Kyle Kunkel’s Transitional Journey and Unconventional Path to Success

Kevin Harrington
Hi, I’m Kevin Harrington, an original shark from the hit television show Shark Tank and you’re listening to the underdog podcast

Pamela Bardhi
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the underdog podcast. today I have an incredible guest here with me Kyle, how are you my friend?

Kyle Kunkel
I’m doing great. I’m doing great. Thank you Pamela. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m excited to be on the underdog. You know, podcast, just the name itself, like resonates so well. So I love it.

Pamela Bardhi
I love it. Thank you so much for being here, my friend. The underdog podcast wouldn’t be the podcast without that whole sharing of the story. So I’m gonna reel it back a little for you. And this is one of my favorite questions. It’s a bit loaded, but I always love the answers that come out of it. Let’s go. So what inspired you Kyle, on your journey to where you are today?

Kyle Kunkel
That’s a great question. I think there’s probably a lot of things that have inspired me along the way different things at different times. You know, when you’re a kid, I feel like my family inspired me. parents and my younger brothers and stuff like that.

And then even looking up at like, I played sports growing up. So you got like, famous athletes and those types of things inspire you travelled to 37 plus countries. So travelling inspires you just by walking into a country and experiencing culture and people. and even seeing like real poverty and all those things like those things start to inspire you.

My wife inspires me, my kids inspire me the idea of being able to change the world and be a world changer. Like that inspires me. God inspires me. I don’t know, there’s a lot of things that inspire me.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that. Kyle, I love that and question for you like growing up, what did you want to be as a kid?

Kyle Kunkel
I feel like as a kid, I just wanted to be a professional athlete, professional baseball player. it’s what you you know, all kids want to be? Yeah, that was kind of the what I wanted to be. being a little kid run around playing sports and seeing athletes. and wanting to reach that level. So yeah,

Pamela Bardhi
Love that. And where did you grow up?

Kyle Kunkel
I grew up in a small little town in sent outside of San Diego called Ramona. and finished high school actually, at the Washington State and with college in Oregon.

Pamela Bardhi
Wow, that’s incredible. That’s incredible. And throughout your childhood, who or what has been some of your biggest sources of inspiration. Throughout that time,

Kyle Kunkel
Probably like my dad, he was someone who always inspired me. I mean, we didn’t grow up with a lot. So he was always working hard and making things happen. And came from very humble beginnings with not the best mindset.

as far as like, the idea of money and all those things was just like not a it was a poverty mindset. kind of growing up but more of a maybe a lack a mindset of lack or not being enough kind of a thing. I would definitely say my dad, he never gave up always worked hard. I have three brothers.

So putting us through sports and travel and putting food on the table. and always having a place over like a roof over our head. even for certain small period, like a roof over our head was a tent, right for a little bit. And that was still something and so just always seeing him go to battle for our families. it was probably a motivating in a lot of ways.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. And I had a similar story. So I came to the US when I was about five years old. You know, my parents, they came here with nothing. So like my son’s old, I was five. none of our family was here. They didn’t know how to speak English. And they just kind of hustled their soul. if you will understand what you were saying about like the mindset and stuff like that. because you’re in survival mode,

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Pamela Bardhi
And you’re just grinding at that point. Just trying to provide for your family. Wow, that’s incredible. So you basically grew up right outside of San Diego. Yep. And then you had moved up to where in middle middle school did you say did you move down

Kyle Kunkel
I was going into my junior year in high school. So I was actually not making the best decisions when I was at age and ended up long story short. but I was at a party on some drugs. And then I ended up falling into a ditch and cracking my head and getting 12 staples. doctor said I would never play sports again. I was devastated. Sports was my life, right? Like baseball, football was my life.

And so for the doctor to say like, Hey, you won’t be able to play. I was broken, you know. And during that time, my dad actually gave me a Bible verse and it was Jeremiah 2911 13. It says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. plans to prosper you and not to harm you. plans to give you hope and a future and then you’ll call upon me. and I’ll listen to you when you seek me with all your heart.

so I knew that I needed to seek Gotta with all my heart, not just pieces of it. so I was real with him. I said, Hey God, like I’ll I can promise you I’ll never do drugs again. But I can’t promise you I’ll never drink or smoke and I was just messing where I was at the time. we went back to the doctors, and a couple days later to check to get the staples out. I asked him to check my eyes since I hit my head on this side.

