- @DadsMaking ADifference

- CallWithCam.com

- @SkilledDad

**This transcript is mostly accurate. Some errors may exist.**

Zach: Hey guys and welcome to the Skilled Dad Podcast. My name is Zach Reeser. I'm your host and , I'm always excited about the episodes that I get to do because I get to sit down with, with fantastic guys. This one in particular, , I'm really pumped about in that I get to sit down with a gentleman who we share a similar passion and interest about, uh, something that also hopefully brings you to this podcast.

And that's connecting dads. It's equipping dads, sharing stories of success, of failure, um, and learning so that we can take them and go and apply them to our own lives, to our own families, to our own careers, and, uh, ultimately help. Build other guys. And, and that gentleman is right here. Uh, if you're listening and you don't see him, if you're watching, you see him.

And that is Cam Hall. And Cam, I am pumped to have you on with me. Thanks for joining me on the Skilled Dad Podcast. 

Cam Hall: Zach, I appreciate you, brother, man. I'm, I am pumped to be here. I'm fired up. You know, I, for your listeners, I had the opportunity. To be on the other side of this with you on my podcast a short while ago.

And I really appreciated that conversation. It was very impactful. And, uh, as always you provided a ton of value. So I'm, I'm excited to be on the other side of this with you doing all the work. So, uh, thanks for having me 

Zach: here. Oh yeah. This is like revenge almost. It's like, okay, here we go. Yeah. So, uh, for those that.

You know, haven't heard that episode. Um, so, so cam started, dad's making a difference and we're going to dive into the origin of that. And, and I really, you know, have some things about like what he's learned. And, and I know just through discussion, we've seen some similar things, which, which I love because what, what I've found in this journey is that we're all different, we all have a different story, but there is a common DNA.

And when we can connect that DNA. Um, there's some cool magic that happens, but, but Cam, um, and I were able to connect a while back and, and he invited me onto his podcast and we had a blast, uh, but it was weird for me being on the other side of the mic answering questions versus asking them. So I, if you're interested, I want to learn a little bit more about my story.

Um, you can go listen to that on dad's making a difference. So you're right. Uh, welcome. And here we go. 

Cam Hall: Let's do this. 

Zach: So let's just, let's start out with. You know, some of the basics we can introduce you to, to the audience and, uh, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Cam Hall: Yeah, I am a happily married man.

It's my wife, Kim. We've been married for 12 years now. And, uh, yeah, it's been an amazing ride and we have two amazing children. I have a nine year old son and 11 year old daughter who just fill my heart every day and every interaction. And it's through those interactions that I have learned the importance of what it means to be a dad.

Um, the significance of the role that we play and. Man, you know, growing up when, when I grew up and with the father that I have, we can get dive into that later. Like it has been such a treat to be able to challenge myself through the hard conversations and through the hard times. Um, just growing each step of the way.

And I say it's been a treat because I think through those growth processes, we really have an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and how we can impact others. I've learned so much about myself. I've learned so much about my family and what I want from my family. So, uh, yeah, I reside here in Canada, the great white North.

It's actually quite, it's 101 degrees here today. So it's pretty warm here today and we're all cooking. And this is pretty typical for the time of year that we're recording this. So, uh, I live in a pretty crazy place. We play in the Rocky mountains. We hike, we ski, we mountain bike, we. Adventure lakes and hidden waterfalls.

And we'd love to get outdoors as a family. And that's really a huge part of my story because that's where I find myself is in nature and in silence where I can be creative and find things that, uh, I want to do that I think might make an impact. 

Zach: No, I love that. Outdoors, Rocky Mountains, and 9 and 11 and 12 years of marriage. And so I think the, you know, there's a whole segment on outdoors and getting active. You've mentioned kind of as you've grown, um, I kind of want to jump into you've grown as a dad, you've got nine and 11 and how long was it that you started as making a difference?

Uh, 

Cam Hall: dad's making a difference started last year and that originated, you know, what the idea, and this actually comes up, I go with a little bit of the origin story, have to go back a little bit. I started working with dads in 2015. And so in 2015, I was a young father. 2014, I was a young father, a father of a two year old and a brand new newborn.

And in that time of my life, I was struggling. I was struggling, uh, specifically with my health. With my physical health, with my mental health, with at that time, nutrition and exercise and balance and being the father that I wanted to be, the husband I needed to be, and the professional in my line of work that I needed to be, and I struggled with that.

And so through that journey, lots of highs, lots of lows. Yeah. I learned a lot about myself and I learned that I couldn't do things on my own, which for me as a guy, like I'm a type A personality, never since I was in high school, it's been like, I got this, I can do this. But one of the consistencies I look back and I think about the stories that I tell myself and I think about the stories in my life that have shaped who I am.

I've always been a product of my environment when it comes to teams, always been a product of a team environment. I started playing sport when I was young, uh, was blessed enough, uh, to somehow have some athletic ability, which it was able to take me into, uh, collegiate sports. And so I was thrown into these environments with right away.

