Not Your Typlical Gen Z

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This is the Truth Network. Welcome back to the Man Up Show, your host, yours truly, Nikita Kolov. Once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's nightmare.

And what is it like to be 20 years old, successful as an entrepreneur, not overnight, but over time? You are going to want to stay tuned to this conversation today. This is the United States champion. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw.

Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolov. Now, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. In the studio, I have this young up and coming man of God, David Graham Jr.

Welcome to the Man Up Show. Hey, how you doing Nikita? Thanks for having me.

I'm doing well and it's great to have you here, David. And so that should, hopefully what I just said should pique some interest. I believe your story is going to be an inspiration to many today. Not just 20 year olds, but even perhaps some who are 40, 60, maybe even older. I mean, Colonel Sanders was like 65 when he launched Kentucky Fried Chicken. And I just recently found out he was 77 when he gave his life to Jesus. It's a pretty cool story, right?

But all that said, at 20 years of age, you have had a tremendous amount of success early on. We're going to get into all that and talk about all that. But let me back up first because, of course, how we met is through your parents, David and Wendy, David Sr., I guess. Technically, you're the third. That's right. Oh, okay. You're technically the third.

I forgot that. Okay. So he's junior. So you're third generation.

Okay. So, so we met, of course, I met you when you were really a real youngster, because I think I've known your parents now trying to figure out for maybe 15 plus years through a nutrition company. Originally, I think is how I met them. They were they were a part of the part of my part of the team that that helped lead to some of my success in that nutrition company still existing today, still drinking the product all these years later and love it.

But so, yeah. So you would have been maybe four or five years old when I first met you. Yeah, I was just a little guy.

You were a little tight. You're not so little anymore because you walked in the studio pretty buff today because I know that's another thing you've embraced is is working out and exercising and right there. Let's talk about that for a minute. So what what's inspired you to, you know, want to take care of your body?

Let's just talk about that for a minute. Well, it kind of started as I was just a skinny guy playing basketball and I got burned out on that. So I started getting in the gym and I got addicted to it. So it's just been going on from there for probably five years now. OK, so. So.

All right. So you were still around around 15 is when you started to embrace weightlifting, exercising, that sort of thing. Yeah.

And you say addicted to, of course, there's you and I have some relatability there. And I was I was, I think, 12 and I picked up this magazine called Iron Man and it was a bodybuilding magazine and I was enamored by it. I'm like looking at these guys and I remember making a statement to myself and perhaps to some others as well.

One day I want to look like one of those guys. Right. And like you, I tell people, I think I was maybe 100 pounds with rocks in my pocket and dripping wet. I mean, I was not a big guy. Right.

And and so it wasn't a it wasn't a magazine for you. But because I know your parents are, you know, health is very important to them. I know they they exercise and work out as well. Right. I don't think they were at that point. I think when I first started that it kind of got them into it. So. OK. So. So you kind of inspired them to want to work out an exercise and take care of themselves.

I think that's how it went. OK. OK. And I know you've got a little I know you go to clubs and work work out at the different clubs, but you also got a home gym, which I've worked out at many, many times. And nothing elaborate. But it kind of reminds me of some some of the little what I call sweat boxes. In fact, one of the most hardcore gyms ever worked out was in a guy named Jesse Ventura. You ever heard of that name? No.

Yeah. You're too young for for all you wrestling fans out there. You immediately know you avid wrestling fans immediately know who I'm talking about. Jesse Ventura was, of course, a professional wrestler for many years, very color, very colorful, very colorful. Wore the ball feathers were feathered in a ring and was in tie dyed wrestling tights, et cetera. But he had this little sweat box gym in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which when I say hardcore and I don't need I don't think the building had air conditioning.

Does that help? That's what I like. Well, yeah. I mean, isn't that the idea? You go to a gym to sweat, right?

I get a kick out of and I and I. I get a kick out of people. I'm just going to generalize and say the ones who come in like like there's a little gym. I work out down in Fort Mill right now and certain individuals will come in and put the AC on like 60.