This was really dilated and was really big, basically the pupil. so I asked him like, Hey, how’s my eyes? Look, what does it look like? so he looked at him, and he’s like, they’re actually normal. And my first question was why Abele play football. And he was like, possibly with some CAT scans, and all that kind of stuff.

And he’s like, it’s kind of like a miracle. so that was the first time that I felt like God was real to me. It wasn’t just like, because I grew up in the church. So I was like, Dad, just another Bible story. I show up to church hungover or whatever. And I was like, ah, and I’ve heard this story. But it was a time where like, God was real. He answered a prayer.

And we ended up moving my that right after that. just for me to kind of get a new start, just need a new environment. so we moved up, up and grandma grandpa up in Washington State. and got there two days before two days started for football and just got a new start.

And ended up creating a great group of friends. and got fourth and state in high school or third state in high school. but yeah, that’s so that’s why I moved. To answer that question was, yeah, from that? I ended up getting another opportunity, right?

Pamela Bardhi
It’s a miracle. The toilet 12 staples in your head that you made it my gosh, oh, my gosh. And that you got a new start to going into high school?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, I got a new start going into my junior year and ended up playing baseball and football. And then after that, I ended up playing college at a small school in Oregon. Corbin University and played four years there. And yeah, it was good.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s incredible. So football was really where your heart and passion was. I mean, even since a kid you said you wanted to be a professional football player do so.

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah. Baseball player baseball player. So I might have said football. So but yeah, football was a big part of it. But I wouldn’t play college baseball.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s incredible to see you achieve your childhood dream. And now past that point, like in college and kind of going into life. like what was that transition? Like? What, kind happened after college?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, great question. As I was finishing college, I was like, Well, I still want to try to play baseball. So I was looking at like going and playing in Australia. and had some opportunities, there’s in different places. but I had a mentor was telling me this thing. where I got to go to 11 countries in 11 months and do all this travel and mission work. And I just finished playing a summer in the Dominican and I kind of got that travel bug there. I was like, Man, that would be so cool.

And so I ended up kind of hanging up the cleats and ended up traveling to 11 countries love lunch right after college. And that was kind of like my transition into, I guess, the real world, in some sense. but it was a good transition. Because I had a lot of friends. You know, when you play sports your entire life. like whether it’s baseball, or football, or soccer or volleyball or whatever sport, right?

Like when you play from a kid and then all sudden you even you go into college. so it becomes like a job. And then after college, I had so many friends who that was a part of their identity. Like they just like they didn’t know what to do. They’ve been playing the sport since they were five.

So there was a lot of like, maybe like not like super like a lot of depression, but like just depression. And that transition was hard to kind of maneuver into the real world. So, I had an opportunity to go travel the world and was kind of distracted with that. and that was kind of my transition into I guess the real world was travelling a lot.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that. So 11 country. So where did you go?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, I went to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia. we popped over to Singapore for a couple of days, which is really cool. And then went to the Philippines, South Africa and Swaziland.

Pamela Bardhi
Holy cow, you went to some incredible countries? Yeah, walk me through some experiences were like each one because I’m trying to live vicariously. So what happened there? Like in each one, like any, like, notable memories of each one?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah. I mean, each country just was so unique and so special. So we partnered with people who were like full-time, they’re doing different mission work. So it’s everything from like building houses. to working with orphans, to teaching English to fighting human trafficking.

So it’s just a list of all these things that we got to do. And every single month you made these amazing relationships with just the people in the culture by specific stories. I mean, I would say in Guatemala, that was kind of the first eye opener to like true poverty. we worked in we worked had a dump ministry basically. So it was like trash and these people’s houses were made of two Gosh. literally, and they made cents a day.

Like I think they’re they made $20 a month, something like that like it was not a lot of money. And you go hang out with these kids and these kids have this true joy about them. That is hard to really like, comprehend. It’s like they’re playing like they find out like, I remember this kid.

His name was like, started with an L. It was like low so or loose, something like that. I don’t remember. But he picked up this little toy dinosaur out of the trash and was just so pumped. It was just like, in that moment. I was like, man, like, I’m so blessed just to be in America. And so it was kind of like that.