I was surrounded by a group of people. I didn't have to put the work in. I didn't have to make friends quote unquote, cause that's something that's always been hard for me. Uh, I was just boom, 14 guys on my basketball team. Here we are. And that's how it wasn't until I was 23 years old. And then 20, you know, I finished my eligibility.

I'm like, man, I got a couple of years left to universities, a couple of years left to college here. What am I going to do? And who am I? Because if I'm not Cam, the athlete, the basketball player, who am I? I can't, I have no skills in making friends and connecting with people. I had moved to a new city. I.

Just man, I'm a pretty clean cut, dude. If you're watching right now, like my hair is pretty short, man. I grew my hair I didn't get my hair for two years. I curly surfer hair down to my nice. Oh, yeah, man I wore the bandana everywhere the headphones playing the roots Everywhere I was going and I just wanted to be me just by myself.

I needed to find myself luckily for me, I met Kim in 2003 and you know, we started dating and You know, life takes us different directions. She had to move away for school for a couple of years. I ended up walking into a teaching job the day that I graduated university, which it was a blessing in itself, but, um, was always like, who am I going to be?

And I was always cam the fit guy. So I thought that's who I had to be. I had to be the rip I'm six, five and a little bit like I had to be. 

Zach: Yeah, I've only seen you in a four inch box. So six, five. Nice. Yeah. 

Cam Hall: Well done. And so I always thought I needed to live up to this image. Right. So to this, like fit athletic guy.

And so I did everything I could to upkeep that image. And so in my late twenties, I was. Pretty much starving myself to get a desired result, aesthetic look. I thought I always needed to be six, five to 25 and chiseled. And that's where I wanted to be. And successfully I did that physically, but mentally it played a huge, uh, you huge role in my mental health.

Like really negative. I had a poor relationship with foods and body dysmorphia. I, you know, tried to battle through that for a year and a half. I ate nothing. And when I say I ate nothing, but I mean, I ate nothing but chicken, rice and carrots. Whether it was breakfast, lunch, dinner, mid morning, evening, whatever it was.

And my wife ends up finishing school. She comes down. She's my girlfriend at the time. Uh, we get engaged. She moves back to where I live now. Um, we get married. We move in together. And we're expecting. And I'm like, oh man, this next chapter in my life, man, this is going real fast. And both Kim and I play collegiate basketball.

Both Kim and I were always kind of athletes who worked out and did these things and we always thought, man, nothing's going to change, you know, our child, who is our daughter, Maya now, but we didn't know girl or boy at that time. The child's going to come, they'll just fit into our life. Well, you couldn't be more than wrong.

That's further from the truth, man. You know what? You've become a dad and next thing, you know, there's more stress, less sleep, more grab and go like quick fast food meals, or you're not eating. There's no working out. And for me at that time, I was like, man, I don't know what to do. Like, what do I do? And so I struggled a lot.

And so I gained about just under 30 pounds in six months. Not the good kind. Well, I played. For a guy who had an unhealthy relationship with food and body image that was not good, put me into a pretty dark spot. Uh, I tried everything I could to lose that weight. I went back to the bad habits I had in my late twenties and yeah, sure.

I lost the weight. I got the aesthetic, but I was hangry, man. I was, I was not present. I was not emotionally available to my wife. Uh, I thought I was trying to be a good dad. I was so proud to be a dad of a little baby girl, but I was just so exhausted. Uh, I also started my master's degree at that time, which was probably foolish, but 2014 rolls along and I think I have it all figured out.

My son, Braylon was born and again, skyrocket, uh, the anxiety skyrocket, the stress, the lack of sleep at this point in time on a painted picture for you. I am a father of a two year old, beautiful girl. I have a brand new newborn son who's a couple hours old. I'm in the hospital and in the hospital here, uh, there's the bed where the mom is with the baby and the baby's in the little bassinet.

And then there's this like super uncomfortable leather reclining chair that is not built for someone six foot five. And so I am trying to sleep on this little thing and I get a call and Braylon was born at like three in the morning, but I get a call at 9am. I'm in the hospital. It's like, cam, we wanna offer you a position as an assistant principal of an elementary school.

Do you want take it? I said, yes. So here I am. I got a year's left in my master's degree, a brand new newborn, a two year old, and I'm walking into my first administrative position as a principal. . I'm gonna tell you, don't do that. Don't do that. 

Zach: That's, that's a lot. Uh, going on at once there. Yeah, 

Cam Hall: and you know, I don't want to ramble on the story, but I think painting a picture of how we all go through hard times is important.

And this could have been a joyous time and it was a really hard time for me. And by January 2015, I had almost left education, almost quit my job. I was in a pretty low spot in a state of depression. My wife knew I needed help. She's always been so good and she had. Fired up this amazing thing, helping moms on mat leave called K Fit Mommy.

She was doing like bootcamps for moms and all this fit stuff. And she was just rocking it. And she had to go to a health conference and it happened to be in Vegas in January. Again, a reminder to everybody listening. I live in Canada, so it's really, really cold here in the winter. And I'm like, well, Vegas in January.

