Catching the Entrepreneurial Bug ft. Paul Wynns of Flex Air | EYB

Paul Wynns is the CEO and Co-Founder of Flex Air, a flight school for aspiring aviators of all kinds that is led by minorities and veterans focused on increasing minority representation in the industry. He is a retired Naval Aviator from the S-3B Viking sea control community where his duties included leadership of the aviation safety, training, standardization, and operating procedures program for all Navy Viking pilots, world-wide. After leaving the military, Paul worked as a program manager at Boeing Defense, Space, and Security, where he and his engineering team were awarded two patents for their prototyping work.

Elevate Your Brand is the #1 marketing podcast for entrepreneurs and “wantrepreneurs” looking for insider tips and secrets from the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. 

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Transcript

00:00.41

elevatemybrand

Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of elevate your brand I of course am your host Laurel Mintz and I am joined today by client and friend paul wins Ceo of Flex Airir Paul thank you for joining us today.

00:14.80

Paul

You are quite welcome I've been looking forward to this for a long time laurel. It is amazing that we found this spot on our calendar. It's a miracle So I'm excited to be here.

00:20.90

elevatemybrand

So I mean we we've been working together a long time and I've been begging you for a long time to come on the podcast because what you're doing is so unique I don't know if I've ever met anyone that does what you do so share with our audience. What flex air is all about.

00:40.89

Paul

Yeah I would be happy to ah well I am a self-professed nerd and aviation geek and really the school is a labor of love that is that is built around that. So so what is Flex Air we're a flight school for. Veterans minorities and really anybody who aspires to a career in aviation soon. We will fly a fleet of the world's first all electric training aircraft but today we are primarily in the traditional aviation training space with legacy aircraft and we are. Doing our best to lead the way in making aviation as inclusive as possible for the next generation of pilots.

01:22.43

elevatemybrand

That's pretty incredible. Talk about why this industry has been non-inclusive to date I Don't think most people recognize that as an issue and.

01:32.92

Paul

It is It is like all things in in you know, any kind of space that that touches ah diversity and inclusion and equity and and whatever other phrases and ways you want to think about it. It's complicated and so aviation is. A very militaristic field and and that is because you know in the early nineteen hundreds aviation got its start primarily driven by ah military uses and the first pilots. Ah the first airline pilots were predominantly um ex-military pilots I'm an ex-navie. Ah, pilot myself or as we like to call ourselves naval aviators because it sounds cooler. Ah, but but yeah, ah, ah we are a community that that has deep roots in the military but things are changing really quickly and this is something where anybody in any industry. Um, ah knows that that the workforce the people who who share their vision and come to work to work with them and alongside them every day that's changed a lot in you know you pick whether it's precovid whether it's the last 10 years in ah, the field of aviation. It's it's been a shift based on the baby boomer generation. So so why are only 2 to 5% of ah airline pilots in the us why are so few of them ah women or people of color. Um, well. It's mainly because of that military legacy because the military and and aviation has primarily been a domain of of white males that's changing really really quickly and I would say the narrative today is less about um, fixing um, structural problems. In the industry. There are a few of those but but it's less about those and more about letting people know hey this is for you. You're welcome here. We have the tools to allow you to succeed ah and you can find a community here. So it's really more about outreach especially in the last five years and so that's what really gets us out of bed in the morning. Sharing that story.

03:35.54

elevatemybrand

And ah tell us a little bit about why you decided to focus on this particular category. Obviously you shared your background but you could have built a slight school around anything why focus on this particular narrative.