The eye opener to real poverty, like their homes are made out of trash. and so that was a really amazing experience, just to be truly humbled. But yeah, and also see like, how joyful people could be in the midst of like nothing.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh, my God. Yeah. Very similar experience in the Dr. When I went in 2009. And I was in high school, we went there. And I went to also same thing, like a dump ministry. I just remember I was like, Oh, my God, like, these people are so grateful for everything.

You know, I remember this one family, with the mom and the dad and there were 11 kids. and there was one full-size bed that they slept on. One full size. Yep. Yeah, open age ranges from, I think one to 19. And meanwhile, they’re super grateful, happy, and everything. it’s like, what do I have to complain about here? Like, you once you see that? You can’t like unsee that, you know?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, I mean. Yep. it’s crazy. It really is. But yeah, I mean, every country, there is something. there’s always something like, like, in Nicaragua. we built this church on top of this mountain, I remember, like going down, we were mixing concrete.

so we like went down to this well, it felt like a mile. And I don’t think it was quite a mile. But you had to carry these like, five and 10 gallon like jugs on your shoulder up this mountain. like and I was doing it with like, these kids were probably like 1516. And they were just beast.

And my hands at the end of the month were just like, completely torn up. But it was such a cool experience just to be like wow. like even though I will call it a luxury of even just building. just the resources to water being able to like, just have access to water and go turn on the faucet. take a shower, all these things, but to like to mix concrete.

Like we had to literally like carry 510 gallon buckets on our shoulders up this hill. and then every country there’s just something amazing in Thailand. love Thailand, got the ride the elephants got to see the monkeys got it. We I mean, we did fun stuff to it wasn’t like all like, be sad, you know, stories. I mean, or I mean, not just sad, but they’re impactful. You’ll never forget them. It’s like imprinted on your brain almost.

But like in Thailand, we were working with a prison ministry. And we’re helping like basically prisoners transition from the real world. from their world to like, the real world. so we’re helping them with like, resumes and just like all this stuff. so anyways, there was this guy there. And he had this like, really sweet tattoo. I was like, Oh, that’s awesome.

He’s like, Oh, yeah. Like I did it. And this is all through translation. And I don’t speak Thai. He was like, oh, yeah, did that tattoo? I was like, You did that tattoo? Like you did it yourself? he’s like, oh, yeah, that’s awesome. so I had this idea. I was like, what if you give me a tattoo. and I’ll pay you I’ll kind of be like your first job.

And he’s like, yeah, like we’ll do it and I had no idea. like much right about how they did tattoos there. so we go over to their house and this is actually that tattoo. It’s his love tattoo right here. But I was literally like we go into the house and it’s him. so he like pulls out this like bamboo stick and like sticks some needles in it.

And he’s like, Oh yeah, just lay down right here. so like I was laying on the cold tile floor which is nice. because it’s like super humid. there were there and like me I think it was so hot it was crazy. Like people think the South is hot like inhuman. now this is like different level type of human.

and I’m laying on the cool tile floor. so it was kind of nice and one guy is making Pat tight in the kitchen. the other dudes just like playing on the guitar and he’s sitting there just like. and so it’s like it was probably like a 1415 hour like process.

I wasn’t all there at once but it was like the first session was like six or seven hours. I was like dang and then the next one was like four or five. but when he started to do the colouring so it says it’s I don’t know if you guys can see. it was like love the world and then it has like a heartbeat when he started doing the colouring.

He pulls out these gel pen inks and start squeezing them in the top of a water bottle cap. I’m like hold up like I don’t know if this is all right. And we get a translator there and he’s like, oh Thailand tattoo talented too. And he’s like, same like it’s the same one that he had like same coloring and I was like, Alright man.

so he sticks a little needle in there and just like does his tattoo thing. and gives me this beautiful tattoo. And so like that experience in itself was so amazing. But on top of that, like so I felt through the conversations and translator and stuff like that. I said, and I felt comfortable enough like, Hey, why did you go to prison? Like what happened?

