Welcome to the Unarmored Talk podcast, where we have authentic conversations about life, leadership, and business. In this episode, Shared Vision: Navigating eCommerce as a Married Duo, we are joined by Joshua and Bree Cox, a married couple who run an eCommerce business together. Together, they share their insights on how they navigate their business relationship as a couple and the importance of understanding emotions in business.
As entrepreneurs, it can be challenging to balance our personal and professional lives, especially when we work with our significant other. That’s why Joshua and Bree’s story is so inspiring. They have found a way to work together in harmony and achieve their shared goals.
In this episode, we’ll hear about their journey, the lessons they’ve learned, and how they’ve grown both as individuals and as a couple. We’ll also learn about their approach to mentorship and how they help people grow holistically in life and business.
So, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business owner, or someone looking to strengthen your personal relationships, this episode is for you. Get ready for an insightful and thought-provoking conversation with Joshua and Bree Cox on the Unarmored Talk podcast.
👉🏾 Key Takeaways:
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Self-Reflection's Power: Recognize one's own strengths and shortcomings, and harmoniously unite to augment each other's abilities.
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Faith as Their Pillar: The cornerstone of both their marital and business successes lies in their profound faith, shaping their collective mission and objective.
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Communication is Key: Couples contemplating a joint business venture must prioritize clear communication and deciphering each other's core motives.
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The Essence of Trust and Growth: Mutual trust, conscious efforts, and a zest for ongoing learning and enhancement are pivotal, both for individuals and as a unit.
Discussion Points:
Significance of Aligned Vision:
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How crucial is it to have a collective vision in both personal and professional relationships?
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In what ways can couples ensure they're striving collaboratively for mutual objectives?
Balancing Business and Marriage:
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How do Joshua and Bree Cox maintain harmony in their intertwined personal and business roles?
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What challenges arise when blending marital and business relationships, and how can they be overcome?
Crafting and Realizing Aspirations:
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What processes can couples adopt to define a shared vision and set tangible objectives?
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How can couples foster consistent collaboration and ensure commitment to their shared goals?
Mentorship for Holistic Growth:
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How do Joshua and Bree Cox utilize mentorship to catalyze comprehensive growth?
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What are the benefits of mentorship in both personal and professional spheres, and how can it bridge the two?
Watch To The Full Episode
Resources:
- LinkedIn - Joshua Cox (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-cox-7a6b7b148/)
- LinkedIn - Bree Cox (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bree-cox-69b4b5152/)
- Joshua's Email - [email protected]
- Bree's Email - [email protected]
- Watch: Unarmored Talk Playlist
- Mario's Socials: Parade Deck
- Support "Operation: Transition Outside the Wire" @https://operationtotw.org/
- Email: [email protected]
Full Transcript by BuzzSprout for Shared Vision: Navigating eCommerce as a Married Duo
Mario P. Fields:
Welcome back to the Unarmored Talk podcast. Thank you so much for listening and watching each episode and continue pleased to share with your friends and family members and colleagues, and don't forget to leave a rating or review if you feel this is a awesome show. And you can connect to all of my social media on the parade deck Just look in the show notes or you can put in the search engine Mario P Fields parade deck and get all access to my social media. Well, let's get ready to interview another guest who is willing to remove their armor to help other people. Welcome back everybody to the Unarmored Talk podcast. We have a couple, an amazing couple, that's willing to remove their armor to help our listeners and viewers Gain a better understanding of how motions can really really influence the situation. But if you think through it, you can approve the outcome of the majority of situations While living with your host, Mario P Fields. And today we have Joshua and Bree Cox again. Guys know I don't have that button.
Joshua Cox:
Oh, it's, a pleasure.
Mario P. Fields:
I think next year I'm going to start selling some hot dogs on a weekend in 2024. Maybe grow the budget where I could kind of get that little Hello.
Joshua Cox:
But you'll get it. They'll be amazing.
Mario P. Fields:
Before I do the guys know, do the kind of professional Introduction to hear some bad men stuff again. Thank you so much, guys, for sharing, listening and watching, downloading and all that good stuff. You guys know do I'm gonna say it every episode. Every time you click on any video on the podcast playlist on my youtube channel, or watch Any videos on my youtube channel or you're going on armor talk podcast, on all the majority of audio Podcasts, you're generating funds that are donated to still serve incorporated, and the next school year is about to start. Our next check presentation will be in August, coming up soon, probably like around mid-August. So again, thank you, guys for sharing with your family's, colleagues and friends, as this show is rapidly approaching three years and Running. I love everyone.
