Speaking and Communicating Podcast

This podcast focuses on improving your communication skills both professionally and personally

>> Dave Albin: So that night was exhilarating. And I've never seen or witnessed anything like it in my entire life. Because people are laughing, they're crying, they're hugging, they're connecting. They're talking about the firewalk, they're talking about their lives, they're talking about the kids. And I'm watching people get along humanistically unlike anything I'd ever witnessed, ever. We were all getting along like we'd known each other our entire lives.

>> Robert Sandleila: 3500 strangers welcome back to the speaking and communicating podcast. I am your host, Robert Angela. If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning into. Communication and soft skills, uh, are crucial for your career growth and leadership development. We are currently looking for professionals or entrepreneurs who would be willing to discuss their communication challenges on this show. All the details of booking a spot with me are found on the show notes and by the end of this episode, please log on to Apple and Spotify and leave us a reading and a review. Now let's get communicating.

Dave Alvin is the number one firework instructor in America

Now let's get communicating with Dave Albin, who listen to this is the number one firework instructor in America. He is a Tony Robbins protege who worked with him for almost two decades and is the founder of Firework Adventures. And before I go any further, please help me welcome him to the show. Hey, Dave.

>> Dave Albin: Hey, thanks for having me, Roberta. It's nice to be here.

>> Robert Sandleila: My pleasure. Thank you for accepting the invitation to be on the show. The number one firework instructor. I thought to myself, I couldn't miss this. But before we get into it, well.

>> Dave Albin: There'S only two of us, so I'm number one.

>> Robert Sandleila: So, you know, if you grew up in a rural area and you say I was top of my class, they'd be like, how many of you in the class? Five, right?

>> Dave Albin: Yeah, exactly. It's like the kid that took 8th place in the swimming meat contest, right?

>> Robert Sandleila: So with eight lanes.

>> Dave Albin: And how many kids were there in that? There were eight. Yeah, but I took eight place.

>> Robert Sandleila: So Dave, please introduce yourself.

>> Dave Albin: I'm Dave Alvin. I live up here in the appalachian mountains in the northwestern part of the state of North Carolina. I've got a cute, quaint cabin up here in the mountains. I actually chose to live up here for a variety of reasons. Number one, I like the clean air because my cabin's at 3500ft above sea level and I've got mountain spring water coming into my cabin. I'm an empty nester. One of my kids lives in Granbury, Texas. My son lives 25 minutes from me in Boone, North Carolina. He graduated from app state, got a great job. I literally believe that I'm one of the most blessed men on the planet, and it's my story and I'm sticking with it.

>> Robert Sandleila: You better stick with being blessed, that's for sure.

>> Dave Albin: Absolutely.

David Nutter was born to a single mom a couple of months before

>> Robert Sandleila: Now, let's talk about your, uh, background. How did you get started?

>> Dave Albin: You know, the smart aleck answer is, I took that left hand turn at Albuquerque, as bug bunny would say. Right. You know, I mean, I was born to a single mom, uh, a couple of months before I was born. My biological father, we really don't know what happened to him. We just know that he hit his head and to save his life, to put a plate in his head. And so this is in 1954, and he had a lot of pain associated with that plate. And he used to complain about it a lot to my mom. And one day he said, hey, I'm going to the grocery store. Two months before I was born, we never saw or heard from him again. When I was born, I was born to a single mom. She already had two boys from another marriage. We also had a cousin and her mother, six of us, living in a, uh, one bedroom apartment in Hollywood, California. Now, my mom did come out of what I believe is the greatest generation of all time. Uh, she went through the Great Depression. She was Rosie the riveter. During World War Two, she worked for McDonnell Douglas. She built airplanes, like, you know, because during the war, a lot of people don't realize. What do you think all the women were doing when the men were overseas? They did everything, you know, without the women working as hard as the men were, uh, we'd have lost the war. So mom knew hard work. The challenge was this. Roberta, she was working at the Roosevelt Hotel, a well known hotel in Hollywood. Lots of famous people went in there all the time, but she was a server and she just didn't earn enough to feed six people. Anyway, long story short, by, uh, the time I was five years old, she couldn't feed me. And so she went to her older sister and said, hey, Pat, will you? And Bob, her husband, my uncle, will you adopt David? They said, yes, absolutely. And so I was adopted by my aunt and uncle. He had a really good job, he made good money. We lived in a nice house. We always had nice things. We went on nice vacations. Everything was perfect. From the time I was five when they adopted me, to the first day of summer of 1964 when I'm eleven years old. And when I woke up that morning, I went in, sat down, started watching tv. My mom comes in and goes, David, come in the kitchen. We need to speak with you. And she put her hand on my hand. And with tears in her eyes, she said, david, what we need to tell you is we're not your parents. Well, they're my aunt and uncle, but I don't know them. They're my mom and dad. That's all I knew. In fact, she even went on to say. She said, by the way, you know your aunt Dean? Yeah. She's your mother. What?

>> Robert Sandleila: So your mom, you didn't know that that was your mom?