Tell me your story. And he said that he used to be like an assassin. Like he would kill people for a living. And I was like, well, that’s why he was so like, study with that. I was like, Oh my gosh, and so he’s and but he said that he found Jesus in prison. turned his life around and gave his life to Jesus. he was living a different life.

so he was, and it was just so cool to like. see the transformation of this man who used to literally kill people for a living. and now he was actually like, changing his life and being an asset to the community. like doing these great things for businesses, and it was just so cool to see that change there. But yeah, I mean, there’s the story. I mean, I need to write a book because there’s a story after story.

Pamela Bardhi
Yeah, that’s incredible. I love it. And that one was in Thailand. Yep. I’ve always wanted to go to Thailand.

Kyle Kunkel
Should beautiful country. There’s a lot of fun things to do. There’s a good like tourist market there, as well. It’s a great country.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. I love that story. I love that he changed his whole life round to like how beautiful. that I mean, that’s one of the greatest one Aedes I’ve ever heard from assassin. to love, literally, which is what I knew. That’s amazing. That’s incredible. And you also went to South Africa to and a couple Yeah,

Kyle Kunkel
So I love South Africa is probably one of my favourite countries. We worked with like a sports ministry there played, you know, soccer with these kids. And Bradley Barnes was he ran the ministry there. And it was awesome. We lived in this community called Ocean View. if anybody’s listening here from Ocean View it’s like a melting pot.

So South Africa is like a melting pot for Africa. And so you get all these cultures there. so they called like this area called it was like the coloured basically. And so it was just as milk isn’t they speak Afrikaans? Like, there’s like 11 national languages in South Africa. I mean, we got to play soccer every single day with these kids.

And just and it was a hard community, a big gang. A lot of gangs, a lot of people like there’s just like. I think three people died when we were there. like got shot and like, not like we didn’t see it or anything. but like, it was very much like around and they had drugs. which was like called tuk tuk, which is it was basically math was the drug.

But they were surrounded by this beautiful area, like 10 minutes from the ocean from the Cape. And so we got to do some amazing things got to go. Every single time we got to go and help these people in whatever country. but we always made sure that we did an adventure, right. And so we got to swim with great white sharks. which was awesome climb Table Mountain, which was amazing.

And some of the food there was some of the best food. I had was just them making it over the fire on their, on their outdoor barbecues. like some of the best chicken, I think, to this day.some of the best barbecue chicken I’ve ever had in my life. that country was absolutely it was so amazing. that I actually ended up leading a group of high schoolers there.

So it’s about eight months later. I ended up taking a group back of high schoolers that interned with us. And we ended up going to we did seven weeks in Africa. So two weeks in Mozambique and five, five weeks in South Africa.

And we worked with that same group again. And it was amazing. I actually ended up getting engaged that time to my wife on top of Table Mountain. So South Africa has like a very special place in our hearts. So we love South Africa,

Pamela Bardhi
that’s a group that sounds like a hell of a journey. Oh, my gosh, between all those countries,

Kyle Kunkel
it really was a whirlwind. But it really set me up for a lot of success in life and just being able to interact with anybody. because I mean, most of these countries, like there’s just like this. obviously, like, cultural barrier, you’re at, like, not everybody speaks the same language.

And so the great thing about it is what I love is you can connect with anybody with a ball. Like, you don’t need to speak the same language to kick a ball back and forth, or music. like you can do any type of music and just start dancing and whatever. And it’s just like, there’s just instant connection.

So it’s really cool to be able to do that. But more like in the business world, which I never thought I would be in, I can really connect with anybody. like we speak a lot of times speak the same language and like all this stuff. so it’s like, I guess it really took away a lot of maybe fear or just talking to anybody about anything like. I mean, so that there’s a lot of and just also, some of my best clients are not, they’re not from us, right?

So that travel experience has really been able to me to be able to connect with them. Because unfortunately a lot of Americans aren’t very travelled right? You get outside American and people they travel.

Pamela Bardhi
Right. Oh my goodness. I absolutely love that. And now coming out of that when you came home if you will, like because that was really a culture shock. you probably just experienced from all those countries. what happened when you got home and kind of what was the journey from there?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, great question. So I ended up actually going and I, my brother was in college. And so I and that was the same college that I went to. that a lot of connections there. So I went back to that college, and I ended up interning. I was interning at a church. but I ended up working for this construction guy, and working for him.

And staying in my I want like went not backwards. But I went and stayed with my brother and his roommates at their college, which was cool. And I ended up leading that trip, which where we went back to South Africa. but then I guess after that, you know, I’d recently got engaged to my wife. So we ended up coming out here to Colorado, that’s where she’s from. So we ended up being here in Durango.

