E315 – Joshua Berglan – How to be grateful against all odds and be the Voice for the voiceless.

Junaid Ahmed 0:10
Thank you for tuning into hacks and hobbies with your host Janae. In Season Two of hacks and hobbies were visited by our amazing guests coming from all walks of life, want to learn their story, their struggles and their journey on how they got to where they are today. So stick around.

In this episode, I get to speak with Joshua T. bergland. He's a world's mayor, host of gratitude unfiltered, a talk show ministry, brand designer producer and emcee. Well, the world's mare is driven to be voice for the voiceless and empower others to live with Truth. But I am so glad and happy to bring Joshua to the episode. Thank you so much for your time and coming on as a guest.

Joshua Berglan 1:11
Hey, man, it's a blessing to be here. Thank you so much.

Junaid Ahmed 1:13
You're welcome. So Joshua, tell us a little bit about yourself. I see that you are a You are a talk show host and a brand designers as well as a producer. And you've done a lot of work in that area of expertise. So tell us a little bit about yourself and a journey that no one's heard of before.

Joshua Berglan 1:35
Well, my story's pretty public man. I have a you know, when God came to me a couple years ago and told me to put a spotlight on my shadow. Yeah, that meant living with no, I mean, living everything out loud living life in real time. So whether it was good or bad I, I talked about it. I talked about it publicly. And yeah, it was a way of keeping me safe. You know, there's so much power and truth. And and, you know, we keep saying So many secrets, but those secrets are poisoned for us. And but I, man, I've, uh, you know, we don't have to go into a lot of the details here.

I mean, if you google the the testimony of Joshua tubercle, and you'll see my story and of course, my all my talk show gratitude, unfiltered, whether it's through the interviews or just even the solo shows that I've done, you know, it's I'm very, very transparent about my past and the people that I'm called to serve. But it's been everything from, you know, I've been very fortunate to be, I don't know if survivors the right word, driver, but you know, I was molested by men and women as a kid, physically abused, I was abandoned. I've been homeless. It was an addict that had been in jail six times. You know, I'm literally every, like, it's almost like, every little thing you can imagine has happened for me, because and I say for me, because all of the things that were supposed to like cripple me or or to to To kill me, you know, it's funny how God works, because all of those things we actually get to use for us. And the way that we use it for us is by speaking about it, talking about it, sharing it, sharing how we overcome, talk about our journey, because it ends up helping other people. And those, those things that we overcome are like keys, their keys to having their keys at a prison. And the more that we share and talk about that, the more we help other people and that's our contribution to the world. And I've been very, very fortunate. I worked with complex disabilities for 18 years. So like, ALS, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries, the worst, you know, medical conditions that you can think of, I worked on behalf of the patients that suffered with those and their families and I love that industry and it was a very service minded industry, and after selling my company due to some Medicare changes and having an opportunity to change Get out of the industry before things got too crazy. We sold to a larger company and then I fell into the world of skincare and buying my own skincare line or buying the distribution rights to a skincare line that we took public right after my father, as melanoma came back and my father ended up dying from just horrible I mean tumor. melanoma is a scary thing, but he got it in the worst imaginable way. And that actually motivated me to start learning about skin and the sun and you know, different world and through skincare that got me into the designing of brands and so I fell into these look, it doesn't matter if it's skincare cosmetics, if it's a sandwich, if it's a T shirt, if it's technology. In the end, it's it's all about providing value, and it's all in everything's really the same people overcomplicate things, and to me the details never mattered. Yes, it's good to have facts about your products. And the reason why But the truth is, that can set a trap for us falling in love with, with something that will never love us back. So it's really about providing value for people discovering a need, and finding a way to provide that and the world's Mayor nickname that came from being in service to others. Never looking to sell anything. It was always like, how can I serve you? And not just saying, I'm just saying how can I serve you to to try to make friends? No, I really meant it like I if God if God put it on my heart to reach out and say, Hey, can I How can I help you? or How can I support you? I did it. And having that attitude got me through having a skincare line. It got me access to the Emmys, the Oscars, the Daytime Emmys, the grant at the Grammy Awards and all of these different award shows which then gave me access to being on film sets and being a part of the entertaining In industry and then working with individual brands, and then in the end again, it doesn't matter if it's a product brand, or human brand. The way that you show up and serve is you find a need, and you find a way to provide it. And fortunately for me, I'm really good at helping people get what they need. And so that in the attitude of helping everyone win, one gave me the nickname The world's mayor, but also put me in a position to design. We lot actually just just launched a product globally. It's a soft, soft launch, right before we go on QVC and work with Alibaba and Amazon, I thought, but we we launched a eyelash applicator. And like, you know, having that opportunity came through serving, like I got access to this celebrity that launched the product. And I was able to help design it. I got that access through surveys. So it's everything I've ever done even even my acting jobs been in the movies that I've been in and the TV shows and commercials, it's all come from showing up, literally on set, having a good attitude, how can I help? And that gave me access. So I've been very, very fortunate.

