Skip to content From Athlete to Entrepreneur through a Near Death Experience with Nathan Barkocy Dec 20 · 35 min ...more
From Athlete to Entrepreneur through a Near Death Experience with Nathan Barkocy
December 20, 2025 · 35 min
Ep. 0012 - Unlock inspiration and practical steps for personal growth and entrepreneurship from Nathan Barkocy’s journey overcoming adversity to build purposeful businesses.
Series The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray December 20, 2025 · 35 min · The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray
Ep. 0012 - Unlock inspiration and practical steps for personal growth and entrepreneurship from Nathan Barkocy’s journey overcoming adversity to build purposeful businesses. ...more Show the full description Show less Ep. 0012 - Unlock inspiration and practical steps for personal growth and entrepreneurship from Nathan Barkocy’s journey overcoming adversity to build purposeful businesses.
Series The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
36.2K followers
The Christian Capitalist Show inspires and equips individuals to express their God-given purpose through enterprise and stewardship powered by faith, fellowship, and balance.
36.2K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
From Elite Athlete to Faithful Survivor 0:00 Imagine being in a terrible accident, being declared dead on the scene, getting a glimpse into what's next, and then inexplicably returned back to this world. Except the life you come back to isn't the same as the 1 you0:11 left. Now imagine all that happening as a teenager. Well, you're about to meet a young man who'd already reached a pinnacle of success well before his eighteenth birthday only to lose that life to restart a new 1. No0:22 longer an athlete, but a purpose driven Christian capitalist. Stay tuned to meet Nathan Barkosi.0:34 Oh, okay. Let me let me just jump in there real quick. So we we've got this, you you you've got this brand new identity. Right? You've peeled it all by you lost the old identity. You're all the way down to the0:46 foundation. I am a child of God. I know who I am in Christ, but now I've got to rebuild a whole life on top of that. So this was about 10 years ago. Right? You're 16 years0:58 old, and then there was a period of time where you had to go through just getting your body back to believing that you even had a future. How long did that take? What was that like? And then we can talk a little bit1:09 about coming out the back end of that and then deciding what you're gonna do with the rest of this life that you have and the condition that you're in.1:15 Yeah. Absolutely. So they say it takes 7 years to recover from a traumatic brain injury, a TBI. And, and this is what's incredible. So it took me,1:27 like I said, 2 months to be discharged from Craig Hospital. And what's what's miraculous about that is that I I was rolled into Craig Hospital on a wheelchair. I don't remember that. And then1:39 2 months later, I walked out of Craig Hospital. And, I mean, that that is an answered prayer for for myself, for my parents, especially who witnessed everything. And, this was1:52 this was the beginning of the true recovery. So then I went back home. We were living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And so I went back home, and that entire summer, I had to catch up on the classes that I missed during the2:02 semester. And I also had to learn how to live again at home. So I had to learn how to function again and live life as a teenager. And what's interesting about TBIs2:14 is that it knocks you back in, I guess, emotional maturation. Traumatic brain injury. Yeah. Traumatic brain injury. So I was I was in a 16 year old's body. I mean,2:26 top 10 in the nation. Right? And then the an elite athlete's body with the understanding of that and the understanding and the knowledge of a 16 year old, but it had knocked me back emotionally2:39 and psychologically, I guess, to that of a of a kindergartner. Right? And so it had it had knocked me back, and so I had to rediscover when I went back to high school, I had to rediscover how2:51 to interact with my peers who were, of course, in high school and not very forgiving emotionally because high schoolers are that way. Right? Yeah.2:58 So I2:59 had to learn how to interact with them again with the mentality of a third grader while also trying to make up and make I mean do my classes so that I could continue3:10 to pursue graduation with my class, and all while I couldn't get back on the bike and go train with my team. Right? So I it had been everything had been shipped away from me.3:22 My identity and my passion in cycling and my relationships even. When I returned from the hospital, all of my friends wanted me to come out and spend time with them, but they were dealing with3:34 a different Nathan. Right? Because mentally, I wasn't at the same level that I was previously. Right? And so it was it was very interesting for me. I had to I've I was really struggling with3:46 identity in that regard too because I wasn't the same person that my friends used to know about, you know, 5 months previous when I was before my accident. And I'm I'm grateful. It definitely shifted my3:58 perspective on life. I started putting church first