Thank you, thank you. And if you guys get sick of me saying thank you, well, thank you. And I thank God for allowing me to do this because I do not have the natural talents and skills. Okay, I'm done. I Am done with the admin, don't all that stuff. And so here we go, ladies and gentlemen, everyone. We have Joshua, who is a military veteran serving the United States Army. Thank you for your service, my friend, thank you. He's also an entrepreneur. And then we have the commanding general of the Cox family. We have Brie. She has an extensive background of sales and customer service. She's also has that entrepreneurial spirit, like her husband, of course, and More. We know the deal. Joshua could not be the soldier that he was and still is without the commanding general's guidance, the commander's intent. Tell the listeners of viewers a little bit about yourselves, you lovely couple.
Joshua Cox:
Again, thank you for having us. It's we're, you know, super privileged to be able to share a little bit about ourselves. Well, for our first off, we've been married for six and a half years. Congratulations and, like I said, I was in the Army, I was Army reserves and I was able to employ once prior to that, just worked a lot with my hands, always wanted to Do a little bit more of my life. I think the Army got me out of the situation a really bad situation, or a situation where it the future didn't look too bright and it gave me lots of opportunities and I think they're joining the service really sparked the realization of what I can achieve and I continue to grow in that perspective every single day and that kind of brought us on to our path of okay, maybe we can pursue things that really you know are we're passionate about and really, you know, pursue a purpose that you know our lives, we feel that our life we're here for, and that's what really brought us into the entrepreneurship side and it's it's been a blast.
Bree Cox:
Yeah, and I would say for myself, like Josh said, we've been married for six and a half years, originally from Virginia, now we live in the Charlotte North Carolina area and for me I just thankfully, I grew up in a nice background, I was blessed to be able to have the things that I had, and I feel like it was not until I met Joshua and then, a couple years after we got married, and some of the people and things that have influenced us, just seeing his mindset behind, you know, always wanting to do more, and you know challenge himself and how he loves people, and you know the heart that he has for the Lord. I joke around, I tell him I feel like he came out of the womb loving Jesus because he I just don't know what I would do without a man, you know like him and so it challenges me, you know, to adapt into, be, to seek out, to be a better wife to him, you know, to be a better sister and a better friend, and so I would say, yeah, that's, that's for me.
Mario P. Fields:
That's awesome. You know what they say, Josh, what your first words weren't mom or dad. Your first words when you came out, they smacked your butt. You were like I love Jesus and I don't care what y'all say. Now put me in bill of record, let's go.
Joshua Cox:
There's a joke behind that, because when I was a kid, when going through the store, it was Halloween and I don't kid anybody like I don't look down at anyone that celebrates Halloween we just didn't right, and so we were going through the store and I remember I was two or three years old and I would just, every time we passed any decoration, I would just scream as loud as I could. That's ungodly, that's ungodly and that's where the running joke came from.
Mario P. Fields:
Mom and Dad's like he's passionate, all right, that's passionate. Now, when that man, when he grows up, we're gonna package that passion. So you know, before we jump into the topic, you guys aren't far from me, you know we just passed. We're not far from Charlotte. So the cool thing is, in the future, when Nicole and I come through Charlotte, we gotta take you guys out dinners on us, lunches on us, cup of coffee, y'all just gotta bring some high chairs. You know the deal. I'm about five foot two range and Nicole you know I'm Phil, I'm with you, don't worry. Make some booster seats and Nicole and I good, but that'd be great.
Joshua Cox:
No, that'd be amazing, I didn't realize that, yeah, let's, let's do.
Mario P. Fields:
thank you, guys again for the wonderful, wonderful background on both of you. You're, you know, letting the listeners, of viewers learn a little bit about yourself. But let's jump right into the topic. A lot of times I've heard, as I've seen some research that when a you don't mix business with family and you guys, not only did you mix business with family, but you are a husband and wife in the e-commerce industry working together how is that?