Junaid Ahmed 7:11
That's, that's really powerful and amazing. And you're right, you you got to show up. If you want to be in certain areas, you got to show up every day, you got to show that you're resilient. You gotta have an awesome attitude about it. And I absolutely love love that story that that's really, really powerful.

Joshua Berglan 7:29
Thank you. Sorry, for the long, sorry for the long acts. I wanted to give you the meat of everything. That's exactly

Junaid Ahmed 7:37
that's exactly what I looked into. Because that gives me a lot of the meat and now I can, you know, use that as you know, and talk about the things that you went through, like, you know, like one of my passions is being you know, in a movie or being in a TV show and stuff like that. So, I've you know, I've done a couple of commercials here and there. Then I've been on the set of, you know, NBC, FBI. And I was like, Whoa, this is such an awesome experience. How can I How can I do more of this. And of course, you also have to be in certain locations, you have to be in New York, you have to be in LA, to be close to all of these happenings. And you got to be, you know, you got to be able to focus on that entirely, to get ahead of it.

Joshua Berglan 8:24
Well, and I have to say, though, that, you know, in fairness, like I, for people that are out there listening, that's not necessarily true, and I'm not trying to like, you know, correct you or anything. No, I've totally my first day back when I came back to Oklahoma to go through a ministry training. Yeah, my very first day, bam, sorry, my second day back. I ended up on a movie set. Like I was literally walking down the street and someone grabbed me and said, Hey, we need you to play this part. Okay. Could Happen and there's the thing that one of the misnomers out there is like you need you need to live in LA in New York. To have a talk show. Well, that's not true because I have a talk show that's on 150 networks worldwide. Yeah. And I'm in Oklahoma City right now. I so that's not like and then even acting jobs. There's now in Oklahoma, Louisiana, even Florida, North Carolina, Las Vegas. Hollywood, there's a Kansas City I think there's all of these places that are now you'll you'll have opportunities to act be in movies being commercials, things like that, because they get these giant tax credits. Yeah. So if you you go to Amazon, if you get an Amazon, IMDb Prime membership or pro membership, you can actually find opportunities there. And then of course, the different casting networks and there's agencies. So wherever you're listening from, there may be a chance that you can get your foot in the door locally where you're at without having to go to LA and recipe and almost

Junaid Ahmed 9:58
like so many people do. That makes so much sense. And, and you're absolutely right. And I started with connecting with people local to me in DC. And there, there are some roles that I was I was applying for. But then it also depends on what the director is looking for and how much experience you have in front of the camera and what not to well, but, but again, it all comes down to having that attitude and being out there to push yourself forward.

Joshua Berglan 10:30
Absolutely. When I did the superbowl commercial last year with the NFL, I like I was an extra. That's how I got booked as an extra however, being an extra on set. I had a good attitude. I was always kind of floating around the director. Yeah, and the guys and producers. So when they looked around and needed somebody Yeah, I was there. And so what happened is I end up being able to be Brian Urlacher, his body, double and just showing up. So, so instead of making $75 a day, yeah, I end up making 1500 dollars a day. Nice. And I mean, that's just from showing up and having a good attitude. The movie that I'm that I'm in that played at Sundance, I showed up, I was asked to show up on set just to like helping have a good attitude and bring energy to the room. Yeah, that Honest to God, man, that led to an opportunity. That led to an opportunity for me to actually have an acting role and I did such a good job in the small part they gave me I end up getting multiple speaking roles. Nice. So it's just that happens. There's no shame in being an extra. There's no shame in going in and doing grunt work because I promise you, if you have a good attitude, people will notice because so many people make the mistake on set. They're sitting there on their phone, and they're, they're like, well, I'm just an extra mile. Getting paid 75 bucks. So I'm gonna have this, you know, I'm gonna have a bad attitude and I'm not going to talk to anybody. Well, I'm gonna say two things. One, anyone out there that's just trying to be an actor, you're being a fool. Yeah. Number two, you can't sell out for anything. Like, I'm not just a talk show host, I do other things. Because we live in a world now that you need multiple revenue streams to be able to survive. So if you're on set, that is a great opportunity for you to network to make friends because I guarantee you 90% of the people on that set, have multiple jobs. And if you if you are a good person, and you truly truly know how to network, know how to serve, have an attitude of gratitude and you want to help people that can get you very, very far. You can make some connections that may not pay off in the immediate, the what will happen is you're walking down the street one day you're down, you know, you're feeling pretty down, whatever and all of a sudden you get a phone call from a casting director who needs you Because they remember your attitude they remember your look. And there's no excuse now it isn't you're not too fat, you're not too skinny. You're not too muscular. No, it's not that you're not to black, you're not to why you're not to Middle Eastern, none of that crap applies anymore. It's all it's everything is available for everybody. They are looking, in fact, la models, la models is one of the prime modeling agencies in Los Angeles, you know what they're looking for know, basically borderline overweight, big guys like brown giant bear, guys, that's what they're looking for, to do ads for Calvin Klein. ads for Gucci, like the world is changing. So therefore, the playing field has been leveled. for everybody. Everybody is getting a chance. What was what used to be hot is not hot anymore. Now there's something else there's a shift happening. And so for those people that are down on themselves and say I can never do this, I'm too old. I'm too young bullcrap. You're only limited by your thoughts and the way you're talking about yourself.