and God first. I went to daily mass every morning at my school, and I I had a very devout prayer life because this is interesting. I told my grandma when I got4:09 home to New Mexico. I was sitting in her kitchen, about 3 weeks after I had, gotten home from Craig Hospital. And she she just kind of asked me how everything was4:21 going, how recovery was going, and I told her I call her Noni. And so I said, Noni, I never would ever want to sin again in my life because I understand the true peace of Christ now,4:33 and that stuck with her. She still brings that up to me today, which is hilarious because I'm a man and and, you know, I've I've make mistakes frequently. Right?4:41 Sure. But4:42 it's just so interesting. That was my mental shift. Right? And so that that redefined everything for me. So you're talking about having an having a a older mentality. Right? The old soul. The old4:53 soul. Sure. And I think that is based upon the fact that everyone fears I mean, we talked about outwitting the devil with Sharon Lechter earlier, and 1 of5:05 the 1 of the 2 largest fears that the devil expresses in that book are the fear of death and the fear of poverty. And so this is a really interesting topic.5:16 You're no longer afraid of death at this point.5:18 Right? Absolutely. Right. So this is this is something I just spoke with my friend about. He he started a a private practice, and he's doing very well. But he's having a hard time scaling it,5:30 and, he just kinda asked me, how do you I mean, you've started multiple businesses. You own a lot of real estate. How do you do this? Because I just keep encountering fear or I'm fearing taking a step away from it and5:41 handing it off to another leader so that I can scale. And I told him, I don't have any fear, right, because of the fact that I encountered death, which5:53 is everyone's number 1 fear. But I realized there is nothing to be afraid of. So I no longer fear that, which means that I would no longer hold fear, and I'm graced by God to6:05 do so. But I think that really has helped me really push my brand forward and my businesses forward because of my lack of fear, if you wanna say that. You know? Yeah. Well, I6:14 I just think a little sidebar on that is, to a lesser degree, my wife and I today got to that same place. We both lost our spouses after 4 decades of marriage6:26 each. Mhmm. And even though we're totally happy, we have a great life, we have purpose, we have mission, Things are going well. We have so much to look forward to. She and I are both in6:37 this weird place where we could die tomorrow and be perfectly okay with it. And I don't know how to explain that to someone who doesn't experience, but I can tell you that when you long no6:49 longer fear dying, you're free to live. Mhmm. And you live in a different way than when you do fear dying. Now I'm not saying if somebody were to be holding a gun to my head and my life was7:01 in danger that I wouldn't have a, you know, a change of feeling. But based on how I feel today, you know, and who knows? I don't know because I've never faced death. But I I faced it with my my late wife, and so I got a7:13 chance to experience that a little bit. But the point is there's a lot of freedom in no longer being afraid. We were talking we had a little bit of power outage in the middle of the chute here. So Mhmm. In full7:24 disclosure. And during during the power outage time, we were talking about a muse that I did where I was talking about second Timothy chapter 1 where, in in verse 7 where, Paul is writing Timothy7:36 and saying that god has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind, and how that really plays into being bold and courageous in the marketplace as a capitalist. That was about7:48 preaching the gospel, but it also applies just to putting yourself out there and whether you're taking financial risk or whether you're taking reputation risk or ego risk or facing rejection or whatever. So now you're8:00 coming from this place of of a a different level of confidence. Like, you're playing the game at a very different different level. So you're still in high school at this point as we take back our story.8:11 Mhmm. You've gone from kind of that third made third grade mentality. When did you make the transition to being an old man? Did that happen while you were still in high school, or did that happen when you when8:23 you got out?8:24 No. Definitely when I got out. You know, you you go to college, and I was a freshman in college, and you just make the mistakes that a freshman makes. You just live the wild freshman life, you know, and so I did follow8:35 along that path. I guess the the main point of transition into my old soul, if you wanna say that, would have been during my junior year, which was miraculously8:47 the the 7 year mark, which is the full recovery from the brain injury. I woke up 1 morning in college, and I realized it's been 7 years, 7 years from today8:59 that I was hit. And I thought to myself, I feel fully recovered as fully recovered as you can be. Obviously, I'll never I will never be back to the same person that I was. But if if you're recovering, right, you9:11 have to be able to define a new normal. Yeah. So I felt like I had officially defined my new