 Hi, this is Roseanne from the Alcohol Free Lifestyle Programs. I'm sitting in for James today. I am a coach and enrollment coach and a client journey coach with the program. And I like to say that I have one of the best jobs in the world because I get to watch people transform their lives inside 90 days. Today, we have with us Shane Tucker, who is 36 years old as of a few days ago. He's got a very interesting tech run that we get to talk about. He is actually the owner of a tequila company. He is the owner of a construction company in Dallas. He is from the Gold Coast in Australia, as you will soon know when he speaks. And most interestingly, interestingly enough, for me anyway, he is a professional race car driver, drag race car driver. He was just teaching me about the difference in these things. A member of the NHRA, which is the largest professional motorsport organization in the world. Did I get that right, Shane? You did indeed. Okay. Shane also is the father of two children, ages 11 and two, and has a fiance. So we are just going to start right in with Shane. Welcome, Shane. Hey, Roseanne, thanks for having me. Oh my gosh, it's so good to have you because I have tons and tons of questions. Yeah, it's been a long journey. I'm sure we got plenty to talk about. Yeah, let's start with, let's just start with race car driving. Where did that come from? So I guess my father raced back in the day, I guess, from when he was 17 years old. So I guess as a kid, I just was brought up in it. It was around my whole life from when I was a baby. And then from a, I guess, from a professional level, when I was about 19, I started driving our team race car and he retired and had an opportunity to drive for a team in the US when I was 20. So I spent a couple of years in the United States trying to get a full-time ride, but unfortunately, I think it was about 2008, 2009, the whole world collapsed. I remember that. And ended up coming home. I continued my racing in Australia, but I guess I had a goal when I came back. I had a little bit of unfinished business and I was, of the opinion, if I was going to get a ride in the US, then I had to start a business over there myself. So I guess I started a business in Australia first, built a construction company up to about 100-odd employees in Australia. And then there was an opportunity to get back and race in America in 2014. And as that happened, we were at a race in, I think it was Indianapolis and I had an email back at our sales team in Australia about, from an architect firm in Dallas and suggested that there was an opportunity to work in the US and Dallas was a thriving market and maybe we need to look into it. So I looked in a little bit further into the business side of it and set up a business, exactly the same business what we're doing in Australia over in Dallas. And the numbers lined up and everything else. And I guess from then on it was all go and my business in the US now is my main focus right now. I don't do any work in Australia anymore because the market is so strong over in Dallas. And yeah, built a quite a successful construction company in Dallas. We've got about 85 employees over there. And off the back of that, I continued my racing on the side in a part time basis. And off the back of that, I got educated on ultra premium tequila from my employees who are a majority of them from Mexico, family and families and whatnot, send them blank label tequila and anyone who's been to Mexico understand it's very ingrained in their culture tequila. And I ended up getting introduced to it by our local employees and fell in love with it and figured if there's an opportunity to create a brand and take it to Australia and introduce Australians a little bit to what ultra premium tequila is, then it might be a good opportunity. So we did that and kicked that off in 2019. We've been going about a year now. And my job now, I'm based in Australia, my nine to five job is selling liquor, selling my brand. There's a good transition point about how you came to the decision that maybe you ought to take alcohol out of your life for a little bit. Tell me about what was happening there on the drinking side of your life? I mean, I've always been a fairly, I guess outgoing person. I like to be the life of the party a little bit. I like to organize, get together with friends and family. And I want to make sure everyone has a good time and enjoys himself. And I'm that guy whenever there's something going on, that's me. I organize it, put everything on, invite everyone around and we have a good time. So I guess I look at my business ventures the same way. I'm extremely ambitious. I would like to one day think that hope that I could create a lifestyle for my family and friends that we really don't have to think too much about the day to day stuff and really can enjoy life at its finest and purest. And probably enjoy it on our terms, I guess. And unfortunately, in today's day and age, we're so driven by money because money is what keeps us ticking over. It's what puts food on the table. It can consume your life. And I guess sometimes a byproduct of that is you turn to drinking to solve some of these issues. You mean the stress? Yeah, a little bit, which is obviously something I learned, which is a whole lot of bullshit, to be honest. But yeah, I guess I was a fairly social drinker. And then I was in the industry every day. So you're introducing your product to someone and they're like, Oh, are you going