And we got engaged, married shortly after, in December was a beautiful wedding. But then you get hit with the real world. It’s like, Oh, I gotta I gotta provide for my family. I got to, you know, do all these things. Because during that time, I had raised money from working but also had fundraised. so I had no problem working hard. I’ve always known how to work hard and even I didn’t really touch on this.

But growing up in junior high, and in elementary school, backtrack real quick. because this is well put the story out as it flows. But so we had originally lived here in Colorado, right? Me and my wife actually went to the same June or went to the same elementary school. but I moved away in second grade and we ended up going to Mexico.

And we did, my dad was working on like a development thing down there and some mission work. So I ended up going there for about six months got too dangerous. We moved to San Diego with my mom’s family. So I was the new kid. I actually really didn’t even start school until second grade, right?

Because, you know, no offence to like my parents or anything. but I was homeschooled, which was like they did okay with but I was a very rebellious child, right. And then from there, I got kicked out of kindergarten, because I would give too many hugs. They kick, I’m serious. I’m serious, they kicked me out. I was breaking people’s bubble.

And then from there, I did homeschool. I did one year of like, first grade, second grade was in Mexico, third grade, I come back to the US. I’m like, super behind so that I’m like an A to 3d class. And didn’t read a tonne of books. Like I read one book throughout high school. Now I love to read. But I read one book throughout high school.

And during that time, I was always kind of like made fun of or trying to, like, prove myself. so I really picked up like cross country running. Because I was good at it. Right? Like I remember this time at recess where they had this like running club at recess. and I had to be able to beat these kids to be a part of the club. I beat these kids, but they still don’t let me be part of a club.

So it was always like this kind of being made fun of and bullied. and always having to try to like I know don’t seem like I was. but I was and I had to like prove myself right. It was identity thing. There’s so many. I think there’s a lot of people who struggle with this is trying to prove themselves or do something.

So I started to become the kid who was really rebellious in class. to get attention and started to and that’s where all like the drugs and alcohol and all that stuff kind of came in. So fast forward coming into the real world. Like I had no problem working hard, like I always knew how to. because that’s what I had to do as a kid right like, and even in college like building fences and landscaping.

So that was what I did to make money throughout college. knowing how to work hard was an issue. I moved this small town Durango. And there’s like, it’s an expensive town. like average price point is like seven or 1000 for house. And so we move here and I’m having to figure out job stuff.

So I start working for UPS. So I worked for UPS. And I was working my ass off and I was like, Man, this sucks. And I was like, and I came home we’ve been married for like two months. Oh, hey, Megan, I quit. She’s like you what she’s like, What are you gonna do? I was like, I’m gonna go start this marketing company.

I’m gonna go work for, start this franchise and all this stuff, automatic sales. And she’s like, she was in nursing school she was in. like, not making, we weren’t making hardly anything. So there’s about three or four months of no income. I went over 52 of my sales in like, and I finally it was like, gosh. how to how do I get through and make the sales for this marketing company?

Then I would I remember the mentor told me like. hey, go find somebody with fruit on the tree and learn from them and let their ceiling be your floor. And so that’s what I started to do in every aspect of my life. And so I realised that I just needed to learn from somebody who had been there.

And so I started finding these people who had been in the company who had success. started making sales, grew the company to make 1015 grand a month. Some of my best clients were in real estate. So I was like, hey, you know, I need to get into real estate. So there’s a lot of things that lead into that. but I jumped into real estate kind of except that you know. it took me 12 times to pass my test.

Then I realised I just need to study in a different way. So I bought a programme that helped me studied and I ended up passing my test first year in real estate. I made 222 grand and then I started making 100 grand on top of that every single month. Now I’m investing in real estate and businesses and all kinds of stuff. so that’s the rundown. But it really was a journey.

Pamela Bardhi
Wow, that is so badass. I absolutely love that like, like, going from O to 50. So you are zero to 52 when it came to those marketing leads over 56

Kyle Kunkel
and sales like face to face with local businesses in this town that told me no.