normal, which is where we move into this next phase, right, where I have the old soul and I start building the businesses. So9:22 at that same time, I was working with Josh McCallan, who's the owner of Accountable Equity. It's such a small world. Yeah. Isn't it a great9:29 I remember when Josh was in our mentoring program and part of the he he became, I met him through a syndicator that I was training. The guy raised 1000000000 dollars and Yeah. He introduced us to Josh.9:41 Josh came to our seminar. I think he joined our mentoring club for a little while. I was on his show, Capital Hacking, at least twice that I recall. And, I had no idea whenNavigating College and Early Ventures 9:53 I met you in a completely different environment that you had a in fact, it was today as we're talking. I'm like, oh, you that's how you started your career. So you're working with this guy, great great guy.10:03 Yeah.10:04 I have my oldest daughter is working on baby number 9 as we're speaking. Mhmm. And and last time I talked to Josh, he was at 11. I don't know if he's gone past that, but that that's a lot of kids. Very prolific guy, but10:15 he's a capital raiser Mhmm. Syndicator in the hotel business back east. And so you're working for him. What were you doing for him?10:22 Yeah. So I was his assistant. So I was the assistant of his assistant. So he had an assistant that ran everything for him. He obviously is the CEO of Accountable Equity, had his hands in as many pots as I do now. Right?10:34 And so if not more. So he was running Renault winery, and he was running his accountable equity firm. He was also doing the Capital Hacking podcast. So I assisted with the the production of his Capital Hacking10:46 podcast, and I worked on setting him up with, different real estate powers, right, different real estate big names in the real estate industry to come on to the show. And I learned so much through that. So it10:58 was really I think Kiyosaki talks about this. Right? You shouldn't work a job for the money itself. Right? You should you should take it as paid practice.11:05 You know? Yeah. And what you learn in the relationships you make. Precisely.11:08 Which is why my number 1 advice to a lot of, mentees that I have or people that have come to me for mentorship is make sure that if you're working your job I mean, you have to make money somehow. So right now, if you're11:19 working your job, ensure that you're doing what is going to be productive for you in the future. So I learned so much from simply just the podcasting with with Josh. So being the, you know, the11:31 assistant producer of that of Capital Hacking, I was able to listen live to a lot of these conversations that he was having with really big names in the real estate industry, and I learned so much. Right? And and when11:42 you're when you're producing a podcast, you hear a lot of a lot of information, and you're able to absorb all of that live. You know? And so It's 1 of11:49 the great things about being a podcast host. You get to interview all these amazing people.11:53 You learn so much. Right? And that's why I love Joe Rogan's show because he brings on so many brilliant people, and so we're able to learn so much from them all. And you just have to ask the right questions. You know? So12:04 I I really gained so much value from that job, and then, of course, I learned a lot hands on with him, regarding real estate investments, and real estate12:15 capital raising and so forth. And so when I was working with him, it was the summer between junior and senior year, which is the same sort of time, right, when I had achieved the full12:27 recovery from my brain injury. And it was during that summer, and he he said, Nathan, you know what? You need to go start your own business. And so he fired me.12:38 Kicked you out of the nest. He kicked12:39 me out.12:40 Saw more in you than you saw in yourself and challenged you to rise to the occasion. It's like when they kick the they kick the birds out of the nest and birds and figure I've never flown before. Oh, I'm not gonna figure12:49 it out. The ground's coming up fast. So how did you handle that?12:53 Oh, I didn't know what to do. I was deer in the headlights. So in initially, I had to make money somehow because I that same summer, I bought the engagement ring for my soon to be, for my13:05 my bride to be. Right? And so it was between junior and senior year of college, and, I was really I was all over, you know, excited about my bride to be. And so I bought her engagement ring, and I13:16 had everything set up, and I was planning on making a lot of, you know, a lot of income from my work with Josh. And then, boom, he fires me. So I said, what? I need to make money somehow, and then I thought, okay. Well,13:27 he also told me to go start a business. So that summer, I worked for Home Depot and I made some money at Home Depot. But while I wasn't working, I would go home and I would study real estate, study real estate, study13:38 real estate. Right? And I would increase my my personal value by studying all the time, listening to podcasts, reading books, increasing my knowledge about real estate. And so13:50 then that following semester when I was at, Franciscan University, which is where I went to