to have one with me? And sure, I'll have a try. Not that I don't know what the taste of it is like. But by the end of the day, you've had half a dozen shots. And yeah, it just starts to consume your life. And there was a point there that we were looking at some external investment. And I felt that my position as the founder was, as a leader, that I need to be the best version of me that I can be to, to take this thing forward. And if I've got, I can handle losing my own money on investment, but when other people put their own money in, then that's whole different kettle of fish. I really, I really believe that I need to be absolutely on my game 24-7, 365 to really make sure that there's no stone unturned. If we want to make this thing successful. And one of those things I felt was cutting out the drinking. Right. Well, why? It probably had gotten to a point where it wasn't as easy as you thought doing it on your own. I mean, why, why get some coaching around it? Was it quite whatever? That's actually a good question. So I've, I'm a fairly strong minded person, competitive and one of someone says, you're not drinking for 90 days, you know, you can't do it. Obviously, I'm going to say, well, yeah, I can. And I won't let that beat me. The issue I had was it won 90 days. I want to do really find out the science or process behind quitting drinking for good. Or at least being in a position where you can say, look, does it serve me better? You know, give me a reason to and then I will. So I haven't come across that reason yet. So I guess between the coaching from, from everyone and the support that everyone's been given through this 90 day program, it's nothing short of incredible, you know, where, where I've come to where I am. I looked at the people that I was chatting to throughout my journey as superheroes thinking how can they hack in these men and women do this and really take control of their life and, and not look at alcohol as being a celebratory moment. I was talking to someone the other day and where I got to, I guess, building a house at the moment is probably a fairly big achievement in your life. And my fiance said, are we going to have a drink after it? And she was forcing it. She said, would you have a drink, you know, when we move in? And I said, well, no, I'll have a soda water. I think I want to celebrate, you know, obviously this achievement. I think the best way to celebrate that is to stay alcohol-free as well. So. Right. Well, let's go back though to that decision because alcohol was really, obviously you, you identified it as a force that was getting in the way. I think you mentioned to me that maybe it affected your relationship with your fiance, maybe. Well, absolutely. I mean, I guess everyone sort of got, call it an anchor or, you know, a light bulb moment in their life when that sort of switches and gives them probably some clarity behind change. And I was having, you know, constant battles with my fiance about, you know, my drinking and everything else. And my personality probably was changing dramatically. And my kids would be probably a little distant because every time they wanted to do something, I probably wasn't there for them as much as I should have. And I had a particular moment on a Monday where I had a drink. And then I ended up was fighting with my fiance. And I had the task of looking after my little four-year-old who, who if anyone's got kids understand that four-year-olds don't generally understand what a hangover is. So, so I was feeling sorry for myself. And we got into conversation and she knew I was, I was fairly upset. She said, what's wrong, daddy? And I said, I said, I'm just unhealth and I want to fix it. And anyway, so she totals off over to the fridge and she brings back two bananas. And she said to me, she said, daddy, eat these please. She goes, these are healthy. And it got me fairly upset. And I, I started to tear up and she started to cry and she said to me, she said, what's wrong, daddy? I said, oh, look, I just want to be able to fix it. And, and her words were, well, daddy, you can fix anything. So from that moment, a light switch flicked on. And I thought, well, you know what, if my four-year-old can identify that there's an issue and I can't fix it myself, then something seriously needs to be done here. So yeah, that's, that's, that's an anchor point for me. And that's what I always revert back to. I made a promise to my kid and kids and fiance that I need to get some help. And yeah, here we are. Yeah. You know, and the funny thing is, is it wasn't till the end of your journey that I was told that you were this professional, um, Drag Race driver. And so I did a little, uh, Google search and your face came up and it's like, wait, that can't be you because you're coffee, right? Yep. So what was going on with your health? I mean, were you having any health issues? No, no health issues. I mean, I've always been fairly, fairly consistent with my training. I like to train at the gym five to six times a week. And I guess I was getting to a point where you're training to maintain and you're not making any gains. Your Friday, you start to come good and then you go out and you have drinks on the weekend and come Monday, you're battling it to get back to where you felt on the Friday before. And it just was going nowhere. So, I was always thinking to myself, I wonder what it'd feel like, you know, to feel like you're at your best and you're at your peak. And yeah, I guess now