>> Dave Albin: I did not know she was my aunt. Every time she was around me, she was always really weird. Or at least what I thought was weird, because she always wanted to sit next to me. She always wanted to hug me, kiss me. She always wanted to be around me. Well, duh. I'm her son. She's your son. She's my mom. But I didn't know that. And so right after they told me this, both of them had sworn off alcohol at five when they adopted. And shortly after they told me this, they both started drinking. Uh, and my life went whoop. Just took a hard turn. Everything. The little house on the prairie just collapsed. And one day when they went to the grocery store, because I was watching these people drink this stuff, I don't know what alcohol is, but I was curious. And I was curious enough that when they left one day I went and grabbed a coffee cup and I filled it up about that full. They were piping it in plain sight. It was brandy and I poured it in a coffee cup and I downed it. Nastiest taste of stuff I ever tasted. Roberta. I never, ever, ever had a chance. I totally believe that I was an alcoholic right there on the spot. Because I started acting out from that moment on. And I wanted more because I liked the feeling. I liked how it made me feel. So from that point on, I started chasing it and everything else, you know, that was addictive.

Dave was an entrepreneur at a very young age

>> Robert Sandleila: How old were you at this point when you got your first.

>> Dave Albin: I'm eleven. By the time I was a junior in high school, uh, they called me into the principal's office, said, alvin out. You're a danger to the school. Get out. So they expelled me. And I didn't care. I was like, good. See you. Uh. And I knew that whatever I was learning in high school was not going to interfere with how I made money. And the reason I say that is because I was an entrepreneur at a very young age. The first job I had was a paper route. That's a seven day a week job. And then you had to go knock on doors right when new people would move in. So, yeah, it was a full time job. The other thing is, is I lived right across the street from a golf course. And here's what I learned about golfers at a very young age. They suck, right? Because what I would do is I take my stingray bicycle, and I would ride the perimeter of the golf course, and guess what I'd find? Golf balls. Lots of them. Because these guys, which means they didn't score, right, they hit them over the fence, and they wouldn't climb to go get them. And I would take them home and I'd clean them, and I'd put all the same brands, if I could, together. Titleist, Max lie, Royal Dunlop, whatever. And then I'd go back to the parking lot and sell them back to the golfers, right?

>> Robert Sandleila: You've always been entrepreneurial.

>> Dave Albin: It even got better because my mom grew beautiful flowers in the backyard. She knew how to do anything. She taught me how to clean, how to cook, how to do laundry, how to iron a shirt, how to starch a shirt. She taught me so much home economics, if you will. She even taught me how to treat a girl on a date. It was. She was right about everything.

>> Robert Sandleila: I love it.

>> Dave Albin: So anyway, she grew beautiful flowers, and she cut them. She'd bundle them up and put a rubber band around them, and then she would put them in a bucket for me, and she'd put water in it, and she'd put about this much seven up, uh, in the water. And the seven up worked its magic because my flowers would outlast the local florist. Three to one. I tell. I coach guys all the time. I'm like, look, go get your wife flowers. Go cut them at an angle, put them in a vase, put some clean water in it, put a little bit of seven up in it, and watch how long they last. A lot of my negotiating skills came from selling flowers on a street corner.

>> Robert Sandleila: Flowers and golf balls.

>> Dave Albin: Flowers and golf balls. So you know what I learned at a young age? There's money out there. Go get it.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yeah. Say that again, Dave.

>> Dave Albin: There's money out there. Go get it. It's there. Come on. You know, I'm still an entrepreneur today. Instead of selling golf balls, uh, to the golfers, I'm selling firewalks to corporate America. So got kicked out of high school, got a really good job, and by the time I got to 1988, which is many years later, I was grossly addicted to heroin, cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes, chocolate chip cookies. I mean, anything that would make me feel good. Anything that I could use to avoid pain.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yeah.

>> Dave Albin: Or I could use to chase pleasure. I did it, and I was addicted.

>> Robert Sandleila: But don't we all, uh, to some measure, obviously different degrees and different ways, but don't we, in some measure, all do that? We either avoid pain or chase pleasure.

>> Dave Albin: And that's really interesting that you say that. When I woke up that morning on June 8, 1988, I said, that's it. I'm done. I'm out. I'm not doing this. I'm in way too much physical pain. There's too much emotional pain. I went out. And so the only thing I really thought to do in that moment was to take my own life. That's all I could really think of, because I knew that if I did that, then I'm done. I don't have to deal with it anymore. And I'm not wrestling with there's heaven or hell or any of that. I didn't care. I just wanted the pain to stop. Well, it dawns on me if I do that, those three kids upstairs, and I'm married to their mom, I'm going to ruin their life. I may be dead, but I'm killing them at the same time. And I didn't know what PTSD was back then. That was in June of 88, literally, you're going to ruin their life. And I love the kids and I love their mom. I can't do that. I got to figure out another way. So the next thought I really had was, well, why don't you call Alcoholics Anonymous? Well, you know what's interesting about that? I didn't know who AA was for that. I didn't know anybody in AA. I've never been to AA. Where did that thought come from? Uh, but there it was. So I did. I called AA and I got this wonderful woman on the phone. This woman saved my life.

