Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans for today’s guest, we have Jr. Edens, JR. is an entrepreneur, owner of multiple businesses, Gold Star member, and podcaster. He’s a franchise owner of multiple Firehouse sub-locations. Is the co-owner of Pro-Sense, which is a lighting-buying group company, and is also the owner of Eden’s Building Ventures, which is a remodeling Company. He went to School to be a pilot, but 9/11 changed the criteria for how many hours you needed to be a commercial pilot.  

He joined the Air Force, but with his heart problems, he didn’t get far as he didn’t want to. He called his father and asked about how to get started in the career that his father became very successful in, which is the lighting business. JR ended up spending 20-plus years in the lighting business and it was a great-paying career, but he just didn’t have the passion for it. 

So, at the age of 41, despite the financial risks of starting a business while raising a family, Jerrod took a leap of faith and dove into the entrepreneurship world. He started a remodeling company, bought into lighting, bought a good company, and bought multiple Firehouse sub-locations. The Firehouse Sub locations allow him to help out the people that take care of the community by approving grants and allocating money to the Firehouse Subs, and public safety foundations to local first responders.

Jaron is an extraordinary American and I’m honored to have him on the show. Jr. are you there? I’m doing well. I’m really excited to have you on this show, I know you’re an entrepreneur. You’re the owner of multiple businesses. Could you tell me in the audience a little bit more about yourself, your background, and how you got started? 

Yeah, I grew up, you know, wanting to be a pilot. I thought that was where my life was going to lead and what school to do that for a while. I got my pilot license and in multiple different avenues of piloting multi-engine, and single-engine, things and wanted to get into the two Delta Airlines pilot and realistically. September 11th happened, and Some things changed. I thought the easiest way to move forward in my aviation career was to get into the Air Force to get my hours up. September 11th happened and that changed the format of how Piloting and being successful in the piloting business was going to happen.  

So, at the time my father was in the lighting business, had been in it for a long, long time and he kept asking me, hey, you know, once you come to the family business and that was my time when I decided that I needed to go that route.  

So, I did give him a Call after 20-plus years and being very successful in the lighting business. I realized that my passion wasn’t there. It just wasn’t driving anything to a legacy to leave for my kids. I think for me Purpose and legacy are extremely important. Now that I have a 2-year-old and a five-year-old, I can’t preach enough to my little girls that you know what your purpose is and what you leave behind for people that are coming up underneath you are extremely important, and for my kids, I really felt it was time was now or never.  

Luckily, I had a wife who also believed in that idea. And she said if you don’t do it now, you’re not going to do it. So, I just took a leap in the face and here I am. It’s been a couple of amazing years into this. Going to multiple businesses and am on the path of bringing in more locations of Firehouse Subs that I own. 

But when it came down to. If I looked at it. What is going to help the people that help us and what do I mean by that? Is first responders, veterans, military firemen, policemen, and everybody that takes care of the community. How can I help them do their job better and do Firehouse? They have a public safety foundation where everything that you spend there. A certain percentage automatically goes too. Then whenever you finish your sale, they ask you if you want to round up the local change to the next dollar. All that goes multiple ways. They raise money for the foundation.

And as franchise owners, we get the ability to approve grants that these first responders go after to get better equipment or new equipment. And I’ve already had that opportunity to do that. One of my location’s Fire Departments was out of hazmat equipment and hazmat equipment is basically. Tell the fireman if there’s CO2 or carbon dioxide in a home before the fire ever starts and their equipment is not working. Kind of blows my mind that the fire department didn’t have Hazmat equipment that actually worked, but they didn’t have it for a couple of years and that was the first thing I did within the first week of becoming a Firehouse Owner as we approved a grant to get that local fire department, all new hazmat equipment.  

And within not even six months of them getting that hazmat equipment, there was a massive fire here in the city. That exact same town, and they were able to use that equipment and save 2 elderly people just by understanding that their CO2 was spreading throughout the home a lot quicker than the fire was. And without that hazmat equipment, it could have been that two people lost their lives. I mean, not even six months into getting that equipment for that local fire department, we’re already saving lives. So that’s what it means to me. 

That is awesome, Jr. That is amazing. You’re helping people and all of that. But I wanted to ask more about that later in this interview.

But one of the things I wanted to ask was regarding your “why” and, what got to you, what was that transition process at the age of 40/41 when you… the reason I’m asking is that a lot of people they want to become entrepreneurs, and they want to be financially free, but they just don’t have an idea of their purpose, or they don’t have the concept of legacy.  