And I'm like, hello. Like the idea, I think, is to sweat when you come into a gym. I've been going into the YMCA for a while now and they get mad at me for turning the fans off.

But I don't understand. Do they really? Yeah.

They're like, dude. Yeah. No, I can I can relate to that. OK, so. So you embrace. So you got burnout on basketball. But then what?

So what? But what prompted you still to want to pick up weightlifting then? I don't even probably just watching YouTube, watching these guys on YouTube for you as the magazines before the Internet come around. Right. For me, I guess it was YouTube and fitness stuff's pretty big on YouTube. Yeah. And just watching guys on there because at the time, nobody my age in our area was working out.

It was me and maybe one or two friends of mine kind of started it. OK. Around our area. So. OK. So you had a virtual magazine. Yeah. Yeah. I had I had a literal magazine.

You had a virtual magazine. So technology, the advancement of technology. So. So well, and let me just finish the story. Let me give you the Paul Harvey rest of the story, which you're too young to know who Paul Harvey is as well.

But you can Google that, too. So Ventura went on to not only become a professional wrestler, for those who don't know, he actually went rant ran. He became the mayor of a city of really one of my best friends, Tim Peltier, and then went on to become the governor of Minnesota. And so he went from being known as Jesse the Body Ventura to Jesse the Mind Ventura.

Right. Because he proved that a wrestler could do something besides just wrestle. It kind of like Arnold's story. Well, actually, I think if I'm not mistaken, if I understand the story correct, because Jesse won and they knew each other, because Jesse's been in several of Arnold's movies, et cetera, Predator and a bunch of others. Because Jesse became governor of Minnesota, I think that inspired Arnold to then run for the governor of California.

And he's like, well, if Jesse Ventura can do it, I can do it. Right. That's right.

So. So but he proved that that, you know, wrestlers or athletes in general sometimes have this stigma that they're just, shall we say, dumb jocks. So I've heard that expression once. I've heard it numerous times.

But he kind of broke broke the mold, if you will. And in showing that wrestlers can do something besides, you know, grab sweaty guys in a ring. So. All right. So you embrace working out and and I'm serious.

You know, you've since that time embracing that. You've done well at just, you know, working out nutrition because nutrition is important. So it's not just the working out. Right. Eating is important to how you eat is important to you as well. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And what do you find? What would you say for those listening out there who maybe they're not in the gym yet or have not been inspired to to and it's not even about joining the gym. Right. It's just about being having a healthy lifestyle, being active and that sort of thing. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, even if you're not slinging a bunch of weight, you know, I mean, just just eating well and at least doing some kind of exercise is going to change your life. You know, something's better than nothing. Right. Yeah, exactly. So.

So do you feel like this is something somebody asked me the other day, how long do I plan on on working out? And there's there's an old time comedian. I need to I need to look this up because it's an incredible quote. I was like, I can identify with what he just said. But while I'm looking this up, let me ask you, do you feel like it's something that you will do for a long time?

Oh, yeah. And that was kind of when I first got into it, I was like, well, I can't play basketball forever. You know, I'm five, nine after high school. It's over.

You know, I'm not I'm not going to the NBA. So getting into the gym is something I can do forever. Yeah.

For a lifetime. Right. That's right. And then eating.

Well, you can do you can if you discipline yourself, you can do that for a lifetime, too. Right. Yeah. And you need to. Yeah.

Especially the eating in. Well, today. So so there was an old time actor kind of entertainer.

His name is Dick Van Dyke. Yeah. And recently I saw this post.

I'm like, man, I can so identify that this is awesome. Here's what he said. You'll appreciate this. I think in my 30s, I exercised to look good. In my 50s to stay fit in my 70s to stay ambulatory in my 80s to avoid assisted living. And here's the best one. I thought now in my 90s, I'm just doing it out of pure defiance. Right. I love that a lot. That is so good. I think I'll embrace that because, you know, my answer to somebody the other day was, well, I mean, as long as I can get in the gym, I intend to go. Now, some days are harder than others. Do you find that to be true? Like there's some days you're not motivated to go. But do you still go?

