Have you ever felt like God put a desire on your heart that you just couldn't ignore?
Here at Adkins Media Co., each of us have had that undeniable nudge on our hearts. We've navigated the rough waters of juggling our professional aspirations and raising our families, but all throughout our journeys, there was a fire on the inside that just couldn't be ignored.
Join us as we share how we transformed from our previous careers to create Adkins Media Co, a family-first business that perfectly strikes the balance between work and home life. This business has been built around our families, not the other way around. Be a part of our journey as we talk about the hurdles we tackled, the faith we mustered, and the dreams we pursued.
Without further ado, I invite you to meet the other two minds behind Adkins Media Co. - Whittni and Victoria who took the leap of faith, trusted in God to guide their decisions, and said goodbye to the 9-5 to become a part of the Adkins Media Co. team. Their stories are not just inspiring, but they're real and raw, filled with personal challenges and massive faith.
Tune in to an episode that makes you rethink that dream God has placed in your heart, whatever it may be... and maybe, just maybe, inspires you to make a leap of faith of your own.
Episode Highlights:
More on Whittni & Victoria:
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.
Have you ever felt like God put a desire on your heart that you just couldn't ignore?
Here at Adkins Media Co., each of us have had that undeniable nudge on our hearts. We've navigated the rough waters of juggling our professional aspirations and raising our families, but all throughout our journeys, there was a fire on the inside that just couldn't be ignored.
Join us as we share how we transformed from our previous careers to create Adkins Media Co, a family-first business that perfectly strikes the balance between work and home life. This business has been built around our families, not the other way around. Be a part of our journey as we talk about the hurdles we tackled, the faith we mustered, and the dreams we pursued.
Without further ado, I invite you to meet the other two minds behind Adkins Media Co. - Whittni and Victoria who took the leap of faith, trusted in God to guide their decisions, and said goodbye to the 9-5 to become a part of the Adkins Media Co. team. Their stories are not just inspiring, but they're real and raw, filled with personal challenges and massive faith.
Tune in to an episode that makes you rethink that dream God has placed in your heart, whatever it may be... and maybe, just maybe, inspires you to make a leap of faith of your own.
Episode Highlights:
More on Whittni & Victoria:
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.
We are at war and it's not against our neighbors, spouses, children, politicians or whatever else we feel like we're battling against.
Speaker 2:So the questions are who's the fight against, and are we winning or losing? We're the Adkins, and we are a force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 2:Are you ready to join the force. Hey everyone, here we are. It is not Cory this week. I have some very, very special guests this week and it's Whitney and Victoria, my sister-in-law and my cousin. And why are they here this week? Well, you're about to find out. So welcome, ladies. Thank you, thanks. Just a little backstory. I had a whole bunch of notes written out and then we went to record this morning and they were gone and the internet stopped working and then it came back, but I still didn't have any notes, so we had to regroup for an hour, mostly because of me. But here we are. So, anyway, really excited about this week. I'm actually going to title this episode Be careful what you pray for. Meet Adkins Media Co-Team. Just a little backstory. And also, whitney and Victoria are doing this completely blind, which I'm mostly excited about. They have no idea what we're talking about, what I'm asking or what they're about to have to do, so it keeps things spicy here. But yeah, it's title Be careful what you pray for. So just a little backstory. I've alluded to this, talked about it a little bit before, so I'll just brief over it.
Speaker 2:A lot of you guys know that I was a nurse before I worked full-time as a. So I went to school, went to college, became a nurse. I had this great job. Like I worked so hard for this career, it paid well, it made me feel well respected. I'd go to work and I got to talk to doctors and nurses and be in the OR. But I was also a mom and I felt like I was losing so much precious time at home. I had to work every other holiday. I had to work every other weekend. I missed sporting events, I missed Christmases, and so, while I loved being respected, I just felt like I really was called first to be a mom and my career didn't really allow for that. And not everybody like not every nurse feels this way, and I know that for a fact because when I went to work, I would talk to other moms and be like do you feel like so sad that you're here and some women aren't wired that way? Like I remember having one friend. She was like oh no, like I love my job, I love it, like I need to be here, and I just felt like I've always been wired a little bit differently and yeah, so anyway, I really wanted to leave nursing.