So, can you tell us the process of your mindset, and how you transition from doing that to basically deciding what I’m going to make this leap of faith? 

Well, one other thing that I have the ability and the privilege of being a pastor, and I don’t want to get religious, but what I mean by that is whenever I became an entrepreneur, it’s very common for entrepreneurs to dive into P&Ls, which are profit, and all statements think anybody listening to the podcast understands what a profit loss statement is. 

But I think for me my beliefs really came down to the point, what is my personal P&L, my personal Purpose, and my legacy statement? And those two words really drove home for me. For my 2 girls, this ability to have Firehouse Subs locations and do Public Safety Foundation and all the charity work that we do Allows them to see first and foremost what an entrepreneur looks like… what business owners should look like, but more importantly, how to help the people that help us out, and that is the way I wanted my girls to come out of college and have an opportunity to be a leader, be an entrepreneur, be a business owner, do all the things that I necessarily didn’t necessarily have the opportunity to have and I Came out of college.  

And if they can see me doing this now? Then hopefully they’ll get a drive and I want you to go help their community whenever they get old enough and just continue to have that generational strength passed down through my generation of helping out the community and that’s the way that’s why I get up every morning. My kids, my wife, they, they are everything to me. 

So even though they’re everything to me, they’re also. How they go through the rest of their lives means so much to me, so if I can train my family, through purpose and legacy and what that means for them. Hopefully, they can pass that down to my grandkids and my great-grandkids and everyone that comes back too. 

It’s very interesting that you mentioned you’re explaining it in this way because a lot of people use the same reason for why they would not start a business or go into entrepreneurship. Let’s see. Look, I have kids. I have a wife. I have a family. And the financial risks are too much. I’m not going to be able to do that, but for you that that was the exact reason why you did it was one of the cool reasons why you did, what do you think was the difference in your mindset versus somebody else? Who are most of the other people who would have this other mindset?

I think I’ve been blessed to have an amazing life, amazing kids. I have said it already, but my wife has a great, well-paying job. We were able to. If we needed to live off, just hurry and come along. So, for me to step out of faith and become an entrepreneur and do something that can leave a legacy and drive purpose. We had financial stability already there.  

Now obviously, through the blessing of this, we’ve been able to, you know, exceed that value, and exceed that worth… being able to have my partner in life tell me if you don’t do it now, you’re not going to do it, but also having the financial stability of her job was strong also being there. Two pieces there, you know, really drove home the “why”, but also made it easier for me to say, OK, what is my passion? What do I want to do to help the world to be a better place and her having that stability made It easier? 

So, it drives home to the point. Yeah, knowing your why and knowing what you’re passionate about is very important. Role in business altogether. But the problem with today’s world is that most people do not actually know why they don’t know their purpose. They don’t know what they’re living. In this world for. I’ll go on to say that most people are living almost like zombies, they’re just automated robots as we’re going through life not knowing that. For you, this was obviously a different case and that’s the amazing part of you. 

It’s very easy to say for anybody. Yes, I believe in something even if you know, if you’re an atheist, you still believe in something that what you believe in is not necessarily your why. And I live by a great quote. Your job is what you paid for. Your calling is what you’re made for. And wow. A lot of times you can have a way of why you get up out of. A bed that is driven to your purpose.  

But what you believe, a lot of people try to tie what they believe and what they want their wives to the same thing. It’s two different things. What you believe in. I believe in God. And I have a religious background in that my why though is my purpose and my legacy for my wife and my kids. Two separate things now, granted, they’re all tight well interwoven, but they’re two different things.  

I think a lot of people that missed that opportunity to step out and face and do something entrepreneurship or do something driving home with their passion for a career in, in particular, get lost in that I believe it. It’s got to be a certain way. It’s got to be a certain way. I got to have this job that makes this much money and I’ve got to, that’s just what I’ve always been taught. That’s been a generational way, I’ve been taught and that’s not what you believe in is not to what your purpose is, right, and I think that’s, that’s where the disconnect is. 

And for me, it was very simple to say my reason is to make sure my wife and my kids are taken care of, they understand leadership and entrepreneurship, but also how can I use this training for my kids and my wife but also help out the community so they can. It’s not just me doing it, my wife’s doing it. My kids are doing it and it’s just driving home that strength inside of the family. But also, into the community. 