I'm out, man, I'm going. I just need to get out of here. So, uh, I went with her and one of the keynote speakers at the last events, uh, was up on stage and he was talking about. Proper nutrition, health, exercise, balancing it as a dad, balancing it. And there's something about him that intrigued me. Kim was already aware of this guy.

He's the keynote speaker after all. And, uh, so everybody was lined up and giving him hugs and meeting him after. And so his name is Mark McDonald. And so we line up, I said, Kim, let's just line up in this line. And I don't care, right? I I'm in a low effect here. Like I'm just happy I'm in Vegas. I'd rather be by the pool, even in January and people in Vegas were like, January's cold.

Right. So. We wait in line to see Mark. We get to the front and I said, Hey, Mark, my name's Cam Hall. I live in Lethbridge, Alberta. My wife, Kim has K FIT Mummy. And we're just, he's like, Whoa, you're K FIT Mummy? And all of a sudden we're like, Whoa, whoa, what? He's like, yeah, your mentors, Laurie and Dean in Edmonton, Alberta.

They're connected to me. They told me about you and that you might be here. I'm so excited to connect with you. We need to chat. Here's my cell phone number, blah, blah, blah. And I was just caught off guard. I was like, what the heck is going on here? Well, fast forward six months, he's doing a book launch and his book is called Why kids make you fat and how to get your body back.

Oh, there you go. And so, so anyway, he comes as a book launch here in Canada. We put it on, I get to spend the weekend with him and he, I, uh, I opt in, man. I commit. I let Mark coach me for three months. I say let, because at that point in time, I was in a pretty stubborn place. I opened the door, the window a little bit.

To let him in and he coached me, he showed me exactly how as a busy dad, you can eat, you can exercise, you can balance on the fit, healthy, fulfilled with your family. And that inspired me in 2015 to start a brand called fight the dad bod. So I started in 2015 fight the dad bod, uh, 2015 started just as an Instagram account that followed our family's adventures.

I told you we'd love to be in the mountains and hike and do all these things and be on the go. And I'm sharing this and guys like, how do you do this? How do you balance this thing? Well, what do you eat and what do you do and how are you exercising? So I just started sharing it, like 20 to 20, 15 Instagrams, not brand new, but it's still in like, 

Zach: it's growing.

Like, yeah, it's not what it is 

Cam Hall: now, not what it is now. And so, you know, got some pretty good traction earlier on, uh, with, you know, guys reaching out and next thing I know I'm coaching. Guys ask, do you coach people? I'm like, well, I've never thought about that, but yeah, I'm certified. You know, I have a bachelor's in exercise science.

I have a, you know, an after degree education. I now have a master's degree in leadership and all these things. I was like, yeah, I'm definitely qualified and have to, yeah, I can do this. So I became an IB and FC certified nutrition coach and certified the dab out coaching men. And I still do to this day. I love it.

It's great. Um, I, I can stop here if you have any questions, but I wasn't going to tie in on why dad's making difference exists. 

Zach: No, no, I love it. I mean, it's, uh, I, I have questions, but it's probably more like some of the personal questions, right? So I'm going to sign up for a coaching program after this, but no, I think, um, I think it's always interesting to hear.

A journey and the one thing I'll tap on and I want to continue on with us and don't lose any of the momentum is, um, you know, we both have a lot of conversations and a majority of mine are not on the mic. Um, and that's actually why I love it, right? It's, it's finding guys that might be in a, in a, in a tough spot to, and it's not just encouraging and encouraging is important, but it's also kind of helping be an advocate for them, um, when there's that narrative.

So. To hear that you were kind of in this place and then to find the thing that helped, you know, turn you on to not only a place of your interest, but, but something that you can go and help impact other people in a positive way was one guy. No, it was, it was the culmination of, of things coming together.

Um, but you could have stayed at home, not gone to Vegas, you know, wintertime, can of versus going to Vegas, but it's, um, getting in the right place at the right time. We don't know where that is. So it's kind of saying yes to opportunities. And then you could have held back and said, Hey, Kim, you go talk to him.

I'm going to go do something over here. Even in your stubborn stage. But taking that step forward, opened it up to something that, uh, seemingly has, was a pivot point in your life. And it's put you on this whole other trajectory that, that now is, you know, helping impact others, which then helps impact kids and it's got the ripple effect.

So I just think that's really neat. And, uh, you know, really proud to kind of see the action that you took because opportunities come and we don't do anything. You did something and, and then it keeps going and it doesn't make any difference. Yeah. 

Cam Hall: And you never know where inspiration comes from. You know, here's the funny part of this story that I didn't tell you is that, you know, Mark McDonald, he and I, we got together, it was June, 2015.

So we met in Vegas in January. Mark came here, we did the book launch in June, 2015. And he was like, gives me like the mentor's pad on the shoulder. You know, the one I'm talking about, like the heavy pads, like, man, we're going to get you right. We're going to get you on track. You need to tell other dads how you can do And so I had this fire in me.