it's, I look back and if I was training beside my old former self, there's no, no way in the world you'd be able to keep up. And I guess continuing to improve and educate myself on what's good for my body. I guess now I'm pretty cautious about what I put into my body because I think it's fairly important to stay healthy and I guess it's like fuel for your car. You put in bad fuel and it's probably going to run bad. You put in good fuel, it's going to run good. So as simple as that is. So yeah, I've definitely turned my focus on staying active and healthy. New Year's Day was probably a good example of typically I'd be curled over with an extreme hangover on New Year's Day and this year I ran a half marathon around 21K. Wow. Okay, so we got the relationship part, we got the health part. I mean, it had to be affecting your abilities at work. You mentioned, you kind of prefer to that, but how were you seeing now that you can look in the rear of your mirror, how it was affecting all of your abilities and operating as a call it CEO entrepreneur? Yeah, I guess you always think when you're in that moment, you think that you're operating fine. When you think, yep, I've got this, I've got everything going. Then I guess take yourself out of that and you look back on it, you look at it. There was some trigger points where typically it was quite a simple task to try and resolve. You look at the way you were before and everything became a little overwhelming. So yeah, I guess it's a struggle day to day when you're not operating 100%. Like when you're clear-headed and clear-minded the way I am now, you get back what you put in and it's no coincidence that what's happened with myself and my business in the last 12 to 14 weeks is a byproduct of not drinking and being alcohol-free. I've got a merger happening with my company in the US and my tequila company is extremely busy at the moment and it's really starting to take off for a startup business. I'm extremely proud of where it is. And yeah, on a racing side of it, that's something that I'm going to experience. I'm going to see how I perform from an alcohol-free state and I'm sure it's going to be surprisingly different from when I was drinking alcohol before. Right. And you know, one of the things that's heard from me as an enrollment coach is to help people understand the calmness and the clarity that you're talking about. Like so when we still have the same problems being thrown at us, right? But the way we process it and handle it and refer it off, it's just you find there's just a lot less stress, a lot easier to make decisions. Yeah, 100%. I mean, as I said before, just what would normally be a simple task seem like was so overwhelming. Now it's just, I mean, everything seems so simple, yet I guess clear for you to tackle. So, you know, tasks and everything else. And I guess you're very creative. You find that there's things within your mind that start open up. I'm a creative person. I guess I'm a graphic designer. So my part within the business on the tequila side is the marketing side and the branding side of things and the ideas and stuff that you start to come up with. You think to yourself, where did that come from? So yeah, it's quite amazing what the human brain and body can do when you actually pay attention to what it needs. Right, exactly. So how, while this happening inside the coaching program that really helped you get over this hump of, you know, gone, yeah, this is worth it. Because what we do try and achieve, and this was part of my intro is, you know, if you can practice what we preach, not preach, but teach inside Project 90, you should build enough wins and gains to be able to make a decision for yourself. Do I want to continue this alcohol free journey? Do I have more gains, you know, than losses? And I think you're referring to it too. We don't necessarily go, well, let's make it a lifetime decision. That's too much for your brain. So we'd like to do it maybe, you know, 90 days at a time or for people on the 30 day program, 30 days at a time to keep. But what, what helped you? Yeah, so I guess hearing other people's stories that were probably a little further down their journey and the challenges they faced and I guess the two week mark, I might be able to relate to what they were saying, a four week mark and it just gave you hope that it does get easier. And it does get, well, when I say easier, easier, you're in control more. You're always going to have challenges, but I guess, yeah, having the support around you, but people that were in the same, same boat as you was extremely important. And just understanding the tools that we need to be able to make these decisions was extremely important for me. I want to be able to go, okay, well, you know, does it serve me better? And I'm being a business owner. I like to weigh up pros and cons all the time and it's exactly the same as this. I love to be healthy. I love to keep fit. I love to wake up in the morning feeling fresh. I love to be present with my family. On the other side, I love the feeling euphoria that you might get from drinking alcohol. That's about it. So you look at it, one doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what I'm willing to. So that was the way I sort of simplified and broke it down. What's what, if the pros don't outweigh, if the pros don't outweigh the cons, then obviously I'm just going to stick to what I'm doing. And Kevin made a good comment whenever someone asked them