That is amazing, it really brings home the point, you have to know what you, are and what your “why” is that understand, and when it comes to belief and calling it’s two different things but there’s something that came to my mind JR and it’s because a lot of people use their beliefs as a reason of why they cannot do entrepreneurship. They believe that God wants them to be poor or something poor. They don’t understand that money is basically only just a tool. It’s not positive or negative,  

What would you tell somebody Who is really strong in their faith? Who’s saying? OH, I cannot do entrepreneurship because making wealth is just a bad thing or something like that. 

I think for me, people get comfortable, and they use faith as a comfort lid on their life. If you’re called to be a follower of God, they’re actually called to be uncomfortable. If you’re going to be uncomfortable, that means you’ve got to step out on faith and take risks. Take action.  

Faith has three parts. OK, there are three parts to faith. Number one is you have to surrender, which means you have to lay down everything that you are. Then you have to be obedient to whatever your calling is, and then there’s an action item, which means you got to go out and do something. So, the first two are about growing yourself.  

The last one is about growing other people. I think people get lost in the word faith. By just the first two, they put a lid on themselves, and they get lost 40-50 years later, they’re… “Oh, I wish I’d done this. I wish I’d done that. I wish I’d done this”. But you put a lid on yourself. The third piece of faith is an action item to go out and spread the word, be out, be a better piece of your community and environment, and grow people closer to that. Whatever you believe in. And for me, I have a calling to help out the community, grow my family and get everyone to know Jesus; that’s my calling. Your calling may be different from that but don’t use faith as a lid. 

No, I totally agree, JR. A lot of people use that as a lid, and they use that to hold themselves back. But the truth of the matter is, if you are doing, let’s say, an entrepreneurial business and you have resources now to create an impact the way you’re doing, that is far more pragmatic and practical than hiding behind faith. But I totally agree with what you just said, you know. 

You said something very interesting is pragmatic and proactive. You should never be reactive in life. You should always be proactive. If you’re being reactive, that means you’re responding to the world. You should be delighted in the world to go out and change the world, whatever that is, whether it’s, you know, for me it’s helping out the people that help us out. For you, maybe something totally different, but you’ve got to be proactive.  

You can’t just sit back and wait; you know nobody’s going to walk up to your door and knock on the door and walk, you know, give you the whole big check with the multi-millions of dollars to it. You, you, you got to go out there. Get it? But you have a reason for going out there and getting it and taking the lid off. Be proactive. 

JR, you actually, reminded me when I was looking through American history, right? And I was looking at how America expanded westwards. It was basically this type of thinking, where they had faith in God, but they were also practical, pragmatic people that had an entrepreneurial spirit, and then they would basically conquer the land and then they would Farm the land and all that, and they went through an enormous amount of Challenges during the 19th century and everything and in your mindset is very similar to that… they had faith, but they also had an entrepreneurial spirit and I think that’s ultimately what and then American identity is about, in a certain way, you know. 

That’s what America is based on. You’re talking about the, you know, the 18th century or 19th century. But it goes before then you know, why do we even? Why did we even come to this? This plot of. Land that we’re sitting on now. We could have just stayed comfortable over in England if we wanted to. That is talking about American history.

Our foundation as a country is not being. It’s just not. It’s not living underneath the lid. It’s just not. It’s. It’s going out there to be better tomorrow than we were today and being better today than we were yesterday. It’s at 1%, you know better every single day by the end of the year, 365% better, you know, granted, you’re going to have some slip UPS. I think one thing you know kind of 1, one other thing I say a lot is in life you have to take the next step.  Everybody wants to jump two or three steps. 

The problem is, I truly believe at every new level there’s a new devil, right? And if you try to take three or three more steps, you’re going to fight three or four devils at the same time. Why don’t you take one step, beat them on this step, then once you got him beat, go to the next step? Beat them on that step. Then go to the next step and beat them on. That step you try to do four or five steps, and you have to fight four of them at the same time. Let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen. 

So why not just take one step at a time. Be proactive and be realistically strong in this step. Learn something. Let’s get better where we are now. So, we take the next step. We’re ready to fight that new Devil at that new level. 

So, Jr. what you’re talking about is literally what The Pioneers did when they were going to. The westward expansion. And that’s how America took over the continent because the character of America was built on hardships and overcoming hardships and was basically entrepreneurial hardships altogether. 

But a lot of people today don’t realize what are the foundations that made America what it is today. These people went through severe hardships going westwards; they had to go through rough terrain, and they didn’t have cars back then. There were just their horse wagons, and then they had to be entrepreneurs minded and it was their character was forged in trying to overcome these obstacles and that’s what you’re talking about.  

So, I find it really interesting, you know. 