Tony Robbins helped me get sober in 1988. When I started getting sober, I had insomnia

And I affectionately, over the years have nicknamed her Madge. And the reason I did that is because she talked like this. And I tell you what, Roberta, she was a badass. She really was. It was her job to interview you. And if she thought you were bad enough and you were serious, she would call somebody in AA, one of the guys to come pick me up. And she did. And without her, I wouldnt have made it. So I went to my first AA meeting on June 8, 1988, and its stuck. Ive been there ever since. One of the things you do when you get there, they give you one of these. Now, for people that are just listing, im holding up a chip that you get in Alcoholics Anonymous on day one. And so they give you another one for one month, two months, three months, six months, nine months in one year. And I picked up one last year in 2023, in June for, uh, 35 years. This year, if I don't drink and I don't die, I'll pick one up on June 8 of 2024, it'll be 36 years.

>> Robert Sandleila: Right?

>> Dave Albin: So here's what happened. When I started getting sober, I had insomnia, so I was up at late at night all the time. There I am, 03:00 in the morning, there he is, mister infomercial himself. That's the guy that owned the eighties, is when it came to infomercials, because he was selling his programs through Gumpy ranker. Yeah, so there was Tony Robbins, a young, vibrant, you know, motivated, jumping up and down Tony Robbins. And, you know, when I first saw him, I couldn't stand him. I thought he was pompous. I thought he's all motivated. You know, I didn't like the guy because he had so much enthusiasm, and I was miserable.

>> Robert Sandleila: I was born in the seventies, so I watched him. In the eighties, there were infomercials in South Africa as well, of the tapes, the cds, and the book. I think awakened the giant within or something. Uh, I have never seen somebody with this much energy before.

>> Dave Albin: And what got me was, you know, again, I didn't like the guy. But the first thing he said that got me that I started listening to him was he said, we'll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. Back to your point that you just asked about? And I'm like, whoa, that's me. I'm chasing pleasure and trying to run from pain. I mean, it made total sense to me. And then I'll tell you what really got me when he said, how do humans make decisions one of two ways, either out of inspiration or desperation. And I went, whoa, I'm pretty desperate. Maybe I should listen to this guy. And I did. I bought his program. And as you said, it was a 30 day program. Came in a big old box, and it came on these little white things called cassette tapes. Right? Some of your audience is gonna, what is a cassette tape?

>> Robert Sandleila: They can tell how old we are.

>> Dave Albin: Yeah, uh, yeah, I dated myself. No doubt about that. If you go to the Smithsonian, they're there. Uh, they're right next to eight track tape and reel to reel. So he sent me the program, I plugged it in. I did what the man taught me to do, and it worked well. I ended up loaning it to a buddy of mine. Seven years later, after he borrowed it from me, Dan, my buddy in AA, called me and said, hey, did you know Tony Robbins is coming to town? And by that time, we've both gone through his program, his tapes, read his book and all that. And I said, no, man, I had no idea. And he goes, dude, come on, I want to go. Will you go with me? And I said, sure, absolutely. Let's do it. He goes, great. Let me call you back. He calls me back an hour later, and he goes, done. We pick up the tickets at will call. Here's what they told us to do. Number one, drink a lot of water. You've got to stay hydrated throughout this four day event. Okay? Got it. Drink a lot of water. What else? Bring snacks. You're going to spend a lot of time in the room. And I giggle because, man, anybody's been to a Tony Robbins seminar knows you are definitely going to spend a lot of time in the room. That man gets on stage for hours and hours and hours and hours.

>> Robert Sandleila: He's a walking red bull.

>> Dave Albin: Yes, he's a walking red bull, though. He's never drank one in his life.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yeah, good for him. I've never touched one, either.

>> Dave Albin: I haven't either. I'm not going to. And then he said, be ready to play full out and bring a good attitude. I said, well, dan, how much was the ticket? That's going to determine my attitude. He said, $695. He said, you can pay me back. Don't worry about it. I remember thinking, what, $695 this is.

>> Robert Sandleila: In 1995, which now would be at, what, 69,500?

>> Dave Albin: I was thinking, like 1.3 or 1.2 million, you know, by bitcoin. And just as he's getting ready to get off the phone, he goes, oh, wait. I got to tell you something, man. The most important part, we're going to be doing a fire walk. And my brain went, hell, no, we're doing a fire walk. I'm not saying anything, but my brain's going, no, uh uh.

Ain't going to happen. And here's what's funny about that. I'm doing the, uh, total opposite

Ain't going to happen. And here's what's funny about that. I don't know what a firewalk is. What does that mean? So I'm saying, no, ain't doing it, but I'm not saying anything to Dan. I'm doing the, uh, total opposite. I'm like, yeah, Dan, sure, firewalk. Cool. Sounds great, brother. All right, see you then.

Tony Robbins wanted to do the bar walk for 3500 people

The big day comes we get to the event, Tony takes the stage at 02:00 in the afternoon. The next thing I know, it's after.

>> Robert Sandleila: Midnight and it hasn't stopped.

