How to Fix Disapproved Products and Suspensions in Google Merchant Center Part 3

[00:00:00] What's going on folks. Welcome to the bearded wisdom podcast. I am your host, Les McDaniel and your audacious guide into the trenches of wisdom. This show is all about inspiring. The UN inspired to unstick what is stuck within you and to liberate that leader that we all have inside of us. But before we unlock the mysteries of who you are, that mysterious.

[00:00:23] I wanna remind you that you can follow me and gain greater wisdom, insights through little things that I post here and there on all of my social channels. And your preferred one is probably also covered Instagram and Facebook. You can find me@epicfusion.life on TikTok. You can find me at bearded wisdom on LinkedIn.

[00:00:41] It's gonna be less McDaniel if that's pretty obvious, go ahead and find me there. And you will also, well, I mean, what other, what am I missing YouTube? I mean, I'm out there too. I think it's under less is more. Uh, that's a little bit challenging one, but this week is really an overarching conversation about, uh, my intentions around beard wisdom and a little bit of an introduction into who I am.

[00:01:04] And I gotta tell you that this is I'm so excited because this is one of those podcasts that you, you really gotta be willing to be curious. Um, I, I, I, I gotta tell you that there's a whole lot of self-preservation that has been wanting to be play out in me. And during this time, I mean, even in, in the recording of this first episode, I'm already feeling this, why is anybody gonna listen to this?

[00:01:24] But I gotta tell you, I don't really care. And that is such a beautiful thing because I'm not looking to find followers at the end of all of this. What my hope is that this is a truly. A space of memoirs for my family, memoirs of, of wisdom and, and leadership and, and ways to go about this world. I want this to be the space where I get to begin to leave behind something for a legacy of love and leadership in my world that will lead my kids and that, and my grandkids and their kids into a world of abundance.

[00:01:58] Um, I have no preoccupation to believe that that this is going to be for everyone. In fact, I can tell you right now, if you are solid in your beliefs and you believe you've already got it figured out, and you already know the answers to most of life's big, big questions, then I gotta tell you that's okay.

[00:02:14] I'm right. If this is not the space for you, but I'm gonna move forward as though this is going to be in service to myself, to my children and to my grandkids and anyone who, that, that cares to just, you know, be a fly on the wall of, of my life. This is for them. So. Let's get started. Here's a little bit of an introduction to who I am.

[00:02:38] And then I will tell you a little bit more about where we're gonna go along the way with beard, this bearded wisdom podcast. You know, I was, uh, I like to say this in, in a funny sort of way, but I was a, I was born a boy named Leslie and it was not necessarily the easiest first day of elementary school.

[00:02:54] Um, and for many years thereafter, it took us a little while to realize we don't have to put my real name. We can use my, uh, nickname, which is less and yet even less is not necessarily the strongest of names for a run. Like I was, uh, when I was growing up, but it was a formative thing. It was something that I believed that, that I, I wouldn't take back.

[00:03:19] and, and it truly is the essence of, um, really how I have, I begin to see myself as something that is more just because of the fact that I have my, my name less, I actually name my me. One of my companies is less, is more media because I wanted to embrace it as an affirmation for myself because of, of, of my upbringing.

[00:03:40] But I digress at the end of the day, this boy named Leslie was one that was a run. And I learned very quickly, um, how to tap into and, and to be curious about others and how to be an influence and be a really good speaker and to love other people in ways that maybe they hadn't been loved before. And when I could know their story, I was able to tap into a true space of really uncovering how to connect with them.

[00:04:04] And that was meaningful for those folks. And it gave me a lot of street cred when I was a, as a little runt. Um, I learned how to have friends that had my back with the bullies I had. Pockets of friends that were in the quote studious category. We won't go down and call 'em nerds, even though that's what I, I started to say, but they were the studious ones where I could lean into for things around my, my, you know, when I struggled with, with school.

[00:04:30] I had friends who were in the in band, who were amazing artists and taught me things about how to play instruments. And, um, and then I, I had my, my athletic buddies who, uh, would take, take me under their wing and, and taught me everything that they knew. And this sounds really cheesy at this particular fo juncture, but it's true.

[00:04:50] And I, I learned how to build relationships and connect with people. From my very early days. And I knew that I wanted to be someone who inspired others, who had, who, who were coming outta situations, where they felt like they were the underdog. And I knew that I wanted to at, I think I was 13 when I first realized that I actually wanted to be a motivational speaker one day or a preacher, one of the two and well, and I've done a little bit of both.

[00:05:15] Um, and, and so I, I gotta that, that those were my days and I grew up moving a lot. And so I learned very quickly that how to, how to make new friends and how to set the stage for my own success and the environment that I was gonna be in, not knowing how long I was gonna be at the next place. My dad was an, uh, a truly aspiring entrepreneur who did a lot of great, great things.