It’s easy to just, you know, today catch a plane, and go anywhere in the country, right? But go back to how they, I mean their level of intellect must have been at an all-time level to be able to, you know you’re going from the East Coast where the 13 colonies were and then going all the way across to California. Well, today I mean that’s a 30-hour drive that’s still day and ½ drive to get there. Think how long it takes on, you know, a foot or a carriage that barely had, you know, any kind of will that worked. I’m months, right? And what are you going to get there? You have no idea what you’re getting in front of you.  

So, it’s just entrepreneurship. You have no idea what’s going to come up in front of you. You just got to be ready. You got to, you know, have to be intellect and have to be strong. You have to be able to pivot and adjust. And I think if you get those things, you know again you’re going to fight that devil at that level, not try to jump three or four steps because you got to fight three devils at the same time. 

Speaking of fighting with the devil. Yeah, what? Was someone the challenges that you faced while you were transitioning to entrepreneurship? How did you overcome it? while you were creating your businesses. 

I remember one thing, in particular, I had to have business insurance for insurance, right? You’re going to go into buying locations of a franchise. You got to have a business that you’re going to have worker’s comp insurance you got to have all these insurances well. I’m starting four businesses that at one time of them had not been in existence before and a lot of times I mean just as simple as going and getting business insurance.  

So, they’re, yeah, well, you don’t have a business that is active and working. So, we can’t justify giving you insurance because we don’t have any kind of history of your having a business in the past. How do you get started with getting insurance? If I don’t, I don’t have, you know, historical backing of a business that’s had insurance before. This is my first time owning a franchise.

So luckily, you know through networking and community I was able to find people that are brokers and things like this. I would have never known that. If I had an item just that, that’s one thing in particular, I mean, there are so many different things and it just shows also that your network is your net worth, it’s both that a lot of leaders and progressive business coaches use but really growing in your community growing in your people that’s around you.  

You never know when you’re going to have to pull from that little black book if you will, to jump into whatever your entrepreneurship is. For me, it was… I didn’t know some of these things that I needed to have. Or how to get them if you will. And just reaching out saying, hey, hey friend, can you help? I know I’ve used to help you in the past. It helped me out here and it did, and eventually, it all worked out. That’s just one thing in particular, but the list is extremely long. Of things that just didn’t know and need it or didn’t know. I had to have the mental capacity to understand. 

What was one of the biggest lessons you learned during this process when you were? Figuring things out and you’re just overcoming them and all of that, what is the one big takeaway you took from all of it. 

Do research. And for my story, when I first got into doing the Firehouse Subs, I was actually talking to them about opening in a location, and one of the things that they did teach you during the Firehouse. Franchisee training is to do your due diligence and go meet other franchise owners around your territory that have already done it already. You know, successful and whatever.  

So, I went through, and I met one of the franchise owners, which has 11 locations and I wanted to just sit down. I just wanted to pick his brain, a great guy. I kind of knew him a little bit just from him. I actually did the lighting down on his house 10 years ago, so I kind of knew him a little bit from that and we went to lunch together and we were picking his brain on what I needed to know. What I do not know is that I need to know things like this.

When I found out there was going to be a certain cost, to open a location close to the Nashville airport. He was, well, I’m actually getting close to retirement and I’m giving some of my locations to my kids who are going to college, but I have these two particular locations that are successful, but they’re an hour away from where I live. And I just can’t give them the time or attention.  

If you’re interested, I would work out a deal to maybe sell these two to you. And before you knew it, it was within 1% of being the same cost of me buying two of the opening ones that makes sense and just by doing my due diligence and doing a little training that they kind of recommend you doing, but you don’t necessarily have to do. I was able to buy 2 for the same price and I actually got a third one and I’m building right now that’s with a 10-minute drive that’s going to be the first one in the militancy. Area with the drive-through.  

So, I would never have been able to do this if I had not just done my due diligence to do a little background research. I’m a very particular kind of guy. That’s what I mean by that detail driven when I go into something new. I’m studying it and studying and studying it, trying to find any kind of details I may miss. 

When I bought my truck, I spent six months doing research on it before I ever bought it. That’s just kind of the guy I am, and I did the same thing with this and doing that research, doing that due diligence, doing that background checks, I was able to come up with a better solution for me. As a multiple owner then I was just opening one with no possibility of being successful. 

I mean, you bring up a great point. Yeah, research and gathering information is really important before you’re diving into something. A lot of people fear the unknown, especially when it comes to business. But, if they do some information gathering research you’re doing, then they get they can map, they can get a general idea of the map and they can come up with. a good strategy. 