>> Dave Albin: Uh, he's still going like the energized bunny. Remember the guy that said, hey, bring snacks. You're going to spend a lot of time. If you don't, you'll starve to death. The next thing, Tony goes, take your shoes off. And I went, oh, no, I'm not falling for that. I, uh, see where you're going with air. No, no, no, I'm not taking my shoes off. Well, Roberta, I got a big problem. Guess who's taking their shoes off?

>> Robert Sandleila: You did?

>> Dave Albin: No, everybody else. I'm in a room with 3500 people and they're all taking their shoes off. So what am I going to do, not take my shoes off?

>> Robert Sandleila: You don't want that kind of spotlight.

>> Dave Albin: Hey, look at Dave. What if he's a coward? He won't take his shoes off. So I'm like, okay. I said from the very beginning, I'm not going to do this firewall. I want to see tony. I'll go, but I'm not doing the firework. No. At that moment I was still a no, but I'm like, but wait a minute. So what are you going to do? Well, uh, what I do is I'm going to take my shoes off and I'm going to fake it. When we walk out there with 3500 people into this big parking lot, I'm going to lose my buddy and I'm going to go hide in the back. No one's going to know your, uh, dirty little secret. Me, I'm going to know my dirty little secret. It gets worse because he's got you going out there. He's got everybody clapping and chanting, right? So everybody's walking out there going, yes, yes, yes. And I'm going, no, ah, I ain't doing this. It's worse because when you get out there into this big parking lot where they do the firewalk for 3500 people, he's got african drummers.

>> Robert Sandleila: Oh, my people.

>> Dave Albin: Your people are, and they're tearing it up. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. I mean, and it's thundering, man. You can feel the vibrations coming through you. It's beautiful, actually. And so now you got all that going on. Uh, well, I ditched my buddy. I hide in the back. Well, to set this up logistically, when you get out there, over in the corner of the parking lot, there is a giant fire. It is huge. It's probably 35ft wide.

>> Robert Sandleila: Is it an actual fire? It's not just the logs.

>> Dave Albin: What they do is they burn hardwood season. Hardwood all day. And what it does is after you burn for hours and hours and hours, it renders, uh. And so now you have a big, giant pile of beautiful coals. I mean, they are gorgeous. Well, how you set this up is you take a wheelbarrow over to that pit and you fill it with coal. And then you take a wheelbarrow and you bring it in between two lanes of sod of grass. They call it a fire lane. And then they just take a flathead shovel and they sprinkle those coals on top of that grass on that fire lane. And that's what you walk on. Real simple. Well, I'm having none of it. I've made my way. I've ditched my buddy. I'm in the back. I got it all figured out. Well, Tony Robbins knows that the bar walk is one of the most life changing experiences on the planet. It's been around for a thousand years. It's been used by cultures all over the world for rite of passage, marriages, graduations, the birth of children, the Phoenicians, the people of the Polynesians, the Hawaiians, the people of India. It's, um, unbelievable to watch what they do in their firewalks. The people of Portugal, the Spaniards, the Indo Europeans, the Native American Indians, uh, right here where I live in North Carolina, where the Cherokees, they firewalk. So Tony did his research, and the reason he brought the firewalk, because he knew it was going to create a paradigm shift, and he knew it was going to be one of the most life changing experiences any of his participants would ever undergo. And he's right. He also knows that there's people like me that he doesn't want us to miss out, because if we don't create the paradigm shift, you know, we're only getting a little bit of that seminar. So what's he doing? He trains people to come find you.

>> Robert Sandleila: Where you were hiding.

>> Dave Albin: I'm hiding along with other people. I'm not the only one. There's lots of them. We're hiding in the back. We don't want to do this. No, because basically you have three types of people. You have the people that go, I'm ready, let's go. Uh, and then you have the other people that go, well, tell you what, let's watch Roberta. And if she doesn't burn herself, then we'll go after.

>> Robert Sandleila: Then we'll know it's safe.

>> Dave Albin: Let her go first, right? Sacrificial lamb. And then there's people like me that are, no, not doing it. Not going to happen. So there, I'm back there. I got it all figured out, right? No, because here comes this guy, and he won't take his eyes off me. And he's.

One question put me in a position to transform tens of thousands of lives

Now he's walking right at me, and I'm thinking, you got to be kidding me. He goes, hey, man, are you okay? And of course, when we're not okay, what do we say? Yeah, I'm fine. All good here, man. Nothing to see. Move along. He goes, so, hey, man, you're going to walk tonight? And I said, absolutely not. Why the hell do you think I'm hiding in the back? Dude, no problem. We don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. Okay, so he's here to get me out of here. No, he's not. He's there to trick me. And he did because this stranger and this guy has no idea that. Because he asked me one question, it put me in a position to literally go out into the world and transform tens of thousands of people's lives, literally. And I don't even know this person's name. Uh, and the question he asked me was, wouldn't you at least like to watch? I'm thinking, yeah, sure. Let's go do that. Let's go watch these people burn their feet off. This should be fun. Well, he says, look, man, you can't see anything from where you are. And he's right. I can't see anything. I can hear it. The drums are going dun dun dun. They're clapping. Yes. And people are screaming because they're already doing it. And when they get to the celebration end, they're jumping up and down and screaming and celebrating. So that screaming's going on. I mean, it's intense. And so I got in line, and eventually he said, you know, you'll get up there where you can see it. And so I did. Well, the next thing I know, another stranger comes up to me, and he whispers in my ear, and he says he knows when you're ready. When he says go, you go. And pew. This guy just disappeared into the night. What do you mean he knows when you're ready? When he says, go, you go. What?