03:50.78

Paul

There's there's really 2 main thoughts behind that one is just who we are as as a company so I'm a second generation veteran I'm a very proud member of the citizen potawatomi nation. Ah, from my dad's side on my mom's side. Um I'm I'm the child of an immigrant family. My my mom met my dad um during the vietnam war she is from North Vietnam and so it's it's just it's just who I am and and so my identity as a pilot and as an aviation nerd. You know that that got layered on top of this but but you know for me personally my journey. What I noticed is as I was moving through my aviation career. It was just difficult for me to find a mentor somebody who'd really kind of walked in my shoes or a similar experience to me who I can confide in about what it's like to be. You know, but at a you pick whatever dimension you you want to measure on but you know to be unlike the other pilots who are in the room. Um, and and so just trying to build a flight school around that experience. It was inescapable. It's who I am it was it was the problems that I was attuned to and the challenges that I was attuned to and that's really what has led us to have this focus on on quite a bit of veterans because I'm a veteran too and so I know what these folks are going through but also who else works with us and you know at at the top levels they're they're very.

05:20.43

Paul

Diverse group of folks, our senior pilots. Um our board of Advisors. So It's just kind of who we are ah so you know I wish I could say that there's some broad change the world Motive. There is definitely there is there but it's also we can't avoid it. It's just going to be who we are so so that it. You're going to get it whether you want it or not it flex air.

05:41.79

elevatemybrand

Well we want it I Love it. Um, and since we're already on the topic talk about the ah the program that people can sign up for and how they can get involved with the program because it's such an important um pathway because I know that's the name of the program.

05:55.84

Paul

Um, yes.

05:58.30

elevatemybrand

To get ah into getting familiar with and excited about being a pilot.

06:03.50

Paul

Yeah, the the journey to become an airline pilot and and this is not just for the airlines. It. It is the same pathway for if you want to fly for a smaller aircraft for charter or business aviation companies or corporate aviation if you want to fly. Ah, air tourism if you want to fly cargo. It's it's all the same. Um, we call it the pilot pathway and the way that we have structured our training is it. It is ah fundamentally a vocational training so we focus on the job skills. Um, the soft skills as well about how to interview well and and land the job that you want but it is about job skills training the pilot pathway as we have put it together is the shortest way and the fastest way to get you to an aviation career in ten to twelve months you can learn. All of the licenses and get all of the faa certifications that you need to be ready to work as a professional aviator then in another 10 to twelve months you can amass the fifteen hundred flight hours of experience while working as a flight instructor with us or in our network of. Flight schools that we know and trust and then at that magical 1500 number into about year two of your journey. You're ready for hire at any airline any charter any cargo operator around the us and you're going to be pulling down.

07:29.50

Paul

6 ix-figure income plus and you'll be at step 1 of a career field where your lifetime earnings will be upwards of $15000000 no career or no college education is required to get into this career and you're pulling down an income that is you know on par with what you would see from doctors dentists lawyers. Engineers and plus people respect pilots. It's it's one of those professions that always polls very high in terms of trust and respect amongst the general public. So that's the pilot pathway. We are all about getting you there in the fastest way possible. Okay, it is.

08:01.51

elevatemybrand

And you got to drop that. Yeah Url Paul

08:07.57

Paul

goflexair.com/pilotpathway all 1 word

08:12.50

elevatemybrand

Awesome! Ah, do we have any by the numbers like you know what? the percentages are of folks that are diverse that are pilots in this day and age.

08:18.69

Paul

Yeah, so so it is after over a decade of concerted effort by a lot of folks that are much smarter and more plugged in than we are as the small fries at Flex Air we're small but mighty. But. Huge organizations that are very influential that we love partnering with and have deep ties with like the national gay pilots association the organizational black aerospace professionals the Latino Pilot association women in aviation international. 99 s which is the original group of female aviators that met in the early nineteen ah early Nineteen Twenty s all of these nonprofits have been working really hard and we've been doing our best to support them for decades but the numbers remain really stubborn. Um. Women and people of color ah make up less than 5% of the aviation workforce of the air transport pilot workforce here in the us and a lot of gains have been made in in recent years but it still remains a challenge and our philosophy is. That the pilot shortage and there is a pilot shortage right now. Anybody who's done any kind of air travel with the airlines have seen you know that the air travel industry is stretched very thin right now there is a shortage of pilots. We think that the pilot shortage is really a mentorship shortage and that lack of mentorship is. Driven by lack of representation lack of role models and so that's why we run our program the way that we do.