Pamela Bardhi
you break that? Because I mean going like going from rejection, right? That’s the number one thing everyone is terrified of is rejection. So how did you break that and kind of dive into this formula getting to where you are. getting into real estate 220k? And then like building that 100k On top of it? Because that’s incredible.

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah. So like I said, it was that concept of like, Hey, I gotta find somebody who’s been before me. Somebody who’s been where I want to be. and go learn from them and let their literally their ceiling be my floor.

so that’s what I how I started to break through. Is this a matter of this, I feel like there’s breakthrough on the other side of everybody’s fear. And you just gotta constantly like, run into that fear, hit that fear, hit that fear. And eventually, you’ll have that breakthrough.

But I think the way that you can skip a lot of that. like even a clocks, right, twice, twice a day, right? Broken clocks, right twice a day. So if you want to kind of accelerate the process, go learn from somebody. And so that’s what I started to do. I just started to learn from people, it took the hard way. Like, I should have started that from the beginning. I shouldn’t have gotten over 56, I shouldn’t have failed my real estate test while times.

But once I realised, like, Hey, I just need to invest in myself. and I invest in learning from other people. That’s when I started to have these successes. and it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like there’s some magic formula. but it’s like, hey, there’s people who have been there.

So figure out what their processes are. figure out what they’re what they’re saying, figure out their systems and then apply them. And so that’s what I started to do. Yeah, and so it’s just this constant kind of breakthrough. And what I’ve realised is that you needed to just not.

I think the most dangerous place some people can be, is taking, like action. because you need to take massive action, because when you’re taking action, you’re like, Hey, I’m kinda. I’m doing better than this person in this person, but you’re kind of in a stalemate. but when you, when you take massive action, you start having bigger problems.

And so you got to figure out how to solve these problems, right. And so that’s what I’ve realised and failing, is this an opportunity to learn. So the quicker that I can fail, the quicker I can learn quicker. I can start to change what I’m doing, and to have that success. because I think most people are just afraid of taking action because they want everything to be perfect.

Versus like, Hey, I just need to take that action, I need to fail, I need to fall forward. I need to go learn from the people who have been before me. and I need to apply it and just learn and just go. And that’s been, I think, a huge key to the success.

Kyle Biggest Pieces of Advise

Pamela Bardhi
I absolutely love that. I mean, in the face of rejection, we’re always freaking out. everyone’s always so nervous about that old thing. And entrepreneurs, you know, just shifting into something new. like, even when you transitioned into real estate like and like crushing it in that realm.

like what has been some of your biggest pieces of advice. piece of advice or pieces of advice for like entrepreneurs who are looking to transition or just like in general. that have really helped you throughout your process? And journey?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, just in specifically in the real estate or just in anything.

Pamela Bardhi
It’s anything could be real estate, too, since you’ve made a transition into that. And that was kind of a new world for you.

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, so for that I’m actually, so I’m doing some training now for real estate agents. So it’s a free webinar, if anybody wants to do it make 90k in 90 days.com. And so it’s my blueprint systems on exactly what I’ve done to do that.

So if you’re in real estate, and you want to figure out, hey, how do I make 90k? In 90 days, how do I focus on luxury listings? How do I make have buyers and sellers calling you versus you always trying to call them. then go ahead and just you can go to that. go to that website, make 90k in 90 days.com, sign up for the free webinar, I do it twice a week.

And it’s and I help answer questions and kind of get people to where I’ve been. so I give you my systems and processes and, and all this stuff. Marketing all of it. But I think for anybody just looking to make that shift into the business world or as an entrepreneur, I really do feel.

There’s a couple things. One, I think changing the way you think. Because if the way you view yourself the way you think changes everything. And so for me, I’ve created a morning routine. and that morning routine has built momentum into my day. so no matter what happens, I’m winning from the time that I wake up, I’m winning. And so that’s been a huge thing.

And then the second thing I think one of like I said, learning from people who have gone before you. so figuring out like hey, who can mentor me in this space. who has opened up a coffee shop, who can mentor me in this space, who has started investing in multifamily. who can mentor me in this space who has opened up an outdoor adventure company, whatever it is.

Whatever you want to do or clothing company or whatever that is and makeup line. like find people who have gone before you and learn from those people. because that’s going to accelerate the process. You’re going to learn from them. steaks you’re gonna learn, I think the best student always wins.