Joshua Cox:
That's a good question, sir. So trying to figure it out, no, um, really, it's it. It's been a journey. It wasn't like you. We started in this journey and we were like, oh, we were right on track like partnered together. We were just perfect right out the gate.
Bree Cox:
No, it was growing.
Joshua Cox:
It was some growing pains involved, and I think the reason why a lot of family members don't work very well together is because you know them like you're, you're you. They say you're too honest with each other, or you show your bad sides a little bit better, more like there's no courtesies, there's none of those things. So strip all that away. There's a lot of infighting, things like that. I think what we had to understand was if we were going to what's the point of marriage anyway? Right, it's to. It's, it's a union between three me, my wife and my husband, father. That's, that's our faith, that's what we believe, and it's our marriage is, you know, sanctioned because there's also a purpose behind it, and so that means we would have to act as one anyway, whether we were working together and through business or working together in life. So I would imagine that if, if a couple would have trouble with working together in business or working together in that capacity, it's probably because they haven't found their footing on how to work together in life yet either. So I think they're very close as far as whether it's life or business, and I think that as long as you sit down every day, every day and really walk through what is our purpose, what are we here for? And if working together within business will get you to the outcome that you know you're called to do, I think that will keep.
Bree Cox:
That keeps us in line with making sure we're on the right page at all times and if you have something to say yeah, and so I know, like Joshua said, you know beforehand, it has not always been this like team togetherness and just speaking for myself personally, with how I grew up, unfortunately, that made me very selfish, a very selfish person, like as an adult. I felt like I was, everything was due to me, right, and so when we, you know, first start our business and all of that, I kind of thought of the I like myself, like, oh well, I'm doing this like you know, like you're not doing as much as me, you know, and like there was always this like I wouldn't necessarily say like competitive, competitive, competitive. Yeah, second, I give up on between us, and that is something that I still, to this day, have to really remind myself of.
You know, was him saying, like we are a team and it's me, him, and it's the word right, and so I know that he is the leader of our household and so, you know, I cannot sit here and be selfish, you know, as a wife, and think that I can go off or I can achieve, you know, all these things without him. I mean, maybe I can do this, but, like you know, what would that be? That would be worth nothing if I didn't have, you know, Joshua with me, right? And? And so, knowing that the Lord provided, the Lord blessed us with this, you know our business and what we do, and I need to partner with him and do that. It's like, okay, god, you gave us this. Now I need to sit back and trust and, you know, allow him to lead and, you know, work together in unison with him, because when we work together, we are so much stronger than us being separate and we can, you know, help more people, and he's good at certain things that I'm not good at. We both have strengths and weaknesses. So when we come together and we partner. It's like, oh, we got this thing, like we're doing it, so, so yeah.
Mario P. Fields:
And I did not. You know, and Joshua, I like how you know, you the, and it's a choice, and I like how you chose to take the approach as this we're married. This is part of this is a component of the marriage. Let's get rid of the, the business, and don't mix family. We are with business. Let's take this as a another journey, together, as a couple, and do this together, then breathe. I love how you self-reflect it.
Bree Cox:
You're like hey, let me tell you all.
Mario P. Fields:
Man, I'm selfish, I was selfish, I was raised that way. Let me let me be clear. You know I get. You know and you probably did. You sometimes like taking a nap. You take a nap for time it up. I want to serve around you. I love how you guys you know the approach with, with the faith as the foundation. You know faith in God is the foundation, the nucleus of everything, and so during this kind of learning, you know you're learning already, like you said, josh, taking this approach, marriage and this is a marriage, you know breathe. You go like, yep, we're together. You probably pray together at nine, he's okay. I got a little selfishness in me and john's going on. I got to fix things out. If you had to pick, like one moment where you're like, okay, I don't know if this is going to work, what do you? Was there a moment where you're like, okay, I think he's probably.
Bree Cox:
I think he's as perfect as if he can do no wrong.
Joshua Cox:
No, no, no, I mess up all the time being. I think we've both had moments where we're like this business can me and her, can we both work together with the business we have and achieve what we want? And I think there's always been I think especially in the beginning, a question. We weren't sure what the answer was, yet Right. And I think there's there's been multiple moments, multiple moments where we've had we've gone like Whoa, is this going to work? Is this really going to work? And a lot of it just really had. We had to build up our faith and, and you know, the value of who we were.