09:49.15

elevatemybrand

But that makes a lot of sense I didn't even think about the mentorship aspect of it and it's also one of the reasons why your program has been so successful. We're going take a quick break. We'll be right back.

10:07.77

elevatemybrand

So thanks for sticking with us chatting with my friend and client Paul Wins Ceo of Flex Air we were talking about kind of the good bad and the ugly of the history of and diverse pilots to date and that's really what you're here to change. Um. Tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey at what point were you like I am going to ah develop a school to change this industry like there's 1 thing to be. You know, really driven to make change in in your community. It's 1 thing to be a pilot yourself and to be in the military but to be an entrepreneur we were just talking about this before the the call started ah is in whole nother baiy wack. It's a whole another ball of actck. So what has your entrepreneurial journey been like what are some of the good bad and ugly along that path. What are some of the lessons. You've learned along the way.

11:00.40

Paul

Ah, that's a great question. Yeah, it's been a long and and like not the standard journey for me to get to where I am today. Um, if there even is a standard journey. But um, yeah I'm ah I'm a mid-career.

11:15.22

Paul

First -time entrepreneur here with flexer. Um, you know a million years ago I was naval aviator like I mentioned before I was military flight instructor. Um I did that for 11 years on active duty in in the navy. Um, and ah early on in that time I got to participate and this is the very beginning of my entrepreneurial journey when I first got bitten by the bug ah was um, right out of college I went to the us naval academy which is just a fantastic undergraduate school for for engineering and. Graduated from there. Um I got to participate in a fellowship program where I then went to graduate school and I went to stanford and I was in the stanford engineering program in the late 90 s and I remember very vividly sitting in a restaurant in the bay area in the late 90 s during the top of the original.com boom and I was hearing conversations that I realized later where oh yeah, these guys were talking about youtube these guys were talking about google larry and sergy were at stanford ah, during the same time that I was there and and so it was just in the air and and so I just thought it was so cool that people were going off and and. And implementing these ideas and solving these problems in this really innovative way in this you know devil-macare kind of an environment and that really always stuck with me and so I had this entrepreneurial bug and I I resolved you know about halfway through my Civilian career after I got out of the Navy. I was in the aerospace industry I was I was not flying because the airlines were not hiring then it's a very Boomer bust industry I was working as ah as a program manager and and ah engineer um and and and I came to realize one day you know after looking at my magic spreadsheet. For retirement and the money. Yes, and and I looked at that and I said ah and and I looked at it and I said you know I could quit a perfectly good paying job at the world's largest aerospace company and take a chance.

13:04.78

elevatemybrand

Um, you can like a true engineer ah and spreadsheets on spreadsheets on spreadsheets. Wow.

13:20.69

Paul

And go back to school and get an Mba and use that as a way to bootstrap a business. Um I could do that or I could continue where I'm at and I imagined where I would be. You know if I was lucky enough to get the like 80 or 90 or whatever and and I realized that version of me would kick myself if I didn't take the leap. so so I did it I quit a perfectly good paying job and became an entrepreneur that was about four years ago it all kind of blends together and entrepreneur years are dog gears. So one year feels like then but that was my journey. Yes, yes, you're looking great.

13:47.48

elevatemybrand

Totally oh so that means I'm 183 now wow that's why yeah, got it? Oh thanks god like keep you around but that's amazing. Yeah I find that like you know you get that bug. You just get bitten and you can't.

13:56.31

Paul

For hundred and eighty three even over audio.

14:07.11

elevatemybrand

You can't not take that leap and I found the same the same path. Um and where did the name Flex air come from where did that What was the root of that did you just like wake up one day with the name in your in your head or was that something that you did some work around.