Speaker 2:I prayed to leave nursing so I could be home more and be more involved in my family and I just remember praying like Lord, if you just let me leave nursing, I'll be more involved in church, I'll do all the Bible studies, I'll be a better mom, I'll be a better wife and Corey and I, like, financially didn't make sense, but I was able to eventually leave nursing. I wanted to be home and it was my primary thing and this is kind of hard and convoluted to explain, but I feel like you guys can relate a little bit. Like I wanted to be my primary thing, but I still felt like I was nudged to do a little bit more, and not because solely being home isn't enough, because it totally is. Like there are moms who are home and that is they're rocking it and that is what they're called to do. But I just felt like, like I said, the way God wired me, I was wired to create and write and maybe make an impact on a couple people, and it would have been great to find a job with that flexibility that I needed and in this field, but it just it didn't exist at that time and again, this was like six to seven years ago, so also pre COVID, a lot of people didn't work at home. That wasn't really a thing. It wasn't as common. Social media wasn't as big, like Instagram was just on the rise and I just couldn't figure this out.
Speaker 2:It was like one extreme or the other work or be home and it was really hard. Like I wanted to be at school drop off and I wanted to be able to be a volunteer in the classroom for the occasional class party. I wanted to make dinner for my family in the evenings and I didn't want to like have to ask someone permission for all of these things, like if my kids are sick. I just wanted to be able to be home and not feel guilty about it. So now I know people listening like this is so millennial. It just sounds so unrealistic and like I can just hear my dad out there who, hi, papa K, like is a millennial mindset. This is so unrealistic. You have to work, you know full time. You got to just buckle in and sacrifice and do what you got to do. But it was. It was just like a desire that I had, because I felt like God placed it on my heart to figure out a way to contribute and also still be primarily there for my family. Keep them as my priority. So almost done here.
Speaker 2:Podcast started. Through that podcast I loved it and I began offering help to one other person. It was a girl on line that I followed. I happened to reach out, started editing her podcast for her and I would have done it for free because I just loved to do it and I loved her, but she paid me and then that turned into a referral and this was about three years ago now and I quickly began getting super overwhelmed because it like kind of spiraled and I was homeschooling my kids and never really planned for that to happen. So I think I'm pretty sure the very first person that I asked to help me was Whitney. Does that sound right, whit? Was anybody else helping me at the time?
Speaker 3:No, I remember when you first told me about it and I was like oh really, like I didn't even fully understand what you were doing or what was going on.
Speaker 2:But I didn't understand what I was doing either. I was like really, and I think it was like two or three hundred dollars a month I was like, listen, like I there it's taking, it's taking off in my mind. You know, I was thinking I was making like probably five hundred dollars a month and I was giving three hundred of it to Whitney because I was like I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so I just I needed to offload some of it. So Whitney was like, yeah, I mean I can do it. She was teaching at the time. Yeah, just been teaching for maybe a couple years and yeah, so she helped me and so fast forward, fast forwarding a lot.
Speaker 2:But to three years later, and Whitney and Victoria I know I skipped over your entrance on, but you can talk about that a little bit they're both full time with me and I put that in quotes because, yes, they are full time and Whitney has left teaching, which she will talk about, and Victoria has left her full time career and like really took steps of faith, like putting a lot of trust in me, which means so much. But I put it in quotes because they both left their careers to serve are just under now 20 clients, which is crazy, and that is their full time gig. But what lights me up so much is that what their true full time gig is, is that their wives and their moms and like. That's why I say, be careful what you pray for, because you know they both work so hard, they're so productive and, honestly, like they're my bosses, I'm not even like they're like the biggest part of this business, but Adkins Media Co has been built around family.
Speaker 2:Our families have not been built around Adkins Media Co. And so that's why I say be careful what you pray for, because if someone had told me that I'd have built what I was looking for, I'd have probably hesitated a little bit more and it would have felt a lot heavier to me in the beginning like, oh, I have to build this, this thing. But God has been through it all the way through and it just started with like one little act of obedience, of following this nudge. And again, this is not to like puff me up at all or puff Adkins Media Co up at all, but it's just so cool to kind of see how it has transpired and I've loved it. With that long backstory, I want to introduce Whit and Victoria and have them share a little bit of theirs. But there's no better way, no, better way to introduce them.
Speaker 2:For a good icebreaker, I'm going to give each of you Victoria. You're going to go first. Rapid fire question Rapid fire, first thing that comes to mind. You just got to say it.