Let me ask you that. Most of the time. Yeah. I mean, probably probably 50 percent of the time I sit in the parking lot and wonder if I want to walk through the door. Yes.

Yes. And I can I can totally relate because I so you're 20. I've been lifting I've been working out exercising just to maybe inspire you.

Fifty two years so far. And there have been plenty of days that I have questioned myself. Do I do I really want to go? And then a quick and quick response is I know I need to go. And then do you find this to be true that any time or most of the time when you walk out of the gym, you find yourself saying, I'm really glad I went.

Those are always my best workouts. Yeah. One I'm either tired.

I didn't want to go in. Yeah. I've had a long day. Those are always the best workouts. OK. Because once I can get in the door and hit my first set, it's all uphill from there is. Yep.

I'm already there, so I might as well just go hard. So would you say as much as it's a physical challenge, it's a mental game too, right? It's mostly mental.

Yes, it's mostly mental. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Nikita Koloff here and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement? Well, maybe it's a minor announcement.

Anyway, Facebook. Go look up my new fan page, Nikita Koloff fans and like it and follow today. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ Ministries for a gift of twenty five dollars, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration for a gift of fifty dollars. Nikita will include his book Wrestling with Success and for a gift of one hundred dollars or more.

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You can give monthly, annually or one time. God bless you for making a difference around the world. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. I can remember a quick story that just popped in my head. So one of my best buddies in wrestling was his name was Road Warrior Animal. I recruited him out of high school to play college football.

Many know the story, but some don't. And I'll never forget where I was trying to break the 400 barrier on the bench press. Right. I was never a great bench presser because, you know, I mean, I got longer arms with this little guy named Ralphie was like, you say you're five nine. Ralphie was five five, but could bench press over five hundred pounds. I'm like, yeah, Ralphie, because you only have to move the bar three inches, you know, I mean, your arms are like, you know, half at the length of mine. Right. So I got to move that bar like, you know, 20 inches or whatever exact numbers.

But anyway, you get the idea. And so I was trying to break 400 and I was so close. And so animals in the gym. This is before we ever got into pro wrestling.

We were playing college football. And so I'm mentally, I'm mentally trying to psych myself up, talk myself into the fact that I can do this. And it was just, you know, it was a max. Right.

So it's like a single rep. I wasn't trying to do reps. And so I'm on that bench. I can even visualize it right now, David. I'm like psyching myself up, psyching myself up.

Guys are like, you know, off to the side. Come on, you can do it. Come on.

You know, I lay down under the bench and and I nail it. Boom. And Animal goes, congratulations.

I go, thanks, bro. And he goes, yeah, that was awesome. 405. I go, no, dude, that was 400.

Well, what I didn't know is he slipped on an extra two and a half on each side of the bar. I'm like, you dog. I'm like, right. But here's the deal. If he had to, I think if I knew he did that, I probably wouldn't wouldn't hit the max.

I probably would have bottomed out. Right. Yeah. Your mind can definitely hold you back in a lot of things. I think everybody struggles with that.

If you got in your mind you can't do something, then you might as well not even not even try. So let's get beyond weightlifting here for a moment. So that can apply to life in general then. Yeah. In many ways. Right.

I mean, whether it's whether it's exercising, taking care of the body business that could apply in business, then would you say that that to be true? Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

I used to I used to say to my kids, maybe you've heard this before, you know, but and it's it's pretty kind of a well-known statement or saying whether you can or whether you can't. You're right. Yeah. Yeah.

Because what you just said, I mean, if you convince yourself, I can't do this or you convince yourself, I can do this. I mean, it's like the four minute mile, right? Forever.

Forever. Nobody. The word on the street was nobody will could ever do a four minute mile. But then I think Roger Bannister, I believe, was the very first.