And one of my, one of my main issues was for and this is something I'm still growing in yesterday as of today that the where is our value as people, as me, as Josh, as Bree is Bree, where's our value? Where does it lie? Our identity was rooted in things of our past rather than in who we really were. I think, at least for me especially. I had a huge identity issue, a very low self-esteem, and that actually caused a lot of problems, and I think that's what caused a lot of instances where we would sit down and go man, I'm not sure if this is going to work. I would probably never voice those things to Brie because I didn't want to bring anything down, so that's what I should. Probably. She has no idea, right, For most of the time.
Mario P. Fields:
But it's exclusive on Unarmored Talk
Joshua Cox:
But yeah, I think what the journey really was after I've had multiple instances of like, oh, I don't know if we can do this. The journey at that point was okay I need to fix how my identity, who I identify myself as in Christ and the value that I can bring to the people around me. And that was a very long journey because there's been lots of things in my past growing up that screamed at me saying how worthless I am, so unlearning and reversing all of that indoctrination, if you will, of how worthless I am. That took some time, that took a lot of work, took a lot of intention to make sure that I don't fall back into the mindset that I had before embarking on something greater.
Bree Cox:
Yeah, I think that's a really good thing, I would say, because I don't think I really. I'm not sure if I really thought in that manner, but I will say because of how I view Joshua, because of how much I love him and how I feel like he can do no wrong. I'm just best at me, I'm just biased, of course, but I looked at it from a perspective of myself thinking okay, well, what if I'm not good enough for him? Because he has values, he carries himself, he has high standards, he does pretty much everything he does, he does with excellence and he does nothing less. And so, knowing that, before we even met, and I would say not until kind of recently within the past couple of years, I had to learn how to instill those things in myself and also, to this day, still know that I have to have standards, I have to have values and how we want to live our life and the non-negotiables that we have in our home and just about us as people and how, when we have kids, it makes it that nature. And so I had to realize, okay, I am enough right, even though I felt like I wasn't beforehand, and now seeing that and knowing that and growing with the Lord and allowing him to and getting it to his word daily.
That has what helped me grow myself more and my confidence in knowing I can be the wife that he needs right, and so I can do this with him. And if I sit and I think about, is this going to work or, man, I don't think this is going to work, then it probably won't work because I'm feeding those thoughts, I'm sowing those seeds and planting them in my mind, and what you speak, it has your words, have power behind them, and so just be more positive, try to be more positive and not try to be negative. You always remind me PMA, positive mental attitude, like be positive, think positive, and I was a very positive I mean negative individual, and I'm still learning how to be positive and speak those things. And so just having a different outlook and allowing myself grace, I think, is what the main thing was.
Mario P. Fields:
Yeah, I love how you guys highlighted this, where a lot of folks believe that if you go into business as a couple, you're going to ruin your marriage. Here are you guys are going. We went into this framework, we went into the business together. We started self-reflecting and making choices accurate on Armored Talk, by the way, and accurate choices to go. Why do I think that way? Oh, I know why I think that way because when I was seven, why am I that? Why do I behave this way? Oh, because when I was 12, growing up, I'm going to choose to stop thinking that way and improve and taking this business opportunity, this framework, to improve One, like you mentioned, breanne, josh would improve this person first and then improve together.
Amazing, you know, just amazing. You guys can invoice me after this show. Just put a net 365 on it, just amazing. So you know I don't if you guys that's the most recent episodes, I don't say I know you're busy, so I'm going to let you go. I don't say that because all the guests are having fun and you guys meant your purpose of helping people, so I'll let you go to continue to help people around the world. Can you tell us, as a viewers, a little bit about how are you guys doing that together in the e-commerce industry.
Joshua Cox:
Man. That's actually a good question, because the e-commerce industry is so vast and there are so many different facets and so many different systems and a lot of it has to do with. We focus a lot around mentorship in life and in business at the same time Because a lot of our mentors that are in our lives. You know, everyone wants to achieve something right, but you've probably seen the statistics of when someone wins the Powerball and they get all this money and they are broke literally just months later Because the person that they work and only handle where they were.