14:21.29

Paul

No, that that was very much that was something I I um inherited a little bit from from my cofounder who you know had flex air going as a as kind of like a side hustle with like one aircraft he was the 1 instructor and a loan from his grandmother. Ah, at the time and so as we started building it together. We we started brainstorming on like why did this name work. Why why do we? both like it. Um, you know he had thought about it just a you know whole cloth had just popped into his head. but but I just really love the the culture of the company, especially at that time with the key employees that we had and really what what's come to embody is that people need career training on their terms that like aviation needs to meet people where they are especially if we want a more diverse. Future. Especially if we want to try to recruit people who wouldn't have thought of aviation before so that flexibility doesn't mean that we have flexible standards like we have very high standards we we must. We have to abide by Faa and all kinds of other safety regulations. So those standards are non-negotiable. But what is flexible is. What you can bring to work how we're going to how we're going to treat you how we're going to teach you um the way in which we're going to pair you not just with a flight instructor which is the traditional approach is just you've got a flight instructor good luck and so what does that lead to it leads to an 80% dropout rate across the industry.

15:44.79

elevatemybrand

Wow.

15:47.85

Paul

Yeah, and so our dropout rate is closer to 15% so you know over 300% better and so how do we get there? What like what's the secret sauce I mean there's no secret to it. Um, we pair everybody. It's a very high touch model. So we pair everybody with a dedicated flight instructor a dedicated mentor.

15:51.51

elevatemybrand

Oh.

16:07.23

Paul

So for the veterans. It's it's typically me as a veteran mentor but it could be an airline pilot as a mentor for for the non-military folks who are in our programs you get access to a mentor as well and then you have a a base manager who is. Also a mentor but they're more of the planner for how your future training is going to look like as opposed to just a manager which is the typical approach to what base managers and general managers do at flight school. So this mentorship first model is is really what the flex and flex air is all about we we adapt ourselves to. To teach you in the best possible way and to get you the career that you want the thing that always stays the same though as the flight training that is ah you know fundamentally standardized across everything that we do but innovation happens around the edges like we we talk about that you know our secret sauce is what happens in the other 22 hours of the day with you. Ah, that is not the 2 hours that you are in the plane with us please.

17:01.20

elevatemybrand

I Love it I Need to ask some super nerdy questions and some some like flight questions I don't know what is the root of aviation like the word aviation or the like concept of aviation like where did that actually come from.

17:14.39

Paul

Yeah, well so I would say the best the best way. Why I would approach that is to talk about how and I'm biased how and why aviation is is magical as as a field or even as a hobby and we train hobby pilots to. So when we think of an aviator right? and and and and aviation the word is freighted with mystery and adventure and dashing characters and and go-getters and bold audacity and innovation. And so why is that and and I think it comes down to a specific super nerdy concept that the Faa calls um that the Faa uses to designate a pilot. So if you consider you know, um, a pilot in a plane or 2 pilots in a plane one of those pilots or if it's your solo then it's only the pilot who's flying the plane. Is designated as the pilot in Command P I c and so sounds very military and you know that's our military roots. But why command why why? not pilot in control. Why not just pilot. Why not just operator and and what's. Special and unique about aviation is pilots are expected to be in command of the aircraft which means they own every part of the outcome the very first description a pilot in command says how and you'd be surprised that a government organization says this, but this is what's special about the Faa. Um. The very first part of the definition for pilot in command when you look in the rule book the federal aviation regulations the far is that you're allowed to break the rules if it's in your best judgment for safety and so you're expected to have good judgment now if you do anything anything you do in the plane. Um, whether it's within or or by bending the rules because you feel like it's in the best ah judgment for safety you're going to own that outcome no matter what you don't get to say the dog ate my homework. Oh it was bad weather or this happened like you are accountable for the outcome and and in this world where we spend so much time behind. Spreadsheets or you know computer screens and kind of isolated from consequences or what's really happening in the world I think it's kind of magical that there is this profession where if you land the plane and it is a bumpy landing and it didn't work out. Well. There's nobody else to blame but you because you are the pilot in Command and likewise if you succeed you get to take credit for it because you know that you really own that good outcome. So I think it's magical. So That's my very long philosophical answer.