But then there’s also another set of people that would just say no, you just dive into it, you jump into the water and then you figure out how to swim.  

So, it’s Interesting how there are two ways of thinking and acting in contrast with each other. But what? What are your thoughts on that? Do you think you should jump in? 

Jump into the water or in my Firehouse locations. I did all my due diligence in my remodeling company. I’ve actually kind of just dove in because I’ve been doing construction with lighting and design and things for so long. I kind of already had a good feeling for it and I didn’t know all the details, but I can better BS my way through it if you will, so I kind. Or just dove into that same thing with Proses, which is. The partnership I have with that was in the lighting buying group. I kind of just dove into it even though I knew the background because I’ve been in the business for so long, I kind of still have been.  

So, I think you’re doing something completely new. That’s not even anywhere near what you have grown up in if you will, then yeah, you need to do some background search. Do some due… Figure out the path to get you to profit the quickest and the other terms. If it’s somewhat close to, you know if you’ve been in the lighting business for 20 plus years, I have an idea of construction pretty well. So being able to jump into certain businesses I’ve been into without having to do a lot of research, it’s not too much, too, or excuse me, not too far off of being just an easy way to just dive into it and hopefully, it all works out. 

That makes sense. 

So, jar, if you had to advise somebody that is going to who’s starting new and wants to join your career field and start a business in your career field right in the lighting business and all of that and they’re just starting you and they don’t have any clue what would you advise them? 

Find-minded people. Maybe jump into a mastermind somewhere. You can reach out to me. You can reach out to anybody that’s in my network. I would love to help you with that. You know there’s a lot of ways there’s a lot of resources, obviously, the Internet is full of them. But I think you know being able to communicate with minded people, whether it be business or a light-minded field that you wanted to drive into is going to at least get the groundwork later. The cornerstone is late if you will. And it’s going to cut a lot of time and effort out of it. Just being able to talk to people that have already done it and are successful. 

Yeah, that’s pretty good. So, I know we were talking about the American spirit a little bit earlier, right? I wanted to get your opinion on what your idea of the American dream is and when you think of the American dream, how do you perceive it? 

Waking up every morning and just being happy with the country you live in the people leading the country and. Also happy with the fact that you’re raising a family in that country. You know the USA is the greatest country in the world. It just is. It has its flaws, just like anything else.  

But there’s a cornerstone and a groundwork laid that has been in place for well over 200 plus years and it continuously evolves and tweaks and pivots some of its pieces and parts to make it better. For me, you know, having a home with my two kids that are happy and waking up and they there, you know, they’re able to have a meal and they’re covered in clothes and go and learn every day at school and just come home and you can just see their smiles and as soon as you see them they run and grab you and say Daddy and that kind of things just bring so much joy to me.  

The American spirit is based on. It’s where we came to this, this plot of land that we’re on is just. To be able to have a place where we can say we can raise our families. We’re happy and we’re strong. You know, we’re not going to let anybody mess with us at the same time. You know, we’re able to help out people around us, help out our communities, help the world be a better place for people in need. That’s the American spirit too. 

No, it’s amazing because yeah, if you look at American history ultimately, the original American Dream was coming over here, having a house, having a better opportunity for life and just having a family. But it just seems in today’s world there are different versions of the American, where some people want mansions and yachts. The high-life lifestyle. 

I think I’m going to cut you off, I’ve said. For me, you know why? Why do you need all that? I mean, what? What are you going to do with it? If you have four or five homes? It’s just you and your wife you can’t even live in them. What’s the point? There are so many people that need help, that are hurting, that are hungry, that you know whether it is in this country. Or all around the world that we can help and we’re too. We’re too blessed not to help out other people. I think we take too much of that for granted.  

And you go on, I go on vacation, go around other countries and you know they work so hard just for minute amounts of money that we get here in this country and they’re happy. So why can’t we be happy with that, you know? Well, you know, helping out others, helping to make the world a better place. It’s what we’re built off of. 

No, totally. I’m what I’m saying is, yeah, your version of the American Dream was the original. When people first came here over the years. But I was reading this one book on Austral Spangler. And he basically talks about how civilization evolves over time. Right. 

You have these individual family rules that are based on faith and religion, and that’s when you have a family unit and that is how civilizations originally prosper. But then eventually it gets to the point of rampant hedonistic materialism. Those people lose touch with what originally made the country extraordinary. Which was essentially faith combined with the entrepreneurial spirit. And they’re just right now. What I see is a lot of consumers and people are wanting more and more and they’re not producing as much as our ancestors did in the past. 