Speaker 1:Craig, I'm an eagles.
Speaker 2:I know you have six. Number one, victoria, are you ready? If you could have any superpower, but it only works when you're sneezing what power would you choose?
Speaker 1:I would sneeze myself anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2:That's so good. They like I wouldn't pee. But OK, what's the most absurd thing you'd buy if you won the lottery tomorrow?
Speaker 1:A like VW bus.
Speaker 2:You cheated. You looked at these. I know Is your idea of a perfect birthday gift. You have no budget.
Speaker 1:A trip somewhere.
Speaker 2:OK, what's your go to take out meal Chinese. What's the most embarrassing tax you've sent the wrong person.
Speaker 1:Shoot. I can't think of one. I'm really careful about that.
Speaker 2:All right, we'll skip it. Victoria shared one, but we can't put it on air, so sorry, I'm sorry. Last question who do you like better, bethany or Corey?
Speaker 1:Skip.
Speaker 2:All right, fine, ok, so tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1:OK, so I am born and raised in West Virginia, my dad's side of the family is all in Ohio and my mom has a family here in West Virginia, grew up in church and had a pretty normal upbringing. I worked in insurance for close to 12 years and then Bethany asked me to start doing some Atkins Media Co stuff on the side and she was like you know, it's not going to be a whole lot at the beginning and we'll add, you know, as we can. And she said, you know, maybe within the first year we'll be able to do this, you know, full time and replace your current job. And that just sounded like a dream to me. It was hard for me to even like fathom that, but within less than a year it was like eight or nine months I went full time and that was awesome because I've always had that like desire to be home with my kids.
Speaker 1:But I never thought it would be an option for me, like financially. I just never. You know where I live. I've had a really good job and it was just. It was a really awesome job. Especially I didn't have a college education. So I just kind of thought that was the best it was going to get for me and I was okay with that because it was a good job, but I just always had that desire to be home. So it was like it was just definitely an answer prayer for this to work out the way it has.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again, like I don't want this to the whole point of the episode, it's not like, oh, let's talk about their journey and how Adkins Meenakoh has blessed these families, but it's like I feel like we've all felt this similar nudge. Our families are our priorities and that's just something that God has placed on our hearts. But I also think what I see through the journey is, if you feel a nudge and you feel like God is asking you to do something or take out a step in faith, you just can't really limit God and you can't limit what he does. But it's just really cool to see and it's been a fun journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, when I had that desire it felt like a farfetched dream to me for years, and now that I'm in it I realize it was God that placed that desire on my heart and that's why this has worked out the way it has.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that when we honor those desires, the desire to keep family first, that I do think that through our obedience, he will honor our obedience, you know? Okay, all right, whit, you're up Rapid fire questions here. Okay, nervous, all right. If you could replace the sound of your sneeze with any other sound, what would it be?
Speaker 3:I'm trying to do a sound that I like, I don't know, like, if I'm sneezing, what sound do I want to make? A whistle, I don't know what other sounds can you make? A hum.
Speaker 2:They're like a massive belge, or like opera. Okay, what's your weirdest food combination that you secretly love?
Speaker 3:Macaroni and cheese and ketchup hey.
Speaker 2:What is your biggest turnoff on men? I know you're married, but oh gosh, like what's on there and you see it, you're like ooh.
Speaker 3:A mustache.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh, and I love mustache.
Speaker 3:And for people that don't know, my husband has facial hair but like once a year, he'll try to take off the beard and just leave the mustache and he calls it March mustache madness, and every year I get mad at the same time.
Speaker 2:And I'll post it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I told him he looks like Luigi, like off Mario and Luigi. Yeah, I'll send you a picture, it's creepy your guilty pleasure TV show. Oh, I'm a sucker for all reality TV, like I watch the Bachelor, the Bachelorette Love is blind. Love is blind. Yeah, all that I'm addicted to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's horrible, and also it is. You can't look away. Yeah, what's your most irrational fear?
Speaker 3:Boats or planes. I don't like being off land. I just I don't know. I'm like terrified of flying, and I also don't like being on boats. I feel like it's like a control thing. I don't like being out of control, so I'd rather just stay on land.
Speaker 2:We'll get you in a plane here soon. Okay, who is funnier, bethany or Cory?