19:46.77

elevatemybrand

I love it I have more nerdy questions coming up but we're going to take 1 more quick break.

19:56.76

elevatemybrand

Thanks for sticking with us chatting with my friend Paul when Ceo of Flex air. We're having a very nerdy aviation conversation which I absolutely love what is the coolest make and model of plane out there right now in your opinion.

20:11.12

Paul

Oh why? right now I'm no matter what I say I'm gonna make enemies I'm gonna make enemies with this statement so you know what I'm gonna do is I'm going to chees out and I'm Goingnna choose a plane that is no longer out there and and I'm Goingnna talk about.

20:17.30

elevatemybrand

Um, someone's going to disagree with you. Ah oh no.

20:30.79

Paul

My plane that I flew in the navy called the s 3 viking? Um, it is no longer in service. It's every plane I ever flew in the military is is in the in a museum right now. So so how's that for making you feel young. Um, but I'm going to chees out I'm going to say it's the s three viking why because.

20:45.70

elevatemybrand

Ah.

20:50.25

Paul

This plane everybody knows about like the movie top gun and fighter planes and you know like the f eighteen hornet the Tom Cruise flew in the most recent top gun movie. Everybody knows about fighter planes because they look cool. They're like the sports cars of the air wing. But the s three viking.

21:04.98

elevatemybrand

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

21:10.20

Paul

So we carried missiles and bombs and torpedoes and we had a Bombay um, you know we we had ejection seats and you know but also I had a cup holder next to my ejection seat and you know I could see 4 people so I could fly with 3 of my friends and we had room for. 2 mountain bikes in the back of the aircraft if you wanted to do a long cross country. So you know we could do cool stuff. We were more like the sport utility vehicle of the ah of the air wing. So I really like the s 3 mainly because of the community just a bunch of fantastic group of of guys and gals and the missions that we would do. The navy were spooky and weird and unusual. Um, and yeah I just love that aircraft to death. Also it's got looks that only an engineer would love. It's an ugly aircraft. It's kind of short and fat. It's kind of thick. Um, ah you know it doesn't go supersonic. Um, but it is a fun aircraft to fly and I miss it very much but that is that is going to be my my go to answer for the best aircraft of all time.

22:11.92

elevatemybrand

Um, all right? and so what is like the coolest move that you've ever done in a plane.

22:17.25

Paul

Ah, well it is underappreciated but the rite of passage for every pilot as you might expect is learning how to land the Aircraft Yeah, just landed just landed and.

22:25.52

elevatemybrand

Is the barrel. Oh ok, ok I wouldn't say that's the coolest move come on. Okay, okay, sir.

22:35.40

Paul

No, it is this is the aviation geek in me because you you can watch 2 pilots and you could tell when pilots are really starting to get into it in a conversation because their hands come out and they start moving around like their aircraft and so the. The act of learning how to land a plane It's the right of passage for every every early career pilot. It is something that looks effortless and easy. But it is the most humbling and humiliating thing to do when you're instructor you know around. Hour 8 or 9 of of instruction says. Okay, you've seen about a dozen landings I've demoed these landings you go ahead and do it and you've seen your instructor just make it look easy. It's effortless the plane lands with motoring smoothness. Yeah, and then meanwhile you are just utterly.

23:19.32

elevatemybrand

Oof and you're like.

23:24.99

Paul

Ah, you know a train wreck. You're just assholes and elbows. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and and just belly flopping the Aircraft onto the runway you know, jarring your teeth and all of that and and but when when you get a landing right? when you're in the zone when you flare the plane at exactly the right time.

23:27.54

elevatemybrand

And flop sweat. Ah.