But it’s something that I noticed; you know. 

I totally agree. I totally agree. I think we’ve taken a lot for granted and we are a blessed society. We have technology at our fingertips. I think we get lost in knowledge. Knowledge is very horizontally driven when we should be seeking wisdom which is very vertically driven. It would mean that we can have the knowledge you can open up the Google machine right now and find anything on any topic you want to talk about. Knowledge is very horizontally driven. It’s person-to-person. Wisdom, though, comes from above. It’s vertically driven. It comes from the above.  

I think we’ve lost that drive to understand what wisdom is and to try to seek wisdom until this country gets back to seeking wisdom instead of seeking knowledge, we’re going to be stagnant and we’re too great of a country not to continuously have the drive to be better and until we seek wisdom, we’re. Not going to get better. 

It’s amazing that you brought it up. The point of wisdom. The first thing that came to my mind had you heard of this thing called the Faustian bargain? 

Heard the phrase I haven’t done much studying. 

So, when it comes to basically this one guy, he made a deal with the devil and essentially gave me all the knowledge of the world. Right. And then and at the end of my lifetime, I’ll give you my soul for the rest of eternity. But I’ll have all the power in the world.  

But wisdom comes from God. The idea that I’m getting… Especially when I see these giant metropolitan cities where people have all this wealth but they’re empty inside that they basically have all the knowledge to get material wealth and all of that. But in the process because they lack ultimate faith in a higher power than the true higher power. They basically have lost their way and I feel sometimes, when it comes to the American dream, a lot of Americans they’re kind of are looking at the Faustian bargain way of things versus the actual faith and wisdom type way of things, you know. 

I mean, you look. You know the award shows that just happened not too long ago and there was all that being completely portrayed right in front of the audience. The lack of wisdom was definitely there and that trying to seek anything to bring them a 5-minute excitement instead of lifelong joy. Too much, too much in place right now. And I think again until we start seeking wisdom instead of knowledge that lifelong joy is not going to happen, you’re going to get that five-minute excitement and then you’re going to be lost the rest of the time. 

That’s what I was getting at the 15 minutes of celebrity and fame. And in your moment on reality TV or just it’s kind of versus things that actually make you happy, but it’s a theme that I end up discussing with some of my other guests on this show. And then they all end up understanding, agreeing on the same point. Right, because one of the main things about America is the pursuit of happiness. And then, the American Dream is heavily tied to the pursuit of happiness. By achieving the American Dream, you will become happy. 

But a lot of people will view the American dream in terms of the Faustian bargain.  But it’s not Going to lead to happiness at the end of the day, right? Happiness comes from having a family faith in a higher power. Helping other people and it’s just I know. It sounds really simple. And monotonous, when we’re discussing it. But it’s really important too. Know that you know. 

Yeah. Going back to the. The public safety foundational Firehouse that first week that I took over on the ship of one of the locations and we were able to give a nice check to help buy new equipment for our local fire department. That joy that I got from that… Even though I didn’t really do anything other than just, you know, approve a grant, but just seeing the fact that.  

So, it saved lives within a couple of months. You know, how would that affect you? Their children are there. Those two people that were in that house were saved by Hazmat. What happened? They didn’t make it. And their kids and their grandkids and great grandkids if they have them. Wouldn’t be able to experience another second with those two people ever again. But the fact that we were able to, you know, sign off for a grant, which is very simple, but be able to have them go buy equipment, to go help out the community and save lives, which means it’s affecting their children, their grandchildren. Its generational Growth is what it is. Generational help is generational strength. It’s a generational joy that that’s being you. You don’t see things like that. It’s just so small. Minute at the point, but it’s just my mind where it went and the fact that you know the joy that comes from that and they’re going to get to hold their grandkids again. 

They’re going to get to, you know, they had a dog there. Right.  So, they say the dog. That’s what I mean. They go to sleep at night. The dogs were lying next to them. How great is that? You know, how great is it to be able to just lay with the dog some time to hang out with the dog? I mean all that would have gone away if we now had been able to get that hasn’t. That’s a very small minute compared to what the Public Safety Foundation is able to do. 

That’s what you’re talking about: anything you can do to bring joy to people and help people and allow them to stay healthier or live longer or whatever that is, you know, get them out of harm’s way by having equipment to get to them quicker, whatever. It is. You’re affecting generations here.  