Junaid Ahmed 14:03
That's so powerful man. Thank you so much for clarifying because I keep thinking, you know, maybe it's you got to be a certain way. But no, you're absolutely right. There's because when we watch television, there's all types of people that are in on television that that are in commercials and or where did they find these people? Will they find them? And if you are one of them, just you just have to go out and region and be in two places and connect with the people and do those networking events and get out there?

Joshua Berglan 14:39
providing value for others is doing that ahead of anything else. Yes. Is what is going to set you apart and look, having you have to have a legitimate attitude of wanting to serve because here's the thing, so many people will serve and they'll give and then they expect to see something right away. Yeah, it doesn't always work that way. No and you've got to be patient consistent because it's a kingdom principle about serving and providing value. And I promise you you plant seeds into good soil you will see a harvest that's 2030 4050 6090 100 times more than what you planted but you've got to be consistent and not give up and you got to stay the course. Yes, I promise you do. They always do people say nice guys finish last that's crap. That's so much crap. But

Junaid Ahmed 15:32
I was just going to mention that part about nice guys finish last and there's actually a book call give and take. I can't remember the the the author but he talks about you know how they say that nice guys finish last. But the funny part is sure nice guys do finish last but they also finished first. So they did a they did a research and they like givers and takers. So the people that won everything are the givers in the top. And then there's people in the middle are the people who are the takers. And the people who are either you know, to like they have a given Take me, you know, they do a tit for tat kind of thing. And then sure, those guys will also finish last, there's a huge number of people that are in there that are givers. And givers are the ones that do not ask for anything back. They're just give give, give give without asking for anything back. And there's some really awesome stories in the book that just, you know, opened my mind up like wow, that's just so fascinating. And being that being that person being the giver by bringing value to others, no matter how, no matter what experience you have, you are an expert in one thing or the hour, the other. Use that use your story like yours using your story about All the different things you had to go through to be who you are to be able to help others and help them realize what they're missing and what how they can be better than, you know the the awesome tips that you gave us today on how to, you know, research and get in front of movie directors and producers because everybody's looking for a story. I was talking to a producer the other day and he's like, you know, if you've got a sci fi story that you've been thinking about if you have a podcast around TV, movie networks are looking to convert that story into a TV show, because the hardest part is to come in with that story. And there's a billions of stories.

Joshua Berglan 17:46
Absolutely, and I think the greatest stories are ever told or the true ones.

Junaid Ahmed 17:50
Yeah, absolutely. I totally, totally agree.

Unknown Speaker 17:53
I mean, it's

Joshua Berglan 17:55
look fiction's great and it's fun. Yeah, but every move That's been done every documentary that's been done every podcast that's been done every live stream that's done every radio show that's done. The ones to me that are always the most successful and have the greatest impact. And success is not always money. No Success to me is power. its influence it's it's it's Yeah, power and influence really, and having authority. That to me is that that will withstand money because money comes and goes, Oh, yes, and, and influence matters. Being a thought leader matters. Well, the only way to be any of that is one to provide value, but also to be real, to be true not to hold back. Because, God I and again, I mentioned God a lot and it's hard for me not to because then you go ahead and do it, man. I believe in God and, you know, we want what God wants Bless anything that's kept in the secret. God won't bless anything. That's not true. If you're living a double life and living a lie, God's not gonna bless that. If you're not, if you're not being obedient to what you're called to do, look and we'll take we'll take we'll take God out of this for a second. Every one of us know what right and wrong is, Oh, yes, we can justify and try to cover it up. But the fact is this if we go against if we're being led to do something, and we ignore it, we stuff it down. We push it away. We ignore it. We live in resentment we live in anger we live in you know what whatever it may be we're define with the spirit inside of us is telling us to do we do that we will not be blessed period. And and one thing that I think is important is like you can say, Well, every all areas of my life are blessed, but this one area, I don't believe that. I don't believe that you're truly stepping into all that's available for you because how you do one thing is how you do everything. And then it's a fact. Because the way you show up in your relationships and look and I'm guilty of this, like I've, I did a lot of work on myself, spent a lot of time alone, really, really working on myself because even after giving my life to Christ, I, like I went on a journey and things weren't perfect, and I still wasn't perfect. My heart had changed. But my brain was still a freaking liar. My brain was so limited in its beliefs. And yes, I had this big vision, but at the same time, I would, I would, I had this vision, but I would stuff that vision down with my negative thinking and limiting beliefs. And then and then it was, you know, relationally like, okay, I've gotten strong as an individual, but we're not called to be on our own we are called to serve. We are called to have a partner we are called, you know, to to come together as one and because that makes us more powerful. And but so what was coming up for me as well, great. This is really good that I'm good at managing myself. Yeah. But when it comes to having intimate relationships and I'm not talking sexually, I'm talking to intimate friendships. I'm introducing falling in love. And then the way that I was showing up in that relationship because I was so like, this is my way of doing things. I've got to have it this way that up. Well, guess what? It was affecting my relationship. Yeah, in the way it was affecting my relationship was also affecting my work. It was affecting my ministry, it was affecting my talk show and, and I can tell myself all day long that I could, I can make up for it, I can cover it, but the truth is the light that I the light that I have inside me was being dulled because I was not honoring what I was called to do. I was not being fully obedient. I was not walking in forgiveness. I was not leading with love in my relationship. And you know what? Maybe it wasn't it wasn't affecting me in big ways. Yeah, but I was not being fully Last in the ways that I know that I meant to be fully blessed and so the work continues and that's the beautiful thing of life is that we always get to grow. We always get to stretch ourselves, we always get to learn. And and right when we think we're done learning something, guess what something else is revealed that we get to work on to