And then fast forward a couple of months. And it was September. We were back in the routine of, of life after the summer. And I was playing men's league basketball. And this is actually where dad fight the dab all came from. I was in a bar having nachos and beer with my men's league basketball team. This is the Amarino part and we're sitting there and one of my good buddies, I play college ball with.

He was still on my men's league team and he was putting on a little bit of weight and I'm, I have this fire lit in me from Mark. Right. So he, and he sits back and he pats his tummy in the store and he's like, yeah, I'm just going to give into the dad bod. And I'm not going to be offensive here, but I, I may have had a pint or two in me.

I looked down and said, dude. If the dad bought, and then like instantly in my head, I was like, Oh yeah. So I went home that night and I was like, okay, well, I can't be offensive. Like, I don't know how that's going to go. However, I did make a whole bunch of t shirts that were half hashtag if the dad bought, I did do that, but I thought fight the dad bought.

So that night I go home, I get every domain social media account. I can think of everything, fight the dad bought. And that's where it starts, the idea for it. And so that was my avenue to be able to impact men and help them. Or inspire them or guide them living fit, healthy, fulfilled lives with their families.

Now, we fast forward a little bit, we don't know where inspiration comes from. Sometimes our greatest inspirations come out of times of pain and hurt, right? Uh, like you did for Fight the Doubtbot for me. Yeah. Well, pandemic comes, I don't really want to talk about it. However, that there was a lot of guys at home, a lot of guys who wanted to get healthy and Fight the Doubtbot was doing pretty good at that time.

But then we get back into the routine. Everything goes back to normal. I'm in, at this point, an administrator of a high school, 1300 students, 117 staff. I have fight the dab audits rolling. I had taken on a subcontracted role as a leadership coach for the business coaching company. And There was just too much.

I can balance it all. I started burnout. January 20, uh, January 20th, 2022, two days before my birthday, January 20, 2022. I had a doctor's appointment, uh, for a month for the months leading into that fall 2021, October, November, December, I had a massive lump in my throat. No explanation for it. Every time I swallowed, it felt like a vitamin was stuck in my throat.

It's just so irritating. Um, No, it would come. It would go. It would come. It would go. Um, but then I had a couple episodes and I didn't know what these were. I just called them episodes. But in the middle of the night, I would wake up in a cold sweat, feeling like I was nauseous, had to throw up. I'd run to the washroom, but nothing biologically, like nothing was happening.

And we've all been there when it's food poisoning or something. It's like, sit down, stand up, sit down. What do I do? But I walk into the washroom and I'm like panicking. Right. And I'm sweating. I don't know what's going on. And I lose consciousness. And I fall. I'm six foot five. I fall a long way. I smash my face onto the tile floor.

It wakes my wife up. It's about two in the morning. So now my wife, Kim, is five foot four and a half. She is not a big girl. I'm right behind the door. She can't open the door. She's like trying to figure out, she, she described the sound of my head hitting the ground, like a baseball bat hitting the floor while she ends up pushing the door open a little bit.

She peeks in and there I am. Unconscious, blood pouring from my mouth. Uh, she freaks out, she calls 911. Ambulance comes, they hook me all up. Um, everything's normal. Everything is normal. There's no explanation. So, of course, over the next little while, I'm poked, I'm prodded, I'm tested, blood test, you name it.

Ultrasound on the neck, all types of things. And so my stress level's going up. Yeah. The overwhelm from everything happening is going on. And January 20th, I had a doctor's appointment. I had a weird feeling about it. I thought I was going in for a routine blood. Uh, review, like blood test review. And I walk in my doctor, it's last year in January, 2022, which crazy to think that we're still in a doctor's office wearing masks here.

So I'm sitting there, I got my hat on, I got my mask over my face. So my eyes are just showing my doctor. Who's about my age. He looks at me, Cam, how you doing, man? I couldn't even answer him. Zach, I couldn't even answer him. I just started to well up and I didn't know why. And he's like, you're not doing good, are you?

He said, Cam, there's nothing wrong with you. The only thing wrong with you is the amount of stress and anxiety that you're under right now. What you have going on in your neck, specialist thinks is stress related. It has to do with this guy and this, and he explains it. He's like, when do you notice it? So I tell him, he said, yep, stress related.

Um, he says, Cam, you're suffering from panic attacks. That's what you're suffering from in the middle of the night. Come on, man, me, like I was the guy who, you know, made, made the teams and made the positions and, you know, got my master's degree and was leading in the school and doing all this. And like me, come on, like I I'm meeting guys in there, how to live a fit, healthy life.

And here I am. And it was a moment of weakness for me and embarrassment, but at the same time, I was so relieved to hear him say that I wasn't doing well, I could acknowledge it. And he said, Cam, I'm putting you out. I'm putting you out for three months. I'm going to take you out of work. Uh, I'm not going to give you the letter to give it to your employer.