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, I can't answer that. He's not even you. I don't know. I was all your guys' episodes. I crack up at both of you, so you're both pretty funny.
Speaker 2:All right, great answers to those rapid-fire questions. But now we want to hear about you.
Speaker 3:Okay, so growing up, my mom was a teacher and I always felt like, like when I was in high school I volunteered at church, camps and things like that, and I always felt like I had a gift for working with children. I felt like I had a lot of patience and I felt like God just gave me a gift to connect with children, to teach children. So when I was deciding what I wanted to do after school, teaching just made sense to me. It wasn't like I was a person that my whole life was like I can't wait to grow up and be a teacher. I just was taking what I knew I was good at and trying to figure out what I could do with it. So I did go to college to be a teacher and I got my bachelor's, a master's degree in education, and I became a third-grade teacher.
Speaker 3:I was in the classroom for six years and, like Bethany said earlier, probably within my first few years of teaching, bethany and I were together and she had brought up that she started editing podcasts for people on the side and I was like, well, that's really cool. I was really into listening to podcasts and I thought that's such a like a cool side gig because I listened to podcasts anyway, so why not make money from doing it? And so she was like, do you want to kind of do it on the side for me? And I was like, yeah, sure, so I would just kind of edit in the evenings after school, on the weekends, here or there. And it was just something I did on the side for a couple of years and Bethany would always joke like one day you're going to be able to work for me full time and we're going to have work days together and you'll be able to be home. And it was kind of just like not a joke, but just something we would always say. That didn't really seem like it was actually going to happen.
Speaker 3:So then, like she said, fast forward, I was getting into my fifth, sixth year of teaching and just a little sided on that, I was feeling extremely burnt out as a teacher. I was struggling a lot with through COVID, teaching through COVID also just a lot of changes in the school system today that had me feeling frustrated, had me feeling like teaching to me didn't feel like it was much about the kids anymore, as it was about paperwork, testing, a lot of unrealistic expectations, and I just felt like I had these gifts that God had given me and I didn't feel like they were being put to good use in the classroom anymore. I also have two children and I would be just so exhausted and burnout at the end of the school day that when I would come home to them I felt like had nothing left to give. So at that point I felt like my students weren't getting the best version of me, my kids weren't getting the best version of me, and I just felt like I wasn't able to really use my gifts or be 100% at work or at home.
Speaker 3:So then I eventually I had kind of talked to my husband about it and I was like you know, bethany, we've always kind of joked back and forth that maybe one day I could just work for them full time. But like Bethany had made a couple of comments about you know, like I, she was getting more and more clients, taking on more and more work. And so I reached out to her and was like, if you're serious, like if we can really do this, then I'm in. And we met and we talked about it and shortly after you know my husband, I had prayed about it and it was just funny all these doors started opening.
Speaker 3:My husband was able to find a new job right away that offered us benefits and health insurance, because when I was leaving teaching I wouldn't have that. So within a week he was able to find a new job. I, you know, turned in my resignation. Also, my son. We had to switch school districts because we were no long. I was no longer teaching in the school district that he was attending, so he had to switch school districts and just all these pieces started falling into place and I just knew it was a sign that this is what I was meant to be doing. And, yeah, I've loved it and, although sometimes I miss, you know, working with the kids teaching, overall I feel like now I'm able to take those gifts that I use and just, or the gifts that I have and use them with my kids at home, so it's been a good change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that it has been. It really has been so cool. And just, you know, listening to your story and just remembering our conversations that we've had, I think like the coolest thing that I keep trying to reiterate through this episode and through this journey is on social media right now. Like you see, all these moms who are super successful and they're millionaires and they're like mompreneurs and that's great and I'm not like knocking any of that. But I just want to be clear that that's just, that's just not the way that I operate and that's not really the way that I expect Adkins Media Co to ever operate. Like I am a total believer in working hard and getting things done and being productive and Whitney and Victoria do such an incredible job at that. But like this whole idea of like this, this is totally debatable because and I'm torn on this because I hear my uncles and their story and like they sacrificed it all to build a business. But like this business, I truly it sounds crazy and I talk about prayer so much, but it's because it's such a big part of my life Like I truly believe that it has been prayed into existence Like it was never.