Junaid Ahmed 22:18
exactly, no, do you said so many truths in here, you know, about not hiding, not being not, not I was secret and whatnot, you know, because for the longest time, so I until I acknowledged this part of my life, was able to move forward was I able to get the blessings and, and, and they'll talk about it. What happened is I started my podcast, you know, last year, and I was really passionate about it. I kept you know, working on it when I was away from work. And then what happened is towards the end of or exactly last year, one year this time is when I got like go, because I was not focusing on my work. I was not being, you know, the work or the, you know, providing value in the area that I was hired to do. And I was okay with it because I wanted to do something different. I had been working for 20 years in one field, and I wanted to change it up and I wanted to do something different for myself or for myself and whatnot. So I got myself fired. They gave me some time, and then then I ended up picking up another job, like within a week, two weeks, and then knowing that, you know, this is not what I wanted to do, but I wanted to be supportive of my wife and my wife's like, I'm not the only one who's going to be working. So you got to go and get that job. So I'm like, Alright, sure. I'll do it. So I went back, and I, you know, worked. And then four months after I got Myself fired again. And they were like, you know, you're not, you're doing personal work here. You're not spending enough time getting this work done. Yeah, I had like two warnings. And they're like, you know, either you have, you can spend two weeks here and do exactly what we're telling you to do. Or you can leave today. I was like, You know what, I'll leave today. And because I don't want to lie to myself, I don't want to, you know, live in, in fear of not working on what I am passionate about. So I got myself fired the second time. And I didn't, I didn't tell anybody this and I told you, you know, yeah, I got laid off, the contract ended, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I kept saying that same thing and eight months. I didn't get any job, but I was focusing on you know, the podcast, I was doing some other jobs like driving Lyft or doing websites and book covers for others. So that's what I was doing. Shooting movies and videos. But then, till I said this to somebody else that, you know, I got myself fired. The next day, I got a call from the recruiter saying, we want to hire you for this job. You have enough for you. I was like, Holy smokes. And I'm like, is this is this was just one of the reasons or was it because I called my mom and I talked to her the same day that I was going to have an interview. So there's multiple things happening here. And I'm talking to my mom, who's kind of like, angry with me because I didn't call her as much as I should have been, and she was traveling. So there's like so many different things. And like, you know, there is there's a higher power here that is working for us or against this or you know, just not getting those wheels turning. And there's actually a chapter in the Quran called to Minnesota wapa which talks about the Day of Judgment Talk about different people from, you know, the left side and the right side and people in the middle. And then there's a little part in there and they said, Do you think that the seed that you sowed in the ground is going to pop up and become a plant? Just because you're watering in the sun? No, that is not the case. It is because we tell it to is why it happens. It's right. Holy smokes. So, you know,

Joshua Berglan 26:30
when we have and this is and I'm, this is true in the Quran and the Bible, that when we're being obedient and we are faithful, we have the right to challenge God. And I'm not in that suit. That may sound blasphemous, but we we can say, God, you said, you said, If I'm obedient, you said if I sow into good soil, you said that seed will grow and produce a harvest. You can you can you can see Say that I mean, it's not really challenging God not challenge authority. It's reminding God not like God, not that God needs really to be reminded. Now just, if we can, we can say, hey, look what I'm aware of this. Yeah, and it could be. That's right. And but I said that I've become relentless about tithing, giving, and then of course, adding, you know, adding offerings. Yeah. And I challenged I do bring that up to God sometimes because it's, we we are allowed to, and also the thing I love, it's a kingdom principle. Is that anything that the devil is taken from you? He must repay seven times. Yeah. And there's a lot of us out there that are listening. There's people out there listening all over the world right now. Yeah. That feel or know that they've had something taken from them?