college, I was continuing to study and study, and then I thought, what if I take action? So I started14:02 looking at some properties on the market. And actually my wife and I were thinking about moving to Grapevine, Texas, when we first got married, and so we flew down to to DFW area to take14:14 a look at Grapevine. When we were in the Uber to Grapevine, our Uber driver was telling us about each of the different cities in the DFW metroplex. And so he led me to believe that Fort Worth14:26 was, I mean, the place to be. Right? And so it was a a large population, but it still smelled or it still felt like a small town. Yeah. Right? And and he was talking14:38 about all the expansion in that area. So I thought, alright. I'm gonna start looking at Fort Worth. And so because I knew I wanted to get into real estate. I was thinking that we would just buy a duplex and we'd rent out14:49 the the other half that we weren't living in, or we would just own a a a private residence and then lease it out after we left Texas. So then I started to explore properties in15:01 Fort Worth area and hopped on the MLS, and I saw that there was a multifamily townhome portfolio in the near south side of Fort Worth, which I had done a lot of research on. The near south side was a newly gentrified15:13 area booming. Right? A lot of small businesses there, a lot of restaurants. The walkability of the area is incredible. The townhome portfolio that I invested into is in a medical district. Mhmm. And so there's, I mean,15:24 there's countless hospitals and medical offices all in the nearby area, which is talk about a recession resistant asset class. Right? Everyone always needs the doctor. And so that's15:36 what I started to run the numbers on it and make sure the underwriting was all making sense, and I figured I could I could leverage capital based upon all of the information that I had learned about real estate15:48 investing. So sure enough, I did. So, I did, I'm in a 0 money out of pocket deal where I I took out a loan for the down payment, and then I also just did a regular residential mortgage on all16:00 of them. And so it's very, very unorthodox approach to it. But that was my first venture was just to buy that, multifamily or the townhome portfolio and then lease that out, which I16:12 I still own that portfolio, and I'm developing some land across the street from it too. So there's a lot to a lot to dive into that business, but, I mean, I guess that's the answer to your question regarding the business16:23 ventures. You know?16:24 Okay. So now you're out of college Mhmm. And you're investing. You were working at Home Depot. Did you do this deal while you were working at Home Depot? Did you use that job to qualify for the loan, or had you moved on16:34 to something else at this point?16:36 So I I was accumulating the capital from Home Depot that would assist me to move forward for16:42 the town. Well below your means because Home Depot is not like a high paying gig.16:46 Well, I was living with my parents, which is great.16:48 Oh, great. However you get there. Right? But you could have been spending the money Yeah. Enjoying life, especially after which you've been through. Hey. You know, you only live once. YOLO. Right? You You hear that all16:57 the time. A lot of young people are just like, hey. You know, I might as well have a good time. There's no hope for the future. You didn't have that nihilistic approach. So even though you were ready to die and at peace17:08 with that, you were still playing the long game as a young person. And to me, that's remarkable because there's a lot of old people that can't play the long game. Well, I guess that's a little bit different, but more17:19 mature people, I should say. But you decided to sacrifice a little bit the way you could have been living, enjoy the simple things, stay at home, little humility, and save up that capital so that you were17:31 able to do this. And plus, you had to develop the credit to be able to qualify. Mhmm. So there was, some responsibility there. So, okay, so so you're living at home, you're working at Home Depot, you pull off this this17:43 deal, and then eventually you moved on past that. What came next?17:47 Yeah. So so this is, this is a good point for all aspiring entrepreneurs to understand, right, the difficulty that I encountered next. So as an investor into this townhome portfolio, I17:59 had, like I told you, max leveraged this thing out. So it wasn't cash flowing enough to live off of18:04 by the way. Was cash flowing at all?18:06 Hundred percent finance? A little bit. You know? Wow. It It was it was cash flowing a little bit. So I was able to18:11 Low interest rates.18:12 Pull all the levers possible. Right? Yeah. And so I I was able to set that up, but not enough to sustain my family. And so my wife and I were newlyweds out in the DFW18:24 area, and I I needed to create some other cash flow. Right? Is she working? She's a nurse. Yeah.18:31 Okay.18:32 Great. She was a she was a NICU nurse.18:34 And and what does she think about all your entrepreneurial ambition?18:38 Man, god bless her.18:40 You gotta have the right spouse if you're an entrepreneur.18:43 I'll tell18:43 you that.18:43 I'll tell you this. She is the only reason that I