23:44.57

Paul

You can sense the airspeed you can sense the angle of attack of the aircraft and you're you're communing with it. You can just know you can feel it in your bones where the aircraft is and what the right moment is to to flare and reduce that power and and and settle it directly onto the runway and you just get that nice tire squeaking buttery smooth landing. It's meditative and and when you're in that zone. It is the best thing ever Every pilot remembers their best ever landing every pilot remembers when it clicked and they finally figured it out and every pilot remembers How at the beginning they just absolutely sucked. There's. There's a grade sheet where like Neil Armstrong everybody knows Neil Armstrong he is ah you know before he landed on the moon and was an astronaut he was. He was a naval aviator and so he went to navy flight school and at the naval aviation museum in Petsacola Florida there's an early grade sheet for him from when he was in flight school and you can see he failed. Got a failing grade on this flight and it was because of landing. So if Neil Armstrong is going to struggle with this at the beginning then everybody else is going to as well. But once you get it. That's the coolest move. Yeah, it's not about the barrel rolls and the flashy stuff laurel. It's about the zen.

24:49.97

elevatemybrand

Um, yeah, then you're okay, ah man. Okay, okay that the zen art of landing that's Paul's book

24:57.62

Paul

It's about the zen moment of the landing. So least, that's my path. Yes, yeah.

25:04.86

elevatemybrand

All right? and then before we get into our quick fart I have to know what was the scariest moment you've ever had in the plane.

25:11.52

Paul

The scariest moment for me and and really every pilot has has or will have a moment like this. Um, you know whether they're military or not mine was of course because all my flight experience predominantly is is in the military we had just taken off. Ah, from from the Aircraft carrier at night and everything went dark in the plane and ah all the electrical system failed and and as as a friend of mine who flies for the airlines Now you know he had a similar.

25:30.17

elevatemybrand

Oh no.

25:40.72

Paul

You know, not as serious, but but you know hiccup that happened in flight and they had to solve a problem and and ah you know they ended up everybody landed at their original destination and there was no issue. He he put it to me this way. Um, that pilots get paid the big salaries and the big bucks. Not for the 99% of the time when everything goes smoothly. But for that 1 time when something is amiss and they have to solve the problem and get everybody home safely and so like you know my scariest time it began with that and it ended in a very boring way where we pulled out and this is what every pilot does. We pulled out a checklist. We had our flashlights out. We pulled out a checklist. We went down the checklist. It told us exactly what to do with these switches and dials and circuit breakers. We did what the checklist told us to do while keeping the plane flying in a straight line and everything was fixed and we continued on with the ah with the flight. So. That's ah you know that's what pilots do and it's it's really you're a problem solver namely as a pilot in a situation like that.

26:41.80

elevatemybrand

Um, oh my god my my heart like started racing just even thinking about being in that high pressure situation. But like you said, that's why you get paid the big books. Um, yeah, there you go that for me. That's when I need the the second round of cocktails on the plane I'm like.

26:49.82

Paul

Um, yes, and that's when the training takes over.

26:58.66

elevatemybrand

Turbulent hits of like I need another drink. Oh my god um, amazing what a story Paul ah in the last few minutes that we have left we like to do what's called our quick fire. So this is whatever comes up top of mind. Are you ready all right first question is.

27:12.54

Paul

Um, oh my goodness. Okay yes, laid on me.

27:17.58

elevatemybrand

What is your biggest pet peeve.

27:19.95

Paul

Ah, there are so many but you know my my biggest pet peeve is when people are doing something challenging and they can't realize that the answer is them. Right? It's not and and this is the dog ate my homework thing that I was telling before right? you know I can't do this or I'm having trouble with this or or you know, whatever and they and they just don't realize yeah you can do it. You just have to choose to ah to do it So you can imagine at a flight school you know sometimes we run into that and and it's a pet peeve. Mainly because people leave a lot on the table and they don't even know so um, anyway there you go I am a hippie so I have a meditation practice I Love doing yoga. Um I I Love working out.

