How Military Discipline Built a Purpose-Driven Business

hold into a very well-crafted system.

“But when you get to the civilian world, the world didn't change.”

You have to do a lot of introspection and re-adjustment to make sure that you are a relevant in the civilian world. And that's the tough one. Terrence Lackie is an entrepreneur, veteran,

and the founder of White Glove Medical Logistics. Through his work, he provides trusted health care logistics solutions while inspiring others to build businesses rooted in service, discipline, and excellence. In the case of the health care technology field,

I have run into so many scenarios where you ask the question, and nobody has to answer. There's a super opportunity for someone to step in there who has a solution who has a right answer for it. It's kind of what I do to my business.

If you could give one piece of advice to an entrepreneur out there that might be brand new or a veteran that might be

in the middle of their transition, back to the civilian world,

what advice would you give them? I will say that it's fans the goal, like a super high school, internet Elvis. (crowd cheering) Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.

It's not over, I'll tell how we're-- - The living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering)

Oh, that is sensational, too. (crowd cheering) Open. (crowd cheering) It's the bottom of the planet.

You can live your dream. - Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Living Your Legacy Podcast.

Today, I am joined by Terrence Lackey

of White Glove Medical Logistics Terrence Highfield and today. - Yeah, I'm feeling great, thanks for having me. - I pleasure, pleasure having you on the show. So you just finished filming your episode of Operation CEO.

Tell me a little bit about what the audience can expect to learn about you in your episode. - Well, I mean, I just got done finishing the episode. It was a great experience. The audience is going to be able to get

an insight into my business and insight into the mind of a veteran who actually utilize some of the skills and an experience that he gained while I'm on active duty and in the reserves in National Guard to actually build a business.

And now I'm super excited to share the story

“because I think it might be an inspiration to others.”

- So talk to me a little bit about your experience with the military. You know, I've interviewed a couple of different business owners through Operation CEO and you guys represent a unique part of the veteran population

that they come home and they're able to start up a business and be successful with the lessons that they learn through active duty. Talk to me a little bit about what those lessons were. - Yeah, you know, I'm not sure how special the subset is.

I'm sure, you know, not everybody does it, but certainly everybody can. And so I went into the military and I was a combat engineer. So I started out blowing things up, blowing up bridges,

blowing up roads, and that was an easy sell for the recruiter. Hey, you wanna go blow stuff up? - Yeah, that's the thing with that job. My specialty was destroying things.

And I eventually got to a point where I got a chance to cross train into fixing things. So I became a medical equipment technician, a biomedical equipment technician in hospital. So repairing, suffering in hospital,

repairing, maintaining medical equipment. So I went from destroying things to being able to repair, maintain things. So I got the whole spectrum there. But the transition from taking those skills

and going into the civilian world and actually starting an entrepreneur journey or path and opening and starting a business, yeah, that's a little tricky. And I can't tell you it was a easy thing.

It was something that I grew into and made several mistakes and learned along the way. But it was very rewarding. And compliments, compliments, the military background, quite a bit.

There's a lot of aspects to it that will make you a lot more successful. And you know, that's kind of like a unanimous experience that I've heard from other veterans is that that sort of transition from being in the service

to going into civilian life. That transition can be-- there's a little period there that's a little tricky. Talk to me a little bit about your transition back into the civilian world.

Yeah, sure. Well, I tell you, I kind of think--

“if you want to visualize it, I kind of think of it as--”

I went-- I went white water rafting one time in the chat of who's your river of Tennessee. And you start out and you're nice and nice calm waters. And you know, I mean, it's kind of rough when you join the military. There's a point of adjustment where you learn how to be

in the military. You learn, you learn, you learn a chain of command.

a accomplished mission.

And these things are drilled into you

to where you are hold into a very well-crafted system on a machine or a unit where you could get something done, whatever that may be. A lot of structure. Yeah, super structured.

And so when you get out, you actually get through that hurdle, go through the basic training, all the other training, and all the deployments, and everything. And you're on calm waters, from a military's perspective. But when you get out, you're on the calm river.

And then you hit the white water rafids of the civilian world. And things get tossed up and down, left and right. And you really, it kind of rocks your reality.

“And you have to do a lot of introspection”

and readjustment to make sure that you are a relevant in the civilian world. And so that transition, they've done a lot better over the over the years, most recent years,

as far as helping people transition into the civilian life.