Unknown Speaker 27:53
Yeah. When you start being obedient,

Joshua Berglan 27:57
and you start serving God You, the devil has to repay you everything that's been stolen and taken from you. He must repay seven times. Oh,

Junaid Ahmed 28:07
yeah. No, you're absolutely right. And, and you know, when you're saying about questioning God and sure we all have these thoughts and do we are essentially questioning him. But then what we're also doing is we're putting a realization in our heads. So then we eventually figure out what we might be doing wrong. And then it becomes a reality and the truth comes out, like, Oh, I'm doing all of this, but I'm missing this little part. Like I'm hiding this little thing. And that's where that's not like, Oh, I gotta uncover everything. Everything needs to be uncovered for me to move forward. Wow, I love it. This was so powerful, man. I'm so totally grown up. Appreciate it. Your story is fantastic. And the more I think about, you know, getting in front of people, you know, everybody's saying, you know, you got to tell your own story. And when you were mentioning, you know, yes, fiction is great, but, but, but nonfiction is even more powerful. It's true stories are even more powerful. And I've been watching this show called a million little lies, which is such a powerful show. And in it, one of the characters, he's a writer, he's like, No, I'm gonna quit, I'm just gonna write the story. And then he takes it to the producer. And it's a big time shot and he's like, the story is great. I almost cried. But you got to change this part where the, the guy's trying to commit suicide. And he said that because, you know, he thought it was fiction. So he's like, I'm not gonna change the story. I'm just gonna say based on true story, now you can't change it. No, can I change the story because this actually happened? long.

Joshua Berglan 29:57
I it's true, man. Right. 98% of the truth isn't the truth. Yes. And I find you know, there's a lot of religious and I'm not religious whatsoever. It's not it's completely against my face. And it's completely what I believe is real. But these religious spirits that are out there and these, you know, people that are succumb to the restriction of religion. They, you know, they don't it's really strange because the truth makes them more uncomfortable than anybody. Mm hmm. I remember being stolen from multiple churches. I mean, the ministry I have is, I mean, the pastor that oversees what I do. I was blessed to be asked to be a part of this church in Oklahoma City, which we're, you know, going to glow grow globally. The talk show but it's, he goes, I love the talk show because you can get away with talking about things that pastors can't talk about. Yes, and, and I and that's and that means I can be trained I can be I can be truthful. And I can say things that because I've interviewed pastors pastors are so boring to interview. Yes, they want authentic because they're trying to protect the congregation. And I'll tell you one thing that they're being they're there, I think that they're being blocked, their blessings are being blocked, because they're not willing to be truthful and authentic. Because right now we live in a world where we need authentic to counter the fake to counter the Photoshop society that we live in. to, to to counter the scripted world that we live in. And the reality television, which isn't really reality, yeah, we can. percent truth and everybody else is going one direction. And when I see that, being a seer, I'm gone. Yeah, I'm gonna go the opposite way. And I'm going to look like an idiot. I'm gonna look stupid. People are gonna make fun of me. People are going to be scared away from me, but I'm going to do it. Because that the real value, the most value I think you can offer in this world is your truth, your testimony. That's what gratitude unfiltered. My talk show is all about. It's about the power of truth. And it's been voted there is a vulnerability in that and it's scary. But you know what? You get addicted to it after a while because yeah, they have people shun you, you may lose your, some of your following. And none of that matters. Because the following doesn't mean anything. Yeah, what matters is what you're igniting. And maybe that just maybe it's just one person. Yeah. And one person has the power inside of them to impact millions. And if you're if your sole purpose on this planet, is to ignite one person. Yeah. So that they can go change the masses. Man, you've lived an amazing life.

Junaid Ahmed 32:51
Yeah. Now it's what's really cool and what you mentioned, you know, sure, you're going to lose a few people along the way, which is perfectly fine. Maybe You don't need those people to be in your congregation. Maybe you need new people. And that's one of the things that in the show also mentioned, because he has a dad who is a pastor. And you know, he Wait, am I mixing two different shows? Actually, yeah, there's a show called God friended me. And this guy, right?

Unknown Speaker 33:25
Yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 33:27
Right. It's so cool because he's got he's a pod co he's running a podcast, where he's questioning God's existence. And his dad is a pastor. Right? For the longest time. And so, so his dad was like, yeah, When, when, when, when it came out that you know, that people find out that his, his daughter was gay and, you know, people, he he lost a lot of his congregation, but then other people came in

that were there for this. The truth and not for the fake stuff.

So yeah, there's there's so many changes that you can expect and see in people's lives and it's okay if somebody hates or somebody's negative about your stuff because net that just shows that you're being real and talking about the truth. That's right. And I'm trying to figure out what my truth is. And, and I think I'm getting there. I think I've gotten a lot of clarity in the past few weeks about what message I should be saying and what my truth is and tell my story and what I'm trying to offer and what I'm trying to serve as a human being in this world.

Unknown Speaker 34:43
I think the truth starts with looking in the mirror. Yeah.

Joshua Berglan 34:46
I mean, you have to start there. Because if you can't, until you're willing to be honest with yourself, yeah. You can't be honest with anyone else.