So if you can become the best student, then I think marketing is a huge piece. So if you can figure out the right marketing. because it’s not always the best real estate agent that wins. is the best marketer that wins even though I pride myself and I believe that. you know, ethically and everything else, I’m going to do better than everybody else.

But I get listings, because of the marketing, right? That I do. So yeah, I would say those three things, morning momentum. building momentum in your day, morning routine, definitely from the learning from people, right. And then third is marketing. But as far as the morning routine, I can share a little bit about that. and what mine looks like so, and everybody’s different.

But for me I’m waking up at between four and 430. And anybody can do whatever they want. But that’s the time that I wake up. When I first wake up, I do some Wim Hof breathing. So just accelerate, getting oxygen in the brain and really wake up. then I sit down and I write what I’m thankful for. I read some scripture, I spend some time in prayer.

And then from there, I call it the power hour. So I’m literally like doing the most like my, what I call HLA high leverage activity or IPA. increasing profit activity, what’s the most like valuable thing that you could be doing? Like, what’s the biggest thing that you needed to tackle? And that day, I do it within the hour?

And it’s not emails, usually, it’s like, copy right. figuring out what’s the right copy that’s going to hit? What’s the right video that’s going to do really well? You know, maybe So figuring out for you like, where? Because 20% Yeah, 20% of your time makes you 80% of your money.

So you need to figure out like, Hey, where’s my time best spent? And how do I what needs to be created in that first in that hour. Then from there, I go to I go to go and workout and I read this letter to myself, or I haven’t memorised. but I say it out loud, because I believe faith comes to hearing. So in order to hear something, you have to speak it. And so I speak out these truths about my identity, my goals, my dreams, and most people never write down there.

And so also when I’m like writing down what I’m thankful for. I’m writing down my goals and my dreams, because people write down their goals in January, and then they never write them down again. They just, it’s almost like your dreams are just slowly dying. because you’re not feeding it the fuel that it needs.

Like just like your body needs fuel. just like your car needs fuel, fuel, your dreams need fuel. so I write them down every morning and every evening. And then from there,I do the workout. I read out my letter to myself out loud, not just like, in my head, I say it out loud.

And then during that workout, and then I’ve been doing this cold plunge thing. So when jumping into the river, like this morning, we worked out at 6am. And then afterwards, we and it’s like 21 degrees. Like, and we jumped in the river, it didn’t go head under but just like right to here. it’s just it is reset, your body wakes you up. I mean, it does so many things. There’s so many benefits for it right? Then from there I go dominate the day.

So that’s just it builds momentum into the day. And literally, like, you can’t lose after doing that. You do all that stuff. You’re like, dang, like, you just feel like a champ. And so I think the hardest thing to for people’s like figuring out. like how to wake up early and how to be, how do you go off a seven, seven hours of sleep all the time. like, what does that look like?

And I think that literally like I work so hard, and bust my butt. And even with my family. You know, when I’m with my family, I go Hunter 100%. All in all the time, because when it’s time to go to bed, my brain is done. Like I’m done. Like it’s I sleep and I get to that REM sleep quick. It’s just really, really good. That’s the momentum, everybody can look like something different.

But if you did anything, I would say write down what you’re thankful for. And write down your goals and dreams and sweat those three if you did though. if you just did those three things, you’d kill it, love that.

Pamela Bardhi
Oh my gosh, I love that kind of absolutely love that. Oh man. And like, now I’m you’ve dove into real estate, you’re investing in all these businesses. you’re doing all these different things, even in the marketing world as well. Like what’s up in your world in like the next couple of months? Like what’s new and happening?

Kyle Kunkel
Well, what’s new and happening? We’re having our third kid. end of April, April 25. So yeah, that’s kind of what we’re focused on. So we’re gonna be hunkered down for a little bit. But, you know, I went to this mastermind in Puerto Rico, which was really awesome not too long ago. and really learned how to even market even better for the like in the real estate world. and growing, my team of agents all across the country and stuff like that.

So that’s been huge. I also realised that it transitions into other businesses. And so I’m taking the same concept and helping some startup companies, certain companies. I mean, the threshold is really like, if the company’s making a million bucks. you’re netting anywhere from like 800 to a million. we can help you like five 6x that and so the with this concept.

and so I’m sitting, sitting down with him who work for smaller companies. but from time to time for spective like it takes a lot of time to kind of set up for big ticket items. And so this same concept is I’ve decided I’m going to take on 10 companies. I’m working with two already.