about, you know, when he didn't drink it then, well, when it stops feeling good. So when's that? And you've been able to be a big inspiration for your own friends, right? Because you explained in that kind of last meeting that because of your journey, several of your friends have been kind of following suit. Tell us what you shared in that meeting. Yeah, I guess, I mean, my fiancee told me that I was a fairly influential or powerful person within our group of friends, tight-knit friends. I didn't really think too much of it. But I guess when you start something like this, there's probably an element of doubt between your friends to say, oh, well, you know, we'll see what happens after 90 days. We'll see if he makes the 90 days or anything like that. And which is all fine. I mean, I can take all that. I guess once what I wanted to do is have the runs on the board beforehand and then look back and go, okay, well, you know, if I can do it because I was like the epitome of party boy. So they look at me on if Shane can do it, then shit, anyone can do it. So once I got there, I guess I wanted to prove that it was possible. And I guess off the back of that, a lot of my friends, probably half a dozen of my friends have decided that they're going to stop drinking for 90 days. I'm extremely excited and proud for. And every time they asked me how I do it, I flicked James's podcast over and I said, look, guys, do yourself favor. Have a listen to this. It's not easy without help. And you have to be committed and you have to want to yourself. You really have to be honest to yourself. The first thing I did is I sent myself in the car before I actually signed up, stop kidding yourself and stop bullshitting to yourself. You have to want to do it. If you do not want to do it, you're going to waste your time, energy and money. You have to yourself want to do it and want to make a change. Yeah. I don't know if you got this concept inside Project 90. I actually got it after, but there's a difference between, 100% all in is a breeze, 99% is a bitch. Once you've, I mean, because it's not all rainbows and kittens, like we like to say, especially at the beginning when there's triggers and cravings and we just don't know what to do with it. But if that 1% starts creeping in, it makes it so much more difficult. If you got your eye on the prize, which is simply just 90 days, all I want is the time and the space to figure out what it feels like at 90 days. And that's a short thing, right? That's why we do 90 days. I think definitely as the week start ticking off and you get to probably your sixth or seventh week, maybe longer, maybe, you know, eighth or ninth, Kevin made mention about this and I really sort of honed in on it. He said, look, now it's time to really turn it on. I think that's important for people to hear because they're always going to be thinking, well, okay, is this as good as it gets? If this is as good as it gets, maybe I'm going to go back to what I was. Well, no, it's up to you to be able to push through the boundaries and continue to see what's on the other side of it. I think that's one thing that you really need to be important on. Okay, what's next beyond 90 days and keep planning forward and making sure that you obtain those goals? What did that mean? What did that mean to you when Kevin challenged you with that? Where were you in your head space and where did you want to go and what helped? I guess I was just like, okay, well, this is great. I'm getting through this and I'm ticking the weeks off and whatnot. But what happens when the 90 days is up? Do I start thinking about alcohol again or do I go down another route and go, okay, well, what's beyond 90 days? For me, what can I continue to do to stay on track? I think I decided to shift my focus again to fitness and health. I've decided to make challenges for myself. I'm going to run a triathlon in May. I just think it's important to set those goals for yourself and something to look forward to too. Before, you're always looking forward to the next weekend when you're drinking. I mean, that's not a real, I guess, ambitious goal, I don't think. I think you need to look bigger than that. No, in retrospect, but it seems so fun at the time, didn't it? Well, okay, so you're here on the other side of 90 days. I forgot to ask you, you said you forgot you're counting, but 108 days today? 108 days roughly. Yeah, it's nice when we don't count. I literally just count for the purpose that I'm a coach and people like to know where I am, but it does begin to be irrelevant to your decision. It's not like collecting a reward. It's just living a reward. You know what I mean? So you have another site in mind too that we briefly talked about, and that's getting into racing again. So I'm excited to hear about this. Is this definite or a plan? Yeah, look, if I get to the US for the merger with my business, then there's a race at beginning of the year for down in Florida, Gainesville race, which is I think about the 12th, 13th, 14th of May, somewhere around, sorry, March, somewhere around there. And I'd like to jump back in a car again and try my skills, see if I can still remember how to do it. And I guess try my skills this time very clear-headed and clear-minded. My reaction and everything else is so much quicker. Our sport relies heavily on your reaction. It's one and lost by thousands of a second. So that's one thing I've noticed that being alcohol-free is you're so sharp, and that's something