this episode might be the most important conversation you hear this week. It's a history lesson that hits surprisingly close to home.

ARMY ACTIONS

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1 out of every 3 Americans carries medical debt. It's the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the country - and the single greatest predictor of whether you end up in it isn't your income or your insurance. It's whether or not you get sick.

Allison Sesso is a normal person leading an abnormal (and awesome) nonprofit doing something about it. Undue Medical Debt has erased nearly $50 billion in medical debt for over 31 million people! 

In this episode, she breaks down exactly what to do if you get a bill you can't afford, why you should never put medical debt on a credit card, how debt collectors acquire debt for pennies on the dollar, how they’ve flipped this very same model on its head to abolish debt, and how you can partner with them to erase a crazy amount of medical debt in your community.

ARMY ACTIONS

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1 out of every 3 Americans carries medical debt. It's the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the country - and the single greatest predictor of whether you end up in it isn't your income or your insurance. It's whether or not you get sick.

Allison Sesso is a normal person leading an abnormal (and awesome) nonprofit doing something about it. Undue Medical Debt has erased nearly $50 billion in medical debt for over 31 million people! 

In this episode, she breaks down exactly what to do if you get a bill you can't afford, why you should never put medical debt on a credit card, how debt collectors acquire debt for pennies on the dollar, how they’ve flipped this very same model on its head to abolish debt, and how you can partner with them to erase a crazy amount of medical debt in your community.

ARMY ACTIONS

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Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/

Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

53% of Americans ages 18-29 say talking to strangers is exhausting. But small interactions with everyday strangers actually make your life more meaningful. In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dig into why everyday human connection has declined and how you can integrate it into your life. This one is a reminder that community isn't always built through grand gestures, it starts with just saying hello. You weren't designed for isolation, you were designed to be in community with others. 

ARMY ACTIONS

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Economic mobility has dropped 45% in recent decades. The American Dream - doing better than your parents did - is getting harder to reach. But Leigh Mansberg and Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South are doing something about it. In this conversation with Bill, Leigh breaks down how Junior Achievement uses experiential learning to unlock economic mobility for kids K-12 - and why giving a child hope might be the most important thing a community can do. This episode will change how you think about education, opportunity, and what it means to invest in the next generation. This episode is for everyone who wants to see the American Dream continue on through future generations.

ARMY ACTIONS

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Economic mobility has dropped 45% in recent decades. The American Dream - doing better than your parents did - is getting harder to reach. But Leigh Mansberg and Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South are doing something about it. In this conversation with Bill, Leigh breaks down how Junior Achievement uses experiential learning to unlock economic mobility for kids K-12 - and why giving a child hope might be the most important thing a community can do. This episode will change how you think about education, opportunity, and what it means to invest in the next generation. This episode is for everyone who wants to see the American Dream continue on through future generations.

ARMY ACTIONS

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Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org

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Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/

Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the most radical thing you could do was just show up?

In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dive into Shane Claiborne's book The Irresistible Revolution - and the idea that changing the world has never required extraordinary people. Just ordinary ones who refuse to look away. They talk about what it really means to let your life answer the question, why the most important move you can make is toward broken places instead of away from them, and what it looks like when normal folks stop asking "why doesn't someone do something?" and start asking "what can I do?"

This one isn't a call to be louder or more impressive. It's a reminder that the life you're already living might be exactly the one the world needs.

ARMY ACTIONS

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Frank Schwartz is the CEO of F3 Nation, a 100,000-man volunteer led movement built around fitness, fellowship, and faith. Men at 5,000+ locations worldwide show up at 5:30am - no matter if it’s raining, snowing, or freezing - for free peer-led workouts. But the workout is just the entry point. What F3 is really doing is cultivating a brotherhood and teaching men how to lead, so they can take that home to their families and community.

If you've ever felt like there has to be more than just going through the motions of life, then this episode is for you. And if there's a man in your life who needs to hear this, send it to him.

Find an F3 workout near you at F3Nation.com. They’re free and open to all men.

ARMY ACTIONS

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Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at 10LevelChallenge.org

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.