[00:05:39] Um, was a part of several startups and ultimately was a, a guy who was a connector a lot like me and I looked up to him. He was a leader in our church and he was a leader in our home and, and it was amazing to be able to have parents that loved and cared for me and instill to me this ability to actually to be curious, You know, I told you, I, I grew up in church and we literally were those who didn't miss, uh, a, a time when the doors were open.

[00:06:07] And we even found other times that we could get together with others that were in the church and, and be connected with them. And I, I gotta tell you that, um, it was really a powerful, uh, forming for me to be in church. It was, it, they, they kind of created me to be this guy that is before you today. They, they solved in my questions.

[00:06:29] When, when things didn't make sense, they saw somebody who was really seeking truth. They, they challenged me and they pushed me and, and a lot of times told me that I was wrong and I was very persistent in how I would. Really attack those things in life. I remember seeing things like, uh, the felt board, Jesus that would be put up there.

[00:06:51] And he was like the white guy in a white robe. And I would ask questions like wouldn't, wasn't he walking down dusty roads. Wouldn't his robe be all dirty in his feet dirty. And yet here he was the perfect Americanized version of Jesus. And I remember thinking, like seeing and hearing stories about Jesus going out and, and touching the untouchable and loving the unlovable and the underserved in the world.

[00:07:14] And then looking outside of the doors of the church and seeing homeless folks and wondering, well, why aren't they coming in to our potlucks and, and not in a judgmental way, but just truly in with the innocence of a, of a young kid. Just wondering why were these things not in alignment? And, and it shaped me throughout my life to ask the questions that, that really got to the root of, if Jesus was saying these things, then shouldn't, we be also able to live the same way.

[00:07:44] And I was everything about the way that Jesus lived. His life seemed to make sense as to the way that we should live ours. Now, granted, I was still a kid who liked to explore and be curious in all the realms. You know, the ups and downs of good and bad and ugly and all the things. And I, wasn't always the most honest kid, I learned how to, to manipulate words.

[00:08:07] Falsehoods and I mean, manipulate situations with falsehoods at every chance I got and, and got caught many times, but yet it was one of those formative things in my life to, to be aware of my world in ways, and to see things and to be, wanna get into the nitty gritty of how things worked well, that formed me along the way and led me into, um, the realm of communications when I got, uh, into college.

[00:08:32] And I played sports and did all sorts of things in high school, nothing that was that extravagant. I was, uh, a Jack of all trades master of none. And yet, even though that's got a positive ending on the other side of it, I, I I'll stick with the old version, uh, Jack of all trades master of none. Um, really wasn't wasn't excelling at much of anything, except for my leadership skills.

[00:08:53] I was seen to be a leader at church. I was seen to be a leader at school and, uh, I was, I was one of the class favorites because by the teachers, because I was just enough of a clown to make them laugh, but respectful enough to be able to stay in my seat throughout the entire time of school. And I get thrown off into the principal's office or anything like that.

[00:09:12] It was, uh, a fun ride. I really enjoyed my childhood. Um, and we had some hard times and we had some moments that were challenging, but that at the end of the day were those, weren't not the things that shaped me. I got into college and, um, got a communications degree. I struggled through school. I met my wife almost three 30 years.

[00:09:33] To the date in October, it'll be 30 years in which I've known my wife heavily and we've been married for 27 years. And we have just been, um, in those days of growing up, we've been blessed to raise four amazing children. All of whom are adults or almost adults. AKA I've got. Two that are still in college and still, uh, kind of living with, uh, a little bit of dependence upon us.

[00:10:00] And I'm blessed to have the three girls, uh, Kaylin, grace and Addie. And then my son Owen and my son plus Kelton, who is my oldest, uh, daughter's husband. And they are amazing people. And I have just been so blessed by, by being able to raise those kids and they are going to be a part of this story for sure.

[00:10:20] Along the journey of wisdom. If you. uh, after school, I immediately jumped into, uh, a, well, my, I had one year that in which I worked at MetLife and found out really quickly that my, my gifts were not in the world of sales at that level. I was too young and not enough, uh, expertise to actually be able to go out and sell people, life insurance or investments, because I had none and was, yeah, I, I, who was I to be out there selling those things, or so I thought.

[00:10:50] And so, but very shortly after that, uh, within a year I had started my own business in the graphic design world. I've been an entrepreneur most of my life. Um, I went back to school and got my MDiv, um, and spent three years getting a master's of divinity where I truly found that to be one of the most transformative experiences of my life.

[00:11:10] And, uh, we did a church. We started a church that was up in the north Dallas area where we truly just begin to meet people where they were at and what that looked like was kind of messy. It was, uh, you know, playing poker, having a beer with folks. Um, playing on their terms, go to the pool, getting to know them being involved in the messiness, them not even knowing what I did for some time, until one day they would ask.