Speaker 2:I have had many top points where I've been sat down with poor and been like do I put all of my kids into full time daycare? And like, take a year and just fully dive into this business and sacrifice everything and grow it and make it like this massive corporation. And I've been faced with that decision and many times. Every time I've come back to like no, because the whole thing is like, the whole reason this even exists is because of keeping like. I want to keep family first and I want you guys to keep family first.
Speaker 2:And so, while I totally believe in working hard, I don't believe that if, like, I also believe in keeping priority straight. So I truly believe that all three of us, when you have a family, you're called to keep that family first. And for me personally, this isn't how everybody is. I just have felt, when I come face to face with that decision, it would have been disobedient for me to have prayed to this point in the business and said you know, lord, give me this job, give me this. It would be disobedient for me to be like oh look, how successful it is already with just being obedient and taking on clients as they come, without advertising. Let's go gung ho and advertise and put my family on the back burner. Do you see what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:Like, yeah, it's not the original reason. You wanted to start doing this, right.
Speaker 2:So it's just cool because it's been have we worked hard to get to this point? Absolutely, but it's also been a lot of discipline in like it's tempting, with my work ethic, to put my family on the back burner and it's tempting to be like let's just dump all of our profit into advertising and bring on 10 new clients in the next month and it's totally doable in this age. But I also believe that God, like I said, I just keep saying God will honor your obedience to his call on your life, and so I think that's the biggest takeaway that I hope that you listeners out there are getting from this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and can I add something there? So I actually I struggled when I was trying to decide if I wanted to leave teaching or not, because the statistics are like, within the first five years most teachers leave, that's, you know, recently that's kind of the case and in my mind I was thinking I don't want to be a quitter, like I don't want to walk away from something just because it's hard, like maybe I just need to work harder, maybe I just need to like see it through. I don't want to be a person that gives up or quits on something. But I think, like you were saying, to that extent, because I realized, like how blessed we are to have this opportunity and not everybody has like an opportunity where they can just leave their job and have something amazing like this to fall back on. But at the same time, I think that it is good to persevere and work hard and, you know, push through hard things, but if it's at the expense of your family, then I don't think that that's really worth it.
Speaker 3:I think that you know, as far as teaching, if I would have stuck it out my kids I don't feel like we're getting the best version of me at home and my students weren't getting the best version of me at school. And, although you will have to persevere through things at work, I think if you are chronically stressed out, if you are consistently unhappy, then I encourage you to look at other options, like don't stay stuck and don't think that you have to just like push through it and be miserable Because, like Victoria and I both said at one point, neither of us thought this could ever be a reality for us, but we prayed about it and it did become reality. So, if you're in that spot like where you do feel stuck, don't feel like you have to stay there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly. And I think it just goes back to, like we all know when things feel out of balance and out of whack. And that's kind of what I want people to understand. Like if you're out there listening and you know if things are out of whack and out of balance, you know if a change needs to happen. And so when you're kind of at that crossroads and you're figuring out, do I leave teaching and take a leap of faith or am I being a quitter? It always goes back to well, what are my priorities? So it's like, figure out your priorities first and if you know which one lines you up more with those priorities, just like you said, if you can serve your family your main priority better with this new opportunity, then why not? Why not? And you might not even be doing this forever. But yeah, thank you for sharing that. That was really good.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't add to that, if it's OK. Yeah, totally yeah. I feel like the same as Whitney as far as, like, my kids and my husband definitely weren't getting the best version of me because I was so stressed. It was not, like, like I said, like I liked my job and I liked the people I worked with, but being away from home so much and you know, not getting home to like 6, 6.30 and then feeling like I have to hurry up and make dinner, clean up from dinner and then put the kids to bed, I just felt like I was never getting to have that quality time with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it just it just wasn't worth it anymore. You know, like no amount of money is worth that, but I mean, god just really provided an opportunity for me to be able to step out of that and be home with them and it's just like they both were in a place where they were struggling with different things and they needed me to be home more like they needed that. They just needed me more in that time. So they're doing so much better and I know it's not just like, it's not just me being home, it's prayer, it's like God doing so much in their lives right now. But they're just doing so much better and I know it's just because God worked like every detail of it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was so good, Victoria, and kind of going off of that and talking about these transitions and making decisions and taking leaps of faith. My next question I wanted to ask both of you was what? Like maybe there's a mom or dad out there who's listening and they feel like they're in the middle of that transition, like what you were describing, and, victoria, same as you, like you know you knew that there was something else, because what, what you were doing, wasn't currently working. What would you say to somebody out there who's trying to figure out what the right decision is and they're worried about maybe taking that leap of faith? Victoria, do you want to answer first?