But it's no regardless of what they try to do. It's still a huge approach. Because you have to, it has to dawn on you that you not everybody changed. You changed when you did what you did.

But when you get to the civilian world, the world didn't change. And so you got to fit back into it. And that's the top part. And someone brought up an interesting point in one of these podcasts that I did.

And they said that you go from this very structured reality where you have a lot of the questions that you might have or easily answered because you can just go up chain of command to get those questions answered. But then when you get back out into this civilian world,

it feels like you've lost that structure. Everything is chaos. You don't really know what's going on.

But then you have the opportunity

to build your own structure set around what it is that you want to do. Would you say that that's pretty accurate? Super accurate.

“Super, I think that's right on hits in the end of the head.”

Literally, there's no question. If you're in the military, there's people in the military at your various levels of leadership that their whole job is to have all the answers. So you literally just have to ask the right person

or send it up the chain of command. If you might have heard that phrase before, send it up the flagpole and you'll get an answer of some side. Be it in the civilian world, being in my case

that health care, technology, field, or other fields that I've been encountered as I've been out of the military, I have run into so many scenarios where you ask the question and nobody has the answer and there's crickets and no one knows.

And there's a super opportunity for someone to step in there who has a solution who has a right answer for it. Who has real world results that they can show and fill that void.

And this is kind of what I do with my business. That's kind of I stepped in into a spot where I saw opportunity. I saw where I can provide answers were my background could lead into fulfilling a need.

And so that's kind of how it worked and kind of the transition that's made new situations. - In the entrepreneurial world, I feel like a lot of the time what an entrepreneur is usually doing is filling gaps.

There's gaps in either information. There's gaps in services, there's gaps in technology. So you as an entrepreneur, you go in and you fill those gaps. In whatever way that you can with your business, talk to me a little bit about white glove medical

and how you're filling in the gaps and getting services out or helping hospitals with their technology. - Yeah, sure, absolutely. So our specialty of white glove medical logistics

is that last mile of medical equipment logistics. This is not having shipped across the country across the world. This is where the equipment has been ordered than delivered and is pending deployment

into a medical facility. Prior to that, all of the architecture has been done, all of the planning of that medical equipment's been done. Transition planning has been done, patient moves have been planned out.

But there you have that last piece where thousands and thousands of pieces of medical equipment will sit in a warehouse and they just completed construction of a building. And those thousands of pieces need to be inventoryed

“and you need to be assessed whether they're correct”

in the right accessories, maybe assembled, they need to be staged and then moved and placed in the exact right places in that entire facility to make sure that each department set up the way it was designed to be set up.

And that's not something that you can do on a normal basis. It's not an experience that most people ever even have. Even that warehouse facility will not have that kind of experience

and dealing with something like that. They might deal with the normal move or normal delivery of something one or two items. But where something on that kind of scale

twice in a career type of thing for someone

who works at a hospital system. But for someone like me or my company, why called medical logistics, we deal with that exclusively. So you car clients trust us

“because we can actually step in and handle that part”

and deliver the end result with predictability and be able to anticipate the problems that it needs. So providing those real solutions, real tangible solutions to a need, a risk that's out there. It really takes you from being in the room,

being in the room, wondering if your value is appreciating that room, to be in the room on your own right, where everybody in the room understands the value you bring to the table.

And that's kind of where we got in now with my business.

Everybody understands the value that we bring to the table

and it's unquestionable. And that gives you a lot of confidence, but you don't have that confidence to begin with. So I've grown through the stages where we've gotten now to that point where there is no,

there's no board room, there's no CEO, there's no hospital system that we're afraid to speak to because we could demonstrate how exactly we will help them out and do it better

“than a lot of times they could do with themselves.”

- We talked about this a little bit off camera, but you mentioned that there's like, kind of a fine line, there's a period for most hospitals where there might be an renovation, they might be in building out a new hospital,

and you kind of find that gap, that period, where they're gonna need your services

and you're able to target right in the middle of that gap.

- Exactly, there's a very finite window. There's a period of time where, if it's a replacement hospital, for example, and there's an existing hospital that's functioning, operating with patients, and they're doing their day job.

So there's a design team that has designed a new hospital and that's being constructed. So there's that little window where all those clinicians will take go from that hospital already running to their brand new workplace, right?