Cause I know you're not going to give them, I'm going to fax it directly to them. That's probably right on that. Um, but I, I proceeded, you know, January 20, 20, 2022. I went on a medical leave. Mind blowing for me actually to still think about it. And I hid in my house for two and a half weeks because I live in a city of a hundred thousand people.

I'm the administrator of a high school and people know you're supposed to be at work. And so why aren't you at work on a Tuesday afternoon? You know, like why are you cutting the grass? Kind of like that type of stuff. And so, um, I hid in my house for two and a half weeks, but one thing I was still doing was coaching a couple of guys with fight the dad bot.

I didn't want them to know. I don't want to be vulnerable. Until one day I just like opened up with a couple of my clients. I said, Hey guys, here's where I'm at. And they're like, Oh, I'm so glad you said this because I've been struggling with dun, dun, dun, dun. The other guy, I've been struggling with dun, dun, dun.

I was like, Whoa, we came in here for fitness and nutrition, but so much other stuff has come to the surface. Guys need help with their physical health. Guys need help with their emotional growth and their emotional health, their intellectual health and growth, their financial, their spiritual, their intellectual, like all of this relational with their wives.

And it was through that time of pain that the idea for Dad's Making a Difference came. And so June 1st, 2022, man, DMD podcast launched and working in the works right now for, uh, Dad's Making a Difference Mastermind Group. Dude, that's awesome. 

Zach: Okay. It's a powerful story. I think, um, you know, there's, there's pieces of it that, uh, that I can definitely relate to, um, which we talked about kind of on your podcast, but

the big question, I'd like to know why of things and, and, and the more conversations that, uh, that I've had that you, you know, I can't speak for you, but the more conversations I've had that common DNA I talked about kind of at the beginning, um, Yeah. You know, we've, we've got the, many of us have a mask, have, have the persona we want to show, have the, the image that we need to keep, I'm sure.

Put it all together. Yeah, there's like, uh, lots of books out there. Actually, there's a book called, uh, I think it's just masks. , but, under the surface, it doesn't take too long sometimes when there's trust established. To, to have that conversation and, and to be able to share, I think, and be, you know, vulnerable and, and share with what's going on in each other's lives. Let me ask you this. During that time when you had, uh, all these things kind of piling up, which ultimately led to like a physiological response, it sounds like to the mental side and mental health is a big arena, um, which I think is really good.

Uh, what, what did your friend group look like? Because you had 

Cam Hall: mentioned isolated man. I was isolated. I think a big part of why men suffer and why I suffered is because I was isolated. You know, I said, I've always had trouble making friends. And You mentioned the book Masks, uh, I also just read a book, it's called On Your Past, Change Your Future.

And it's about the stories that we tell ourselves. I think about, um, I can relate things that happened in my childhood to why it was hard for me to make friends and why I loved sport as an outlet. And then my inability to make friends and make connections and meaningful connections with other males. I was friends with everybody, but had no close friends.

I was that kid in high school, friends with everybody go along with everybody, but had no close friends. And then I got an excuse for six years. I didn't have to make friends because I was playing sports. Right. And then when I look at my life picture, when I stopped playing sports, I struggled with my identity because I didn't know who I was.

I wasn't secure in who I was. And so then my wife came along and we started dating and that. So now I could connect myself to her, but I still didn't have, I had guys I played men's ball with. I had a couple of at that point, I hadn't two or three close friends. That those are my two or three close friends I have now.

But who don't live in my city, um, during the time I was struggling, going through everything. I think everybody was going through isolation over the last three years. Mine was exemplified in the fact that I worked in a building with 1500 people and I've never felt so alone, you know, so separated, uh, covering our faces, social distancing, cohorting, staying in your office.

Like I can be, I went into education to connect with people. I love connecting with people. Uh, I'm an introvert by nature, but I work to be extroverted and it fills me up at times. And so I felt extremely isolated, um, that I didn't have anybody around who I could relate to. I couldn't, I didn't feel that in a coaching mentorship alignment that I could open that up to my clients.

I think it's a different relationship. Um, so I was isolated, man. I was alone. Almost like 

Zach: professional relationship. There's still something to maintain. Um, you know, that's, that's interesting because you and I talked about, I think it might have been on your podcast. If not, it was off the mic at some point.

Um, when, so, you know, a lot of people kind of our age over a lot of my circle move around. Like, some of us have come back to Nashville, but a lot of us had gone out in multiple places. Like, we moved across country twice before coming back. Um, And, and as an adult, so like you go through and you have built in whether you're on a sports team, general school, whatever, you have your built in cohorts and if you've gone to college, you have, you know, built in cohorts through sports, fraternity, sorority, whatever.

And then you get beyond and now it's a different ballgame. And, uh, and the feedback I've heard, um, even like recently from conversation with my wife is wives looking for friends for their husbands. Yeah, almost. I don't know if you run into that, but a little bit. I mean, it's, and there's, there's nothing wrong with that.