That’s why America is so great, aren’t we? We’ve been able to affect generations of people, you know, 340 million people living in America right now that are that they can count. Well, what if they didn’t come to America when they stayed in England? The 340 million people that are currently living in this country would not have had the life that we have today. And that’s just this generation, not counting what we’re five generations deep from the start of the country. Do the math. I mean it’s exponential. It’s the butterfly effect. It’s all those things that go on by just stepping out in faith. 

No, Jr. I agree, our actions might seem small right now, and I want this, I want my audience to know that. But whatever actions we do to positively impact the world might seem small, but it ultimately has what is called the compound effect, where over a period of time when you’re consistent and you do those actions, it has a rippling effect through time. 

And through people around you and it just ripples, and it makes the world better. But yeah, continuing on that from your perspective, what is it about America that makes it extraordinary compared to other nations? 

You can get in your car right now and you can drive across the entire country. And you can see any piece of it. You don’t have to pay a fee other than gas. But I mean you can go across this entire country, and you can see some amazing things. I’ve been all over this country in my, in the lighting business, I was a national salesperson, so I was all. Of the country and I think I went to… I counted 40 of the 40 of the 50 states.  

And just in those forty, I mean if you want to go on vacation, you don’t have to go around. You don’t have to leave this country. Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places in the country, Florida. The list goes on. I mean it’s all across the Grand Canyon though. I mean, just so many beautiful places. Pacific Coast Highway. I mean, there are so many things that are just amazing to just go and, you know, Yellowstone National Park, you know, Mount Rushmore, just driving through Washington, DC and seeing the history that’s there. And just whenever you go to those places you almost feel – especially Washington DC – you can almost feel where the founders of this country walked and talked and said, Know one day we’re going to have this. And one day, we’re going to have this. They didn’t know what that was. But now we can see that we can see what they dreamed of 200 years ago.  

And the fact that I can get up in my car and drive anywhere in the country, talk to another American, shake their hand, talk about business, talk about, you know, sit down and have a meal and not be scared for my life. I mean, there’s, you know, some crazies out there. But I mean overall, you can go anywhere in the country, and you can meet other Americans that are just working, you know, hard-working citizens, we may not agree politically, but the bottom line is we can go and have a conversation about anything and not be scared that someone’s going to come to bomb us or anything that goes on in the rest of the world. It’s just, it’s just free. That’s the point. It’s free.  

You can take the word freedom in any way you want to shape it and it’s. Just that freedom is there and that’s what’s the beauty. About this country. Is it just for? You can say whatever you want now there are some repercussions because that’s the First Amendment right, the Second Amendment, and all the other amendments to go along with.  

There are some things that we have restrictions on, but we are free to kind of just come and go wherever we want to and build it. You know, if we want to, if I want to go sell everything I have right now in Nashville, TN where I live, and move to Maine, I can do that. I don’t have to have some kind of government approval or anything. I just sell it, move right. I mean, I can go down. I can sit down and whatever state I go to meet someone minded for the most part and talk about anything. And we speak the same language. We have a similar mindset on how the countries run. I mean, grant, we may not agree with each other politically, but we are free. That’s the beauty part. Of it, we’re free. To do anything we want. 

It’s good that you’re talking about this point because I feel a lot of people take this for granted because many people they’ve not really gone outside of America and seen the rest of the world. And they don’t know about the contrast. Because if You haven’t seen the other side, how are you going to know and appreciate what you already have? 

Because I came here as an immigrant, and I’ve been across many different cultures. What I see over here is extraordinary, you know? And I don’t think a lot of people appreciate it. And are grateful for that. But this point needs to be reinforced, you know? So, I’m glad that you brought up you’re. You’re talking about this? 

The beauty of the Declaration of Independence is it is an opportunity waiting to happen. You have all the opportunities you want to do in any field. Labor business, you want to do now what you do with that opportunity is on you, but the opportunity is written on that piece of paper. You can do anything you want to do from a capitalistic mindset. You can do anything you want to. Again, the opportunities are on you to do whatever you want with it, but the opportunity is there. 

Yeah, definitely. You’re doing this work with the Firehouse Subs, and Public Safety foundations, right? So, can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about that and what it does? 

So, there are three ways that, well, there’s multiple ways, but three main ways that you can give to this foundation every time you buy anything in a Firehouse sub-location, a certain percentage goes all right off the top of the sale goes straight to that foundation. Also, if your order comes up to $12.80, they’ll ask you. Do you want to round up local firefighters, and local first responders? That $0.20 automatically goes to the Public Health Foundation.  