27:57.99

elevatemybrand

Um, pet you got it? Um, how do you deal with stress.

28:12.54

Paul

Um, I do that? Ah, mainly for mental health reasons. Um, and but if I'm feeling like a potato I really love console gaming I am I am a nerd and ah Balder's gate baldersgate three is is definitely my my vice these days if I want to waste several hours

28:31.51

elevatemybrand

Nice, What was your favorite subject in school.

28:31.78

Paul

Um, to sit down in front of that.

28:35.56

Paul

Ah I'm a nerd so and I Love school I'm in a Ph D program at the Ucsd Raty school of management right Now. Um I Love them all everything any class. Um, but I particularly Liked. Ah, math and engineering courses which you know go figure. Um I you engineer? yeah you know I know.

28:56.71

elevatemybrand

I should have guessed that one that was too easy that could work. Our question was too easy for you? Um, what was the last thing that made you cry.

29:06.61

Paul

Um I I went to the San Diego symphony a couple of nights ago with with my wife who she is the music nerd in the family. She's a classically trained cellist. We saw yo-yo ma.

29:20.95

elevatemybrand

And.

29:22.92

Paul

In concert and so for those who may not know I mean everybody knows but just just in case. Yoyo Ma is is you know world-class cellist and and so you know the regular programming happens. Um, you know these classical pieces are played. Um I'm not enough of a nerd to know which ones they were but they sounded amazing. Thing that got my attention was you know 3 standing ovations in a row so he comes back out for um, ah for the Encore and just by himself with the rest of the orchestra watching he plays a piece that is beautiful that is just him playing on the cello.

29:41.52

elevatemybrand

Um, with it.

29:58.32

Paul

No idea what the piece was it sounded amazing. But I'm looking at the guy's face and I'm seeing this is a person that is at the top of their game and they are doing really well at what they do not because they're hardcore competitive type a but because there's profound joy in what they're doing and it brings tears to my eyes whenever I see that because. Man I'd love to be that way and I love helping people get to be that way whether it's an aviation or anything else. So I saw that in it not not very many times you're in the same room as excellent excellence like that and it brought it brought a tear to my eye I'm not going to lie.

30:32.80

elevatemybrand

I Love that last question is what is your favorite word and why? Yeah. Whatever pops into your head.

30:45.51

Paul

I Like the word audacious and audacity just because I just like breaking norms and saying oh yeah, really, that's not possible hold my beer. So yeah.

30:48.50

elevatemybrand

And this is interesting.

31:04.41

Paul

It's kind of why I'm at where I'm at it's been my whole life. So so yeah, sometimes you drop your beer but but I'm still going to be on.

31:07.68

elevatemybrand

Nice, nice. Ah, it's okay, you can always order another one I got you I got you your next fear Paul um, any final words of wisdom as we wrap up today.

31:15.64

Paul

Um, okay, ah um, I you know I just want to reiterate talk 1 once more about the pilot pathway flex air go flex there pilot pathway we will get you. To an aviation career. So many people that we talked to think that there's no way this is for me. It's just not possible and I just want to say we will hold your beer. We're going to get you there please get in touch with us. We love speaking to early career aviators and we will move all of the problems out of the way. Whether they are financial skill-based ah mentorship based whatever's in between you and that career that you want we will get you there.

31:57.52

elevatemybrand

All this has been such a fun conversation. You know I just adore you and I think the work you're doing is so important to literally elevate those who want a career in the sky. So thank you so much for spending some time with us today. So.

32:13.67

Paul

Laurel. Thank you for being such a great host. This has been fantastic and congrat to you and everything you're doing with the team at elevate my brand I am so pleased to have been on here and I hope to talk to you again soon in the future.

32:23.71

elevatemybrand

Thanks so much Paul thanks to everyone who tuned in and stay tuned for more from elevate your brand coming up next.