I'm keen to put into practice. Right. Well, the evidence that we've been discussing in terms of relationships, health, more clarity at work, I'm assuming they are definitely going to transfer into drag racing, right? Well, I'm hoping so because I've already thought about what I'm going to do when I celebrate a win. Obviously, it's not going to be with champagne. Because is there a lot of drinking in that industry, in the racing industry, or do you think when people are… I guess post-race, yeah, there probably is. You go back to your hotel after qualifying and you might have a drink at the bar. You go back to the end of the race, if you do well on the race, you might have a beer. It's like in everyday life, it's how it consumes us. You go to dinner, you might have a drink. So yeah, I mean, I think it is. I think it does. I mean, it's as prominent in a professional sport as it is in everyday life, I think. It's just a social way of connecting with your peers as well. I guess probably on a race night, if you aren't in the race day, you're definitely not going to have a drink. But it's that slow drip, like James said. It's that slow drip. No matter if you start on Wednesday and you're clearheaded by Sunday, there's the damage that's done in between that. We've talked about so many areas that have improved over just 100 days or 100 plus days. Is there anything else that you can think of that you want to share with people about living this alcohol-free life? I mean, you are just really, especially your age, I have to say, because a lot of Project 90, we definitely work with people in their 30s and early 30s. But the more you climb up the ladder in age, I think the more prevalent the issue of, yep, we need some coaching. I think probably the biggest thing that I, if any message that I can give for anyone who's thinking about it is, I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything, but you look at the facts, liquor industry, young, got a fairly extensive social group with friends and loved to party a lot, they're around at 24-7 and still had the ability to get through it. Then anyone's capable of doing it. You just can't make excuses. Don't start tomorrow. Don't start Monday. If you're ready to do it, just jump in and do it. I think once you get into it and you see it through, you realize that there's more to life than turn into a bottle. That's what I think. We're playing with our mantra here at the alcohol-free lifestyle. I like our most recent thing that says the alcohol-free lifestyle, it's a movement. That's what people need to believe because a lot of people believe they're stuck instead of realizing they could be a leader in this movement like you. Your friends are following your example. It's changing the world one alcohol-free life at a time. You're out there explaining the benefits and I'm sure you're going to be inspiring so many other people, especially because you're only 36 years old. I just think that's really admirable. Thank you. I couldn't have done it without all the support around me that I've had over the last 90 days. Hearing everyone's stories and the challenges that they face, not everyone is going to have the same path and journey. I think it's just important to support one another around it. If you've got some advice, share it. If you're feeling that you've got challenges coming up, let them know. I'm sure there's an answer out there from everyone else because we've all been through it. I think that's the other thing about this alcohol habit loop that we talk about. It's a very lonely loop in your mind if you don't share it with other people. I think that's what you're referring to is we all have this loop in our brain thinking we're the only ones having the loop when every other friend we have is having that same thought. That's not all in the beginning. You're like, what am I doing? I've got this event coming up. I'm nervous. I want to make sure I fit in. There's always that element of doubt, okay, am I going to feel uncomfortable? In the end, no one gives a shit. I'm not drinking. Yeah. I found that at first they wonder if you're going to judge them. They don't care if you're drinking, but they care if you're going to judge them about you, right? But then when you love them unconditionally, it's like to me, I don't care. This was just wasn't working for me. Yeah. Then they're like, come on, let's go to the bar. It doesn't matter, but there is an uncomfortable moment and that's a lot of what we coach as well. I'll sell it to them all day long. Right. Oh, that's right. Yeah. It's just, yeah, exactly. Well, Shane, is there any last thoughts you'd like to share with people before we sign on? Look, I think we had most things covered, but I guess just reiterating that if I can give any advice, definitely jump into it and make sure you're 100% committed. Yeah, I agree. Shane, it's been great to go through this process with you and to be able to interview you. I think that I may be, you need to come at least a platform in Project 90 called Marco Polo. So now that you're in the Marco Polo alumni, you need to announce to us when you're racing because I might become a new fan. When I was locked in, I'll let you guys know. Yeah, yeah. So good luck to you and Ollie, your endeavors and thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks for listening to the Alcohol Free Lifestyle podcast. I want to load you up with some free stuff right now. 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