>> Robert Sandleila: You said they celebrate at the end. You had the celebrator on noises.

>> Dave Albin: Yeah, well, and I didn't know about that until later. Right. I didn't know what was going on with all that.

>> Robert Sandleila: Right.

>> Dave Albin: I just know that they were screaming when they got to the end, there's a fine line between screaming because you're in pain and because you're, you know, it's exhilarating, right?

>> Robert Sandleila: It's still screaming.

>> Dave Albin: Yeah. So I'm watching and I'm mesmerized. I can't take my eyes off it. And the next thing I know, boom, guess where I am. I'm at the front of the line and I'm like, how the hell did I get here? And I'm looking down at the fire lane again. It's about 3ft wide, 15ft long, and the coals are on top, they're bright red. Uh, those coals are bright red and they're thick. And the wheelbarrow's right there so you can feel the heat coming off. So we got real, real fast. There's a trainer standing right there. And the trainer goes, eyes up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Eyes up. Yeah, that's right. I was in a room with Tony for 10 hours. Guess what he taught us to do? Keep your eyes up. Don't stare at what you fear. Interesting metaphor. Don't stare at what you fear. Keep your eye on the prize. The prize is right over there. Because everything you've ever wanted is sitting right over there on the other side of your comfort zone.

>> Robert Sandleila: You know how they say face fear, look it straight in the eye and tell it you're not going to get me or something. So he says, look up. If this is the fear at eye level, he says, so you look up, you look over it, right?

>> Dave Albin: I'm not staring down at it anymore.

>> Robert Sandleila: I'm not staring down at it.

>> Dave Albin: And it's kind of a pattern interrupt too, right? It's like an interrupts your thinking, oh, yeah, my eyes are up. So all of a sudden the trainer goes, squeeze your fist and say yes. And I said, yes. And he went stronger. And I went, yes. Well, the trainer could tell I was not on a peak state and so he got in my face and screamed at me stronger. I threw my hands in the air and I screamed yes as loud as I could. And he goes, go. Go. Boom. I m took off. Well, remember the guy, the stranger, he knows when you're ready. When he says go, you go.

Tony says firewalk changes your physiology and your self worth

I did.

>> Robert Sandleila: And how did it feel? Because that's the moment we're all waiting for.

>> Dave Albin: Well, they put two people at the end and they catch you and they're like, stop, wipe your feet and celebrate. And I'm wiping my feet and all of a sudden and I look back. Yep, I walked on them. And all of a sudden it dawns on me. It feels like I burnt myself.

>> Robert Sandleila: You actually felt hot under your feet?

>> Dave Albin: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I, uh, definitely felt the heat, there's no doubt about that. But I thought I burnt myself when I checked my foot. No, I didn't. My foot's dirty, but, no, there's no burns. You know, it's my other foot. No, it's not burnt either. You may think it's burnt, but it's not. So literally, I'm jumping up and down and I'm screaming. I'm acting like a little kid. That the first time we ever rode a bicycle. Right. It's exhilarating. And you're with 3500 people. That's also feeling the same thing. So your self belief and your self confidential and your self worth all rises together. So the frequency of us has been raised and we share it collectively. So we have what I call the firewalk congruency. You know, the firewalk connection. Because at that moment, I'm like, okay, where's the bus? Let's go climb Mount Everest.

>> Robert Sandleila: Tony says you change your state. Would you like to talk us through that? Changing your state when you went through.

>> Dave Albin: That's what he did. That's exactly what he did. Squeeze your fist and say, yes.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yeah.

>> Dave Albin: So now my physiology. Yes, yes.

>> Robert Sandleila: And the guy says, louder, stronger. So you really change your physiology?

>> Dave Albin: Yeah, absolutely. Who hasn't seen a professional athlete get ready to go into the game? They're bouncing off each other to high five.

>> Robert Sandleila: They don't just stand there, they're jumping.

>> Dave Albin: So that night was exhilarating. But here's where it gets really, really interesting. This is a four day event. That was day one, that night. Now we're in day two. We're all in the four year getting ready to go into the venue. And I've never seen or witnessed anything like it in my entire life. I was watching everybody. Very observant, because people are laughing, they're crying, they're hugging, they're connecting. They're talking about the firewalk, they're talking about their lives, they're talking about the kids. And I'm watching people get along humanistically unlike anything I'd ever witnessed. Ever. Take March of 2020, how everybody got shredded apart and they started arguing about worthless stuff. We were all getting along like we'd known each other our entire lives. 3500 strangers. I've never seen anything like it. So did we all drink the Kool Aid last night? And the answer is, yep, we sure did. That firewall changed all our lives collectively and so now we have something that we can relate to, something in common, something extraordinary that happened the night before. So it connects us as humans. It's beautiful.