Junaid Ahmed 34:54
Absolutely. And, you know, the man in the mirror is the perfect song. Like you gotta change Yeah, we have so many examples of all of this stuff. I mean, everything that we need to do is already out there. We just got to apply it at our to our lives and start seeing the changes. Alright man, I've got some questions that I asked my guests. What is what is one hobby that you wish you got into?

Joshua Berglan 35:25
Oh, man, you know, it's funny about that. I I grew up so I would never had a good singing voice. So I my father was like, uh, you know, had a couple top 10 heads and had a world tour or toured with I Cantina and Jerry Lee Lewis and all of these rock stars. So like, I grew up wanting wanting to be the lead singer of a rock band. And because I love David Lee Roth back in the 80s. Yeah. And would 1984 that album came out and you know, and of course, the grind Jerry in the 90s like I wanted to be a lead singer. Yeah, but I was terrible. I could just have a terrible singing voice. So I, I was like, well, I want to have a I'll have a talk show then. Yeah, but I really wanted to front a band. So I could be dressed like an idiot and run all over the stage and jump into the crowd. Like I I that's probably not a hobby, but I do all of my hobbies if I want to do something. Yeah, I can do that love to create. But that's the one thing outside of singing karaoke a couple times that I've and I'm again, terrible, but I wish I could have done

Unknown Speaker 36:39
yeah. Never played the drums.

Unknown Speaker 36:44
either be able to sing or play the drums. I think the drum I think the drum part is pretty achievable.

Joshua Berglan 36:50
Yeah, I'll drive too many people crazy. And yeah. Right now I'll settle with having a talk show right now.

Got a big vision. So yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 37:04
Awesome. All right, next one. What did you want to be when you were a child? a talk show host.

Joshua Berglan 37:10
And you are the host. Yeah. So there's two things about me that that people I they may find interesting, huh? I grew up wanting to be I watched Oprah larry king, I loved Opie and Anthony. I was not much of a howard stern fan, but I had a respect for him and what he did loved on IMS I loved I could listen to a talk show. I could listen to a truckers talk show. Yeah, driving like I just found people's stories interesting the way that you you know, have the opportunity to elevate other people's messages but I I worked with complex disabilities for my most of my life and and even working with, you know, in cosmetics and skincare and medical devices. And, you know, I never knew having a talk show was possible. Yeah. But I after I had an opportunity to film Fox Business and the filming went really, really well. No man, you need to have your own show and I really felt that the talk show fell through. But I had multiple opportunities. I was on set doing different things and but I either backed out of it or it fell through and just upended, but after hearing TD Jakes talk at the Rock Church in San Diego was two years ago, actually, two years ago, he talked about focusing on the things that you do have and not what you don't and what he was actually talking about. was an airplane trying to land with one way you can bet pilot could go oh my god, I only have one wing, we're gonna crash or die. Or, or I've got one wing and I'm going to land this plane and everyone on this plane is going to be safe. Yes. And so I took that message as well. Okay, I don't have any money. I don't have any cameras. I don't Have producers I don't have a director. I don't have any of this stuff. But you know what? I've got a camera phone here. Yeah, I've got Wi Fi. And I'm going to start doing a facebook live every day. And I'm going to treat it like it's a real talk show. I'm going to invite people to come on. Yeah, that was two years ago. Right after doing that it got picked up by back now anyone can be on Podcast Network. It's super easy. But you had to be chosen when I first started yes, no, you got to be selected. So I got selected to be on a talk to be on that then online radio, and then had the opportunity to go to streaming television. So now and but my dream when I started my phone was to film in front of a live audience and travel the world and and do this and share people's stories. Well, I've got I've in two years time, starting from a phone with no money.

Unknown Speaker 39:54
Yeah, I now

Joshua Berglan 39:56
have that part's come true. The only part It's not true yet, is the traveling part but that's about to happen. Like that's literally as we speak. We're speaking to ministries in Lake Tahoe Believe it or not, oh my gosh, there's a church, there's a ministry in Pakistan. There's one for St. Louis, the Florida and that we're starting to talk. And now as of last night, there could be something with Honduras. So we don't know. I mean, like, it's, we're looking to travel the world with this because the effect the people that are part of the that are there for the filming they it has an effect on them as an audience. And I frankly, I don't care how famous somebody is, I believe that everyone has a story that needs to be heard. So like in two years, because that taking that step into faith and trusting and coming to the realization that God does not give you dreams and visions to mock you or tease you, like people think that they're sitting around daydreaming, and they think of this life and all this stuff and it keeps coming. up for him, it keeps coming up. It's like what? Why do I keep dreaming about this? Hey, that's God showing you what's possible, what's possible and like, you got to go and do it. Yes. And your gifts and your talents should be, you know can be, will be obvious to you. But what if people don't know what their gifts and talents are? What I recommend, show up and serve, volunteer somewhere. Somehow, it's somehow through volunteering and serving other people, that your gifts start to come out of you naturally and organically. And I promise you it starts to unlock little keys to the universe that really set you on the the course of your destiny.