And I don't know if you've ever ever heard this story, David. The very first to break the four minute mile. And the minute he did it, like within like 30 days and like 12 people all over the world broke a four minute mile. But you had to climb that mental mountain, right? The mental ascent and and and say, yes, I can.

And then once he did, all these others fell in, fell in, you know, fell in behind him. And once you know it's possible, then then you can get in your mind that you can do it. If something's never been done before, it's going to take a real special person to to actually do it. Yeah.

Somebody really strong minded. Yeah. Well, speaking of so let's so we said we can even apply to business. So you're 20 years old. You're very successful. Shift gears here and move towards business and talk about how how successful you've been already at up to the age of 20. And I mentioned entrepreneur. You started that at a at a fairly young age as well.

Right. When when did you embrace or as far as you can remember going back? How far back that you started were like 14, 15, 12. When did you start embracing having a business mindset? I remember in second grade I was getting in trouble in class because I was selling bracelets and stuff.

I've been trying to make money since I can remember. OK. I'm going all the way back to remember in second grade.

Second grade. Yeah. So you would. So so you see you'd make tell me. Tell us that story.

What would you do? Yeah. At the time. Remember the paracord bracelets? The braided ones. Yeah. They were real big at the time.

And I was braiding them up and selling them to people at school and fellow students. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Just anybody. And I remember getting in trouble for it because I was trying to make a couple bucks. And they got in the in the in the teachers or the principal or whoever got got mad at you for first for selling to your your your fellow your peers. Yeah. Yeah.

That's great. So they tried to discourage you from being an entrepreneur in a sense. Yeah. That's their whole goal.

I think. I mean, what was their point? Just say what was their point?

Oh, that's not allowed. Like, I guess so. Taken that they made me give the people their money back. No. Come on.

They didn't pay for the product that I was selling. Yeah. So you would you you you took your allowance or whatever it was, went and bought the supplies and made the bands and then went and sold the bands. Yeah.

That's amazing. And then so after that, I I can't remember that. That was really early on. And then I think I think I bought my first car when I was 13 or 14. I remember buying this car for like three hundred dollars. OK. That's all the money I had at the time.

So I bought my first car and and sold it and then bought two or however it went. Yeah. And at about the same time, like in ninth grade, I was buying we had a lot of free time in high school. OK. And I was buying like cheer wine, any kind of canned drinks and a bunch of candy.

I was making a hundred, two hundred dollars a week selling candy at school. Come on. Yeah. And so all of that really is kind of laid a foundation. And I thought I started I was like fifth I think fifth or sixth grade. I got a paper out and I say I became it. But second grade. That's pretty impressive. So that that continued on all the way through school and buying and selling cars. Of course, your mom and dad have a car lot in Kannapolis. Graham Graham Automotive Graham. Four by four.

Four by four. They have a storage business there. I know you're in partnership at this point with them on some of that. Right. Didn't you just recently buy a strip mall or something? Yeah. Well, my dad started in the in the self storage probably five years ago.

And last year, about a year ago, last June, me and my dad, we went in partners and bought. It's actually right beside of us. But a storage facility and strip mall, which we turned into climate control storage. Yeah. But so so we got that together. But about 20,000 square foot of storage now.

Yep. And I know it without going into any particulars. I know there's according to my conversations with your dad that you're on a trajectory at age 20. If you continued on the trajectory that you're on and we and I don't want to get into specifics. I just want to inspire people out there listening again, whether you're 20, 40, 60, no matter what your age one, it's never too late to start to become an entrepreneur and work for yourself. If that's a desire, you know, some don't have that desire.

They are completely content and happy working for someone else. But you're on a trajectory that by by the age of 25, would this be accurate? Let me just say this.

The potential is there for you to be a seven, either a seven figure income earner or at least achieve a seven figure income. Would that be accurate in my conversation with your dad? I would like to think so. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I'm shooting for. That's what you're shooting for. That's that's kind of. Yeah. It's kind of what he told me.

