Living Your Legacy

Lindsay Mingee enters commercial real estate as a single mother with no guaranteed paycheck, powerful network, or safety net. Fifteen years later, she has facilitated more than $844 million in transactions, but the path there demands far more than learning how to close deals. In this episode of Living Your Legacy, she explores how courage, discipline, and reinvention shape a career built around both wealth and family. She unpacks why family-business owners may already be sitting on their greatest real estate asset, how commercial properties can become tools for generational wealth, and why the best advisors look beyond the transaction. She also reveals how endurance sports sharpen her entrepreneurial mindset and why building a meaningful legacy starts with giving yourself permission to design life around what matters most.
Key Takeaways
• Success does not require a perfect starting point. Courage, discipline, adaptability, and persistence can turn uncertainty into opportunity.
• Family-business owners may already be in the real estate business without realizing how valuable their property has become.
• Commercial real estate can create both wealth and flexibility, allowing entrepreneurs to design their lives around family and personal priorities.
• Great advisors look beyond the surface-level problem and help clients make decisions that protect their capital, family, and legacy.
• Endurance training reinforces an entrepreneurial mindset by repeatedly proving that difficult things can be endured and completed.
Notable Quotes
• “There’s opportunity at every point in the real estate cycle depending on who you are and what you need.”
• “You can’t have a commercial real estate conversation without having a people conversation.”
• “You’re constantly proving to yourself every day that you can do something hard.”
• “Commercial real estate is a great way to make a lot of money and have that type of flexibility.”
• “It’s been such a gift to me as a single mom all these years.”

Barbara Edelston Peterson knows what it takes to perform at the highest level. A 10-time world champion and veteran of 166 XTERRA races around the globe, she built her life around competition, discipline, and the pursuit of excellence. But an unexpected accident forces her to confront a bigger question: what does it really mean to be a champion? Barbara shares how breaking both heels reshapes her definition of success, why she creates the Whole Champion Foundation, and how her Gameface philosophy applies far beyond sports. From consistency and ambition to purpose, service, and the power of recognizing others, she explores the mindset behind resilience and meaningful impact. Her journey challenges high achievers to consider what they are building beyond their own accomplishments.
Key Takeaways
Success becomes more meaningful when personal achievement is connected to a purpose beyond yourself.
Barbara’s Gameface framework centers on fun, ambition, consistency, creativity, and excellence as foundations for performance.
Breaking both heels and spending months in a wheelchair forces Barbara to reconsider what being a “champion” actually means.
Building a mission-driven nonprofit requires trust, persistence, fundraising, and a willingness to handle the work behind the mission.
Recognizing and encouraging another person can create belonging and have an impact far greater than we realize.

Notable Quotes
“I want to be a champion of humanity.”
“If we’re not going for excellence, why are we here?”
“It’s really all of us stepping up.”
“Living life with purpose is a really special thing.”
“If anyone’s going to push through, it’s Barbara.”

Michele A. Leahy knows firsthand how complicated life with a disability can be. Born with spina bifida, navigating benefits herself, and later losing her leg, she turns lived experience into a mission to help others build greater independence. After returning to disability benefits and spending a year and a half out of work, a simple question pushes her toward entrepreneurship. What begins as an experiment becomes Leahy Life Plan, serving families across 16 states. In this episode, Michele challenges the idea that government benefits are a handout, exposes why leaving someone money does not automatically create a meaningful life, and explains how disability life planning, SSI/SSDI, employment support, and community services can help families create more secure futures.
Key Takeaways
• Why disability benefits can be a “hand up” toward independence rather than a barrier to working
• How Michele turns her own experience navigating disability and government benefits into a business
• Why money alone cannot guarantee a fulfilling, independent life for an adult with disabilities
• How SSI/SSDI, job coaching, healthcare, and community services can work together to support independence
• Why families need to plan beyond finances when preparing for an adult child’s long-term future
Notable Quotes
• “They think it’s a hand out and it’s really a hand up.”
• “It’s providing a house, but it’s not providing a life.”
• “Why don’t you start your own business?”
• “Well, there’s something here.”
• “I’m just excited to just serve more people.”

After 15 years in the military and a string of corporate jobs that never fit, Curtis Kinsey finds himself moving toward a future he never planned. The veteran entrepreneur starts with a mower and a willingness to work, then discovers what happens when rejection becomes fuel for building something of his own. In this episode of Living Your Legacy, Curtis explores the transition from military service to entrepreneurship, the growing pains behind scaling a landscaping business, and why grit alone can only take a founder so far. He reveals how leadership, systems, company culture, AI in business, and calculated expansion shape GI-Mow as the stakes rise. His unconventional path challenges the traditional mold of entrepreneurship and asks a bigger question: what if the failures that seem to hold someone back are actually the raw material for building something meaningful? Pasted text Inside Success Onboarding Form …
Key Takeaways
• Rejection and career setbacks can become fuel for entrepreneurship.
• Military discipline can translate into leadership and accountability in business.
• Scaling from one mower requires hiring, equipment, systems, and learning to navigate growing pains.
• Founders eventually have to move beyond doing everything themselves and build a team they can trust.
• AI and emerging technology can help traditional blue-collar businesses improve operations, design, and growth. Pasted text Pasted text
Notable Quotes
• “I don’t like being told what to do, and I damn sure don’t like being micromanaged.” Pasted text
• “You never think that I could actually own a business. I was never taught that way.” Pasted text
• “You just lower your head and you keep going.” Pasted text
• “Growing pains is a thing. It’s hard to keep up.” Pasted text
• “If you haven’t implemented AI into your business at this stage of this AI bubble, you’re going to get left behind.”

Philip Fairweather knows entrepreneurship can change more than a career. After an NFL opportunity disappears, an invention born from his own athletic setback launches him into business and teaches him lessons he later turns into opportunity for others. Today, through Entrepreneurs Academy, Philip works with veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals, and underserved communities to build businesses, strengthen financial health, and create generational wealth. He reveals why entrepreneurship tests every fiber of your character, why mindset matters as much as strategy, and how consistent action compounds over time. Along the way, Philip explores self-belief, resilience, mentorship, and what it means to build a legacy when the impact may not carry your name.
Key Takeaways
Entrepreneurship can give people a path toward taking control of their own destiny and creating generational wealth.
A failed NFL opportunity ultimately pushes Philip toward an invention that begins his entrepreneurial journey.
Entrepreneurs need financial, physical, and mental health to sustain the demands of building a business.
Self-belief and the people surrounding you can influence whether you continue growing or become your own obstacle.
Legacy does not require personal recognition. For Philip, it lives through his students, their businesses, and the opportunities they create for future generations.

Notable Quotes
“You can’t be something if you can’t see something.”
“I believe in you guys more than you believe in yourself.”
“I’m not going to be my worst enemy.”
“It will test every fiber of your character.”
“You guys are my legacy.”