I appreciate that. But, um, cause sometimes there's good connections, but, um, but there is that thing. So, you know, I don't have the answer immediately, uh, about how we can, if you're listening to this and it resonates with you, um, you know, any tips that you've learned Um, would be helpful. Uh, I've, most of mine, you hear it on other episodes is just step into the awkward, step into the awkward and, and, and be that guy because it could lead nowhere and nothing's changed that, you know, um, or it could lead to that random opportunity where one dude now can be, you know, kind of your wingman and then it grows.

So any, anything that you've learned in that. Yeah, well, 

Cam Hall: absolutely. You know, the turning point for me is I joined a mastermind group. I joined a group of brothers who would hold me accountable. Guys who now I've been connected with for over a year who You know, through that connection, we live in different places, but we get together, uh, several times a year in person.

And through those connections, I would say that those brothers within that group are some of the closest guys that I have in my life. I would, I would trust many of those guys with anything, which is incredible that we've been able to build that over something that's been online, something that's been an online, but also has the in person stuff.

It's, it's really important. So the turning point for me was that, and actually the inspiration for me, uh, For starting a dad's making a difference mastermind has been this group that I'm part of, because the men in that group are like, can you have this message? You have this background, you know, the importance of men not being isolated because the lone wolf never survives, you know, we've heard that cliche, um, and they encouraged me to step out and do this.

And so one thing I I've learned that's been super important in my. Journey and what I've seen in the journey of other men is surrounding yourself with a group of brothers, with your own board of directors that you can have unfiltered, honest conversations with, and they can speak into your life, but also holds you accountable and holding accountable.

Isn't shaming people and sharing your life. Isn't like the awkward stories. Like that's not what it is. It's about coming to a conversation, to a group of men you trust and just saying, Hey, I'm, I'm working through this right now, looking for insight. And then take it or leave it like that's up to you, but you can trust these guys.

And so that was a turning point for me. 

Zach: No, that's killer. And you, and you mentioned it briefly, but, um, through dad's making a difference, you've created a way for people to kind of do that and connect through the masterminds. Uh, this is not like an official plug. It is an opportunity though. Something to look into for anybody to go say, Hey, Here's a zone, um, that could be an opportunity to explore and maybe meet some other guys.

And, and, you know, for anyone that's kind of in that same mindset of, um, having friendships that aren't necessarily, it's like remote friendships. It's the weirdest thing, uh, but some of the guys through, through Skilled Dad have become some of my Best friends who I talk to consistently about lots of stuff and that trust has grown and none of them live, not, not all of them live here.

Um, and, uh, and so there's, there's a good balance in your board of directors to have people all over. It can still work really well. Um, and in the remaining time that we've got, I'd be really curious to, so you've done over 70 

Cam Hall: episodes. Yep. One a week since June 1st of last year. We actually launched with five right away.

So I think, uh, 70 comes out this week. Okay. All right. The, as we're recording this 70 comes out this week. Yeah. We have 75 recorded right now, which is pretty exciting. 

Zach: No, it's killer. Yeah. You, you've done really good at staying consistent, which is awesome. Okay. In, in the 75.

Uh, conversations and sit downs that you've had, what are, what are some of the biggest takeaways? And here's the reason I want to set the table as to why I'm asking, because here we are having a conversation about, you shared your story, uh, about where you were mentally and physically and what it led to, and then also how it led to some very positive change for you.

Um, someone might be hearing that and say, Oh, okay. I can see myself there and then, um, kind of morphing that into what having the, the band of brothers, so to speak, has done and what it does. Um, but here is, you know, the commonalities that we find, and I'm curious what you've seen so that someone might hear something that resonates, um, with them if they happen to be in the place that you were in back in 2015.

And it's like, okay, I'm not the only one. Which I know you and I have talked about before. So, anything come to mind? 

Cam Hall: Yeah, um, I journal now is something that I've never done before. And I thought about this, uh, last week I was on holidays in my family and I sitting by the lake and reflecting and, and I'm going to open it up and I'm going to share with you some of the things that I've learned that are consistencies, but I've been, and these are things that I don't have figured out that I've been challenged to work on from the people I've talked to.

Uh, one of them is that presence is power. And that the guys that I, and women that I've been able to connect with, have emphasized the importance of presence, presence with your kids, presence. Like, I can't remember who on my show said it, but they said, like, be where your feet are, like, be in the moment, be there.

That was you. I knew it was you. I knew it was you. I didn't want to say it. And then you like had to take some awkward sayings, like we said, like. Wasn't me. No, it was you like be where your feet are. And I have that right here in my thing. Be where your feet are. Presence is power. Um, man, I appreciate you for saying that.

Like that's, that is one of the things that keeps coming back to 

Zach: I'm just a messenger on that one. So I'll give credit to, to Matt, Matt C we'll say his 

Cam Hall: name there. Yeah. Um, another one is. Um, I'm working on is cultivating patience and how patience looks different for different people in different situations.

So what you can tolerate at times isn't necessary what you're patient with. There's times in our lives as men, we have to tolerate some stuff and then there's times we don't. And we can have a voice and we can be direct and we can be assertive and yet we can do that through patience and let the process work itself out and not to rush what we want to happen based on our own agenda.