But before that happens, there's a slice of time where the contractors finish the building and all that equipment needs to be deployed to the end location. And that's the part that we handle. That's the part that we handle.

Some other little pieces up prior to that, but that's our zone right there. And that's where we own it, and we make sure that's the pocket. - That's the pocket. - Yeah, that's the pocket.

And there's a lot of different fields. IT does their thing where they come in and set up the computers or the furniture folks who set up the furniture, but we are medical equipment, and we deal with life-saving equipment, a high dollar value, high risk equipment,

and we make sure that it all gets positioned correctly for clinical care. It's very rewarding because we know we're doing, at the end of the day, we're contributing to the health and to the prosperity of the community

because we're helping get that new medic facility up and running. - And it's high precision equipment to like,

“I think for anybody watching at this point in the show,”

the equipment that is company is dealing with has very few touch points, right? And each one of those touch points needs to be handled with a lot of care because the smallest, you're talking about medical equipment

that's gonna be saving somebody's life. So the smallest little mishandling of a piece of equipment, these are six, sometimes seven figure pieces of equipment. The smallest little bit of mishandling can ruin a piece of equipment and lose hundreds of thousands

of dollars for these hospitals for clients and lose out on life-saving care for people. So it's no small task that you guys are taking on. And for me working in production, I work with a lot of yes high precision equipment,

but at the end of the day, if a camera breaks, anybody gonna die, no one's gonna die. But like this is you're handling something that is so important with such a degree of care that it shows in your expertise

and in the way that you're handling that aspect of your business. So I don't wanna gloss over that part 'cause I think it's important. - Absolutely correct.

I mean, it is, 'cause my background is in biomedical engineering. As a military trade, me as a biomedical equipment technician. Later on, I actually taught at the military biomed school, the Tri-Service school,

where we taught army, air force, and navy biomed, how to do their job. So a part of that process, part of it becoming that thing. And it's one of the things we bring to it.

A lot of our members are a lot of people in our team or our ex military and biomed or a background. And I could tell you, when I was training to be a biomed and I worked on a piece of equipment, it was, at one point it was like you're fixing

a piece of equipment, but it takes an entirely new dimension on when you go to the NICU and you see an infant,

that you just worked on.

“And that baby's alive because that piece of machinery,”

equipment works because it's at the right place at the right time and providing a right service for that child and you had something to do with it. And it's the same thing with every piece of equipment in the facility.

So a lot of it is really expensive, rather than a lot of it

has a high acuity, a lot of it has a very critical tip

to the any kind of dishandling. So yeah, that's part of it. And that's the reason why it's all we need, that little slice of the process is where we make such a big contribution in the work life.

- I want to ask a question on, you mentioned that a lot of the guys that you work with are veterans as well. For the guys that you bring in to your company that are coming out of the military as well,

you're sort of providing not only a safe space for them to have game phone employment, but how are you sort of helping them with their transition, and having gone through it yourself? - First of all, we have a general preference

for anybody that's ever been in any branch in the military. Just because we, regardless of the branch, regardless of which your job wasn't in the military, you have a, I don't know, it's underlying connection. You know some of the things that they went through,

they know some of the things you went through and they have a mutual respect and you understand that to be at any level of success, to be in the military period and to have finished a tour of duty especially,

you know that there's a certain reliability that that person will have, that they will, you're in the fight together and no matter what it is, you'll achieve it together. That's the first thing.

And then the second thing is I offer opportunity outside of, so 'cause you might have people that are maybe not available to work full time or maybe there's a hospital project that's not in there. The first is sitting in the other town.

So we bring them on either is a W2 employee as a full time, in salary person or on a contract basis. So they say there's a big project in quite often, you might have disabled the veterans or veterans that have retired or veterans that are in the reserve

and they have time available to contribute to a project. We'll bring them on as a 1099 contractor and they will go with and they will, we will all work together on a project for a limited duration of time. So that's really good, the structure really works there.

And then what I also like to do,

they were right, done always since the time

that I was teaching at the Biomed School, is I like to try to mentor as much as possible and counsel veterans who are transitioning. That is really key because it is a rocky time. And when you were talking to someone

who wants to go along the same aspect as you or you have some knowledge, you can contribute to them, you try to do it.