Junaid Ahmed 41:38
Wow, that that is powerful. I'm going to use that somewhere. But it's true. It is true. Absolutely. No, no, you're you're absolutely right. This is this is very powerful, very real, and I'm loving every single part of this. Next question is what is your favorite movie or TV show?

Joshua Berglan 42:02
I'm not good with the movie thing because I literally I've, there's their staple movies that every time it's on I'm gonna watch it. I'm not really good at watching new movies, too, but I've seen Goodfellas 9000 times the Godfather times the departed I've seen a bunch. I don't I really don't watch violent movies anymore. Sure, because I watch what I put my brain Yeah, as much as possible. But you know, I've watched so there's this show that's on Amazon called shits creek that my girlfriend turned me on to it obsessed with it. It's okay. We watched every season in a matter of like a month and then we watch and I loved the rest of development. We finished that. And then right now we're watching a new girl or a new girl. Yeah, and it's it's it's this. It's on Amazon but it's like the spot or Netflix but it's this this It's so I, it just the characters are just nuts. And like it's so much fun and it is a living dynamic. So like I watch it because it puts me in a good mood and I don't have to really think Yeah, but if I'm not doing that I love I spent so much time on YouTube. I my YouTube is I'm constantly listening to you, I love to get in the wormhole. I love to understand I want to know, I want to get as close to the origins of like Jesus's real teachings, right? The truth about Jesus the truth about religion, the like, I love getting in the Roman Catholic Church conspiracy and like, how, you know, I love seeing also how God's principles have been perverted by the devil because God's principles work right. Yeah.

Anyone can use God's principles,

Junaid Ahmed 43:53
and anyone based on it.

Joshua Berglan 43:55
Yeah. And and so but and they can be twisted for evil, if they really can. Hitler prime example. Like he used God's principles for evil, but they can work but they never were meant to be that way. Like people speak out against yoga, and like religious people do but stretching and breathing. Are you freaking kidding me kidding? For a life that has been corrupted that is a God's principle that was corrupted and used for evil. Like, screw like, it's just insane. And so you have these religious people that are just, I mean, I'm sorry. Like, I'm assuming that because you're talking about a lot. Yeah. And that's, that's, that's fantastic. I'm with my faith with Chris with Christianity, and I don't even like calling myself a Christian. I call myself a follower of Christ. Like, Christians are their worst. Like, they will judge like if you're a female pastor, like there, there are people out there that will like scream, like and go nuts. That'll work. Woman is speaking in front of a church hilarious like not even fully reading the text. Because there's so much more Yes, Paul speaks about women pastors, but also later in his ministry. He was using women to help him in the church because it was necessary. And they recognize that they have certain gifts. It's just like, and guess what, I know that the Bible and even the Quran is is is that is, those are all those are. That's the it's the voice of God. Right? Well, guess what? man got his hands on that too. It's been it's, it's all been corrupted a little bit. If you ask me. And yes, I read the Bible every single day. I really do. Because I believe in Jesus's teachings. I believe in the principles, but there's some stuff put in that Bible, to play with us to separate us to divide us to keep us away from truth also, I really believe that and of course the Christians can send hate mail to Joshua at I don't really care calm. Yeah. Because I really believe that and yes, I do believe in the Bible. I love the Bible. And that's one of the things that the Spirit will guide you and reveal truth to you. Because everything is written in code. It's written in code for a reason. Because the buttholes like you that want to use God's Word to try to hurt people. That's what I believe. Yeah, sorry, I went off on a rant there.

Junaid Ahmed 46:20
No problem. And that that shows how real I'm disses and I mean, we're talking about serious topics. And there, there's a big issue out there that needs to be resolved. And people need to realize what, why they're doing the wrong thing that they're doing. And they need to basically account for themselves because at the end of the day, we're all going to die. Right? So when we are in this world, we should do everything possible, to make somebody else's life better. And that's where you come in, you know, you talk about service and meet a servicing volunteer and give You're all from your heart, and you'll start seeing what? You know. You're sowing the seeds of success. Right? Awesome. So this next question is pretty tied into a favorite movie or TV character, but it's basically what movie would you choose if you got to play a character in it? And you've been on TV sets and TV shows and movies, so what would you choose? In an ideal world?