Speaker 1:I would just say, really just pray that God would give you the guidance and open up the doors.
Speaker 1:I mean, when Bethany first asked me to start working with her I don't think I've ever told you this, beth, but like I, when we met in Ohio I think it was in August when I started working for you and when you did like a little training and I don't think you had even mentioned at that time like anything about it ever being full time.
Speaker 1:But on my way home I just was like overwhelmed with all of it and like what a blessing it was. I pulled over at a parking lot and like I did a video about like I just felt like God was opening doors and I felt like I had prayed for open doors, but I didn't even know what those doors were and I had just prayed like that God would open the right doors and close the wrong ones. And this just was that open door. And so I just I would encourage anyone who's in that situation like don't I'm not saying don't pray for what you want, but like really just pray that God would open the right doors and close the wrong ones. And just I believe that if you do that, like he was going to give you the wisdom you need to make whatever decision you need to make.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 3:So good, I would say, to really listen to the nudges that God puts on your heart. Because I think for honestly, a couple of years now, like I would, just this thought would pop into my head or like a feeling where I would say like, like I know, teaching right now isn't for me, and I also would just get this feeling like just go all in, like go all in with Bethany, you know, take this opportunity. And I think in the moment sometimes it's hard to determine, like is that just my will or is it God's will? Is it something that I want or is it something that he's actually calling me to do? But I just feel like that calling on my heart just was happening more and more often. And then eventually I just stepped out in faith and we had that conversation and just from there, after praying about it, like, like Victoria said, these, like the doors just started opening.
Speaker 3:And so I feel like, if you're having those thoughts or those feelings, pray about it, and God is probably putting those on your heart for a reason. And don't be afraid to just like look at your options, see if you have any other options than where you are. Pray about it. And for me I feel like whenever you do finally make that decision, or if you're about to make that decision, think about like which one really brings you peace. Because since I've made the choice to leave teaching as soon as I did, I felt relieved, and ever since I've been working for Adkins Media Company, I have just it's been like a peaceful feeling and people asked you Miss Teaching and although I do miss parts overall in my heart like I feel completely content with the decision that I made. So I feel like that's how I know I was listening to God's will rather than my own. So that would be peace.
Speaker 2:It's just so cool to hear these stories because it's like it's not like we were conspiring, like you're over there living your life with Nick and Victoria, you're over there living your life with Travis and your kids. And then I'm over here even thinking back to first. Victoria was hired full time because Whitney was still teaching and we were like fiddling with it. We weren't sure and even at that point, like when Victoria was coming on full-time, I'm looking at the numbers and I'm like I need, I need the help and the budget is tight, but I knew that it was the right decision and like as soon as she came on, the floodgates opened and it was like I was thinking Victoria was gonna be my only full-time employee for maybe like one or even two more years. And Victoria, when did you come on full-time? March, yeah, march or April, I think it was April. And so I was thinking, you know, maybe the next summer I would talk to Whitney, or Brooke also had been working with me, but she has an incredible job doing pro-life stuff.
Speaker 2:And by June or July I was sitting down with Whitney and Nick about having you know there, her coming on full-time. Like it happened that quickly and so, and it wasn't because I was over here, mom prenu. We're working it out, grinding it out. It was because I was and I'm not trying, I struggle so much with this episode because I don't want it to seem like it was me, because it wasn't at all. It was truly God and taking one step after the next and he had this all lined up. He orchestrated it all so much and it's just so cool to see.
Speaker 3:You know, it's just really it all happened like so organically, like it just literally everything fell into place exactly how it was supposed to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes. So I would say, maybe, rather than like this grind culture and grinding it out and like, maybe that, in my mind, is too much of your own human will, and so, instead of focusing on your own will and your own strength, lean on God's strength and lean on his understanding, and it might not make sense, but truly, that is where the rubber meets the road, and it has been such a peaceful thing, so okay, so we're almost done. There were a lot of other things I want to talk about, but this has been so good. So A Force to Be Reckoned With is the name of our podcast.