“And I found it, it's more rewarding, I think to me,”

than to them because I find it immensely satisfying for me to help them on their journey. Because a lot of times in my journey, I haven't had help in it. You've learned hard way and they call it the school

of hard knocks, right? So I've been to that school. I'm gonna alumni. Yeah, they're different. Got honors there, yeah, but definitely preferred

work with veterans and then our company's based on that. So it doesn't matter. I mean, I've worked with a gentleman, I used to teach with at the Spabbett School.

Twenty-some-one used to first sergeant in the Air Force,

retired. And now he has time to pursue some other things, but he also wants to be part of a team. And so he's been immensely helpful. I have a lady that works with us.

It was a naval officer from the Academy graduate and she worked helps us with our finance. And I said there are other people in the team that are prior service military and we really pride ourselves and being owned

and mostly run by veteran population. And then I pride myself on providing any kind of contribution to up-and-coming entrepreneurs or veterans that are looking to being home entrepreneurs. So as we kind of wind down here

and guys, if you're still watching at this point, I wanna make sure that you stay tuned for Terrence's episode of Operation CEO, which will be coming out shortly after this podcast episode drops, you'll get a much deeper dive

into his story, the story of his business, and how he's been able to achieve success through this business. Here at Inside Success, obviously, we like to celebrate the successes

of the entrepreneurs that come through these doors. If you could give one piece of advice to an entrepreneurial out there that might be brand new or a veteran that might be in the middle of their transition

“back to this civilian world, what advice would you give them?”

- Mm, that's a good one. What one piece of advice? - I got several, so I'm gonna be releasing around the time that the episode airs.

where I'll break down some of the recommendations that I have, very simple, only three, and kind of how they would definitely help someone. So check that out and I alluded to it in the episode that I just shot.

But I will say that, I mean, true success. Success where you thrive in what you're doing and it doesn't feel like work

“and it doesn't feel like you have to prove yourself.”

That's a very small area. And it's an intersection of three things. It's intersection in one of your passion. What is it that you care about?

I mean, you never touched it before,

but it's something that you're passionate about. Your passion, number two, it's gonna be your experience. And a lot of veterans bring a lot of traits and characteristics or entrepreneurs have traits and characteristics.

Not necessarily to veterans because it could be, you could have developed a lot of discipline through sports. You could have developed discipline through trials that life has pushed you through. So what is your experience brings to this table?

And then you, the final thing is your talents. So where your talents overlap your experience, overlise your inspiration.

“Where that didn't diagram, that little middle part there,”

that's the sweet spot.

And so if you can find something,

a calling a business where you can niche down into that sweet spot, that's gonna, that's gonna really, I know I'm making big general characterization, but that's as simple as it is.

Take a look at what you've done, take a look at what you're feeling passionate about and take a look at what trainings the skills that you have that mirror that. And you'll find a sweet spot in that sweet spot

is like the center of archery target. And yes, what you're shooting for, or when you're at the range. Take a look, do a little self reflection in the introspection.

And do an inventory of what you have in those aspects. And then what that would lead you to.

“And that's gonna take you to a place where you can thrive.”

- And for those of you guys that are listening to that advice, also write it down. I can't stress how important. I mean, you mentioned that you've written a book, it's gonna be coming out shortly after this episode airs,

but write it down. If you're able to, when you're doing that introspection, my dad's a sports psychologist, right? So he works with athletes to help them with their mental strength development.

And the biggest thing that I've learned amongst people who are highly successful is that they don't just create a plan and think about it, they write it down. Like, if you can make it tangible

and you can look at a thing that you wrote down and say, all right, I can work towards this goal, it makes it all the more achievable. It's such a simple step, but it's a step that people overlook.

And I don't want you guys to overlook that. So identify your goals, identify what you want to achieve, identify what you're good at, identify what you're passionate about and write it all down.

This has been an amazing episode, brother.

I appreciate you for coming on the show with us. Final words, anything that you want to leave the people with. - I just want to echo what you just said when you said write it down because at the end of the day, if you don't write it down,

it's a wish, it's a dream. If you write it down, that's when it becomes a goal. And so definitely, definitely write it down. I look forward to meeting anyone that sees this. Hope you see the episode, watch the episode.

I hope you get something from it. And now I'm glad to be here. Thank you very much. - Of course, of course. Guys, this has been another episode

of the Living Your Legacy Podcast. Again, I am your host, Jason Tyler, and we will catch you all guys in the next one. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)