Joshua Berglan 47:33
Wow, man, I don't even know what character in a movie when I play. Me, I would play. I know, it's a weak answer. That's, that's the best character I play actually is me. Um, man, I you know, I don't know like, I loved Willy Wonka. Um, you know, and I love like clockwork orange. I forgot the name of that character, but he was so weird. You know I love those those characters that are there's completely stretch I mean even the new Joker movie like I related to that guys so much like like when they did like yeah, and we all battle this dark side inside of us but sometimes that dark side is brought on through trauma we've experienced abuse and yeah and or because we're woke I mean some of the most insane people or people that have been labeled insane are the ones that are woke the ones that see the world for what it's truth is they see the evil Now the problem with that is they don't understand that they can be light to fight the only way to fight against evil is with light. Yeah, and and so we get so and I was one of those people that would get so lost in the wormhole. And so because believe me, I don't trust our government. I don't trust that. I don't trust most of the churches. I don't like it. I really am that guy. However, I know and believe in God's promises so much that I know that I can lead with love. I can be like, I get to be like, I am light and I and I'm, I will fight and win against darkness by being light and helping inspiring others to be liked. Because frankly, I that's that is how we combat the the the suffering, the depression and all that stuff that taking on the evil of the world is huge because we can get lost in it. And then we can lose. But the way we win is to be light everywhere we go be light.

Junaid Ahmed 49:41
Yeah, absolutely. So powerful. I love it. So, in that what who would be your favorite superhero?

Joshua Berglan 49:53
I don't watch superhero movies, man. Um, I probably if I had to choose, it'd be Deadpool.

Unknown Speaker 50:02
I do it. That's the

Junaid Ahmed 50:03
best answer. Because he is so true. And he is, you know, he's so unapologetic. He's like, you know what, this is the shit. You got to get through it to get to that next level. I like it. That's right. I like it.

Joshua Berglan 50:20
It's, I would, I would probably choose him because, you know, I believe in digging out roots. Man, I believe that Deadpool gets to the root of the problem gets to the root to the evil. And that's what he's attacking. He's going after the worst of the worst. And so that, that for me is what I relate to and the most he's getting, he's doing that he's doing the dirty work that most people do.

Junaid Ahmed 50:44
He is yes, Lily is doing it. So, so cool. I love that answer.

Joshua Berglan 50:49
All right. And he's.

Junaid Ahmed 50:54
He's definitely like, he's like he makes fun of himself. You know, like in the first Deadpool movie. He's like, Yeah, you probably saw that first hobo Yeah. him being Green Lantern and not getting a suit. You know, solid CGI is like, what is that? If you are a board game, what would it be this last question.

Joshua Berglan 51:20
I don't know why but the first word that comes to my mind is risk. Oh, I love it. Because I'm, I'm, I'm all about I'm all about going for it. Nice. Yeah, I get a dick. I'm at this point in my life, have this conversation with my girlfriend all the time. She's dramatically younger than me. But I, she's at the same life path I do. And so I'm watching her go through this journey that I went through and my growth and and so like, I'm she's scared a lot because she's having to take these risks instead, you know, and it's, I'm proud of her because she keeps stepping into that fear because the fear that we're facing that that obstacle A boundary that we are faced with is an opportunity for us to become bigger than that obstacle. So basic fears are important. And so once you and that's a that's another God's kingdom principle, biblical principle. But you face those giants. Yeah. I mean, think about David versus Goliath. I mean, he faced that giant he won, he became bigger than that giant. Yes, that's our problems. We face our addiction. We face our fears, we face our truth. And also, when we face our destiny, when we face our destiny head on. Holy Jeez, yes, it comes. It's a thrill. Right? And it's scary and it's hard. But you get addicted at some point to taking the risk and stepping into faith. Because you know that regardless of what happens and what it looks like, yeah, opportunity is there waiting for you there. Your greatness is waiting for you. So I've never played risk, but the name alone would make me say risk.

Junaid Ahmed 52:59
Yeah. I love it. Thank you so much, man this is so where can my audience find you? I know you have a website and Facebook page, so we'll definitely be including the links to those places. But where's can they get to get in touch with you?

Joshua Berglan 53:14
So I am very very active on Facebook. I've got a few different pages on Facebook, you can just look at my name Joshua T is and Tom bergland bR GLA n. You know, gratitude, unfiltered and my name are the two easiest ways to find me. So whether it's the podcast, the TV show, the live streams that I do the brand designing work I do everything runs through my website. In Facebook, I am on Instagram. I'm not that active. But I do I do put up many, many versions of my talk show on Instagram TV, and you can see that at gratitude, unfiltered. But those are the two best ways to find me man. I'm very public, and I don't spend as much time on social media lately because of what we're building. However, I am there. I'm there once a day at least, but I used to kind of live there. I don't do that anymore.

Junaid Ahmed 54:09
Yeah. Well, I love it. Thank you so much. This is awesome. Yeah, man, I learned so much from you. I mean, I'm so grateful that we got to chat and so many like, We're on the same frequency on our brain levels. I love it. The mindset. Yeah. God bless you, man. And I'm very grateful for the opportunity. Absolutely. Thank you so much for giving me the time. I mean, I mean, you've done some amazing things. And definitely, you know, we'd love to keep in touch and you know, in future and see where we can collaborate and anything if possible.

Joshua Berglan 54:45
Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Thank you for listening. Take care, man. Take care.

Junaid Ahmed 54:55
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this episode on hacks and hobbies, we absolutely appreciate your contribution. You can find additional notes on hacks and hobbies calm. Please share the podcast with your friends and tell them what you learned about our guests today.

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