mean, I'm able to bring this forward. My my sweet bride is the number 1 treasure that I hold. She her patience with18:55 me and her willingness to work through all of my entrepreneurial ventures is something that you can't find, you know, through anyone, or through, I guess, through anyone. Right? And so19:07 she has been very patient with me and very understanding, and, she is yeah. She's my number 1 fan, and so I my my last year is yeah. Absolutely. But while while19:19 this was happening so she was a NICU nurse. She was working night shifts, and I was obviously working during the day, and I still had the employee mindset. Right? So I had Josh had fired me19:31 to go build my own business, and instead of a business, right, I went into real estate investing. So I I 100 percent levered an entire property, and it it was great paying for itself, plus19:43 a little bit of extra cash flow, which has helped me with, you know, monthly mess monthly necessary costs, to fix up the property and so forth. And so I still had that employee mindset. And so19:55 I, reached out to a local commercial real estate brokerage, and they, of course, brought me on as a real estate agent. So I got my license, and20:07 I started working for them as an agent. And so during my time with them, I closed a handful of leasing deals, and I did list 220:18 properties, I think, maybe 2 or 3. But even still, I'd I I it takes a long time to close on those commercial deals. Right? And the leasing deals are fine, but that's not that's20:28 not good when you close a transaction and people think, oh, that happens every week.20:32 Yeah. And that20:32 It doesn't work that way. You pack that pipeline for a long time. And then the thing is, you know, you might only have 1 or 2 deals going and 1 of them blows up and, you know, it makes a big difference. I I I considered20:44 a career in commercial real estate and, with a wife and children, I decided that that wasn't quite consistent enough, for for my lifestyle. So Yeah. Did you20:56 did you end up staying do that? Did you have some success?20:58 This is the what I did, of course, is then I because I couldn't escape the employee mindset. So I left working for them, and I started working for a large real estate developer up in Northern Fort Worth21:10 area as a leasing agent21:12 or no.21:12 As a leasing associate. So I was sitting behind the front desk of a leasing office for a brand new development, and I was, you know, bringing new tenants into this new development. And I was living my life21:24 as a 9 to 5 employee, which was not who I was. Right?21:29 Care for it. It was incompatible with the new you. Mhmm. Okay. So you had taste a little bit of the light. You can't go back.21:36 Right.21:36 But when I first got into outside sales, my mentor told me, you know, Russ, once you've been outside, you can never go back in. Right. Right? Once you've been off the clock, you can't ever punch a clock again. Once21:48 you've tasted freedom, you just it's very, very, very hard to go back.21:51 Right. Which is yeah. Entirely, that was the case. So while I was working this desk job, I would simultaneously try to be inconspicuous, but I would, on the side, try to build22:03 up. I was wanting to build a podcast. I was wanting to start a, property management company. I was wanting to do so many different ventures while I was working, and then they fired me because they're they said, what is22:15 this kid doing for us? You know? So they fired me, and then I got in touch with a good friend of mine who had started a land flipping business. And so I I came on board with him, and I,22:27 I I became the head of sales, and I started directing the the business for land flipping. So I was doing calls, I mean, throughout the day, and I I did really well with that. I started to grab a lot of lots22:39 across the country, primarily in Louisiana or Alabama. Okay. And we would do land flipping. Right? So we would acquire the land, you know, pennies on the dollar.22:46 Pizza thing, you'd buy the big pizza and slice it up and sell off pieces.22:49 Right. Or even just flipping it wherein we buy a parcel pennies on the dollar, and then I sell it for a little over market price or market price. Okay.22:57 And we22:57 would take the take the difference. Right? So that was great because it really increased my ability to sell and to close deals Yeah. Which I hadn't established, obviously, as a commercial broker because I didn't have23:08 time to do that, and I couldn't establish as I was a 9 to 5 employee of a leasing office. Yeah. So that was really pivotal for my business. And then after that, I exited that business and started23:20 working with a business partner of mine in Colorado who is developing a large, master plan community. So I'm working with him right now on developing a casino and a hotel longevity resort.23:31 So have we made it all the way through? We got through college. We got through Home Depot, first deal, couple of jobs. How where are we? How are we are we now to where you are today? Well,Show more In this video 0:00 From Elite Athlete to Faithful Survivor9:43 Navigating College and Early Ventures23:36 Scaling Businesses with Faith and Mentorship
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.