Speaker 2:If you don't know, well, now you do, but it the whole basis of it is it's we want to help equip families who are in the thick of it. We're trying to be families who are rising up in this crazy world, crazy culture, and raising kids who are difference makers and world changers. And we want to not even empower, but just ask other people to join the force and rise up with us and remind people that, yes, the world is scary, yes it's hard, but we are here for this time, for a reason, so let's not waste it. We're three families. We're nothing special. We all have daily struggles and if you took a peek into any of our lives, we all have struggled. For example, like I was talking about my office, it looks like an explosion came off in here. Like I, we're nothing special, you know, but we're just doing our best. And so something we all feel so passionately about is equipping those families, like I said, for such a time as this, and rather than sinking back and retreating which is so easy to do when you get on social media or you read the news or winters coming, and right before we hit record, we were all thinking about talking about how, like, we're gonna get depressed because we're gonna be locked inside. We want to build this community that feels the same and they want to, you know, do the same by raising difference makers and saying you know, we're not going down without a fight and we're gonna keep pushing through. And just because things are hard right now, we're just gonna keep pressing on. So it's not about being perfect, but doing things imperfectly and being an alliance that, like, picks each other up and does each other off when we need it and has tools to do that.
Speaker 2:So I'm gonna mention Patreon. We had talked about this before Whitney and Victoria probably like what are you doing? Why are you talking about this? Because I talked about Patreon like two months ago and I still haven't even done much with it. But yes, the podcast is a great resource for everybody to listen to.
Speaker 2:But we want to build like an engaging community and it's not fully there yet. It's not even close to ready, but we are gonna be in the coming months putting resources out there for families. The community can kind of engage with each other. It's almost kind of like a more robust Facebook group where people can talk to each other, comment. We can do different resources and right now it's gonna be completely free. Eventually we'll have different levels with even more resources and educational pieces that might be paid in the future, but for right now it's just a totally free community. So I'm gonna link the Patreon below. Don't expect much, but very soon, in the near future, we'll be having really good resources that we'll talk about on the podcast that you, by being part of that community, you will have access to. So I'm gonna put that there.
Speaker 2:And then the last thing I just want to say like on the Adkins Media Co side of it, we want to help creators get content out into the world that helps facilitate making that difference, and so that's where it's like this whole full circle thing that's been the basis of the podcast. We're families who all have that mission and our work is to get those messages out into the world. And so I can honestly say like we have the best clients who are world changers, and I'm just so excited to start finding ways to highlight those clients and get more of their work out into the world, because truly you are what you consume and we want to make sure that we're putting more value and truth out into the world and hush the crazy chaos and noise that's out there. So last question what is one piece of encouragement? So primarily the whole time, the audience of this podcast from the beginning has been families our age. There's some outliers out there, but what's one piece of encouragement? You want to leave with families who are living, who are listening.
Speaker 1:I would just say, like, if there's a desire that has been on your heart and it's something that you just feel like you can't ignore and it aligns up with the word of God, then it's probably God that has put that desire on your heart. So you're safe to follow it, you know, because if he's the one that put the desire there, as long as you're obedient to that, he's going to be faithful to work out the details.
Speaker 3:I would say for encouragement for families out there. Kind of, the whole theme and purpose behind a force to be reckoned with is it is our job to lead our families. And I would just say that even though, like Bethany said, the world can seem crazy and it can seem dark and scary, I would say, feel encouraged that you can make a difference, even though sometimes it feels like you can't. And the small things that you do in your own home matter, even though on the day to day sometimes it doesn't feel like maybe you're making much of a difference. Every time you pray with your kids, every time you take them to church, every time you do a devotion in the morning or read your Bible things that seem like maybe just redundant, things that you do every day and it may not seem in the moment Like it's really doing anything, it is and those things add up and to just keep on fighting and to keep pouring into your family and you can make a difference.
Speaker 2:Love it. You guys should just be the hosts of the podcast. No, I appreciate both of you so much. I'm just so thankful for where we are right now and so excited for what's to come in the future. And thank you guys for all that you do and for keeping me in line every week and just appreciate you both so much.
Speaker 3:Well, I just want to say thank you to you and Corey for giving us this opportunity, because without you guys, none of this would have even been possible. So we appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1:It was your steps of obedience in the beginning that it all spanned from, you know.
Speaker 2:It's all a team effort and it is truly on top. So alright, guys, we will catch you next week and thank you for listening.