Dave Alba became a volunteer firefighter for Tony Robbins in 2003

So later in the event, I met one of Tony's trainers, and I'm talking this guy, his name's Ted Macy, super great guy. Him and his wife Mary were trainers for Tony. And I said, so, ted, tell me something. What's it like to be in this environment on a regular basis? He goes, Dave, it is phenomenal. You need to get in here if you want to be around this. He said, you see those people standing over there with the black shirts and the pink writing on the back? Yeah. He goes, dude, they're volunteers. They were people just like you. They came, they wanted to come back, they wanted to be in the environment. They wanted to volunteer and give back. So he goes, if you want to come into the environment, when you get home, call Robbins research, ask for a crew application.

>> Robert Sandleila: Does this still happen today, Dave, to have that volunteer opportunity for anyone listening.

>> Dave Albin: Oh, yeah.

>> Robert Sandleila: Tony Robbins. Oh, wow. Like you said, to just be in the environment, to be around all that energy, all those people, it's incredible.

>> Dave Albin: Mhm. And sure enough, nine weeks later, I got a letter in the mail that said, Dave Alba, congratulations, you've been selected accrue with the Anthony Robbins companies. Boom, my foot's in the door. I think I crewed five or six times before they hired me as a subcontractor. And because I had a military background, security background, they ended up putting me on the security team to help take care of Tony celebrities. My family and I were living on a farm, so they put me on the fire building team because I knew how to use tools and stuff. That's where I found my home. When you're a volunteer, you have to pay your way, you have to pay your airfare, you have to pay your hotel, all your food, you know, all that you pay for. So I was spending $1,500 or so every time I went. Well, my wife wasn't real thrilled about that because she didn't know who Tony Robbins was.

>> Robert Sandleila: Is the cost of being a volunteer paying your own way cheaper than the ticket to be a participant, to go to the seminar.

>> Dave Albin: Even if you do that, you still have to pay your way to get there. They offered me a position in 1996 as a subcontractor. They gave me a free ticket. And so I brought her and she went through the program. And when she graduated on Monday night, we were walking on the beach in Fort Lauderdale and she said, okay, I get it. This guy's pretty cool. If you want to work with this guy and they're paying your way and you make a little bit on the side, go for it.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yeah.

>> Dave Albin: And I did. And 2003 rolled around, and Robbins offered me the captain's position. And what that meant was, I would take over all of Tony's firewalks globally. We were homeschooling our kids at the time, and Robbins paid for us to go on the road with him. And I took my kids, so I took the whole family. My kids have been so deprived. Uh, their very first event was Sydney, Australia. Can you imagine being homeschooled and your first events in Sydney? That was in 2003, 2005. We went to London, and we set the world record. That's where we fire walked 12,300 people.

>> Robert Sandleila: Now, in one event.

>> Dave Albin: One event at the Excel center. 12,300 people that night. Again, it's a world record. Now, I want to disclose to your audience that Guinness book, a world record, was not there. However, it's still a world record. I don't care what you say. And, uh, no one's ever walked anywhere close to that many people other than a, ah, Robbins event. And then to move this forward in 2014. Robert. I'm driving down the road, and my phone rings. And guess who it is. It's a company called Google. Maybe you've heard of them.

>> Robert Sandleila: They sound kind of familiar.

>> Dave Albin: Kind of, yeah. Right? And they said, hey, are you the Dave Albert that does the firewalks for Tony Robbins? Yeah. What can I do for you? Well, if you're not under any contractual obligation or non compete, would like to talk to you about hiring. Okay. Homeboy's a free agent. What you got? Now we have 148 executives. They're graduating. We want to create a paradigm shift experience. We want it to be spectacular, and we understand you're the guy. I found out later that they wanted to do this event in the middle of the day. And I said, can't do a fire walk in the middle of day. We can only do it at night. It's a safety issue. He said, I'll tell you what we could do. If you want to do it in the day. We could do a glass walking on broken glass.

>> Robert Sandleila: Glass?

>> Dave Albin: Yep. And they said, ooh, tell us about that. So we ended up doing a glass walk. I ended up doing two of them. Uh, what was really cool, though, is I met one of the executives, and again, they're the ones that told me, hey, you may want to start your own business. Corporate America, they want paradigm shift experiences. They want life changing experiences. They want somebody like you that can create these incredible life changing experiences. And so I took it to heart. I mean, if Google's telling you you ought to start your own business, you should probably listen to it. I mean, they knew what they were doing. They knew they wanted to create this incredible experience for those executives.

Firewalk Productions is a company that helps companies unify over disagreements

>> Robert Sandleila: Right?

>> Dave Albin: In 2014, Firewalk Productions was born. And shortly after that, after retiring from Tony's organization, I went to NASA, then Notre Dame, and then Virginia Tech and Microsoft and Heineken, and re Max and Chick fil A and ah, YMCA, and the EO organization, the entrepreneurs organization, and I mean, and just on and on and on. The next thing I know, I'm on the speaking and communication podcast with Alberta. Right? So you never know what's going to happen. Tada.

>> Robert Sandleila: You never know what's going to happen. And here I am talking to the number one final America.