So I'm cultivating patience. Um, One thing personally, I've been challenged with, and I've, I'm excited about having been able to be blessed to have these conversations is that, man, listening is learning, right? Uh, active listening is learning, you know, you're a host too. So selfishly, I get to get on these interviews and learn from these people who've written books and been on stage and have podcasts and do these things and learn firsthand, like from their experiences.

So just to be an active listener. Um, whether it's in your home or in your community or in your work, listen to what is actually happening. Listen to what the people around you are saying, and sometimes you can listen with your eyes, right? Like there's things that we hear, there's things that we listen to audibly, but then we can hear something, but we can see something different.

And so, yeah, just be an active listener, be engaged in that moment. It goes back to your present, the presence piece too. Um, open communication, open mind, emotional intelligence is strength. I think for a long time before I went on my medical leave, uh, I didn't give enough focus on emotional intelligence. I didn't give enough focus on what that meant for building a strong relationship with my wife and a strong marriage, what it meant to navigate conflict with my kids.

Yeah, I've been challenged on that. I've really enjoyed those conversations on marriage and relationships. Yeah, um, teach and learn new things. And invest in shared interests. That's an interesting one because one thing that I've noticed amongst everyone, and we were having a little conversation about this off mic before, is that I, I've met people who have a similar goal or end goal in mind, or purpose in mind of why they do what they do.

They want to impact men. They want to help men grow. I'm going to tell you, there's like, The same thing across is like, uh, family, faith, fitness, finance are the big four. You hear that across lots of things. I use, uh, physical growth, emotional growth, spiritual growth, intellectual, professional growth. Other people use that too.

Like we just, we have these pillars and everybody has. Kind of similar pillars, but everyone is so different in their approach. And it's been exciting for me to see that because in a time where I think we're bred to compete with each other and we look through a scarcity mindset of like, like Zach and Cam can't do a podcast together because they're competing in their messaging and they've, no, that is the complete opposite of what I've experienced.

Every single person who's out there doing, you know, what you're doing, what I'm doing, they might have a book or they're on stage or podcast or a coaching program, whatever it is, everyone's out there just to impact more people. And if all of us are doing it, we're going to impact way more people than if one of us is trying to do it on our, on our 

Zach: own.

That's it. Right. Yep. Yeah. I've had people ask me that, um, about when I tell them who I've got coming on and I shared about, you know, when I was on your podcast and people reached out after listening to that. And it was the same thing. It's like a head tilt. It's like, isn't that like. A competitive thing.

Aren't you helping somebody else? I'm like, yeah, I am. Uh, but it's not competitive, but yeah, I'm helping somebody else because we help each other because, because we can have a conversation that we're doing a similar thing and that in itself, I want to tag on something you said in, uh, investing in shared interests.

And I would do like a dot, dot, dot, because. Um, because shared experiences build relationships and, um, the, uh, the deficit of the stats. I mean, go read the stats. I don't, I don't throw stats out a lot, but, um, the stats kind of speak for themselves on the impact that a dad has in a home and what the positives and negatives of not having that in the home does for the community, for society, for, for all the things.

And, um, And you have been rocking on your episodes and, um, I'm really proud of you for that because I know how much work goes into it. Thank you. I've been doing this technically for longer, but have less episodes and there's my own things around that as to, to why, but it doesn't. Um, somebody asked me about that, like, it doesn't bother me because we need, I would say if anybody's listening, they're like, you want to go start a dad focused podcast, like give me a shout.

I'm a volunteer, but maybe I will volunteer camp. Go do it because in your own local community, in your own zone, you're going to help people and also. Um, I get, um, I, the, we talked about helping that one guy and every now and then you get messages from that one guy that you're like, wow, I'm so glad that they heard so and so say that because it really seemed to make a positive impact.

And uh, and that's the reason we do it. Um, it's once, once followers and all that become a. A KPI that's driving all the success. I think some of it is lost. 

Cam Hall: So I hope. Yeah. Can I touch on that real quick? Yeah. Because I think this, this age of social media has conditioned to that, like, Ooh, how many people are following this person and that validates that person's work.

I'm going to tell you, I've been in. I was in a business mastermind starting 2018 doing fight the diabod, lots of super successful people in that. I've been in part of this other mastermind for a year and a bit now, like lots of successful people, but I'm going to tell you for what 4 billion guys. And in the world, even in the United States, uh, we have 200 million males.

Like how many of those guys are fathers, the guys I know who have the biggest reach, the biggest communities are doing the best in what we would say, uh, by worldly metrics, followers, engagements, finance, all of this, the guys who were doing the best. At most have maybe 300 to 400 loyal people following 300 to 400 guys, they might have people in their larger community who are following them or ingesting their work, but like meaningful connection who guys who have like come to their programs or their communities or show up to their events, like 300 to 400.

Out of 200 million, like there are not, we need more Zach's. We need more men doing podcasts. We need more dads in their community showing up and saying, Hey, we're going to do a dad date. Let's get five guys in our community who don't know each other to show up for laser tag with one of their sons and use it as a networking activity.