And so by age 25, which which is pretty amazing. And and actually and again, I know I know you're in the got something in the works right now down in Mooresville, the Lake Norman area where you're going to be launching a new business. Don't go into detail. We want to keep people kind of kind of guessing as what that maybe is going to be.

But what can you tell us about that? Well, yeah, we're working on them, working on this year, opening a golf cart dealership. It's going to be new golf carts, the souped up golf carts. Yeah. Nowadays, they're LSVs.

You can ride them on the street and everything like that. OK, so that's a big thing nowadays. So we're opening up that right there at Lake Norman. We'll we'll have to down the road sometime. We'll have to have you come back in the studio, come back on the show and give us an update on how that business is going.

How many businesses now? And I know early on, correct me if I'm wrong, but I had given your mom and dad a book by a friend of mine, Craig Hill, five well secrets. Ninety six percent don't know. And I think you read that at about around the age of 14. They put that in your hands and you read it and embrace some of the principles in there, right? Yeah. Yeah. It talks about, you know, really just how to manage your money. Yeah.

It talks about the five jars. And, you know, and you fully embrace the principles in that book. Yeah. And it's to help help lead you.

And it all, by the way, for you listening out there, they're all biblical principles or basically Old Testament biblical principles. And so that book, you might say in one sense was instrumental in helping you achieve the level of success you have by age 20 already. Yeah.

That's amazing. I mean, you can make a lot of money, but if you blow it all, then you're going to be in the same position you was last year, the next year and the next year and the next year. Yeah. You're just going to stay in the same position. Like I tell people, it's not how much money you make.

It's what you do with the money you make. Right. And well, let's in our last few minutes here, let's because it hadn't always been smooth sailing. In fact, over this past year, I know your mom was telling me you've overcome some challenges. Just take a minute.

You don't have to go into detail. Take a minute and highlight some of the some of the challenges in this past year and maybe what you what you've learned. Okay. Yeah. This year's been kind of downhill a lot. It's starting to we're starting to come out of it. But, you know, the car business is is very difficult right now.

Up and down. Right. But yeah.

And not to blame anything on what's going on in the world, but covid mess a lot of things up. And so the car business has been really tough. And I had been I've been messing with crypto NFTs for probably a year and a half now and just some probably not knowing as much as I should have known and losing some money and that having some stolen from me from scammers, this and that. Yeah. So so if you're going to get into any kind of online money, do your research, do your due diligence, do your research. And and I'll just say this, you know, from from past experience, I mean, there's been some business ventures I've gone in that have been more, shall we say, profitable than others. And I think the lessons there, you know, that's I think the takeaway there is, yeah, no matter what it is you might invest in or get involved in, do you do diligence to the best of your ability? And and and that doesn't mean there's always going to be a guaranteed outcome of success, right? That and you can even learn from from those mistakes, right?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I've learned I've probably learned more this year than than ever before from having a tough year. And I'm not talking trash about crypto. I still have some and I'm hoping to do good with it.

But just some some difficulties that come with it. Well, you have certainly what you have what I would call a diversified portfolio in that you have ventured into other other investments or other areas which I again can relate to as well. And so I'm just thrilled. One, just to have you on the show and hopefully just some of your story has been an inspiration for others listening out there. And again, whether you're 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, David Graham, the third is been our guest who we've been talking to today. And what will you come back down the road and give us an update on on the venture and launching into the new business and whatever else you'll have going on.

Yeah, absolutely. This was fun. I'm just now getting up. We're already ending.

Well, all the more reason why we'll have to have you back on. And so, hey, if you're ever in Kannapolis, North Carolina, stop into Graham four by four on Highway 29 in Kannapolis. And you guys have a website?

Yeah. Graham's four by four dot com and Graham storage Graham stores dot com. OK, so if you're ever in the area, stop in and see the Graham's. If nothing else, stop in and say hi to David Junior and Wendy and David the third. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Man Up show and go out and have a God filled, God blessed day. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to kolof.net and donate today. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe and leave a comment. Nikita Koloff here.

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