And so I gotta just do that in the marketing world. I guess that’s kind of what I’m doing. And then in the investment world, looking at multifamily stuff like that. syndicating some deals, looking at some franchises. I can’t say too much on them just because NDAs and stuff, but

Pamela Bardhi
that’s amazing. That’s amazing. Oh, my gosh, it sounds like an exciting time for you the next like, year or two, my gosh, yeah,

Kyle Kunkel
it’s gonna be a wild ride. But I mean, I think the biggest thing for me is always keeping my family at the forefront. because what I don’t want to do is I don’t want to get to the finish line, right?

And then because I’ve seen this so many times, where you see these super successful people. but they’re super empty on the inside. Because they’ve lost their family along the way. the divorce, the kids don’t don’t know him, don’t like them, all that kind of stuff.

And so it’s like, Man, I gotta make sure that my family is the number one priority in my life. And people say that, but it’s like your actions speak louder than your words. So you know, really gonna be taking some time off when we get this baby coming.

just one I’ve been getting home in the afternoons like going outside and playing hard with the girls. I’m a girl dad, I have, I’m gonna have my third girl. So just making sure that is like at the forefront is really key for me.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. I love that Kyle. And now you mentioned your website a little bit earlier than then you can make it. but where can everybody reach you after hearing your story?

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, so bear fruit life actually bear fruit live.com is kind of the the homepage. and is where you can contact me if you’re interested about real estate or investments are having me come and speak or something like that.

So that’s, that’s where you can get a hold of me. And I do want to share one more story if it’s okay. Yeah, about the whole family thing. So this story is what kind of led me into more like consulting and coaching. and stuff like that is because, I was working with a high net worth individual. I fly out to Florida to meet with them.

And I’ve never met him just talked to him on the phone a handful of times. so I was actually out in West and West Palm for a conference. I was like, Hey, let’s connect. And he’s like, yeah, so we go to the super nice hotel called the breakers and we go up dinner, and he walks up, did not.

And this is funny, right? You never expect somebody to look the way that they sound over the phones. like, Man, I did not expect you to look, I thought he was gonna be like 55. more like 34, like, just totally not the person that thought I was going to be meeting with. anyways, so high net worth individual looking to spend $40 million on a residential home in Colorado.

And so we’ve been talking through some different stuff. And we just start connecting, he’s actually, you know, family from a different country. so we just connected all on that stuff, which is really awesome.

And then he starts talking to me, and I had my family with me on this trip. even though it’s business, we made it into like a workshop or like a family vacation added some. I think, like two or three weeks into that.

And so he’s like, man, and he had recently just gone through a divorce. five year old kid and, and so we’re sitting there, and he’s like, man, like, Kyle, like, I can have anything. I want in this world, like anything he’s like. but I don’t have what you have. And I was like, dang.

And it just kind of hit me right in my gut. Like, I was just like, I just like, my heart hurt for him. But more I was like, man, like, there’s a lot of people out there who are hurting. who maybe have have everything figured out financially. whether it’s spiritual, mental, physical, family wise relationships. they’re just empty on the inside.

And so just having that full. every single one of those kinds of buckets full and not just full. but overflowing makes a huge, huge difference, like just in your life. And so that’s kind of how I started to get into the whole. like, pushing like, the bear fruit stuff and like full circle.

I want to help people create financial freedom, but at the same time, I don’t want you to have this financial freedom. but not have the things that matter the most.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that bear fruit.com

Kyle Kunkel
Yeah, bear fruit life.com.

Pamela Bardhi 
Right, because I mean, at the end of the day, you can work and hustle if you want. if you don’t have those important things. What’s it worth, you know? Yep, exactly. Exactly. Kyle, you’re amazing.

Thank you so much for your story, sharing your journey. all the beautiful lessons and everything man. I’m excited to see where you go in the future. And just like all the amazingness you’re gonna continue to create in this world.

So thank you so so much. So that’s it for today’s episode of underdog. catch us next week, always dropping on Thursdays.

And remember, if you’re interested in real estate, or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. check out meet with Pamela calm and let’s chat sending you so so much love.