>> Dave Albin: Uh.

>> Robert Sandleila: Oh my goodness. Dave, here's the thing. When you say that they want a paradigm, um, shift for executive, would you like to explain to our listeners what exactly that means?

>> Dave Albin: Well, if we look at it this way, what doesn't challenge you doesn't change you. Why is it that fire walking unites people at such a high level? What happens if a company's got a breakdown or they're launching a new product? Or maybe there's dissension because they're all arguing, uh, well, that's going to affect a company because when dissension shows up, production goes down.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yep.

>> Dave Albin: Guaranteed. So how do you fix it? And if a CEO doesn't fix it, guess what? They'll find a CEO that will. And so that's where I come in. They hire me and I bring them back together. Let's get through all this crap.

>> Robert Sandleila: So if you're not united, if you're not in a spirit of collaboration, in a team, you're not going to achieve the results that you desire.

>> Dave Albin: Can you imagine if you took that kind of dissension? Do you think Navy SEals care? Anything that gets in the way of the, um, of the mission? No.

>> Robert Sandleila: You know, how does it change you personally? So that's at work. But what about in your personal life?

>> Dave Albin: You know, my kids walked at a very young age. My daughter was six and my son was nine. What? It completely affected them? Absolutely. Here's the thing. If I can walk on hot coals that are 1000 degrees and not burn myself, what else can I do? Again, it's exhilarating.

>> Robert Sandleila: I've never seen kids do it, and I've seen so many firework at events. I've never seen kids that young.

>> Dave Albin: Yep. I just did, uh, an event down for the EO organization in south Florida, and we had several kids. Two of them were five year olds. Now, I incorporate the board break into the process. You know, the way Tony did it. I do it similar, but a lot different. I'm doing the firewalk more like our ancestors did it, you know? So I bring the board break ins, basically a martial arts move. They do it in every dojo in America. And if you graduate in a belt, you typically always break a board. You're going to break it with your hands, your elbow, your knee, your foot, something. And so I have them write something on the front of the board they want to move towards. I have them write something on back of the board they want to move away from. I haven't put anybody's name on the board that they've lost. That creates the rite of passage. And then I have them write anybody's name on the board that they're out of sorts with. So, in other words, if there's somebody in your life and reconciliation or forgiveness is part of that relationship on either side, put their name on the board. That stops tonight. You're going to give it to the fire. So we go outside, we have the board break station set up.

>> Robert Sandleila: Boom.

>> Dave Albin: They break the board. We circle them. Um, they come back. They fire walk. They throw their board into the fire. Super powerful. And then I do another thing. I do what's called the ho'oponopono hard.

>> Robert Sandleila: Hug, the hawaiian system. Doctor Hulen, Doctor Hin Liu.

>> Dave Albin: Yes.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yes. I love you.

>> Dave Albin: Thank you. I'm sorry.

>> Robert Sandleila: Please forgive me.

>> Dave Albin: So what I do is I put everybody in a heart hug, and they take three cleansing breaths, and they hug the opposite way. They don't hug like we normally do. We do it what's called heart to heart. And then when they take the three cleansing breaths, typically what happens is their hearts calibrate. Everybody's heart starts beating at the same time. So I'll do that, like, six times. And then that way. Now I got the whole group, everybody's hearts beating at the same time. Super powerful. So now we get them back. It's a reset. It gets them back to acting like humans with each other, with love and kindness and compassion and joy and honesty and integrity. And that's the way you want your team to work. Their production goes, boop. I kiss them good night.

You know, we give them little containers in front of the listeners

You know, we give them one of these little containers in front of the listeners. It's a container of the coals you can hear them. A little container, and it says, I firewalked in 2024. And, uh, you know, we put the company name on there, and then that way they take that home, and they can have that. And then, of course, we're getting it on video, and you're getting. You're getting pictures. And because, you know, if you go tell somebody, you firewatch, they're going to say, did you get any video? No. Well, it didn't happen. So we get the video, my story.

>> Robert Sandleila: And I'm sticking to it.

>> Dave Albin: Yeah, exactly. M. You didn't do that. What do they say? Love your family, choose your friends, and choose wisely, because you will become who you spend time with. That's it.

David Know: Operation do no harm focuses on helping veterans and first responders

Now, here's something that happened that's really interesting, because my career just took a real interesting turn. So a couple of months ago, I was on another podcast, and I was being interviewed, and then we. We finished up, and then we were just talking on the side, and Natalia asked me, she said, david, hey, let me ask you, have you ever done a firewalk for veterans? And I said, specifically? And she said, yeah. And I go, no. Why? Because we have 200 vets. Then it dawned on me, instead of being hired by corporate America, let me take this experience out to corporate America, and they can sponsor an event, and let's see if we can save some lives here. So I went to bed that night, and I woke up in the middle of the night, and it came to me. Operation do no harm. And it's for four categories of people. Number one, veterans. Number two, first responders. Number three, single moms. I was born to a single mom. And number four, kids that have been abused and neglected. So now corporate America can hire us, bring us to their city. We'll put on the event for the veterans or whatever category they chose. They get all the credit, and we do all the hard work and all the heavy lifting. Their entire company gets to reap the reward of literally creating an event that saves people's lives.