So a lot of times when you want to achieve something, you have to become the person first and then it comes after. So we have that's what our focus is on an elite mentorship group, that we focus on these leadership principles and to grow yourself as a person and in business at the same time, and that, to me, is one of the most impactful ways to live a life, because you're not just helping someone financially, you're helping someone holistically and that is impact to me and that's why we do this.
Mario P. Fields:
Yeah, yeah. So looking back, looking back, since you guys first started this journey together, in business together. If you had to pick Joshua, you pick one, for you pick one. If you had to pick one piece of advice, advice, Joshua, what would you give another couple who may start this journey? Okay, that's also a good question. Okay, Mario fields on our top podcast.
Joshua Cox:
One of the best realizations I've come to understand with you know the people in my life, especially when it comes to relationships, I think most in finding our most budding heads, most friction is caused due to miscommunication. I think it's good to communicate, communicate, make sure your communication is good, but a lot of times you don't really hear a definition of like okay, then what is good communication? Right?
So, and I think I would say, pay more attention to intention rather than what actually happens, because nine times out of 10, intention is good. The result that actually took maybe not so good. But don't jump on the bandwagon of looking at oh, this is what you did. Oh, this is this mistake you did. Oh, this is that, this is that. Well, that wasn't their heart in the first place, so why are you treating them like it was? Yeah, and I think that's probably one of the biggest things if someone were to go on a journey like this is to keep that in mind.
Mario P. Fields:
No, I like it. And, as you guys heard from Joshua, you know understanding what is good communication, identifying that for yourself and being intentional and then self-reflecting the results of that, the behaviors that were associated with your actions, and improving and being intentional in that process and breathing.
Bree Cox:
Yes, that was really good, I would say.
Mario P. Fields:
And I would say that the phrase like baby we got to talk after this because that was impressive. I'm like man. I probably should have went for this guy.
Bree Cox:
But I would say, you know, making sure that you guys have that. The couple has a vision together, like a dream, in that they know where they want to go in life. And I think that's because I know there's a quote and it says you know, a man without a man, without a vision, will perish right. And so you know if your husband already has a vision or maybe he doesn't, you know working with him in figuring out, you know how to deal with each other and saying, okay, you know where do we want to be five years from now? Okay, like what do we want our finances to look? Like, like do how much debt do we want to have paid off? Like do we want to have kids? At what stage? And you know what is. What amount of money will we need to be able to make it more comfortable and comfortably to where we feel like we can have kids at this stage?
And just, you know, building your future together. Because if you try to do it separately and he's thinking it's going to look like this and you're thinking it's going to look like this, it's going to look like this, and but friction and you guys are both going to end up working towards different paths and then you're going to find yourself, you know, completely in two different places, right and so for your family, what that looks like, how you're going to get it, how long you it's going to take for you to get that, that vision or that dream, and just you know, stay together and couple together and trust in one another. I know that's something that was hard for me, so learning to trust him more and let him guide and lead, and so, yeah, I mean I mean you guys are, you guys are not.
Mario P. Fields:
I mean you know it's a shared vision. I mean you guys know my business, you know business owner and with the entrepreneur mindset I shared vision. It's easy to develop a vision, but it's it's a little challenging to find a bunch of folks and share it.
Joshua Cox:
This is why she's the general over here.
Mario P. Fields:
I'm not joking. One of the major struggles I had in 2018 when I started the you know, still started to incorporate was finding people that shared the vision, share it and for you to you're, for you to highlight, to be intentional, to talk through what does the goal look like to you? And making sure you guys share that vision. And different complexities and just amazing, you guys are awesome.
Mario P. Fields:
And I'll be in the show notes. Everyone will, guys, you know. Thank you so much for coming on our talk podcast. I truly appreciate the both of you and please continue to do awesome things in a shared vision together, communicating effectively to help people while you're on this earth.
Joshua Cox:
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. It's been a blast.
Mario P. Fields:
I appreciate it will everyone. You guys know the deal episode every two weeks. So if you're listening you can hear me about two weeks, if you're watching you can see me, but until then you guys know the deal. God bless you, your family and friends. Be safe out there. Will see you soon. Thank you for listening to this most recent episode and remember you can listen and watch all of the previous episodes on my YouTube channel. The best way to connect to me and all of my social media is to follow me on ParadeDeck.com.