We need more guys in our community saying, Hey, I'm going to get together with the dads from the kids, from my son's soccer team. And we're going to go. At that lot during practice and we're going to do a little workout or we're going to go to that field across the way. We're going to help that lady clean up her lawn because our kids are practicing for two hours and we're just standing here BSN.

So let's go do something and make a difference to the group. It's like we need more men engaged right now. 

Zach: Yeah. I don't disagree. The world does not need more of me, uh, and probably more of you. But for you, listener, potentially we need more of you. And so what you bring, we all bring something different to the table, skills, strengths, uh, weaknesses.

And, uh, I love the saying that my German grandmother in law used to say, um, in a very deep German accent. I won't, won't do it here. Um, but if both of you, this is in reference to marriage, but I would say, you know, sometimes any relationship, if both of you are exactly the same, then one of you is not needed.

And, uh, you know, if you're hearing this and you've been on for this long, um, you've got something to give. And, uh, you know, we want that, um, and so it's, you know, reach out, uh, to, to either of us. And if there's a way we can help do that, even in your, your own area, um, but it can be as simple as what Cam was saying.

It's just like stepping as a coach for one of your kids teams or something in school, um, or, you know, get to know your neighbors, all the things that have become more awkward over time, especially through like pandemic and everything. Um, man, what a world of change because the other thing too is when you sit down and hear someone's story, regardless of kind of what you went in thinking, I would almost guarantee you're going to learn something that you're like, Oh, that's me too.

And now all of a sudden we have, um, a community that can understand each other, respect each other, build on each other. And, uh, that leads to good things. So it does. Why not do it? Cam, where can they find you? We're going to put it in the notes, but where's the best place to, uh, to follow you, find you, reach out to you, whatever, whatever you'd point it to.

Where can we go? 

Cam Hall: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I've mentioned a couple of things that I'm working on right now. So the Fight the Dabwad, you go to Fight the Dabwad, it's on Instagram, Facebook, everything, fightthedabwad. com. If that's... What you're looking at right now, if you want to learn more about dad's making difference, you go to dmd mastermind.

com. Um, and of course you can search up the dad's making a difference podcast. I love hitting up the DM and having real conversations with people. And if you just want to call me or have me call you go to call with cam. com. Just book a time. There's these aren't sales calls. These are just like connection calls.

So I love doing it. I don't put, but yeah, call with cam. com. You can set that 

Zach: up. That's awesome. Uh, it's since this is not being, this is not live, so I'm going to, I'm going to totally copy you and do call with zach. com if it's not taken. That's genius. Um, dude, that's, that's fantastic. No, uh, all these things will, all of these resources will be linked in the show notes and I'll put them out as well.

Um, I would love to have one of the F the dad bod t shirts at some point. So just point me in that direction. Cool. Thank you. Um, but, but no, you know, I hope this isn't the, the, the last time that we can connect. I'd love to connect here, you know, again in the future and just kind of keep tabs on, you know, things we learn and progress and, um, you know, updates as, uh, as.

You know, as, as all communities build. So, um, man, it always goes so fast. There's so many like lines and directions I'd want to go here, but we're kind of at that Mark, but Cam, thanks for being on, man. I really appreciate it. It was a blast having you. 

Cam Hall: I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you and I appreciate the work that you're doing.

And I want to encourage you to keep pushing. And if you're listening to this right now, you gotta, you know, if you haven't subscribed to this, you got to subscribe to Zach's podcast. You got to follow his work. You got to reach out and you make sure that you share this episode with a dad who needs to hear it.

Zach: I appreciate that. Smash that like button. Uh, no, man, I appreciate it. It's fun. It's awesome. And as Cam said, Hey, if you were listening to this, you made it to this point. Um, I really hope that there's some, some big takeaways. If you happen to be cam. Or in the same place Cam was, , a few years ago, I would throw out an encouragement to you and also a challenge, uh, that you, you don't have to go it alone.

I would recommend you don't go it alone because if, if you're listening to this and you're a dad, um, it's not just you, but it, it can and does start with you and, uh, you've got, um, a responsibility. You know, to yourself, to your family, and you've got guys like Cam, uh, and myself that would love to help you in whatever way that we're able to, um, and if, if we're not directly able to, then, you know, there's big networks out there that we can, um, probably find something, but, hey, reach out to us, you got, you know, callwithcam.

com for, for goodness sake, do it. Um. Dmm me. Uh, you can also do zach@skilleddad.com and, uh, and we can, uh, email. But at the end of the day, I hope that through this conversation you've been able to take at least one thing. I bet you've got more than one, but that you can take and apply to your life on your journey, to becoming the skilled dad. If you heard something that you think would impact someone else, please share it with them. And, uh, if you have ideas on things that, uh, you think would be beneficial for other guys that, you know, uh, share that with us again at Zach at skilleddad. com. We're looking forward to seeing you on the next episode.

Thanks for listening. You're listening to the SkilledDad.