>> Robert Sandleila: M. It's a win win, for sure.

>> Dave Albin: Yes, 100%. And by the way, we've got our first event already done. We've got a bunch of cool people, the rotary there in Modesto. M. Great group of people. They're sponsoring it. We're really, really excited about that. Really grateful to Ed, who's the president of the, uh, pericot, as, uh, the president of the rotary out there, and, uh, all his people. And. Yeah, so we're really super excited about that first event. And we've got some sponsors coming in, um, one of the guys that I do a lot of work with, uh, is Zippo. And so they've actually made a lighter with my logo on it, which I don't know if you can't see it very well, right? I reached out to him. I said, hey, we're going to be doing this thing called operation do no harm, where we're doing firewalks and these life changing experiences for vets and kids and moms and first responders. And I said, are, uh, you guys interested? They said, oh, heck, yeah. So I went up to Bradford, Pennsylvania. I sat down with the design team, and we designed a lighter that's going to say operation do no harm, and it's going to have the date of, uh, the events. So we're going to give those out to all the vets that walk, and we're going to give them a medallion very similar to like we do in AA, so they can, you know, take that coin and hold on to it.

>> Robert Sandleila: This is so life changing and so transformational. More especially, as you said, it's about bringing people together. It's about shifting paradigms and finding, always designing these win win models.

>> Dave Albin: Well, yeah, here's the thing, too, Roberta. I mean, corporate America has been so good to me. You know, corporate America spends a lot of money on sponsoring all kinds of things. You know, this is going to go viral. We already know it is. It's already starting.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yes.

>> Dave Albin: Uh, I've already got companies reaching out to me, wanting to get involved, because m they're hearing about it through these podcasts, which is great. And, you know, so it can go both ways. They can call me up and they can still hire me, and we'll go do an event for them, and then they can also hire me, and then we'll go do an event in their town for one of those categories, you know, because everybody's going to relate to one of the four, right, kids that have been abused or single moms or vets or first responders, because there's a real high suicide rate amongst first responders, too, and firefighters. Same thing with veterans, right? You go over there, you go to war, you see horrible things, and then they go home and they're scared to death. And then when they get home, they don't have the same resources. They can't reach out and connect, you.

>> Robert Sandleila: Know, they're no support system.

>> Dave Albin: The support system disappears. 50 men and women a day are taking their lives. I've got a skill. Uh, I've been given a gift, and I know how to change people's lives. I know how to save someone's life. I take my skills from AA. That's saving lives. I take my skills from the personal development industry. I got 30 some years into personal development. I got 35 years of sobriety, and I'm putting that all together for operation do no harm. Huh? Needless to say, like Tony said to me when I retired, with great wisdom comes great responsibility. And he's right. I'm a guy that can do something about it. I just need help, that's all. So you can help me come visit.

>> Robert Sandleila: Coming for sure. Yes. In so many different ways. Operation do no harm. Thank you so much.

Dave Alvin is the number one firework instructor in America

Dave Alvin, the number one firework instructor in America. We really appreciate and feel privileged that you were able to be on our show today. Thank you.

>> Dave Albin: Thanks. Thanks for having me, Roberta. It means a lot.

>> Robert Sandleila: My absolute pleasure. But before you go, if anybody wants to know more about the firework adventures and where they're going to be next, where can they find you? On the web.

>> Dave Albin: I'm real accessible, real easy. Just go to our website. It's firewalk adventures with an s, firewalkadventures.com dot. I also have an academy. Uh, we don't have many spots left, but once a year in October, I do a training, right? I have what's called the Dave Albin Firewalk Academy. And so they come up here to the mountains, they spend five and a half days with me, and I teach them how to do all this stuff. And then that way they can go back in their community or their company or their own business or whatever, and they can create these paradigm life changing experiences themselves. And then I support them. So that's on the website. There's a button, you can click on it, and there's a video there and you can watch it. And if it resonates with somebody and you want to come hang out with me in, uh, the mountains for five and a half days, we'd love to have you.

>> Robert Sandleila: And drink spring water.

>> Dave Albin: And drink spring water. Absolutely. And I'm going to put you in the river, so be prepared for that.

>> Robert Sandleila: Excellent stuff. Dave Alvin, the number one firework constructor in America. Tony Robbins protege who spent about two decades with him from the appalachian mountains. This has been very transformational, inspirational, and just really fun. Thank you so much again.

>> Dave Albin: My pleasure. Take care. Let's do it again sometime.

>> Robert Sandleila: For sure. You are always welcome to come back, of course. Of course. You are a friend of the show, so we know that we're going to expect you in the future.

>> Dave Albin: There we go.

>> Robert Sandleila: Exactly. Thank you for joining us on the speaking on communicating podcast. Once again. Please log on to Apple and Spotify. Leave us a rating and a review and what you'd like for us to discuss on the show that will be of benefit to you. We encourage you to continue to get communicating and let us know how communication skills continue to improve your life professionally and personally. Personally. And stay tuned for more episodes to come

>> Dave Albin: close.