[00:11:36] And then they would find out that I was a pastor of a church. And it was an amazing experience of realizing in that moment. That we don't live in a world that needs to be corrected, but we just need to live in a world that needs to be loved. And, and it was such a formative piece. And yet it was such a challenging and investing time that, that those who were involved in the support of that, it, it was a challenge for them to be able to see the vision, to be able to, to, to, to be a part of something that didn't look like what they were expecting or that they had hoped it.

[00:12:07] That, that it didn't necessarily feel, or, or act like a quack, like a church or a church building or a congregation, but it was more of a community affair. And, and, and it broke down both outside of this with the support and internally, because it was such a new group of people that were very immature in the space of what it meant to, to walk that world, walk in the world of church.

[00:12:32] And it was a heartbreaking time and it sent me off and we moved to Austin after it broke down and we start, I got into real estate and did some things there and did very well for several years, but it was eating it, my soul. Um, nothing wrong with the, with the state of that. But I really had a, had found that I was going, I, I mean, I knew that I was called to be into that space of living in this, in service to others and to, to, to bring forth in them, this, this way of life that Jesus would show.

[00:13:03] And it was such an important piece of me. And yet I was broken and I was hurt by the whole experience. And it sent me off on the deep bin. I, I, I jokingly say often that I slid down the slippery slope and I just began to, to explore and look for truth in every arena I could possibly find. I was definitely still a leader in the church that we were at in Austin, but, uh, here in Austin, Texas, but, but it was, uh, it, it was one of those where I, I never really.

[00:13:31] Fit back in because of the experience of the authenticity and the rawness of what we experienced and being in a community together. And it shaped my heart in such a way that, that everything that I wanted to do was really trying to find ways to, to bring this, this idea of this way of life into the marketplace.

[00:13:51] To live it out to introduce others, to the idea that, that, that, uh, there is this power within us, this source within us, this spirit that we all share that is connected. And it led me down the path of looking backwards in life to going further back in history, into, to studying Hinduism and Buddhism and shamanism is even.

[00:14:11] To really, to discover what truth really was. And I was trying to find a way to, to, to, to make sense of my world instead of just this one little spot of my life, looking like this, uh, this, this way of life with Jesus. I wanted it to be something broad and understand it in the context of the whole, of, of human history.

[00:14:33] And what I found is I began to discover these truths is that each of my teachers in all of these areas, from the shaman, who said he was so excited about me wanting to, uh, bring forth the good news of Jesus, the lives of others and saying, I can't wait to see you go back into that world or the Hindu teacher who said, Jesus had all the answers you need.

[00:14:54] Don't try to change who, who he is or who you are, because he understands the way of truth. Or the Buddhist teacher who totally was seeking unity among all of the religions, because he understood that even Jesus had had the, was the resource, the essence of God, the divine and that he was just pointing us to what was already within each of us.

[00:15:16] And yet here I was this guy who deeply had this desire for spiritual things and also had this gift of entrepreneurialism. I as an entrepreneur and I absolutely adored the creativity that came from being in that space. And throughout our lives, uh, my wife and I we've experienced several things that have been transformative for us.

[00:15:40] I mean, in 2016, in the midst of me being very successful in real estate, she had a stroke which led to all sorts of, uh, timeouts from. Our religious experiences at our church and led to us realizing that we were really those, like our gifts is really for, for bringing this, this space of what it means to live into the truth into the world.

[00:16:03] And that we were really more suitable suited for finding community outside of that space. . And so we, we now love and are, are blessed by the churches that we have been a part of, but now we truly are trying to live out that church life to bring, uh, a religionist version of what it means to live like Jesus into the world.

[00:16:23] And so that is the essence of who we are and what we stand for. And I understand that even saying those words, I mean, I'm even a little bit triggered if I'm honest, when I use the words Jesus, these days, I feel like I, I hear that old evangelical. Preacher. That's like in Jesus name coming outta me. And I don't wanna be that guy.

[00:16:42] And it is not, I am not saying that that guy's all bad, but I am saying that there is something about the way that I hope and, want to bring forth the idea of us discovering wisdom together that is open to all the voices that are at the table of life. And I believe that the essence of this whole, you know, the spirit of what we are doing.

[00:17:05] Is to find a unity in our voices. And when we can find that unity and we can bring forth unity in our world and, and it is not for everyone, it is just for the few that really desire something bigger, broader, more connected to source, more connected to each other. Those of us who can do that become a network that touches the lives of so many people in our world.

[00:17:26] And the world is influenced by that. Whether they embrace it or not. I believe my role is to just be the ambassador of that. Wherever I go to be an ambassador of love, to be an ambassador of truth, to be an ambassador of, of light and, and, and wisdom in our world. And this is what this podcast is all about.