Also, for every sub that we have, we have Pickles, and pickle Spears that come with a sandwich. We have our pickle spirits come in A 5- Gallon bucket. Think of a construction-style 5-gallon bucket that has all the fire safety, public safety foundation, and fire stuff logos on the outside that bucket, once it’s emptied and cleaned, it’s 3 bucks that entire $3 goes straight to the publicity about the foundation, and all that money every year Is brought together, and it started in 2004… I believe it was when Hurricane Katrina hit the country, the two founders of Firehouse Subs got together with a big group of people that are based out of Jacksonville, FL. They went over to help out Katrina and they realized that, excuse me, the need is Now to help out people from Hurricane Katrina.  

So, they started the Public Safety Foundation then, and since then it’s been well over $100 million and has been given back to first responders from Hurricane Katrina till now. And just in Tennessee, where I live, last year alone was 2.8 million dollars a year we’ve ever had to give to the foundation. And what that foundation does is all the first responders. Firemen, police officers, ambulance, all the first responders you can think of all those organizations every year. They sign up for veterans. Veterans will sign up for grants of all different things, whether it be. New equipment, new uniforms, new cars, new whatever the grant, they sign up for, they sign up for and only about 15% of them that go through the local government get approved as a franchise owner, we’re allowed if a local first responder organization signs up for a grant.  

They get us and we’re allowed to push certain ones through it at a certain percentage every year. You know, those grants can be anywhere from 5 grand to over $300,000. And the foundation writes the check, pays for the grant itself, pulls it out of the grant file, pays for it, and gives it the money straight to that organization.  

One of the most famous stories of it was about two years ago, right in the middle 2 1/2 years ago, right in the middle of COVID. The CEO of Firehouse Subs. His name is Don Fox, loves to hike. He went up into the hills of the north. Carolina was in the mountain there and it was the vice president of sales and a couple of other corporate people from Firehouse Subs, and they were going hiking up to the Mountain, North Carolina.

Literally, a month before that the Firehouse Subs in the town, right next to where they were hiking, gave an approved grant for the AED, which is the two-shot thing when people are going into cardiac arrest, it puts 2 shocks and shocks them back into out of cardiac arrest. Well, they have. Best that does the same thing that automatically will shock you on not having to have those tools and it’s for. In areas of the country where you can’t get to an AED quickly enough, you just throw a jacket on and automatically do it right. Well, he was going into cardiac arrest. The CEO of Firehouse Subs was going into cardiac arrest as he was walking up a mountain in North Carolina they called the Local first responder. 

The fireman was able to pull that vest. That they had just got the grant money a month and 1/2. Before putting it on, the CEO of Firehouse. And was able to shock him continuously back out of cardiac arrest. That got him air-flighted back to the hospital and saved his life. I mean, that’s. There’s story after story after story of this, and it means so much to me. The fact that we can help out the community and help out the people that help us out, that that’s what it’s all about 

So, JR, if anybody from my audience wants to donate or get more involved in this, how would they? How would they do so? 

You can Google Firehouse Subs Public safety foundation. Iguess.org if you Google it in the search engine, it will pop up and you can go straight to it. You can give it straight there or if you know if you want to sign up for a grant. If your first responder won’t need to sign up for a grant, you can do it there. You can also, if you see grants that are listed up there, you. Can help pay towards a grant that’s coming up to be approved. Or you can just go to a local store and just get it. If you want to. 

That is awesome, Jr. And so, Jr. How can my audience connect with you to get to know more about you and your businesses and what you’re doing and all that? 

So, I’m on LinkedIn under my name, JR Edens. You can also look me up on Instagram. Yeah, I’m on all the socials except for Twitter and not on Twitter. It’s not just when I’m done, but I’m on all the socials. You can reach me, and I also have a podcast. I’m a father and I’m also a pastor. And two of my friends from my church are also dads of multiple children. We started a podcast called Daddy Discussions. We started at about. Two or three months ago, only a couple of episodes, 10 to 10/15 episodes in you know, you can also watch that. 

That is amazing Jr. I’m really grateful and honored that you took the time to do this interview with me and basically everything that you’re talking about regarding the American spirit and the success you had in your business transitioning and all that, it’s really inspirational. And I do hope that my audience gets inspired to take action based on this. 

An hour to be on this podcast with you and it’s, and it’s always great talking to you. You’re an amazing person and you know; it is great getting to know you as well. 

No, totally. And I do hope at some time in the future you take the time to come back to the podcast. I would love to interview again, and I want to conclude this podcast by letting my extraordinary Americans know that, hey, there’s an extraordinary within each one of us, and it’s our duty to awaken it and unleash it until next time. 

Bye for now.